Operation Downfall – Mission report for Talathen Sector

This initially appeared as a relatively straight forward mission. The team would infiltrate into an abandoned ancient temple here on Axamar, locate a group of Imperial reclamation force personnel, eliminate them and cover up their disappearances. This matter become more complicated immediately after the briefing was delivered at central HQ on Axamar.

During the briefing, Crin Dollos, who was not assigned to the mission, was landing his light freighter at Axamar base. On approach, he reports that a large part of the ground rose up in front of him, and that a large beast attempted to grab his freighter as it flew past. He attempted to lead it away from the base, but it seemed intent on approaching our base directly. In response we deployed the defensive energy shield.   

The beast has beeen called a "behemoth" and we have heard reports of them on Axamar before, but this one was much larger than the one our scouts had seen in the deep jungle. It stood over 100 meters tall, the size of a moderate city building. It was covered in soil, plant life and rocks, and the majority of it's body was rock-like.

It also displayed a high degree of intelligence as it investigated and tested our energy field, first touching it, then hitting it, then leaning on it with it's full weight, and finally charging it without penetrating it.

I suspect that without Oli Shim's quick work on re-configuring our power allocation system for the defence shield, that it may have been able to enter the base. 

The Behemoth eventually gave up trying to enter the base and wandered off into the jungle. We immediately dispatched a couple of probe droids to track it's progress and to gain more information on this unusual and potentially very harmful creature. We have named this Behemoth "Alvin".

Crin Dollos met with the rest of the team and decided to join in on the mission. It is worth noting that while he was not assigned to this mission, I have no qualms at people showing initiative if it leads to successful outcomes. 

They took one of the older model land speeders that we have recently converted for jungle use. It has been treated with a chemical defoliating component, and under testing, this has allowed these ships to stay in the jungle for up to two days without being overgrown and rendered useless.  

The site itself was unusual, with the temple located at the bottom of a 600 metre deep sinkhole, with only nominal plant growth in the area. As Axamar is almost entirely covered in the most rapidly growing jungle in the galaxy, this was unusual. It seemed to the mission personnel, that the jungle growth simply stopped a few meters away from the sinkhole, more investigation into why this occurred will need to take place, as the constant efforts to stop Axamar base from being overgrown take up considerable effort and personnel time. 

Continuing with the unusual nature of this mission, the mission team located a lone Ithorian male named "Jah" who was sitting at the edge of the sinkhole and claimed to be waiting for them. He claimed to have been living on this world, by himself, for over 20 years. If this is true, then it is a remarkable feat of survival. He offered up information, much of it cryptic about the temple in the sinkhole.

He claimed that it was not, "jedi-sith" and that it was a place of a failed people who attempted to use "the force" for personal power and glory, and that their entire culture was destroyed long before the birth of the Old Republic. He also claimed that a "jedi-sith" was inside the temple, and that somehow our operative, Inomo Cle'fasa, had been called to here to help this "jedi-sith".

Historical records show that the Sith were the ancient enemies of the now defunct Jedi order. Jah claimed that the two groups were indistinct in his mind because they both used "The Force" to fight wars and improve martial prowess and by doing so, were both equally bad.

As i have said before, this mission is unusual and deal with mysticism and spiritual matters that normally have no place in a mission report, but I feel I would be remiss if i left them out. 

He also spoke of the Behemoths, and said they were attracted to unnatural power sources. And that he had encountered one slumbering not far away from the sinkhole, but that it hadn't moved in over a decade.  

The mission team then descended into sinkhole by means of a giant stone staircase that wound around the outside of the very sheer walls. Inside the sinkhole, no movement could be seen, although a Lambda class shuttle had landed on a stone platform near the temple.       

When the team got closer, they heard a person inside the shuttle talking in a panicked fashion. They surprised and stunned an imperial soldier who was calling for help. Upon reviving and interrogating him, they discovered that the imperial mission team had all been killed inside the temple, and that this was an Imperial Reclamation Service mission. Essentially, a group of archaeologists. In an attempt to show his importance as a ransom-able prisoner, he mentioned that the orders to survey the site came from Lord Vader himself. 

The prisoner was terminated, and Inomo spoke to the other Lambda shuttle, currently docked at Tane Station in orbit. He asked them to come down in two hours time. 

At this point, Inomo mentioned that he had dreamed of this exact scenario the night before and found the whole thing very unusual.

The temple facade was at the edge of the sinkhole, with the temple proper located inside under the rock. It appeared to be a cave system that had been artificially extended with fusion cutters.

The first room was fully lit, with the IRS team having deployed lighting in order to study the site. On the walls was a vast amount of a pictograph language. Oli Shim, a recognized archaeologist and expert in ancient ruins quickly cataloged and photo-recorded the images and provided a very quick interpretation of the main themes.

"This tells the story of a civilization, from bronze age to going to space, it tells of a great natural disaster on their home world, and how the civilization retreated from space and put all their efforts into saving their home world, it then tells of civil war and the decline of their civilization as their attempts to control nature went to far"

From here, the mission team entered the second chamber. A massive temple area, with a dais, stone seating for thousands, and a wall covered in portraits and more pictographs. Oli Shim concluded these were "Great heroes" of this faith and that these were their personal stories.

From here on, each mission member has a different report of what happened. None of them seemed comfortable discussing what they saw, and they claim to have seen personal visions while knocked out.

All except Inomo, who claims to have encountered the person in the temple who killed the Imperial personnel. 

After recovering from their experiences, of which none of them have chosen to divulge to me, they retreated from the temple. At that time, they heard the approach of another Behemoth. The mission team decided to turn all the power sources on the shuttle and IRS power generator up in order to attract the beast into the sinkhole.

The beast leapt into the sinkhole as they were climbing out and proceeded to "eat" every technological item he could get his hands on. He smashed the temple facade and ate the Lambda shuttle whole. He then "napped" in the bottom of the sinkhole.

When the mission team reached the top of the sinkhole, Jah was gone and so was his gear. At that time, the second lambda shuttle arrived and landed in the sinkhole. It too was immediately eaten by the Behemoth, who we have classified has "Bob". 

The team went to their shuttle in order to return to base. There they encountered Jah, who had packed up his gear and wanted a lift back with them. I do not think he is a security risk, as he has no way of leaving the planet, although a full debrief will need to occur. 

The mission was a total success, but has raised a lot more questions than it has answered. We have a potentially significant problem with the Behemoths, as we now know they are attracted to power sources. Alvin has been sighted "resting" only 10 kilometers from our main base.

We also have reports of multiple temples of this nature across Axamar, until further study I recommend we embargo these sites.

We also have the unanswered question of who the woman Inomo encountered in the temple was, or even if she was real.

Lt Andil Thorne