Cataan - Xan's Memorial
The soft sound of birds and other animals reached Sharon's ears as she wandered about the Karrde estate. After her initial briefing, there hadn't been much for her to do. She'd grabbed some breakfast a couple of hours ago, but that was eaten in silence. She could only imagine how Master Callista was feeling, but to her, there was a void in her heart. Xan may have officially been her teacher, but he'd become almost a father figure to her as well. It hurt more than she was willing to admit. At least he'd been able to get that info to them before he died.
She sighed, the rustling of the leaves underfoot causing her to look up. She wandered into a small clearing. It only contained one thing. A small stone monument. She gasped as she took note of the various objects placed around it. The netra'gal... the buy'ce resting on the top of the plinth. the miniature saber and beskad... but what caught her attention was the soft steady glow of the force bubble at it's base. Her eyes widened. Only a skilled Jedi could have created such a thing. her thoughts turned briefly to Master Arie and Master Callista. Could they have? She found herself biting her lip to hold back tears as she gazed at it.
"Been trying to figure it out for a while now," came the voice from behind her.
Sharon started... but only slightly. "Hello, Ethan. I didn't see you there..."
He nodded and looked at the bubble. "Trying to find some solace?"
"Yeah..." she said softly, sitting back on her heels before she sank cross-legged to the ground. "It's... hard to believe he's gone. Both him and Master Callista... they have... had become like parents to me..."
"Trying myself," He said as he sat down next to her and sipped from a cup in his hand. "Hard for me too...another friend and comrade lost and this old warhorse is still here. Sometimes, I catch myself wondering why am I still able to be here...pretty sure you're thinking the same thing."
She nodded, her gaze still on the softly glowing orb mere inches from her fingertips. "It just seems... unfair. Is that selfish of me to think like that...? If he hadn't gone, he'd still be here. But then, we probably wouldn't have the Intel we do..."
"Can't go questioning all the 'what-ifs' and 'if-onlys'. You do that, it'll just eat you up inside. But hear me talk...I'm sure Marin feels the same way about Jarius...I know I sure do. He was a friend and comrade in more ways than one." He sipped his drink again. "Have you decided what you're going to do?"
She sighed. "I just... I feel lost without him. I can only imagine what Master Callista is feeling..." She trailed off at his last question. "Part of me wants to go after his killers.. but we don't have the resources for that... nor the time... He'd... mentioned something to me about wanting to recommend me for Trials... but I don't know what to do about that..." She sighed again. "I want to make sure that information he did get is used to bring the empire down."
"With the plans we're laying out, I'd say we have that well handled...or as much as we can. I'm not so sure how well Steffan's idea of turning things around on Coruscant is going to go. Even if they do go as planned, we're going to be in for a grand slugging match."
She frowned. "And we are short on people to help... The Jedi are few now..." She pinched the bridge of her nose, heaving a sigh. "I'm just wondering how I can fit into all of this, and I'm coming up empty.."
Ethan shrugged. "Well, I am no expert, but I'm pretty sure Karrde...and probably Xan for that matter, would tell you to trust the Force and let it guide you. Whatever that means and where ever it takes you. I'm pretty sure they'd tell you to follow your heart too." He sipped his caf in silence for a little while. "Me...I'd say tell me where they're gonna be and let my trigger finger do the talking."
She nodded, but was still frowning. "I... feel there is much I can still offer to help with the current situation.." At his last comment, she smirked slightly. "Aye... I've been thinking similar lately... but I don't know if that's my grief talking... or what.." She sounded frustrated.
"You'll figure it out," he said with a smile.
"Soon, I hope..." she whispered almost to herself as she reached out with one hand, holding it over the softly glowing orb at the base of the monument. There was no heat from it. But the flame within blazed tirelessly. She smiled slightly. It was if that flame represented his spirit. She blinked. Maybe that's what it was after all.
"Come on," he said as he stood up and finished his cup. "We've got a mission briefing coming up."
Sharyn groaned and pushed to her feet. "Master Karrde never did say what his team would be doing... I almost want to go with the team headed to Coruscant.."
"I think that slot is being sought after already," Ethan said as they turned to the path that led from the clearing. "How much more Intel were you able to get from that disc?"
She rubbed her forehead in thought. "Not as much as I'd like. And chances are high they know we got at least some data, so it may no longer be accurate. The only other thing I was able to find were a couple specific targets. Coruscant-wise... they're going for the Temple and the Senate. Cataan, looks like they're going for the shipyards.. and possibly a few other small targets." She scowled. "They're attack on Coruscant echoes the war fought before the Treaty of Coruscant. The Temple of those days was ruins after that.."
Ethan just chuckled some. "At least Kyr'tsad gave them some bad Intel. But we don't need to underestimate them either. J'oran was that bad at remembering some things."
She smirked. "I suppose that works in our favor then..." She nodded. "If there's one thing I've learned about Kyr'tsad during my time with Master Xan, its this: They may have an overabundance of manpower... but some of them lack ... shall we say... mental clarity?"
"Well, the shipyards are around Catain, the forest moon...not the planet," He told her. "But I'd be willing to bet they'll target the castle too. It wouldn't surprise me."
"Aye, I did see mention of that as well... I wonder if that Cataani Admiral caught onto that as well.."
"They already plan for it." Ethan said. "Everyone in the military knows that the royal family would be a primary target."
She nodded. "I suppose we should be glad their Intel was not entirely accurate. Though... they might well figure it out for themselves sooner or later." After a deep breath, she crouched over the small golden bubble as she reached out a hand to touch it. The Force swirled around her, causing her to grunt at the strength of it. She wasn't entirely sure what she was doing, but she channeled the energy to the small orb, watching it pulse a few times.
Ethan just stood there and watched. He knew better than to try to figure out what was going on. This was beyond him.
After a few moments, Sharon grunted and sat down rather heavily. It was a good thing she didn't have far to...fall. "I... don't know what I just did... but ..." She shook her head, her voice slightly awed.
"Are you alright?"
"I... think so. Took a bit more out of me than I thought it would." She stood slowly, rubbing her forehead."I may talk to Master Karrde about it later. I've never felt the Force that strong before.."
Ethan nodded and helped her up. "He'd know a helluva lot better than me."
She grinned at him. "We should get going... wouldn't want to be late to the briefing. I'll talk to him about it after."
Cataan - Mt. Adan forests
Catharine walked down one of the lesser known paths around Mt. Adan. None of the students knew about it or where it led, but her and her siblings knew it well. It let to their own private area where they would get together to talk over things or just to spend some private time. This time around, it was a get-together.
Ryneas was already there, his robes folded neatly on the rocks and himself actually under the waterfall in meditation. Dilan was there as well, but at the edge of the pool instead and Andrea had not arrived yet when she got there.
"The cleansing ritual?" she asked as she looked over to her older brother in the water.
"He's been soaking for up to an hour in that cold water," Dilan said as he looked over at her. "Needed it after beating me here."
"What?" she asked as she sat down on the rocks and traced one of them. The fact that her two brothers competed was no surprise to her. They had done it on such a consistent basis and she and Andrea were used to it by now. "What was it, a race from the mountain to here?"
"And he even took the high road," Dilan said with a grin. "Using just the trees and rocks and I don't think he broke his stride but one time as he was running and jumping from limbs."
"You two are incorrigible," Andrea said as she walked into the clearing and hugged Dilan and Catharine. "But I guess it keeps you two healthy, though I can't help but imagine the looks Kara and Ereena give you."
"Keeps us out of trouble," Ryneas said as he emerged from the waterfall and approached the rocks. He looked over to his siblings and could see the looks he had gotten. "What? I can't do the ritual?"
"Its usually done before battle," Andrea said, concern in her voice. "Just what are you planning to do?"
"I'm going to ask to go with Master Dinn's team," he told them finally as he toweled off.
"And go to Coruscant," Catharine said, looking at him. "Into the second wolfhound's den."
"I feel that that is where my place is. I think I can help there more."
"I knew you were going to ask that anyway," Dilan told him as he stood up. "You've been taking on more and more ever since you and Jarod took that joint mission to his home. But why call all of us here just to tell us that, though, little brother?"
Ryneas looked at him funny. "I didn't call it."
Ryneas, Dilan and Andrea looked around to each other until they settled their gazes on the youngest of the Karrdes. She finally sighed and nodded to them. "I asked for it. I needed everyone here."
"Wait a moment," Andrea interrupted for a moment. "Is this about what I think it is? Applying for the Catain's junior cadet program."
"Catain?" Dilan asked in total surprise and then looked to his little sister. "The military? But your were starting medical courses…why this?"
"Yeah," Ryneas asked, wanting to know the same question. "You've never mentioned this before."
"Like you have to ask me that?" Catharine said to the brothers. "I grew up hearing daddy's stories just like you did. I stayed here while he went out protecting the galaxy, just like you did. And you three have done the same. It isn't fair that I have been the one always staying behind."
"Catharine…" Andrea started to say.
"It isn't fair to you," the youngest said to them, the look on her face telling them how hurt she was, "that I have been the one that has stayed home. I have enough sense of the Force that I can just get a sense of our family…my skill with a blade is never going to be to the level that yours are. I cannot do the things that you're able to do."
She sighed and stood up, but Andrea met her and enveloped her into a hug. "Why didn't you tell any of us this before?"
"You three have always been protective of me," Catharine said as she looked up. "You especially, sister, even if you didn't realize it. I haven't even talked to daddy about it yet. But it is what I want to do. I'll still be taking my medical training, its just I'll be practicing with the fleet or on a base instead of the medical centers at home."
"And when are you going to talk to Dad?" Dilan asked as he walked up, lending his support.
"Whenever I can get him alone for a moment from all these preparations he's helping make."
"I think mom can help you with that," Ryneas told her with a wink after he finished putting on his tunic and joined them. "If its what you want to do, sis. We've got your back. Always have."
"Always will," Andrea added as they all got together. "Now, three bits says I can get back to the house before you two can."
Dilan and Ryneas were already back in the treeline leaving the girls behind.
"Come on, guys," Catharine yelled as she started to run after Andrea took off. "No Fair!"
CSS Valkyrie
"Admiral…"
Payne looked over from his command chair to the officer that had the watch at the communications station coming to the slightly raised platform of the bridge's forward deck. He had a datapad in hand and the senior officer saw the pad was the kind that was used for eyes-only dispatches.
"Just come in priority," the junior said as he handed the datapad over. "Came direct from command, over the emergency encryption."
That got Payne's attention and he immediately entered his personal encryption code and started to read off the message. He thanked the officer and got up from his chair as he paced the forward deck for a few minutes. Valkyrie's captain saw it and knew it wasn't a good sign as he walked over from where he was looking over the patrol patterns of Wes Dannic's squadrons.
"Skip," he said softly as he walked up. "What's the word?"
"You'll know in just a moment," Matther told him as he sighed and set himself for it. "Communications, bring up the ship-wide system and open up a channel to the fleet."
"Aye sir," the junior officer said as Payne went to take hold of the announcement mic.
"What's the estimate on Oso's engine?" Wes Dannic asked his crew chief. They were gathered around the Blackhawk Squadron's designated area of the repair section of the hanger deck. Malin had reported unusual power surges in the port engine. It was enough that Wes ordered it looked into as soon as he returned to the ship.
"It's the injector assembly on the reaction chamber," the old hand said as he pointed out the spot on a schematic of the Nighthawk's engine. "Its going to take the boys some time to get that pulled and checked out. If it calls for a replacement, it'll take extra time to get it tuned in. Give or take, several hours…"
"Now hear this," the announcement over the ship-wide system that cut the chief off. "Now hear this…all fleet personnel, standby for the admiral."
"Now what?" Wes asked as he turned his head a notch to listen for whatever Payne was fixing to say.
"You're on, admiral," the junior officer told him as Payne took a breath.
"To all personnel of the Second Fleet," he said as he looked over the datapad. "I wanted to share a message that was received from command over the emergency channel a few moments ago. It is the opinion of the Joint Command, with intelligence obtained from our allies in the Jedi Order, that a combined effort is planning an attack on our home. The force is believed a massed group of Imperial forces along with a combination of enemies that are planning to strike at the heart of the Jedi. We do not know how much longer it will be before they arrive in the Cataani system…but they are coming to us first."
"That blows the lid," the chief said as he looked at the schematics again.
"My Lady…" one of the other enlisted techs said. Wes looked around and saw others on the deck, officers and enlisted alike, with looks of disbelief along with other feelings.
"By direct command of his majesty," Payne's voice called over the speakers, "All battlegroups have been ordered to return home for immediate planning and positioning to defend our home and, I quote, 'teach the Empire what battle really means.'"
Wes heard a battle cry from somewhere in the hangar. It wasn't long before it was carried by others in the hangar. He didn't know it because of the increasing volume, but others in the corridor that heard it started to give cries of their own. Slowly, it started spreading through out the ship. On the bridge, the crew held back, but Payne could hear it throughout the hull and could imagine the same was happening through out the fleet.
"Sir," the navigator said as he looked up from his console. "I have a course plotted and set for home. Laid in and ready to jump on your order sir," the helm said as he looked up.
"The group is reporting set and ready for hyperspace," his communication's officer called out.
Payne smiled and couldn't help himself. They all had the same thought that he did. "Prepare for jump in one minute."
Once everything had died down in the hangar, Wes looked over to where he had been talking with the chief. He looked up and had called out a few instructions for his techs before he looked over to the captain.
"She'll be ready to fly by the time we get back even if I have to push her myself. I'm working on her myself."
Catain - Cataani Fleet Headquarters
"I appreciate you coming, Master Jedi," Admiral Hollis said to Steffan Karrde as he greeted the Jedi Master in the inner corridor of the headquarters building.
"Your message said you needed to meet with me over some important matters," Steffan said as they started to walk down the corridor. He had gotten the request a short while ago while he was working on other details with Nib Cadre at the design offices on Catain's shipyards. It hadn't taken him long to finish up what he needed to do there before returning to the capital to meet with the admiral.
"Several of our people in the operations area brought up a concern that I thought we needed to confer with you about," Hollis told him as they approached a conference room. "I had Admiral Selleck arrive with a few ship captains to discuss this facility you found on Bastion."
"What type of ship?" Steffan started to ask as they entered the room and noticed that one of the officers in the room was Captain Jonathan Rightman…Kure's commanding officer. "Ah…you're thinking a strike using the H'kana-class."
Hollis nodded as he introduced the rest in the room. "Admiral Selleck is our operations chief for the class. We decided to use the H'kana and her sister-ships separate from the battlegroups, mainly providing recon and special ops missions. You know Captain Rightman, and this is Commander Sabella Edge…she's our second experienced officer with the H'kana-class."
"Commander," Steffan said as he shook hands with her before he greeted Rightman.
The dark-haired woman gazed at Steffan passively, though he would have sensed her curiosity. "Master Karrde. It is an honor to meet you." Her tone was softer than some, but firm. She inclined her head slightly to him before saluting the Admiral. "Sir."
"Have a seat, please," Hollis said to everyone as he moved to the head of the table and addressed the two captains first. "Right now, both your ships are in the process of being readied for deployment. I've asked Master Karrde here to join us and fill us in on how the layout and patrols looked at your target area."
"Target area?" Rightman interjected.
"Bastion," Hollis told them as he started to pull up the maps.
Sabella frowned. "Admiral... won't splitting our forces weaken us a bit if the Empire intends to attack us here on Cataan?"
"Its not a split of forces," Selleck told her. "This will only be a handful of H'kana-class ships on this."
She nodded. "Understood, sir." There was a small pause. "What are our objectives once we reach Bastion, Sir..?"
"You have the advantage no one else has," Hollis told them. "A cloaking system that no one can penetrate. Your objective," he continued as he highlighted an area on the planet's lower hemisphere, "is an installation discovered by the Jedi recently."
"Wait a moment," Steffan said as he leaned forward. "No doubting our ships, but if they're able to get close enough...even with the standard load baradium torpedoes, the facility is deeper than that. Their weapons are designed for anti-ship."
"We have a new design for ground penetration," Selleck told him. "With a higher-yield baradium warhead."
Sabella's eyebrows went up for a moment, and she traded a look with the Jedi Master. "Am I to understand you want us to take out this facility... completely, Sir..?"
"This is new to me," Steffan said as he looked to Hollis and Selleck. "But, now that I know about it, it is something that needs to be done. With that facility still in existence, the Empire is still going to have a very dangerous weapon on their hands."
"Admirals," Rightman joined in. "Even if we get close enough for a strike, any other method other than floating the torpedoes out of the tubes, we're going to be detected and then its a fifty-fifty fight to get out."
"I know its an extremely high-risk mission," Hollis told them. "That's why I'm not ordering it. I need your input since you know what your ships can do."
"We can't hold them off indefinitely, Sir.." Sabella's voice sounded almost pained. "Stealth and floating the torpedo notwithstanding... It's going to be a hard push to get out. What Intel do we have on defense compliment for that installation..?"
"There was at least the equivalent of a half-strength group around there," Steffan told them before he looked to Hollis. "Anything from intelligence on the group size they're throwing at us?"
"Half-group is the optimal assumption at this point," the admiral said. "At the moment, it looks like they're throwing all of their effort against us at Cataan."
Sabella thought on that news for a moment. "It will be close, but I think we can pull it off, Admiral.."
"I'd like to send more than just the two of you," Selleck said as he leaned on the table. "But the rest of your sister-ships are scouting for the Imperial fleet. You two are it, so you're going to have to see to coordination."
"Then I think we need to modify our torpedo compliment then," Rightman said. "Increase the amount of standard baradium warheads to give us more of an edge."
"I agree with that assessment, Admiral." Sabella's tone was firm, and she gazed back at Hollis unwaveringly before looking back and forth between him and Steffan. "Sounds like we have our work cut out for us, then.."