Chapter 3 – Carth II
Republic Command Ship Visitor, in orbit over Chazwa.
His direct superior Grand Admiral Dodonna had summoned him just after he had submitted his report, and by the phrasing of her message he wasn't expecting a commendation. Though Carth and her had a good working relationship she was still bitter over Revan and Bastila's treachery leading to the catastrophe over the Star Forge. The investigation had cleared him of all charges, but it had taken much to convince her to even trust him again, given he had sent the message leading the fleet into a trap.
What he now proposed bordered on insanity, he was aware. He'll probably be branded a Revanite agent again, as unfair as it was. In fact he wasn't even sure if he wanted to do this. Still, the foolish optimism in him wasn't dead. If what Bastila proposed was even remotely real then it was the right course of action. And Carth wouldn't pull it off without Dodonna's support.
He was led to the Admiral's quarters by her aide-de-camp, or rather his protocol droid, since the young man seemed to get lost on the gigantic ship easily. Inexpugnable-class command ships reflected the Republic nicely: gigantic, bloated, inefficient and defenseless, relatively speaking. He much preferred the Hammerheads, the strong workhorses of the Republic Navy, and the superb new Valor-class battlecruisers.
"Admiral Carth Onasi." The Lieutenant announced.
"Leave us." She ordered. "What's this about, Carth? You believe this?" She asked straight to the point.
"Not completely, but I believe we should investigate the matter, at least. You know how she is – prone to rash decisions, lacks vision, distrustful, even insecure. There may be something to exploit." Carth persisted.
"I know she is a sorceress with the power to cripple an entire army in fear. We've had to discharge half of the survivors of the Battle of the Star Forge for mental health issues." She retorted. By the state of her face, gaunt and crisped, anyone would understand why. Like him, she was probably not sleeping unless heavily sedated. "I understand this is a golden opportunity to get her, but she's not just another petty smuggler king siphoning fuel shipments."
"Yes, and there's dozens if not hundreds of Sith remaining out there, planning to pounce on us for all we know." He countered. "We know the Sith have been in disarray since Darth Revan disappeared, this may be an opportunity to find some way to undermine them, perhaps even start a civil war in their ranks. We can't let them consolidate for another war against the Republic."
The Grand Admiral thought for a moment. "Divide and conquer, hmm?"
"Have you checked the coordinates I sent you?" Carth pressed.
Some kind of smirk or grimace appeared on her face, and she took her datapad to show him a file. "M4-78 in the Inner Rim. It was initially supposed to be a paradise colony for the inner circle of some Duros religious sect. General Mon Halan dismantled them fifteen years ago and seized the planet for himself and his PMC."
Mon Halan was a Duros General that refused to back Revan's expedition in Mandalorian Space, but later defected to the Sith at the start of the ensuing Civil War. Carth didn't know if he was still alive – but they were on something big, it would seem. "And? Have you sent probes?"
"I gave the tip to Admiral Cede, he's looking into it. He's got friends in SIS, that's how he got the file." She explained. "What do you propose? Give her asylum on a distant uninhabited world where she can't cause any trouble, and listen to what she has to say – and terminate her if she pulls any dirty tricks?"
"Yes. No torture, blackmail, coercing or anything. You've met her, you know she talks a lot. She would be a kyber mine of information." He told her.
"What does she hope to get? Control of the Republic Army, taking the Republic from within?"
"Perhaps, I think we'll agree not to give her any chance of succeeding. I think her first objective is to fool the Sith Lords into civil war in order to lure Darth Revan into returning to restore order in his ranks. She wants Republic asylum because she can't trust anyone in her entourage, and we're still a power not one of the remaining Sith Lord can beat alone." He speculated. "Long-term, we can't trust her, but the short term benefits could be huge. I think we can grant her asylum for a few months, on a distant and unimportant world, and try to get as much information as we can from her, pretexting to defend ourselves from our common enemy."
"I can inform the Jedi. We could use their help with this." She said, confirming his suspicion that she was still in contact with them. He remembered a little green alien Jedi named Vandar was by her side during the Battle of the Star Fore; he wouldn't be surprised if he escaped Revan's inquisitors.
"Inform them but tell them not to interfere. She would sense danger ahead, like Jedi often do. We should only bring the Jedi in if she attack us, otherwise, she won't come." Carth told her.
"I will find an abandoned base we can use. You extract her. Find an officer you trust and hire a reputable crew, trap the transport with explosives. It would be best for the Republic if she appeared to die in an ambush, but that may be asking too much. Just don't screw this up."
"Understood. I won't." Carth promised.
"If we get her, we'll listen to what she has to say, and keep her in a… controlled environment. No coercing, as you say, but at the first sign of treachery we put her down, understood? And we keep the Jedi to deal with her if things start to spiral out of control." She summed up.
With all said and done, they bid each other farewell and Carth returned to his ship with a hopeful smile on his face. That went better than expected. They were on to something, he thought.
The next week. Republic Battlecruiser Sojourn, in orbit over Chazwa.
The preparations were made hastily but everything was ready. His fleet group was fully refueled, armed and resupplied for the coming operation.
Carth hired the services of Dolan Tilcalar, the captain of a medium-sized freighter for the mission ahead. His old friend Jorgo, now a low-ranking executive for Czerka Corporation, had recommended him. They were professional, reliable and ready to undertake dangerous runs, he assured. Some in the crew were former army. However the fact that they didn't even bring up a contract form was a red herring they were in fact smugglers, but that suited Carth just fine.
He wondered how reliable they would be if they knew he what the cargo they would transport was and if they realized how close to suicide this mission was going to be. He told them needed an inconspicuous ship to extract a defector and 'special cargo' from the Sith Empire, and bring that to an abandoned mining station on a gas giant in a neighboring system. This 'special cargo' – enough explosives to blow a cruiser – would be recovered right before picking up Bastila along with Ensign Kyi, his co-conspirator on this.
Kyi would arm the explosives with a mechanical fuse set to explode in ten minutes. A remote control system on Carth's ship would allow him to reset the timer manually. If, for whatever reason, the situation on Tilcalar's ship went out of control then it would be reduced to space debris. Like Taris was, Carth thought with a heavy heart. Leading men into hopeless battles was one thing, using trickery and manipulation to take down an enemy was another. He didn't even have the cash to pay them at the end – they bargained for ten thousand credits, and would probably demand more – so Carth would have to leave them the explosives as compensation. If they were indeed smugglers, then it wouldn't be hard for them to resell them on the Black Market. And so he resolved to feel bad about the things he did for the greater good later.
As expected Carth's holocom rang and Bastila's hologram lit up on time. "Hello, Carth. Have you done your part?" She asked inquisitively.
"Yes. We're interested in what you have to offer." He answered simply. "I have hired a freighter to extract you, and my troops stand ready to cover. I would make it appear as if you've been killed in a raid against one of your pirate-admirals' bases – on Roche for instance."
"No, that's not going to happen." She interrupted, almost sneering. "If you do that, then the Sith will come right at you, Carth. The only reason they haven't crushed you already is because Revan sold them the idea that the Republic will just implode in a year. If you go picking a fight with them then they will unite and answer in kind, and you will be destroyed." She explained, irritated.
"I can disguise it as a Mandalorian attack." Ambushes between Republic, Sith, Mandalorians and mercenary forces were commonplace in the Outer Rim. If Bastila was as hated as she claimed then a false-flag attack would be unlikely to trigger a rally of the Sith against the Republic. "I can also let you handle this however you see fit, but I want to know every detail."
"I will make it look like a bold and stupid power monger turned on me, which will prompt his rivals to act in turn." She said. That left him with no control over the situation, which he and Dodonna won't like. He decided to trust she knew what she was doing however, and nodded. "And don't think for a minute I'm going to surrender to you just like that. I'm not going to be let myself be taken prisoner by anyone." She added, haughtily.
After having been the Black Vulkars and then Malak's prisoner, he could understand that. "You're not going to be a prisoner." He reassured. "We'll take you on a distant world so we can be sure the Sith aren't following or spying on us. We don't want them to know you're with us any more than you do. We'll take any help you offer to deal with our mutual enemies and reward you adequately." Carth countered, but she wasn't buying it.
"If you think you can control me, then you're going to have a bad time." She threatened, rising her voice.
"And if you think to trick and betray me again..." Carth began, now equally irritated.
"Things will be done my way, and you will do exactly as you're told!" She interrupted, almost screaming. "Once that is done, you will arrange an audience with the Supreme Chancellor for me, if you want your Republic to survive another year." She lashed out, and closed the communication to his face.
He took a deep breath and headed straight to the refresher. It annoyed him how she cut him off before discussing everything. He could not help but question Bastila's intentions again; no matter how he twisted it in his head, it didn't make sense. But then, that woman never made much sense in the first place. That deal was getting less and less attractive and it threatened to blow in his face.
He took a drink and contacted Dodonna to update her.
"Losing her temper is she? I'm going to take it as a good sign. We'll proceed as planned." She decided. "But it is far too early to get any approval from the Chancellor at that time. Perhaps if Bastila proves helpful, but not before."
"What do you mean 'perhaps'? You don't plan to keep this a covert operation, do you?"
"Any mistake now and our careers will go out of the airlock." She reminded him. "Since Revan, there is little trust between the Senate and the Armed Forces, you must have noticed. No need to give Cressa more incentive to put his greasy fingers in military affairs."
The Supreme Chancellor had been threading on unconstitutional grounds for a long time, by trying to control military affairs. The Lord Speaker of the Senate – the ceremonial president of the Republic – was the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces, who most often devolved his authority in a Supreme Commander appointed by the Senate Defense Committee he headed.
The reasoning was because the Lord Speaker was elected for life by a college of one billion electors he was supposedly representing the people of the Republic at large (though in practice, urban Core Worlds concentrated about 80% of the votes, and calling that a transparent democratic process was a stretch) and his office would not be subject to the constant change of government or corrupted by private interests. History proved it was hardly ever the case.
The Supreme Chancellor was elected by the higher chamber of the Senate, the only one that mattered. No single party ever had a majority for the last thousand years, though Cressa came close; Coalition governments usually did not last very long. Revan's war had trounced the Chancellor's support, yet his rule endured as a minority cabinet. He blamed the woes of the Republic on the Speaker's choice to name Revan Supreme Commander at the start of the Mandalorian War, against the advice of the Jedi Order who supported Master Kavar.
Either way, Carth didn't really care. He had no mind for politics, and for all he knew Speaker and Chancellor were both corrupt and walled in narrow, insular thoughts in their palaces on Coruscant.
"Still, if we do something this big behind his back, we're not going to solve this situation." He reckoned.
"We've done nothing so far. Don't put your hopes too high, it may very well turn out to be a Sith bait." She reminded him.
"You're not reassuring me. The more this goes on, the more this whole plot feels like a bad idea." He told her frankly.
"I understand. I'll be lying to you if I told you I don't have doubts. But you got Bastila talking for a minute and we uncovered another Dxun right under our nose. She will be at our mercy the whole time, if she even dares to show up. Low risk, high payoff. We're doing it, Carth." She insisted. "Anything else to discuss?"
In his experience risk was far too often underestimated, especially when it involved Jedi and their unbelievable tendency to screw things up in a thousand parsecs around them. He didn't think Bastila capable of extremely elaborate plots, but she wasn't without a certain low cunning. Anyway, if she didn't want to collaborate with them they could just let her start her civil war and terminate her. She was a traitor after all. Revan may be pissed, if he still lived, if he even cared about Bastila at all, but he would be a problem for another day now. "I'm just telling you – I will press the button at the first sign of trouble." He resolved.
"Very well." She nodded. "I don't expect any less of you."
"Onasi, out." He saluted.
Hey guys, hope the wait wasn't too long. Here's another Carth chapter before the action kicks off.
After we're done with Bastila's first arc we'll have a quick look at what Revan and the Jedi have been doing, then we'll get to the Kotor2 story proper.
