In the Absence of Man/ Chapter 1: Heart of Inhumanity

Time: Zero seven hundred

Waking up to find themselves trapped in what appeared to be some sort of funky looking asylum, a Republic captain called Crane along with several clone troopers looked around. They saw skulls of what were once living beings, jail cells, ropes or wires near the ceiling, and blood stains. They could not remember what happened right before they woke up in the asylum, just a huge battle that they participated in on the planet of Byss. "What in the Hell?" Crane managed to say. Captain Crane's vocals represented a Texan from Earth, but not with a stereotypical Southern drawl.

"Where are we?" Clone Commander Ponds asked.

"Is everybody alright?" ARC Trooper Carg asked.

"Yes, sir," First lieutenant Keeli replied.

Trying to capture his breath, Commander Fil turned his head to see their current surroundings. "Where's my weapon??" he yelled.

"What happened to all of our weapons?" Keeli questioned. Everyone checked their holsters but they were gone. Vanished.

Out of the blue, a loudspeaker went off from all corners of the room. "Welcome, inmates to my humble fortress of justification!" a man behind the loudspeaker greeted.

"Who is this?" Crane snapped. He kept on hearing uncontrollable laughter from that loudspeaker. Crane's eye twitched on its one twice.

"You war mongering fools have ti answer for what is going on in this corrupt galaxy. See, I have to clean up behind every single mess between each and every faction in this civil war."

Carg scratched his head, trying to wrap around what that man just said. "You mean you're not a Separatist?" he asked the man.

"SEPARATIST?!" the loudspeaker screeched. "I am not that naive to be a Separatist, nor am I Republic, obviously."

"So what the Hell do we call ya? Idiot?" Crane verbally attacked.

"You can call me... Burrell... Clyde Burrell. And now that you have tested my limits, Crane, I have no choice but to bring out my leverage." Crane was surprised on how Clyde even knew his name. How much did he know about him? After Burrell stated those words, he pressed a button in the control room where he was and it shed light in a top room that was transparently sealed. There, Clyde held one of Carg's top soldiers named Geo hostage. "This is a mind wiping booth that allows the neurons to virtually melt in one's brain. Let me show you," Clyde threatened in an intimidating tone. Carg watched as his best soldier and overall buddy screamed in agony and eventually could not let out a single scream anymore.