Part 4: Battle Planning for the Young Pilots
As Ben Skywalker entered the conference room, he could see multicolored dots, each of which represented a star, scattered over the room. He was not surprised. Activating the holographic map of the galaxy was the job of whoever walked in first.
"We were nearly caught in the last battle. You Daggers were lucky. If this place is discovered, where is the next best place to hide?" Asked the leader of the Blue Lekkus from Ryloth as soon as Ben took his seat.
If the Yuuzhan Vong turn up here, we run to either Carida or the Cauldron Nebula. We'll just say we're physics students if anybody asks us why we're there. Suggested one of the Wookiees.
"Well, my sister can't. A rock hit her astromech on the way here and she can't go anywhere." Protested the blue Twi'lek as soon as the Wookiee was translated into Basic.
"We can take Obroa Skai in a few days and one of us can trade our work for some spare parts and some military history datacards. The Force has already told Flames that the Galactic Alliance will strike there soon."
"We all agreed to remain anonymous. If we follow your plan, Crest, the Yuuzhan Vong might figure out who we are a moment too soon." Replied the Twi'lek leader.
"I believe we brought those holographic belts for this very purpose." The Wookie shifted his posture slightly as he spoke
"Fine, my vote's for Obroa Skai, then. So where are we gonna stop?" The Twi'lek was on the verge of crossing her arms, but decided against doing so.
"Dathomir." Crest, also known as Dagger One, replied to her ally. When the planet had been freed, the Yuuzhan Vong deemed the place too unholy, even for their slaves, and always kept a distance from the desert world.
Ben was ready to shout, but his Jedi training kept him calm when he wanted to scream at Crest for being crazy. "Crest, those witches on Dathomir will take us men as their slaves!"
Ben would rather return directly to Alderaan, but that was too risky when ships from all sides of the battlefield could read the pilots' next destinations.
"You just stay in orbit and only us women and nonhumans will go down." Ben was relieved at his wingmate's words and his evanescent worries about family secrets related to the planet vanished.
"This plan is a good one. We'll survive and get the supplies we need. We'll eventually have to hit Coruscant, and I know we'll need everything we can get for that attack. I have a feeling we'll suffer a lot if and when we have the honor to fight for our capital." Said Ben. It was only last night that the Force had shown Ben the most horrific picture yet of the war, one of Crestal Dagger locked in a Yuuzhan Vong prison cell with two other women. The other women in the picture were blurred, but something told Ben that those two girls were the last people he would like to see imprisoned. His leader's probable capture did not mean that the pilots will not strike Coruscant soon. I've thought enough about Coruscant. Time to get into the details of Obroa Skai.
"Computer, zoom in on Obroa Skai and display our safe routes there according to the latest information." Immediately after Ben finished speaking, the stars in the room changed to match those surrounding the library world and yellow lines appeared where the safe hyperspace routes were supposed to be.
"Looks like our easy routes are still good and our merchants have plenty of things to hide behind." The blue skinned Twi'lek spoke. It was a good thing that their map could self-update via the HoloNet. "I suggest that once we get there, we do our hit-and-runs. When it's time to run, two of us stay 'til until the end of the battle and get the supplies we need."
"Then Seven and I shall stay and trade." Volunteered the Wookiee leader.
"I'll lead us into the battle, since it's my turn. We're flying our usual style shooting for the yammosks as usual?" The leader of the diverse, Coruscanti squadron spoke for the first time during the conference.
"Sure. And I'll be speeding up our ships and torpedoes like I do every other time." Replied Ben.