Faction Ranger's Refuge

[Jeekan Da]

Corellia
Sector Ranger Central Command
Ranger's Refuge- R&R Cantina
Post-Frozen Hand War

Galtea kicked back in her seat and poured a glass full of Corellian ale. It had been a wild few weeks. A rough several weeks. The Grand Army had been busy. The Grand Navy had been busy. A blistering and brutal campaign against the forces of the Frozen Hand. They'd finished their jobs and gone home heroes of the Republic. And that left the Sector Rangers to pick up the pieces. Thousands, perhaps tens of thousands, had been abducted by the Frozen Hand and taken to their grim cathedral on Byss. After that, details were fuzzy.

But what she did know was that it left an awful lot of missing person reports. Autopsy was backed up. And it wasn't just the bodies. It was the missing. Nobody knew how many or where they'd gone. Every available Special Enforcement Officer had been pulled in off cases less than high priority and reassigned to seeking them out. She'd been given three dozen missing person casefiles, with another three dozen on the way once these were resolved, either by autopsy confirming DNA of the remains or some other lead.

It was harsh. Worse than any case she'd been on, or set of cases. Endless sifting through interviews, security footage, anything. And for the most part, they ended with someone dead. Even the various chaplains and counselors were being stretched to the limit. She'd made more than her fair share of trips to different places around the Core to inform family members in person. She'd just gotten back from a rough one. The conversation still echoed in her ears.

You Republic said you were here to protect people! You'd protect everyone! Look what you did!

There were tears. Lots of them. Screams, obscenities, and she'd just stood there, deeply aware of the insignia on her uniform jacket, and all it had been meant to represent, and what it hadn't stood up to for these people. Galtea downed the glass of Corellian ale in a long one and then poured another. Tomorrow would be another long day of sifting bodies and giving families bad news.

 

[Ruus]

Ruus stepped into the cantina with a purposeful stride. He had been newly admitted into the Sector Rangers and bypassed the probationary period due to his extensive law enforcement experience, and previous Captain role, in the dissolved Mandalorian Guard after the fall of Mandalore to the Sith Empire. He no longer wore the uniform of the Mandalorian Guard and instead wore a new uniform styled after the Clone Wars era Senate Commandos.

Seeing Galtea Garn drinking he approached the woman and extended his hand and introduced himself "I am Ruus, former captain of the Mandalorian Guard and special detail to the Mand'alor now Sector Ranger. A pleasure to me you."

 

[Jeekan Da]

Ruus

Galtea looked up and frowned, sliding another cup his way. “Planning on ditching us for the Senate already?” She paused to pour a glass full for the newcomer and another for herself. “Good to meet you too, I guess. Hope you’re not planning on investigating missing persons and telling the next of kin that their relative is dead dressed like that.”

She leaned back in the chair and played with a necklace chain around her neck. “Galtea Garn. Special Enforcement Officer. Usually work organized crime rested to homicide. Been a bit slow in that department lately. So unless we’re after spies or treasonous admirals...” She shrugged and pushed a stack of flimsis around the table. “Reassigned to missing person cases related to the Frozen Hand War.”

She set the glass down hard and stared at it. “Had to tell two dozen families their relatives were officially identified as dead today.” Galtea gave him a look. “What about you? Sector Ranger now, yeah? Got a Sector Command assignment yet?”

 

[Ruus]

Galtea Garn

Ruus put down his hand as she did not take it "No. I am not seeking transfer to the Senate. If nothing else this armor is a symbol of peace and stability to those in the Republic. On Mandalore the Mandalorian Guard were once those symbols during a more peaceful time in our people's history. Should this uniform be inappropriate for my new station I will relinquish it immediately." he watched as she poured him a glass and then looked back to her "I haven't been assigned any cases as of yet or missions." when Galtea leaned back and introduced herself, Ruus, listened intently. At her question he shook his head "I have not. I am on standby until new orders are given."

After a short period of silence Ruus spoke again "During my command during the Invasion of Tanaab I lost my entire squad. It was an artillery strike on the shield generator enclosure. I only survived because of Valdus Bral and his Aliit's intervention. I can sympathize with your assignment. In our culture the mourning of the dead was short, should they have died honorably. There was much to do and we were at war on all fronts. Grieving our losses would have lead to an even more expedient collapse."

 

[Jeekan Da]

Galtea gave a brief snort and a half-shrug. "Good. We've not got enough good Rangers as it is. Don't need anyone else stealing our best new Ranger recruits." She took another long drink from the glass before refilling it again and leaning back in the seat. Her eyes were glazed and distant. "Well, Ranger. Consider yourself on missing person duty." The woman shoved half of the stack of case files over to him. "We've another new Ranger just signed up as well. Miria Tanau I think her name is. Should be here relatively soon."

Her eyebrows raised at his word and she leaned forward to put her elbows on the table. "Those were soldiers. They volunteered. Knew what would happen." She sifted through the files and pulled one up. "Here. Missing- one-year-old human female. Taken during the Frozen Hand crisis. Had a couple other younglings in my last batch. Children. Nothing left of them but charred remains and ash. Had to tell their parents their younglings were gone. Is that an honorable death?"

The glass slammed back onto the table as her red-rimmed eyes misted over. "They were so young..."

Ruus

 

[Miria Tanau]

Just then, the door to the dimly lit cantina opened once more, letting harsh sunlight spill in through the archway. Silhouetted in shadow, a tall woman stood bedecked in military armor and a long rifle slung over her back, with its partner pistol at her waist. Her armor's durasteel and phrik plating glinting slightly in the smoky atmosphere that permeated the bar. Two things were immediately clear, firstly that this was not exactly Sector Ranger arsenal and that the woman's Sector Ranger badge seemed to be clipped to her belt. A secondary supplementary engraving of the Sector Ranger emblem was stamped into her shoulder plate, to especially clarify the woman's assignment. Mirai walked towards the bar, trailing debris and dust as she went.

The Arsenian soldier had just spent the afternoon, trawling through the carnage and debris for any signs of survivors. It had filled her mouth with bile, to see the atrocities committed by the Frozen Hand on the citizens of the Republic. She was of course, prepared for the casualties of war. War was an ugly, brutal thing that had very little remorse for those caught in its bloody grasp. Arsenians knew war well. War had played its role in shaping the circumstances of their species. They grew up as children prepared for the battlefield and served at least ten mandatory years within their military. And yet, war inflicted most of its casualties on soldiers who had been prepared for it. Individuals who had volunteered their lives in defense of their country. It was an entirely different matter to watch civilians on the edges of the working zones react with trepidation and horror as she pulled a bloody stump from beneath the rubble and then began the awful process of trying to figure out who it was. Often times, she simply couldn't due to the damage caused and whomever the individual had been...well they were no one now. Or, in the rare and merciful cases where she could identify someone and could reconcile them with their family, she felt the awful, irking shame of knowing that she had failed them. Moreover, her own feelings and upbringing that every citizen should know combat only complicated her perception of things. She had bungled more than a few death notifications.

Mirai had been surprised when she had received the transfer acceptance and orders to report to the Sector Ranger headquarters. To say that things were rather tumultuous between her and the rest of the Arsenians at the moment, would be to accurately define the situation. Perhaps they had merely wanted to get her out of their hair. Perhaps they were trying to teach a lesson. The others had believed that she had left her post. Perhaps they were trying to remind her of why they fought in the first place: to protect. In either case, Mirai had found her place of redemption and moreover a fixation with protecting those who couldn't protect themselves.

Mirai charged up to the bar like an enraged rancor, only to be stopped by the barkeep's upraised hand. "Calm down Mirai. You still owe me for the last time you got pissed off." This was met with an exasperated snort, only for Mirai to slump and sit on of the stools. "I want to throttle these criminals." Mirai said, imitating the motion with clenching fists. "Mirai, you might want to take a look around. This is unlike you."Mirai's dark visor scanned the cantina, and she jumped slightly noticing the other Sector Rangers near her. In her uncharacteristic rage, she had missed them completely. "Ah, Hello. Uhm, I'm sorry. My name is Mirai Tanau." She spoke, reflexively placing her fist over her heart in an Arsenian salute.

Galtea Garn Ruus

 

[Ruus]

Ruus looked down at the files and said nothing as Galtea Garn explained the situation. The statement and rhetorical question about the infant's status along with the state of the remains from the younglings elicited no response. Ruus had been in law enforcement for a long time and he had seen his fair share of mangled bodies.

As the other ( Miria Tanau ) burst in he put a file down and turned to her. The helmet concealed his facial expressions as he responded "My name is Ruus." Neither of them struck him as veteran law enforcement, they were far more emotional than the officers he was familiar with. Ruus turned back to the files and asked "How far are we into the investigation? Have local security forces provided information to us on these missing individuals or are we starting this investigation alone?"

 

[Jeekan Da]

Miria Tanau Ruus

Galtea just shrugged. "Worked homicide for ten years. Gang killings. Jilted spouses. Even a serial killer." She ran a hand through her hair as Miria came in. "Trophies and ritual scarring. But this?" She gestured. "We're not looking at a crime scene. This is... something else. War crime? Crimes against sentients? Mass genocide? How do we even categorize this?" She leaned back in her chair and started flipping through the flimsi files. "Local security forces? Do you not get it? They're dead. Fresia's entire security force is on the list of missing persons. And we've identified half of them in one of the mass graves. There is nobody left to assist these investigations. Our local Sector Ranger detachments are gone. We're trying to pick up the shambles of over a half-dozen different security forces and put them back together."

She spread her arms wide across the display of files. "We're putting Rangers in to run everyday law enforcement on all of these planets, and we don't have the manpower to police entire worlds until they can get trained security forces back up and running. Just look-"

Galtea stopped and frowned as she stared at one of the flimsi files. "That's not right." Her voice sharpened and cleared as she examined it. "Pull up the manifest of ships recorded at Byss after battle, both destroyed and captured. There's something not matching here. And to your questions, no. We're doing this alone. Nobody left to work on this other than us. And forensics analysts would be better at this job. IDing bodies is what they do."

 

[Miria Tanau]

Miria spared a glance towards her new, helmeted companion as he introduced himself. "It's nice to meet you, Ruse." Miria replied, dipping her own helmeted head slightly in response. A clever name. Miria thought to herself briefly, before being distracted from her rage by his question. Miria had been about to speak, but the woman beside Ruse had succinctly summarized their situation. Miria should know, considering that she had spent much of the afternoon digging through debris. Most of the local force was either kidnapped, missing, or dead. To the woman's offered question, Miria inclined her head slightly. "All three." She offered bluntly, before continuing. "Long as it means that they are put away or down."

Miria's gaze naturally followed the woman's outstretched arms as they hovered over the wide display of files in front of her. Her cybernetic eye scanned over the files, highlighting potential interest points to recall later. Suddenly, it seemed as if the woman had found something as she examined one particular file in particular. It would appear to be a hanger registration file attached to a manifest." Miria blinked as the woman asked them to pull up a manifest of the ships recorded at Byss after the battle, destroyed and captured. "Right. Hold on, I might be able to get in contact with some people about that." Miria said, before raising a finger to her helmet and clicking a button. A conversation followed in a language the other two probably didn't understand, but after a few moments, Miria raised a small palm sized holo-projector. Displayed, was the manifest of ships recorded at Byss after the battle. Of particular note was a ship highlighted in red. Its status was listed as missing from the hangar registry, following its capture. "...Damn it. They just walked it in, and walked it back out. Maybe not too far though. Check the other hangars on world, or in the system."

Galtea Garn Ruus

 

[Ruus]

"I was not given any information on the current events. The questions I ask are to become acquainted with the situation." Ruus picked up a file and skimmed it "Attempting to investigate all of these missing persons is nearly impossible. We do not have infrastructural resources or the expertise - as you had mentioned before the analysts normally handle this portion of the investigation." The ranger put the file down and folded his arms thoughtfully "If you're certain there are no other options then we should start immediately. I suggest categorizing them by odds of survival in a worst case scenario. Those with the lesser chance of survival will be the lowest priority as they could expire before we can find them. This would make us lose valuable time in finding those that could still be retrieved, alive, within the time frame spent by searching by the former." Ruus had no idea what the two other Rangers were looking for with the other file, or what Byss had to do with it, so he kept quiet.

Galtea Garn Miria Tanau

 

[Jeekan Da]

Ruus Miria Tanau

Galtea learned back in the seat, lips pursed. Her fingers tapped out a rhythm on the table, until Miria got back to her.

“Yes. Walked in and then out. Probably came in with the rescued victims. Would be easy enough. Brought back a few thousand. Easy enough to get on the ship and fly out.”

Galtea gave Ruus a look. “You must have just been shipped in from somewhere else. Didn’t realize you were that new. Frozen Hand War. Sith-Imperial cabal. Devious, ruthless. Manufactured the Kuat crisis to draw our attention. Then sent in their troops and hired freelancers to kidnap as many people as possible to sacrifice as some sort of ritual. Led to a sizable military campaign. Prakith. Odik. Kampe. It all ended on Byss. These missing person files are the people left unaccounted for, either during the initial wave of attacks or after we brought everyone back. And I agree on the method. The problem is there are three planets these people could be missing on.”

She stood and paced around the table, one hand polishing the badge on her jacket. “But these people might be a few of the ones responsible. Need to take a closer look at the data. I’ll send the ship info and markings to security. See if it’s anywhere on the planet still or when it was recorded leaving.”

She gave the two of them a sharp look. “We might be looking at more than one group of kidnappers.”

 

[Miria Tanau]

Miria cursed under her breath as Galtea's conjecture constructed an all too real looming possibility about the plan of the children. Miria turned to study Ruus as he offered a wise decision on what to do with the missing reports. By organizing them by date and time they might be able to figure out the probability of the survival of these missing persons, as well as their location. As Galtea seemingly explained things to Ruth as if he was new, Miria raised a hand. "Perhaps, but there was merit to Ruus' suggestion. If we do organize the reports by the time that they came in, and the location, we might be able to discover the ships they used. More information will only give us the edge. Perhaps there are some similarities between the ships used. I'll see if I can rustle up some contacts with this."

She nodded towards Galtea as she said that she would send the ship info and markings to security, turning slightly and lifting one of her hands to her headset. Another brief conversation followed in hushed tones. Somehow, the secrecy that had settled over this mission had even infected these mere conversations. Miria had begun to shake her head, before freezing and glancing towards Galtea. Miria hurriedly pulled out one of her datapads and started to take down notes before translating the notes to Basic before sending the info to Ruus and Galtea. Her contact had mentioned that the ship in question here had also appeared briefly in the hanger on another planet. Additionally there was one more ship thather contact had noted down in another hangar on that planet.

Miria slapped Ruus lightly on the shoulder in commendation. "Good job." She mouthed, then turned and gave a brief reply to her headset in Arsenian before turning away. "From what my contact could confirm we're looking at at least two ships and so potentially two groups. The emergency lockdown is limiting their ability to confirm, at least without slicing the security records. And the situation is tense enough without that."

Ruus Galtea Garn

 

[Elias Vati]

Elias was on the train going into the government district and the ads played a lot of Republic propaganda on the small screens that were scattered on the parts of the walls that met the roof. No one felt anything, they were left their own devices, literal and metaphorical. Elias didn't feel anything either, to him it felt like a revamp of Corellia to gain face. He didn't have any connection to the 'Republicanization' but it did give him a new job in the new Sector Rangers. Well it wasn't new, they've existed in the past republics of the core and it was a privilege for him to be chosen as one of its members. Eventually the train reached the government district station and with pockets in his coat, he made his way onto the platform and down the elevated station to a crowded street with the Republic's offices a couple hundred feet before him.

He walked into the concourse of the high rise Republic buildings and saw towards the Sector Ranger Central Command. Going through a quick ID check he skipped the whole security check and made his way into the Ranger's Refuge where he was supposed to meet his fellow operatives. Seeing the table where his recruiter Galtea Garn was, he immediately made his way to her who was apparently sitting with the Senate Commando, Ruus and GAR Commander, Miria Tanau which made for a pretty diverse crew already.

"Sorry I'm late, Elias Vati former CorSec." He said as he extended his hands to all operatives. To catch himself up to speed, he quickly eyed the missing persons files and ship manifests, studying them for a bit and heard just enough of Miria to contextualize the situation. "Can't we just give clearance to your contact to access the files? We can cut a few corners I'm sure."

 

[Jeekan Da]

Miria Tanau Elias Vati Ruus

Galtea turned to the newcomer as he entered and then gave a warm nod, extending her hand. "Glad you could make it, Elias. Good to have you." She downed a cup of water as Miria worked through her contacts. The language wasn't Basic, which gave her the sense that they weren't traditional sources. Not typical contacts, at least, perhaps not so much even in the Grand Army. But if there was one thing she held sacred, it was the protection of contacts and informants.

"Two ships? Two kidnappers..." She ran a hand through her hair and adjusted the ponytail. "Let's get in touch with the local courts. Get a court order to access the records. Start reworking through all the footage. We know the Frozen Hand committed the mass abductions. Tens of thousands of them." She pointed to the files. "These are the results of that. But they're broken now. Yet, with the disappearance of this ship?"

Galtea shrugged and looked at the small team with her face etched grim. "I'm worried somebody else took advantage of the mess and abductions to kidnap people for their own benefit. If they were involved, it means they already had resources in place. And nobody had any idea. What else have we missed going on here?"

 

[Elias Vati]

Miria Tanau Galtea Garn Ruus

Seeing that this was both the best and worst time to lay on bad news, Elias pulled out a datapad and sent files on some notorious cases picked up bythe Sector Rangers. "Intelligence from local planetary law enforcements in the newly acquired systems suggest there's some small pirate bands who've turned to arms dealing and consolidated on Odik. Planetary security have been tracking them and pinpointing their enclaves. They have a whole shop set up on the planet. They could be dealing with the Frozen hand, trading sentients for guns which is how these missing people can't be pinpointed. You know how pirates can be."

Elias took the time to look at the categorized names and all these people were no one anyone would really miss except for a few friends and family. Perfect victims of sentient trafficking. Unless there was some important name he missed which could get them some more resources to preform this investigation adequately. "If it was my guess, I think it would be wise to infiltrate a pirate base on Odik. If we're lucky enough we can find some missing people and some clients that are most likely the Frozen Hand. If we can't find that we would've busted a huge arms dealing ring. I think that would be a win either way."

 

[Jeekan Da]

Miria Tanau Ruus Elias Vati

Galtea grimaced at the news. It was bad, indeed. She listened to the intel and ran through the files Elias shared with her and the other Rangers. He was completely right though and she was glad she had recruited him. He had a good head on his shoulders. Quick thinking and not prone to panic. They would need that. They were all good, even if a bit awkward and uncertain about their roles. Understandable. The Sector Rangers were quite new, all things considered. Pulling people in from all over the place. Wasn't easy to get everyone on the same page and all the cogs working together.

"Odik, you say?" She rubbed a hand across her face before shaking her head. "Thought the GAR had done a better job of clearing that out, but must have left a power vacuum. Easy enough for pirates to sneak in while we're busy elsewhere."

She stood and ran a hand through her hair. "By the authority granted me as a Special Enforcement Officer, I create Ranger Task Force Special One-Five-Three, focused on the investigation of an unknown band of sentient traffickers potentially taking advantage of the missing persons cases of the Frozen Hand War."

Galtea fixed them all with a keen look. "You all in?"

 

[Miria Tanau]

Miria glanced towards the new arrival, Elias Vati who extended his hand towards her. She shook it, though it was his words that had garnered her attention. Beneath the visor of her helmet, Miria pursed her lips. Finding herself poised in attempting to explain the intricacies of her contacts would be...awkward at best. However, perhaps it was another matter entirely to have the permission for them to work through the information. Miria did not know how to approach the idea of allowing someone from another army peruse these files, and indeed someone who was supposed to be refraining from speaking to her until such time as she redeemed herself from her temporary exile. Like I thought...awkward.

The shift in topic as Elias laid on more bad news, quickly caught her attention once more. At the mention of the word pirates, Miria let out what sounded like a hiss, from the forceful exhalation she had been holding. She indeed knew how pirates operated. Every Arsenian did, and hated them for it. Arsenians had a long history of mistakenly being perceived as a vulnerable target for these types of scum. Mistakenly of course, because as the pirates soon found out, the Arsenians knew how to break their feet off in kicking their arses. Miria sent another quick burst of Arsenian through her headset and then glanced towards Galatea and Elias.

She tried not to take it as a personal slight when Galtea mentioned that she thought the GAR had done a better job of clearing out Odik. In truth, Miria was still reeling from the culture/technological shock and the intense debate and bureaucracy involved in the maneuvering of the GAR. She understood it, but it felt like an entirely different beast to the Arsenian army, which operated on a much clearer path of seniority. The GAR she hadn't quite mastered yet. One thing remained the same though, she was responsible for those under her command. And like it or not, despite levels of seniority in the Rangers non-withstanding, Galtea, Elias and Ruus, had been adopted into part of her command. She fixed Galtea with a questioning glance, hidden behind her visor. "What, leave now and miss out on the fun of taking down some pirates? I'm in."

Galtea Garn Elias Vati Ruus

 

[Elias Vati]

Galtea Garn Ruus Miria Tanau

Thought the GAR had done a better job of clearing them out

These words that played over in Elias' head and the business with the Frozen Hand, putting two and two together Elias figured out that the Sector Rangers were the military's janitors. Whenever the GAR cleared out and conquered a system, the Sector Rangers had to clean up after them. Which as alright with him, He preferred being owed obligation instead of owing it. Now whenever someone of the GAR ever took the piss out of the Rangers, he knew just what to say and a rough band of operatives from different backgrounds made it all the more interesting. Already he could tell his time with the rangers was going to be more interesting than his CorSec days.

Smiling eagerly to everyone at the table, Elias spoke without hiding his excitement, "Missing the chance to bust some pirates and sticking it to the GAR? There isn't anything more I could want."

Ok maybe he said more than he should've but he made the sentiment pretty clear.

 

[Jeekan Da]

Elias Vati Miria Tanau

Galtea gave a half-smile at the responses. That's what she was looking for in a team. The tricky part was finding the right Ranger team, especially for these kinds of cases. Not that they had the capacity to do the Grand Army's job for them. It was a difficult part of being law enforcement. They had special weapon teams, quick reaction forces, intelligence, but nothing on the scale of the Grand Army. Nor did she want to do the part of fighting the wars that were beginning to build up.

She had enough of a caseload here. Missing persons, organized crime rings. Kidnappings. She was here to fight crime and make a difference in ordinary people's lives. She wasn't about to go tangle with Sith Lords.

"Right then. Let's gear up. I've got a ship assigned to me. Lonestar class. Got the gear and support personnel we might need. I'll get some analysts and intel folks looking at the area to see what we can find. Get some sense of what's going on ahead of us."

 

[Miria Tanau]

Miria couldn't help but give a half smile in return. At the very least, it felt as if she would fit in with these people just fine. And that, for the moment, was all she was going to consider. Let the rest of the worries find their way. She'd run across them sooner or later, but for now settling in with the Ranger's was enough of a task to suit her attention. Miria whistled softly as Galtea revealed that she had a Lonestar ship assigned to her. Granted, in terms of military vessels it was nothing special, but it was far more than Miria had expected when she signed up for the Ranger post. Given the general terseness between the GAR and the Rangers, she had fully expected to be offered a patrol shuttle and a few shoelaces and told to make it work. Scattered though they might be, it would seem that there was at least some semblance of a support skeleton to their outfitting.

Miria would want to quiz Galtea on the ship's capabilities later but this wasn't exactly the time. Besides which, she didn't want to hound her newest companion and superior. She did however ask, "Are we headed off immediately or will the ship still require fueling and supplies? If so, I might have some people drop off some equipment that I might need. What hangar bay is the ship in?" Galtea asked, tapping the side of her armor's helmet to queue up her mic again. Another short burst of Arsenian followed which presumably was directed to tell them where to drop off the supplies and equipment. Then she switched channels to direct the orderlies at that hanger to check over the equipment and have it loaded onto the ship. "Right, well I'm ready to head out if that's been sorted."

Galtea Garn Elias Vati