The Gand's compound eyes continued to study the hologram Sheridan was speaking of while his mind ran over all the reports he'd read over the years about the battle of Geonosis and any other information he'd come across. Had Jander possessed eyebrows, they would have furrowed in thought as John told him of the most recent discovery. It was certainly a puzzling development. If the Trade Federation and it's allies had held additional forces like this warehouse hinted, why hadn't they thrown them into the battle? It simply wasn't strategically sound to leave a force this size behind. There had to be at least a division in that warehouse alone, only Ara knew what other stockpiles could be found elsewhere.

They'd come quite deep underground after leaving the stadium, it was no wonder that this area hadn't been found in the chaos that followed the first battle of the Clone Wars. Perhaps it was just an error in programming that had prevented them from joining the battle, a faulty controller somewhere. But what John aluded to could be true as well, and that possibility was something that troubled even the hundred year old Gand warrior. The havok that was currently occuring as a result of the conflict between the two Imperial factions would be nothing compared to what might happen if what they feared was true, that there was something more behind this stockpile, and it was triggered off.

Sunstar broke from his thoughts regarding the droids and looked around. All throughout the passageways nearby, techs and scouts of Sheridan's went about thier assigned duties. This was an oddity for Jander, over the past few decades he'd become accustomed to being in charge. It had never really been something he sought out, it was usually thrust upon him. Nevertheless, it had grown on him, and things were different here. He was alone on Geonosis, his only companions here were his droid Tripwire back with his Deathraven and the crew of the "Patient Fury" up in the asteroid field. At the same time though, it was liberating. The responsibility of command weighed heavily on every leader, and it was nice to escape from that for a time.

Finally he spoke back, replying to the aged human. All this had passed in merely a few seconds, but in his head it had seemed an eternity. "Certainly troubling," his words echoed his thoughts, "Your right, we could be in quite a bit of trouble."

"I'm inclined to hope it was merely a fault in the command structure that left those droids inactive, but like you my gut is telling me different. Likewise, I know to trust those feelings. I don't have the slightest idea why they were left behind, in all likelyhood when this is over I'll probably wish I'd never found out, but I certainly think we have to investigate this. You've told your men to be incredibly careful correct? We don't want ANYTHING triggering an activation. Who knows what would happen then..."

Jander's words trailed off at the end of the sentance as he heard a noise behind him. The mixed sound of artificial beeping and insectoid chittering. The Kaalif spun effortlessly, on edge before calming at the sight. Before him approached his astromech, Tripwire, escorted by perhaps three dozen Geonosians. The droid beeped a situational update to Sunstar, which was quickly translated into Gand on his datapad. A fairly standard report. His Deathraven remained hidden in another tunnel, and the "Fury" still helds it's position monitoring the near hostilities between the Imperials. That was the bad news. It was probably going to get real hairy real quick up there.

The Geonosians on the other hand, were much more concerned. Thier speech was only a slight oddity to the Gand, faintly similar to some of the old tongues of his people. Since he'd arrived members of the natives had trailed him, and he'd taken the time to learn the differences in speech between himself and the smaller insectoids. For some reason or another they liked him, perhaps it was his similar appearance to thiers, but now they came to him with information. They reported that the New Order had set up a garrison, and at least one of the native tribes, one that had long ago been ignored by the Trade Federation, flocked to thier banner, manning fighters supplied by the invaders.

Jander tried to imagine Geonosians piloting Imperial fighters. Something about the image of the seemingly primative winged natives in the high-tech cockpit of those fighters just struck him wrong. It would be interesting to see and hear how they performed if they had to. He finished with the Genonosian leading the small band, consoling him that things would be alright, and looked to the human. "How much of that did you catch? It looks like we're between the proverbial rock and a hard place."

"I hate it when untrained pilots start flying fighters. It tends to cause massive explosions where ships are concerned. I remember hearing a story about and Imperial Star Destroyer that had the most inept pilots in the Galaxy. As i recall the story, it took an entire squadron exactly twelve seconds to smash itself to bits in the asteroid field around Hoth. They were chasing a 1300 a friend of mine was on. He said they had abunch of encoutners with them over the years...."

"Perhaps your droid can be of assisstance, it would be possible to have the little guy slice into the netwrok and figure out what status the system is in, he might be able to lead us to the control center."

John's teams had found several dataports and other access points for entering the computer systems, but he was no computer genius and his techs were used to working with hard tech, not computer software. Another team was being flown in, but they would be another week before getting there.

"If we can access that core, we can rally the Geonosians. IF we find intact manufacturing plants, we can start cranking out implements of war. As i see it, both factions want the world intact. They won't risk orbital bombardment lest the damage their precious facilities in the crossfire. Besides, if i start seeing bolts from the blue, i think i can arrange for accidents to start happening..." John smirked as said that last bit.....

A comminque was sent out then.

"Attention Imperial forces, the Rogue Imperial fleet here requests to withdraw, however due to your recent massacre of friendly ships and unlawful capture of Rogue Imperial soldiers we are in no position to trust you.

"We request that your Abolisher Cruisers be brought into the atmosphere of the planet Geonosis and deactivate their pulse mass mines as so our fleet can safely jump into hyperspace."

A HoloNet was flicked on to show the whole story, the way they were pinning ships down, the way they had shot down fighters trying to leave the planet, the way they were forcing labor down on planet.

"Affirmative, Rogue Imperial forces," came the reply. "Abolisher cruisers will hold station. Proceed to launch sector Outbound-Tango-Five in column, repeat, column formation, 1 starship wide. Space traffic has been cleared from that grid; your launch window has a duration of three-zero minutes. The sovereign system of Geonosis thanks you for your patronage, and reaffirms its commitment to absolute capitalism. We hope you found your stay productive, please come again."

The abolisher cruisers moved to a position which left a narrow corridor open for the outbound TRE ships.

The escape pod crammed with the other's commander was quickly jettosoned from the Opulence as the two ships moved their way to the said location...and a quick hyperjump to Kamino was about to be made, but rather they awaited the closing of the abolishers.

"When they have reached planet side we shall jump, until then Rogue Imperial forces shall remain in system."

"Be advised, Rogue Imperial Forces," came a broadcast hail. "Twenty minutes remaining in your launch window."

Finally the craft found their vector and made a quick jump to Kamino, not even five minutes away.

With the planet seemingly pacified along with the airspace above it, the Imperial fleet deactivated its abolisher cruisers and sent out a communique to the Brass Protectorate. A second transmission was sent to the primary HoloNet hub, speaking of various business opportunities on the planet, and asking for investors to take part.