In the pub of an unknown town, the patrons of a table couldn't believe what they were hearing from a recently hired waitress who had been asked why she had abandoned her previous home.

"Seriously, I was there. I saw how it happened myself." The waitress said.

"Bullshit!" Shouted one patron.

"You sure you didn't dream it up?" Said another.

"Drove off a fire dragon? How ridiculous!" Another hollered.

"Fine! Don't believe me? I don't care! I know what I saw!" The waitress huffed.

At a nearby table, four knights sat quietly while one of the knights' eavesdropped on the waitress' story.

"Well, what do you think?" Questioned Hamilton to her compatriot, Norma.

"I think everything in this bar is awful. The food and the drink included." Norma then stared at the waitress who was arguing with another patron and smiled, "Well, at least not everything is awful."

"Norma, stay on topic. We're talking about the fire dragon." Said Grey.

"You're being too loud, we're trying to remain inconspicuous" said Pina, "Go on, Hamilton."

"This rumor has been spreading like wildfire. Apparently, a group of mercenaries wearing white armor with green markings helped in the evacuation of Coda Village and defended the villagers by driving off a fire dragon."

"There are all kinds of dragons in this world, you know. Ancient ones, newborn ones, winged ones, and so on. How could they be sure it was a fire dragon?" Norma said.

"Oh, it was a real fire dragon, good sir." The waitress suddenly making her presence known to the group.

"Please, don't try to fool us!" Norma scoffed.

"I saw it with my own two eyes!" The waitress protested.

Hamilton jumped in before an argument could ensue between Norma and the waitress, "Actually, can you tell us about the mercenaries who drove off the fire dragon?"

"Hmm, I'm actually not sure where those men were from." The waitress feigning ignorance.

"Don't worry, I believe you." Hamilton said as she offered the waitress a tip.

The waitress gladly took the tip and continued, "Thank you, young knight! Since you're interested, the day when the fire dragon attacked, these strange men in white armor saved us. They had magical weapons with them that I can only describe as iron rods that released blue lightning and they rode on strange floating carriages without a horse!"

Finally returning to the base at Alnus Hill, Fordo was being personally debriefed by General Deova for some time already.

"So there was no other choice?" Eila questioned.

"Yes, General. The villagers simply couldn't take them since they didn't have enough to share."

Eila sighed, "Alright, we'll give them proper accommodations. Now, what about this fire dragon you encountered? You say you only injured it."

"Yes, ma'am. A rocket launcher shot managed to sever its left arm."

"Can we expect the beast to be a persistent problem to us?"

"I'm unsure, ma'am. But the villagers certainly feared it coming back after it burned down the elves' village in the Koan Forest. It was also smart enough to dodge one of our rockets. If it's truly intelligent, we should expect it to hold a grudge against us."

"What's your recommendation if we were to encounter the fire dragon again in the field?"

"Heavier firepower, ma'am. Every recon team should have multiple rocket launchers with them. Although, rocket launchers are somewhat clumsy to handle when moving on a BARC speeder. I strongly recommend that we have tanks join in on the recon."

"Hmm, I'll have to take that up with Republic Command. They'd much rather send us a little as possible right now and asking tanks to do cross country isn't exactly good for both the tanks and the few supplies that we get." Eila sighed again, "Thank you for the report, Captain. See to the needs of our refugees. It'll be explained to Command that we took them under humanitarian grounds. You're dismissed but on the way out, send in Commander Wrench."

Fordo acknowledged her order and saluted. On his way out of the office, he called Wrench in who had been standing outside. Once the office door closed, Eila spoke first,

"So what did the other recon teams learn?"

"After reviewing the other teams' reports, we're still having some trouble with the local language. Fortunately, it hasn't led to any conflicts with the locals and it seems the men are starting to realize where some mistakes with the language are occurring and are adjusting themselves accordingly."

"Good. What about the locals?"

"Most of the locals our teams have encountered are humans or near-humans. Although, the locals report there are also non-humans but the non-humans like to keep to themselves. Most of the locals we've encountered are mostly farmers, practicing agriculture or forestry. Others tend to be merchants. As for any sort of manufactured good that would come from an industrial base, the locals have pointed to the Empire, which some also call the Saderan Empire."

"Hmm, what's the status of the Empire in the region?"

"It seems that the Empire doesn't have a strong grip in this region. Most of the villages we've gone to have their own style of government, usually led by a village elder, but they acknowledge that they are subjects of the Empire and give tributes willingly whenever the Empire's soldiers come around. Although, there are also some villages that used to be run by a local Lord and are wondering why their leader hasn't returned from a war the Empire declared."

"We might have something to do with that. What did the men tell them?"

"The men say they either didn't give an answer about it or that they didn't know about a war."

"Hmm, we might have to keep an eye on those places."

"Why, General?"

"The last thing we want is for those places to descend into anarchy and have random civil wars and bandits popping up all around us."

"Actually, General, now that you mentioned bandits..."

Two days ago…

Two clones of Recon Team Two lay prone using bushes as cover while they observed a group of bandits at night.

"Look at these bastards, Truk." Said the clone as he adjusted his macrobinoculars to the group 'pleasuring' themselves with three women who the clones assumed to be hostages.

"I know, Bo."

"Why can't we just shoot these guys?"

"You know exactly why, Bo."

Bo sighed, "I know, the ROE, don't engage unless engaged by the enemy. Still, shouldn't we contact the base and tell them to adjust our orders."

Truk entertained Bo's suggestion and tried his holoprojector to get new orders but the holoprojector only gave static, "Still no comms with base. Besides, Lieutenant Evo wants us to observe these guys so we can report back to the General about what's happened to the remnants of the enemies we fought at Alnus."

Bo sighed again but once he refocused his attention to the bandits, he noticed that all of them were looking off in the distance in fear of something. "Uhh, Truk..."

"One of them was just beheaded." Truk simply stated.

"Huh?"

"A girl in a red and black dress with a huge ax just beheaded that guy."

Bo moved his macrobinoculars to then see the girl Truk described. He then saw her raise her ax and cut down another bandit.

"Turn up you vocal receiver." Said Truk.

"W—What?"

"Turn it up, we need to hear what's going on over there."

Bo quickly adjusted the settings in his helmet and maximized the input to his vocal receiver. Listening carefully, he could hear the girl amid short yelps and screams from the bandits she was killing.

He heard the girl saying, "...requests your presence. I am Rory Mercury, Apostle to the Dark God, Emloy."

"Rory Mercury!?" Said one alarmed bandit.

"One of the Apostles!"

"Run!"

While Bo listened, Truk viewed the absolute annihilation of the bandits as the girl then sprinted beyond a human's ability to run and watched her carve up the bandits mercilessly, hacking off appendages or heads with little effort. The mere savagery of her attacks with her weapon was also causing small tremors that the clones felt even though they were quite a distance away. In a few short minutes, all of the bandits had been killed and the girl reveled in all the blood she had been stained with. The girl then looked over to the three women the bandits had been playing with who lay motionless. The girl moved on.

The clones would stare in awe at the battlefield long after the girl had left only to be interrupted by their Lieutenant calling to them.

"Truk, Bo, status report!"

"S—Sir."

"What is it, Bo?"

"We need to report this back to base, sir."

Present…

Fordo quickly gathered the supplies needed for the refugees and began taking their names. Unfortunately, for the time being, the refugees would have to sleep in the barracks with the clones. The housing units wouldn't be ready until the next day. One by one, the refugees answered to him.

"I am the sage, Cato El Altestan and this is my student..."

"I am Lelei La Lalena."

"I'm Rory Mercury, Apostle to the Dark God, Emloy."

"I'm the daughter of Hodor Marceau, of the Koan Forest, Tuka Luna Marceau and uhh..."

Fordo noted the names and handed it off to Fick who would give the names to Eila. He then instructed the refugees of where they would be sleeping, eating, and the areas that would be off limits like the weapons locker. Once he finished, he allowed the refugees to explore the base.

Lelei would be the only one to seriously take Fordo's offer to explore the base and stare in fascination at everything brought from the other world. She would ponder on how the doors would slide open at the presence of person intending to walk through, wonder how there were lights without a fire, stare at the mechanics assembling LAATs and managing other vehicles, look at clones performing drills, and noting the language the clones were speaking. She would eventually come across Tuka, who was staring aimlessly at BARC speeders passing by heading out of the base.

"Is something wrong?" Lelei asked.

"Huh? Oh, no. It's just that my father will be disappointed that he's not seeing all of this. I'll have to tell him later."

Lelei noticed something was wrong with Tuka's tone but decided to ignore it when a clone came by and asked if they wanted to eat something. Tuka would refuse intending to eat later but Lelei went with the clone to an area designated as the 'cafeteria' by the clones. She would be presented with a meal that the clones looked indifferent to but upon her teacher eating some of it by taking a bite out of some bread, he would happily munch it down and thank whoever made something so good.

After the meal, Lelei would follow Fordo around to observe what he was doing. Fordo wouldn't care that he was being followed by a curious refugee. Following him around, she noticed that he was bargaining for supplies or asking his men to do certain tasks. After some time following him, Lelei would notice that they were being approached by a woman in earth colored robes accompanied by four clones. The woman, in Lelei's opinion, looked like a monk but she obviously held a high position as Fordo would salute the woman. From what Lelei had learned of the language, the woman seemed anxious and said there was a problem that they needed to talk about privately. Fordo would ultimately tell Lelei to stop following him as he and the woman walked off into one of the buildings considered off limits.

"What's the problem, General?" Fordo questioned once they had entered Eila's office with Wrench standing to the side.

"It seems you've unwittingly brought a significant security threat to this base." Eila began.

"Ma'am?"

"What do you know of Rory Mercury?"

"Oh, the black dressed girl? From what I could tell, she certainly makes me feel uneasy, but she hasn't done anything threatening towards us. I did report that she helped us drive off the fire dragon and that the locals here revere her like some kind of deity. She also invited herself when she joined us and so far, while she's been here, nobody has reported anything against her."

Eila evaluated Fordo's response and understood that he was correct. No one has reported Rory for any suspicious actions and she was involved in the incident with the fire dragon. Still, Eila didn't want to risk the lives of her soldiers if she just lets a superhuman threat whose allegiance was unclear casually walk around the base.

"Fordo, tell me where Rory is."

"General?"

"I just want to talk with her. I want to know what her intentions are with us. Bring that girl, Lelei too. I understand that she's catching onto Galactic Basic fairly well."

"Alright, General. I last saw her in the commissary."

Eila brought three clones with her along with Wrench while Fordo went to get Lelei. Turning to the cafeteria, Eila would see Rory chatting with some of the refugees. Eventually, Fordo came behind them with Lelei in tow. She would ask Lelei for help with translating and Lelei agreed. Approaching Rory, Eila asked her to come with them. Lelei gave the translation.

"Oh?" Rory responded with Lelei giving the translation to Eila. "Why should I go with you?"

"I'd just like to ask some questions about you."

Standing up from her seat and picking up her halberd that she had hid under the table, she developed a smile that made Eila feel even more anxious, "Oh, I see. Well, prove it then."

"Prove what?"

"Prove to me that you can take me." Rory began effortlessly twirling her halberd in a show of force. Likewise, the refugees began backing away knowing what kind of person Rory was.

The clones around Eila began gripping their blasters tighter but she ordered them not to shoot unless attacked first. She sighed. She understood what this meant. Rory wanted to see their worth in battle. A one on one duel. Taking a hold of her lightsaber, she prepared to ignite it before Wrench took a hold of her hand.

"General, you can't accept this."

"Think I'll lose." She joked.

"N—No. I don't doubt you'll win but I wouldn't be a very good Commander if I allowed my commanding officer to fight some duel without thinking about your safety. I also have to consider every possibility. It would be devastating to this campaign if you were to die."

Eila's face softened at Wrench's concern but Fordo would speak up, "I'll take her."

"Captain?" Eila questioned.

"I'll fight her." He repeated, "It would be less of a problem if I were to lose."

"Captain, losing you would be devastating too."

"Better a clone than a Jedi, General."

Eila shook her head at his response but Fordo would turn to Rory and ask, "What's the condition for you to comply with General Deova?"

Rory smiled as she would say, "Well, I would have preferred your General, but you'll do, Republic warrior. You only have to subdue me otherwise, I'll kill you."

Eila sensed no deception in her statement but remained wary. So far, anytime Eila had tried to gauge Rory through the Force, the Force didn't give her a solid answer.

Accepting the condition, Fordo stepped forward and readied himself as he drew his dual DC-17 blasters and set them to stun. Even though Rory intended to kill, he didn't want to kill a guest who could prove valuable to the overall mission. Seeing that he was ready with his weapons, Rory sprinted at him. Fordo realized that she moved like a Jedi and reacted accordingly by dodging her first strike. Her first strike dug her halberd into the ground and was impressed that he had dodged it. The spectating crowd would jump in fright as her strike caused a localized earthquake. Fordo began firing stun shots at Rory who also began dodging them. Getting a little excited, Rory also began using her halberd to block the shots and trying to take swipes at him when she got close. Fordo would be surprised that the stun shots didn't seem to travel along her metal halberd but continued to fight. As the fight progressed, some of the clones were cheering Fordo on. At this point, RT3 had also gone to the commissary to see what the racket was about and Hoot took the initiative to start taking bets.

"Taking all bets! 250 for the Captain! 150 for the newcomer!" He called as some clones began pulling out their credits.

Pressing on and licking her lips, Rory swung her halberd in which Fordo ducked to avoid the strike. But it was a feint as Rory immediately kicked him in the head. Fordo went flying along with losing one of his blasters and landed on his back near Eila. Rory quickly approached, prepared to deliver the final strike on the dazed clone but Eila sensing that Fordo will need it, threw her lightsaber into his hand. Fordo quickly regained his senses and ignited the lightsaber which blocked Rory's halberd.

Everyone was astonished at what just happened as Rory and the refugees still in the room were surprised at the sight of a lightsaber. Eila was likewise surprised that her lightsaber didn't melt through Rory's halberd as it has done with other weapons in this world. Backing off, Fordo got up and began to parry strikes from Rory's halberd. He wasn't a Jedi but Fordo at least understood some basics of sword fighting. Feeling her blood boil in excitement, Rory's moves began to become wilder. Seeing that he needed to end this fight quickly as Rory's strikes were starting to get a little too close to their spectators, Fordo readied his remaining blaster. Soon enough, Rory lunged at him and again embedded her halberd into the floor. Seeing this as his opportunity, he used the lightsaber to lock the weapon on the ground as Rory began to lift it. Having been jolted by her weapon getting locked down, Rory looked at Fordo and only saw the end of his blaster. Fordo fired and Rory was hit with the stun.

Falling to the ground unconscious, the clones burst into cheers at Fordo's victory while the refugees were shocked that an Apostle was just taken down.

"Oh, yeah!" Hoot called, "We have a winner!"

Bringing Rory to the brig in case there were going to be any bitter feelings on losing, Eila waited for the stun to wear off while Ramius examined Fordo for any lasting injuries.

"Ramius, I'm fine."

"I'll be the judge of that, sir. You took a good blow to the head."

"There's a reason why our helmets are tough."

While Ramius continued to pester Fordo if he was really okay, Rory began to stir. Waking up, she saw Fordo, Eila, Lelei, Wrench, and Ramius in the room as well as a strange translucent wall separating her from them.

"What is this place?" Rory asked.

"It's our brig. Our prison." Eila responded.

Rory's face developed a frown as she approached them from her cell. "I'm a prisoner now. I thought I said that I would comply with you if you win. You're not being very honorable." She directed her last comment directly at Eila

"I'm sorry. I just wasn't sure if you'll feel bitter about losing."

"Oh, I don't mind losing, General. It serves as a lesson for improvement. Now let me out."

Sensing no ill will against them, Eila lowered the ray shield confining Rory. Rory walked out calmly while wondering aloud at where the mysterious wall went.

"It's an energy field. I turned it off."

"Oh my, how truly strange. Well, General. Your subordinate subdued me, what questions would you like to ask?"

Feeling no danger, Eila ordered everyone except Lelei to leave. Wrench would advise before leaving that they'll be just outside. Once the clones left, Eila began to think of where the situation might go. At best, Rory just stuck them on a personal whim, at worst, she's a spy for the Empire.

Eila started, "Ms. Mercury..."

"Ohh, just call me Rory." She said with a smile.

Eila waited for Lelei's translation and then responded, "Alright, Rory. I'm General Eila Deova of the Grand Army of the Republic."

Rory likewise waited for the translation this time and then answered, "You're the leader of these men? Oh my, well Eila, you've certainly done a wonderful job leading them. They've been nothing but helpful and are certainly courageous."

Eila thought at objecting to the use of her name but simply continued, "T—Thank you, I'm happy to hear that. But Rory, I would like to know what your intentions are with us?"

"My intentions?"

"Yes. From Captain Fordo's report, you just appeared and decided to help with the fire dragon spontaneously." Taking a breath, Eila decided to simply state her issue, "Your actions also make me curious because I have another report from another recon team that observed you the night before you met with Fordo's team."

"Spying on me? Oh my! Well, what did that other team say?"

Eila observed Rory's reaction and it had hardly changed since being released from her cell; still smiling. So Eila decided to push a little, "Well, that other team was spying on bandits. Bandits that you then mercilessly slaughtered. And from what the other team described, it ultimately makes me concerned about the safety of my men now and whether you're a threat."

Lelei seemed to hesitate in her translation but continued with it but Rory was hardly rattled by it, "Oh my! You certainly care for your men. Unlike the other Generals of this world who would arrogantly send their men to their deaths trying to win a battle that could never be won. But when it comes to bandits or criminals, I was simply dispensing justice."

"Justice?"

"Yes. They forfeited their lives when they chose to involve innocent people into their games. I'm sure your society has something similar to deal people who commit heinous acts."

Eila saw that Rory was right. The death penalty was hardly illegal in the Republic for its most atrocious criminals. Anakin Skywalker's padawan was almost handed that sentence.

"I understand." Eila said, "We do have a system that punishes criminals but we usually like to put such people through a trial first to determine the right punishment."

"Your society is lucky to advance that far. Trials here are dependent on influence and power. True justice is rarely ever achieved."

Eila raised an eyebrow to Rory saying such a statement when in the opinion of some people about the Galactic Republic, particularly the Separatists, Senators in the Galactic Senate are accused of being only interested in power and influence. Eila also then remembered that the trial against Skywalker's padawan turned out to be wrong. But she still wanted to know an answer to her previous question. "Still, I'm unsure of your intentions with us. What made you join us so suddenly and what's making you stay?"

Rory then looked off and began thinking of a response until she began with saying, "Honor."

"Honor?" Eila questioned with confusion.

"When I first met your men, Fordo and his team, I initially thought they were leading the people of Coda Village astray but then the people of the village convinced me otherwise. Still, I had some lingering doubts about the intentions of your men. But when I saw your men selflessly defend the people from the fire dragon, I knew that they were honorable and that it would be worth spending my last years with them. To give my services to honorable friends. I also find that Republic warrior, what was his name again? Oh! Fordo to be particularly interesting. Especially now after our little fight."

Eila was beginning to see that Rory had a strong sense of justice and was likewise suspicious of the clones' actions as she had been of Rory's. Although, Rory's last statement threw her in a loop, "Fordo? Interesting?" It slowly dawned on her about Rory's insinuation of Fordo, "Oh, w—well, as clone troopers, they're not allowed re—relationships of that k—kind as long as they're in the Army and you look a little too you—"

Rory interrupted with a subdued anger in her voice that Lelei likewise tried to mimic in her translation, "I. Am. Not. A. Child."

"S—Sorry." Eila apologized then realized something that was said, "Wait, you said your 'last years'. What do you mean by that?"

Rory dropped her usual smile and fell into a melancholic mood, "General, can you please keep this a secret? And you, Lelei was it? Keep quiet about this too."

Both Lelei and Eila nodded in response.

"Well, Eila, I'm an Apostle. I've been blessed with a long life, superior strength and speed, and the ability to regenerate, among other things. But despite this, I've lived for 961 years. Another 40 years or so and I'll eventually ascend as is the endgame for all Apostles and when I do, I'll lose everything. My body, my emotions, everything that defines me will disappear when I move on from this world. I just want to enjoy my last years in the company of good people. I was afraid I would spend it wandering the world aimlessly. But meeting you people, I'm feeling such emotions that I don't think I've felt in a long time."

Eila let Lelei translate and while surprised that Rory was just as old as Master Yoda, she smiled at Rory and said, "I hope you enjoy your stay with us then."

Elsewhere, Princess Pina Co Lada entered a monastery that was tending to an injured Lord Duran. She had met Duran before at an Imperial banquet and thought of him as a fine man. To see him now without a left arm and leg and looking dishevelled made her cringe at the strength of the unknown enemy she had been sent to investigate.

"Lord Duran!" Pina said alarmed at his current state.

"Princess Pina!" Duran exclaimed in surprise but his face then fell into a frown and eyed her suspiciously, "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here after having followed rumors about Alnus. I heard a rumor about a Lord recuperating in this monastery who had faced the enemy."

"Rumors? Do you truly not know what happened to the Army of Unified Kingdoms at Alnus?"

"I only know that you were defeated."

"Ha!" Duran shouted, "We were defeated before we even fought! But at least the Allied Army's honor remains intact. I can't say the same for the Imperial Army! The Imperial Army was already defeated before we stepped in and the Emperor called to us anyway. I finally understood it when my scout informed me on the first day, we were a potential threat to the Empire, so the Emperor used the enemy to get rid of us."

"I—I know that the Imperial Army fought beforehand but what you're saying is..."

"The Empire betrayed us!" Duran interrupted, "So many lives tossed away to ease the Emperor's conscience!"

"M—My Lord, could you at least still tell me what you know about the enemy at Alnus?"

Duran scoffed, "If you truly want to know, why not go to Alnus yourself?" The old man turned away from her, ignoring her continued pleas for information.

Saddened that Lord Duran didn't want to cooperate any further, Pina left the monastery to discuss with her knights of where they were headed to next.

"Any new rumors for us to follow?" Pina asked as she approached the group.

"Well, apparently Italica is being attacked by some army." Hamilton said.

"Italica? It could be the enemy from Alnus. Italica lies between us and Alnus." Grey said.

Considering the destination, Pina gave the order, "Hmm, Norma, send word for the main unit to move out and meet us at Italica."

"Yes, your highness!"

Pina continued, "Hopefully, we can drive the enemy away quickly from Italica and have it as our rest stop before we go to Alnus."

A day after Eila had a talk with Rory, Fordo looked over some documents concerning the supplies needed for the refugees and was quite surprised the higher ups were willing to spare as much. He thought there would be less. Although, the General had come to him earlier that at some point, he should thank a certain Senator from Naboo for this. He would be interrupted by Fick and Ramius who would voice their concern over Tuka.

"Two of everything?" Fordo said.

"Yes, sir." Ramius said, "Supplies for herself but also for a man judging from the clothing that she asks for."

"Have you asked her why?"

"I had Lelei ask," Fick answered, "But while she's learned plenty of Basic, we didn't get far. Tuka seems to like avoiding questions. Even asked Lelei's teacher, but he doesn't really understand Tuka's behavior either."

"Thanks for the report. But, if Tuka doesn't want to say anything about what's bothering her, we'll just have to give her some space and let her come to us." Fordo said and began thinking of what was behind Tuka's actions.

Outside in the refugee area, Rory questioned to Tuka who was staring off into the distance if there was anything wrong, but Tuka would say there was nothing. Rory would then move the conversation on and lament that they would no longer be sleeping in the barracks with the clones.

"They said it was only temporary. They would make lodgings just for us." Tuka said.

"Oh, it's still a pity." Rory sadly said.

"But I wonder about how we're going to take care of ourselves."

"What do you mean?"

"We'll need to take care of ourselves at some point. The Republic soldiers won't always give us handouts and I'm unsure what to do when they stop. We might even have to sell ourselves to them if we can't provide for ourselves!"

Rory thought back to her interactions with the clones and her conversation with Eila, "You won't have to worry about that, Tuka. They're not like that."

The two of them though would be surprised to see Lelei wearing a clone trooper helmet. Lelei removed the helmet and asked the both of them to follow her, having eavesdropped on the conversation using the technology in the helmet. She would lead them outside the base where the clones had gathered the bodies of the winged dragon mounts both the Imperial and Allied armies used for air support.

"The Republic has no need for them and I asked Captain Fordo and he said that General Deova doesn't care if we take all the dragon scales we want from them." Lelei explained.

"Dragon scales? Those are quite valuable!" Tuka said.

"Yes. We won't need to sell ourselves."

After gathering an ample amount of dragon scales, Fordo and the rest of RT3 were ready to escort Tuka, Lelei, and Rory to the nearest trading hub where they could sell the scales.

"Are we a delivery service now, Captain?" Hoot asked as he and the other men of RT3 mounted their speeders.

"I don't know, Hoot. You gonna make a bet on that?"

Hoot would give a sheepish apology to Fordo but Fordo would explain to him and the other clones, "The route to Italica, the nearest trading hub, apparently has bandits roaming around. Besides, it's good that the refugees can provide for themselves and it will give the higher ups a look into this world's economics or as apparently we're supposed to call this place now, the Special Region."

Suddenly a speeder pulled up next to them and the rider pulling up her goggles then called to Fordo, "Mind if I join you?"

"G—General!" Stuttered Fick.

Fordo wasn't fazed, "Of course you can, General. But why?"

"It's a part of my duties too as a negotiator on behalf of the Republic. You are trading those scales, right? Besides, I also want to see what this Special Region is like. I don't want to spend all my time here confined to a desk."

Fordo nodded and ordered, "Alright, let's go!"