[14 BBY]

[Confederate Navy Lucrehulk-class Battleship Midnight Sceptre, Ziost System, Esstran Sector, Trans-Hydian Way, Old Sith Worlds, Outer Rim Territories]

"Colonel Mazzi" Mazzi of the Nimbus Commandos was greeted with as he came unto the bridge of the battleship, helmet held against his waist with one hand "Good, punctuality is appreciated"

"Sir" he simply replied to the human officer with a salute using his other hand, to both the human Captain of the ship, and the other officer present, the umbaran, like Mazzi himself, from the Confederacy's Special Operations Command "Reporting for duty"

Which was better than many he'd had to work with in the, at times in-theory rather than reality, Unified Confederate Military Command. He seen trouble between certain groups 'Unified' ground and naval forces, especially against the Mandalorians, and he'd been very careful to ensure that his Nimbus Commandos only were allowed work with fellow professionals. Which, mostly, meant being away from the Mandalorian 'front' and its farce of war, as well as the inter-service, inter-faction, trouble that came with dealing too closely with the Republic-faction/Confederacy borders. There had been a very few operations aimed more openly treacherous groups in that category as well.

Why, exactly, they were here, in the back of the beyond…well, Mazzi already had some idea, based on previous problems he'd been informed of previously. It was why the Senior Captain here, and the Brigadier, were operating under both need-to-know, as well as Top Secret, as per previous operations. Of course, Mazzi's own command structure back on Jabiim knew exactly who and what he was attached too, even if not the exact details of this mission. That was still less than ideal, but ideal and reality were often at odds in the military, and their services were both in high demand, as well as being handsomely rewarded to his homeworld, a world that badly needed the investments going into it.

Senior Captain Tarzhain nodded, hands behind his back and calmly confident as he nodded at the view of the dead world ahead of them "Are you commandos ready for deployment?"

"As always Sir. The mission"

It was the Umbaran who answered now "We have been tracking some…smugglers, or self-claimed smugglers, and they need to be dealt with as we believe they are Republic Special Forces"

Mazzi nodded "Which faction?"

"Unproven as yet, identify such will be part of the mission, but, owing to the nature of this world, and other data, we believe are likely Rebel Alliance, so, most likely, Chancellorists" the brigadier stated calmly, coldly, gesturing at the world, as well as the holo-displays that came into being, showing a number of armed 'trade vessels' and indicated numbers of potentials "So, we must expect a strong level of fanaticism, and we believe a Jedi, or Sith as they pretend they are, being present. I'm afraid you and your troopers will only have a few hours at most to prepare…"

Mazzi frowned, nodded. It was nothing out of the usual unfortunately. The Confederate Intelligence Agency formed after the war had not been exactly as useful as one could have hoped, and Special Operations Command had to work with their own assets often enough "This is very hurried, so I assume there are other concerns with such a hurried briefing"

"Indeed" the Umbaran agreed, the Senior Captain nodding but staying silent as the senior officer continued "I am afraid there is an elevated threat of bio-hazard concerns with this operation, even up to Rakghul Protocols, so I'm sorry to say your troopers and the droids will be required to have several days of quarantine even after successful completion of objectives"

Mazzi closed his eyes, then opened them after focusing "This is related to operations on Moriband and Dromund Kaas"

That death-blasted world had a long and dark history by all accounts, being once a Sith Empire world called Korriban, and had both led to one of Count Dooku's retainers getting, literally, possessed. Just like the other world, where the Imperials favourite attack dog had destroyed a very secret, and very dangerous, Kuati Republic black site during his deep raids into the Confederacy. Worse, Mazzi was better informed than most, and the investigations into those incidents had been exceedingly deadly, with sufficient proof to confirm clone and gene experimentation. Let alone the fact researchers and security had gone insane investigating several of the sites, and protocol was now strictly followed in such cases.

'And why the Corellians are getting so much aid…even they are clearly too incompetent to use it properly' he thought darkly for a moment as the Senior Captain answered "Indeed Colonel, indeed, that is the large part of the concern. They, currently, have not spotted us, we believe, nor the probes monitoring them. We can but hope it is due to the needs of their disguise versus cutting edge sensor probe droids, but we have tracked their vessels entering the atmosphere and descending to locations unknown. Once they have done so we intend to insert your team and various commando droids in support and attempt to take them by surprise"

"Suicide concerns?"

He nodded after a glance at the Umbaran "Yes, it is a concern. Taking these troopers alive is a problem, and we rather need to take one or two alive for questioning. What information that has been assembled has indicated some serious concerns about potential Republic…special projects"

Mazzi nodded "Expect monsters, horrors, plague, and Jedi?"

"Indeed Colonel Mazzi, indeed" the Umbaran agreed bluntly "Expect all that and more. Priority is your troopers lives and taking at least one of those so-called tramp freighters intact, prisoners and their databases are an important second"

He was handed a data-slate as he studied the displays. Fight potential Jedi or 'Sith' was never pleasant, and less so on a dead world filled with whatever ancient horror or weapon cache they were clearly seeking out…

--

[14 BBY]

[Unified Confederate Forces Central Command Centre, Central Military Command, Rexus System, Tion Hegemony, Outer Rim Territories]

Kleeve, looked at his colleague, the Harch Admiral Trench, frowning as they sat in private meeting prior to the later meeting of the Joint Chiefs. The retrieved footage and data delivered by the Special Operations Command, was, for lack of a better description, problematic. More problematic was the part they would have to compartmentalise it potentially, for a time, within their own bailiwicks within Central Command "Another sign of these Special Weapons Projects we've heard rumour of. We need to do something about them, don't you agree?"

Trench did his hissing-clicking thing as usual when he was agitated, the room privacy secured "Yes, we keep agreeing, yes, but…hsssss…getting approval for a covert deep strike is not going to happen! And that is without hsssht…Mar Tuuk's friends and their big mouths!"

Which was the significant problem at the moment, as the various factions within the CIS, let alone the military, were either simply terrible at information security, or actively malicious. Kleeve agreed with Trench's clear dislike of their Neimoidian colleague, but he was less open about the fact as Mar Tuuk was simply obey orders from above. Unfortunately, those orders from above were not from Parliament, and from only a portion of the Council, who, once informed of such things as this, tended to leak it out to external parties soon afterwards. It didn't matter if the newly created Confederate Intelligence Agency caught them in the act, the flunkies had been getting away with it constantly as the War in the Core continued.

So Kleeve frowned. Considering. Then spoke "It could work to our advantage"

Trench looked to him "How?"

"It'll get to Neimodia, and they are fully committed to hating on Kuat and the Palpatine…" for reasons still unknown to Kleeve "…and that would therefore lead to them telling their so-called friends on Alsakan"

It was an absolute and utterly disaster on a day-to-day basis, as the Trade Federation and Commerce Guild were absolutely committed to NOT fighting the war against Mandalore and it's allies. Something their rivals, allies, and enemies in the Techno Union, the Democrats, and even the other mega-corps, were largely apathetic on…beyond not ending the war without 'winning'. Which, should be, could be, easy…if they were allowed gathered up a massive fleet and simply swap the Mandos after a long trip on what local hyperlanes were available. Logistically a big, short term investment, but they'd win by overwhelming them. But…no, that was not allowed, and instead the Trade Federation were supply Alsakan, who was supplying the Mandos…

Kleeve pushed bittered feelings aside "We give them a target with our briefing"

The greatest problem was that Kuat was, slowly, winning the war in the Core as best Kleeve and the rest of the Joint Chiefs could analyse. Which was problematic for most every faction thankfully, as the primary support for the Confederacy was Corellia, and the traitorous Feddies with their sudden interests on Alsakan. Though, he also mused the rivals of said Feddies, the IGBC and the various Muun clans, were merrily backing both Republic factions according to his intel. Really, that wasn't surprising as, well, it turned out a faction led by pacifists didn't fight a war all that well, and their big contribution so far had been crippling the Alsakan-Coruscant fleets enough to allow Kuat take Sarapin, Humbarine, and Bellassa. Only the fact Rendilli continued to stand like a fortress gave Kleeve hope that they'd eventually crush Kuat and that old wretch who was rabble rousing.

'Who's building bio-weapons it seems, just some our mad scientists did, and the other Republic factions are' he thought as Trench clicked and hissed, then nodded "Perhaps…but the Alsakan project…"

"Projects not Project I expect, as is Kuat's, but we cannot do anything on those right now. We've got evidence, and we have enough indicators to backtrack to a believed site" Kleeve gave a weary shake of his head "And if we can't convince them to let us strike at them…then we can get someone else to eliminate the facility for us instead. It's even putting the sieve to our benefit for once"

Trench gave him a considering look, and the bigger devaronian held his hands up in mock surrender "What do expect me to say? We've been banging our heads against this particular wall for over a year now, and sitting on this information is equally problematic. The next time they try to recover a….whatever those things are…we might not have the standard of the Nimbus Commandos and the Special Commando Droids available on location. They barely came out alive….lesser forces would not"

The Harch nodded, clicking and hissing in provisional agreement as Kleeve sketched out a basic outline of what they needed to do…

--