Star Wars Infinities: The Master

Chapter 18

By: Christopher W. Blaine

e-mail: darth_yoshi@yahoo.com

DISCLAIMER: All of the characters and situations contained in this story are ©2003 by LucasFilm Ltd. They are used here without permission for fan-related entertainment purposes only. This original story is ©2003 by Christopher W. Blaine.

"Do we have any sort of idea of the compliment of forces that Daala left behind?" Garm Bel Iblis asked as a steward served him his caf. It was an informal discussion between himself, Soontir Fel and Wedge Antilles in the flag officer's wardroom. The real strategy meeting was already over. It had been a gathering of all officers in the fleet of the rank of colonel or above and the consensus was that there was no way that Daala could have left behind a large enough force to prevent the Corellian/Chandrillian fleet from ejecting them from the Corellian System.

"We weren't really sure until they attacked Sullust," Wedge said as he sipped from his cup. It was a little too sweet for him and blanched. He recovered and explained that the Confederacy, like the Empire and New Republic had very few large fleets. It was suspected that the Empire only had two, maybe a third that was hidden somewhere, and the Tarkinists had three. The New Republic had four. All of the rest of the military formations were generally made up of three or four vessels, or several smaller non-capital ships.

The years of savage fighting had reduced many vessels to nothing more than scored and burned hulks and they were generally retired to reserve fleets or space junk yards. In recent months, the New Republic had been plagued by several thefts of older vessels, but none of them had been operational so no alarm had been raised. Wedge suspected that the Empire and the Confederacy were suffering the same problem as well and he attributed it to the Corporate Sector Authority, which had the largest standing navy of any government. No doubt, some place deep in CSA territory, all of those worthless ships were being stripped of everything to be sold back to their original owners as spare parts.

"Correct," Fel agreed. "We were able to identify the vessels and so we are pretty sure that we'll be facing a young admiral named Rose. Our intelligence agencies have hardly anything on him other than he showed extreme initiative that caught Tarkin's eye. His fleet was not at Sullust."

"But it could be with the Death Star, wherever it is," Bel Iblis commented as he walked over to a table to select a pastry. He was a firm believer in caf and sugar to keep the heart pumping. The way he devoured spiced cakes and frosted confectionaries, he should have been at least several centimeters rounder, but he was always moving around so he worked it off just as soon as he ingested any food.

"I doubt it; Daala has her own little clique and circle of friends that she'll want to keep around her. She's predictable and she likes people who are like her. Rose was someone Tarkin favored, not her. If you want my opinion, I think her intent has always been to give up Corellia." Fel finished his caf and set the up down on the table. "She would not have wasted her time with it; she wants a world that she can subjugate immediately and definitely and with all of the resources she needs."

"And what does she need?"

"Shipyards," Wedge said with a big grin. "Like all of us, she needs shipyards. Remember, they only got a quarter of the Corellian yards up and running and most of them were only equipped to service fighter craft." He shook his head. "I can't imagine where she would be going."

"If I was a betting man," Bel Iblis started with a wry smile; Corellians were all notorious gamblers, "I would bet my entire sabbac pot she's going for Mon Calamari."

There was silence as the other two men considered it and then they both looked at Bel Iblis and saw a knowing look in his eye. If he was so sure about that, then what did that mean for the balance of power in the galaxy? Be Iblis laughed as he sensed the questions floating in the minds of his two most loyal officers. "As long as there is an Empire, there will always be that threat that Ravage has something to use against the Death Star. Remember, the Empire built the damn thing. If Mon Calamari goes down, what does that mean?"

Fel shrugged. "They still have Yaga Minor as a reserve capital ship facility."

"Think political, General, not military."

Fel considered for a moment as Wedge came up to stand next to him. Fel looked over at him and he shrugged his shoulders. Politics had never been Wedge's strong suit. "Well," Fel began slowly, "If Mon Calamari were to switch from Imperial to Confederacy hands, the Mon Calamari forces of the New Republic would be spurred to action. The Confederacy doesn't have the fair-minded attitude towards non-humans as the Empire does now. The citizens of Mon Calamari would be little more than slaves."

"Which would further weaken the New Republic," Wedge finished. "With them gone, the New Republic will be down nearly thirty-five percent in forces, because we left!"

Bel Iblis nodded. "It is a good plan, but predictable. Regis should have seen it coming and should have moved quicker with plans to get rid of the Death Star through sabotage or whatever. Instead he sat around on his ass playing court while the New Republic started to die as soon as it began." The former senator shook his head and chuckled. "Never put a pacifist in charge of a military. The Formation Council gave too much power to the Chief of State. There should have been term limits, like I demanded from the start."

"So the New Republic is finished?" Wedge asked.

"That depends on Thrawn, which is another important point. As Warlord of the Empire," Bel Iblis pointed out by jabbing a pastry towards Wedge, "he is responsible for the security of Mon Calamari. If Daala wins there and decimates his fleet that is stationed there, Ravage will have no choice but to replace him. Without Thrawn, the Empire is finished. Ravage has shown some tactical genius, but he isn't Thrawn."

"Not by a long shot," Fel agreed. "That would leave Luke Skywalker over the forces of the New Order."

"And he's a lunatic," Wedge said. The other men nodded their heads. Wedge rubbed the stubble on his chin, considering how the balance of power was already starting to shift. They were at a crossroads; when all of this maneuvering was over, at least one government was going to be significantly weaker while another was going to reap great benefits. "Daala is being damned ambitious."

"Too ambitious," Bel Iblis said. "I get the feeling that she and I and Regis…that all of us…are part of some grander scheme. Everything is happening too neatly, there is a level of subtlety here that is mind-boggling." He looked over at a viewport that gave them a view of the streaking white lines of hyperspace. "I just get the idea we're not the masters here, but the pawns."

Several hours later, the Corellian/Chandrillian fleet emerged out of hyperspace in small groups of vessels. Immediately the anti-starfighter screening vessels moved ahead of the bulk of the forces while the troop transports turned about to sit in the rear. The star destroyers strike cruisers and battle wagons were meant to take on whatever forces Daala left behind.

On the bridge of the command ship, Fel and Bel Iblis stood above the pit and watched at the vessels of their fleet moved into the attack formation agreed upon. The Chandrillans had practically begged to go in first and Bel Iblis, understanding their plight and wanting to keep his allies happy, had agreed. Several ships under the Chandrillan banner surged ahead, their turbolasers immediately seeking out mines and spy satellites. Small explosions marked where the static defenses were being eliminated.

"What's the position of the enemy fleet?" Bel Iblis called out as he looked out at the planet of his birth. They were still too far out to pick out individual vessels against the background of the large world. He could make out the lights of some of the cities below and his heart skipped a beat. He had feared that his homeworld had been blasted into a stone age by the Confederacy. Rumors of the horrors inflicted on the population had been reaching the New Republic for fives years and he had lived with the gut-wrenching idea that there would be nothing here to save.

"Sir," the sensor officer called out. "I don't think this is right."

"Speak up, son," Bel Iblis barked.

"Sir, none of the enemy vessels are approaching. No fighters have been launched to intercept. It's like they don't even know we're here!" Several medium grade officers moved over to the station to verify the readings and Bel Iblis could tell by their astonished looks that the report had been true.

"Have the Chandrillans run an aggressive scan of the planet, looking for starfighter forces," Bel Iblis ordered. Fel looked over to flight status board and saw that Rogue Squadron was still on standby. They were being held in reserve just in case the Tarkinist's deployed any advanced fighters.

The Empire had always worked very hard to come up with new, better and cheaper weapons and the Confederacy had followed the same set of guidelines. Though the New Republic had taken out several Seinar TIE fighter plants, many of the Corellian yards that were up had been retooled to perform maintenance and upgrades to existing fighters. Normal TIE fighters were fast but easy enough to destroy with the right pilot behind the stick in an X-Wing.  There were other TIE's that they needed to be wary of, especially the TIE Defender, a heavily armed fighter meant to engage capital ships. Very few had been manufactured and it was not known where they were. In the five years of civil war, the New Republic had encountered only one squadron and it had decimated a small flotilla of frigates and cargo vessels.

"Sir, we have a report of several squadrons grounded at various ports all over the planet. There are some routine enforcement and security patrols…wait one," an officer said as he tapped the plug in his ear. The officer nodded his head and slowly a smile broke over his face. "Sir, the patrol ships are CorSec X-Wings and Z-95's!"

"What?" Fel said, turning to Bel Iblis. He could tell by the look on the senator's face that he was just as surprised to hear the news. "Are they broadcasting?"

"Routine traffic, sir."

"We have a shuttle being launched from the surface, requesting a safe flight path to this vessel!"

Fel walked over to speak in a low tone to Bel Iblis. "It could be a suicide run."

"I doubt it; I've never heard of a Tarkinist that didn't want to live and live well," was the response. Bel Iblis considered the request and then asked, "Who is speaking?"

"They claim to represent Admiral Rose, senator; they claim it is the admiral himself that wants to speak with you."

Fel shook his head. "He'll just tell us to surrender…he probably has a fleet waiting a micro-jump away." He pointed to a tactical map. "There are several gravitational distortions in this system, especially around Centerpoint, that prevent our scans from being complete. You could hide a couple of star destroyers in there."

"Why? Why would they hide?"

"To draw us in…it isn't like they are just going to surrender the planet to us," Fel argued. There was a tremor in his voice as he started to realize that they could be surrounded. His fear was not so much for himself, but for all of the brave souls that had followed him here. He started to order the Chandrillans back to form a perimeter defense around the ship; he needed to get the senator out of here.

Bel Iblis laid a hand on his shoulder and spoke to him in a calm voice. "Soontir, I think I know what is going on."

"Sir, do I authorize the shuttle to come in? We've got several X-Wings circling it, ready to fire!"

Bel Iblis marched over to the pit. "You inform our men that under no circumstance are they to fire on that shuttle! I don't care if they are being shot at! I want that shuttle to be given a clear path here."

"Launch Rogue Squadron at least, senator," Fel pleaded. "Let them provide some security until we find out what is going on." Bel Iblis nodded his approval and Fel ordered the Launch Control Officer to carry out the order. Seconds later the fighters of Rogue Squadron lifted off and slowly passed through the magnetic shields of the hanger bays that held them. The starfighters immediately formed into two ship groups and then fanned out.

Fel moved over to a comms station and switched it to Wedge's private channel. "Keep an eye on that shuttle. I don't trust it."

"I'm going to do a flyby and scan it just for laughs," Wedge replied. "I don't like it either but to be honest, we don't know what the hell has been going on here." Fel replied that the idea that there had been some sort of overthrow of the Tarkinist government was ridiculous.

"You remember what it was like when Tarkin rebelled against the Emperor," Fel said, reminding Wedge of when Fel had first joined up with Bel Iblis's movement. It had been after Fel and Luke Skywalker had escaped from the Death Star. Luke claimed their duty was to return to the Emperor and report what Tarkin was doing; Fel had stated that his duty was to stop Tarkin and not waste time running to Imperial Center.

Luke had left and Fel had stayed, roaming the cities of his homeworld and realizing that the Empire had been slowly killing the planet. People were starving and dying everywhere and there had been nothing that Fel could have done about it. When he was finally captured by the Rebellion, he had been assigned to Wedge for possible turning. "Our people are not in any shape to stand up against the forces arrayed against them."

"Maybe, maybe not, brother-in-law," Wedge said. "Maybe you need to have more faith."

Rogue Squadron had escorted the shuttle to Bel Iblis's vessel while the rest of the fleet remained at station keeping. All it would take is a single command by Bel Iblis and the attack would begin. Several of the ships had already used long-range sensors to pinpoint targets and coordinates were being locked into torpedo and missile targeting computers.

The shuttle, a standard Imperial-issue type glided into the hanger bay and settled down in a spot that was normally reserved for such craft. Some things remained standard no matter what government was controlling the ship. Around the hanger bay were armed soldiers wearing protective blaster armor. Fel and Bel Iblis marched into the hanger bay from an adjoining compartment where they had been fitted with personal shielding devices. If weapons were drawn, then it was Fel's responsibility to get the senator out of harm's way.

"Remember, let me do the talking," Bel Iblis warned him. While Fel was a great military officer, he had proven time and time again that he had no tolerance for politics or the language of diplomacy. If Admiral Rose demanded their surrender, Bel Iblis would flatly refuse and order the man off of his ship. If he wanted to discuss any sort of terms, the Bel Iblis would listen. Often times many details could be gleaned about the status of an enemy's forces by the way they negotiated. Either way, Bel Iblis had to admit that Admiral Rose was a unique man for approaching in such a manner.

And that only added to the mystery of the man. New Republic Intelligence had nothing on him; Imperial Intelligence had even less. By all accounts, he was simply a bright militia officer that had risen through the ranks because Tarkin had taken a special interest in him. And now Bel Iblis was taking the same look at the young admiral.

As the ramp lowered on the shuttle, he expected to see a man in a uniform covered in medals, but he was slightly surprised to see two stormtroopers step down, nervously, followed by who must have been Rose. He was young, much younger than Bel Iblis had guessed. He had expected someone around Fel's age, but instead saw someone closer to Luke Skywalker's.

Rose stepped forward and stopped at a respectable distance from Bel Iblis and Fel. "Senator Bel Iblis. General Fel." He bowed slightly.

"Admiral…your reputation proceeds you," Bel Iblis replied. "What can I do for you?"

"It is not so much what you can do for me, but what it is that I can do for you," Rose said matter-of-factly.

"Unless you plan to surrender your forces to my command, I don't see what you could do for me."

Rose seemed to consider his answer before speaking. "I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to surrender the forces under my control. You see, they have been with me for the past few years and I've grown quite attached to them." He seemed to chuckle inwardly and his eyes sparkled in a mischievous way. "You'll have to forgive me, senator, but I've really grown quite tired of all of this."

"I'm afraid I don't understand you," was the reply even as Bel Iblis noticed that Fel was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the entire conversation. "You are tired of the civil war."

"A soldier is always tired of war, but he is always prepared to wage it."

Fel's head snapped up. He had heard the exact same statement once before. "You've served under Thrawn," he said.

Rose inclined his head again. "He told me that you were a very perceptive student. Yes, I have served and I continue to serve Warlord Thrawn. My true name is Kir Kanos and I am a member of the Crimson Guard. Several years ago, I was placed undercover in the Tarkin Confederacy along with enough forces to make it seem as if I really were a militia commander. Many of the worlds that swore allegiance to the Confederacy were never even investigated. The man I replaced, the real Rose, has been dead ever since…ever since I assumed his identity."

There was a stifling silence in the hanger bay and it was finally broken when a soldier standing along the wall coughed. "Then why are you here?"

"The Empire has changed. Under Warlord Thrawn and our Lord Ravage, the New Order has begun to rethink many former policies. We only wish to be able to live in peace under a government of our choosing. We do not want the New Republic's democracy forced on us." His smile grew larger. "Much the same feelings that you have expressed."

"I thought the Crimson Guard was completely loyal to Palpatine," Fel said, interrupting. He was not completely convinced of anything that Kanos was saying. "You would willingly serve Ravage?"

"His is the rightful successor. My oath is to the emperor, whomever that is, so long as they obtained the office in a manner that is…acceptable." He turned back to Bel Iblis. "The Empire no longer wishes to lord over those who can support themselves, are capable of intelligent self rule and are willing to work with the New Order."

The Corellian senator shook his head. "That sounds like the same garbage that Palpatine preached during the Clone Wars. Then, as soon as someone's guard is down, star destroyers and TIE fighters swoop in and clear a path for the stormtroopers. I saw the original occupation of Corellia, Mr. Kanos."

"It's Commander Kanos, actually, and Warlord Thrawn felt that would be your response." He turned to one of the stormtroopers and nodded. The trooper laid his blaster rifle on the deck and then turned around and went back into the shuttle. Several of Bel Iblis's men moved to stop him, but Fel stopped them with a raised hand. "My assistant is going inside to get a datapad that contains a message directly from Warlord Thrawn, giving me complete negotiating authority."

"And what is it that we are negotiating? As far as I can tell, you still represent an occupying force on my world and I will remove you from it," Bel Iblis said, folding his arms over his chest.

"Why, the turnover of this system to you, of course. There is no need to remove us…we are more than willing to leave."