The Oracle
After Operation Rust
"Ughh … this is a mess. "
"From what I've heard and from having finally gone on a mission with him, I'm beginning to think that's what tends to happen with the Silencer."
"Yeah. Not always and usually not this bad, but- … Yeah. Nice job by the way."
"Thanks. With that kind of distraction it didn't actually turn out to be as hard as I was expecting."
"Heh. Anyway let's- the recorder is already on? Eh, oh well, doing it live then. This is Gulan Terrek, Director of Abyss Watcher Intelligence, yadda, yadda, yadda. I'm here debriefing one of the two assistant operation leaders for the escapade known as 'Operation Rust'. A.O.L., please state your name, rank, and all of that other good stuff for the paper pushers. Why do we even do these anyway? They take up too much of my time. Whoever thought of doing 'in-depth briefings', should die."
"I thought it was your idea?"
"... By 'die', I meant die in luxury after living a long, long life. Anyway, continuing on … "
Gulan motions at me to start talking. I nod my head and begin.
"This is Cünuel Barnas, Region administrator for the Outer-Rim, Abyss ID 108, Seeker ID 7, and Assistant Operation Leader One, or A.O.L. 1, for Operation Rust."
"Alright, now that's out of the way … whose decision was it to blow up Unreal City as a distraction for the real operation?"
"The Silencer's."
"Figures. And your thoughts on blowing it up?"
"After getting over my knee-jerk surprise, had it explained to me, and thought about it ... I thought it was-"
"Insane!"
"What the fuck!?"
Ignoring the startled cries from the Mid-Rim administrator and the Seeker and Guardian Team Leaders who haven't worked with the Silencer, I stared at the red-faced helmet of the one who suggested it.
"Explain, please."
The Silencer simply brought up a map of the planet with Unreal City and the objective droid factory marked. They were only a few sectors away but it was still far enough that they weren't actually close by. He said four words to answer me.
He pointed at Unreal City and said, "Riot."
Next he made the city turn red. "Alarm."
He pointed at the factory and then moved his finger from it to the City. "Reinforcements."
He moved them back. "Infiltrate."
I narrowed my eyes and understood.
"That riot needs to be huge then. Would we be able to break enough people out?"
The Silencer simply nodded and said, "Enough."
I mulled it over.
"Something that big? We'll likely be seen before getting away. Disguises?"
"..."
The Silencer says nothing. It's all quiet around the map for a moment except for the shuffling of the Guardian and Seeker Team leaders. The Mid-Rim administrator scratches the back of his neck and throws out a suggestion.
"Clones?"
The shuffling stops as everyone thinks about it. I furrow my eyebrows and think of the resources we have to make it work.
We might have clone armor but … if not, we can probably get some from Skirata and his commandos.
I slowly nod my head in agreement.
"Doable."
I look over at the Silencer. He tilts his helmet and then nods in agreement as well.
"Doable."
Gulan snorts and says in disbelief, " 'Doable'? Blowing up a prison base the size of a city and with the population of a planet was 'doable'?"
"Yes. And we didn't blow it up. Think of it like transparisteel on a ship's bridge. It's strong enough to keep all of space out even with many cracks in it. But with a big enough hole in the steel, the whole thing shatters. We used half of the - admittedly large - amount of explosives to create holes big enough in key places. The Mid-Rim administrator and his team, plus a few guardian squads, stayed behind to help the prisoners and to ensure the shattering happened."
"Well, it happened all right. From the news it said that the fires could be seen from orbit. Did you expect the riot to get that big?"
I lean back into my seat and remember being able to see the fires a whole sector away. I close my eyes and exhale.
"Holy shit, would you look at that!"
I turn back from looking over the pilot's shoulder to see what's going on in the passenger compartment. The squads under my command are crammed into our stolen speeder just barely big enough for us all. I can't see much but those I do see seem to be focusing on something behind us. The infiltration team had split ways with the distraction team and stolen a couple of speeders to get us to the factory. The Silencer seems to be flying around the spaceports or any crowded areas so if the focus of most of my group is torn to the back … that's probably not good.
I pat the pilot's shoulder to get his attention and he grunts.
I tell him, "Keep focus and stay on the Silencer's tail."
I then get out of my seat and squeeze through. I wrap the helmet of the nearest agent. He turns around.
"What do you- Oh, uh, sir?"
"What's going on?"
Yelling comes from the open sides. One seeker waves his hand at me.
"Boss, you've gotta take a look at this!"
I push through the bodies as best I can and finally arrive at the open side. I poke my head out and try to spot any followers.
"Are we being tailed?"
"No, the city!"
My attention is finally dragged to the red sky in the distance. The dark sky in front of us morphs into a dark red and then a bright orange. The smog easily reflects the light and the entire horizon in the distance is lit up like hell has come to Metalorn. A few pillars of smoke nearest to us can be seen rising. The seeker shakes his head.
"We're a sector away and we can still see it."
A guardian nearby whistles.
"Wow. The whole city must be burning."
I push myself back into the cockpit and let others get a look. I open up my communicator.
"This is AOL 1 to AOL 2. Do you read me?"
I wait for a few seconds until there's a response. When there is, I can hear blaster fire and the roars of people shouting.
"AOL 2 here! I'm a bit busy!"
"I can see and hear. The city looks like it was bombarded by a fleet from orbit. What's happening?"
"The whole damn city is in a riot and fighting back against increasing droid reinforcements!"
AOL 2 stops talking for a second as I hear increased blaster-fire erupt and then disappear.
I hear AOL 2 shout, "TAKE THAT YOU FUCKING CLANKER!!" He returns focus to his report. "Right, it's turning into a battle and the Jedi is adding more fuel to the fire!"
My mind slips for a bit at the mention of a Jedi and I interrupt.
"Did you say Jedi?"
"She was a prisoner here! Tell the Operation Lead we did our jobs! It's getting too hot! We are pushing to the nearest spaceport and exfiltrating! AOL 2 out!"
The feed cuts out and I have to think for a moment to allow everything to sink in. I look to the pilot who quickly returns his own gaze to the front. I look back to the communicator again and stare at it for another second. Finally, I call the Silencer to fill him in.
My eyes open again and I shake my head.
"No. Not that large."
Gulan rubs the tuft coming off his snout before he raises an eyebrow.
"The Jedi?"
"A surprise. She wasn't something we were expecting at all."
"Did anybody do a search of the prisoner list?"
"One group did, but the City's security was topnotch and the slicers were only able to open up the database for a small section of the City in the time that we had. I didn't put a priority on it because it was only a tertiary curiosity. Not even an objective. If we had more time I would have done it for information gathering purposes but we needed to get in, blow an opening, and get out. Once demolitions were done, the Silencer had my command immediately follow him towards the primary objective."
"And AOL 2 wasn't meant to regroup?"
"It was on his discretion. They were pretty deep into the City and, to repeat, we had soft time constraints. Once out and if possible, they were to follow us. It just so happened that things got too hot too fast and so AOL 2 felt it wasn't safe enough."
"Alright."
Gulan's focus is on his datapad and his eyes are honed. He's finally in his zone. He fiddles slightly and then pops up a visual of the commando droid factory and its layout.
"On to the primary objective. You all were tasked with infiltrating a secret droid factory that Wat Tambor was slated to travel to and look over. Objectives were to find out the type of droid being produced, steal schematics, and generally screw the production up as much as possible. A secondary objective was Wat Tambor himself."
A cruel grin breaks out onto Gulan's face. I can tell he had to stifle a laugh by the slight coughing.
"Hoo, hoo, boy. In all of this you succeeded spectacularly. Let's start with the first. How did the infiltration go?"
"Five minutes."
"Understood."
Our speeder hurtles through the dense air. It's nighttime and we can barely see even with our helmets' sensors. Nighttime must mean that the workers on this world rely on artificial lights to see even a few meters in front of them. The smog is just that bad. The Silencer shuts the feed and I turn my wrist-communicator off. I shuffle back to the passenger section and turn the squad radio on.
"We have two minutes so listen up!"
Everyone pushes and shoves to face forward. I nod my head once I can see everyone's front.
"The Silencer and his crew will be the spearhead! Once he's punched a hole, we will be landing and doing it fast! Seekers, we are off there and then! You all are to find any major computer and plug in. Get slicing as soon as possible! I want maps of this compound! I want the schematics of whatever they are producing! I even want the pretty pink diary of Wat Tambor himself! Understood?"
I hear a few chuckles but all seekers shout out affirmatives.
"Good! Guardians, once we are off, your goal is any hangars and landing-pads! No speeder or ship is to take off or land! Secure all ships, they are our ride out! Anything floating needs to hit dirt as soon as possible! I don't even care if the Great Boss herself tries to land in the Oracle! She eats mud!"
A few guardians shake their heads and I just know a few of them are staring at me.
One guy shouts out, "Are you mad?"
"No, I just know she can take it."
I glance at my HUD's map and notice we're approaching fast. Just before it's time I shoot off a generic morale raiser.
"When the Abyss looks at us we stare right back! Now why is that!?"
Everyone yells, "WE ARE THE ABYSSWATCHERS! AND WE JUMP! STRAIGHT! IN!"
"Get ready!"
The agents all then shuffle around to get in positions. The Guardians are in front and the Seekers are in the middle. I face forward into the cockpit and watch as we close in on the targeted factory. A gruff voice comes in over everyone's headsets.
"Now."
At that moment I can barely see two flashes of light in front of our speeder. Seconds later there are two explosions coming from the compound and then we're in and landing.
"GO! GO!"
Everyone jumps out. The Guardians create a perimeter and then run towards the sides of the factory. The Seekers and I meanwhile book it to the factory wall over the many broken bits of battledroids. At the wall, I can see one of the Silencer's men putting something on it. Before we get there, the wall implodes letting us all charge through. Before I go in myself, I look around and spot the Silencer alone running along the compound wall taking out the outer defenses. After that glance, I'm in.
I shrug and lean back. I simply say, "the Silencer."
Gulan cracks a smile and nods.
"Loud and with no subtlety. Heh. Once inside, were there any issues?"
At this I smile big.
"The very first computer we sliced must have been security because it contained the control codes for the defenses and access codes for everything else. Wall defenses, down. Doors, ours. Alarm, off. It was the greatest stroke of luck in the entire mission. With that, we had all the time we needed to loot everything and place charges."
Gulan gives a soft and short whistle.
"Nice. Now how did you get your hands on the schematics for bombers, droidekas, and the odd Techno Union R&D project?"
"The plant turned out to be less of a droid factory than we thought and more of a research and development plant than anything. It produced first batches and prototypes. The first batch of CB-3 was being made and then after that I would guess it was to be mass-produced somewhere else. Schematics of all sorts were stored there where researchers and designers could test and modify them."
"That makes sense. Now, we don't really need to talk about the sabotage part considering there's a nice new crater where the factory used to be. Instead, let's talk about Wat Tambor. How did he get caught?"
I think about what happened and then groan.
Things finish quickly the moment we take control of the plant. The Silencer and his men move to place charges around the factory's reactor while my command is tasked with inventory, loading up the captured ships, and guarding the researchers we had taken prisoner. I am helping to organize everything when a blaster bolt comes out of nowhere and hits one of the Guardians. Four CB-3 droids exit from a side door.
My eyes widen and I shout, "Take them down!"
Everyone immediately starts to return fire. We all take cover while the guardian who got hit crawls to his own spot. The CB-3 droids advance and leap from cover to cover. They're heavily armed and able to suppress us well enough.
I yell into my communicator.
"Security, fire fight on the pads! How did you miss these guys!"
"Huh? Oh, shit! The maps don't show any entrances from where they are! It must be a hallway not recorded in the servers."
I curse and continue shooting. This is why I prefer paperwork. I glance out for a second and notice some organics try to run for a ship. I take pot shots at them to suppress them. We're only able to take out two of them before the Silencer arrives and he arrives in a flourish.
In one moment there are two droids left who we're pouring our fire into. Both of them are on their last legs and suddenly they seize up. Electric lightning sparks around them until there's a violent force which blows them apart. Out from the same hidden hallway comes the Silencer who's holding a modified EMP grappler grenade. He takes his pistol out and easily stuns the escaping prisoners.
We all slowly exit cover. I order the wounded to be tended to and then turn to the Silencer. He looks at me and nods at the runners.
"Them too."
I nod as well and order some agents to bind and collect them onto one of the ships. While continuing to get ready to escape, a seeker gets my attention.
She says, "You need to look at this guy."
I follow her and come face to face with a Skakoan. Wat Tambor is slumped and bound.
Well then …
"Apparently he had managed to hide in an unaccounted for part of the factory with a few CB-3 droids that had been activated. When he thought it was safe, he and his entourage fled to the hangar where we were closing up."
"Hmm … opinions on the CB-3 droids?"
"Deadly. Two guardians were killed and the only thing that saved the rest was their armor and the fact they were glancing shots. They seemed to be focused more on suppression than eliminating us."
Gulan grimaces.
"Egh. That doesn't sound good."
I shake my head.
"No, it's not. But they're ours now which is good."
Gulan nods and then he smirks.
"And so is Wat Tambor."
I smile as well.
"Which is also good."
We share a short round of laughter. Gulan sets his datapad down, crosses his arms, and shakes his head.
"What a mess. A productive mess, but a mess all the same. The CIS isn't going to be happy about that."
I snicker, "Why should we care? They were attacked by clone commandos and a Mandalorian mercenary."
We both burst into laughter again. Gulan scratches his nose. A moment later and his eyebrows shoot up and he snaps his fingers. He leans over the table with a wicked smile and looks at me.
"So, I remember hearing something in a helmet recording. Would you mind explaining it to me?"
I frown. My eyes narrow and I slowly nod my head.
"What did you hear?"
"What's this about 'the Great Boss' and how she should 'eat mud' because you knew she could 'take it.' "
I swallow deeply.
"Simple morale raising."
Gulan begins to laugh evilly.
"Heh, heh, heh. It's a morale raiser alright. Ciaran's reaction to this is going to make my day."
I begin to pale.
"I could forget the money you owe me from our games."
Gulan stops and I start to think that maybe I'm safe. The same evil grin reappears and I'm immediately sweating again.
"No. This is actually worth more to me."
Gulan stands up, shuts the recording off and laughs. His cackles echo as he leaves through the door. I'm left stiffly sitting in my seat.
Well … I have been meaning to map out all of the possible hiding spaces on the Oracle.
