The Kindred Spirit exited hyperspace at the edge of Aurek's gravity well, reorienting so that the top of the ship was parallel with the north pole of the planet before starting the sublight engines and heading towards the priority docking stations.
Nelson smiled as he looked out from his seat on the bridge at the sight that was the Capitol in all of its glory. The huge planet, now fully populated and actually needing to expand its cities thanks to the influx of non-Republic refugees, the miniature galaxy of small artificial stars that he knew to just be engines, docking and warning lights, and since they were on the dark side of the planet, the lights of the cities on the surface.
"I had almost forgotten what a perfectly safe planet looked like at full blast..." Hannah mused quietly next to him. "It's nice to see home."
"You got that right..." Nelson replied with a smile.
"And now that is has a Chancellor?"
"I'm just glad that I'm no longer in charge of the whole show... you know how I get when they tell me to start looking at tax charts instead of troop movement readouts..."
"Cranky and you toss in your sleep too much. These past few day have been the first ones in months that you managed to not wake me up." she quipped back.
"And you haven't sleep completely peacefully since the honeymoon." Nelson retorted back with a smirk. One year after Forn during a small raid on a Crandolian outpost in an asteroid belt, the two officers had both been trapped on a gunship that had been disabled. Nelson had made a promise to marry her if they made it out of the situation alive, and while it was no where near as dire as the First Abyssal Incident, the severity of having to fight through a mile of enemy territory with only 30 minutes of air was enough to make the Admiral show his hand and finally move on four years worth of romantic tension.
"It's hard to get used to a bed on a ship after spending a month on the beaches of Besh, Ed."
"You're just upset that I didn't swap that mattresses when we got back." he replied with a chuckle.
"Sorry for the interruption, sirs, but we have incoming radio traffic. Mostly police reports and a news broadcast about a riot on Besh..." Joshua interrupted, "And the new Chancellor is former Senator Tinto."
"Kyle? One of my ex-apprentices is the newest Chancellor of the Republic?" Hannah said, disbelief and respect creeping into her tone.
"That he is, sworn in three days ago while we were in transit... Tinto requested that I save the news for his former Master until she was within the gravity well." the AI added.
"Well... to be honest, I'm not too surprised." Nelson replied, "He had most of the Lumarian planets wrapped around his finger thanks to his work with Operation: Savior and the only other candidate that they would have voted for was Senator Tilsef... and as soon as the recordings of him voting against the military alliance made it to the public they turned quickly."
"As in former Admiral Tilsef of the Lumarian Navy?"
"The one that called you a cripple before you sent him flying into a bulkhead with your grandfather's cane, yes sir." Joshua replied with a smirk that was matched by both commanding officers as the Kindred Spirit continued towards the Capitol.
"Can someone give me an update, please?" Tinto asked as he finished getting on one of his newer robes having just woken up. It was a dark crimson color that was common in the higher offices of the Eclipse given their original name as well as being able to easily conceal weapons and armor underneath.
Tinto however, never needed to hide his saber as he had rejoined the Order of Republic Knights at the request of High General Nelson and it actually helped him seem more sympathetic to the general population. Nelson had been right in making the Order of Knights a military only branch of government and because of that, the problems that the Old Republic had been subject to with the Jedi Order appearing to lofty and out of touch with the rest of the galaxy.
News clips showing them as an elite force in the army, dying like regular grunts and not being treated specially had stopped a caste rift from being created. The police forces were headed by normal citizens and former military with the court system replacing the 'comprehensive judgment' that the Jedi thought they had.
"The Kindred Spirit docked five minutes ago and Senth is still under siege. Park is estimating three months while Jacobs is estimating four." a nearby protocol droid replied.
"Still better than the year that my former military advisor estimated... how about the riot on Besh?"
"Sources are pointing at a former Lumarian Terrorist that dropped off the grid back before the War... Dr. Yeval Vorla, chemist and was responsible for that attempted bombing that MilIntel pinned on the Black Moon."
"Was he arrested?"
"He escaped again and dropped off the grid... again..."
"Inform MilIntel that the good doctor is back in action... step up security on Besh and have MI do what they can without declaring marshal law or needing me to propose a new act or policy." Tinto replied with a sigh. "ETA on my favorite Grand Admiral?"
"He'll be here within the hour and the ceremony is scheduled to take place in four."
"Perfect; close my files down and alert one of my sparring partners to meet me in the gymnasium." the Chancellor replied with a small grin as he walked out of his room and waved his hand to lock it behind him.
"Fable, move us forward two miles so that we can get a proper visual on the beach without relying on the ground teams." General Park ordered.
"Enemy AAA is still partially active and artillery positions haven't been completely accounted for." the tactical AI replied. At once, the Redemption moved forward slowly, her port side facing the beachhead that had finally been secured. Underneath them, more assault tanks and APCs, now supporting a wave of low flying LAAT/im gunships, sped off towards the coastline.
Almost as if to prove a point, a plasma round detonated on the shields of the Redemption harmlessly and Fable decided to hold his tongue despite General Park smirking back at him when it happened.
"How is Lieutenant Het-Dai doing?"
"Their special prisoner is already giving up troop numbers and contingency plans... we had quite a lucky break."
"Tell him to get their prisoner on board and in a solitary confinement cell... interrogation is authorized."
Uyon watched as the men and women of Centurion Company D literally walked through the enemy lines. The 9 foot tall cyborgs continued moving up in pairs as plasma bounced off of their shields the few times that the buggers managed to hit them. Each one continually hit their marks whenever they elected to fire their arm cannons as opposed to the favored tactic of getting into the trenches and killing everything in sight in brutal hand to hand combat.
"Magnificent..." he said, watching from his concealed position as the company of 100 men and women waded through Crandolian bodies. Each one was a near perfect copy of Chris-Z9571 who they simply referred to affectionately as Centurion-0 or 'Papa Chris.' The arm cannon was a upgraded version that Chris had installed on himself as well and the armor was the best that the combined military research of all the worlds under the Republic flag could create, making it just as rare as the Centurions. Out of a military numbering in the billions of sentients and droids, only 5,001 Centurions were active.
"Lieutenant." a cold synthetic voice said causing Uyon to spin around quickly. Behind him was a droid commander in a standard aquatic camo paint job. Uyon steadied himself quickly before reaching his hand out. In his palm, an holographic overview of the immediate area came to life courtesy of the droid's eyes.
"Enemy forces are in full retreat across the beachhead. Artillery is 96% disabled and AAA has been completely neutralized."
"And the Redemption?"
"Operating as the carrier for this part of the assault. I also have redeployment orders; Platoon 507 of Company A is being reassigned to you."
"That's 80 men all under my command..."
"87 and 32 Droids, Lieutenant. General Park authorized the transfer given your exceedingly pristine command record."
"Right under 100 men. Sithspit... alright, get them over at the rendezvous point that my platoon is heading to and then send in an urgent request for more ammunition, my boys had to burn thought quite a bit of it."
"Roger roger."
Dr. Vorla landed hard after a leap off of a low bridge before he sprinted and rolled into the nearest sewer hatch. The police had upped the frequency of their patrols and getting spotted while attempting to get off planet was possibly the worst thing that could happen.
Well, besides the Lumarian government betraying their people.
"Appeasing bastards... we are a free people, not Eclipse slaves..." he thought as he walked through the sludge. If there was anything that he had as an advantage, it was the vast number of miniature safe houses he and his followers had constructed before inciting the riots.
Slowly and carefully, he made his way down a slick ladder before tapping a small indention on the sewer wall. A scanner worked over his face and confirmed his identity (though there was no flashy light show to say that this was happening) before opening a narrow doorway which he entered, closed, and locked tight with extreme haste.
Inside the accommodations were bare bones, "Rather Mandalorian" as natives of the Republic would say, while Lumarians were more likely to say "Total crap".
"Statement: Welcome back Agent 001." the automated systems stated quietly when Vorla put his personal datapad into the small computer unit.
"Put all the active cells onto my datapad please, upload all essential files and then clear your system."
"Query: Closing up shop?"
"Just clearing up the data... send a signal to anyone still loyal to clear all data and to keep it on detonation pads... nothing gets into enemy hands."
"Query: And after everything goes mobile?" the computer asked.
"We do our duty... we restore the Lumarian Republic. We free our worlds."
"Chancellor if you could take enough time off from beating the ever loving Force out of your sparring partner, I think you have some special guests here for a ceremony." Admiral Nelson said with a smirk. Hannah was close behind him with a similar look on her face as Tinto quickly finished the duel and turned to face them.
"Field Marshall and Grand Admiral Nelson, lovely to see you two made it back in one piece. I take it things along Supply Line CE-92 are going swimmingly?"
"Just about as well as things are here with your election, Kyle." Ed replied with a small but respectful bow.
"Good to hear... Jacobs is making progress, any word on Mendez though?"
"He's breaking in his new command exceedingly well." Hannah stated, "A natural born fleet commander."
"Well he is going on 200 even without the cryofreeze messing with his age, that leaves plenty of time to get experience." Tinto quipped with a small smirk. "Just don't tell him I said that."
"Wouldn't dream of it sir." Ed replied before looking back, "They're waiting for us, I believe..."
"Transfer of powers... remind me why we have to do a ceremony for this?" Hannah asked.
"The people need something happy and upbeat... this ceremony is a chance to provide that... and provide the press with pictures of a certain married couple for the first time since they got back from Besh." Tinto retorted with a wide grin.
"If you were still my student..."
"I'd be moping the floor of a meditation chamber; now then, everyone get dressed in what you need and I'll meet you at the ready area in 30 minutes. We have a celebration to hold."
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Today we bring forth in celebration your new Chancellor!" the master of ceremonies bellowed, "We bring forward the man that will lead us to victory on the home front and the officers that shall give us victory against the Imperial Menace!"
Behind the curtain behind him, Chancellor Tinto and the Nelsons both waited patiently as he orated on and on about the victory that was only 'months away'.
"He must not read your monthly reports..." Hannah whispered to her husband, causing him to chuckle slightly.
"I'm more worried about whether or not he'll say what species I am correctly." Tinto added.
"Just as long as he gets over with his speech business before I fall asleep standing." Ed replied before getting a thumbs up from the stage hand in front of them.
"Here we go..." they all thought before the curtain opened, and they stepped into the light.
"Gordon... come in Gordon."
"Go ahead, Koldo."
"I have a visual on the targets, they're on the balcony."
"Be ready to take the shot on my signal... I'll move in for the kill once the Chancellor is down."
"For the glory of the Republic." Koldo muttered into his com unit.
"Freedom or death." Gordon replied as he pulled his blade out of the gut of the stage hand that had just closed the curtain behind the targets. "Freedom or death."