Hey everyone, it's me, SuspectNutria again. I got really nothing to say, but I'm glad you're all enjoying the story so far, it really means a lot to me. Anyway, enjoy Part 1!

Remnant's Clone Wars

Chapter 3, Part 1: Visiting Mantle

Day 2, 30 Hours Since Arrival

Bridge of the Guardian

Since the Republic's arrival to this unknown planet, their scouts and intelligence have gotten to work on learning who the planet's inhabitants of this planet are. They have found out that the planet they have arrived to is called "Remnant" by the planet's inhabitants, with several groups of people groups having formed their own nations with their own functioning government, laws, and militias/militaries. These nations were the Kingdoms of Remnant, most notable of said Kingdoms were Atlas which is the most prestigious and had the strongest military, and for Vale for having one of the most prestigious academies for these called "Hunters and Huntresses" that is now abandoned by the wildlife called the "Grimm". The others were Mistral which had a diverse array of lifestyles and cultures, but also had an underground market which had all types of scum and villainy in a modern society, Vacuo had a hostile and barren landscape, those who were able to survive are welcomed, with the Huntsman Academy being the only real piece of law and order inside the Kingdom's boundaries. And last but not least was the isolated island of "Menagerie" as the planet's natives called it.

What made the island of Menagerie unique among the other Kingdoms was due to a subspecies of Humanity called the "Faunas". From what the Republic has gathered so far on the Faunas scientifically, the Faunas were pretty much Humans in most ways, with the exception of having a single animal trait such as night vision, ears, tails, and many more. Upon glance at the Faunas' history, they have been treated as second-class citizens for most of their lives, with most of their conditions being improved as time has gone by. But still, there were slim groups of people who believed that the Faunas were, for lack of a better word, degenerates and called them racial slurs such as "filthy animals". While these groups of people have been prominent throughout Remnant's history, most of them have no real sympathy among the common citizen as they are seen as radicals on both sides of the political spectrum.

Keeping all this new information in mind, the situation between the Faunas and Humans on Remnant was very similar to the speciesism in the rest of the galaxy that aimed at different types of aliens, most of them being non-Human. Some species did generally have it better than others on certain planets within the galaxy, most notably Humans, along with other notable Near-Human species such as the Mirialans, Pantorans, Zeltrons, and the mysterious Chiss and Umbarans to name a few on the list. The Clones, Jedi, and Admiral's opinion of the Faunas was that they were just about the same as Humans with most Near-Human species, besides some notable differences appearance-wise. Even Admiral Hawkens, a steadfast Republic loyalist and friend of the Jedi Order, didn't deny that the Galactic Republic wasn't perfect with some pieces of propaganda that directly intended to be speciesist, along with many rich Core Planets having a high sense of Humanocentrism among their populations. Seeing how most of the Confederacy's leadership, with exception of most notably Count Dooku and a few other notable members, were non-Humans, so in theory there was a reasonable idea of how some parts of the Human population within the Republic must have felt during the Separatist Crisis and the eventual outbreak of the Clone Wars. But Hawkens knew that spreading anti-Alien sentiment to the common citizenry of the Republic to create further divisions in a war which has divided the galaxy enough already was disgraceful in a civilized society where all sentients were created equal and had unalienable rights protected under the Galactic Constitution of the Republic.

With all that aside, the Republic fleet was holding its position behind Remnant's broken moon so they didn't reveal themselves to any of the Kingdoms down below. The Jedi and Admiral knew that since the planet's inhabitants were advanced enough to have powerful telescopes which could help them discover Space more, they took precautions to hide the fleet until they would eventually reveal themselves somehow. But from the looks of Remnant's current state, none of the Kingdoms have tried any major advancement in space technology because supposedly their resource called "Dust" didn't work beyond Remnant's Atmosphere. With this discovery in mind, the Republic had less weight on their shoulders as now their fleet can't be directly attacked by any of the Kingdoms, most notably Atlas with their huge airships. And besides, who knows what kind of observatory is looking in their general direction right now and alert everyone on the planet below?

Meanwhile on the bridge of the Republic Fleet's flagship, the Guardian, Admiral Hawkens and Jedi Knight/General Pippar were looking over new information collected by their Clone scouts on Remnant's surface. General Charliss entered the bridge as he walked over to the holotable.

"Ah, good evening, General Charliss." Hawkens greeted him as he set down the data pad from his hands onto the edge of the holotable.

"Did I miss anything important?" Natzer asked.

"Besides more information on who Remnant's inhabitants are, and their supposed enemies which are various forms of wildlife known as the "Creatures of Grimm". And with the planet's form of global communication down, the "CCTS", or more simply the "CCT", standing for the "Cross Continental Transmit System", nothing much as of right now." Kaiaala answered.

"With this supposed global communication of theirs down, won't know much about these inhabitants unless we get a closer look and experience what their civilizations are like." Natzer said.

"What are you suggesting, General Charliss?" Hawkens asked.

"I'm suggesting that we should sneak in and see what the people on the surface are like while undercover."

"I like that idea, the more we know of the natives down below, the more we'll be prepared for any future enemies." Kaiaala agreed to his plan. "I'll go, Natzer."

"No offense, Kaiaala, but I don't think you would want to go since the people of Remnant have really, well… met anyone like you to say." Natzer tried to tell her why she would be, well, alien, amongst Remnant's population.

"Why? It's because I'm Mirialan and my skin is green which is vastly different compared to what Humans have for their various skin tones, is that it?" She asked with her arms crossed.

"What? No! It's just…" Natzer didn't know what to say as Kaiaala had a big disapproving look on her face while raising a large eyebrow at him. Hawkens had a small, quiet chuckle underneath his breath as he watched them.

"Okay, fine… It's because you're Mirialan and you wouldn't really blend in with the rest of the population on Remnant. Not to be a speciesist or anything like that, but I don't think Remnant is used to aliens visiting their planet, if you get what I'm saying. Sorry if I was unintentionally rubbing it the wrong way." Natzer had his hands up in front of him as he explained to Kaiaala. She sighed and gave him a response after he tried to apologize to her.

"Fine, apology accepted." She said, reluctantly at Natzer's awkward explanation.

"If you don't mind me asking, General Charliss, but what exactly is your plan about?" Hawkens spoke up and brought the conversation back on topic.

"Well, I had the thought that we send at most two Clones into a certain area, such as Atlas for example, see what the people are like and report it back to us." Natzer answered.

"So that's your plan? Just send some of our boys down to the surface and hope that they find something interesting in one of their cities and report back?"

"I know, Admiral, it's not the best plan I've come up with, but as long as we're staying out of Remnant's affairs, we have little to no knowledge of any current events going on the surface below besides any news feeds that we can try to hack into. But with the planet's system of global communication down, and no major news outlets reporting much on each other's Kingdom outside of their own, we should at least get a closer look at how their societies operate and what is currently going on."

"Then where should we start first?"

"I suggest we should try Atlas first as they seem to have an upcoming election from what we've managed to decrypt, and there are tensions between Atlas and the city below it called "Mantle". It'd be our best spot to learn more about this strange, new world."

"Well then, I guess you just volunteered to go." Kaiaala spoke to Natzer as she put her hand on his left shoulder. "And to whoever you're going with, please do send them my regards that you poor soul have to be their babysitter for the entire trip." She joked at him. Hawkens and some of the officers and troopers around them chuckled as Kaiaala began to leave the bridge and join with the rest of her men.

"Hey, now wait a minute! Who said I was-" Natzer was cut off as the Admiral spoke.

"So General Charliss, since you've "volunteered" to go as General Pippar has put it, who will be accompanying you on this undercover trip to Atlas?" Hawkens asked, making Natzer think real hard on who to bring with him.

Natzer could of course bring Arch and either Bolt or Stomper, but Arch was already busy enough with the rest of the 178th Corps, not just on the Guardian, but the entire fleet as well. Bolt and Stomper wouldn't be the best choices out of all the Clones onboard as there were more specialized troopers to pick out onboard. And the Clones from the 246th were busy with General Pippar as she left to go check on them. Then he remembered they also had a Clone Commando Squadron, but the problem was that Clone Commandos work together as a team, and bringing more than two Clones would make people very suspicious about them. This is why Natzer suggested bringing only two Clones on a mission like this so they can tell anyone they come across that they were identical twins, a lot less suspicious and was a safer option. Finally, he decided that the best candidates to bring for the mission were their two ARC Troopers onboard, Vynch and Hyxx.

"I'll bring ARC Troopers Vynch and Hyxx with me, they're the best troopers that I can think of right now." Natzer answered.

"Not a bad choice, General. Those two are very damn creative, I'll give you that." Hawkens complimented them.

"We'll prepare to leave for the surface, ASAP."

"Great, I'll prepare a stealth gunship for your team in the meantime, General."

"Thanks, Admiral." Natzer left the bridge and was approached by two familiar Clones as he stepped outside, Vynch and Hyxx

"Good evening, General Charliss." Vynch greeted him.

"Vynch. Hyxx." Natzer nodded at them. "Is there something I should know about?" He asked them.

"General Pippar told us that you might need our skills for this mission of yours." Hyxx responded.

"Ah, I see she already caught on who I would pick. And yes, I do need you two for my mission." Natzer told them.

"If I may ask, General Charliss, what's your mission about?" Vynch asked with his hands behind his back.

"I'm going down to the surface below and visiting one of these major civilizations the natives call "Atlas". More specifically the City of Mantle below Atlas itself. I'd thought that before we eventually reveal ourselves to the people of Remnant, we should at least know what's going on down there besides what we can decipher from their transmissions and data logs."

"If you're going down there, sir, we'll gladly come along with you. Right Hyxx?" Vynch asked Hyxx for confirmation.

"Yeah! We'll follow you anywhere, sir!" Hyxx replied.

"Good, glad you two are coming with me. So first things first, we'll need different outfits for our mission if we want to blend in with the population. After all, we don't want you two running around in your armor which will definitely attract the locals and authorities." Natzer told them.

"Yes, sir. But what should we say if someone asks why me and Vynch look the exact same?"

"We can say that you two are identical twins."

"That's pretty understandable, sir." Vynch said.

"Good, grab your gear and be prepared to leave the Guardian ASAP. I'll meet you in the main hangar." Natzer ordered them.

"Yes, sir!" Both ARCs replied in unison as they ran down the hallway.

Natzer went to his personal quarters and changed his outfit. He still wore traditional Jedi robes in a civilian-inspired attire worn under a brown cloak with both of his sabers and other small gadgets on his utility belt. His sabers were hidden by his cloak as he made sure that no one would be able to see them once he and his team were on the surface. Natzer got everything he needed and left his quarters for the main hangar bay. Upon Natzer's entrance into the main hangar, he spotted Vynch and Hyxx to his left as they just arrived. The Jedi walked over to them as he caught their attention.

"Ready for our assignment?" Natzer asked them.

"Yes, sir. We're ready to go." Vynch replied. Both he and Hyxx wore black uniforms which were jungle assault uniforms, each one of them having a jetpack on their back strapped to their chestplate and had a modified cap with a rangefinder and goggles.

"Good, then let's get the show on the road." Natzer said as he walked with them to their assigned gunship.

They walked towards a stealth gunship that was ready to go with both of the pilots in their seats with the cockpit hatch open and had no bubble turrets on each side as the gunship's main role was to drop off Natzer and the ARCs. The pilots knew that their gunship had the latest stealth technology that the GAR had released, giving them a larger advantage to the gunship's ability to slip past enemy blockades and not show up on radar. Since most of Remnant was not as advanced technologically in most areas as the Republic was, there was little doubt that they would be caught from the Atlesian military during the night. There were also four other Clones from the 178th inside the troop bay with DC-15S blaster carbines in their hands with one being the crew chief for the mission.

Natzer walked up to the front of the gunship and spoke to the pilot up front. "Hey, Eagle."

"Good evening, General!" The Clone Pilot called "Eagle" responded. Eagle wore standard enclosed Phase II Clone Pilot armor highlighted in matte black, his armor's color signifying him being a part of the 178th, along with two eagle heads colored the same on the top of his helmet.

"Are we good to go?"

"Yes, General! Hope on in!" Eagle said before the cockpit's hatch closed. Natzer, Vynch, and Hyxx entered the troop bay with the other Clones as the gunship's engines roared to life. The gunship then took off from the main hangar and exited the Guardian, flying past the broken moon and headed to the surface.

Meanwhile on the bridge of the Guardian, Hawkens saw the gunship exit the main hangar while he was at the viewport. He saw it fly past the moon which the fleet hid behind and then turned away from the viewport, getting back to his duties.

Elsewhere on the Guardian, Kaiaala was currently in her quarters after she checked up on the 246th with Burn. The Jedi was quietly meditating in the center of the room as she concentrated hard, clearing the troubles on her mind. She felt Natzer's presence leave the ship, indicating that he left for his mission.

"There he goes, off on a new adventure as always." Kaiaala thought to herself as she continued to meditate.

Somewhere Secret in Mantle

"The plan's all set, with everything in motion, Jacques Schnee will gain his seat on the Council." Watts said as he looked over the multiple screens that were lit before him. "And, of course, you get to cause a little chaos while we're at it."

Tyrian laughed with a maniacal voice. "Don't worry about me, any Huntsman or Huntress guarding little Ms. Hill's event won't know what hit 'em.

"Yes, I knock the power out while you go and do your thing."

"They have no idea what we, and our queen, are capable of. For she is... inevitable!" Tyrian spouted with an evil smile on his face.

"Alright, the results will be final in about an hour from now, best get going." Watts advises him.

"Yes, I won't forget to leave some fun for you as well." Tyrian said as he threw a brown cloak over his body and left their secret location.

20 Minutes Later…

Republic Stealth Gunship

"We're coming up on the Kingdom of Atlas, General." Eagle informed Natzer on his comlink as their gunship flew to Atlas.

"Good, proceed with caution." Natzer told him.

"Yes, sir. Jamming their sensors now."

"You sure we won't get caught, Eagle? There's a high chance that we might get detected out here." Vynch spoke to him over Natzer's comlink.

"Relax, I'm 100% sure they won't spot us coming. Atlas won't even notice us slipping through. Opening doors now."

"Sure, Atlas won't definitely notice us with their HUGE warships up in the sky!" Hyxx remarked sarcastically as they saw the giant Atlesian airships up in the sky above them.

"Finding a suitable drop zone, standby." Eagle said as they hovered over the city.

"Good luck down there, sirs!" The Clone Sergeant next to them spoke.

"Thanks, you too." Vynch nodded at him just as the gunship stopped.

"Green light!" Eagle announced.

"Let's go!" Natzer ordered as he did a Force jump out of the gunship, with Vynch and Hyxx right behind him. He used the Force to slow down his fall with both ARCs behind him using their jetpacks. Once they touched down in the middle of an alleyway, their gunship broke off away from them.

"We'll be on standby for any further orders, sir." Eagle told Natzer.

"Good, keep the gunship safe from any unwanted attention." Natzer told him through his comlink.

"Will do, sir! Good luck!"

"Admiral, this is General Charliss. We've just infiltrated the City of Mantle and we're proceeding on foot as we speak." Natzer contacted Hawkens.

"Copy that, General. We'll monitor your status and give you any updates in the meantime." Hawkens informed.

"Thanks, Admiral. Charliss out." Natzer stopped the call and walked towards Hyxx with Vynch. Hyxx looked both ways down the street, making sure any law enforcement or military personnel weren't coming their way.

"Coast is clear!" Hyxx announced.

"Good, let's get going." Natzer motioned with his hand to move out. They carefully moved throughout the outlying portions of the city and eventually made it to what they thought was the downtown area of Mantle. From their first perspective, they could tell that Mantle was a very dense and industrial city with a dense, thick gray fog covering the city, giving everything a much darker tone. Some parts of the city resembled somewhat of the lower levels of Coruscant, as seen by the poorer living conditions in the city, especially the slums on the far outskirts of the city.

Upon further inspection they saw many signs and billboards that hung from the tall buildings with the news of an election currently going on. The streets were filled with voters waiting in lines to choose their candidate at the booth. Both Natzer and the ARCs had no idea that there was an election supposedly going on, most likely due to the fleet not receiving anything about an election for Mantle, but this only made their mission harder as now the city was filled with people on the streets either going to vote or were celebrating an early and premature victory.

"This might be bad for the mission." Natzer told both ARCs as he turned around.

"Yeah, if we do anything out of the ordinary in front of these people, then we'll be drawing a lot of suspicious eyes on us." Vynch warned.

"I don't think they care about us anyway." Hyxx said. "Besides, they're all busy with their own daily lives and this election, so in theory we might have an easier time blending in with the crowd if we do catch any unwanted attention.

"You're not wrong, Hyxx." Natzer acknowledged. "But we must keep confrontation to a minimum, we're only here to observe the people of this planet and get any valuable info we can get our hands on. And getting into trouble with the authorities is the last thing we should get ourselves involved with. We've got to be cautious before we-" Natzer stopped talking as they heard screaming from across the street.

"Stop that thief!" A police officer yelled as he and his companion were chasing down the criminal through a crowd of people.

Natzer looked at Vynch and nodded at him, with the Clone nodding back as he took two steps backwards from the Jedi. He saw the thief way ahead of the cops and turned towards their direction. The Jedi used the Force to stop the thief in her tracks and pull her towards him. Just as she was forced to come towards him, Vynch gave her a straight uppercut, knocking her onto the ground unconscious as the police just came around the corner. Natzer noticed a rectangular object from one of her jeans' front pockets and quickly used the Force to grab it without notice before the cops showed up.

"Thank you, kind citizens. We'll be taking her down to the station for violating the law." The officer told the undercover Jedi and Clones.

"It was nothing." Natzer told them and saw an old couple behind the officers approach him. "I believe this belongs to you." He held a stolen wallet from the thief.

"Oh… thank you so much, you young gentleman!" The wife took it and shook his hand gratefully with her husband doing the same.

"Thanks a lot, kind sir."

"Oh please, it was really nothing." Natzer told them.

"Here." The old lady handed some kind of currency to him. "I think you've earned something for helping us dearly."

"Thank you, but I cannot accept your offer." Natzer tried to reject it, with the couple insisting even further.

"Please? It's the least we can do to repay the favor." Before Natzer could say anything Hyxx took the money from the old lady's hand.

"Thanks a lot, the world can always use young people like yourselves, especially during these times." The two left the undercover Jedi and Clones with Natzer nodding at them.

"That wasn't so bad, General." Vynch broke the silence.

"Yeah, we did a good favor for those elderly folk." Hyxx said.

"Indeed." Natzer agreed with both of them.

"I'm guessing this is one of the planet's forms of currency around these parts." Hyxx raised a light blue plastic card.

All three of them knew that the plastic card Hyxx raised looked nothing like traditional Republic Credits. The card had the geographic location of the Kingdom of Atlas on a globe in the middle with an "L" currency symbol on each corner with two horizontal lines through the middle of it. He noticed from earlier that the woman had several of these cards, and that everyone around the city had them, leading to the conclusion that everyone carried at least one to a few of them at most, much like how some people in the rest of the galaxy chose to carry credit chips as an alternative to credit ingots.

"Yeah, and there's a 100% chance that they don't accept Republic Credits out here." Vynch said.

"Yes, but money isn't what we should be worrying about." Natzer concluded as Hyxx put the card away. "We should find a suitable area where we can ask the locals for information."

"How about there, sir?" Vynch pointed to a building that was filled with Humans and Faunas of all types, it was a cantina or bar of sorts. The building's name was called the: "Griffin' Grimm", with the logo being what seemed to be the mythical creature of a griffin, but it's color scheme was entirely black with bone armor plating on the face and some parts of the chest and legs, with red glowing eyes through it's bone armor. It resembled one of these "Grimm" creatures that keep being referenced in the data logs the fleet had been decrypting from Atlas and the other Kingdoms so far.

"Nice eye, Vynch." Hyxx complimented him.

"Yes, nice job. But if this cantina is a reliable source of information or not. We must be careful." Natzer warned them. "We don't know what kind of scum or villainy exists in this Kingdom, tread with caution."

"Yes, sir." Both responded in unison before they walked over. Just before they entered the building, someone accidentally bumped into Natzer and was knocked over, it was a young woman in her late teens, having black hair with red accents, and fair skin.

"Oh! Sorry, sir!" The young woman apologized to Natzer as two of her friends helped pull her up, a man and a woman who were both in their late teens. Each of them had fair skin, with the man having long black hair and a pink highlight, his eyes being the same color, and the woman had orange hair and aqua blue eyes. What Natzer noticed about the first woman was that her eyes were silver, he could sense with the Force that they were… strange, to say the least.

"I don't mind at all, young lady." Natzer accepted her apology. "You should always keep your eyes up where you need them the most, for they can deceive you and others."

"Okay, I guess?... Again, sorry for running into you!" The young woman and her friends left them as the Jedi and Clones entered the building.

Bridge of the Guardian

"Lieutenant, did you find anything?" Hawkens asked the Clone Officer who was decrypting Atlas communications together with a lower ranking officer.

"Yes, sir. We've just found something that you should probably listen to." He responded.

"Show me." The Admiral ordered as the Lieutenant uploaded the audio file to the holotable. The holotable projected the file as it played for the Admiral. After the file finished playing itself he had to get General Pippar to know about this.

"Get General Pippar up here on the double!" He ordered one of the other officers.

"Yes, Admiral!" He gave a salute before doing his job.

"This does not look good…" Hawkens talked to himself as he replayed the audio file.

City of Mantle

The undercover Jedi and Clones entered the packed cantina with all types of people inside. They saw that people were wearing "Hill" or "Schnee" clothing on with small flags and other small items, most likely due to some important candidates in the election. Some people were just hanging out with other their friends, and quite a few were getting wasted on the spot, both Human and Faunas.

Natzer went ahead and led the two Clones through the crowds of people. All three of them noticed most of the girls they passed gave them looks, as they looked very into them. But they avoided eye contact and came to the conclusion as most of them were probably drunk anyway. The three of them made their way to the bar top and found three open seats for them.

"I'll be with you three in a moment." The Bartender told them as he carried a tray of drinks over to the other side.

The Jedi and Clones sat down in the available seats and looked at their surroundings. Many people were out here due to it being election night, but also to have a good time with their friends, or to get "fun" services. Besides the large public gathering, there was also a band that played slow jazz music while everyone was enjoying themselves.

"This place doesn't seem that bad." Vynch said.

"Yeah, let's not do anything stupid while we're here." Natzer whispered to the two Clones. "Who knows if this might turn into a bar fight while we're around?"

The bartender came up to the three of them right after Natzer stopped talking. "Hello gentlemen, what can I get for you?"

Both Natzer and the Clones knew that they shouldn't drink alcohol on an undercover mission like the one they're doing now, so they decided to go with an alternative.

"Do you serve any non-alcoholic drinks?" Natzer asked him.

"Why's that? Too afraid to get wasted?" The bartender asked.

"No. Let's just say that we can't afford to get drunk right now." Natzer responded.

"Ah, so you three are the "better safe than sorry" type of customers that I receive. I can understand that, too many damn people get wasted out here on the weekends."

"I can imagine that." Hyxx said as a young couple a few feet from him collapsed onto the floor, wasted time hell.

"So, what would you like to order?" The bartender asked as Natzer and the Clones quickly looked at the menus in front of them. The writing was not in Galactic Basic, but it somewhat did resemble an old Human dialect spoken before the foundation of the Galactic Republic and Galactic Basic as the mainstream official language spoken, so they partially understood it as they browsed the non-alcoholic drinks. They went with ordering some as to make sure they blended in with the crowd.

"We'll have the "Griffon Classic", please." Natzer spoke.

"Ah, now that's a popular one. I'll get you those real quick."

Hyxx and Vynch looked around the building and commented on the state of it.

"Y'know, it's not that bad here now that I think about it." Vynch said, inspecting the area

"Here you go, gents." The bartender quickly came back with their drinks.

"Wow, that was fast." Hyxx commented, amused at his swiftness.

"Yeah, well that's what you need to do when you have as many customers during events like this. Now, if you don't mind, I believe you need to, ahem…" He held his hand out.

"Oh, right." Hyxx handed him the card. The bartender proceeded to use a small device in his hand to do the transaction on the card and gave it back to Hyxx.

"You three seem like you're not from around here, aren't you?" The bartender asked them.

"You can say that." Vynch answered.

"Where are you from? Atlas?"

"No, we're not from Atlas or Mantle." Hyxx said.

"Then you're from one of the other kingdoms then? But with the borders closed to any outsiders, I thought that no one else was allowed to come to the Kingdom of Atlas without special permission."

"Let's just say where we're from, we'd rather not say." Natzer told him.

"Okay then." The bartender was somewhat suspicious of them, like some of his other customers that usually came by.

"We have a few questions about what's going on with the election and the Kingdom, if you don't mind, of course."

"I'm all ears."

The three of them proceeded on to ask the bartender questions of what's going on with the election in Mantle and the situation in Atlas. They found out that Mantle's economic and living conditions have been incredibly poor in comparison to its neighboring city Atlas ever since the end of the "Great War". And this has only continued to plummet Mantle and grow even worse due to the Dust Embargo implemented by General Ironwood, dramatically increasing the already tense tensions between the two cities. The current election tonight between the popular Mantle politician Robyn Hill and the businessman and owner of the Schnee Dust Company, Jacques Schnee, was going to be a "turning point" for Mantle as the media called it. This place did really seem to resemble the upper and lower levels of Coruscant back home.

Since the "Fall of Beacon", one of the "Huntsman Academies" in the Kingdom of Vale, pretty much everything else has gone down the drain for Remnant. The world became much darker with the Creatures of Grimm attacking cities and settlements more, an embargo by the Kingdom of Atlas in isolation, and growing unrest in Mantle is mostly the result of just one major event. The Jedi and Clones, of course, continued to ask more about what happened over the several months since the Fall of Beacon and some parts of this "Great War" the kingdoms fought, and the "Huntsmen and Huntresses" that have been referenced a lot.

"You three must have been really living under a rock this whole time." The bartender commented.

"Yes, sorry if we're bothering you with our questions." Natzer apologized.

"Oh, no worries. I've met more suspicious customers than you three, much more devious as well. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some more customers to serve. Have a good one." The Jedi and Clones asked all they wanted to know about from the bartender as he went back to work. Just after he left, a woman came up on Natzer's left and started to flirt with him.

"Hey there, I really like you. How about we go somewhere… private. Maybe my place?" She smiled as she tried to flirt with the undercover Jedi in a very sexual manner.

Natzer kept his eyes off her and unreluctantly raised his right hand up and waved it in front of her, doing a Jedi Mind Trick.

"You don't want to have sexual relations with me." He told her.

"I… do not want to have sexual relations with you." She repeated, indicating that the mind trick worked on her.

"You will tell who you work for that you quit, and you should rethink your life."

"I... will tell who I work for that I quit, and I should rethink my life." She left him, complying to the Jedi's wishes.

"Nice work, sir." Vynch complemented his superior.

"Thanks." Natzer took a sip of his drink.

"Looks like we're not out of the woods just yet, sir." Hyxx warmed as someone in a dark blue suit angrily walked towards Natzer, with his fists clenched. They could tell that it was the pimp that hooker was employed to.

"Hey, you!" He yelled at Natzer.

"Me?" Natzer asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes, you! Do you know what you've just done to me?" He asked Natzer with fury in his voice.

"No? Did I do something wrong?"

"Yeah! You told my best girl to bug right off and she just told me that she quits! Claims that she's going to "Rethink her life.", whatever that means."

Natzer caught on that it worked. "Did I?" He joked with a bit of sarcasm in his voice.

"You think this is funny?!"

"Maybe just a little, why do you ask-" Natzer was cut off from the pimp.

"You better watch yourself, young man. I'll put a price so large on your head that every criminal in Mantle will come looking for you until you're begging on your knees for mercy." He warned to no avail.

"Okay, I'll be careful then. Thanks for the warning." Natzer sarcastically thanked him as he tried to sip from his cup until the pimp grabbed him and knocked his drink onto the floor, breaking it.

"You'll be dead if you don't shut your trap up!" The pimp saw that Natzer wasn't afraid of him as he broke loose from his grip.

"Oh please, you're the one who's in more danger than me." Natzer kindly warned as he secretly put his right hand over his shoto saber on the left side of his belt, hidden underneath his cloak.

"Like I said: You'll be-" The pimp was cut off by Vynch as he approached, threatening him.

"Hey, here's an idea: How about you screw right off? Besides, I bet more people will accept the services of your hookers if you aren't such a whiny brat who pushes over people to get what you want."

"Tough guy, huh? Well I'll show you pushing over people!"

The pimp kneed Vynch and threw him at a table, making him fall over and tried to draw a gun at Natzer. But the Jedi was too swift for him and quickly ignited his shoto blade, cutting the man's right arm clean off. He quickly hid his shoto blade from everyone as the entire building turned around and saw the scene, hiding it underneath his cloak.

The entire building was filled with shocked faces, eyes wide open as they saw pimp's sliced right arm laying on the floor with a small pile of blood from him. Vynch got up and saw Natzer looking down at the pimp who tried to shoot him, and disarmed him in self-defense. Two of the pimp's buddies dragged him and his cut off arm back to their booth and called an ambulance. Natzer looked back to the bartender who's eyes were wide open at what just happened.

"He started it, I merely acted in self-defense for me and my friend's safety." Natzer said before he left the building with Vynch behind him, leaving Hyxx to look at the bartender and spoke at him.

"Sorry about the mess. This'll cover the damages done here." He said coldly as he tossed the card to the bartender who caught it. The entire building was completely silent after they left.

"Well that went down the drain faster than the amount of time it takes to fully assemble a B1." Vynch said as the three of them left the premises.

"Tell me about it." Natzer agreed as an ambulance sped down the road next to them.

"What should we do now, sir? Hyxx asked Natzer.

"I think we should at least get out of here while it's still good." Natzer suggested.

"Hey, isn't that one of those election events?" Vynch asked, pointing towards an election event for a certain candidate.

"Yeah, that's for this "Robyn Hill" that everyone keeps talking about." Natzer answered.

"How about we go check it out, just in case?" Hyxx suggested.

"I don't know, Hyxx. We might outstay our welcome in this town." Vynch advised.

"Vynch is right to be cautious, but I'm sure nobody will notice us while we're here visiting this event. It'll be quick." Natzer said.

"I guess the General approves, let's go." Vynch reluctantly agreed as they crossed the street and entered the building.

The building was packed with people much like the bar they were just previously at with everyday people. Natzer and the two Clones inspected the event and saw that the woman known as "Robyn Hill" was talking up on the podium as the final moments of the election were currently happening. Natzer got a closer look as he ordered both Clones with his hand to wait outside, to which they nodded and left the building as their superior got a closer look.

Natzer saw the same silver-eyed woman from before he entered the bar in the crowd as the final tallies were being counted. She noticed something wrong as she saw someone with a brown cloak over his body with a giant robotic scorpion tail, it was Tyrian Callows. She immediately knew what was going to happen and screamed towards Robyn.

"Look out!" She yelled before the lights were shut off and the room was pitch black with everyone panicking.

Natzer, acted swiftly by pulling his hood over, and without any moment to hesitate, ignited his two sabers. Just as Tyrian was about to strike several civilians in the crowd, he saw a flash of a bright glowing blue blade cut off his set of wrist blades attached to his vambraces, cutting off some skin as well. He was knocked down to the floor by his unknown attacker striking Tyrian's legs with his blades, cutting through his Aura and skin without any effort as they easily melted away like paper. And before Tyrian had any time to counterattack with his robotic tail, it was completely sliced right off his body in a mere second, leaving him to cry out in pain.

His attacker quickly vanished into the crowd as the lights turned back on, leaving him in front of a group of Huntsmen and Huntresses who aimed their weapons at him.

"You… you did this to me again you little-" Tyrian spoke to the silver-eyed woman. She knocked him out with her foot as she stomped on his face, struggling from his injuries on the floor.

Natzer quickly left the room as the crowd were unsure of what just happened to Tyrian. He found Vynch and Hyxx running to him as they saw what happened from outside.

"Sir, what did you just do?!" Vynch asked with shock in his face.

"I just saved a lot of people from dying, that's what happened, Vynch!" Natzer answered as he took his hood off.

"I'd love to chat here, but we should probably get going before any of the authorities show up." Hyxx suggested.

"I agree, let's go!" Natzer agreed as he turned his comlink on. "Eagle, do you read me?"

"I hear you loud and clear, General! What are your orders?"

"Requesting immediate evac, ASAP!"

"Roger that, I'm on the way!" Eagle responded as he flew to the outskirts of the city where Natzer and the two ARCs rendezvoused at. Natzer used a large Force jump to get up to the gunship as Vynch and Hyxx used their jetpacks with the other Clones onboard helping them up.

"Let's go!" Natzer ordered Eagle over his comlink. Eagle piloted the gunship away from the City of Mantle as fast as he could.

"Outstayed your welcome, General?" Eagle asked Natzer.

"I think we did, now let's get back to the Guardian."

"On it, sir." Eagle replied as the gunship flew off.

Bridge of the Guardian

"What is it, Admiral?" Kaiaala asked as she approached the holotable after running down the hallway.

"General Pippar, we've found something you may want to hear." The Admiral told her as he nodded to the Lieutenant who played the message they've received.

"This is Captain Talbert at Westbound Village! We are under attack by overwhelming Grimm forces and we're being overrunned! Our forces are being depleted while we're trying to evacuate the remaining civilians! Someone! Anyone! Whoever you are! Please! Help us! We need immediate assistance!" The file ended with an immediate roar at the end of it.

"You know what I'm thinking, General Pippar?" Hawkens asked her.

"Yes, we need to help those people." She responded.

"I couldn't agree more."

"Where exactly is this "Westbound Village"? that's spoken of?" Kaiaala asked.

"It's a large village outside of Atlas and Mantle, approximately 20 miles from those two cities." Hawkens answered.

"Isn't Atlas already responding to this attack?"

"Currently no, Mantle is having a bit of trouble from these Grimm creatures that are doing an attack on the city. They've seemed to have penetrated the city's defenses and are damaging parts of Mantle as we speak. Atlas is already sending a large amount of reinforcements to assist current ground forces already deployed, even their airships."

"Shouldn't we help Mantle then?"

"No, I believe they have it covered. The attack is very minuscule and it'll be over in a matter of time. They don't need our help right now."

"Well then, let's get back on track. We can't send in a large force of troopers to this village outside of Mantle and Atlas, that'll bring up a lot of suspicion." Kaiaala warned. "We need to send in a small team of troopers to get the job done and save those people."

"Then I know who you're suggesting we send on this mission." Hawkens caught what team of Clones she was suggesting.

"Alpha Squad." She concluded as Hawkens got in contact with their leader.

"Alpha Lead?" Hawkens asked the Clone Commando on the other end.

"Yes, Admiral. What is it?" The Commando on the other side responded.

"It's time for you and the rest of your men to get some action on the surface below. Prepare to leave ASAP!" Hawkens ordered.

"Roger that, sir! We're on it!" The Commando complied with orders as the call ended.

Meanwhile in the Guardian's Barracks

The Clone Commando Squad known as "Alpha Squad" immediately got to work on getting their gear ready. Every single Commando grabbed their DC-17m Interchangeable Weapon System and brought the blaster rifle, sniper rifle, and grenade launcher attachments. Each Commando also grabbed a pair of DC-17 hand blasters, just in case. They packed their backpacks with extra ammunition, explosives, bacta, and other supplies for their mission as the Commandos filled them up.

Alpha Squad included RC-1348, RC-1280, RC-1157, and RC-1205—informally known as "Scarecrow", "Thief", "Impulse", and "Phantom", respectively. Scarecrow was the squad's Sergeant and leader, with Thief being the slicer and tech expert, Impulse being the demolitions expert, and Phantom being the sniper. Each Commando sported a secondary color on their silver-gray armor, Scarecrow sporting navy blue, Thief with black, Impulse having red-orange, and Phantom with dark green.

The Clone Commandos were now ready as Scarecrow ordered them to move out, holding his blaster rifle up with his right hand.

"Alpha Squad, lock and load!" Thief, Impulse, and Phantom all responded after Scarecrow as they cocked their DC-17m blaster rifles, standing behind him.

"Yes, sir!"

"Roger that!

"Affirmative!"

Scarecrow then held his left hand right in front of him and clenched it into a fist, activating the hidden gauntlet vibroblade that came out from his left knuckle plate.

To be continued...