Other Lives

Outside the Capital City of Old Mankoo - Old Mankoo System

The two brothers chased, and fought, as brothers do whether from a wealthy prominent world like those of the Core or an impoverished one such as this.

"Stop Arry! Bring it back

"What's with the face? You know that's not going to work on me any...

"Ugh! What happened to them?"

---

Trailing Sectors Comman - Denon

Edite pushed her way through the harried administrator and interrupted Master Kota in what was easily his second or third meeting with Republic High Command despite the early hour. His wizened face, rarely fazed, picked up on his Intelligence Officer's concern as he apologized and ended the call - turning towards the young Balosar woman, a brow rising in quiet question.

"I think you are going to want to see this ..."

Not less than an hour later Bravo was gathered together in their team room, being one of the few teams left on station as they were afforded some time on base after their enlightening extended stay on Burnout. Edite cleared her throat - a clear call for attention - as her long braids shook nervously. The holo projector activated at the center of the table, depicting what looked to be a hospital of some sorts, the dead carcasses of a massive flock of birds littering the ground.

"One of our probe droids picked this up on a sweep of border between Republic and Separatist occupied space --- while Old Mankoo is still a Republic member world it is impoverished without much in the way of leadership as the populace rose up to oust the ruling family from power.

"We were told budget cut backs meant that this facility had been abandoned."

The image flickered, showing an image of a retreating convoy of hover trucks. A somewhat mousey Mon Calamari stepped forward, nervously gripping a data pad, "We suspect now that the Separatists may have been using the facility to develop chemical or biological weapons --- or were at least --- until they had a breach in containment.

"We may not have ever discovered this if it weren't for the die off," Edite continued, "We need to know what they were working on --- and collect evidence if we can."

---

Ani listens grimly to the beginning of the brief, Chemical weapons... like so many implements of war; a cruel and indiscriminate and cowardly tactic.

"Do we have any known, active allies on Old Mankoo? Any manned outposts or a base?

If we don't have an official planetary government to deal with, who are we dealing with? Essentially tribal powers, or...?

I get that the facility is operated by suspected Seperatists, but what's our posture going into this? Do the powers that be, in the area, know we're coming and are welcoming us with open arms, or at least permitting us to be there? Or are they suspected Separatists as well, and we're landing in basically a hot zone and should assume a 100% hostile reaction?

Also, what do we know... about the "die off" - how big of an area, it's effects? Do we know if the release is still active? If the facility is still actively producing?"

Nodding in understanding Edite's eyes scan the gathered Squads' before settling on Ani.

"We unfortunately do not have any active allies on Old Mankoo --- the Republic's stance being that they didn't want the perception of taking one side over the other in what can only be described as 'local politics'. Technically the Royal Family remains the recognized authority but their authority extends little beyond their estate walls.

"Much like our mission to Odae Ripp we will be going in dark and not in any official Republic capacity and we are to avoid any local interactions if at all possible. It's status as a border system between Republic and occupied space, combined with the volatile political situation, means you will be on your own. If things take a turn for the worse the Grand Army will not be coming in to assist.

"Our surveillance of the facility indicated the Separatists have vacated the facility and there seems to be no indication the locals were involved in any way --- nor even knew of the facilities existence. Anyone --- or anything --- encountered can and should be considered hostile.

"We know next to nothing about what you will encounter --- the Clones' armor will filter out any contagions. You Jedi and Dr. Crushing will need containment suits."

Wals looked at the footage with a grim pursing of his lips. His tail curled nervously around his ankle as he listened to the briefing, Ani's questions coming quickly apace as he expected. He nodded a little, grimacing a bit at the thought of being wrapped up in a vaccuum suit. They were always either embarrassingly tight or inconveniently bulky. For a moment he mused about the possibility of holding his breath.

"Do... we have any idea of this facility's ... full capabilities and capacity? In the worst case - if it is live and operational - what sort of resistance could we expect?"

The Balosar officer bit her lip nervously, her eyes dropping down almost in embarrassment, "As I said --- we would not have known anything was there at all if not for the apparent breach in containment. Unfortunately your orders include fact finding as much as anything. Though I think it is safe to say you should expect little in the way of resistance as our probe footage shows the research team abandoning the facility."

CT-8470 watched the briefing with interest, though it was not immediately apparent why they were the ones being briefed on this incident. Things became clearer once local politics came into play. The Republic was unwilling to move openly, and the abandoned nature of the facility would make getting an intelligence agent in there unnoticed tricky. Recon in force it was.

He allowed the Jedi commanders priority in asking questions, but soon saw an opportunity for one of his own. "About that footage," he said, raising a hand to draw the officer's attention. "Do we have any indication of where that convoy was headed?" If the Separatists had been thorough in clearing out the facility, those hover trucks might be their only lead on what they were up to.

Do you actually expect us to find anything if they are abandoning the facility? Wouldn't everything have been wiped or taken? Or did they leave in that large a rush according to your probe?

Used to the more independent thought and initiative of special forces Edite took all their questions in stride, offering the Squad an apologetic smile, "The probe droid's AI and programming prioritized maintaining surveillance on the facility so we unfortunately do not know the convoys final destination --- all indications however are that they fled in a rush. Whether they wiped the computer systems or attempted to sanitize the facility it is our hope that at least trace amounts of whatever they were working on will be found"

Ani blinks at 7447's question.

It wasn't an unreasonable question for a person to have. But clearly Command expected to find something, or at the least wanted them to verify there was nothing, as they saw it at that important.

So, reasonable for a person. But for a soldier? The question was just an eyelash shy of openly questioning direct orders.

CT-8470 nodded, his mouth a thin line. 7447 wasn't wrong, exactly, with his line of questioning, but this wasn't something the GAR could ignore, so somebody had to go in to verify the status of the installation. Without intel on the evacuation, there wasn't anywhere else to look for evidence of what they'd been working on. And for all they knew, the Seps could have left behind droid sentries to watch over the site.

"Given that we're trying to avoid being noticed by the locals, what do we know of the authorities' surveillance capabilities? Have they at least set up a cordon around the dead zone to keep civilians out?" If the locals didn't know about the facility before, they certainly did now, though given the state of the planetary government, it was an open question whether they could do anything about it.

With a shake of her head, thick braids swaying with the movement as her mouth and face grew taut, "The sad realty is that the Royal Family, whether purposefully or from mismanagement, has left the planet's economy and people in an impoverished, barely subsistence state --- whether the locals know of the facility or not it seems that have neither the capacity nor care to do anything about it. We have to assume word of mouth will be enough to keep the populace away and if an outbreak does occur it will give the Republic the ability to respond to the local situation under the guise of providing aide."

The young Balosar woman shrugged her shoulders, indicating that why she might think it unfair, such was the way of war.

Lucky listened to the meeting attentively, but silently. He was satisfied with his squad mates questions up to now, so he kept observing. As always, you coud learn a lot about a brother by what he noticed first.

For maybe the first time in is life, the trooper was glad he would be isolated from the GAR. Dying in battle was expected for clones. That would be his fate also probably. However, the mental image of a whole battalion of brother lying dead on the ground without a blaster mark, like those birds, was deeply unsettling.

As for the mission, they would be behind enemy line, but at least the enemies would not hide as supposedly allies. Lucky was quite confident in the squad to handle themselves. Apart from investigate and return, he was not quite sure what was commands expectations. He did not press the issue though. Having clear orders to follow before they could even figure out what was happening would be inconvenient. The commanders would have the authority to decide and it would be simpler to follow them if it didn't conflict with vague High Command directives.

Ah! Lucky thought to himself with a slight smile at the corner of his mouth. I'm starting to think like a commando already.

What's Old Mankoo's tech like? Climate? CT-8345 was in business mode, like a switch had been flipped since the card game. He wanted to get a feel for where he could scope the site, at least up until the die-off's perimeter. But also.... And do scavengers care much for them? If word does get out, there might be a new influx, but it'd be nice to know if we're starting with any established trains.

"Due to the desperate situation with their economy, obviously what tech they do have will be dated if not derelict --- and the local populace has learned to make due with more conventional ways of doing things but their society is advanced.

"The facility is located outside of the capital city, upon the grassy plains that are abundant to the region. It's the middle of their planting season so the temperature should be mild --- with a possibility of some wet weather," the intelligence officer replied, smiling politely.

"Scavengers shouldn't be a concern. The impoverished state of things would not be attractive to galactic scavengers and the locals most likely stripped the facility of everything useful before the Separatists moved in --- the locals most likely felt everything of value had been picked clean or learned that the new tenants would not treat the curious kindly thus appear to avoid the area."

Wals tipped his head slightly. "Does the probe have enough reconnaissance information to provide a covert flight path and landing site? If we don't have communications with them, we do not want to attract the locals with a strange ship landing near their capital..."

"As the local populaces' primary concern is scraping by, I doubt you will attract much attention at all. Though your concern is valid --- maybe not landing at the local landing field --- though the plains surrounding the facility offer ample areas to land and land out of the way."

She shrugged, adding "I'm sure you could request some speeder bikes or other mode of transportation to get you there quickly and covertly."