Juhani was just finishing her Jedi business on the small planet of Oskapath when she received the signal. She quickly wrapped up the proceedings with the planetary officials and headed towards her small ship, Comet Eighteen.
She was becoming more concerned as she ran everything through her mind. Unscheduled contact, too soon for supplies, no drills scheduled for another two weeks. The more she thought about it, the more worried she became. She quickly used the force to speed along her journey back to the ship, almost smashing into the controls as she quickly typed in the first part of the secret code. She cursed herself for being careless enough to forego taking along a remote communicator.
She knew it would be more than a few minutes before she had to enter the next part of her reply, so she quickly used that time to send an emergency message to her Jedi superiors. Having received the acknowledgment that the transmission was secure and they were ready to receive her communication, she began:
"I have received an emergency signal from Oct Nine. I am proceeding as planned. My business on Oskapath has been completed and I will follow up with a full report in the next 12 hours."
"We are aware of the signal also; Master Vandar is finalizing the Council security codes now. You have been authorized to refuel before departing Oskapath, it should be enough to allow you to reach your destination, but Comet Eighteen will not hold enough fuel for both trips. Your return will be discussed later. The Oskapath report can wait until this matter is settled, or can be delivered in person after you return. For now, proceed with the emergency plans."
"Yes Masters, I will contact you once I have more information."
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Carth quickly grabbed his gear before leaving the apartment then followed his escort along the route to Admiral.
His mind raced with each step. He knew something must have come up, which was the reason for the Admiral canceling their previous appointment. Something else though, must have also come up afterwards to have her request his presence such a short time later. Why else cancel their meeting, only to have an escort sent shortly thereafter. What could possibly explain this? Why the escort? Surely they weren't concerned whether he would show, it must be for security. Were they worried about a changeling? That would explain why he was requested to remain in his apartment, and then escorted to the Admiral right after. His mind continued to race as he entered the Admirals office, the escort remaining by the outer door as it sealed shut, leaving just him and the Admiral.
"SSA Onasi, I am sorry for the entourage and the obviously confusing nature of my messages in the past few hours."
Carth just stood in a respective stance, acknowledging her words with an ever so slight nod of his head.
"Obviously you already had some matters on your mind to request our meeting but I'm afraid they will have to wait until we have another matter settled" the admiral began. "You are a highly respected person in the Republic and I would not be asking this if I had not already weighed carefully all of our options. As it is, you are the person most qualified for the important task we have at hand."
Carth began to feel an excitement rising in him. Perhaps this was not the end of his transfer request but instead an opening.
"Thank you Admiral, I appreciate your words and am ready to honor your request."
"I knew I could count on you." she handed him a datapad. "All information you will need is on this datapad. The only addition is to your current ranking – you have been promoted to Commodore and your security clearance has been elevated by three ranks. If you find you need anything further please do not hesitate to contact me. I await your return Commodore Onasi."
Carth was dumbfounded for a few moments; he never thought he'd ever see the title of Commodore after taking his desk job. He quickly recovered, saluted the Admiral then did an about face and left, a small grin growing bigger with each step.
The Admiral spoke once more, causing him turn around, the grin still on his face.
"I know this goes without saying, but I'm sure you understand that it needs to be said. You have access to any ship but please make sure it's classified as 'unregistered' before you depart."
Carth acknowledged the Admiral, taking her comments in stride, not feeling they were any indication of her trust in his ability. He knew she needed to say that due to her position and also that anyone with the title of Commander, let alone Commodore, would already know this detail.
Once the doors to the Admiral's office had closed he looked down at the datapad. He quickly read the overview of the mission, compliance orders and finally departure information. Analyzing the details could wait until after launch. Walking out of the building with a confident gait, he mentally started preparing for the mission that awaited him.
Overall it was a simple mission, but the reasons for it, held in the classified section of the overview, explained the urgency. An unnamed Jedi, obviously only for top clearance officials, had determined the planet of Malachor V to again be a concern for the Republic. Carth's orders were to fly two scouts to the planet to determine the significance of the report, along with the urgency it may present to the Republic's cause. The route itself wasn't dangerous, but the planet had been the end of more than a few ships that had tried to enter at this particular section of the world. Time was important, so taking the safe route and landing at the other end of the planet was not an option, the scouts would spend far too much time trying to traverse the terrain.
Departure might pose another problem – since any ship past type-12 classification had NEVER been successful. Carth knew he would need at least a type-16 classification just to hold the fuel required for the take-off alone.
He entered the hangar bay, speaking briefly to the guard. He explained the details of the ship he was after, along with the smaller ships that would need to be loaded aboard to ensure the safe travel of the two scouts. After a final inspection of The Fore-Runner, he left to finalize other plans, leaving the soldiers to finish the task of preparing his new ship. First-up, contacting the Scouts, followed by a few departing messages to his Ebon Crew and then finally, his son, Dustil.