Author's notes:

This is the third Bravo Squad entry. It will be the second last prequel to Desertion, followed by the very short A Shot In The Dark, which will cover Order 66 and a bit of the events leading to the Deserton. After that, I will write Terror Threat, the sequel to Desrtion, which I plan to be the final installment in this series, unless I come up with some more material.
Chapters will be released on a weekly basis.
I recommend you read the other stories on my profile in order. Their numbers are indicated. Certain plot points can be misunderstood. Of course, like my previous fanfics, certain things may not seem like they are in order, but trust me: It will be developed even further later on.
Conspiracy Theory will cover two Clone agents deserting. Kofer and Bravo are tasked with hunting them down, only to uncover a plot with links to Kofer's past.
Star Wars is owned by Lucasfilm, I only own the laptop this was written on.
This series is influenced by the Republic Commando Series by Karen Traviss.

"The aruetiise, whether foreigners or cowards, deserve
to be left to rot in the dust, while we loyal Mandos
gloriously advance. They're dishonorable shabuir."

-Unknown Mandalorian, during the Mandalorian Wars

Date: 21BBY, 11 months after the Battle of Geonosis
Location: High-rise Apartment, Coruscant

It was nighttime on Corsucant, and the Colonel was tired as she flung the door of her apartment open. Kofer had spent the last thirty-four hours searching through the lower levels of Coruscant for information on Bal Torun. The last time she had seen that Death Watch scum was when she had handed him over to the company of Clones who were supposed to take him to Galactic City. Unfortunately, along the way, his Death Watch buddies had sprung him. RepIntel had found the cargo ship floating in space, about half the distance between Geonosis and Coruscant with everyone dead from either explosive decompression or blasterfire.

She knew that she should have just shot him on that dustbowl of a planet, but the Chancellor had been determined to speak with Torun. Now he sent Kofer on here a wild goose chase just to find him. Kofer knew the man's reasons were justified, as Torun had seen information regarding Project INHIBITOR, which could not, under any circumstances, be released to the public. It was bad enough that they were at war, but news about mind control and torture could destroy the public's belief in the Chancellor.

Reminiscing about Geonosis, Torun, and the Project caused her mind to flashback to the Republic Commando squad that had assisted her in Operation Takedown. Bravo was currently in the Inner Rim, on some off-the-books data recovery mission through a space station. She sighed as she collapsed onto her bed, with her uniform still on. Even though she was Special Operations attaché, Kofer only advised the Squad on some missions. They considered her to be one of their own, often spending as much down time in the mess hall with her.

After Falco – the real Falco – was terminated in INHIBITOR while his memories were transferred into Hoffer, who unconsciously thought he was Falco and took his name and rank, Kofer felt a bit guilty. It was a by-effect to ensure that he would mindlessly obey her and the Chancellor's orders. Seeing the former Demolition Expert planting that device on the Prosecutor had caused her to be slightly sick. She originally had the thought to put a blaster bolt through his head at the end of the Project, to end his suffering, but knew she could not, so she sent his sorry shebs – oh, she was picking up some Mando'a – back to Arca Barracks with the rest of the team.

Cryer, the sniper of the team, had taken the news regarding "Hoffer's" death badly. He often sat alone on the parade square, daydreaming to himself and once even tried to top himself. When in combat, he always covered this up by becoming a comedian double act with Nuts, who became his close friend, if one could put it that way. In fact, it was the reason why she had gotten Nuts to ensure that he didn't do anything stupid. Nuts, Slicer of all systems through out the galaxy, had accepted his brother's death. According to his Mando Sergeant's reports, Nuts was one of the smartest of his batch. As a result, he had accepted that his brother would probably not come back because he had studied brain hemorrhages when training as a medic and knew that the patient had a high chance of dying.

Of course, the squad had to get a replacement. Luckily, she found For, a sole survivor from Zanax Squad, and shoved him into Bravo. Zanax had worked with Bravo before, so they knew him quite well. His team had been caught in an ambush on Kamino, and all had died. If it were not for his Sergeant kicking him through a door and sealing it behind him, For would have been a dead man. Kofer knew when to pester for details, and when she asked him if he wanted to talk about it, the expression on his face caused her to back off.

Kofer stepped off her bed and turned on the light over her desk. She picked up the mail where she had dumped it on the floor and started to sift through them. Most of it was the usual, letters from her old friends on Naboo. They were trying to reconcile her with her mother after she let the Jedi take Kofer away, but to no effect. When they called through her comlink, Kofer usually talked to them. But if they brought up her family, she would immediately cut the line. She flipped through them quickly, determined to finish reading any important ones before she went and showered.

She suddenly stopped, however, when she reached a grey envelope. On it was stamped a Clone's I.D. number: RC-2013. She knew whose number it was and opened it instantly. After Cryer's attempted suicide, she ordered Nuts to send her a monthly report. She could not trust Falco to do it because of, well, INHIBITOR, and For was the new guy, so he was ruled out. Nuts always wrote his letters on flimsi these days. As a slicer, he knew that if information was online, anyone could access it. If it was physical, only the reader could see it. She flipped it open and started reading. Nuts' handwriting was terrible and he knew it.

Kofer,

I don't know why you insist that I write to you informally. You're a Colonel, for shabla sakes. Are you trying to buy favours? Get more warra nuts out of me? You aren't getting any if you are. They're MINE.

Regarding Cryer, he's doing fine. Last week, we were sent on an assassination. I can't disclose the details, but he was pretty happy when he took off a Sep's head. Nutcase He was smiling all the way back to Arca Barracks. So don't worry, he isn't gonna top himself anytime soon. We're gonna be off duty soon, so I guess we'll see you in the mess hall from time to time.

The rest of the squad misses you. The missions that you advised us on, especially that nutty and fun one on Dagobah, were the best. Maybe someday, you can do it again? I need more nerf jerky.

Regards,

Nuts

RC-2013

P.S. For's doing fine. The windbag keeps taking the rest of the Squad's warra nuts. I do NOT need another Cryer on my hands.

When Kofer read the letter, she cringed a bit and threw letter back on the table. She never expected to gain feelings for a soldier, let alone a Clone. After seeing one of her few friends die in the defense of Naboo, she never sought any love relationships, worried that it could affect her combat performance. Putting the letter in the file that she stuffed all of Nuts' 'reports' into, Kofer walked over towards the bathroom.

It was then when she suddenly got a message on her datapad, which caused her to swear in hutt'ese as she picked it up and read from it. As she read the message, her eyes widened in fear before she quickly typed a message. She changed into her typical operation gear – civvy clothes and a bantha jacket –before running back to her speeder to drive to Arca Barracks. Something was going wrong with Bravo Squad, and they needed her help.

Location: Space Station Javert, Inner Rim
A few moments earlier

"This really is the shebs end of the galaxy," Nuts mused to himself as the TIV drifted towards the Space Station Javert. It was an Intelligence station, but right now, Bravo Squad was assigned to retrieve a transmission along with two Clone Intelligence Agents. Twy and Jan both sat at the opposite side, probably deep in conversation behind their helmets.

Beside him, Cryer racked the charge pack into the DC-17, which shined a lumnious blue. Falco was scanning through the data on his pad, noting important information. Nuts had never seen his Sergeant act like this when they were training, but after his little trip in the coma, something must have happened, so he never pestered. Nuts himself was anxious over his two pod brothers' actions, ever since the Battle of Kamino. Cryer was a bit crazier and Falco was more resigned, causing Nuts to feel slightly worried. He did not think it was a big issue, so he left it out of his reports to Kofer. He knew she probably had a lot on her plate, especially with Torun ditching them.

He was, however, especially worried for their replacement of Hoffer. For had barely gotten any contact with the squad. He only played a few sports with them since he was integrated, and during missions he appeared lost, but who could blame him? The man's entire team was killed in action on Kamino.

Twy snapped his fingers at the Squad, gathering them around the Clone Sergeant at the center of the room. Bravo noisily clanked their way towards them in their heavy Katarn Armor, causing Jan to cringe with every step. The Clone Sergeant, CT-21-2244, also known as Armful, was their assigned advisor. He was a veteran of Geonosis who had lost one of his hands in the chaos, reducing him to an office desk. Even though he was given a prosthetic, he had chucked it aside, saying his pain was what kept him alive. Despite this, Zey promoted him to advisor status because he could multi-task very well. Armful coughed into his remaining hand before starting his briefing.

"Gentlemen, this is a black-bag mission so only a few people can provide back up for us. It comes straight from Republic Command, so we can't afford to screw this one up," Armful tensed up slightly, causing the others to wonder what was so important about this mission. "This is the Javert; it acts as a sort of intelligence outpost for the Republic. Last week, it intercepted a transmission from a Separatist network and it apparently contains heavily protected information. They contacted us, and Republic Command volunteered us to retrieve it.

"So this mission is simple. Bravo is to cover you two while the Agents follow the crew and retrieve the datatapes with the transmissions. Do not let it fall into enemy hands, etc, etc, you know the drill. So are there any questions?"

A hand shot into the air at the back of the scrum. Armful groaned before asking, "What is the problem, Nuts?"

"Isn't this a bit overkill, Armful? We're sending in a shabla Commando squad into a space station where we're gonna be mostly useless. How is this effective?"

Armful swept his one hand into the air, "Personally, I couldn't agree more, but these datatapes are kriffing important to the Republic. Even though they've not discussed anything with me, there may be something on those tapes that could pinpoint a weakness in the Separatist army," He paused as the TIV finally finished its docking procedures. "Well, this is your stop. See you in about five minutes."

The Clones stepped off the ramp into the satellite station. It was very small, and the gravity force in it was weak, causing the Commandos to clatter into each other as they followed the two agents and a crewmember through the airlock. Several intelligence agents sat hard as work, typing into their terminals as they squeezed to allow the soldiers to pass through. They finally reached a data station, where Jan took a seat and started to transfer the data. Bravo Squad lounged around wherever they could, not unsealing their suits.

"So what do you think is so important about these tapes?" For asked suddenly. "If Command desperately needs it, why send us out and not a company of Clones. We're not trained for this osik."

"Settle down, vod. This stuff is, as Kofer would put it: "Basic osik"; in and out in less than thirty seconds, we should be all right. In fact, once we get off duty from this, I'm gonna go finish up that blasted story I've been working on," Cryer stated proudly as he leaned back in the small stool he found.

Falco chuckled, the only sound of laughter Nuts had heard in almost four months. "You fancy yourself a writer, ner vod? What's the story about?"

Despite him wearing his helmet, the rest of Bravo could tell Cryer was getting embarrassed. The little shifts in his seat were dead giveaways that he was turning red. "Uhh, it involves revolutionaries and guerilla warfa… You know what, never mind. I'm sure it'll bomb 'cause it suc…"

As though on cue, an explosion cut him off as the station lunged itself through space, sweeping the Commandos off their 'seats'. They hit the side of the cramp corridor with such force that Nuts was afraid it would buckle. They looked down the hallway and saw through the glass in the airlock that the TIV was completely destroyed, meaning that Armful was dead. Suspecting a CIS attack, the entire squad removed their weapons and looked around, while at the same time understanding that their blasters could do little against an enemy fleet.

Just behind them, blasterfire echoed throughout the space station, followed by the screams and howl of men dying. Cryer looked up the hallway in time to spot the Agents eliminating the crewmembers, their bodies slowly drifting to the floor while Jan pocketed the datatapes. "Oi!" Cryer roared, only to immediately regret it as a Deece opened up on him. He quickly smashed a button, causing a seal to smash shut on both sides of the squad, between them and the other Clones. Even though he knew his armor could take the blast, it was drummed into his head to take cover first. Nuts then quickly typed a code into a terminal in order to prevent the two rogue agents from opening it. Twy continued to open fire until Jan grabbed his shoulder.

"Relax, man. We've got what we need. Time to bust out of here," Jan said as he pulled on Twy's shoulder. Both Agents hopped to the back of the station and jumped into one of the escape pod. Jan threw something out of the hatch before it sealed. A few minutes later, Bravo watched in horror as the escaoe pod disengaged itself from its airlock before being picked up by another ship. They sat there in silence for a few seconds until the ship left when Falco spoke up.

"Fierfek, what just happened?"

Cryer snorted under his buy'ce. "I don't know, Falco. What I know is the fact that the di'kut pair just escaped with our mission objective. And right now, I'm sure the oxygen tanks in this ship are losing it faster than a drunk Nuts" – a small hey could be heard from the slicer working through the system –"We've got to call in a Code Red."

"Comms are down, ner vod. We can only transmit the message through the terminals. Fortunately, I know someone who knows we're out here, considering the fact that nearly no one knows where we are, since this is a black-bag operations." the Sergeant and the Sniper turned to look at Nuts, who was staring back with For hovering above him. The artificial gravity field had just switched off, causing him to float into the air. Nuts admitted he found it slightly funny, For having the Force and all. He could tell the Demo Expert was nervous, shutting up when he was usually talkative.

"I managed to get a message off to our dear ner vod. She's hauling her shebs over here right now, so we should be fine. I've done some calculations: we've got about four hours of oxygen left if we breathe calmly, plus the ten minutes of oxygen in our suits, so no deep breaths. Oh, and don't take off your helmets. If we do go into a vacuum, you'll die from explosive decompression. If you're wondering what that is, basically, your blood boils and you -"

For did not hear the rest of the statement as he blacked out, slowly drifting across the room. Nuts howled with laughter before promptly being whacked by Falco, who ordered him to stop wasting precious resources. All they could do was wait for Kofer to show up.

"So much for basic osik," Falco muttered under his breath.

Location: Arca Barracks, Coruscant
3 hours of Oxygen left

Slick lifted his hand of cards into the air and sent it slamming back into the table. "Bippity Boppity Boo! That's twenty-three, you dirtbags!"

The other three Clone pilots groaned as they tossed their cards onto the table. They were busy playing Sabacc, considering there was nothing else to do when their TIVs were grounded. Slick was a bit apprehensive at first, when he was ordered to transfer to the Special Operations Brigade from the Leveler, meaning that he would have to lose his baby. After piloting the TIV on a few missions, he had started to enjoy it even more than the larty, and decided to name it officially as the Ranger after his larty.

The overjoyed pilot scooped the Sabacc pot towards him, which was a stack of candy bars. Skirata was generous to his boys, even the pilots. Slick thought his Mandalorian way of life was bit too, as Nuts would put it, nutty for his liking, but hey, if it got him more candy bars, he would gladly accept it. The pilot across the table, CT-1992, shuffled the deck of cards and started to deal them.

"He's a kriffing cheater, I'm certain of it. I've never lost so many hands of Sabacc before with the crew on board the Assaulter," he muttered under his breath as he scooped his cards into his hands before throwing a candy bar into the pot.

"Ha ha! Don't blame me; blame your-kriffing-self for sucking so badly!" Slick sneered at the rookie, who had just joined SOB as a replacement yesterday. The other pilots always made fun of the new guys; it was like an initiation ritual that every pilot of SOB had to go through. He looked at his cards, hoping the tone of his voice did not indicate the lousy hand he had received. Looking around to make sure the other pilots were busy staring at their own cards, he reached into his sleeve to take out another card to replace one in his hand…

Only for someone to reach out and grab his arm, causing him to drop his cards in shock. The other Clone pilots saw his cheating tactics and started to jeer. Phrases like "you son of a nerf herder!" and "Fierfek! Come on!" could be heard around the table as Slick turned to glare at Colonel Kofer, who started to drag him towards the barracks door and out of the room.

CT-1992 was laughing as a joke started to form in his mind. He stood up and pointed to Slick, who was starting to stratch at Kofer's hand. "Looks like mommy came to bail you out!" All the other pilots started to roar with laughter until Kofer paused in the doorway. CT-1992 was suddenly sent flying back across the room, smashing into the wall with a yelp. The other Clone pilots darted back, eyes widened in shock. Slick himself was surprised as the pair of doors sealed behind them before Kofer took a few more steps down the hallway to let go of his arm.

"For the love of… what was that for, Colonel? Can't you see I'm trying to get more candy bars? And what in Palpatine's name was that?" Slick hissed while peeling off one of the wrappers on the candy bar. It crunched loudly in his jaws, while he deliberately chewing it with his mouth open in an attempt to get on her nerves. She, instead, ignored the jab and showed him her datapad.

"Urgent! Bravo trouble! SS Javert! Oxygen last 6 hours!" was all the datapad said. Slick began to run down the long hallway towards his TIV as Kofer quickly stuffed the pad back into her bag and started to run past him. She somehow was running faster than the pilot, causing him to swear under his breath as they finally reached the hangar bay. Both of them jumped into the TIV as Slick started to request for permission to take off. Once he finished setting up the controls, he yanked the TIV into the air and into space.

He turned to look back into the compartment bay, where he saw Kofer donning a space suit. It looked really bulky and fat. "With all due respect, ma'am, where the kriff is this Javert? And what is it?"

"It's a RepIntel space station in the Inner Rim. Bravo is currently stuck in there, and how they ended up like that I don't know why," she paused, wondering whether or not she should tell Slick why Bravo ended up there in the first place. "The Javert intercepted a transmission a week ago. They were unable to decode it, so Bravo and two Clone Agents were sent in to retrieve it on an off-the-books mission. Something clearly went wrong, because Nuts messaged me about their predicament and that now… they've only got three hours of oxygen left. I've already transmitted the coordinates to the Ranger, so just get us there!"

All Kofer heard was silence until the pilot pushed the TIV into hyperspace without warning her. The force caused her to collapse to the floor in the bulky suit, where she let out a string of curses because R&D had promised it would be better than the last suit. Slick climbed back into the bay and helped her up. "Great, they're in a black-bag op. Why'd you tell me all of that? Now I know all of this spook osik y'all get involved in. For the Force's sake, I'm just a kriffing delivery man." Slick grunted as he pulled Kofer to her feet. The suit must have been thirty kilograms. He wondered how the Colonel was able to heft it around.

"Hey, how'd you do that to 1992 in the barracks? You gotta teach me that stuff."

Location: Space Station Javert
1 hour of Oxygen left

The ball of spit Cryer spat into the air floated around, causing For to feel a bit sick. Nuts had determined that it was safe to remove their helmets, so they had unsealed their suits. As a result of the TIV's explosion, the Javert was drifting around, its only contact was a planet nearby, Dani, that was uninhabited. That was the reason why RepIntel had set up an outpost out here; in the middle of nowhere, barely contactable unless through the terminals. It was perfect for spooks.

The bodies of the dead crewmembers floated freely on the other side of the doors. Nuts had tried to unseal the door, but the code he had put in basically shut it down completely. For himself had suggested using explosives once he regained consciousness, convinced he could deploy a charge that would not rip a hole in the hull and use the pods. Nevertheless, Falco had quickly shut him down.

"Damn it, Cryer! Look at that ball of spit! If it lands on my armor, I'm gonna kill you!" For yelled as he launched himself away from the spittle, which was travelling in his general direction. It landed on Falco, who was floating behind him, and all he gave was a grunt before continuing trying to make contact with Arca Barracks. Both Nuts and Cryer exchanged looks. If it was the ordinary Falco, he would have grumbled and complained as usual. Now, it was as though he was one of the more quiet Clones, out of his wits.

Nuts rubbed his brow before checking his chrono. They had about fifty-five minutes of oxygen left. On Kamino, he said that if he had died, it would be in a hail of blaster bolts. He did not expect this when he woke up this morning. He went back to terminal and scanned a few lines of code before coming to a decision and pressing a button marked 'enter'.

All of a sudden, the section of the station they were in detached itself and lurched to the right, sending it into a deep spin. The other three Commandos gave Nuts a stare. He raised his hands with an 'I didn't do it' face as he frantically checked what had just happened. Falco approached him from behind before ordering a SITREP.

"Well, Sarge… you see that planet, Dani, over there?" Nuts continued to type lines of code into the terminal while shrugging through a viewport at a yellowish planet. Falco nodded his head. "We are currently on a crash course with it and are about to enter its poisonous atmosphere in approximately twenty minutes. If we do survive burning inside this piece of junk that RepIntel calls a space station, then we're gonna die after a few minutes on the ground."

"Oh fierfek, we're gonna die!" For screeched from behind them as he shoved his helmet back on before playing some music in his helmet. The poor guy was trying to comfort himself.

"Cool your butthole, For! Stop being such a kriffing pessimist! We are going to survive this stupid mission. Now, have you gotten those comms clear?" Falco asked his slicer, who after a few moments turned and gave him a grin.

"Su cuy'gar, Bravo," Kofer's voice whirred with static as it came through their helmets' and the station's speakers. All the Commandos looked out the viewport to see the Ranger, in all of its glory, attempting to fly next to the wrecked station. "Time to exfil, Commandos."

Author's notes:
I've been watching a lot of Les Miserablés so I threw in the reference.
Regarding CPASOW, I decided to delete it because I started to hate writing it. It also wasted a lot of time for me to come up with some new developments. So I decided to write Conspiracy Theory instead, because I prefer these characters to those ones. Consider CPASOW to be non-canon in this universe if you have read it.