Post by Apillis on May 17, 2009 7:38:59 GMT -5
Name: Shannon Bralor
Race: Human
Age: 32
Birthplace: Mandalore
Allegiance: Mandalore
Status: Bralor Clan Leader, Ex-BountyHunter Killer
Rank: Fleet Commander
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 129lbs.
Appearance: Shannon's appearance is guard dropping for some as given the reputation of Mandalorians, most do not imagine Mandalorian women to look quite as... feminine as she does. She has very lovely, soft features with a nice light tan complexion, gracefully slender physique, long brunette hair (often tied back), and piercing blue eyes that always maintain a stern, hard gaze. She speaks with a Mando'a accent ((New Zealand-ish sounding)) seemingly common amongst Mandalorians raised within the culture since birth or childhood.
Her grey armor is not quite as heavy or combat efficient as most Mandalorians, namely because normal Mandalorian armor lacks comfort in the cramped cockpits of the starfighters she flies. So she tailored her armor to be more light weight, stylized, and serve more like a flight suit rather than Mandalorian battle armor, and she also wears a grey kama around her waist with her armor. Seemingly always on her person is a vibroknife and Mandalorian heavy blaster (link) as a sidearm.
If she is not in her Mandalorian armor, she can often be seen wearing a black Baragwin light armor fiber weave outfit with black greaves and gauntlets of the same make. Far more sleek and light weight than her Mandalorian armor, though she still utilized her Mandalorian weaponry with it.
Personality: The woman absolutely oozes confidence, and it gives her an icy presence in a way, which can make some a bit unnerved. Among her Mandalorian comrades she was viewed as being quite cold and those in her command at times felt the severity of her icy disposition. But her icy presence had less to do with being standoffish and more to do with keeping a consistent cool head. But that frame of mind had largely to do with being a pilot, for a good pilot--especially when flying in space must maintain a level-head at all times, otherwise quite terrible things can happen. But it also helped her to be regarded as a competent military leader and strategist, and for a time that was something she took a great measure of pride in.
With that confidence and cool-head of hers, there most definitely a level of haughtiness to how she carries herself. For some her abundant self-assured countenance can be seen as quite attractive as she refuses to be rattled. But then again, for others that hoity-toity arrogance could just get under their skin and be quite off-putting. Thus in the end, for the same reasons some may love her, others may simply hate her. Though, most tend to attribute that cool confidence of hers with the edgy rep of being a hardened bounty hunter for managing to gain the unique reputation as a woman for being a womanizer; while some think the rumors are a silly joke. But yet again, it is just another attribute of hers that there are those who like her for it, and those who hate for it. Like most things, it all boils down to perspective.
Ships/Vehicles: Conquest (clicky)
Equipment: Customized Mandalorian Battle Armor:
Light Weight Mandalorian Armor - Some of its armor plating has either been removed or replaced with lighter armor and/or fiber armor turning it into a type of armor mesh flight suit or double as a light combat armor suit.
Helmet - It is the typical HUD helm used by Mandalorians, however, its HUD and internal battle computer has been slightly modified for starfighter piloting, rather than ground unit skirmishes.
Wrist launcher - A modified pair of them on either wrist able to launch one small rocket each; the left also has a very small limited range grappling wire, and the right a simple dart shooter.
Kama (link) - Because her armor is less protective than other Mandalorian battle armor, and as a showing of her rank, she wears a grey kama, it is slightly longer than most as it hangs from her waist to halfway down her shins.
Jetpack (link) - It is not something she keeps on her person, but something she stores within her starfighter in case of crash landing; or for whatever reason, the unique times she has to fly a ground unit into a hot zone beyond enemy lines and fight along side them. It is otherwise never worn and kept stored within her starfighter. ((For an example of jetpack she uses with her Mando armor, click link.))
Combat utility belt - It has a few small pouches on it, not many, just enough to carry a spar small grappling wire, few extra wrist launcher rockets, and a couple extra energy cartridges for her sidearm; other than that, on the belt is her blaster holster for her Mandalorian heavy blaster.
Vibroknife - It looks similar to a k-bar, which she has it sheathed naturally, and the sheath is strapped to her right thigh.
Stats:
Strength - Below Average
Agility - Average
Intelligence - Superior
Charisma - Superior
Combat Training:
Small Arms (Firearms) - Adept
Martial Arts - Apprentice
Combat Pilot (Basilisks Droids and Starfighters) - Master
Flight Tactics - Expert
Space Tactics - Expert
Naval Combat Tactics - Expert
Demolitions - Apprentice
Mandalorian Battle Armor Technology/Gadgets - Expert
Other Training:
Mandalorian History -Expert
Military History - Adept
Galactic History - Adept
Mechanics/Engineering - Adept
Bio:
Ad be Aliit Bralor
(Daughter of Clan Bralor)
The daughter of human Mandalorians, and born on the Mandalorian homeplanet itself, Mandalore. Shannon was ingrained with the Resol'Nare and the Mando'a language practically since the womb. Mando'a was in fact the first language she learned as a child, Basic and others followed afterward. Her mother, Adala, while like any Mandalorian was a warrior, she however spent her days working on their family farm. Shannon's father, Leif, on the other hand was an old school Mandalorian, like his Mandalorian ancestors before him. He was a demolitions expert in the Mandalorian Army infantry divisions at one time in his life. Shannon also has an older brother, Marcus, who was older than her only by a little over a year.
For the first few years of her life, Leif was seldom if ever around do to his traveling wherever his warband went to battle. Those years were spent as a little toddler with her brother being raised by their mother. Something typically seen within Mandalorian culture. She holds no memory of those days, she was too young, but though she may not recall it - as a toddler she was prone to exploration, always letting her curiosity lead her into the open fields of the farm to see what new sights she could find under the watchful hawkish eye of her mother.
By the time she was three years old and her brother four, their father returned home to raise and teach them himself to become warriors. A common and old practice amongst the Mandalorians. Adala chuckled at it, though it gave her a sense of pride in her husband given how traditional of a Mandalorian he is, that in raising his son and daughter he truly did proscribe to the old Mandalorian proverb, "Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya.", which means, "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger.", and Shannon was quickly proving to be more harder-edged than her brother as they grew up, always going the extra mile in what little exercise or task Leif set before Shannon and her brother as little children.
Over the years he taught them how to fight in hand to hand, survival tactics, hunting, melee combat, demolitions, and how to properly maintenance, use, and fire blasters of nearly every variety and nuance. A warrior does not limit themselves in weaponry he often drilled into their skulls and nearly anything is weapon. When not training in combat, he taught them military battle tactics and had them watch numerous holovids of past Mandalorian battles with the Republic, Independent planetary governments, Fringe organizations, Jedi, and Sith Empire. Leif would often force them to memorize the varying strategies failed and successful in those holovids as though it were homework. If there was anything Shannon picked up quickly, even as a little girl, from watching and learning from those battles - every tactic has a pattern and level of predictability, failure lied in not seeing it quick enough. But, in truth, any enemy can be fought and killed.
But Leif was careful not to only ingrain warfare into their heads, teaching them another old Mandalorian proverb, "Verd ori'shya beskar'gam.", meaning, "A warrior is more than (his) armor.", which he expanded their learning to be in Mandalorian culture itself, the Bralor clan history, the significance of Mandalorian armor to a true Mandalorian, equipment maintenance care beyond just weapons but overall mechanics.
These are all things Leif taught to his two children until Shannon turned thirteen years old, when a Mandalorian is considered an adult.
Verd'goten
(Coming of Age)
The fate of Clan Bralor was not all that unlike many of the other clans after the signing of the treaty with the Republic. However, the more harder-edge old timers refused to let their culture die off, especially their clan, as the old Mandalorian proverb goes, "Aliit ori'shya tal'din", which means, "Family is more than bloodline." If an entire people and culture could be wiped with the signing of one paper, then there would be no need for the slow agonizing process of genocide. And clans are not bound by simple blood, but those whom they can gather to same ideal and cause. The Mandalorians have survived several wars even mass genocide coupled with an utter disbanding with Mandalore the Ultimate being executed during the Mandalorian Wars and the loss of Mandalore's helm; and still they endured in large part of the efforts of Mandalore the Preserver banding the clans together once again.
The old veterans of Shannon's branch of Clan Bralor were not about let their clan completely die simply because of a single defeat and the traitorous antics of one failure who posed as Mandalore. Over the decades they gathered together what scattered and lost Mandalorians they could, at least enough to continue to wage battle against their chosen enemies. The clan sadly never grew to be anything close to its former glory, but it mattered little to them - they still sought to stockpile armaments for future battles. If the Mandalorians are going to survive, it will be through fighting as warriors - especially for Clan Bralor. Though the clan never numbered more than fifty, it was still able to form a decent sized warband, or platoon in another sense, of about forty or so. Naturally, it was Clan Bralor's warband that Leif was apart of, and what his two children joined as well.
Leif had a great measure of pride in his daughter having witnessed her first confirmed kill. It was while they were attacking a Hutt controlled black market arms supply depot. It was heavily guarded, but no match for professional warriors such as the Mandalorians assaulting it - the Bralor clan. It was while they were closing in on the depot itself pushing back the guards with a heavy suppressive firing line. With her Mandalorian assault rifle, Shannon struck one of the guards in the stomach and chest. He fell flat on his back upon being hit. The Mandalorian line still moved forward in maintaining their suppressive fire, and as Shannon passed by the guard she hit, she stomped on the guard's chest to stop his squirming from the agony he was in, and then put a shot square into his forehead before returning back to laying down suppressive fire with the others. It was done like a professional warrior, Leif was pleased with this, she learned her lessons from him well. It was after her thirteenth birthday when a Mandalorian is considered an adult, about two weeks or so after her thirteenth birthday is when she got her first kill; she truly was her father's daughter.
She and her brother quickly begun getting some good rep amongst the old timer Mandalorians for things just like that. They minded their father's lessons and followed the examples of the veterans. They enjoyed getting right into the nitty-gritty of the skirmishes, and never had problems keeping up with the rest. This would prove to be their life for a time. Those battles themselves were in fact their coming of age trials, for in the minds of this branch of the clan leaders, if they could not hack in a life and death battle, preform well, and do their duty without hesitation - then they were failures as Mandalorians, because battle is life as a Mandalorian.
Shannon however was quickly becoming a dash more popular than her brother, though. It was her unpredictable nature, generally quiet though not necessarily anti-social, more just kept to herself during the calm moments. But all that would change in the blink of an eye it would seem at times. Such as when she was fifteen, an eighteen year old boy of their part of the clan, remarked she was an impressive fighter after a raid, she punched him in the face in response. She shattered his nose, knocking him out cold with the punch; which got a roar of laughter out of the warband, then she informed him while he was laid out unconscious - it was because she was a superior Mandalorian. Or her twisted penchant for when lobbing grenades making them bounce off the heads of the targets she is throwing them at; this gets giggles some times. It is her numerous quirks like those two examples, that lead the other Mandalorians of her warband or those they come across to like her.
What brought the small raids to an end was shortly after when she turned seventeen years old. At that time the Rally Master, Karrus Bralor, Shannon's uncle - suggested they hook their warband up with other scatter Mandalorian groups. He knew of a captain of an old Kyramud, who she and her crew who were working with a few other Kyramuds taking on a pirate guild for supremacy to control an area of space around the Nivek system in the Outer Rim. They debated on joining up with them for days, Shannon had been silent on the issue. Her brother and father were outspoken about their support of Karrus' suggestion, as well as half the warband. But, Shannon despite being only seventeen held a lot of sway within the warband. She fought with a clear head and was more than once placed in charge of a small group when they had to separate, and did well in such circumstances. It was undeniable she had a voice among them.
More than a few of the indecisives on the issue looked to her for her opinion, which she was oddly hesitant to give - she worried by doing so it would cause the clan to dissolve. But, it was her father Leif who pointed out to her back when the clans numbered hundreds and thousands, they were still apart of the greater whole that is the Mandalorians and fought along side them - not as a separate clan but as one people. It was a reminder she needed at that point in time, and something that would continue to stick with her from then on; which lead her to giving her full support to the idea, and with her backing the idea several other indecisives backed it as well. It was then decided they would join Karrus' contact, Captain Seyra Kes, a member of the reforming Fett clan.
Tal be'te Bralor
(Blood of the Bralor)
This would prove to be the turning point for Shannon's "military career". The old, restored Kyramud that Captain Seyra commanded was one of a few other restored Kyramuds, that roamed Nivek space fighting a moderately sized pirate guild known as Vokure, they had plenty of ships but not the as well organized, especially against the firepower and militaristic honed skill of the Mandalorians. The captains and those they commanded viewed taking on pirate guilds as honing their Naval skills and increasing their strength and size for when it came time to undo what had been done at the hands of a vile traitor. The more they could introduce into their culture as well as gather more Mando'ads to their cause - the better.
When the remnants of the reforming Bralor clan that Shannon is apart of joined aboard Captain Seyra's Kyramud, Nocturne, Captain Seyra and Karrus begun organizing their warband/platoon into varying Naval ranks to integrate with the rest of the crew more easily. Most of the Mandalorians aboard the Nocturne were once part of private armies or navies, varying security forces, and/or mercenary bands; and thus organized themselves by military rank to accommodate that past to better organize themselves amongst their Mandalorian peers. However, this concept of ranking was utterly alien to Shannon, she was raised and trained as an old school, traditional Mandalorian - ranks do not exist: there are your veterans whom you respect and listen to, there are your Rally Masters who you listen to (though it is usually expected for you to abide by), and then there is Mandalore whose lead all Mandalorians follow. Ranks simply did not apply. In Shannon's view she led those of her clan as a Mandalorian leader should lead, via example - keeping a cool head and exceeding the status-quo while in the fray, never hesitating or stuttering when commanding those with you, utilizing a strategic mind, and having more backbone than others. Prove that you have these aspects, and warriors will follow you.
Misunderstanding the ranks for "worth and measure of a warrior", Shannon took immense offense to when Captain Seyra decided to give Shannon the rank of Ensign. Though such a rank is a great compliment, especially given she is only a seventeen year old, she still held a very strong and commanding voice amongst those of her clan and proved to be a competent leader - even amongst the veterans. However, because of Shannon not entirely understanding of how they are deciding who gets what rank, as it was never entirely explained to her, she became infuriated, mistakenly taking being giving Ensign, the lowest officer rank, as an insult.
In an instant later after Captain Seyra gave her the rank, Shannon did what would be considered typical of any Mandalorian when they think they have been insulted. She took a swing at Captain Seyra. Albeit, in the next instant Shannon found herself in complete daze from haymaker right cross, and less than a second later found herself on the cold metal floor of the Kyramud - in the fetal position with arms wrapped around her stomach gasping and coughing for air, because of a vicious left knee to the gut. Captain Seyra simply laughed off the incident remarking with a smirk, "Mando'ad'ika...", basically meaning, "Mando' kids...", After taking a brief moment to breath again. Shannon picked herself up off of the metal floor, nodded respectfully to Captain Seyra and fell in line without a word.
Later that day, Captain Seyra pulled Shannon aside to have a chat with her, and it was then she got an understanding for Shannon's perspective. The concept of ranks was something never exactly utilized around her, and thus something she did not comprehend fully the significance of. Even the colored armor of the Neo-Crusaders, she understood - however, she understood it as an archaic system of a failed past and was done away with; and thus these military ranks made even less sense to her. But she quickly learned to become accustomed to them, she is a professional warrior after all, she had been one since the ripe age of thirteen years old.
Once the two had an understanding for one another, Shannon found herself looking up to Captain Seyra quite a bit as a role-model and mentor. Shannon never had met many other Mandalorian women until then, just the small handful within her branch of Clan Bralor. Captain Seyra is the first she had actually met outside of her own clan. The captain herself is a former mercenary, and at this point in her mid-twenties, she nevertheless is highly respected veteran and leader amongst her Mandalorian peers having seen a lot of combat as a mercenary and captain of a Kyramud.
As previously mentioned though, this point in time was the true turning point in Shannon's "military career". It was after being involved in her first space battle, she and her Bralor clan warband or platoon, were one of the boarding parties for seizing the Vokure smuggling and slave frigates and freighters from the inside. They also had a couple battle carriers to protect them, but against the organized Mandalorians it really did not matter much in the end. But, the battle dazzled and amazed Shannon to no end. The great Kyramud energy beams firing upon the ships shattering the enemy's hulls. The starfighters in particular she truly became enraptured by, a testament of pure wit, skill, and tactics witnessing the dogfights, and how they swarm to pick apart the enemy carriers and disable the frigates and obliterate the freighters. It was all so beautiful to her eyes, she felt it in her Mandalorian blood that burned white hot - it was her calling.
The moment Shannon was aboard the Nocturne once again, she requested to learn how to be a starfighter pilot from Captain Serya. She needed more starfighter pilots for her ship having lost a few in battles past, so she naturally welcomed the request with open arms. Captain Seyra and a Lieutenant Terik who also served aboard the Nocturne were the two train and teach her piloting. They started her off on a Basilisk war droid, something that was a tradition at one time for young Mandalorians first going into battle. If she could not manage to pilot a Basilisk war droid, then being a starfighter pilot was out of the question.
The Nocturne possessed a few old Basilisk war droids aboard, two of them were inoperable which the mechanics and engineers continuously sought to restore. The other two were outfitted for space and ran well enough to be used, though not exactly at pique performance. Still impressively with a fair amount of practice Shannon made the best of it taking to piloting the behemoth droid like it was second-nature to her, and with her natural quick reflexes her skill at manipulating the droid seemed only the sharper for it.
Once Captain Seyra felt Shannon was competent with a Basilisk, she moved Shannon onto learning how to pilot shuttles and freighters. The intention was more to hone Shannon's piloting skills and knowledge to make her a sharper wiser pilot once she set foot into a starfighter on her own. When they would capture the Vokure slave freighters, Shannon often opted to pilot it to Captain Seyra's slave buyer contacts on Nar Shaddaa. By the time Shannon was nineteen Captain Seyra and Lieutenant Terik felt at ease with putting Shannon in a starfighter.
The first starfighter she ever flew was a modified Davaab that some Mandalorian naval units have recovered and restored from old Neo-Crusader War Forge caches. Lieutenant Terik would sit in the gunner's seat, and let Shannon fly, he figured it was best to use the Davaab that way in combat she could focus on learning how to pilot a starfighter in a hot zone and not worry about gunning anything down, he could do that. Seeing Shannon in action left Captain Seyra impressed, Shannon was certainly a natural, she was good - she learned fast and tailed each Vokure fighter out there - tailing them just right for Lieutenant to gun them down. Shannon did not fly quite as expertly as the veteran pilots out there, but it was clear from her skills from evading fire from cruisers and carriers to dogfights, she certainly followed their example and minded her lessons, just like she did when doing the black market weapon supply raids when she was younger with her clan.
As time progressed she was quickly gaining a name for herself as a starfighter pilot, eventually moving on from using the old modified Davaabs to using one of the later model Mandalorian starfighters, the Tracinya - a single starfighter with a bit more firepower to it. It is with this model where skills as a pilot really begun to shine as she continually practiced and trained in flying it to understand every inch and feel for its handling to its cockpit control placements more than by simple memory but almost as if by instinct alone. Captain Seyra, as an ace pilot herself in a starfighter, remained in a mentor position with Shannon, continuing to teach her Flight, Space, and Naval Combat Tactics. What Shannon was unaware of is that Captain Seyra was grooming her to ascend to a bit more of a commanding position aboard the Nocturne.
For Shannon, Captain Seyra became someone very dear to her, and while she was a mentor to Shannon, she was also some very close to her whom Shannon would do anything for without any question. Aboard the Nocturne, the two were inseparable, and over the years under Captain Seyra's tutelage and mentoring, Shannon grew to being one of the Mandalorian's best starfighter pilots. With the skills, techniques, and tactics taught to her by Captain Seyra, Shannon became a high-ranking ace-starfighter pilot, which is as Captain Seyra's Commander, the second in command of the Nocturne... after the first Commander died in a previous battle with the Vokure, of course.
Shannon by that time was twenty-five years old, and their battles with the Vokure were drawing to a final confrontation at an orbiting colony that the Vokure often used as their base of operations in the Nivek system. For only four Kyramuds to take on an entire pirate guild, regardless of size, is a slow and tactful process that takes years to whittle them down enough to bring them with their backs to the wall to defend their base of operation; and as stated earlier, the Mandalorians only saw this as a means to hone their battle prowess being so outnumbered.
By now, Shannon had long since had her own customized Mandalorian battle armor, it looked closer to an armored flight suit with how much she decreased its armor strength. She kept the dual wrist launchers on it from her young teenage days when raiding black market weapon depots with her father and brother. Her helm proved to be of little use for piloting, so she modified it so her HUD and internal battle computer can link up to her starfighter's battle computer and HUD, and thereby serve more of a purpose when piloting. She never carried rifle again, she figured if she ever crashed onto the surface of a planet, if she still died while having both her wrist launchers, her sidearm, vibroknife, and jetpack - she deserved to die. Her armor was green not because she simply liked the color, but because of the symbolism of duty, her duty as a Mandalorian has always been something she has prided herself on, and furthermore prided herself in regards to her duty in Captain Seyra's service for all she has done for Shannon.
Her devotion to Captain Seyra was put to the test during that final battle with the Vokure. They were utterly out matched and out gunned. Shannon coordinated the starfighters of the Nocturne and the three other Kyramuds to strike at the slave quarters of the Vokure ships. When studying the plans of the varying carriers, cruisers, frigates, and freighters the Vokure used - Shannon noticed the areas of the ship where they kept the slaves were the areas with less armaments protecting its hull than the where the pirates themselves dwell. Likely because it is easier to replace slaves than more battle worthy pirates to serve on board. But because of this flaw, Shannon often coordinated to strike at the area of where the slave quarters are inside the ships. It creates an opening and vulnerability for the other fighters, assault shuttles, light attack freighters, and Kyramuds to strike at repeatedly. She also had penchant for coordinating attacks in destroying the civilian hospital ships the pirates used to take care of their own wounded. Her logic for this being simple, they cannot come back to fight after they are healed if they have long since been dead.
Though these somewhat ruthless and heartless tactics ensured nothing for victory for the four Kyramuds against the numerous ships they faced. The Mandalorians held out for an impressively long time against the Vokure armada, leaving it utterly shredded and in pieces by the battles end. The Vokure seemed to prove each time to under-estimate the firepower of a Kyramud and the highly trained Mandalorians in space combat. But in the end, with the trading back and forth of great blasts and energy beams from the immense laser cannons as well as the series of launched torpedoes and missiles even the strong Kyramuds were ripped apart as well. While the Vokure's back was broken and their colony destroyed to the point they could never recover fully, or even keep the part of the Nivek system they once controlled; the Mandalorians were also in no shape to claim it. Three out of four of the Kyramuds were destroyed in the end, and one of those three was the Nocturne itself. Captain Seyra and half of Shannon's clan were on board at the time, including her uncle, father, and brother.
It was the most glorious battle she had ever been apart of, but also the most heartbreaking. Having lost half of her clan and the person dearest to her heart. Her green armor is a symbol of duty to her, but since the day she lost Captain Seyra she wore a grey kama, and knowing what the symbolism of grey armor to a Mandalorian, those who know Shannon understood the significance of what the addition of the kama represents for her and what her relationship with Seyra truly was. The scattered remaining Mandalorians of that battle Shannon reorganized upon the sole remaining Kyramud. The Kyramud was heavily damaged itself, but still operational and luckily its hyperdrive still worked. They set off back to Mandalore to recuperate and reorganize to strengthen themselves once again for more battles ahead of them.
Returning home to the farm she was born on where her mother still lived, Shannon had come back for the first time since she was thirteen years old. Shannon made graves for her father and brother upon their land, even though it was impossible to recover their remains from the destruction of the Nocturne. Shannon asked the remaining members of the Fett clan that Seyra was apart of, if she could make a grave for Seyra upon her families farm with her brother and father. Knowing the relationship Shannon had with Seyra, they agreed to allow her to do so. It helped Shannon gain a great amount of closure in the loss of Seyra.
In the next couple years Shannon worked as a starfighter pilot for hire, or at other times as a blaster for hire as well. Wherever she could get work as a mercenary even, the goal was three fold, earn a living, keep up her battle skills, and seek out other scattered Mandalorians. She was made head of her branch within the Bralor clan, it was her duty to rebuild it.
The second the Mandalorians made their move to rise up against the Republic, though. Shannon wasted not a moment in joining the fray to claim the Republic's blood for the past destruction of her clan. Shannon had built her clan up to seventy-five percent of what it was before its great loss at the final battle with the Vokure by the time the Mandalorian uprising at last sparked against the Republic. They all joined the Mandalorian uprising without any reservation or hesitation. The Bralor clan has for centuries fought the Republic, they would do so again.
Albeit, for Shannon her fighting as one of Clan Bralor was not to last. She took immense pride in her having a hand in the orchestration of the Republic fleet's crushing defeat when the Mandalorians reclaimed Shogun. It was her dream for as long as she could remember for her people, the Mandalorians, to be free from Republic tyranny once again. And in the beginning of their uprising, that was starting to look like a possibility.
But her hopes for the Mandalorians and the course they wound up taking diverged, one she did not want to walk with them. The uprise of the Sith Empire and all their power and resources, she could only think it was all too dazzling for the Mandalorians to pass up by not allying with the Sith once again. But that was something she simply could not support, for the Mandalorians to once again to be locked to the Sith Empire's fate, she feared they would drag down the Mandalorians with them as they did during the Great Sith War.
So, reluctantly, and with a heavy heart, Shannon left the Mandalorian flagship, Tenacity, where she served as its XO, and returned to the life of being yet another Mandalorian gun-for-hire wandering the great void alone. Until she met a peculiar pair of men by the name of Niko and Nihl, but that relationship much like several of Shannon's went cold leading her to abandon it for better prospects. Her time back as a bounty killer was a reminder as to why she grew weary of the life style. Too many unwanted personalities to deal with, she did not much care for it.
But then a bit of interesting news traveling through the Mandalorian grapevine reached her ears. Yet again the Mandalorians were left wanting for a new Mandalore, and a strong Mandalorian answered their need, but to Shannon's surprise--it was an old... acquaintance. To say the least it was highly amusing to her, and also a sign to Shannon that perhaps the Mandalorians were going to get their act together at long last. So she returned home--returned to the Mandalorian homeworld. It was where she went before the new Mandalore and those taking up the roles of leadership of their culture, and laid out before them what needs to be done to organize the Mandalorians on the naval front; but she took it even a step further and demanded command over the fleet.
Naturally given Mandalorian nature and culture, this ruffled many feathers, especially with the vacancy of a commander presiding over the fleet. But Shannon was never a woman to back down, and she made her intentions loud and clear challenging her critics outright. There were struggles, there was blood spilled--her own and her detractors and far more of it was theirs, and when the challenges were met and the arguments and battles won, it was enough to satisfy her critics to back down and give in to Shannon's will.
Rumor goes however, since seizing command of the Mandalorian fleet under the new Mandalore, Shannon has become something of a personal strategist and right hand to the new Mandalore, and the two are not uncommonly seen in each other's company.
RP Sample:
Cuy'val Dar
(Those who no longer exist)
The young seventeen year old Mandalorian girl stood shoulder to shoulder, arms length apart with her Bralor clan counterparts, all standing at attention soon after having just boarded the Kyramud called the Nocturne. Captain Seyra with her Rally Master and uncle, Karrus, whom Captain Seyra made her new Lieutenant-Commander, walked along the row of Bralor members - inspecting each of them, and determining their ranks under her command aboard her Kyramud.
The moment Captain Seyra stood before the seventeen year old girl she smiled, "This is the one you were telling me about...?", Karrus smirked and nodded firmly, Captain Seyra chuckled as she smirked as well, "Ensign.", she then turned and moved down the line.
The girl sneered in vexation with her dark blue eyes narrowing. The smirk, the chuckle, the dismissive tone - Ensign is the lowest officer rank, it was an insult. How dare this 'captain' label her an inferior Mandalorian! The girl grunted as she suddenly took a right jab at Captain Seyra. Everyone in the area turned their eyes to this, she actually swung at Captain Seyra.
But the second the girl did, the good captain seemingly just was not there any more. In the next instant all the girl saw was darkness while in a complete daze. Staggering a step or three, she was unsure how many it was - her eyes begun to focus a little. But it was in that instant, the good captain's knee was practically embedded into the girl's gut. Her eyes went wide as every bit of air escaped from her lungs. The girl first feel to her knees with both arms wrapped around her stomach as she coughed with a harsh rasp. Coughing and heaving so much she fell to her side in the fetal position with her arms still wrapped tightly around her stomach. She coughed so much she felt like she was going to throw up, but luckily she never did.
Captain Seyra merely looked down at the girl with a smile of respect it seemed as she remarked dismissively, "Mando'ad'ika...", she chuckled as she then told the girl, "Udesii... Ensign.", After taking a short moment to recover herself, the girl picked herself up - looked Captain Seyra straight in the eye, nodded to her respectfully and fell right back in line. Her stomach still hurt like hell but the girl simply took the pain, it was a lesson learned.
Looking out the bubble canopy of her Tracinya, Shannon smiled at the memory as she flew for the ship she has newly been assigned to since the Mandalorian uprising - the flagship, Tenacity. Her thoughts still on Seyra, Shannon with a fond smile softly uttered to herself - or really perhaps Seyra as though she were right there with her, "Ni kar'tayli gar darasuum..."
Race: Human
Age: 32
Birthplace: Mandalore
Allegiance: Mandalore
Status: Bralor Clan Leader, Ex-Bounty
Rank: Fleet Commander
Height: 5'7"
Weight: 129lbs.
Appearance: Shannon's appearance is guard dropping for some as given the reputation of Mandalorians, most do not imagine Mandalorian women to look quite as... feminine as she does. She has very lovely, soft features with a nice light tan complexion, gracefully slender physique, long brunette hair (often tied back), and piercing blue eyes that always maintain a stern, hard gaze. She speaks with a Mando'a accent ((New Zealand-ish sounding)) seemingly common amongst Mandalorians raised within the culture since birth or childhood.
Her grey armor is not quite as heavy or combat efficient as most Mandalorians, namely because normal Mandalorian armor lacks comfort in the cramped cockpits of the starfighters she flies. So she tailored her armor to be more light weight, stylized, and serve more like a flight suit rather than Mandalorian battle armor, and she also wears a grey kama around her waist with her armor. Seemingly always on her person is a vibroknife and Mandalorian heavy blaster (link) as a sidearm.
If she is not in her Mandalorian armor, she can often be seen wearing a black Baragwin light armor fiber weave outfit with black greaves and gauntlets of the same make. Far more sleek and light weight than her Mandalorian armor, though she still utilized her Mandalorian weaponry with it.
Personality: The woman absolutely oozes confidence, and it gives her an icy presence in a way, which can make some a bit unnerved. Among her Mandalorian comrades she was viewed as being quite cold and those in her command at times felt the severity of her icy disposition. But her icy presence had less to do with being standoffish and more to do with keeping a consistent cool head. But that frame of mind had largely to do with being a pilot, for a good pilot--especially when flying in space must maintain a level-head at all times, otherwise quite terrible things can happen. But it also helped her to be regarded as a competent military leader and strategist, and for a time that was something she took a great measure of pride in.
With that confidence and cool-head of hers, there most definitely a level of haughtiness to how she carries herself. For some her abundant self-assured countenance can be seen as quite attractive as she refuses to be rattled. But then again, for others that hoity-toity arrogance could just get under their skin and be quite off-putting. Thus in the end, for the same reasons some may love her, others may simply hate her. Though, most tend to attribute that cool confidence of hers with the edgy rep of being a hardened bounty hunter for managing to gain the unique reputation as a woman for being a womanizer; while some think the rumors are a silly joke. But yet again, it is just another attribute of hers that there are those who like her for it, and those who hate for it. Like most things, it all boils down to perspective.
Ships/Vehicles: Conquest (clicky)
Equipment: Customized Mandalorian Battle Armor:
Light Weight Mandalorian Armor - Some of its armor plating has either been removed or replaced with lighter armor and/or fiber armor turning it into a type of armor mesh flight suit or double as a light combat armor suit.
Helmet - It is the typical HUD helm used by Mandalorians, however, its HUD and internal battle computer has been slightly modified for starfighter piloting, rather than ground unit skirmishes.
Wrist launcher - A modified pair of them on either wrist able to launch one small rocket each; the left also has a very small limited range grappling wire, and the right a simple dart shooter.
Kama (link) - Because her armor is less protective than other Mandalorian battle armor, and as a showing of her rank, she wears a grey kama, it is slightly longer than most as it hangs from her waist to halfway down her shins.
Jetpack (link) - It is not something she keeps on her person, but something she stores within her starfighter in case of crash landing; or for whatever reason, the unique times she has to fly a ground unit into a hot zone beyond enemy lines and fight along side them. It is otherwise never worn and kept stored within her starfighter. ((For an example of jetpack she uses with her Mando armor, click link.))
Combat utility belt - It has a few small pouches on it, not many, just enough to carry a spar small grappling wire, few extra wrist launcher rockets, and a couple extra energy cartridges for her sidearm; other than that, on the belt is her blaster holster for her Mandalorian heavy blaster.
Vibroknife - It looks similar to a k-bar, which she has it sheathed naturally, and the sheath is strapped to her right thigh.
Stats:
Strength - Below Average
Agility - Average
Intelligence - Superior
Charisma - Superior
Combat Training:
Small Arms (Firearms) - Adept
Martial Arts - Apprentice
Combat Pilot (Basilisks Droids and Starfighters) - Master
Flight Tactics - Expert
Space Tactics - Expert
Naval Combat Tactics - Expert
Demolitions - Apprentice
Mandalorian Battle Armor Technology/Gadgets - Expert
Other Training:
Mandalorian History -Expert
Military History - Adept
Galactic History - Adept
Mechanics/Engineering - Adept
Bio:
Ad be Aliit Bralor
(Daughter of Clan Bralor)
The daughter of human Mandalorians, and born on the Mandalorian homeplanet itself, Mandalore. Shannon was ingrained with the Resol'Nare and the Mando'a language practically since the womb. Mando'a was in fact the first language she learned as a child, Basic and others followed afterward. Her mother, Adala, while like any Mandalorian was a warrior, she however spent her days working on their family farm. Shannon's father, Leif, on the other hand was an old school Mandalorian, like his Mandalorian ancestors before him. He was a demolitions expert in the Mandalorian Army infantry divisions at one time in his life. Shannon also has an older brother, Marcus, who was older than her only by a little over a year.
For the first few years of her life, Leif was seldom if ever around do to his traveling wherever his warband went to battle. Those years were spent as a little toddler with her brother being raised by their mother. Something typically seen within Mandalorian culture. She holds no memory of those days, she was too young, but though she may not recall it - as a toddler she was prone to exploration, always letting her curiosity lead her into the open fields of the farm to see what new sights she could find under the watchful hawkish eye of her mother.
By the time she was three years old and her brother four, their father returned home to raise and teach them himself to become warriors. A common and old practice amongst the Mandalorians. Adala chuckled at it, though it gave her a sense of pride in her husband given how traditional of a Mandalorian he is, that in raising his son and daughter he truly did proscribe to the old Mandalorian proverb, "Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya.", which means, "Train your sons to be strong but your daughters to be stronger.", and Shannon was quickly proving to be more harder-edged than her brother as they grew up, always going the extra mile in what little exercise or task Leif set before Shannon and her brother as little children.
Over the years he taught them how to fight in hand to hand, survival tactics, hunting, melee combat, demolitions, and how to properly maintenance, use, and fire blasters of nearly every variety and nuance. A warrior does not limit themselves in weaponry he often drilled into their skulls and nearly anything is weapon. When not training in combat, he taught them military battle tactics and had them watch numerous holovids of past Mandalorian battles with the Republic, Independent planetary governments, Fringe organizations, Jedi, and Sith Empire. Leif would often force them to memorize the varying strategies failed and successful in those holovids as though it were homework. If there was anything Shannon picked up quickly, even as a little girl, from watching and learning from those battles - every tactic has a pattern and level of predictability, failure lied in not seeing it quick enough. But, in truth, any enemy can be fought and killed.
But Leif was careful not to only ingrain warfare into their heads, teaching them another old Mandalorian proverb, "Verd ori'shya beskar'gam.", meaning, "A warrior is more than (his) armor.", which he expanded their learning to be in Mandalorian culture itself, the Bralor clan history, the significance of Mandalorian armor to a true Mandalorian, equipment maintenance care beyond just weapons but overall mechanics.
These are all things Leif taught to his two children until Shannon turned thirteen years old, when a Mandalorian is considered an adult.
Verd'goten
(Coming of Age)
The fate of Clan Bralor was not all that unlike many of the other clans after the signing of the treaty with the Republic. However, the more harder-edge old timers refused to let their culture die off, especially their clan, as the old Mandalorian proverb goes, "Aliit ori'shya tal'din", which means, "Family is more than bloodline." If an entire people and culture could be wiped with the signing of one paper, then there would be no need for the slow agonizing process of genocide. And clans are not bound by simple blood, but those whom they can gather to same ideal and cause. The Mandalorians have survived several wars even mass genocide coupled with an utter disbanding with Mandalore the Ultimate being executed during the Mandalorian Wars and the loss of Mandalore's helm; and still they endured in large part of the efforts of Mandalore the Preserver banding the clans together once again.
The old veterans of Shannon's branch of Clan Bralor were not about let their clan completely die simply because of a single defeat and the traitorous antics of one failure who posed as Mandalore. Over the decades they gathered together what scattered and lost Mandalorians they could, at least enough to continue to wage battle against their chosen enemies. The clan sadly never grew to be anything close to its former glory, but it mattered little to them - they still sought to stockpile armaments for future battles. If the Mandalorians are going to survive, it will be through fighting as warriors - especially for Clan Bralor. Though the clan never numbered more than fifty, it was still able to form a decent sized warband, or platoon in another sense, of about forty or so. Naturally, it was Clan Bralor's warband that Leif was apart of, and what his two children joined as well.
Leif had a great measure of pride in his daughter having witnessed her first confirmed kill. It was while they were attacking a Hutt controlled black market arms supply depot. It was heavily guarded, but no match for professional warriors such as the Mandalorians assaulting it - the Bralor clan. It was while they were closing in on the depot itself pushing back the guards with a heavy suppressive firing line. With her Mandalorian assault rifle, Shannon struck one of the guards in the stomach and chest. He fell flat on his back upon being hit. The Mandalorian line still moved forward in maintaining their suppressive fire, and as Shannon passed by the guard she hit, she stomped on the guard's chest to stop his squirming from the agony he was in, and then put a shot square into his forehead before returning back to laying down suppressive fire with the others. It was done like a professional warrior, Leif was pleased with this, she learned her lessons from him well. It was after her thirteenth birthday when a Mandalorian is considered an adult, about two weeks or so after her thirteenth birthday is when she got her first kill; she truly was her father's daughter.
She and her brother quickly begun getting some good rep amongst the old timer Mandalorians for things just like that. They minded their father's lessons and followed the examples of the veterans. They enjoyed getting right into the nitty-gritty of the skirmishes, and never had problems keeping up with the rest. This would prove to be their life for a time. Those battles themselves were in fact their coming of age trials, for in the minds of this branch of the clan leaders, if they could not hack in a life and death battle, preform well, and do their duty without hesitation - then they were failures as Mandalorians, because battle is life as a Mandalorian.
Shannon however was quickly becoming a dash more popular than her brother, though. It was her unpredictable nature, generally quiet though not necessarily anti-social, more just kept to herself during the calm moments. But all that would change in the blink of an eye it would seem at times. Such as when she was fifteen, an eighteen year old boy of their part of the clan, remarked she was an impressive fighter after a raid, she punched him in the face in response. She shattered his nose, knocking him out cold with the punch; which got a roar of laughter out of the warband, then she informed him while he was laid out unconscious - it was because she was a superior Mandalorian. Or her twisted penchant for when lobbing grenades making them bounce off the heads of the targets she is throwing them at; this gets giggles some times. It is her numerous quirks like those two examples, that lead the other Mandalorians of her warband or those they come across to like her.
What brought the small raids to an end was shortly after when she turned seventeen years old. At that time the Rally Master, Karrus Bralor, Shannon's uncle - suggested they hook their warband up with other scatter Mandalorian groups. He knew of a captain of an old Kyramud, who she and her crew who were working with a few other Kyramuds taking on a pirate guild for supremacy to control an area of space around the Nivek system in the Outer Rim. They debated on joining up with them for days, Shannon had been silent on the issue. Her brother and father were outspoken about their support of Karrus' suggestion, as well as half the warband. But, Shannon despite being only seventeen held a lot of sway within the warband. She fought with a clear head and was more than once placed in charge of a small group when they had to separate, and did well in such circumstances. It was undeniable she had a voice among them.
More than a few of the indecisives on the issue looked to her for her opinion, which she was oddly hesitant to give - she worried by doing so it would cause the clan to dissolve. But, it was her father Leif who pointed out to her back when the clans numbered hundreds and thousands, they were still apart of the greater whole that is the Mandalorians and fought along side them - not as a separate clan but as one people. It was a reminder she needed at that point in time, and something that would continue to stick with her from then on; which lead her to giving her full support to the idea, and with her backing the idea several other indecisives backed it as well. It was then decided they would join Karrus' contact, Captain Seyra Kes, a member of the reforming Fett clan.
Tal be'te Bralor
(Blood of the Bralor)
This would prove to be the turning point for Shannon's "military career". The old, restored Kyramud that Captain Seyra commanded was one of a few other restored Kyramuds, that roamed Nivek space fighting a moderately sized pirate guild known as Vokure, they had plenty of ships but not the as well organized, especially against the firepower and militaristic honed skill of the Mandalorians. The captains and those they commanded viewed taking on pirate guilds as honing their Naval skills and increasing their strength and size for when it came time to undo what had been done at the hands of a vile traitor. The more they could introduce into their culture as well as gather more Mando'ads to their cause - the better.
When the remnants of the reforming Bralor clan that Shannon is apart of joined aboard Captain Seyra's Kyramud, Nocturne, Captain Seyra and Karrus begun organizing their warband/platoon into varying Naval ranks to integrate with the rest of the crew more easily. Most of the Mandalorians aboard the Nocturne were once part of private armies or navies, varying security forces, and/or mercenary bands; and thus organized themselves by military rank to accommodate that past to better organize themselves amongst their Mandalorian peers. However, this concept of ranking was utterly alien to Shannon, she was raised and trained as an old school, traditional Mandalorian - ranks do not exist: there are your veterans whom you respect and listen to, there are your Rally Masters who you listen to (though it is usually expected for you to abide by), and then there is Mandalore whose lead all Mandalorians follow. Ranks simply did not apply. In Shannon's view she led those of her clan as a Mandalorian leader should lead, via example - keeping a cool head and exceeding the status-quo while in the fray, never hesitating or stuttering when commanding those with you, utilizing a strategic mind, and having more backbone than others. Prove that you have these aspects, and warriors will follow you.
Misunderstanding the ranks for "worth and measure of a warrior", Shannon took immense offense to when Captain Seyra decided to give Shannon the rank of Ensign. Though such a rank is a great compliment, especially given she is only a seventeen year old, she still held a very strong and commanding voice amongst those of her clan and proved to be a competent leader - even amongst the veterans. However, because of Shannon not entirely understanding of how they are deciding who gets what rank, as it was never entirely explained to her, she became infuriated, mistakenly taking being giving Ensign, the lowest officer rank, as an insult.
In an instant later after Captain Seyra gave her the rank, Shannon did what would be considered typical of any Mandalorian when they think they have been insulted. She took a swing at Captain Seyra. Albeit, in the next instant Shannon found herself in complete daze from haymaker right cross, and less than a second later found herself on the cold metal floor of the Kyramud - in the fetal position with arms wrapped around her stomach gasping and coughing for air, because of a vicious left knee to the gut. Captain Seyra simply laughed off the incident remarking with a smirk, "Mando'ad'ika...", basically meaning, "Mando' kids...", After taking a brief moment to breath again. Shannon picked herself up off of the metal floor, nodded respectfully to Captain Seyra and fell in line without a word.
Later that day, Captain Seyra pulled Shannon aside to have a chat with her, and it was then she got an understanding for Shannon's perspective. The concept of ranks was something never exactly utilized around her, and thus something she did not comprehend fully the significance of. Even the colored armor of the Neo-Crusaders, she understood - however, she understood it as an archaic system of a failed past and was done away with; and thus these military ranks made even less sense to her. But she quickly learned to become accustomed to them, she is a professional warrior after all, she had been one since the ripe age of thirteen years old.
Once the two had an understanding for one another, Shannon found herself looking up to Captain Seyra quite a bit as a role-model and mentor. Shannon never had met many other Mandalorian women until then, just the small handful within her branch of Clan Bralor. Captain Seyra is the first she had actually met outside of her own clan. The captain herself is a former mercenary, and at this point in her mid-twenties, she nevertheless is highly respected veteran and leader amongst her Mandalorian peers having seen a lot of combat as a mercenary and captain of a Kyramud.
As previously mentioned though, this point in time was the true turning point in Shannon's "military career". It was after being involved in her first space battle, she and her Bralor clan warband or platoon, were one of the boarding parties for seizing the Vokure smuggling and slave frigates and freighters from the inside. They also had a couple battle carriers to protect them, but against the organized Mandalorians it really did not matter much in the end. But, the battle dazzled and amazed Shannon to no end. The great Kyramud energy beams firing upon the ships shattering the enemy's hulls. The starfighters in particular she truly became enraptured by, a testament of pure wit, skill, and tactics witnessing the dogfights, and how they swarm to pick apart the enemy carriers and disable the frigates and obliterate the freighters. It was all so beautiful to her eyes, she felt it in her Mandalorian blood that burned white hot - it was her calling.
The moment Shannon was aboard the Nocturne once again, she requested to learn how to be a starfighter pilot from Captain Serya. She needed more starfighter pilots for her ship having lost a few in battles past, so she naturally welcomed the request with open arms. Captain Seyra and a Lieutenant Terik who also served aboard the Nocturne were the two train and teach her piloting. They started her off on a Basilisk war droid, something that was a tradition at one time for young Mandalorians first going into battle. If she could not manage to pilot a Basilisk war droid, then being a starfighter pilot was out of the question.
The Nocturne possessed a few old Basilisk war droids aboard, two of them were inoperable which the mechanics and engineers continuously sought to restore. The other two were outfitted for space and ran well enough to be used, though not exactly at pique performance. Still impressively with a fair amount of practice Shannon made the best of it taking to piloting the behemoth droid like it was second-nature to her, and with her natural quick reflexes her skill at manipulating the droid seemed only the sharper for it.
Once Captain Seyra felt Shannon was competent with a Basilisk, she moved Shannon onto learning how to pilot shuttles and freighters. The intention was more to hone Shannon's piloting skills and knowledge to make her a sharper wiser pilot once she set foot into a starfighter on her own. When they would capture the Vokure slave freighters, Shannon often opted to pilot it to Captain Seyra's slave buyer contacts on Nar Shaddaa. By the time Shannon was nineteen Captain Seyra and Lieutenant Terik felt at ease with putting Shannon in a starfighter.
The first starfighter she ever flew was a modified Davaab that some Mandalorian naval units have recovered and restored from old Neo-Crusader War Forge caches. Lieutenant Terik would sit in the gunner's seat, and let Shannon fly, he figured it was best to use the Davaab that way in combat she could focus on learning how to pilot a starfighter in a hot zone and not worry about gunning anything down, he could do that. Seeing Shannon in action left Captain Seyra impressed, Shannon was certainly a natural, she was good - she learned fast and tailed each Vokure fighter out there - tailing them just right for Lieutenant to gun them down. Shannon did not fly quite as expertly as the veteran pilots out there, but it was clear from her skills from evading fire from cruisers and carriers to dogfights, she certainly followed their example and minded her lessons, just like she did when doing the black market weapon supply raids when she was younger with her clan.
As time progressed she was quickly gaining a name for herself as a starfighter pilot, eventually moving on from using the old modified Davaabs to using one of the later model Mandalorian starfighters, the Tracinya - a single starfighter with a bit more firepower to it. It is with this model where skills as a pilot really begun to shine as she continually practiced and trained in flying it to understand every inch and feel for its handling to its cockpit control placements more than by simple memory but almost as if by instinct alone. Captain Seyra, as an ace pilot herself in a starfighter, remained in a mentor position with Shannon, continuing to teach her Flight, Space, and Naval Combat Tactics. What Shannon was unaware of is that Captain Seyra was grooming her to ascend to a bit more of a commanding position aboard the Nocturne.
For Shannon, Captain Seyra became someone very dear to her, and while she was a mentor to Shannon, she was also some very close to her whom Shannon would do anything for without any question. Aboard the Nocturne, the two were inseparable, and over the years under Captain Seyra's tutelage and mentoring, Shannon grew to being one of the Mandalorian's best starfighter pilots. With the skills, techniques, and tactics taught to her by Captain Seyra, Shannon became a high-ranking ace-starfighter pilot, which is as Captain Seyra's Commander, the second in command of the Nocturne... after the first Commander died in a previous battle with the Vokure, of course.
Shannon by that time was twenty-five years old, and their battles with the Vokure were drawing to a final confrontation at an orbiting colony that the Vokure often used as their base of operations in the Nivek system. For only four Kyramuds to take on an entire pirate guild, regardless of size, is a slow and tactful process that takes years to whittle them down enough to bring them with their backs to the wall to defend their base of operation; and as stated earlier, the Mandalorians only saw this as a means to hone their battle prowess being so outnumbered.
By now, Shannon had long since had her own customized Mandalorian battle armor, it looked closer to an armored flight suit with how much she decreased its armor strength. She kept the dual wrist launchers on it from her young teenage days when raiding black market weapon depots with her father and brother. Her helm proved to be of little use for piloting, so she modified it so her HUD and internal battle computer can link up to her starfighter's battle computer and HUD, and thereby serve more of a purpose when piloting. She never carried rifle again, she figured if she ever crashed onto the surface of a planet, if she still died while having both her wrist launchers, her sidearm, vibroknife, and jetpack - she deserved to die. Her armor was green not because she simply liked the color, but because of the symbolism of duty, her duty as a Mandalorian has always been something she has prided herself on, and furthermore prided herself in regards to her duty in Captain Seyra's service for all she has done for Shannon.
Her devotion to Captain Seyra was put to the test during that final battle with the Vokure. They were utterly out matched and out gunned. Shannon coordinated the starfighters of the Nocturne and the three other Kyramuds to strike at the slave quarters of the Vokure ships. When studying the plans of the varying carriers, cruisers, frigates, and freighters the Vokure used - Shannon noticed the areas of the ship where they kept the slaves were the areas with less armaments protecting its hull than the where the pirates themselves dwell. Likely because it is easier to replace slaves than more battle worthy pirates to serve on board. But because of this flaw, Shannon often coordinated to strike at the area of where the slave quarters are inside the ships. It creates an opening and vulnerability for the other fighters, assault shuttles, light attack freighters, and Kyramuds to strike at repeatedly. She also had penchant for coordinating attacks in destroying the civilian hospital ships the pirates used to take care of their own wounded. Her logic for this being simple, they cannot come back to fight after they are healed if they have long since been dead.
Though these somewhat ruthless and heartless tactics ensured nothing for victory for the four Kyramuds against the numerous ships they faced. The Mandalorians held out for an impressively long time against the Vokure armada, leaving it utterly shredded and in pieces by the battles end. The Vokure seemed to prove each time to under-estimate the firepower of a Kyramud and the highly trained Mandalorians in space combat. But in the end, with the trading back and forth of great blasts and energy beams from the immense laser cannons as well as the series of launched torpedoes and missiles even the strong Kyramuds were ripped apart as well. While the Vokure's back was broken and their colony destroyed to the point they could never recover fully, or even keep the part of the Nivek system they once controlled; the Mandalorians were also in no shape to claim it. Three out of four of the Kyramuds were destroyed in the end, and one of those three was the Nocturne itself. Captain Seyra and half of Shannon's clan were on board at the time, including her uncle, father, and brother.
It was the most glorious battle she had ever been apart of, but also the most heartbreaking. Having lost half of her clan and the person dearest to her heart. Her green armor is a symbol of duty to her, but since the day she lost Captain Seyra she wore a grey kama, and knowing what the symbolism of grey armor to a Mandalorian, those who know Shannon understood the significance of what the addition of the kama represents for her and what her relationship with Seyra truly was. The scattered remaining Mandalorians of that battle Shannon reorganized upon the sole remaining Kyramud. The Kyramud was heavily damaged itself, but still operational and luckily its hyperdrive still worked. They set off back to Mandalore to recuperate and reorganize to strengthen themselves once again for more battles ahead of them.
Returning home to the farm she was born on where her mother still lived, Shannon had come back for the first time since she was thirteen years old. Shannon made graves for her father and brother upon their land, even though it was impossible to recover their remains from the destruction of the Nocturne. Shannon asked the remaining members of the Fett clan that Seyra was apart of, if she could make a grave for Seyra upon her families farm with her brother and father. Knowing the relationship Shannon had with Seyra, they agreed to allow her to do so. It helped Shannon gain a great amount of closure in the loss of Seyra.
In the next couple years Shannon worked as a starfighter pilot for hire, or at other times as a blaster for hire as well. Wherever she could get work as a mercenary even, the goal was three fold, earn a living, keep up her battle skills, and seek out other scattered Mandalorians. She was made head of her branch within the Bralor clan, it was her duty to rebuild it.
The second the Mandalorians made their move to rise up against the Republic, though. Shannon wasted not a moment in joining the fray to claim the Republic's blood for the past destruction of her clan. Shannon had built her clan up to seventy-five percent of what it was before its great loss at the final battle with the Vokure by the time the Mandalorian uprising at last sparked against the Republic. They all joined the Mandalorian uprising without any reservation or hesitation. The Bralor clan has for centuries fought the Republic, they would do so again.
Albeit, for Shannon her fighting as one of Clan Bralor was not to last. She took immense pride in her having a hand in the orchestration of the Republic fleet's crushing defeat when the Mandalorians reclaimed Shogun. It was her dream for as long as she could remember for her people, the Mandalorians, to be free from Republic tyranny once again. And in the beginning of their uprising, that was starting to look like a possibility.
But her hopes for the Mandalorians and the course they wound up taking diverged, one she did not want to walk with them. The uprise of the Sith Empire and all their power and resources, she could only think it was all too dazzling for the Mandalorians to pass up by not allying with the Sith once again. But that was something she simply could not support, for the Mandalorians to once again to be locked to the Sith Empire's fate, she feared they would drag down the Mandalorians with them as they did during the Great Sith War.
So, reluctantly, and with a heavy heart, Shannon left the Mandalorian flagship, Tenacity, where she served as its XO, and returned to the life of being yet another Mandalorian gun-for-hire wandering the great void alone. Until she met a peculiar pair of men by the name of Niko and Nihl, but that relationship much like several of Shannon's went cold leading her to abandon it for better prospects. Her time back as a bounty killer was a reminder as to why she grew weary of the life style. Too many unwanted personalities to deal with, she did not much care for it.
But then a bit of interesting news traveling through the Mandalorian grapevine reached her ears. Yet again the Mandalorians were left wanting for a new Mandalore, and a strong Mandalorian answered their need, but to Shannon's surprise--it was an old... acquaintance. To say the least it was highly amusing to her, and also a sign to Shannon that perhaps the Mandalorians were going to get their act together at long last. So she returned home--returned to the Mandalorian homeworld. It was where she went before the new Mandalore and those taking up the roles of leadership of their culture, and laid out before them what needs to be done to organize the Mandalorians on the naval front; but she took it even a step further and demanded command over the fleet.
Naturally given Mandalorian nature and culture, this ruffled many feathers, especially with the vacancy of a commander presiding over the fleet. But Shannon was never a woman to back down, and she made her intentions loud and clear challenging her critics outright. There were struggles, there was blood spilled--her own and her detractors and far more of it was theirs, and when the challenges were met and the arguments and battles won, it was enough to satisfy her critics to back down and give in to Shannon's will.
Rumor goes however, since seizing command of the Mandalorian fleet under the new Mandalore, Shannon has become something of a personal strategist and right hand to the new Mandalore, and the two are not uncommonly seen in each other's company.
RP Sample:
Cuy'val Dar
(Those who no longer exist)
The young seventeen year old Mandalorian girl stood shoulder to shoulder, arms length apart with her Bralor clan counterparts, all standing at attention soon after having just boarded the Kyramud called the Nocturne. Captain Seyra with her Rally Master and uncle, Karrus, whom Captain Seyra made her new Lieutenant-Commander, walked along the row of Bralor members - inspecting each of them, and determining their ranks under her command aboard her Kyramud.
The moment Captain Seyra stood before the seventeen year old girl she smiled, "This is the one you were telling me about...?", Karrus smirked and nodded firmly, Captain Seyra chuckled as she smirked as well, "Ensign.", she then turned and moved down the line.
The girl sneered in vexation with her dark blue eyes narrowing. The smirk, the chuckle, the dismissive tone - Ensign is the lowest officer rank, it was an insult. How dare this 'captain' label her an inferior Mandalorian! The girl grunted as she suddenly took a right jab at Captain Seyra. Everyone in the area turned their eyes to this, she actually swung at Captain Seyra.
But the second the girl did, the good captain seemingly just was not there any more. In the next instant all the girl saw was darkness while in a complete daze. Staggering a step or three, she was unsure how many it was - her eyes begun to focus a little. But it was in that instant, the good captain's knee was practically embedded into the girl's gut. Her eyes went wide as every bit of air escaped from her lungs. The girl first feel to her knees with both arms wrapped around her stomach as she coughed with a harsh rasp. Coughing and heaving so much she fell to her side in the fetal position with her arms still wrapped tightly around her stomach. She coughed so much she felt like she was going to throw up, but luckily she never did.
Captain Seyra merely looked down at the girl with a smile of respect it seemed as she remarked dismissively, "Mando'ad'ika...", she chuckled as she then told the girl, "Udesii... Ensign.", After taking a short moment to recover herself, the girl picked herself up - looked Captain Seyra straight in the eye, nodded to her respectfully and fell right back in line. Her stomach still hurt like hell but the girl simply took the pain, it was a lesson learned.
Looking out the bubble canopy of her Tracinya, Shannon smiled at the memory as she flew for the ship she has newly been assigned to since the Mandalorian uprising - the flagship, Tenacity. Her thoughts still on Seyra, Shannon with a fond smile softly uttered to herself - or really perhaps Seyra as though she were right there with her, "Ni kar'tayli gar darasuum..."
