))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
New Jedi Temple, Arabia Terra, Imperial Mars
)))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
The roar of the UT-60D filled the Jedi Temple's landing pad as the pilot kept the engines warm. He had been dispatched from Amidala City to assist in the evacuation of the Jedi Temple complex. He obviously didn't want to be out in the countryside any longer than he had to.
Ashla watched as Paladin Delta and two other Royal Guardsmen loaded the last of the Temple's valuables, mostly pieces of Jedi lore that her padawan Tenel had been accumulating from private donors for the order. Ashla was disappointed how little examples of the Old Jedi Order they owned, testimony to how far Palpatine's eradication of the Jedi sect had reached. Ashla was the only connection they had to the past and as a result Tenel Hja recorded everything her Master could recall of the Home Galaxy's Jedi. Tenel's datapads and recordings were being squeezed into the U-wing between the five incubator cribs that contained the youngest Jedi of the Order, the five Terran force-sensitive infants that had been uncovered during the Jedi's inspection of Operation Stork.
"We are about loaded, Sovereign Protector." Paladin Delta reported. "The Empress demands your presence at the Imperial Palace as soon as possible."
"Well then, let's not keep her waiting." Ashla turned to Tenel Hja. "Where is Gap-Ido?"
"I am here." The young Cerean Initiate came running onto the landing bay. He was being followed by the Temple's PROXY droid GWB-99.
"Initiate, where have you been?" Ashla asked. "We almost had to leave without you." Ashla gibed. In truth she would have never left one of her Jedi behind. Not that she suspected the New Temple was in much danger. The escaped prisoner army was still over a thousand kilometers to their west and by all accounts had made no effort to enter the Arabia Terra and move on the Jedi Temple. Which made some sense to Ashla, she thought, what would they survive on to get here. However, orders were orders and Empress Phasma decreed that outlying settlements be pulled back into the capital.
"I am sorry, Master. I was showing Gob how to take care of the new Temple Tree while we are gone." Gap-Ido said.
Ashla had told them of the Force-Sensitive tree that had been planted in the heart of the Old Temple on Coruscant. Which had caused Tenel and Gap-Ido to immediately plant several saplings in the Temple Garden. Gap-Ido was especially confident that one of the trees had been imbued with Force-Sensitivity. He even went so far as to say Ashla's old master, Agen Kolar, had told him so. Ashla had wanted to investigate what he had meant by such a declaration when the evacuation order had come, focusing her attention elsewhere.
"Very well, get on board. We will be leaving in a minute." Ashla told the Initiate and then addressed GWB-99. "Gob, I trust you will take care of the place while we are gone. I'm afraid the guardsmen are being recalled as well."
"The Temple's power converters and oil bath will allow me to function for several centuries in the Jedi's absence. The security sensors will alert me to any intruders. I suspected the regular Christian protesters at the gate might give me some cause for concern but they seem to have fled back to the capital as well." GWB-99 reported.
"Wizard. Trouble from them is the last thing we need right now. Keep the place warm. We will return once the emergency has been resolved." Ashla ordered.
"Of course, Master Ti." The droid bowed its head. "The Temple will be as you never left."
Ashla smiled slightly at the droid then turned to the U-wing. Tenel and Gap-Ido were already on board. Only Paladin Delta still remained outside the craft. He waited for her at the bottom of the loading ramp. As soon as Ashla reached him they boarded the craft together. The loading ramp was already lifting as they came aboard.
Ashla looked out one of the viewports as the U-wing lifted off. GWB-99 stood off to the side of the landing pad watching them leave. She took one last look at the New Temple. It represented the future of the Jedi Order and abandoning it like this felt like taking a step backwards despite all the progress they had made. Still as the leader of the New Order it was her duty to do all she could to protect her charges. The lives of the seven other Jedi aboard the U-wing were all that mattered.
The flight took a little over half an hour to reach Amidala City. When they arrived Ashla noticed air traffic over the city was almost nonexistent except for several visible TIE patrols. Those were new, she realized. The city, however, looked as if it were stuck in a standstill as they passed through its giant red monoliths.
"Would you look at that." The pilot said pointing forward as they entered Airway 7 heading for downtown. Every advertising billboard was showing the same image; a white BAX-7 landspeeder was racing down a roadway being chased by dozens of Amidala Guard police cruisers.
"Strange, you think the HoloNews would be broadcasting news about the emergency in the north." Ashla said.
"That's the Juice! Juma, you know, the limmie player." The pilot excitedly read from one of the passing billboards.
Ashla seemed to recall a news story from a few days ago about a double homicide in the city being linked to the sports star. She didn't see why the matter was interesting to anyone outside of the Justice Ministry. "Still doesn't explain why this is taking up the HoloNews channels."
"Everybody loves good celebrity gossip. No way is anyone more concerned with the plight of farmers and a rampaging horde of Earthers on the other side of the planet. Watching Juma's last run is going to be history."
Ashla suspected something more sinister was afoot here. The chase's timing was too convenient. "The airways are empty. Get us to the palace quickly."
"Roger, roger, my Lady." The pilot pushed the throttle forward and the U-wing zipped along through the city's towering cloudscrapers.
Traffic was light along the northern bank of the Yos River. Ashla could see far-away police lights tailing a distant white landspeeder along the southern riverbank. She sensed hundreds of beings lining the roadway. She was grateful her pilot was avoiding the nonsensical commotion over there.
They were soon entering Tarkin's Square, where the towering advertising imagecasters broadcast the distracting police chase in its full glory. The pilot turned towards the Imperial Palace.
"Another shuttle landing ahead of us." The pilot pointed out a white Lambda class with naval markings setting down on the palace's landing pads.
"That's the Grand Admiral's transport." Ashla said. She hadn't had many dealings with Yutu since she had become Phasma's Sovereign Protector. In truth, she had difficulty trusting the military after Order 66. So many years on the run from Palpatine's Inquisitors had left her with a healthy fear of blaster bolts in her back. Why the Empress was meeting with the military's supreme commander at the same time as Ashla she could only speculate.
The U-Wing set down next to Lambda inside the palace grounds. Ashla unbuckled her harness and went to the craft's passenger compartment. Inside Tenel and Gap-Ido were already out of their seats and unfastening the safety restraints of the infant incubators.
"That won't be necessary." Ashla said.
"But Master, I thought we were relocating to the Palace during the emergency?" Tenel replied.
"Change of plan. I need you to take the younglings to Brakatak's homestead. He is the only one I trust to keep the Order safe."
"Why, Master? What has changed?" Gap-Ido asked.
"The Grand Admiral has been called to this meeting as well." Ashla announced. She saw the surprise in Tenel's eyes. "I'd rather only expose my presence to their kind."
"Understood, Master. Every time I've met the Grand Admiral he has seemed a minute away from signing my death warrant. I shall take them to Brakatak's at once."
"Be good to see Frip again." Gap-Ido added with a chipper smile.
"I will rejoin you as soon as I can." Ashla smiled at each of them. She then reached out in the Force to the five infants asleep in their cribs. She could feel their content and happiness and made it her own.
She left the U-Wing along with Paladin Delta and his security detail. Outside, near the Lambda, six black snowtroopers formed a perimeter around the shuttle. A figure in a white naval uniform was descending the loading ramp.
Ashla ignored a blast of hot wind that swept over her from behind as the U-Wing took off again. She wished she could ignore Yutu but the Grand Admiral noticed her right away and was making a beeline right for her. She was struck by how she managed to forget what he looked like since she had last laid eyes on him. It must be something he had learned while he was an intelligence agent. The man seemed to go unnoticed until the moment he was about to stick a vibroblade in your ribs. Immediately, Ashla was on her guard.
"Sovereign Protector, I am surprised you were called to the palace." Yutu didn't bother with a formal greeting nor to hide the disdain in his voice.
"I serve at the Empress's pleasure."
"And with the Empire's coffers no doubt. I'm fighting a war and you're building extravagant temples in the middle of nowhere." He said, digging the figurative vibroblade deep.
"Perhaps you would prefer to use credits to buy our army's parole from Las Vegas." Ashla gave back.
"Perhaps. I suppose it is the Empress's prerogative to seek the advice of a religious faction on the current emergency. But let's not forget this is a military matter and it would not be wise to come between me and the Empress." Yutu icily warned.
Ashla glared and then offered him a fang filled smile, waving towards the entrance. "After you, Grand Admiral. I wouldn't want to stand in your way."
Thankfully, the Grand Admiral didn't wish to continue the conversation. He walked briskly into the palace. Ashla followed silently. Military officers in the corridors saluted Yutu as he went by while Royal Guardsmen statuesquely watched the two of them pass. In alcoves and side rooms palace servants watched imagecasters of the ongoing police chase in astonishment. They made little fuss about the two high ranking dignitaries in their midst. Ashla couldn't fathom what the attraction was to watching a minor celebrity incident was compared to the looming disaster that was devouring the Chryse Planitia.
Outside of the Empress's chamber a single Stormtrooper officer awaited. The trooper's armor was made of chromium and accessorized with an armorweave cape of black and red.
"About time you got here. The Empress has been expecting you both." The shiny officer growled.
"Watch your tone. You handmaidens may fall under the Royal Guard but it would be tough to tell with that armor." Yutu warned. "If martial law is declared then every being on this planet falls under my personal supervision."
"Of course, Grand Admiral, Sovereign Protector, Empress Phasma awaits you within." Monjai K'ra Indriummsegh turned and accessed the door's security panel. The blast door slid open in an instant.
Inside the chamber was the heart of the Imperial Palace's communication center. Along one wall, at the front of the room, four Naval technicians monitored a host of sensors and subspace receivers while situated above them a dozen large viewscreens showed images from across Mars. Ashla was relieved to see that only the smallest HoloNews monitor was showing the celebrity police chase distracting the rest of the city.
On the to side walls were a pair of giant mirrored mosaics, both of the Death Star Project. The one on the left was off the Death Star under construction with the figures of Poggle the Lesser and Director Callan Krennic standing under it. Ashla remembered that sight well as it was the last thing anyone in Tarkin's Fist saw of the Home Galaxy. The opposing piece of art was the Death Star as it would have looked when it was complete. This one was only accompanied by Grand Moff Tarkin, the sponsor of four lost fleets who had found their way to Mars.
Ashla looked to the rear of the room and shuddered. If the 2nd Galactic Empire still worshiped the idea of a Death Star they equally reviled their enemies. Hanging from the back wall was the form of Admiral Neptu, the traitorous Moff Seco's second-in-command, suspended in a large slice of carbonite. Neptu's face seemed to be frozen in a moment of agonizing terror.
Empress Phasma was in the center of the room hunched over a large imagecaster map of the northern hemisphere of Mars. She was dressed in her old 2nd Lieutenant's uniform. Two Naval officers stood at her sides updating information on the interactive map as the technicians reported it. With the Empress present no one called the room to attention when the Grand Admiral entered, which if rumor was true, was how Yutu preferred to conduct business. The Grand Admiral marched straight for the holomap table. Ashla and Monjai took spots next to him.
The Empress gave Ashla a small smile then looked back at the holomap. The look of concern on her face was evident. "Master Ti, these are Commanders Knebel and Murp from Fleet Intelligence." Phasma introduced the two other officers confirming Ashla's suspicion that they were Yutu's creatures.
"What is the current situation?" Yutu demanded. "However much I believe the safety of your Highness is of the upmost importance I do have a real war to get back to on Earth."
"Baron Patreous has assured me that his Army can hold out for several months despite the recent collapse of the northern pocket inside Las Vegas. Our troopers on Earth can survive without your guidance for a half a day." Phasma chided her Grand Admiral.
Yutu mumbled something under his breath. Ashla couldn't be sure but it sounded like, "Tell that to Prince Harry."
Phasma ignored the comment and turned to Commander Knebler. "Your report, gentlemen."
Knebler reached across the holomap and activated a symbol far to the north of Amidala City. The symbol enlarged to show Camp 1138. Instead of the orderly slum Ashla remembered from her own time there, the facility was largely burned to the ground. Bodies were scattered throughout the camp and the place appeared largely abandoned.
"These real time images are being transmitted by a viper droid orbiting at ten thousand meters above the prisoner of war internment camp." Knebler reported. "Three rotations ago an AAC alarm code was activated from the camp's administration building. The message included a lot of undecipherable shouting and blaster fire before it was deactivated or destroyed twenty-two minutes later."
"What about Warden Molec? Doesn't he carry an alert activator as well as the prisoner detonator safety protocol?" Phasma asked. Ashla sucked in a sharp breath. She had vibrant memories of digging the bomb out of Jason's neck while using the Force to prolong the detonation.
"He should." Yutu said. "I recall Molec kept it on a tactical forearm datapad. He would have needed a minute to activate the detonation sequence."
"We have a working theory that Molec was killed by unknown means before he could activate the safety protocol." Commander Murp added. "His voice wasn't present in the Camp Administration building's AAC."
"So he was killed at the initiation of the uprising." Phasma said. "And then Camp Administration building was overrun. This is where the secondary detonator was held, was it not?"
"Yes, your Majesty. But you know how Zygerrians are, being hardcore slavers and all. No one in that building would have eradicated the POW population without Molec's say so. I suspect he probably had the secondary locked up where none of his staff could even reach it." Yutu said.
"So that is what allowed an uprising to turn into a breakout. Do we have any idea of their numbers?" Phasma asked.
"We're not sure how many Operation Piper sent up here in the first place, ma'am." Murp said. "As you know originally the POW/labor mission started in the Pacific region then ended with the establishment of New Mandalore. Then the United Protectorate sent us several million of its second class residents."
"Moff William has done his best to slow that flow to a mere trickle, that's why I transferred that operation to the Philippines." Yutu offered a sinister smile. "I may have done them a favor since their whole country was in danger of submersion from the rising Pacific."
"Those names mean little to me. What I asked for was how many vengeful Earthlings are pouring south towards my capital."
"Our best estimate, according to what the Luna Base processing center sent us and Molec's latest prisoner death rate report puts the number of escapees at somewhere north of eight million." Knebler reported. There was silence in the room for several seconds as everyone processed what those numbers meant.
"If the Senate hadn't let this get out of control . . ." Yutu said.
"This is not the time to pass blame for policies that were started before we even had a senate." Phasma said and then paused, perhaps wondering what her father's role in letting the camp get so dangerously overpopulated was. "What do we have to face them?"
"The Home Legion has been cannibalized beyond the point of being an effective unit." Yutu said. "I took two of its six battalions to repulse the invasion of the United Protectorate, a third has been propping up the Amidala Guard here in the capital while a fourth is largely an administrative and supply unit."
"Leaving you two operational battalions. Sixteen hundred troopers seems mighty insufficient for what they'll have to face." Ashla interjected. "Ten to one they'll be overwhelmed like a Gungan against a Sando Aqua Monster."
"Never tell the Imperial Army the odds. We haven't lost a fight since the Clone War." Yutu retorted. Ashla tried hard not to roll her eyes at the bravado. "However the strength of those units is abysmal. I've cancelled all military leave. Perhaps, your Majesty can talk to the Prime Chancellor and have her assign members of the Amidala Guard and KDY Driveyard Security to our forces. We will have no issues equipping whomever they send us."
Ashla steered the conversation towards her biggest concern, the fate of one Jason Bogan. "What about the units guarding the camp when the uprising occurred?"
Murp activated another icon on the holomap, enlarging a list of operating numbers. "A junior lieutenant from the Shore Trooper contingent stationed there was able to pull 247 troopers and a few dozen guards west into the Nilokeras Mensae."
"He must have planned to ambush any Terrans who followed my troopers into that maze. A shame they didn't take the bait." Phasma said.
"He's to be commended. If I read your report correctly, he saved three AT-HS walkers and wrecked the camp's motor pool. The prisoners would have a tremendous amount of mobility if they had captured the fleet of gravtrucks there." Yutu said.
Suddenly a familiar number passed by on the list of operating numbers; ML-3393-Status: MIA. Jason's face flashed before Ashla's eyes. The Empire did not even know his fate. He could be lying hurt somewhere in that camp. No, those earthlings probably didn't take prisoners, she realized. Her breathing constricted and slowly it felt as if her skin was burning. She didn't want to say the words aloud. He had to be alive. She would have felt it. She stared ahead as the map as something deep down attempted to force its way to the surface.
The holographic map flickered on and off as the whole table shook. Everyone at the conference went wide-eyed. Monjai took a step to protect Phasma.
"Master Ti?" Phasma broke Ashla's loss of focus. The table stopped shaking and the hologram came back to life.
"I apologize. I was attempting to use the Force to discern the escapees' next move. I wasn't successful." Ashla felt bad about lying but she felt it was more important to conceal her relationship with a potential infiltrator. As bad as she felt it was nothing compared to the pain of thinking Jason might be gone.
"You may continue, Commander." Phasma said.
"The prisoners instead of following our forces to the west, broke contact and headed south." Murp said.
"Towards us." Phasma replied with a grimace. Ashla could feel the young Empress worry coming off her in waves. The Empress had twelve million noncombatants spread out across Mars but the vast majority of them were centered here in the capital.
"They're still fifteen hundred kilometers to our north, your Majesty." Knebel tried to sooth his sovereign's worry.
"Tell that to the settlers at Bira." Phasma snapped.
"What happened in Bira?" Yutu asked. Ashla was surprised Yutu was caught unaware. Whatever had transpired must have occurred while he was in transit from Earth.
Knebler manipulated the holomap this time, illuminating a village built inside a crater fifty kilometers to the south of Camp 1138. The crater was on the northern edge of the Empire's agricultural zone that stretched all the way across the Chryse Planitia. "The day after the camp breakout a general alert was sent out to all settlers to withdraw to safety here in the south. At Bira, the populace consisted of some three hundred Tarsunt farmers who worked Rishi corn agricombines in the area."
"Let me guess, they didn't take the warning seriously?" Yutu didn't sound surprised.
"Only a handful had left the area before they were hit. Earthlings using twelve captured speederbikes unloaded fighters to the east and west of the village and took it under fire nine hours ago. They were able to bring up an E-WEB and engaged the panicked civilians as they fled south. Because of the chaos of the unexpected attack we don't really have any concept of what the casualties were."
"Why were we not expecting this attack?" Ashla asked. "Were you simply wishing the Earthlings would stay put inside that summer camp you built for them?"
"No. Not really. We, um assumed, um with their numbers they would only be able to cover ten kilometers a day or so." Knebler stammered.
"Their main body perhaps. There's not enough transports in the north to move those numbers." Yutu sneered. "And you can stop with the assumptions and just give us facts. Starting with the fact that the escapees certainly captured the camp armory intact."
"We were waiting for your approval to bomb the building." Murp offered an excuse.
"The Tooka is out of the bag." Phasma sighed. "How many blasters do the earthlings have?"
"The camp armory contained enough small arms to outfit a battalion. As well as several rocket launchers, explosives, thermal detonators and proton mortars. There were nearly a hundred E-WEB towers ringing that camp and credits to crumblebuns they captured every single one." Knebler reported.
"The surviving Tarsunts reported the earthlings captured several civilian landspeeders and a few dozen more blasters in their attack. They said a few farmers stayed and put up a futile last stand and killed a few of the attackers." Murp added.
"Their casualties will mean little to them with their numbers. They will get stronger with every blaster and transport they capture." Yutu stated. "Send out orders. I want everything the Earthlings can use burned to the ground. Crops, houses, bridges, everything. We have a PTB-625 Planetary Bomber on the Kuat's Might. Have it take out that armory building, then I want the roads lined with tripwires and repulsar mines to stop those speederbikes and whatever other transports they've stolen. I want the civilian population forcibly evacuated here to the capital. We will starve the enemy to a halt and then herd them back to the north." Phasma snapped.
"You don't have the manpower to nearly a quarter of that." Ashla said.
"That will be rectified shortly." Yutu turned to Commander Knebler. "Which Star Destroyers are currently available?"
"The Flood just finished her repairs sustained in the Battle of the Four Navies and is standing to at the KDY driveyards awaiting instructions." Knebler replied instantly.
"Notify the Flood's commander, Captain Sarne, that she is to sail her ship to a position over the Chryse Planitia and engage the main body of prisoners from orbit. The Flood is authorized to execute a limited Base Delta Zero from Bira north to Camp 1138." Yutu ordered.
"Belay that order." Phasma interjected. "Have you lost your mind, Grand Admiral?"
"Your Majesty?" Yutu gasped.
"Do you realize how delicate Mars is? It took Moff Culter a year to establish a magnetosphere on this world."
"The man was a traitor." The Grand Admiral pointed out.
"There's no denying what he did here was also genius. He saved all of our lives by giving us a planet to establish ourselves on." Ashla added.
"Not only that but he built a breathable atmosphere, increased surface pressure so that we could have water, and terraformed the regolith soil into something we could farm with." Phasma argued.
"Yet couldn't get the climate or gravity to Coruscant standard. No wonder he hid behind Seco's cape." Commander Murp mumbled under his breath.
Phasma ignored the comment. "We can't afford to risk the whole planet's habitability for a band of escapees."
"Eight million is hardly a band, ma'am." Commander Knebler said. Phasma stared him into a meek silence.
"I failed to consider the ecological consequences. It isn't something we take into consideration with the war on Earth." Yutu conceded. "I just had a horrible thought of something as big as the Ares firing on Mars. It is directly overhead after all."
"Perish the thought. I would hope KDY security and quality control can more than handle any driveyard sabotage or industrial accidents." Murp exclaimed. Ashla wondered for a second about who would be brazen enough to sabotage a ship as large as the Ares. Thank the Force that monster wouldn't be finished for years.
"Nor can I allow your scorched planet plan. Our agricultural efforts have been tentative at best. The harvest that was due to start next month was to be our largest yet. Moff Dowmat tells me the Ithorians are only now starting the planting season on Mother Garden." Phasma explained.
"No doubt your armies on Earth depend on those foodstuffs as well." Ashla added.
Yutu grimaced. "If we don't halt this near-human swarm they'll devour our surplus like a plague of Naboo slug beetles. We need to assign a commander to lead what units we do have here and start whittling down this Terran mob."
"We could recall Colonel Katarn from Earth. He would be a familiar face for the troopers of the Home Legion." Knebler suggested.
"No." Phasma said emphatically. "Colonel Katarn's exile shall remain in place until I say so. You don't get to butcher a hundred of MY citizens on MY very doorstep and then get an opportunity to play the savior of the Empire."
"Who would you recommend, your Majesty? Your top generals and I are fully involved with the war on Earth." Yutu asked. "I can hardly spare a man until we achieve a breakthrough on the lesser continental mass."
"If I were to act rashly I would have recalled you three days ago when the uprising occurred, Grand Admiral, but you are right, you serve the Empire better on Earth. Besides this is not a standing army of militants. This is a people struggling for the one thing Palpatine never gave us." Phasma said.
"Which is?" Knebler asked.
"Hope." Ashla answered before Phasma could. The Empress nodded in agreement.
"We should burn them all before it can set root in their midst." Yutu said.
"Grand Admiral. I fully intend to get my trapped army back one day. This is not simply hoping and wishing that a breakthrough happens. So far the efforts of you and my best generals have not performed this task."
"But, Seco got us stuck in . . ." Murp started.
"Would the Earth be in its rights to execute thousands of my finest troopers if we slaughtered eight million of their citizens out of hand?" Phasma asked.
"We've already killed far more than that. That's nothing compared to the first day of the war." Knebler argued.
"Besides, their President Harris isn't even aware if these prisoners are alive or dead. For all he knows we're defenestrating them by the cruiser load." Yutu argued.
"Then wouldn't he be surprised when we broadcast across their world that we are holding millions of them in protective custody here on Mars." Phasma said. "We would force them to the negotiation table."
"I'd think they'd be open to negotiating a trade." Ashla said. The three military officers looked at her in disgust. An Imperial Army would have to go through the indignity of surrender for that to happen. And surrender was just about the most dishonorable thing one could do in the army. It was right up there with the traitors that followed Seco. Only a dead man named Eritech had committed a higher crime.
"If you do not liberate my army on the lesser continental mass then I shall order General Patreous to capitulate once the last bolt has been fired. That's why I need this Terran mob subdued rather than annihilated. And with as minimal damage to Mars as possible." Phasma said.
"Who do you have in mind for that command, ma'am? One of your new barons? Populace might look at that as the new nobility putting down a peasant uprising. Won't sell well on the HoloNews. As for my officers, they were trained in Lord Vader's military. I fear they lack the finesse for such maneuvers." Yutu countered.
"Master Ti, I would like you to take command of the two battle-ready battalions of the Home Legion and take them north." Phasma said.
Ashla gasped. The bloody memory of the Clone War came racing back to her. "I cannot send troops into battle knowing that they will die, nor will my relationship with the Force allow me to order troopers to kill civilians. When Jedi led the clones during the last war it allowed the Dark Side to cloud our vision, to manipulate us and to eventually wipe us out."
"When we allowed the Jedi to lead our clones they grew too confident." Yutu argued. "A flaw that grew more and more common among the Jedi. Too sure of themselves they were. Even the older, more experienced ones. Eventually they tried to take over the Republic itself."
"A lie." Ashla hissed. "Though I do agree with your assessment. Combat leads to death. Death leads fear and anger. These are not compatible with the Jedi."
"Which is why your main mission will be the evacuation of our civilians in the Chryse Planitia. You secondary mission will be to outmaneuver the escapees, convince them of the futility of driving south and hopefully push them north towards the Yos Ocean." Phasma said.
"There's nothing sustainable north of Bira. The Terrans will be forced to give up their fight." Murp deduced while staring at the holomap.
"So this will be a humanitarian mission?" Ashla asked. She looked up at the carbonite slab with the trapped Neptu. It was a perfect example of how heavy handed the Empire could be in dealing with its enemies. "I don't want any military rank. If I do this my priority will be to save lives not take them."
"Of course. With the new Senate the beings of Mars finally have a stake in the Empire. I will not let democracy be birthed in the 2nd Galactic Empire in the bloody mess of a kriffing massacre. A hundred Christians was enough. No more!" Phasma slammed a fist down on the holomap causing it to glitch out of existence for a second.
"I accept this task, your Majesty." Ashla said. She wondered if she should put a hand on Phasma's shoulder for reassurance, but Jedi had never been the touchy-feely types. Maybe that was something she could work on with the New Order.
"But, Phasma. Jedi leading troopers . . ." Yutu pleaded.
"Almost had the war won until your troopers blasted them in the back. Now you forget yourself. You are talking to an Empress and you will do as I say." Phasma growled and then turned to the other officers, "Show her what she needs to know and give her whatever assistance she requires."
"Yes, ma'am." Knebler and Murp both snapped to attention.
"I have faith these Terrans will never reach this city with you in charge, Master Ti." Phasma said, "Gentlemen, good day." The Empress then turned and stormed out of the room. For a moment the room was silent as if Phasma had taken all of the air with her.
"I want you to know this wasn't my idea, Grand Admiral. The thought of war is the antithesis of everything the New Jedi Order stands for. I suspect Lady Harris has been buzzing in our Empress's ear again." Ashla rationalized.
"In the end I was going to blame the Senate for this mess but I could just as easily lay it on the the Jedi Temple's doorstep if you fail. No this decision is all Phasma. In the Republic there were many impetuous leaders who acted without thinking. Phasma weighs every issue and when she acts, well . . . the Force help those that stand in her way." Yutu admitted. "She knows what she is doing assigning you this mission."
"You admire her, a leader who's barely more than a youngling?" Ashla was startled. She never pictured the military as admiring anything they didn't immediately target with their blasters.
"She's doing amazing things. This new senate will make the Empire stronger than her father ever dreamed. We are starting an era of expansion and colonization and we need the beings loyal to her or we are going to have the rebel rot we were starting to see under Palpatine, here in the Milky Way." Yutu explained.
"You don't fear how weak the military became under the Republic?"
"Not as long as a Kuat sits in the House of Viceroy's. What I am concerned about is this task of yours reeks of the Jedi's influence during the Old Republic. No one has forgotten how it was Yoda who came into the Geonosis Arena with blasters blazing that kicked off the last war."
"We are not the Old Order anymore." Ashla recalled her vision of Agen Kolar's Force ghost. How he had told her the New Order must move past the stifling edicts of the former Jedi Council. Each Jedi must make their own choices and forge their own connection with the light side. Ashla was all too familiar with rigidness of the Old Order during the war. The Council was willing to endorse political assassinations, the use of flamethrowers on enemy soldiers, Mind tricks that bordered on torture, and went out of its way to forbid its members from contacting pro-Separatist individuals. What they should have been doing, while fighting the droid army, was making contact with pro-Separatists trying to find a way to get them to agree to a ceasefire and force Dooku out. She had heard stories of Masters like Qui-Gon Jinn who had questioned the Council and were practically persona non grata, and the rule of "Don't question the Council" trickled down to the point where the rule then became "Don't question the Council, the Masters, or anything else for that matter." If you have a problem just keep repeating the Jedi Code until you get over it. The Council's decision to take charge, ignore criticism, and do as they pleased without any check on their authority bred a Jedi Order whose members would either follow orders until they marched off a cliff or snapped under the pressure. Ashla would be damned if she let her Jedi turn into the doomed Old Order who were merely puppets of the Republic.
"Indeed. Perhaps we should focus on the job at hand then and stop worrying about who is what to our young Empress." Yutu suggested.
"Suits me." Ashla answered. Then addressed the two junior officers. "What units are available to move north?"
"The unit furthest north is the ad hoc unit of shore troopers and army troopers that escaped Camp 1138. Roughly two hundred plus troopers counting their wounded. They're hardly effective anymore for offensive action but they've kept the camp under observation and send us regular reports. The enemy is making no movement towards them and heading south." Murp reported.
"Do we have any LAATs here on Mars?" Ashla asked.
"About a dozen. Most are with the fleet of course. And I do believe our Empress doesn't want my Navy involved." Yutu almost smiled, he was too smug. Did he wish she would fail? Did he want the Earthlings to march into the capital of the Empire just for the sake of knocking the Jedi down a peg?
"Order them to retrieve those troopers and bring their wounded back here to the Kuat of Kuat Medical Center." Ashla said. "What's south of Bira?"
"The Yos River turns southwest towards the towns of Sabo and Cairns. About the same size Bira used to be." Knebler said.
"How do we know the Terrans will follow the river?"
"There are no wells on Mars." Yutu said. "Eight million near-humans need a lot to drink."
"I assume they'll keep their main body near the river, but their increasing mobility allows them to strike across the Chryse Planitia." Ashla pointed out. She motioned towards a town on the holomap. "They could just as well hit the village of Tarsus a hundred kilometers to the east before we'd know it."
"There's almost a thousand Barabel settlers living there." Murp reported.
"Evacuate them at once." Ashla ordered.
"We're already evacuating Sabo and Cairns." Knebler complained.
"Good. And issue orders to abandon the next dozen towns south of them."
"That's thousands of settlers and several hundred kilometers."
"Indeed. Thousands who need our protection and will be safer here in the capital." Ashla said.
"Where they will spread rumors and panic." Murp argued.
"Comm the HoloNews. I will do a press conference tonight to alleviate fears before I head north. It's about time Amidala City started paying attention to something more than celebrity sensationalism."
Yutu was quiet now as if he was analyzing her every decision.
"Then call Prime Chancellor Niobe. Tell her to expect refugees and to start gathering supplies and shelter for them. Inform her of the entire situation and the danger the Terrans pose and then invite her to join me at the press conference. She should have been here in the first place." Ashla ordered. Murp was taking notes into his datapad. "Now who can we mobilize in the next six hours?"
"We can get the 7th Assault Regiment on the hovertrain to Sabo. They've been active with the Amidala Guard for months now." Knebler said. "It will take a day or so to get other units entrained and shipped out."
"Such as?"
Knebler checked his lists. "The 177th Anti-Airspeeder Company, 189th Air Assault Company, 63rd Support Company, 9th and 201st Combat Engineers and then there's the training companies. But besides a small cadre of trainers they mainly consists of raw recruits. They do have the three new Base Defense Walkers but none of those can fit aboard the hovertrain. They'll have to hoof it."
"Prioritize those two engineer units. I want them dropping bridges across the river immediately. Tell the 177th to start wrecking the water pipeline that runs south of Sabo as soon as they arrive and then move the civilians in the area to safety. The 63rd can focus on the evacuation. Tell their commander I want five hundred kilometers depopulated in five days." Ashla said.
The officers' eyes went wide. This time Commander Murp left the imagecaster and went over to the technicians to relay Ashla's orders as Knebler started rapidly moving units across the holomap image.
"Who do we have near Bira?" Ashla asked while looking at a strange icon in the area that had caught her eye.
"The 5th Lancers. They're a dewback cavalry unit, vets of the invasion of Maridun. They've been ordered not to engage with the enemy."
"One of the best units we carried through the 'big jump'. Firm believers in the Tarkin Doctrine. Unfortunately neither I nor my predecessors had any use for them on Earth. Good solid troopers." Yutu said.
"I want to talk to their commander within the hour. Tell him to continue keeping his distance and to send hourly updates on the Terran's movement."
"Aye, aye, ma'am." Knebler turned and snapped his fingers at a technician to relay the order north. "What about the Assault company? What do you want to do with those Shock Troopers?"
"Get them to Sabo and deploy them in front of the town. They can drive off any Terran scouts that get too close." Ashla ordered. "Tell them they're to get ready to pull back on my order. Also have them police up any blasters the farmers leave behind and wreck any landspeeder they abandon. Can't let the Terrans attain more mobility."
"Why don't you have them dig in? Each of those towns are situated in a Martian crater. They're natural fortifications." Knebler asked.
"Because the prisoners will bring up enough fighters to overrun the place. We will have a pitched battle and in the end it won't settle anything for us besides the loss of a company of Shock Troopers and the deaths of more farmers. We concentrate on getting as many of our beings and troopers to safety first. Then we focus of resolving the issue of the escaped prisoners and their surrender." Ashla explained.
"Understood, General." Commander Knebler responded. The old Clone War rank for Jedi commanders. Generals who led from the front and raced into every action as if they were improvising on the fly. Jedi were very good at tactics but grand strategy and logistics were almost beyond them. Maybe that's why they never saw the Sith's Order 66 coming.
"I'm no, General. I just want to end this and save as many lives as we can."
"Imperial or prisoner?" Yutu asked.
"You heard the Empress, saving prisoners will save imperial lives, or is your army about to bust out of Las Vegas?" Ashla retorted.
Yutu glared at what he must have perceived as defeatism. Ashla didn't care. She wanted this to be over as quickly as possible. She wanted to go to that camp and find out what had happened to Jason. Had he been killed by his own people? Surely she would have felt it in the Force if he had. Shouldn't she?
She needed to know who was responsible for the death of the only man she had ever loved. "Do they have a leader, someone who is commanding their army?"
"We're working on that right now." Knebler answered. "The 5th Lancers captured some stragglers east of Bira and interrogated them." By which Ashla figured the cavalry had roughed them up and perhaps blasted them. "They answer to someone they call Boston, who has some sort of rough command structure around him of junior officers. We can assume they all have military experience."
"Boston?" Ashla reacted to the familiar name. "We have record of that prisoner?"
"It's not a common given or surname from their world. There was, however, a city on the lesser continental mass of Earth and a musical band that went by that name. It's more than a feeling that this Boston is a code name to prevent repercussions against his family on Earth. He's no ponce either, considering their rapid strike on Bira."
Jason was from Boston. He had told Ashla all about it and even promised to take her there after the war. Had he made contact with an underground in the camp? If he had, his role as an army trooper would have left in in an ideal position to take out the slave chips in case of a break out. The Terrans had reached Bira exceptionally fast when you considered they were purposely kept in the dark about the area around their prison. Only a guard or trooper would have known which direction to head for.
"Task our Viper droids to find this command group. Surely the Terrans captured some hyperwaves when they captured the armory. Otherwise they'd be unable to control that many beings across such a wide area."
"Yes, they did. They changed the codes on the hyperwaves faster than we thought they could too." Knebler reported. "So far we've been successful in jamming every signal they've tried to get off world."
"Really?" Yutu was surprised. "You'd need training to change codes. Imperial military training. Nonetheless, get CommScan to start searching for concentrations of radio signals. Then hand the location over to Master Ti."
"Aye, aye, sir."
"Thank you, Grand Admiral. I know the Empress wants this done with a light touch." Ashla said.
"And I want to win the war on Earth. I can't do that if the harvest here on Mars is destroyed. Find this 'Boston' scum and finish this."
Ashla felt the Force stirring. "I have a feeling this won't end until I face him."
))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))
Up Next- Living in the Suck
