After cleaning his face and composing himself Coda made his way towards the war room aboard the Dauntless. When he got closer he started to hear voices. He didn't recognize any of them but since they were on board Beatrix must have cleared them he thought.

Vii and his friends were sitting inside the war room as they chatted about the last few days. It had been quite the experience for them, as well anyone that was on Watchpoint. The lady had cleared them of any suspicion the day after the attack. Then yesterday, she'd offered them a job so to speak. Assuming her 'lord' gave his consent.

"I'm all for following you cap'n, we all are," Ryko spoke up. "But are you sure it's a good idea? If we enter their employment we'll be making their enemies our enemies."

Vii turned his eyes toward Ryko. He was the smallest of them, small being in relation to the rest of the team of course. They were all rather largely built individuals. Staying in shape was important to a soldier, so they all made sure to be in tip-top shape. But even so, he was a savant when it came to machines and computers. He'd gotten them out of situations more often than not by splicing the unsplicable, mending the unmendable. Though he had an unhealthy attraction for technology he'd never seen before.

"If I had to choose between being their enemies or having their enemies, well that's a very easy choice to make." Vii stated with a small smile. "Besides, this ship or the massive vessel outside goes to show they're not going to be bowed by any idiot with a blaster."

"Not to mention the pay she offered." Vii turned his eyes over to the new speaker. Lucival, a man who usually never spoke unless it pertained to two things. Credits, or weapons. He was built like a Rancor and excelled with most weapons, though he favored repeaters and other heavier ordinance. While his interests were easy to keep a track of, the man would brave fighting a sand dragon with his fists if it meant saving a friend's life.

The men, himself included, thought of him as something as a big brother. "Yes, the pay as well Luci," Vii responded. "Who knows Rylo, maybe we'll even get access to some of the toys they have. I've never seen blasters like they're using before."

Rylo's and Lucival's eyes started to sparkle as Vii tilted his head away from them a bit.

"That's all well and good Captain," Duma said in an even tone. "But I'm just wondering why they'd want or even need us if they already have an army. They weren't exactly hurting for numbers going by the flood of troops they sent into the station."

They all nodded as Vii spoke. "I agree. That's not why she asked me though. She explained to me that almost the entirety of their troops are some kind of Droids, and that she is one as well."

Everyone's eyes widened except Vii's as Duma spoke up again. "All the more reason to question why they'd want us."

Looking at Duma, Vii sighed lightly. Duma had always been a little bit skeptical. He was an excellent soldier but he had a habit of questioning orders if he didn't agree with them, even if he'd end up doing them anyway.

"I was getting to that Duma," Vii said. "She said that due to their nature they aren't always the best choice when it comes to missions and that she wanted us to be the start of a special strike force that answers directly to this Coda fellow."

Scratching his newly grown stubble he continued. "Something about him needing a force of his own, one that isn't made up of droids."

"Well, I'll just follow your lead chief!" Red said without a care in the world.

Chuckling, Vii turned his gaze over to Red. This individual was the youngest of them, as well as the newest member of their little circle of friends. Hopelessly optimistic, he was a free spirit. At times they'd sometimes thought he was incapable of feeling anxiety or worry. Regardless of the amount of pressure they'd been under in missions in the past he'd be making jokes and smiling. He was a walking morale boost and it didn't hurt that he was terrifyingly accurate when it came to ranged weapons.

"Thanks, Red." Vii said with a smile.

"Do you trust this Coda?" Duma asked. "I mean we can all say we know he's no pushover but you saw the feeds like us. Are we even sure he's sane?"

Shrugging, Vii answered. "I don't even know him, Duma. But we shouldn't judge the man before we've even talked to him should we?"

Duma cupped his chin as he turned his eyes to the table. "No. No, I guess we..."

Suddenly the door opened causing them all to swivel their heads towards the doorway. Standing there was Coda, still in his blood-soaked robe. Nobody said anything as they all just looked at each other.

As the silence dragged on Coda spoke abruptly. "Why are there weightlifters on my ship?"

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Vii and his team all tilted their heads slightly as they all had the same thought. Weightlifters? Causing Coda to tilt his head as well. "Err... Who are you guys?" Coda asked.

Before Vii could answer Red spoke up. "The ladybot offered us a job!" He said with a wide smile.

Growing increasingly confused Coda asked. "Ladybot? Beatrix?"

When he was about to get a response someone spoke up from behind him. "Yes My Lord."

This caused Coda to abruptly jerk as he got scared shitless. Turning around with a frown on his face he looked back at Beatrix.

"I'm going to have to start putting goddamn bells on you guys." He said shaking his head. "How can you even sneak up on me? You're made of fucking metal!"

Putting his hand over his face he rubbed his temples. "Whatever. We can talk about this while we eat. I'm going to go take a shower first." He said before turning around and walking off. Leaving Beatrix standing there in front of Vii and his team that was shocked still.

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Naboo, Spaceport.

RG65 along with the other members of his squad had just passed customs again and were entering their ship. Their mission had been completed and they'd taken samples of the virus along with any data they could get their hands on. Finding the hidden lab had proven to be the most difficult part of the whole venture but once they did the rest was easy.

They'd already destroyed everything inside the laboratory and were now taking off towards Dathomir to link up with the diplomatic mission they'd sent there. As they took off they flew by where the lab was.

-("Execute.")- RG65 ordered.

As soon as he said that a massive explosion came into existence as a massive cloud of fire and earth shot up into the air outside Theed. The ship quickly veered away to avoid debris that would be following shortly.

When they broke atmo RG65 sent a burst transmission towards the Prometheus's last known location.

[Naboo Mission Report.

Virus: Destroyed. Three samples secured.

Organics: Terminated.

Witnesses: Zero.

Mission: Success. Proceeding towards rendezvous above Dathomir for next assignment.]

As chaos broke out on Naboo, nobody noticed the unassuming ship jump to hyperspace above the planet.

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Coruscant, temporary Supreme Chancellors office.

Palpatine's assistant had just delivered yet another report about some of his hidden 'assets' going missing. He didn't need to particularly observant to connect all these new happenings to the appearance of this Coda individual. Suddenly many of his operations had come under attack. Nothing egregious yet but befuddling still.

He'd understood the assassins he sent after him were a woefully incompetent choice on his part. After seeing the broadcast he'd made and going through the files his so-called 'Order' had uploaded to the holo-net he could make the assumption that he wasn't on to him yet, or even suspected his existence.

The things he'd lost recently were small level criminals and things related to the slave trade. It was clear Coda didn't particularly like them so that could be chalked up to coincidence. No, what worried him was the fact that nobody saw anything. His agents were ghosts. Feeds disappeared, security protocols failed without explanation, no blood or anything to indicate that they'd even gotten hurt.

Dooku reported that one of his people that he'd been rearing had gone missing on Geonosis abruptly as well. Coda had also drastically reduced the Jedi orders losses, causing him to start ramping up production of the Separatist war machine. Geonosis had been a right mess.

If he hadn't been sure that Coda was close to Tatooine he'd have thought that he was responsible for what happened to his office as well. But that was a virtual impossibility. Though he had no idea where this person had come from, all his investigations turned up nothing about him or his order.

Sighing heavily he decided that Coda would have to wait for now. He had to focus on seeing if things got any worse with his grand plan. Right now he was still on top of things so nothing drastic had to be done.

But only time would tell.

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An unknown planet, Wild space.

In a massive castle sitting on a V-shaped cliff overlooking an expansive city, an old man was walking towards one of the six grand towers that surrounded the main keep in a hexagon formation. They represented the six grand protectors of the king and kingdom of the Heavens Pillar.

His name was Gustaf Wynter, he'd been identified to have the gift when he was a young boy. As an orphan, he'd been lucky to be found by the order of Magi like they were called by the regular people of the kingdom. They just called themselves the touched or giftmen.

No completely unified explanation existed as to why most people were unable to use the gift. Many believed that they were chosen by God while others just said it was random. Gustaf himself believed they simply didn't have all the information they needed to make any headway. He was considered one of the wisest people alive as his moniker was The Prophet. His mastery in the gift was with visions and they had helped the kingdom many times before.

That was why he was headed to his tower right now. King Atlas had asked him to find a way to prevent the calamity that was at their doorsteps, they were at the end of their ropes as the scourge was unrelenting. If another of the silver walls fell they'd be at the point of no return, unable to sustain their people and all that would await them was a slow but sure end.

After he entered his tower and made his way into his office he took off his official's robe and stood by the window behind his desk. He could see the Heavens Pillar from here, stretching all the way to the darkness of the void above. It connected to the Ring of God that circled their world, or at least so the records say. They couldn't know for sure as it had been more than one thousand years since the appearance of the scourge so there was no way to travel far enough to make sure.

A massive construct that nobody had ever entered, what mysteries it would hold for them Gustaf did not dare to imagine. There was no way for them into the grand pillar and absolutely no way for them to ever visit the ring itself.

Shaking himself out of his ruminations he decided that it was best to get started. He had to find a way to help their people, or all would be lost.