Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Age, Star Wars or Aliens
Dragon Wars: Odyssey and Revolution
Episode 3: Projects and spies
There was a certain tranquillity to be found in looking at the stars. That was at least how Carter Rogers felt whenever he looked at them, taking himself back to his childhood in the farms of Dantooine. The blonde haired, giant of a man looked towards his team mates in reaper squad, watching them each go through their own private preparation. They felt the old drop ship they were in shake as they hit the atmosphere of Manaan. Carter remembered the last time he had been to Manaan, receiving Kolto treatment for injuries he sustained on Ryloth. Soldiers like him had been able to hone this skill due to rebellions and terrorist plots, most of them in protest of the current chancellor.
"Masks on reaper squad," he commanded.
The other four men and two women nodded, putting on their scout helmets and the breathers on their faces. Carter gave the hand signal to the pilot, who nodded through the rear mirror and opened the hatch. The floor beneath the soldiers suddenly slid apart, leaving them dangling from their harnesses. Carter was first to unhook himself, diving through the clouds of Manaan, a single object that wouldn't be detected by planetary sensors. He opened his arms, letting the glider wings built into his arm pits use the wind for flight. The other squad mates soon joined him and began their descent towards Manaan's vast ocean. They were miles away from any of the cities, their contact would pick them up at the fishing route several miles away from their target.
Radio contact was cut, the only real advanced technology Carter had were the weapons the sealed pack on his back contained and the camera mounted on his shoulder. Once they hit the water they took off their flight suits, letting the clothes dissolve as they were designed to. They began a long and treacherous swim deep into a trench, where a small base was located. Only this base didn't have the local species of Selkath manning it, the Manaan government was infamous for handling things by themselves; everyone remembered their attempts at neutrality during the old war. Human, Zabrak and Twi'lek mostly, but a vast majority were human. Carter had a Nautolan, a good man named Kailan (didn't smile too much) and a Vurk, a good woman named Paras (she didn't talk too much) their own amphibious nature was ideal for the mission as they didn't need oxygen for their equipment. With Deacon, Jenkins, Deckard and Danni to complete the squad, it was less than ideal, the latter two had little experience and one of the former had never worked under Carter before (he was sure Deacon had some kind of PTSD). But Carter couldn't be picky about who he worked with, nor could their commander be picky about who he deployed.
Carter internally summarised the mission as he and Kailan worked to silence the workers on patrol. Republic intelligence had uncovered evidence of a base in Manaan, supplies were delivered by a smuggler who sided with the Sith during the war. Shots from the harpoons mounted in their wrists were enough, the enemy used heavy and bright deep pressure suits, the kind the republic used in a not so legal base they used to have on Manaan. Carter and his squad had only swim suits and minimal plating armour, Kailan and Paras had little to no head protection considering helmets weren't friendly to their species. Eventually they reached a hatch on the southern side of the base, which itself was half the size of a Hammerhead warship. They breathed a little easier when the water drained and they were able to breathe the artificial air of the station.
The squad members then proceeded to deactivate their sealed packs and equip their weapons, nothing republic made, a few Rancor enforcers and Huntsman carbines with the added extras of silencers. Carter strapped the heavy modified carbine he used on missions and the automatic bowcaster. He waved his fingers for Deckard and Jenkins to check the next room; they cautiously approached, using scanning equipment to check for body temperature or droid signatures. Two security droids, as they confirmed, which meant there was a good chance the droids were scanning for them too. Kailan didn't need a command to get into the security system, using his security spikes to hack one of the consoles and secure access to their broader network.
'Cameras put into a loop, security doors unlocked, gas traps shut down,' Carter checked the text Kailan had relayed to his gauntlet.
He gave the signal and Deckard and Jenkins opened the door. Paras and Danni fired their rifles, hitting the droids with ion blasts. Carter took aim at the additional two guards, silencing them before they could call out or reach for their blasters. They had a couple of close calls, some droids missed, some guards getting lucky shots off. But Carter kept his squad going and they eventually reached the lab where the real fun began. A droid with a heavy blaster cannon marched up, its heavy armour protected it from burst shots. Carter cursed as he went around the corner for cover, a super battle droid, Trade federation designed.
'Someone has paid a lot for security,' he thought.
He and Jenkins came out of cover long enough to shoot two guards that came out to aid the droid. Jenkin's though was hit by a barrage of blasts, the red beams ripped through his shields, followed by his torso. Carter felt Deckard tense up behind him and he could hear the scientists in the next room.
"Delete the files," one commanded.
"I can't, I've been locked out of the system, why don't we just open the chambers?"
"Are you insane, we can't control them yet!"
Carter took out his blaster pistol, inputting the ion clips and nodding to his other squadmates. He and Danni fired ion blasts, disrupting the battle droid. Then they followed with a barrage of focused blaster fire with Deckard, Kailan and Paras. The latter two moved up first, quickly shooting a lab coat technician that went for a blaster (at least that's what Carter told himself) and another near one of the consoles. It left two more scientists alive, both human and both terrified.
"By the force, please, please stop, we surrender," one of them said.
"No you fools, you don't get what's going on here," the other said.
She stepped away from the chamber she was blocking, one of two with creatures inside that made even Kailan and Paras show shock. Carter walked up to one, taken aback by the fact it was a grey skinned humanoid with horns and a body even he could admit was beautiful, if not for the visibly distorted arms and legs, as if she hadn't properly. It was no better for the other creature, which had white skin and four arms, its head only having two mouths on it. Kailan put his rifle away and brought up the data he had downloaded from the network.
"Subject envy, subject desire, last survivors of batch 45 from the Thedas fief," he read.
"We've failed, we've failed and now we're going to die," the male scientist said.
"We won't, he was tasked with protecting…" she suddenly gagged.
The scientist brought her hands down to her throat, her face going red as she gasped for breath. Outside the lab, Deckard and Danni looked down the corridor. Both stepped back in fear as a red beam suddenly appeared, its thrumming sound haunting the two troopers and illuminating their opponent. He wore a black robe with silver armour over his chest, gloved hands holding the cylinder hilt that generated the plasma blade. Neither Danni or Deckard spoke, or even moved as the hooded man raised his hand, which was enclosed into a fist. The scientist's neck broke when he twisted his hand and the remaining lab tech screamed. Both Deckard and Danni fired their blasters down the corridor, the Dark Jedi deflecting each bolt as if performing a dance.
"The Mission's gone to hell, secure data and dispose of the sources," Carter said.
"What…" the scientist gasped before Carter shot him.
Paras prepared a detonator, throwing it between the two chambers and leaving the room with Carter and Kailan. They entered the corridor just as Deckard was pulled towards the Dark Jedi. The young man screamed before he was cut in half with a single swing. Reaper squad opened fire, the barrage of bolts blocked by the sabre and halted by the man's control of the force itself. Paras was hit in the knee, prompting Danni to attempt to help her, only for her to be pulled along the floor. The detonator Paras left exploded just as Danni passed the door, the explosion throwing her to the side like a rag doll. It had created a cloud of smoke the survivors of the squad attempted to use.
"Fall back to the hatch, fall back," Carter commanded.
"Go," Paras said, sealing one of the doors behind them.
"No," Kailan remarked.
'Damn it,' Carter thought.
It was the mission first, and Carter nodded to Kailan, both breaking off into a run. They heard Paras firing her blaster, heard the searing sound of the dark Jedi's saber. Carter removed one of the explosives from his pack, attaching it to the hull that blocked the ocean. He set the timer and set on his breather mask.
"He's getting closer," Kailan said, his head perking up, head tails rising as if drawing on the force too. "Commander," he caught Carter's attention, throwing a data disc to him.
"Mission first," was all Kailan said before he sealed the door behind him.
Carter squeezed his blaster in frustration and stepped into the airlock. He heard the explosion from Kailan's grenade as the chamber filled with water.
'Good,' he thought, taking a Jedi out with you was always a good last resort.
Carter swam hard as the airlock door opened. He got a safe distance before activating his fulton balloon. Reaper squad had lived up to his name, Carter was thankful he didn't have to write those six letters.
Hosnian Prime
A small, private military fleet protected the base of the old republic's defence agency. It was in the offices of their pentagon shaped headquarters that a meeting was taking place between the republic defence minister Hanzo Xiono, head of republic intelligence Deus Syndulla and admirals Leto Dadonna, Howl Raddish and Emon Ackbar. The four men sat at a long table, looking at two holograms created by two emitters the pair hosting the meeting had brought with them.
"Subject envy, subject desire, last survivors of batch 45 from the Thedas fief,"
"He was contacted by thedark Jedi, Uthar Wynn might be a name you recall if you did any work for Czerka."
Even though their focus was divided between two events, they were still able to process the mission reports. One from the Jedi, provided by former bounty hunter and Jedi Master Mira and the other, latter hologram was from the republic's black ops division, a mission approved by veteran and war hero Carth Onasi. Mira's red and silver hair was tied back with a blue bandana, whilst she thankfully (in Carth's mind) wore the formal and practical brown and gloved Jedi robes. Carth was in his orange, yellow and black admiral's uniform, minus the hat, his twin blasters attached to his hips.
"Two locations with two of the parties we suspect of plotting together," Carth said, pausing his report at when the dark Jedi was first seen.
"YT freighters are quite common, what links them to Uthar Wynn?" Hanzo asked.
"We have a man on the inside," Mira said.
"Who provided you this report?"
"No, this one was provided by an agent in Nal Hutta, he's been monitoring the slugs there," Mira said and Deus cleared his throat.
"Miles Prowler, he used to work in the trade federation," he said.
"So he is a Neimoidian?" Emon asked, the white scaled Mon Calamari exchanged a look with his counterpart Raddush.
"Why did he leave the federation?" he asked.
"He wanted to do more with his life than just backstab and lie for profit, so he decided to lie and backstab for the good guys," Deus said nonchalantly.
The larger built admiral rubbed his thick chin and hummed.
"Go back to the subjects," he said and Carth rewound the hologram.
"Subject envy, subject desire…" Raddush focused on the images of the creatures in the chambers.
"From what our medical staff were able to gain from the data, the lab on Manaan had used chambers traditionally reserved for Kolto treatment and human subjects," Carth explained.
"How well do we trust the commander and this source?" Admiral Dodonna asked.
The blonde and silver haired man was the cousin of another Admiral Dodonna, partaking in the family business of protecting the republic. Carth knew him to be more sceptical than his cousin, whom died in the assault on the star forge. He brought up the image of commander Rogers, his uniform picture and the details of his commendations and background.
"Commander Carter Gordon Rogers, first engagement was with a marine detachment during the defence of Telos against the triumvirate, excelled in combat and went onto six tours of duty including Ryloth, Mon Cala three times with a unit specialised for diving, a security tour in Naboo in which he intercepted an assassination attempt on the royal family and his last tour in the marines were two attempted attacks on the Sith forces stationed on Korriban," Carth explained.
"Reaper Squadron, infiltration, sabotage, assassination, not exactly the kind of work good soldiers are expected to carry out," Dodonna mused.
"With respect admiral sometimes war doesn't need good men to end it," Syndulla said, the green skinned Twi'lek huffed, unlike the others he didn't wear the uniform of his people, but a blue jacket with grey shoulder pads, gloves and beige slacks.
"And what of the source of all this information, the Jedi's man on the inside?" Hanzo asked.
"Absolutely not, we will not discuss their identity even in this room, the possibility of a spy within a specific smuggler crew exists, it always does, its why the famous smugglers don't have friends in the business. But in terms of this criminal network, specifics of name, gender, race and political beliefs are kept out, not even I know who the spy really is, that's how we keep our sources safe," Deus explained.
"What they were able to gleam was that the smuggler, Infidus Mercator managed to procure the same medical stasis equipment as what was being used in the Manaan lab and through the same providers. He was heading towards Nal Hutta through a blind spot in the Frontier defence force's grid, we've confirmed that Uthar Wynn is on Nal Hutta at the moment and that the cargo is a life form," Carth brought up a hologram, the debris field outside the Jedi base on Tython, pieces of a ship were still floating even a few days ago. "A life form recovered from the wreckage of an unknown ship," Carth said.
"And what became of the freighter admiral?"
Nyashquwai system (new name pending full Yunati corp. occupation)
Life was what the music was called, and David Weyland played that music at full volume throughout his quarters. There was mysterious and uplifting about the music, he would play it on a loop for his subjects. It brought them some comfort. The man worked, looking at a data pad with the diagram of the Warbler on it. He could simultaneously analyse the remains of the freighter, enjoy his music and his personal projects. He ran a linguistics program through his personal computer, checking it every once in a while, walking through his vast quarters barefoot with his bleached hair setting. The walls were white, clear, clean but the furniture was imperfect in their shapes, he picked at a small bit of dust before moving onto the lab where his subjects all lay in cylinder chambers. He replayed the music through his rooms, and within the very minds of the four people he had kidnapped. A Wookie who dreamed of the trees of her home planet, a Quarren that dreamed about killing his Mon Cala enemies, a Trandoshan that dreamed he was meeting the scorekeeper and a Toydarian dreaming about having provided his family with the ultimate profit and comfortable life.
Once his hair had set David put on the neural helmet, looking at these dreams, replaying them and repeating them for the subjects so they would feel comfortable. Then with a few pushes of his touch pad, he activated the cells above the heads of the subjects. Small egg like sacks began to open, the life forms inside stirred and slowly crawled out. David watched, taking notes on how the creatures moved. This had been done so many times yet he still found something new to note about the movement of the creature's muscles. How they crawled over the faces of their victims, little digits grasping the backs of their heads, locking around them, their tails wrapping around their necks and squeezing just enough to trigger the body's gag reflex. With their mouths open, the little creatures put barbs down their throats.
"The Warbler is a private vessel, registered but with several unregistered additions, none of which proved affective in its defence," he said.
A hologram of a man in Jedi robes appeared. The hologram didn't account for colour, so the slight purple skin and tattoos of the man weren't shown. But there was enough detail to make out the features of an aged dark Jedi master. Uthar Wynn, master of the Korriban Jedi academy, loyal follower of Darth Revan and one of the few Sith whom knew of the dark lords true intentions when his memories were altered by the Jedi.
"What of the void, have your creature's found him yet?" Uthar asked.
"I have not yet been able to access their hivemind, only to understand its functions within the colony, rest assured though my Xenomorphs will identify whether the subject is a threat or not," David explained, his voice calm, eloquent and so much so that it even made Uthar suppress a shiver.
"Do not cross me Weyland, I have invested much of my faith in you, that is something you do not wish to waste, not even your contributions to the frontier will save you from me if your creature's butcher the one found on that ship, our research into the pocket dimension is incomplete, we need someone with his ability to access it," Uthar explained.
"Those other biological creatures as fascinating as they are Master Wynn are unreliable, they're too independent, though in terms of fire power I do note that they surpass clones and Xenomorphs, much resources would be wasted in trying to control them," David stated and looked to the Wookie subject.
There was a cracking on her chest, a ripping and tearing before a small yellow creature burst out of it. It was quickly sucked into a tube built over the subject's chest.
"Interesting, and frustrating as well," David noted without any change in his demeanour. "Gestation time is still inconsistent," he tapped a few buttons, creating an internal radio feed. "Brigg master, I need another Wookie subject, bring him to me conscious this time."
"Weyland," Uthar snarled and the man sighed.
"Belay that order, but make preparations for after the operation is complete," David said.
He turned his attention to Uthar again, this time focused on him.
"I gave you my assurance that I would recover the subject you refer to as the void, so far the republic's frontier defence force has not been able to sway me, I will not waste your faith master Wynn," he explained.
"See that you do not," Uthar said before he cut communications.
David combed his hair neatly, put on his officer's uniform, leather boots and walked out of his quarters. His assistant and second in command was waiting outside, a brown haired woman also in an officer's uniform.
"Shaw-02, catch me up on the operation status so far," he requested as they walked to the turbo lift.
"Several of the Warbler's crew survived, the two Echani amongst them and we've confirmed that they were infected," she stated.
"Gestation period?"
"Thirty minutes after crashlanding on the planet," she said.
The door opened and they walked onto the modified bridge. Unlike the previous Leviathan, the Romulus had an elevated platform overlooking the stations of the crew members. They all had the same face as Shaw, with different numbers on their uniforms, and each one was working at a semi-organic console, the buttons looked and squelched like boiled eggs and emitters generated holographic feeds of gunships, troops cameras and diagrams of the planet. David looked at the planet where his quarry resided on and turned to Shaw-02.
"Please continue," he said respectfully, almost affectionately to the woman.
"Troops have made contact with several tribes and fired upon them, no human life has been found so far or at least reported, the local wildlife varies, but the indigenous, or at least colonist population consists of what matches descriptions of the Sith pureblood species, including their altered Massassi and Zuguruk subspecies," she explained.
"Have any been taken into custody?" David asked.
"No sir," she said.
David let out a sound, like a cough but his face didn't move. He took a deep breath as if centring himself.
"Contact the ground commanders and tell them that I want some of these people alive, fifty of them should suffice," he stated.
"Mr Weyland, contact has been made with the commander using the Baragwin equipment," one of the clones said.
"What does he have to report?" David asked.
"A human male, displaying what he described as abilities," she said.
"Ask him to specify," David said calmly.
The clone whispered a few words, her face a mask of professionalism as she recounted.
"He said the man shot fucking fire from his hand and melted one of your pets from the inside, those kind of abilities," she said.
"Fascinating, prepare four fireteams and a squadron of fighters, add to the fireteams spitter and prowler variant morphs, and prepare the Praetorian," David explained.
He looked down at the planet, true he had his commitments to the Dark Jedi, but he was also curious to see what his face huggers would do to a mage.
On the surface of the planet, the Revanchist troopers were taken aback by the sudden appearance of ice on a tropical planet. These ice spikes spread across the ground, shooting out at the two troopers. The man with the rotary cannon got hit in the shoulder and was able to get off a few shots, breaking some of the ice apart. Daylen ran around the side, covering his fist in rock armour. He was able to punch the trooper in the face, smashing his visor. The trooper quickly swung his cannon, knocking Daylen back. Daylen slammed his hand into the ground as he landed, creating a draft of fire and launching himself at the trooper again. He followed with Winter's grasp, using his kick to knock down the trooper's cannon as he put his hand to the trooper's exposed face. The human man's face turned blue before icicles burst out of his eyes. Several shots flew into the ice and past Daylen. He rolled, around the ice cover he created. A Xenomorph cyborg ran towards him, only to be hit by Taral's arrow.
"Everyone get to your mounts, ride to the main village," the hunter said.
He knocked back another arrow, sending it flying into the trooper with the rifle. The man in the exoskeleton fired a grenade from the launcher underneath his rifle. It struck the ground, creating a shockwave that broke apart the ice cover and threw Daylen into the field. He heard the snarling of a Xenomorph above him and quickly rolled to dodge a tail piercing into the ground. Daylen swung his leg, kicking the Xenomorph, doing little to daze it but buying enough time for his magic to charge. He cast lightning, filling the Xenomorph with bolts, heating its acidic blood in much the same way he had with fire. The creature fell to the floor and Daylen turned, avoiding the pounce of another cyborg Xenomorph.
'Focus, concentrate,' Daylen told himself.
Fire appeared on Daylen's index finger. He couldn't make a full on projectile, but he could shape it.
'Form the spell, imagine the shape, cast it, become the blade, your magic is a danger, you are a weapon,' he told himself, encouraged and devalued himself.
A weapon that needed to be sheathed, contained, imprisoned, robbed of the things other, normal people deserved.
'Focus, on what you want to create, your will shapes your power,' he chided himself, no self pity, just action.
It wasn't a blade he was able to form, by a fiery, cylinder shape. At best it was a club, one he used to bash aside the Xenomorph's head when it tried to snap at him. It swung its claws, narrowly missing Daylen's ribs. He hit it with the club again, and deflected its tail with a follow up strike. Daylen was able to hit the Xenomorph a final time before the flames died. He ran back, the barrel of a gun hitting the side of his head as he came out of the field. The second trooper was about to shoot Daylen point blank when two Sith purebloods tackled him. One pinned down the man's arms whilst the other took the trooper's rifle and shot him in the face. Their victory and aid went without thanks though, as the Xenomorph stabbed one with its tail and knocked the other to the ground, penetrating through his ear with its secondary jaw. It threw the body from its tail, knocking Daylen to the ground.
'They helped you, you were supposed to help them.'
'No, no, no, don't listen to yourself, just fight, just live, just get through this and onto the next,' he snarled.
The fire blazed in his hand again and he moved straight towards the Xenomorph. Within seconds the temperature rose, the fire turned blue, then glowed white, finally becoming a thin blade. Knight-Enchanters created their blades with a magical totem, a handle they made from specific materials and rituals. Daylen though could bypass that need, they were just focusing tools, never the source of their power. Through a prodigious talent of the arcane, the primal and the only aspect of the creation tree he could access, heroism, he made a weapon, a sword of white flame and power that melted through the side of the creature. Daylen passed it, the claws of its right hand catching his left side, just underneath his ribs. He passed the creature by, the flames dying just as the Xenomorph did.
Panting and nearly collapsing onto his knees, Daylen heard a sword being drawn. The man with the Exo-skeleton approached him, brandishing his Bawagrin assault blade. He stopped however when he heard Taral draw his sword. The hunter and soldier faced off, swords pointed at one another as a challenge. Taral moved first, swinging a flurry of combos that the mercenary blocked. He counterattacked and Taral parried, performing a feint, diverting his sword at the last moment, turning a swing for the arm into a swing for the leg. The soldier moved his foot at the last moment, stepping over the blade and swinging his own sword. Taral tilted his head back, the sword nipping his chin. Both stepped back, adjusting their grips and shuffling their feet forward.
Suddenly electricity crackled through the man's armour. The lights across his exoskeleton flickered and his arms froze. Daylen had thrown a lightning bolt, just enough to damage the man's armour. Taral took his chance and ran the man through the chest, twisting the blade before he slid it out and pushed the mercenary to the floor. He looked at the corpses of the soldiers and his own people, regardless of the squad being dead, Taral had lost more. Taral sheathed his star fang, and offered his hand to Daylen.
"Thank you Daylen the stranger," he said as he pulled Daylen onto his feet.
"They're still dead," the mage panted.
"Yes, but you tried," Taral said, grasping Daylen's shoulder.
"You did try Daylen, you tried to save those people as you have tried to free ours, that means something," Jowan said.
He couldn't even see the ghostly form now, just hear the voice reassuring him.
'No, it doesn't,' he thought coldly.
"Come with me Daylen, come with me so we may make a stand against these monsters," Taral said.
One of their horse like creatures was still left, the elder had retreated some time ago. Daylen and Taral climbed onto the mount left and rode off towards the setting sun.
Carth rubbed his eyebrows, a short recess was being undertaken. He looked up and saw the private defence fleet, a band of mercenaries that could turn on them if a higher price was met. In the past, Carth would have thought that there was something, some form of honour holding people back from betrayal. They swore oaths, or made commitments to causes. Thrice he had been betrayed, Saul Karath, the Jedi, and just when he was ready to trust again, Revan.
'Maybe the chancellor is right, maybe I'm not right to protect the republic, not when all I have in me is hate,' he looked at his shaking hands.
Modern medical technology was a wonder, sixty was a new thirty even for humans. Carth suspected he was still carrying shock after all these years, PTSD from the wars he had fought and the friends that had betrayed him. A shadow passed over him and he looked up at the head of intelligence. Deus Syndulla was a foster child of the prodigious representatives of Ryloth, having a cousin who was a colonel in the republic fighter force, a former guardian who was both a senator in the senate and general of the Ryloth army. The man was in his late thirties, had served as a grunt in the brief war with Revan, and went on to make his living out of lies and deceptions.
"Admiral Carth, if I could have a moment of your time," Deus said.
"I could do with a stretch," Carth shrugged.
Both were wary of whoever was watching. The average person could listen in on a conversation and still be a threat to republic security. Even Carth had begun to see the constitution as an obstacle. That didn't mean they were both going to just bury it. They went to a part of the command centre with very few people, where both knew there would be no bugs. For good measure though Deus did a scan with the portable he kept in his jacket.
"Aren't you at least going to ask for dinner Mr Syndulla?" Carth asked as Deus scanned and frisked him.
"Its a less offended reaction from when I meet up with my cousin," Deus shrugged.
"You scan your cousin for bugs?"
"And her husband and her son, and that psychotic droid she keeps with her, I didn't get where I am today by trusting anyone, even my family," Deus said.
"I wished I learnt that lesson sooner."
"Then you would never have been able to have enjoyed the best things in life, I've never even been in a relationship admiral, let alone had something beyond blood relatives that put up with me," Deus said.
"Are you confessing regrets to me because I would make a poor therapist," Carth said and Deus laughed.
"Not at all admiral, after my time in the military I became an analyst, my speciality was in following credits as well as political and sociological patterns," he stated.
"No doubt it was riveting stuff for your lecture halls," Carth said.
"Please humour me for a moment admiral, the chancellor has been reducing the budget of our military forces, we're no longer producing new ships and he's keeping others in the ship yards, even the damaged ones that could be repaired are being written off in order to avoid the tax cost," Deus explained.
"We still have a budget, enough for PMC's (private military companies)," Carth noted.
"Who are contractually bound under republic law, but the representatives of those corporations can claim immunity by retreating to the outer rim, or claim that any failures or defections were carried out by individual commanders, disavow said commanders and pay a token tax to avoid any prosecution. Now we move onto the political climate, member states of the republic are being driven away, or kept from creating their own private miliary forces through accords."
"The hope of the chancellor is to avoid any future conflicts between individual member states," Carth retorted and Deus guffawed.
"A basic right of civilisation is to defend oneself, the argument could even be made that any civilised society must have an organised military force answerable to the people," he stated.
"I agree with the accountability, but to believe a nation is not a nation because it doesn't have an army is archaic," Carth said.
"Mandalore," Deus said and Carth raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"The planet or the person?"
"They don't want there to be a person anymore, just a planet, the duchy of Mandalore is carrying out a type of pacifistic disarmament program, an abolishment of certain cultural values that has made the Kryze clan unpopular," Deus explained.
"Good, the Mandalorian code is barbarous, it was too often used to justify murder," Carth said.
"I understand why you would feel that way admiral, but there is a dangerous risk in this, civil war has already broken out on Mandalore, it isn't widely known because the chancellor doesn't want it to be known."
"Are you serious?"
"People find out of course, but its more like a psychological tool, we know but we just don't talk about it."
"We don't care about it," Carth corrected the Twi'lek, who grinned and nodded.
"Exactly, similar events are happening across worlds like Naboo, old debates between the human Naboo and the indigenous Gungan, the same age old argument really 'we were here first, but we've been here for centuries,' and then you look at tribal wars like Kashyxx, leadership breakdowns in Manaan and more obviously the Onderon civil war," Deus explained.
Each piece that Deus put into place made sense for Carth, especially as he remembered being present for a conflict in Kashyxx, a family drama that saw a father kill his son. The tragedy was overwritten by the triumph of Czerka being driven back.
"With the republic government steadily losing strength, we then see more power going to the corporations," Deus stated and Carth nodded.
"Who don't need to produce new warships, they just have to modify the ships they already have," he said.
"You believe this could be a deliberate conspiracy?" Carth asked.
"At worst, or at best our chancellor is incompetent, I hope its the latter..."
"But we prepare for the worst," Carth finished.
"We'll present the evidence we have of this new Sith threat, the defence council will agree that we to make additional steps to strengthen the frontier defence force, from there we can begin to make additional requests, like repairing the ships recovered from the star forge conflict," Deus explained.
"Thank you for the information Mr Syndulla," Carth crossed his arms.
Deus nodded to him and walked away, leaving Carth to his thoughts.
Next Episode 4: A fading hope
Some behind the scenes:
Carter Rogers: Named after the pulp heroes, Jon Carter, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, a career soldier type who will reappear later.
Deus Syndulla: Linked to the family of the same name, a spy, but not with a James Bond charm or social life. His cousin Hera is the mother, heart warming and kind, Deus has all of her discipline but none of her charm, he's the relative who doesn't even turn up for the special occasions.
David Weyland: Michael Fassbender was the highlight of Prometheus, the same eerie portrayal is shown with David Weyland and I want there to be a mystery behind whether he's human or android. The majority of his crew by design are based on this universe's Elizabeth Shaw, of whom he has a 'love' for. Also I wanted the chest burster time inconsistencies of the Alien franchise to be one of his motivations in his research, sort of a running gag too.