Even in the aftermath of a grueling battle, Telos IV maintains a certain inescapable beauty. Battle-scarred craters scrawl across the greenery, and even what was a few days ago a fierce battlefield now finds itself steadily reclaimed by Telos's greenery. Among the entrenchment lines and immumerate bunkers dug from the spires on which you're now housed, Telos IV stands strong, even as the cratering wreckages of AT-AT and older AT-TE litter the landscape far in the distance. From the balcony above where most of the CIS forces in the city of Vara, collections of CIS battle flags -- bundled up like matches and kindling sticks -- join together and bellow in the wind, scorched and littered with blaster-holes in defiance to the Imperial onslaught below.

You're exhausted. Everyone's exhausted. The battle took positions more apropos a siege than a true battle: Star Destroyers bludgeoned every position while anti-ship batteries fired with such ferocity that it became impossible to tell night from day. Imperial Stormtroopers descended upon the planet, incision after incision, attempting to flank and breach, and after each successful cut they made they would find themselves further pressed into a deeper defense. The entirety of the Imperial assault fleet would be here after a months-long pursuit along the Hydian Way, until a battered CIS remnant and Imperial force alike pitched their forces along this fated battle. The Empire did not retreat.

Even after the battle was won and the Imperial task force in ruins, the respite of victory was only so brief. This particular CIS force has taken up residence in a series of tenements along the sprawling Residential districts of Vara -- one of Telos' many starport cities -- to something of the chagrin of its landlords. You've noticed a particular antipathy as you've strode along the surface of Telos - its citizens have struggled long and hard for their homeworld, straggled with civil war in the years prior to the Clone Wars. Scars of the conflict reverb along even along the planet's architecture. As you cast gazes out of one of Telos' spires and elevators, the battered, skeletal remains of air defense towers and megalithic housing spires puncture the otherwise lush verdant of the escapement.

The locals, while not antagonistic, seem rather apprehensive about your continued stay on Telos. The atmosphere of Telos has been tense for decades by this point, and it's an odd day when you can go out and about your business without attracting a glance or a curious gaze from a local or two. Most seem willing -- if not eager -- to conduct their daily essential business with Confederate forces, but there's always a tone behind them that seems to belie a certain suspicion of outsiders that isn't known for a world known for its tourism. A world that once attracted visitors from all corners of the galaxy along the Outer Rim has found itself closing itself in, tighter and tighter, much to the dismay of the Telosians.

A message goes off on your datapad in the early hours of the morning, ringing at the characteristic buzz of a new MMS over the planetary E-Feed.

You see it's from Raash Ti: The planetary commander for the CIS' operations on Telos IV and one of the regional commanders -- or rather who is left for the job, at this rate -- for the Kwymar Sector. You haven't met him personally many times, but his delegate lieutenant Kaven Zur is a very familiar sight.

---

From: RTi559416@ciskwymar.sfd
Subject: Updates: MMS / SFD Protocol & Announcements

All Personnel,

As of yesterday, EWD (Electronic Warfare Division) noticed an influx of erratic patterns going out of the planetary system. They've reported encryption discrepancies in the transmissions. Until further notice, I am ordering comm silence until this issue can be resolved. ALL communications, on and off-planet, are ceased until we can locate these fluxes and resolve them. Orders will be dispatched through authorized comm channels ONLY and will be delegated to troops as necessary. ETA on comm patches is two weeks out.

If MP catches any of you sending unauthorized MMS's, enjoy a one-way trip into the brig. No questions.

Commander Raash Ti,
SECCOMM Kwymar

---

As you go about the morning, the entirety of the Remnant forces are buzzing to one another about the most recent orders -- confusion and suspicion dripping from all their hushed conversations, whispering of leave and Imperial sympathizers. Some grow cautious, even from the curbed tones of their voice, suspicious of some bands of the more quiet locals, or even one of the Reformists there. Some are just happy to have a few days of downtime between orders, happy to indulge their spare time mingling in one of Telos' many cantinas and clubs, throwing out what spare credits they've got in solidarity to another day yet survived.

Another MMS over the E-Feed lights your datapad up in the late morning. As it buzzes, you see another message: This one's from the second-in-command. Must be important for the circumstances.

---

From: KZu528916@@ciskwymar.sfd
Subject: Last Update

I won't take long. This'll be the last MMS you'll get from me until our issue is resolved.

Scara has been working with EWD to patch up the most recent encryption issues, and she's requested your help. Because of the nature of the investigation and the most recent orders, it's a good window of opportunity between the three of us, so the both of us are asking for your help here.

I've also got the most recent assignment from Commander Ti. Due to the data breach I can't go into details about it like we usually do over E-Feed, i'll be giving you the intel via datacard once we're all assembled. Meet us at the EWD compound this evening (19:00) and i'll brief you there.

Maj. Kaven Zur,
PLANCOM Telos

---

Scara is one of the intelligence leads in the employ of Commander Ti. The woman's done an exemplary job -- she seems to be able to decipher enigma after enigma even in the most bleak of days, and nobody's quite sure on how she does it: Not even herself. She's always been an odd one, a bit difficult to figure out, rather Delphian and always a bit aloof. There was a certain queerness to her that made her perfect for her job in intelligence. She gets results -- for Raash Ti, that's always been more than enough.

But if she's saying there's issues with encryption? That can't be a good sign.

Still, you've got a good bit of time to mingle and get your bearings for the day. If the Major's saying to wait that long to give the news...you might need it.

Even for a veteran warrior, it had been a difficult battle. Alric reflected on the siege of Telos IV, likely not to be the only one, as he took a late lunch on the roof of the tenement that served as his temporary barracks. A box of takeout food rested next to his seated position on the roof, along with a cup of caf and his helmet.

The Mandalorian warrior sighed in relief as he finished his crucial maintenence on the last of his armament. There hadn't been enough time during the siege to attend to his weapons properly, and it was a testament to the inherent durability of his preferred blaster models that they hadn't jammed or worse in the battle. Hell, he'd even run out of specialty ammunition for his rifle, having gone dry on sniper quarrels and grenades sooner than he would have liked. That wasn't a problem anymore with this respite, but judging by scuttlebutt, supply lines were only shrinking.

And speaking of scuttlebutt, both the MMSes he'd received weren't promising. Alric frowned at the thought as he took a sip of his caf before digging into his lunch of rice, lentils, and mystery meat. The second message had definitely been over private channels, which meant that someone in command had headhunted him. Anyone with his dossier would know that he wasn't a slicer, so that meant whatever this was likely involved heavy combat. Good, if so. Of course, with their manpower situation, it was equally likely that they were selecting warm bodies in desperation to fill out a mission roster.

Whichever way it went meant little in the end, so long as he was still able to fight. Alric continued to eat his meal, looking over the city from his vantage point on the barracks roof.

The locals were a people long plagued by conflict, their planet constantly commandeered for use as a battlefield. Brask knew little about their civil wars or their role in the wider Separatist movement of the Clone Wars, only that they certainly had a lot of leftover military material to make use of during the most recent siege.

They were a culture of civilians forced into soldiery, and Brask felt bad for them. His pity had been expressed through attempts to keep the Telosians out of the crossfire. While he had once taken part in operations where collateral damage was the goal it wasn't something he particularly enjoyed.

Once all the blaster fire had come to an end the veteran mercenary began to settle into his new, shared quarters. There was only so much space that could be spared for the disparate rebel hoard so slumber parties were the rule rather than the exception. No matter. One of the first lessons a soldier learned was to ignore any discomfort they felt sharing space with other people.

He had been in the bathroom cleaning out his eye socket when the first message came in, pulled away from the mirror with unkempt fur and the gaping hole in his head uncovered. The MMS was neither a surprise nor an annoyance, the Empire had enough resources to hire an army of competent slicers and Brask had no one to contact that wasn't a superior. A moratorium on comms wasn't the end of the world.

The second MMS was more concerning. Whatever weak point the Empire had found must have been a big one if it required explanation by both the Commander and his pet spook. But there was no use guessing at it when all would be explained in a matter of hours. Brask put the situation out of his mind for the time being, focusing instead on taking a well-deserved rest after such a hard-fought battle.

The roof of their quarters was as good a spot as any to sit for lunch, the Shistavanen parking himself next to his fellow Mando without bothering to ask for permission. A bit of old paint flaked off the side as he swung his armored legs over the edge, dangling his feet above the city.

"Glad you got out in one piece, old timer."

Alric was similar to him in many ways: a middle-aged veteran and a stickler for the old ways of Mandalore, not one of the spineless "pacifists" that had run their society into the ground. Even if they were from different clans and houses Brask saw him as a brother.

"Our luck'll run out eventually, but not yet eh?"

His own meal was less varied than the Human's, just lumps of near raw meat in some sort of off-white sauce. Simple and unappealing to look at, just like Brask himself.

@Psyker Landshark

ZX-797

Error. Multiple systems are below optimal levels. Seek repairs at nearest allied facility.

If ZX-797 had a mouth he would have a sigh escape at that moment. He knew his new cyborg body needed repairs but knowing how the supply lines were slowly dwindling he knew it was likely he wouldn't be able to repair the majority of his damaged systems for a long time. He had already done his best to try and find parts that could help repair some of his more vital systems but pickings were slim. His current priority was to keep his life-support systems going and his defensive systems at optima levels but even that was starting to become a challenge.

Imperials. Blasted Imperials.

As much as ZX had hated the Republic, the Empire was proving to be far worse. During the Clone Wars, ZX had made sure to limit his targets to enemy military forces only. But the Empire seemingly didn't care about that. He had seen civilians gunned down a few times before he had arrived on Telos IV and heard the rumors and whispers of imperial massacres on distant worlds.

The cyborg sat completely still as he continued checking over the rest of his systems.