Private Call Answered

[Minerva Fhirdiad]

Coronet City, Corellia​

Tag: Anchat Anura

"Been awhile since we've been to Corellia." Said Minerva to her ship's AI just as they entered the capital's skyline. Soon enough Tyatr's metallic voice answered out of the comms.

"I can calculate the exact amount if you wish."

Minerva shook her head in a mixture of amusement and gratitude.

"That won't be necessary just reminiscing."

Tyatr was a true droid warrior. Of course she hadn't always been grateful to him back in the early years but now her eyes are opened to the truth that she owned him greatly. Programming or not, she now valued his loyalty and doing more to take care of his systems. While he can't really feel as organics do, Tyatr still existed, still mattered. After maneuvering into another skyline she picked up their location from Tyatr's sensors.

Maintaining a steady course for the next few minutes the gunship exited out of the traffic line just below the skyscrapers. Going east on the outskirts of the planetary capital where stood a military base, Minerva received orders for clearance from alliance flight controls. Tyatr transmitted the recognition code while the Mandalorian kept her hands on the controls.

The authorities acknowledged the message and directed them to launch bay 1A.

"So far so good." She murmured, making the final approach toward an open bay within the citadel-like structure.

Entering inside she followed a signal droid's directions. Rotating to a corner on the right flank she descended the vessel on the designated landing zone. Done Minerva let go of the controls and got up from her seat. Then exiting from the cockpit she made her way through the interior and ramp opened with the usual steam hissing. Marching down she exited the vessel and spoke her private comms.

"Tyatr keep watch just in case."

"Acknowledged, Minerva." The droid answered back.

Done the Mandalorian made her way through the somewhat busy hangar filled with pilots, engineers and droids at work. It didn't take long for her to exit it and enter a turbolift upon directions given by one officer. The ascension lasted for two minutes before the lift stopped and opened. Walking out Minerva came to a door and stopped briefly to use the code she was given on the console on the left side of the wall. With a hiss the door slid open, revealing a spacious room with a certain team already there.

 

[Anchat Anura]

"Close the door!" squeaked a tiny voice. A tiny, spherical droid flew right past Minerva Fhirdiad 's head, and an Anzellan ran up to her, throwing her arms up in the air, "Aww, poodoo! It's going to take forever to get that thing to come back!"

"It's all right, it always comes back here when its battery gets low," Captain Anura assured them.

"You will move," a dark-skinned Ugnaut carrying an overloaded armful of Droid parts commanded the Anzellan.

"You can go around, it isn't far!" the Anzellan snarled.

"You will move," the Ugnaut repeated.

"E-chu-ta!" the Anzellan cursed, walking away.

The room was a chaotic chorus of Droids and Droidsmiths working on a variety of machines in different corners. Wherever there were any two technicians, there seemed to be three arguments going on. A pair of Gonk Droids were waiting anxiously for a third to finish being fixed. A pair of GARD II Droids were having their repulsors calibrated, causing parts, papers, and people to go flying. Heavy weaponry was being disassembled and reassembled. Whole circuitboards were being built by an engineering Droid. An Anacondan with Droid limbs was hanging from the ceiling, disassembling and reassembling a trio of Lightsabers, handing them to XIV, who tested them by waving them around. A half-assembled Commando Droid helped test the Lightsaber by launching a dummy grenade at it, and the Jedi Securitron sliced it in half.

It was the strangest menagerie of people and Droids. Most of the technicians were around Anchat's size; some of them were even smaller. Zilkin, Patitites, Anzellans, Utai, and Ugnauts. It was easy to say that it was full of tiny people, except there were several rather large people here, too, including a Geonosian, the Anacondan, and a Wookiee.

"Welcome to D-Squad Headquarters, Captain Fhirdiad! Make yourself at home," Captain Anura gestured for her to enter, "If you can find a place to stand, that is. We're a little busy right now, and this isn't exactly an accommodating arrangement. It's all temporary until I can get us a specialized space. This used to be a Droid chop shop, it's the closest thing that could accommodate our needs."

"GREETINGS TO CAPTAIN MINERVA." a Droid voice spoke, almost gurgling in its tone but deep and bellowing. It cut through most of the noise. Hung from the ceiling, with its arms removed and its back opened and partially disassembled, was D-Squad's largest and most powerful Droid, AT-XV-O2, "Oz," "IT IS AGREEABLE TO COORDINATE WITH YOU."

"My sentiments exactly, Oz. Let's talk over here. I'd say 'Meet me in my office', but my office is a cubby at the top of Urgwumpawee's desk, and he's busy, so we'll just talk in this corner over here. If anyone needs to use one of these tools, just hand them the one they want," said Anchat, leaving her over to an only partly filled corner of the room. A bat-like person, no longer than Minerva's arm and little thicker, crawled down the wall with a spanner in its mouth. They let out a happy squeak of greeting to her as it passed by.

"So. You got my message. I'm glad. We did a lot of great work on Cathar. I'm proud to have had the opportunity to serve alongside you, and I'm hoping you feel the same," Anchat said.

 

[Minerva Fhirdiad]

Tag: Anchat Anura

Minerva could barely comprehend everything she was seeing. This unit was more extensive than she had believed. Not that the warrior objected, just amazed and impressed really. She nodded to Captain Anura and followed through the former chop shop. This would be a Jawa's paradise, she concluded.

Suddenly the Mandalorian was taken off guard by Oz's boisterous greeting from the ceiling. Blinking a few times she then laughed and waved.

"Indeed it is, big guy!" Minerva replied before, following after her fellow captain again. Reaching the corner she paused to see the little bat fellow climbing down and returned his greeting with a friendly nod. Subsequently she folded her arms over the chest and listened more to Anura. At the end of it Minerva took only a moment to reply with a hidden smile inside the helm.

”Yes the feeling is mutual. To confess your squad's presence was unexpected to me but I'm certainly not complaining. The results speak for themselves."

Pausing briefly to clear her throat she went on.

"I know you want to talk with me about Tyatr and I joining your outfit and our answer is yes. Just for the record straight I'll follow your lead despite us being equal in rank. Team cohesion is essential after all. Just we need to figure out arrangements and other details."

 

[Anchat Anura]

Anchat beamed at her pre-emptive response, "I'm glad to hear it. You're actually the first human in D-Squad, so believe it or not, you're the odd one out. And I want it clear - You're no less part of D-Squad. I asked for you both, not just as a package deal. Soon we're going to have other field operatives with us in the field."

Anchat pointed to the sepia-skinned Ugnaut, "That's Kran Drokli. She's our top Droid engineer. She's working on a repulsor craft salvage and repair vehicle that will allow her to conduct reloads and repairs in the field. If you have any modifications to your gear you'd like designed, she's the one to ask."

He pointed to the Anzellan from earlier, "Imuwii designed my cockpit, and he's building a second one for his own use, so you can expect to be fighting alongside him the same way you would with me.

The Wookiee let out a growl as one of the Patitites got too close to his work. Anchat chuckled, "Urgwumpawee will also be joining us in the field. He's our Heavy Weapons engineer. He designed the weapons on my new Droid, and followed his work here. Finally is Squag, the wall-crawler who said hello earlier. She'll be our field scout and assist Kran with field repairs. She won't be much in firepower but she does have a system of sonic scanners that will provide us with all the field intel we'll need in any given firefight."

Anchat turned back to Minerva Fhirdiad and stood tall - so to speak, "They've all had some kind of military service of one kind or another, even field work, but none of them are trained and drilled officers like you or me. So I'd like to make it clear, here and now, to you - as long as you're with D-Squad, you'll be second in command. There's many different kinds of experience, and I know you've got what the position needs. After you is Kran, but she doesn't have the formal training and experience that the position requires. You don't have to worry about any ego in the appointment from anyone else, they all understand and know the drill. We're an odd unit, and we're only going to get stranger. Sound good to you?"

 

[Minerva Fhirdiad]

Tag: Anchat Anura

Minerva always considered herself Mandalorian first then human but she understood what D-Squad's commander meant. She said nothing but listened while her new CO pointed out the other organic members of the team. Where some would be put off by the strangeness of it all Minerva didn't feel that. In fact she was already feeling a lot more at home here. They welcomed her with open arms and unlike some certain Alliance officers they didn't judge her as a monster for the armor she wore.

I guess it helped that I fought alongside them against the Neo-Crusaders on Cathar. Still grateful for this.

Once Anura explained what she will be on this team Minerva humbly nodded in understanding. She had commanded a whole company of commandos, Strike Force Talon but this will be a different dynamic though one she fully intended to meet nonetheless. Subsequently Minerva removed her helmet to let the Ziklin officer see the sincerity in her brown eyes and spoke without the helm's audio filter

"Yes it does. In a galaxy ever going mad we need some crazy of our own to fight back.”

Chuckling at that comment Minerva turned to looking at some of the droids and added.

"During the Battle of Exegol some years ago, I was part of a boarding party against a star destroyer. In the midst of the fighting there was this roller droid( BB-610 )that escaped attention and that took on an entire bridge crew by himself, sabotaging their efforts. We intervened but it was that little guy who made it possible to turn the guns on the enemy fleet. I called him Droid Warrior and now I see a whole team of them."

Looking back to Anura with a smirk she asked with curiosity. "When was this squad formed?"

 

[Anchat Anura]

Anchat beamed at the story of the little BB unit that could, "History is full of brace little Droids like that. Our oldest is R9L-M4, who started out as an Astromech, an R9 unit from a later run of their series. They've been modified so many times he no longer has any original parts, but they're still the same Droid. Nearly half a millennia old, in fact. And by the time they joined D-Squad, it was already an old Republic tradition. D-Squad goes all the way back to the Clone Wars at the end of the Grand Republic. According to my parents, one of my ancestors was its founder, a great General of the Grand Army of the Republic, valiantly and fearlessly seized control of a Separatist fleet and, with nothing but a squad of Astromechs and a single Pit Droid to command each ship, held a mighty last stand liberated the world of Jakiim from the menace of the Sith Warrior, Darth Grevious!"

He crossed his arms, "Or so that's how they told the story to me. I've actually read the records, and throughout its history, the New Republic would occasionally have missions that required the specialization of an all-Droid team, or majority Droid team, and so they keep assembling one and slapping the old name on it. When I joined the Defense Force, I was given an Astromech to get around when in the field, but I kept finding myself in hot zones and needed to shoot back. One Droid turned into three, three Droids turned into a specialized mission, and a specialized mission turned into a standing command."

Anchat gestured to the room, with all the people, Droids, and chaos that went along with it to show for his trouble.

"We don't exactly fit in with the rest of the 93rd Pathfinders, at least right now. The goal is to set the standard for Droid auxiliary forces for the GADF. Compositions, insertion tactics, logistics, that sort of thing. Hopefully every Regiment will be trained and equipped to handle a detachment of Droids or Mechs who will be able to handle the kinds of missions that organic troopers can't. We also get a lot of free gear from arms manufacturers hoping to score a contract, so be careful who you accept free lunches from."

Minerva Fhirdiad

 

[Minerva Fhirdiad]

Tag: Anchat Anura

Come to think of it Minerva did recall reading a historical article about the legendary astromech, R2-D2 being on some secret mission with other droids and a Zilkin officer but there weren't many details about it. Only that they stopped a major Separatist attack, saving many lives including Anakin Skywalker. She had to hold back the urge to snort when Anchat Anura called Grievous a Darth when the latter never was one.

Regardless of how much the story the captain's parents told is true or not, it is still an honor to have an ancestor who was a true hero. On the opposite side, Jorrel, her late father, told her of his distant ancestor Tal Merrik in the same era who disgraced himself with hypocrisy, murder and treachery in order to overthrow Duchess Satine Kryze. While Minerva didn't agree with the Duchess' pacifism, what Tal did was not only wrong but evil. Jorel made sure to tell that story whenever he could to remind her and maybe even himself not to follow his forebear's path. They're not pacifists but nor will they be murderous thugs either.

When hearing the other captain's vision of droid auxiliary forces to fight alongside organic troops that sounded rather interesting. Minerva chuckled at the lunch comment then answered.

"I heard the Confederacy in the Outer Rim and Wild Space are utilizing droid and organic troops together in their military. Best to catch up."

Giving the squad around them another, the Mandalorian nodded in full approval. She felt a renewed sense of belonging. Putting her helm back on Minerva concluded.

"We have work to do."