Chapter 16: Restoring Justice
May 29.
After the Admonitor left hyperspace over Jelucan, followed by the Corvus and three escort cruisers, Iulius brought Ciena and a small squad aboard his Lambda shuttle and ordered the pilot to head for Valentia, the planetary capital.
His arrival had actually been kept a secret, therefore there was no parade to welcome him and no dignitary of the local government, so he quickly sped toward the local prison, right next to the tribunal. The guard at the entrance was extremely confused when he saw his uniform first, and his face second.
"L...Lord Tanis?" he asked bumbling.
In response, Iulius took out one of his cylinder codes and pushed it into the plug of the main gate, obtaining immediate access. The guard stepped aside and let him and his group go in.
All he had to do was to ask the warden to bring out Verine Ree for a talk. The officer wasn't actually keen at first, but a quick stare from DT-518 with her helmet and armor on was enough to convince him otherwise. In less than five minutes, Verine was brought into one of the conversation rooms without her shackles and Iulius entered along with Ciena.
"Mamma." the girl exclaimed, rushing to hug her parent who returned the gesture.
"Ciena." Verine replied, happy to see her daughter but confused. "W...what are you doing here? How did you get in?"
"It's all thanks to him." Ciena said, turning to show Iulius, who made a polite nod as he still kept his hands behind his back.
"The Lord-Protector?" Verine said incredulous.
"Madame Ree, I would like to ask you some questions about your charges." Iulius frankly said.
"I...sure. But I don't understand. This case is definitely not worth your time, my Lord." the woman said humbly.
"On the contrary, Madame. Ciena has helped me a great deal since she came aboard the Admonitor. I'm here to return the favor." he stated calmly.
While that wasn't a lie, the main reason he was there was because he wanted to counter the attempt of Moff Goreed to threaten Ciena and, by large, Iulius himself.
After introductions were over, they all sat at a round table of the block. Aside from them, there was only a guard standing at ease next to the entrance, to escort Verine back to her cell once the talking was over. Iulius thus started with his questions.
"Madame Ree, I know that you First-wavers value honesty and the vows you make are considered sacred. So, I'll start with the most basic question. Did you falsify the income reports of your mining operation in order to steal?"
"No." Verine replied without hesitation and with a completely calm tone.
Iulius scrutinized her face and stared into her eyes, looking for any sign of falsehood, but he didn't find any. She was being perfectly honest.
"Good. Then I promise, I'll immediately restore your right for a defense. Who did you send your reports, usually?"
"Directly to the department of industry on Eriadu, sir. I only know the serial number of my correspondent, though."
"It will be enough." Iulius calmly replied and took out his datapad on the notes. Verine typed the serial number, allowing Iulius to memorize it before putting the device away. Then he stood up. "Don't worry, Madame. I'll make sure this judicial error will be rectified."
"Thank you, Lord-Protector." Verine replied humbly.
Iulius nodded and turned to leave, followed by Ciena after she bid her mother goodbye. Before leaving the prison, though, Iulius talked with the warden and ordered him to keep Verine in a single cell, cause if he was going to learn that she had been put in isolation without a reason, the entire personnel would answer to the Lord-Protector himself. And with that said, they left the prison and rejoined Iulius' guards, Qathora and Thane. The Lord-Protector turned thus to Ciena.
"Commander, I think it's time to enjoy your leave. Go home, stay here on Jelucan and see if you can find any witness to help your mother."
"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." Ciena replied.
Iulius then turned toward Thane. "Lieutenant Kyrell, you're going to help her. Your family is part of the capital's administration, isn't it?"
"Yes, sir. I'll reach for them immediately." Thane promptly replied.
"I'll go to Eriadu and make sure that the magistrate who will judge Verine Ree will come from another sector, so he won't be in Goreed's pocket. Keep me updated if you find anything useful."
"Sir, yes sir!" they both replied, to which Iulius nodded and headed back to his shuttle.
"How do you plan to take on Moff Goreed?" Qathora asked while the shuttle lifted from the ground. "If you humiliate him, other Moffs might become wary of you."
"I'll simply follow the law." Iulius calmly replied. "Nobody will be able to contest the result."
"You know what I mean." Qathora replied, mildly irritated that he was trying to convince himself with a lie.
Iulius knew that. The Moffs had always been allowed to do whatever they wanted, and they only used the convoluted imperial laws only when they needed to take each other out, but of course each and every one of them didn't like the idea of one Moff getting more power than others. It was a world of schemes and influence, with a very fragile balance built along the years, and not even the emergency of having a powerful external enemy would convince the highest imperial officers to set aside their squabbles and work together. The Emperor had been pretty much forced by the events to give a new title to Iulius hoping that he would manage to stem the hemorrhage of territory the Empire was suffering, but at the same time, if he failed, Iulius would end up disgraced and his rising influence in the Empire shattered.
"Look," he finally said. "It's not ideal, but this type of infighting it's the main reason the Empire is barely holding against the invaders. Besides, Goreed is already suspected of many abuses, so if I manage to expose him and have him removed, maybe I can convince the Emperor to put someone who will take the job more seriously."
"Sure. Keep telling yourself that." Qathora concluded sarcastically before slumping on her seat, waiting for the shuttle to get back on the Admonitor, which was already turning to make the jump toward Eriadu.
June 1.
"I need to make up for everything…"
"Nice to meet you…"
"You must end it…"
"I can teach you…"
As various voices buzzed into Jaral's mind, she heard the faint sound of footsteps on the grass behind her and she recognized the aura of Darvos. She slightly turned her head to make him understand that she had heard him, but she didn't open her eyes, trying to hold the grip on the meditation. She did, however, saw a bit of turbulence into her husband's aura, though she couldn't tell if it was positive or negative.
"Hey." she said gently after realizing that Darvos was waiting for her to be done. "What news?"
"I've just received a call from Camp Garibaldi. The Ordo Quaeris has just sent in the specialists you asked for."
"Then let's not waste time." she stated, opening her eyes and seeing the endless prairie that was next to the Bridger Complex. Until then she was kneeling down on the grass. It was a sunny day with only a gentle breeze that made that spot perfect for relaxing and achieve the peace of mind necessary for meditating. Jaral calmly stood up while Darvos added.
"Also, I think I got something on the alien you encountered on Mandalore."
Jaral's interest was caught. When she turned around, ready to walk back home, she said she was listening.
"His name is Urai Fen. He is the right-hand-man of Tyber Zann." Darvos bluntly explained.
"Zann? What was the Consortium doing on Mandalore?" Jaral asked.
"That's the same question I was asking myself, so I made some digging and...I think it's possible that the Mandalorians were dealing with the Consortium to develop new weapons."
The news alarmed Jaral. Their allies were really working secretly with a criminal organization, when they could've easily turned to the New Republic for help?
"Why is that?"
"I can only speculate, but honestly I think that 'allies' doesn't mean 'friends'. Perhaps they didn't want to rely solely on us for help."
"Any idea what he stole from the Forge?"
"None, but with your permission, I can go to the mando colony here. Some of the armorers who worked at the Forge are here on Lothal."
"Sounds good, Colonel Tanis. Take the guys with you, just in case."
She used a quip tone to stress the new rank Darvos had just been awarded for his huge contribution to reform the Alliance Intelligence into the New Republic secret service: the Inter-branch Coordination Office, which had been founded just two weeks before.
"As you wish, ma'am." he quipped back for a moment. It seemed like he wanted to say something more, but then changed his mind. Jaral decided to leave his thoughts alone.
In a couple minutes they reached the complex. The Ghost was parked just outside the perimeter of houses and even at that distance they spotted the rest of the Specters waiting just outside the ramp of the cargo hold. It was easy to see that they were gathered around Hera, who was holding Jacen in her arms and already showing him the Ghost, even though the kid was barely six months old. As it was late morning, Mira and Wolffe were already at their respective workplaces. Jaral and Darvos walked until they reached the group.
"Oh, there you are Jari." Hera greeted with a smile along with the others.
Jaral smiled back and almost immediately, Jacen turned toward and extended a hand, cooing.
"Hey. Mum is right here, remember?" Hera asked jokingly, making everyone else chuckle as she delivered Jacen to his godmother's arms.
Jaral happily took him and observed him. The pointy ears were now much more pronounced and his teal eyes were just the same color as his father. Every time she looked at those, a warm and peaceful feeling always calmed her mind. It seemed to her like Kanan was looking through those, and the fact that she was now clearly perceiving a very feeble Force bond with Jacen, which made it increasingly clear that he was a sensitive, probably helped building that strange feeling.
Jacen raised a hand and Jaral understood. She smirked at him and approached a hand to his own, particularly exposing the pointer. The child grabbed the finger and let out a laugh.
Among all the uncertainties of the universe around her, that single moment was for Jaral an incredible boon to her resolve. Now more than ever she realized what she was fighting for and how much she wanted to achieve the defeat of the Empire, ushering an era of peace and freedom where kids like Jacen and maybe, one day, a child of her own, could grow up.
After spending that precious moment among the positive atmosphere of the whole group, Jaral returned Jacen to Hera.
"He really likes you." Sabine commented.
"What can I say, I'm good with kids." Jaral replied with a lopsided grin, shrugging. Then decided that it was time to get down to business. "That said, I have a mission for you guys."
"We're listening." Zeb said.
"Accompany Darvos at the Wren colony, he'll explain everything along the way."
Sabine was clearly surprised by the request, but accepted the condition. Instead she asked. "Where are you going?"
"To Camp Garibaldi. I asked the Ordo Quaeris to help me train for my mission on Korriban. I'll likely spend most of my time there in the upcoming weeks."
"Right, about your mission…" Hera said with a wary tone. "Is it really necessary for you to go alone?"
"I won't be alone, Hera." Jaral reassured. "Ahsoka and Nimbus have already promised their help when I'll give the signal."
Chopper warbled, reprimanding her that she knew that wasn't the point.
"Look, kid." Zeb said rubbing his neck and speaking cautiously. "While I'm fine leaving you doing your Jedi stuff, I can't say I'm comfortable with you going on another Sith world. Last time you did...well, it didn't end pretty."
Jaral understood that. Malachor had been mostly a terrible outcome, with Ahsoka lost, Kanan blinded forever and even the usually unshakable bond between the siblings severely cracked. And Malachor was simply a planet where the ancient Sith had put a weapon on. Now she was going to Korriban, the birthplace of the Sith and ground for the tombs of the most fearsome Dark Lords in galactic history. Who knew what she was going to find?
"I appreciate your concern, guys, but it's not something I want to expose you to. I need you guys to keep helping the war effort on the frontline."
Darvos stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder, intervening with the others. "I have faith in you. We all do." he reassured. "So go do what you must. We'll take care of everything else."
Hera, Sabine and Zeb also tried to smile in order to reassure her. Jaral appreciated the gesture, though she was going to Korriban whether her family liked it or not, because that was her duty. Because the quickest way to destroy the Empire was to find a way to defeat Palpatine and Vader as soon as possible.
Eventually she nodded and, without saying anything else, she turned around to reach her skycar, leaving the complex and heading toward Camp Garibaldi.
There she got the authorization to land into the parking lot and a junior officer was there to greet her with an escort of a dozen human soldiers with the blue armors of the Systems Alliance.
"Admiral." the young Lieutenant saluted. "The psionics are waiting for you on their training ground."
"Lead the way, Lieutenant." she replied calmly.
The man clacked his heels and turned around while the soldiers formed two lines around Jaral. On her part, the Jedi Knight realized something and talked to the young officer.
"Excuse me, Lieutenant, can I ask where are you from?"
The man kept walking but still turned his head with a curious face. "I'm from Garel, ma'am. Why?"
Jaral realized. "Oh...sorry, I assumed you were from the Milky Way, but my translator didn't kick in." she explained.
The man chuckled. "Yes, I'm one of the first few hundreds of new junior officers coming from the Lothal Protectorate. The Federation wants to create a local fleet so we can defend ourselves."
"I see. Do you like it?"
"Sure. Thanks to the Federation, Garel has rebound completely from the misery the Empire brought upon us. I'm proud to be here."
"Nice to hear that." she concluded gladly.
After that, they didn't talk anymore before reaching the section of the base reserved to the psionics of the Order.
"Here we are." the Lieutenant said. "I already warned them of your arrival."
"Thanks, Lieutenant. Dismissed."
The officer made another salute then went away, bringing the escort with him. Jaral reached the entrance and the door slid open. She entered into the building, which was pretty much just another barrack made of concrete and steel, but she had learned already that the most dedicated members of the Ordo Quaeris worked tightly with the military and the government of the Her Imperial Majesty.
"Miss Bridger?" a woman with a fairly casual outfit came out from one of the corridors to greet her.
"That would be me."
The woman made a polite nod. "I'm Khazira. Mister Barrioca is waiting for you. Follow me, please."
Jaral was then escorted along the building. There weren't many people, actually, and she had the time to peek into one of the rooms just to notice that the dormitories only had two single beds, which confirmed that only a handful of psionics of the Ordo Quaeris had come on Lothal, and most of them didn't actually help in the war but were more like cultural ambassadors and scholars.
Anyway, she was led into the training room, where she found three middle-aged men and a woman, and they wore large clothes that resembled that of monks, or even those that Jaral had seen on Obi-Wan.
Khazira notified them of Jaral's presence and left. After a round of presentations, it was the leader of the psionics, such Barrioca, to speak up.
"Well, Admiral Bridger, how can we help you?"
"I heard that you, Master Barrioca, are specialized in psionic powers targeting the mind of another subject."
The man slightly tilted his head, but sported absolute calm. "I may have helped the MI6 with interrogations, from time to time. Why are you interested?"
Jaral made a step forward and looked straight into his eyes. "Because if it's true, I would like for you to use those powers on me."
June 3.
The simple sight of Moff Goreed struggling and sweating so much to find a counter-argument was simply priceless to Iulius as he sat on the opposite side of the desk in a completely relaxed attitude, with Qathora leaning against his chair.
Eventually, the Moff bowed his head in defeat and resignation. "Why are you showing me this? What do you want?" he said, pointing at the hologram projected in front of him. An extensive compilation of the numerous infractions that the Moff had committed in just the last five years.
Most important among those, were the numerous cases of Goreed embezzling money from the military-industrial complex of the Empire, the only kind of crime the Emperor would never forgive to one of his Moffs.
"For now," Iulius replied calmly. "that you withdraw the false charges against Verine Ree. Furthermore, I expect you will work hard to remedy all of your sins against the Empire. It would be a shame for this report to end up on Coruscant, don't you think?"
Forced to swallow the bitter pill, Goreed called up his secretary.
"Marpus. I want to withdraw the charges against supervisor Ree. Tell the security forces on Jelucan to release her immediately."
"Yes, Moff Goreed." the man on the other side of the comlink replied dutifully before closing the transmission.
Iulius stood up and retook his holo-projector. "I look forward to a fruitful cooperation." he whispered with a mocking smirk. The Moff gave him a furious stare, but there was nothing he could do.
"Yes...Lord-Protector." he grumbled.
Satisfied with that, Iulius turned around and walked out calmly, hands behind his back and straight up. Qathora followed suit. When the door closed behind them, the Togruta commented.
"Now that's something you don't see every day."
"Enjoyed the show?"
"Absolutely. I'm almost sorry that you decided to let him off the hook, though."
"All things considered, I prefer him this way. He will keep running business in this sector and he will not try to stab me in the back too soon."
"Only if you don't slip terribly in the next months. You better watch your back."
"As always."
They left the government palace of Eriadu and mounted on the shuttle back to the Admonitor. He then gave order for the ship and her escort to set course for Naboo. It took a couple of hours before everything was said and prepared, and by that time, Iulius was sitting at his desk and a transmission from Ciena came in.
"Go ahead, Commander." he calmly said.
The hologram of the young woman showed how much she still wasn't able to believe it.
"Sir, you...you did it. We just received a notification that my mother will be home in an hour." she said, gesturing for the disbelief.
"Well isn't that wonderful news?" he joked about it.
"Grand Admiral, I...I really don't know how to thank you. I don't think my family and I will ever be able to repay you."
"You don't have to, Ciena. I wouldn't have gone this far without your help, so watching your back is the least I can do. For you, as for everyone else on the 101st."
Ciena took a moment to internalize those words, then smiled confidently. "Thank you sir. I will follow you no matter where you may lead us."
Iulius made a half grin of satisfaction before going on with the conversation. "Take two rotations more of leave. You deserve some time with your family."
"Thanks, Grand Admiral." she then turned on her left and remembered something. "Oh, should I send Lieutenant Kyrell back?"
Iulius feigned to think about it.
"I believe it would be better for my closest officer to have at least a bodyguard, he should be up to the task."
Ciena chuckled. "Copy that. We'll be back on time, I promise."
Then they closed the transmission.
Qathora was looking at the datapad, and as soon as Iulius was done, she urged him to look at a report that just came in. The Lord-Protector did that and his eyes expressed interest: apparently, his father had tracked down the stealth ship of Ezra Bridger and was asking permission to intercept. Iulius promptly sent the reply back, also adding that, in the future, there was no need to ask for his authorization. That cruiser was to be neutralized as quickly as possible.
"Didn't he receive the new guidelines?" Iulius asked quite bothered.
"Maybe he just didn't read them." Qathora said sarcastically. After being his slave for six months, she knew a thing or two about Chimbros.
Iulius sighed. "Likely."
"Do you think he will manage to catch Bridger?"
"Not in a million years, especially if he's traveling on a stealth ship. But perhaps he will manage to disrupt their operations while we wait for Lord Vader to take charge of this mission. Speaking of which, has his squadron answered?"
"Yes. They destroyed the last rebel cells in those few territories the Empire still holds in the Northern Fringe, but it seems like Vader has executed Tagge."
Iulius barred his eyes and his head jolted toward Qathora. "What?!"
The Togruta, on her part, extended her arms and shrugged. "All I know is that he charged the General with treason. They didn't say anything else."
Iulius covered his face with a palm and leaned against the desk. He didn't know what was worse: whether Tagge was actually a traitor, or if Vader had made a huge mistake and took out one of the best commanders left in the Empire, a kind of people they were clearly running out of.
"Let's just...get back to work." he concluded grimly.
There was still an important matter at hand: both Qathora as Fulcrum and the ISB had confirmed that the Coalition was preparing another offensive on the main front of the war and Iulius had to make sure that the new Admirals he had promoted would be supplied with everything they needed to fend off the attack.
"All hands to battle stations. All hands to battle stations. This is not a drill." the voice of the ship's AI, Kolt, announced through the speakers as the alarm blared.
The Amerigo had just been caught off-guard by two Star Destroyers, despite making a stop for maintenance at the edge of a system with just two uninhabited planets. Ezra believed that, since they had to take down the cloaking device for the repairs, they had been probably detected by an imperial sensor somewhere in the sector, but he needed to think about that later.
"Focus energy on our rear deflectors and calculate a jump to hyperspace." Riccardi instructed the AI.
"Red Squadron, what's your status?" Ezra asked.
"We're starting the launch sequence right now, General." Biggs reported.
"This is the Falcon, we're moving to distract the imperial TIEs." Leia transmitted from the freighter.
"Roger that." Ezra replied.
Just at that moment, the Star Destroyers opened fire on the fleeing cruiser, but they were still quite far and Kolt's cyber-guerrilla measures messed with their targeting computers, forcing the gunners to fire on sight, which is very difficult in space.
Thanks to the Falcon's diversion,the X-Wings managed to take off undisturbed and sped to fight against the TIEs, engaging in a furious dogfight where Luke played a major role, once again showing his innate talent for flight. Still, two X-Wings, Red Three and Seven, were shot down before the Amerigo signaled that she was ready for the jump and the republican ships immediately followed suit with their own hyperdrives.
"Two more pilots. Great." Ezra sighed as he observed the report compiled by Jinx.
"There are many systems in this region who oppose the Empire." Belisarius said calmly. "I'm sure our network will be able to find us replacements."
"I'm positive we will find them at our next destination, but first...Jinx, Kolt, any idea how they found us?"
His AI spoke first. "I monitored their transmission. It appears like they had a sensor array in the Reuss system. We got caught right at the edge of its range."
"Of course…" Ezra commented sarcastically. "Do you think we can find a safe spot somewhere?"
"We're elaborating a solution." Kolt stated. "For now, we suggest we stay as far away as possible from the major trade routes. The Empire is slowly withdrawing from the Outer Rim but is still holding control of them."
"Very well. Use this parameter to calculate a path toward the system of Pantora."
"Understood, sir." the ship's AI replied.
They waited a few minutes until Luke, Leia, Han and Chewbacca were all back on the bridge as Ezra requested, then the Jedi General decided it was time to announce the next part of the campaign.
"The liberation of Ryloth has been a huge blow to the Empire, and we have confirmation that they are retreating along a more defensible axis of the Outer Rim. In doing so they are leaving some important civilized systems behind, with governments loyal to the Empire wherever they can. Pantora is such a planet. There is a civil war going on, and one of the major factions has asked the help of the New Republic. First we will make contact with them, then we'll see if there is any chance of freeing Pantora from the imperial loyalists."
"I know the leader of the rebels." Rex said. "I'm sure we have a good chance."
"Who is her?"
"Riyo Chuchi." Leia intervened. "She represented Pantora in the Senate before the Emperor dissolved it. My father worked with her in the past."
"You think you can try and make contact with her?" Ezra calmly asked.
Leia made a nod. "I'll let her know we're coming."
"Very well. Dismissed." the Jedi Knight concluded, and while everyone left the table, he turned toward Luke, inviting him to follow.
They stopped at Ezra's cabin to pick up the jedi holocron and headed for the meditation chamber, where they happened to find someone already occupying it.
"General. Commander." Gozo said from her seat on the floor.
"Sorry to intrude, Master." Ezra politely said. "Would you like to help us look into the holocron as an apology?"
"It would be my honor." the woman replied, opening her eyes and undoing her posture into a more relaxed one.
Ezra nodded to Luke and the two Jedi went to kneel down in front of each other, leaving the psionic right next to both of them.
Without much effort, Ezra used the Force to make the holocron lift and opened it.