Chapter 6: The Kessel Run
February 16.
"Expand your senses. Remember these words: I'm one with the Force. The Force is with me." Ezra calmly enunciated as he walked between Luke and Leia, both concentrated on their daily meditation.
Since they started this voyage, it became clear that there would have been a lot of time to spend on the Amerigo. So it was the perfect opportunity to start teaching Leia to use her affinity with the Force.
They were in a small, empty room that was actually used by the psionics aboard the ship to meditate, as well.
Ezra was using his own connection to the Force to detect how much the twins were progressing. Clearly, Luke's energy was a bit more focused, while Leia was still at the beginning, but her presence was still that of a visible, although small, spark.
He could tell that they were slowly entering in contact with the Force. Getting a glimpse of its infinite mysteries.
"Luke. What do you see?" Ezra patiently asked.
Luke squinted his already closed eyes a bit more. "I think...I see a trail. It must be my path...but it's surrounded by...darkness." he then reopened his eyes. "Well, guess it's nothing new, for now."
"Very well." Ezra said, then turned his head on the other side. "What about you, Leia?"
Leia squinted her eyes a bit harder and didn't answer immediately. Her head wandered around a bit, as if she was trying to follow something.
"I'm not sure. It's all a bit blurry, but I think...it's a woman. I never saw her...yet she feels...familiar?"
After saying that, Leia opened her eyes again, allowing Ezra to express his opinion on the matter.
"Perhaps she was someone you've been looking for."
Leia stood up as well. "Who could that be? I'm not looking for someone, right now." she asked.
"Are you sure?" Ezra asked. "You've been quite agitated since we talked about your real parents…"
"I refuse to acknowledge that!" Leia bursted. "My parents were Queen Breha Organa and Senator Bail Organa. I don't care who sired me."
Ezra gently raised his hands in a peaceful gesture. "All right, let's not talk about it." after all, Leia's reaction was a pretty eloquent answer to his question. He then checked out his clock and realized a thing. "We should be in sight of Kessel within the hour, you better get prepared."
The twins nodded and then headed out together. Only Ezra remained into the room as he could feel that he had someone waiting for him. He knelt on the floor and closed his eyes, quickly reaching the necessary focus to speak with these persons.
Indeed, soon enough the ghost of Master Kenobi and the unmistakable presence of his old Master appeared in front of Ezra's mental eye.
"Considering the situation, you're handling it quite well." the voice of Kanan echoed in an encouraging tone.
Ezra let out an amused chuckle. "I'm probably just lucky. Luke and Leia are much more mature than I was when you found me."
"Maybe. But look at you, now." Kanan reassured him with his that caring tone that Ezra had missed so much. Were it not for the ghost of Obi-Wan, who taught him how to communicate with those whose mortal body was gone, but their presence in the Force was stronger than ever, he probably would have never heard it again.
"Your Master is right, Ezra." Obi-Wan added. "Luke and Leia have a predisposition to learn, sure, but your patience is what is allowing them to progress so swiftly."
"I can only hope that I will be strong enough for them when they will have to face their challenges."
"Ezra, the point of being their teacher is not to be strong for them," Kanan explained. "but to make sure that they will be prepared when those challenges come up."
"I guess so. All I can do is pass everything you taught me. From there on, we will have to learn from each other."
"Correct." Obi-Wan said.
"We have to go, now. Remember, Ezra. The Force will be with you. Always."
And the presences vanished, letting Ezra return to the real universe. He looked around a bit, perhaps hoping that he would find the two Jedi actually in front of him, thinking he could really use their help to train the Skywalker twins.
He knew it was a vain hope, though, so he took a breather and stood up. His mind now lingered briefly over what Jaral was possibly doing. Then he realized that she was giving her everything to make sure the politicians of the Alliance were doing their job and strengthened his own resolve to focus on the upcoming battle.
He walked out of the room, just in time to cross Sabine, spotting her new hair color: a tan base with red tips, resembling the color of the emblem of the Rebel Alliance. Sabine took much pride in the fact that the entire Rebellion carried a modified version of her Phoenix.
"Oh, I was coming to call you up." she commented.
"Problems?" Ezra asked a bit preoccupied.
"Pretty much. Come on." she replied, nodding toward the direction they took to reach the bridge.
They quickly reached the room and gathered around the rectangular holotable. There were Captain Riccardi and the other officers, which included: Hera, Rex, Zeb, Belisarius and Kherat. Luke and Leia had already headed for the hangar where the Falcon was stationing.
"General Bridger." Riccardi saluted, since now Ezra was also holding that rank into the Systems Alliance.
Ezra quickly made the same gesture and stood at the edge of the table. "What's the situation, Captain?" he asked.
In response, Riccardi made a nod to Kherat, who tapped something on the keyboard in front of him and the holotable projected the planet of Kessel, along with a series of what seemed to be bases planted on a group of asteroids around the planet.
"The recon drones we sent ahead have just reported in." Riccardi explained. "It seems like the imperial defenses around Kessel are much stronger than anticipated. We detect a satellite defense grid and various outposts built inside some exhausted asteroids, equipped with turbolasers and hangars probably swarming with TIEs."
Ezra leaned on the table and hummed in a thoughtful way.
"Kessel is not even under the Empire's administration. The mines are run by criminal cartels, so why have they poured so many resources to defend it?" he asked.
"The corporations still pour a lot of money into the imperial coffers in exchange for the concession." Hera explained. "We shouldn't be surprised that the Empire is hanging to Kessel so much."
"The increased security might have also been dictated by the prison uprising that occurred last December." Kherat added.
"Okay. What options do we have?" Ezra asked in a calm tone.
Riccardi pointed at the hologram. "The Amerigo and our fighter garrison combined can easily take care of the frigates patrolling the perimeter, but that asteroid they built on is too big and we cannot afford to waste too many weapons on it."
"A small squad could board the station and overload the core reactor. That should be enough to neutralize that base." Belisarius affirmed.
Ezra hummed in agreement. "A squad of Legionnaires has the best chance to make the job done and get out before everything blows up. Colonel, I'll leave the choice to you."
The turian stood at attention and made the salute. "Yes, sir." and headed out to make the preparations.
Ezra then turned toward the Twi'lek. "Hera, you shall lead the rebel fighters and engage this cruiser." he said while lighting up the model with his finger. "The federal forces will engage the second one. We shall open a path so that I can bring the assault squad over with the Silver Bullet."
"Hey, don't even dream to go with them." Zeb admonished. "We can handle this. There's no need for you to get in the line of fire."
"I know, Captain Orellios." Ezra said as he rolled his eyes in a fed up way, then returned to the planning. "Captain Riccardi, make sure the Amerigo jams the imperial transmission. We don't want their reinforcements to arrive before we've evacuated the people we are here to rescue."
Riccardi made a firm nod with his hands behind his back. "Don't worry, General. They won't know what hit them."
"Anything else?" Ezra asked, but nobody replied. "Then let's get ready." he concluded and the rest of the officers, except Riccardi and Kherat, left the room.
In the conference room of the Royal Palace, Senator Avi Singh was finishing his speech from the speaking table right next to the throne of the King. Jaral had been unanimously elected as moderator, so she was sitting on a chair on the left side of the King, which put her between the throne and the speaking table.
"The old Republic had been oppressing the peoples in the Outer Rim for centuries. That's the reason that my home-planet was among the founders of the Confederacy of Independent Systems." he then turned toward Jaral and his tone became much more respectful. "Master Bridger. You have saved my planet from the Empire, and for that I will be eternally grateful. But my people is fed up with being ruled by the planets of the Core, who look down upon us and have only exploited us for centuries."
Then he stepped back from the table so he could head back to his seat in the assembly.
"Thank you, Senator Singh." Jaral politely said loud enough to be heard, then she gave a quick look toward Mon Mothma. Even if the red-haired Senator was putting up a neutral face, Jaral noticed that she was disheartened.
The Jedi couldn't understand fully, but she knew that Mothma was deeply committed to restoring the Republic. Singh, however, was just the leader of conspicuous number of representatives of the Outer Rim worlds who, as it turned out, were not enthusiast of the idea to return to the ancient regime. Even Ech-Char had clearly stated that most of his people preferred the road to independence.
After that, the Jedi Knight stood up and walked at the edge of podium, immediately gaining the attention of all the presents.
"Friends." she started with her impartial voice. "I think it's clear to everybody that, even if we manage to defeat the Empire in the future, there is no shared will to recreate a unitary government in its place. However, to win this war, it is paramount that we centralize our military effort. That is why I would like to propose a solution."
Everybody either nodded or simply kept their attention high.
"Please, speak your mind, Grand Marshall." the King invited.
"I support the idea of having the various systems be independent or to band together in smaller nations in order to promote peace and stability after the conflict, however, we should keep the Alliance alive as a common initiative for defense, along with political and economic cooperation."
That sparked some whispers among the assembly. Some were intrigued, but most seemed confused.
"What is that supposed to mean?" somebody asked.
"In the last few months, whenever I could, I found myself learning everything I could about the society that our allies in the Milky Way have adopted. I think that we might take inspiration from the Systems Alliance itself.
"Just in case some of you forgot it, the Alliance is not a political entity. It's a military alliance. Every species in the Milky Way, which represent different nations, instead of investing money on the creation of a massive army of their own, they pull together the resources to finance and equip the Alliance.
"While the Federation is the dominant State of the Milky Way, the non-Humans still have their own governments and old territories. They're basically a union of independent nations who agree to share a common economy, a common military and other things."
That explanation raised the interest of most of the crowd.
A woman from the assembly stood up with a hand raised and spoke her mind. "The idea is worth being considered. It might be too soon to talk about uniting the galaxy under one rule again, but we need to ensure that our planets, in the future, will ensure peace through cooperation."
Other interventions followed, but they were all more or less of the same opinion. Many didn't want the return of the Republic, but nobody wanted a shattered galaxy where every planet vied for supremacy over the others. With brute force, if worst came to shove.
Keeping the Rebel Alliance, under another name of course, as the biggest military force of the galaxy, funded by all the planets and devoted exclusively to preserve peace of defend the members of the treaty from possible external threats might have sound a bit imperial, but perhaps there was a way to make it work in a democratic way.
As the debate went on, however, a question arose from the assembly, aimed at Jaral.
"What about the Jedi? They would be perfect to act as judges for the peace." a representative said, pointing at the Knight and an overall approving murmur ensued.
"I beg your pardon?" Jaral asked.
Mon Mothma thus rose up and spoke. "They believe that you and your brother, plus any possible Jedi that will rise up in the future, might take back the role of peace-keepers that the Order upheld in the Old Republic."
"If I remember correctly, the fact that the Order was affiliated to the Republic caused a lot of controversies and factionalism among the Jedi." Jaral replied calmly.
"Correct. But since it seems clear that the New Republic will only be one of many nations in the future galaxy, it might be possible for you to live up to what the Jedi have done for thousands of years. Your idea of a supranational authority to hold peace and resolve conflicts is indeed a desirable goal, and who could lead it better if not the Jedi?"
Jaral pondered for a few moments, then expressed her doubts. "I think it's too early to make such a proposition. Right now, there is only three Jedi that we know of, not exactly a number that can keep conflict from spreading throughout the galaxy. However, in the future, when a new generation of Jedi will be trained, it might be beneficial to put them in service of nobody and for anybody."
"Thank you, Master Bridger." Mothma said in an appreciative tone.
"Speaking of which, Senator, have I misunderstood or did you say that a New Republic will still be founded?"
A human male, who Jaral recognized as the representative of Lianna, Verruth Noste, stood up as well and spoke.
"Your comprehension was on spot, Master Jedi." he said. "The people of Lianna and still many other worlds wish to recreate the Republic, even if it's just a fraction of the former."
Jaral made a nod. "I see. Once I consult with my brother, I'll be able to give more details on the possibility of integrating a new Jedi Order in this project. For now, I would like to suggest to all allies to signal the presence of Force sensitives in their territories, so that we may start to pool them together with the children of the Force on Lothal."
"We'll do our best, Master Bridger." Mothma reassured, then turned toward the assembly. "Is there anything else we should discuss?"
The assembly remained silent.
"If that's the case, this meeting is adjourned." King Ech-Char declared, then tapped the floor with his long scepter, making a ting resonate in the room.
As the assembly started to dissolve, Jaral walked to halt Mon Mothma and talk with her for a second.
"I'm sorry it didn't go as you hoped, Senator." she said in a sorry tone.
Mothma shook her head with a bit of resignation, but she didn't look completely sad about the outcome. "No. I should actually thank you, Jaral. I was blind. I took for granted that every member of the Rebellion wanted to recreate the Republic, and I forgot that it fell exactly because half of the galaxy was fed up with it."
"Do you think we will actually be able to build a more peaceful galaxy?" Jaral asked.
Mothma made a firm nod. "I am. If it wasn't for your initiative with this conference, we would've pushed forward a project which had no hope from the beginning. Now, we can take the necessary steps to build a galactic order that will be found on the cooperation between peoples.
"You might have just saved our future, Jaral. You did well." she concluded with a smile, leaving Jaral a bit dumbfounded. Then Mothma left the room with her political allies.
At that point, Darvos showed up and walked next to his wife.
"Mothma wouldn't say such things so casually." he commented with a half-grin as he interlocked fingers with her. "Excellent job, Jari."
She made a huff and a lopsided grin, then gave a light squeeze to his hand.
"Speaking of which...what news from the front?"
Darvos' face became a bit less enthusiast. "Qathora was saying the truth. Recon drones have confirmed that there is a massive imperial fleet gathering on Lantillies. Some of their ships use the codification of the 101st, but I couldn't find if the Admonitor was there."
"Well, that's enough for now. Have Qathora sent back and call a meeting of the General Staff. We need to understand where Iulius will hit first."
"Consider it, done." Darvos replied confidently before heading out.
"Phoenix Leader here, all units prepped and ready to fly." Hera said into the comlink.
"Arrow Leader here, all units ready for deployment. Awaiting orders." Flight Major Nirana T'Jabal said on part of the federal fighters.
Ezra listened from the holotable and then looked outside through the big transparent metal of the bridge. The blue tunnel of hyperspace disappeared a few seconds later, letting Ezra see the planet of Kessel and the asteroid field right outside of the hyperspace lane.
"Have they seen us, yet?" he asked to the bridge officers.
"The cloaking device is active and their frequencies don't sound alarmed." the woman at the sensors reported.
Indeed, the Force itself seemed to reassure Ezra that he wasn't in danger, for now. On the screen appeared the two Victory-class frigates.
"Let's exploit the surprise until we have it." Riccardi said, taking command of the ship. "All hands to battle stations, prepare the torpedoes."
The alarm started to blare all around the ship as the vessel itself navigated toward a firing position. The arsenal of the Amerigo (and that of her sister ships) included three torpedo launchers, a main cannon on the front as big as that of the Alliance's cruisers, 6 plasma throwers and other minor slug throwers powered by magnetic pulses, which made them extremely dangerous against unshielded targets.
Despite being an exploration cruiser, the Amerigo right now had more firepower than those two imperial frigates in front of her combined.
When they entered in range, Riccardi ordered two salvos of torpedoes fired against the imperial ships. The latter, caught completely by surprise, didn't have time to enact evasive maneuvers, so their own missile launchers, the only type of weapon that could bypass the shields of the Amerigo, were destroyed immediately.
"All squadrons, commence the attack." Ezra ordered.
The squadron of Alliance 'Trident' fighters and 'Typhoon' gunships took off from the starboard hangar of the ship, while the Ghost, the Falcon and Red Squadron took off from port side.
"Prepare the batteries on port side." Riccardi ordered, judging that that side of the ship was the fastest way to hit the enemy quickly. The helmsman complied and brought the Amerigo in a position perfect to open fire.
The plasma throwers were the first to fire, since they were designed to overload another ship's shields. The imperial frigates launched their fighters just in time for them to intercept the allies.
So, while the fighters engaged in a furious dogfight, the ships exchanged blows. Soon enough, the allied fighters managed to punch a hole in the imperial line that allowed the gunships to make a bombing run on the nearest frigate, badly damaging it.
"Focus all fire on the nearest frigate." Riccardi ordered, electing to finish that one off immediately so they could focus on the second one.
Then the fighters, led by the Ghost and the Falcon, the Captains of which were determined to get a higher score than the rival to prove which one was the best freighters, easily decimated the imperial crafts, and it was only a matter of time before the first Victory-class completely disproved her name and went down in flames.
"There's our chance." Ezra said. "I'm bringing the squad in."
"Yes, sir." Riccardi said as Ezra left the bridge and reached the hangar in a couple of minutes.
He found the squad of six Legionnaires already waiting in the cargo hold of the Silver Bullet, already sitting on the rack and ready to drop on the asteroid. Ezra quickly reached the cockpit, where Sabine was waiting at the co-pilot. After linking Jinx with the ship, the Jedi took off and flew out, getting a glimpse of the red nebula that surrounded that part of the system.
The allied fighters were now battling against the TIEs that came exactly from the asteroid base, which left this open to the incursion of the Legionnaires.
Ezra and Sabine aligned with the desired trajectory and the Jedi General announced that he was lowering the rack.
As the Gauntlet passed right above the durasteel constructions carved into the asteroid, which also included turbolasers that tried to shoot it down, the Legionnaires dropped in an orderly fashion and used the gravity pull of the asteroid together with the small jets in their armors to land without a problem on the surface.
"This is Badger Team. Launch successful. We're heading inside the enemy fortress." the squad leader reported on the comlink.
"Copy that, Badger," Ezra replied. "we'll be here to pick you up."
The Gauntlet kept flying around the base, drawing the fire of the turrets, which were still too slow to catch up with Ezra and Jinx's reaction times. Slowly, some of the turrets stopped working, signaling that the Legionnaires were advancing inside the structure. Then, after clearing the skies of the TIEs, the allied fighters also came to distract the ground batteries while the bombers used concussion missiles to damage and destroy some of the turrets.
Eventually, after a few minutes, the Legionnaires called again.
"Badger to Bridger. The reactor is set to blow up, requesting extraction."
"Affirmative, Badger. Jinx, coordinate with their AI and get them out of there."
"Acknowledged." replied the construct.
The AIs planned an escape route that brought the infiltration squad, which brought them to an airlock that the Legionnaires used to jettison themselves out of the asteroid, allowing Ezra and Sabine to retake them aboard the Gauntlet. Just a few seconds later, a huge explosion cracked open the asteroid and the imperial outpost.
"Explosion confirmed." Jinx reported. "All hostile forces had been eliminated."
"Copy that." Ezra replied not very enthusiastically, then made the next call on the comlink. "Rex. The way is clear. Start the ground assault."
"Affirmative, General. 1st Battalion, move out." the voice of the old clone replied.
After that, a group of Pelicans headed down toward the surface, with Red Squadron, the Ghost and the Falcon flying down with them.
"Sabine, bring us back on the Amerigo, I'll check on our passengers."
"Aye, aye, sir." the mandalorian girl said with a cheerful tone.
Ezra then took the ladder and descended into the cargo hold, finding all the Legionnaires accounted for. One, though, was holding a hand on his opposite hip and groaned more in an annoyed tone than a painful one.
"Everything all right, down here?" he asked to the squad leader.
"A bolt burned Mitchell because he just had to play the cowboy. But he'll be fine."
Ezra stumbled for a second because he had no idea what 'cowboy' meant, then replied. "I see. Excellent job, gentlemen. I think you deserved a round of ale." the Legionnaires replied quite enthusiastically and Ezra returned back to the cockpit.
"Do I get to take a drink when we get back?" Sabine asked quite hopefully and with a smirk, attempting to soften her husband.
But Ezra simply replied. "No." while he sat down on the chair.
The mandalorian groaned disheartened. "Pretty please? Just one."
"Last time you drank, you almost tore down Rex and Wolfe's house. You're not taking anything stronger than soda while we are on this mission." Ezra calmly stated. "That's an order from your commanding officer."
Sabine pouted while the Silver Bullet entered the hangar of the Amerigo and the technicians immediately went to work to make a check-up.
As the two youngsters stood up, Ezra approached Sabine and whispered. "How about I get you high on something else?"
"General…" she replied mischievously. "You sure there are no rules against it?"
"You're my wife. What's wrong if we take some time for us on the next hyperspace jump?" he replied confidently, then walked away.
Sabine just couldn't stop smirking, then shook her head and followed him out of the freighter.
"General Bridger, do you copy?" the voice of Belisarius arrived into Ezra's helmet.
"Go ahead."
"Commander Rex and his battalion have stormed the prison camp. They are looking for our contacts."
"Enemy resistance?"
"Minimal. There were only a handful of mercenaries lightly armed, they should be done in a matter of minutes."
"Copy that, I'm heading back to the bridge, I'll meet you there."
February 27.
"Grand Admiral, the Corvus has docked with the Admonitor. Agent Qathora requests a meeting." Ciena said through the speaker on Iulius' desk.
"Permission granted." the Grand Admiral replied as he put down the report and a sense of relief washed his heart.
He then stood up and walked on the other side of the desk, so he could walk directly to his servant when she entered. Meanwhile, he kept reading the most recent reports about the rebel incursion on Kessel. Mara sent word that the Coalition had sent a new type of stealth cruiser, which had enough firepower to destroy the frigates in orbit and carried an entire battalion that stormed a prison camp immediately after.
As such, Iulius had to know more about it, so he had already ordered Mara to find and observe that ship, knowing that the woman was more than capable to handle such a task.
Finally, the door of his office opened, letting the blue-skinned Togruta walk in.
Iulius stood there, looking while she moved in front of him, and he found himself mesmerized by how her body swung his way. So much that he had a dreaming smirk on his face. He was aware of that, but was unable to remove it until she looked with curiosity at him.
"You all right?" she asked.
Iulius put down the datapad, while keeping eye contact with her, then stepped closer and with a hand reached one of hers, then brought it between them and caressed it with his thumb.
"Yes." he said with a whisper. "I'm just surprised to realize how much I've missed you."
The gesture with the hand had already led Qathora to that conclusion, even if she hesitated to believe that the glacial Warlord of the Outer Rim was being so open with her.
Yet, she smirked and swayed her shoulders a bit in a sensual way. "I will be much happy to see you implore for my attentions...but maybe let's focus on work first, ok?" she concluded in a more serious suggestion.
Iulius concurred with the idea. His face became the usual, unreadable half-frown and he let her hand go, putting his own back to clasp the wrist of the other one.
"Right. If you came back alive, I assume the plan was a success?"
"It went even better than that. Because those federals brought me directly to the Grand Marshall."
Iulius' eyebrow raised a little, for a second. "Just like that? They weren't afraid you might have tried to assassinate her?"
"Please. She is a Jedi. I doubt that I could have ever represented a real threat, to her." Qathora replied with a shrug.
"I guess." the Grand Admiral murmured as he walked around the desk to go back sitting on his chair. "So, what have you found out? Why the Coalition isn't supporting Iblis' offensive?"
"First of all, the Bridger girl has called a conference on Mon Cala between all the politicians in the Rebellion. I wasn't told what they are doing, but I know that, when they let me go, they were still going at it."
Iulius pondered for a second, but he had already envisioned this scenario. "They want to formalize their New Republic." he stated coldly.
Qathora sighed, feigning to be annoyed. "Why did you send me over there if you already knew everything?"
"I didn't know that." Iulius calmly replied. "I had my suspicions, though. They have taken a fair amount of territory that they can't hold without a constant stream of supplies, ships and resources. In fact, I think they've been overly-reliant on the Federation, so far."
"Uh-uh." Qathora mumbled. "They haven't made any public announcement, but I kept my montrals open to whispers. If it can help you, I believe the politicians are hitting a dead end."
Iulius mumbled in thought. "I see. Not all of them want to restore the Republic. Most of them believe that the latter betrayed them when it became the Empire. They would prefer independence."
"Yes, that's what I heard, more or less. There are some who actually want to recreate the old state, but things are dragging way too long. It's clear they banded together only because they hate the Empire."
"Indeed. However, just because they want to fragment, it doesn't mean that it's going to be easy for us to win this war. They already have their treaty of mutual defense with the Federation. Who knows, they might become even more dangerous as an alliance of multiple nations than a single block could be." Iulius kept analyzing.
"One last thing...I told them that you're stationed on Lantillies. Your brother has already confirmed that the 101st is here."
Iulius turned his head toward her. "You saw Darvos?" he asked with a tone that was just slightly less cold than before.
"He was always around Jaral Bridger. He really is devoted to her." she noted with a bit of fun in her voice.
Iulius huffed amused, then his gaze returned toward staring at his hands. He was making them touch fingers when he was pondering over the situation.
Qathora then put a hand on his shoulder from behind the chair. "Hey. For what I saw," she said in a comprehensive tone. "every time we talked about you...I think he misses you, too."
Iulius just made a small nod. "Were they both on Mon Cala?"
Qathora put away her hand. "They were and still are, for all I know. Garm Bel Iblis has moved without asking permission from Bridger, she doesn't want to overextend the Coalition before they have stabilized their new territory."
"Good. This means we can go all out." Iulius murmured in a quite shady voice. His face, though, wasn't expressing any emotion.
He then turned his chair toward the desk again and put a finger on the intercom. "Commander Ree, come in."
Two seconds later, Ciena replied. "Waiting orders, sir."
"Give the signal. The 73rd and 81st are to follow the Admonitor. Set course for the Charros system. The 101st is to navigate toward Columex."
The tone Ciena used clearly showed that she understood the implications. "At once, sir."
Then Iulius stood up, put his hands behind his back and made a silent breather before turning toward Qathora. "In two rotations, make sure the rebels know that I'm going after Iblis." he ordered.
She made an obedient nod, then followed him outside of the office and into the observation deck of the bridge. Right at that moment, one of the newly formed TIE Defender squadrons flew in front of them as they were returning from an exercise with the rest of the fleet.