The Republic military shuttle touched down gently on the face of the planet Ord Mantell. Out of it stepped the newest member of Havoc Squad: Sergeant Novade Moran. The Cathar was petite, but made up for it with fiery determination and a very large gun. Her black hair was parted in the exact center, the shoulder-length perfectly straight. Her blue eyes were large and pale, but pleased. Novade had worked for years to get this post.

Sergeant Novade caught sight of a dark man standing next to a walker, with the Havoc Squad insignia on his armor. She approached him, and he nodded. Both of them boarded the walker, Novade sitting stiffly upright in her seat, the lieutenant lounging comfortably.

Looking over at the new recruit, the lieutenant chuckled. "There's not a feeling in this galaxy like riding a hundred-tonne walker right through the middle of a combat zone, huh kid?"

"Approaching Drelliad village, sir," the driver reported over the intercom. "Scopes show small-arms fire and enemy movements in all quarters. Separatists are definitely moving on the advantage."

As the intercom clicked off, the man sighed. "Another beautiful day on Ord Mantell. You excited kid? Nervous? You know, you're the first new entry into Havoc Squad for quite some time."

Turning slightly in her chair, the Cathar said, "I'll fight the enemies of the Republic with everything I've got, Sir."

The man shook his head slightly. "There's no need to call me 'sir'. We're in the field, you can lose the formality. I'm Lieutenant Bex Kolos, but everyone in Havoc calls me Gearbox. We're a tight unit, you'll like it with us. Let me tell you why we're here: the separatists have nabbed a Republic bomb off a downed transport- a serious bomb, one of those orbital strike numbers." With a gesture of frustration, Gearbox continued, "There's no telling where the slimy bushwackers have hidden the thing. They have popular support and hideouts everywhere. Finding this bomb won't be easy."

Novade grinned slightly. "No mission is too tough for Havoc Squad!"

Lieutenant Kolos raised an amused eyebrow. "Hope you're right, kid. That bomb goes off and we're all one big crater. You'll get a full op brief once we reach Fort Garnik. For now just sit back and-"

A searing explosion ripped through the walker, sending everyone crashing to the floor. For a few moments, their intercom still seemed to work, and the driver was able to get out a message.

"Code Red! Code Red! We've been hit by an AP missile. A shoulder-launcher from somewhere in the village. Everybody hold-" Another, smaller explosion rocked the fallen walker, and the intercoms blew out.

Gearbox attempted to communicate with the cockpit. "Driver? Driver! Blast it, he's down." Turning back to Novade, he exclaimed, "Backwater separatists aren't supposed to have armor-piercing missiles! They'll tear up every convoy that comes through here!"

Novade stood to attention. "How should we proceed, sir?"

"Fixing things is my speciality, kid. I'm nowhere near the fighter you are. I'll stay and get this walker moving again. You'll disable the separatistsThe separatists will probably have there missile launchers in a cache somewhere in the village- and you can bet that the cache will be heavily guarded. Find the cache, disable the missile launchers, and double-time it back here. Got it, Sergeant?

Gearbox opened the walker door and before unfolded the apocalyptic scene of Ord Mantell; blaster bolt flaring through the sky, explosions rippling on sound waves, the sky murky and gray. Pure Armageddon. Novade hadn't been this excited since she joined the academy.

"I'm on it," she smirked.

As she made her way out into the chaos, Gearbox said softly, "Good luck out there, kid."

She'd accomplished her mission, but since Gearbox hadn't been able to get the walker back up again, he'd directed her to go to the command centre in Fort Garnik. One of the soldiers inside the command centre stopped her before she entered the command room.

"Excuse me, Sergeant? Uh, sorry to interupt, but you're the new member of Havoc Squad, aren't you? I'm Farn, sir. Private Farn. It's a real honor to meet you!" Farn was youthful, and excitable. And pretty nervous. But most soldiers started out like that. With a smile, Novade remembered that she had herself.

"Ord Mantell is my first post- I can't believe I'm here at the same time as Havoc Squad. And you're so..." Farn flushed, getting pretty embarrassed. "Or, wha- what I meant to say is, uh, sir, is that I wasn't expecting you to be a woman, sir. Ma'am. Sergeant."

Her eyes gleaming with mirth, Novade smiled and said, "You don't have any other female officers on Ord Mantell, Private?"

"Oh, uh, no, sir, it's not that. You're just so.. uh, I mean.. never mind." Farn got himself together and asked, "If, uh, If you don't mind me asking, sir, what's your mission here? Why would Havoc Squad be sent to Ord Mantell?"

Novade scowled. "The separatists stole a Republic bomb, and we're here to take it back."

Farn raised his eyebrows. "Whoa! Sounds like dangerous stuff! I, uh, I won't take up any more of your time, Sergeant. I'm sure you have lots of really important things to do. "

Novade smiled gently. "Maybe we'll run into each other again, Private."

"I hope so, sir! Goodbye!" The private was glad that he'd met a Havoc Squad member and they didn't hate him. He waved the Sergeant on.

It seemed that Novade had walked right into an important conversation in the mission control room. The rest of Havoc Squad was gathered around at the main monitor, and it seemed like the commanding officer was explaining an idea.

"Yes, so if we focus our efforts on M-sector, I'm certain that-" Catching sight of Sergeant Novade, he cut himself off. Walking over he said cordially, "Sergeant! Welcome, welcome! Good to have you here. I'm Commander Harron Tavus, Havoc Squad's commanding officer. We're all excited to have some new blood in the unit."

Commander Tavus was your basic vision of a soldier, tall, muscled, commanding. His brown eyes and hair was even the same shade, his mustache neatly trimmed. He wore what seemed to be the standard Havoc uniform, perfectly matching everyone else and making Novade feel a little isolated.

"Let me introduce you to the other members of Havoc Squad." Tavus gestured to the lanky Mirilan woman standing next to him. "My second-in-command, Captain Zora, is the squad's infiltration and assassination specialist. We call her Wraith."

The Captain nodded curtly. "Sergeant."

Next was the nervous-looking Zabrak. "This is Fues- Lieutenant Vanto Bazren. He's an expert in every type of explosive in the known galaxy."

"Oh, uh, yes, hello, Sergeant, hello. Good to meet you," the Zabrak mumbled.

"And this is Needles, Lieutenant Ryler Dorant. Needles is a medical genius," Tavus concluded, gesturing at the cyborg on his left. "He's particularly adept to synthesizing powerful new combat simulations and adrenals."

Bowing, Dorant said silkily, "Perfection is my art, Sergeant. It will be my honor to help you perform at your very best." Novade shuddered. This medic was the creepiest person she'd ever met, but he was her teammate now.

Commander Tavus continued, "And of course, you met Gearbox on your way here, so that's everyone." Turning to the rest of his team, "People, this is the new sergeant I mentioned. Ranked first in the Academy in Forward Assault, Search and Destroy, and Advanced Recon. It's good to have you, Sergeant."

Novade nodded modestly at the generous praise. "It's a real pleasure to meet all of you."

Tavus turned back to the monitor. "Now, the reason we're all here: A Republic transport, carrying among its cargo the ZR-57 orbital strike bomb, crashed in northern Avilatan six days ago. Recovery unit sent a team, but were too late. Separatist forces had already stolen the transport's cargo, including the ZR-57 and fled."

Novade held her hands in front of her, keeping them from shaking. "What are the ZR-57's capabilities, sir?"

Fuse answered her question, not sounding like an explosives specialist at all. "The ZR-57 is- well, it's serious hardware, you know? I mean, it can pretty much vaporize this whole island. So we had better get it back or well, boom."

Tavus started pacing. "We're investigating several leads on the bomb's location, but the one I want you to focus on, Sergeant, comes from a Republic spy named Bellis. Bellis reported making an important discovery, but he's in too deep for him to exfiltrate for a full report. Instead, you'll rendezvous with Bellis in a nearby village called Talloran. Bellis will meet you in a small alley in Talloran. Find out what he's discovered, and report back to the base immediately. Understood?"

"I'll talk to the guy."

Footsteps sounded outside the room, and Tavus smiled, knowing who was there.

"Sergeant, it seems I have one last introduction to make. This is Lieutenant Aric Jorgan, an operations officer from the Republic's Ord Mantell Infantry Command. Since we're on individual missions to search for the bomb, Lieutenant Jorgan is coordinating our efforts from here within the mission room."

Novade looked up to see the handsomest and most stressed out Cathar she'd ever meet. His fur was a gingery-brown, his eyes startling green with yellow ringing the pupils. His ears were more pointed than hers, and he didn't have any humanoid-type hair. His face was sculpted into a scowling position, and he had no stripes or dots like most Cathars. Sergeant Novade saluted, her left hand tight in a fist and her right as stiff as board.

Jorgan's voice was deep and quiet. "All right, Sergeant. I'll be overseeing your op through the camera mounted on your armor. I see what you see. It's activated when you leave the fort." Leaning forward slightly and lowering his voice to a growl, Jorgan said, "I'll make this completely clear, rookie. When you're in the field, what I say goes- Period."

Novade nodded sharply. "Understood, sir."

Jorgan's scowl seemed to deepen, as if he was annoyed at how curt and down-to-business she was. "Just make your way to Talloran, meet up with Bellis, and find out what he knows without screwing anything up."

Tavus looked from Jorgan to Novade, deciding to step in at the last moment. "Good luck in Talloran, Sergeant. Dismissed."