Chapter 4: Professionals Study Logistics and Absolutely no Historical Parallels…

"You can have the best equipped and trained fighting force in the entire galaxy but if they can't get to their objective and don't have the supplies to fight if they can get there then it is an irrelevant fighting force. Logistics wins wars, it's a simple truth that must be realized."

-Sato Ochiwa

Commodore Sato Ochiwa looked at the reports scattered across his desktop. The commanding officer of the first task force's logistical element. A couple of years ago, he had been head of a small logistical consulting firm that had advised a variety of companies worldwide.

He had been very successful in this business and when the war had started he had been approached by the fleet for a position as a logistical officer. He had accepted, seeing that his business would not be very successful under the wrath of the empire and that he would gain very important experience in interstellar logistics. If Earth ended up winning the war he could expand his ventures into the vacuum of space and this would be easier if he had made some government connections.

He was a good logistician and helped set up the supply lines across the world that were fueling Earth's war industry and was effective at coordinating the logistics of running the war.

Ochiwa had meanwhile come to the attention of William Johnson, who had given him the position as the chief logistician of the invasion of the zoloch sector, or Operation Vengeance. He had kept the invasion force supplied and therefore they had performed well.

Now that the campaign was over he was unsure of the role that he would play in the logistics of the war. The offensives into Imperial space were now going in different directions and having one person in command of all of it would be challenging for one person to coordinate the entire front. Now he would be meeting with Admiral Johnson who would decide what to do with him and figure out what to do with him.

Johnson entered his office and the superior officer saluted him. He personally liked Johnson who had put him in a good position where he could succeed.

"It's good to see, Commodore." Johnson said. "Likewise Admiral," Ochiwa said. "What did you want to see me about?"

"You're future in the fleet. I think that we both know that your role needs to change if you want to stay there." Johnson said.

"What do you propose?" He asked.

"Admiral Fisher had a heart attack a few hours ago, and unfortunately he succumbed to it," Johnson said.

"That's very unfortunate, he was a good man," Ochiwa said. His superior officer and the head of the logistics department of the fleet was one of the last flag officers who had been so before the Empire attacked.

"I need someone to replace him, and filling those shoes is going to be difficult," Johnson said. "Would you potentially be interested in the position of head of the logistics department?"

Ochiwa thought for a moment. He was one of the most senior officers in the department but he wasn't the highest ranking.

"Why me, Admiral?"

"You've demonstrated the ability to manage a massive logistical effort that kept my ships flying and my troops fighting. You have experience supporting both an interstellar campaign and configuring industrial supply lines here on Earth." Johnson said. "I don't think I can think of a better-qualified person for the job."

Ochiwa smiled. "I would be honored to accept the position, Admiral. I will begin immediately if you need me to."

"If you are willing to go ahead, the announcement about Fisher has just been made about ten minutes ago. I expect the same regular reports from during the campaign." Johnson said. "There is also another person who I think you should meet, who I suspect will be quite useful to you, as you will be working with each other." Another figure was let into the room, looking at the small number of other people.

"This is Bret Preuen, the new director of procurement for the fleet. He has extensive experience in the field of defense economics and worked for the Australian Defense Force for several decades, along with publishing some papers and providing independent commentary on the subject through the internet. He's been doing excellent work for us for quite a while now and will be going to take on the job of wrangling our military-industrial complex on a large scale and ensuring that it grows as much as possible without compromising quality." The two shook hands, and after Johnson left made plans to begin regularly meeting. Their fields were heavily connected so cooperation between them would be key.

Soon Ochiwa walked out of his private office into the main logistical office. Dozens of people of all ranks were bustling about, on phone calls or coordinating with local offices.

Several of them noticed the new Admiral rank pins on him. Some of them saluted but others didn't do anything. Many of these people were from the private sector and Ochiwa wasn't strict about military discipline and formalities as long as these people got their job done. Johnson didn't particularly care how he ran his office as long as he got things done.

"Attention." He said, his deep Japanese accent echoing around the room. "I have received notice that Admiral Fisher suffered a heart attack and perished due to that. Admiral Johnson has therefore given me command of the division, so I will be your new superior officer. Commodore Braun, could you please come to my office?"

About a minute later Klara Zinger entered the room. She was the director of all logistical operations in the Sol system and while it wasn't strictly part of her job description she often dealt with the various nearby systems that were located near Earth.

She saluted, and Ochiwa waved her off. He didn't need people to salute every word that he said.
"Commodore, I haven't seen much of you but from what I have heard you've done excellent work so far coordinating the logistics of Earth-based operations."

"You could say that sir." She said,

"I think you are overdue for a promotion." He said. "I have a couple of options for where I could see you would be the most useful for Earth. Either staying in your current position, albeit at a higher rank, or as the executive officer for the logistics corps." He said.

"What would the second option entail?" She asked.

"You would help manage the day-to-day operations of the corps and ensure everything was running smoothly. You'd make major decisions involving the policy of the corps, and would generally do the same kind of things an executive officer on one of Johnson's ships would do." He said.

She thought about it for a moment. "I accept." Was her answer to the question. "And I'll get started immediately."

Ochiwa smiled. This was what he liked to see.

Interstellar logistics was a complicated field of study, though in some ways it was less so than on Earth. On Earth cargo might be loaded into a truck before being taken to a ship and loaded into a container and then put on a train and then another truck before being at its destination. With logistics on a galactic scale, it was different. The minutiae of what happens before a starship lands or took off were rarely discussed, and could easily be managed by local systems.

However within space, there were many more destinations there were hundreds of thousands of worlds that potentially were destinations, but also more demand for supplies. So generally a person who wanted to ship something to somewhere else would try to find a place that could do so for a low price. There was a large degree of centralization due to hyperspace routes that had developed between massive core worlds such as the Hadrian Way and the Coreallean spine, but most of the galaxy wasn't connected to those places.

Thank goodness the logistics of this war were so far confined to a few different sectors, which made getting supplies to the front somewhat simpler. On a tactical level, the empire's inflexible doctrine meant that they could not fight effectively in a counter-guerrilla war. They didn't send raiding elements behind Imperial lines, at least not outside of special missions that could get authority from the highest levels of the empire. So that meant that Earth could focus minimal effort on defending its shipping and logistics, though it still did assign some less capable vessels to do so.

Despite the lesser risks, it was a critical job to oversee. Wars simply weren't possible without logistics and while starships could operate for long periods without resupply, it could create problems down the road. Ground armies were far more dependent on supplies and lacking them could be potentially disastrous for the army. And systems didn't have everything they needed to sustain themselves, which meant that instability could rise if shortages of certain items began or it could also disrupt industrial production. Having a good logistics chain was critical to success during a war.

The empire had realized that and despite some flaws, it was generally a competent system, one that had less corruption than other parts of the Imperial Military. They operated a variety of different logistics vessels from corrallean style light freighters to the massive multiple kilometer field secured container vessel. A lot of the empire's problems with logistics came with them being relatively lightly defended and in some cases easily boarded by rebel forces but Ochiwa saw that as a good thing. They were the enemy.

Earth's logistical forces had early on not been a major priority. There had been a dozen small to medium-sized vessels for that purpose when the Empire came, as Earth had to keep the small outposts it had built in nearby solar systems resupplied. During the empire's first attack a few had been lost when they had been thrown at the empire along with just about everything else Earth had. With the immediate concern being the defense of the planet, little had been invested in this force besides replacing losses.

However, after the second battle of earth and the treaty with the Rebel Alliance that had convinced Earth to invade nearby Imperial sectors, logistics rapidly became a priority. The alliance provided some old models such as the venerable GR-75 medium transport which was one of the most common vessels in the entire rebellion, along with a larger few models of bulk freighter such as the BF1 and Action V. In terms of what it focused on, Earth had taken the larger vessels to the heart and while smaller vessels similar to the GR-75 had been built it was a smaller amount than the venerable LV-003 Freedom Class. They still had their uses

The Freedom Class or as it was colloquially known as the Freedom Ship was a bare-bones, 600-meter-long freighter designed to carry as much cargo as possible. It had a class 3 hyperdrive, fairly poor sublight engines that while powerful couldn't accelerate fast, were practically unarmored, and only a few light laser cannons for defense. But it was designed to operate with only half a dozen crew and was cheap and easy to construct.

Besides a small forward module for crew and a bank of massive sublight engines and hyperdrive systems, the entire vessel was made up of a set of configurable rails that held cargo containers of various sizes. While Earth could have just used tractor beams to keep them together which would increase capacity, the time it would take to produce such beams would be stupid

That made it into a capable large freighter that could handle the role it was designed into, and several subclasses had been designed off of the same hull. These included one that upgraded many of the systems so that of could keep up with a battlegroup, with better speed (both sublight and FTL) along with better shielding, armor, and weapons.

There were other logistical vessels including smaller mode tactical models in the about a hundred-meter range and larger ones that were about a kilometer in length. These were augmented by the various captured Imperial vessels and civilian contractors from the conquered territories who were being paid for their services.

The situation was also in a good place on Earth, where lots of effort had been invested into better infrastructure to and from major production hubs. Much of the equipment used to ferry supplies was in fact from before the Empire had appeared, trucks, trains, ships, and aircraft. Replacing it was not necessarily a massive priority but in cases when it didn't take resources away from more important construction they were upgraded along with their infrastructure.

If one took a hard look at Earth from space, they would see that there were subtle changes when compared to before the Empire came. More lights dotted the surface; these were new factories that were churning out the war material needed to protect Earth. If one zoomed in they would see massive gun emplacements, large planetary turbolasers, and ion cannons that could decimate any enemy force that attempted to attack Earth. One would also see the various starships going back and forth between the orbital shipyards, factories, and the fleet that was stationed to protect Earth and the various facilities on Earth. Most of these were small cargo or personnel shuttles but others were larger in the hundred-meter range. Most of Earth's larger Freedom Class couldn't land on a planet's surface due to their size and more importantly their weight, though a few variants could do so at the cost of cargo capacity.

Earth was transforming to face its new enemy, though not everything changed. Except for some shortages of goods civilian life had mostly continued although conscription had been introduced in some areas. Most people were gladly taking up arms to fight the empire and while there would always be some opposition it was minimal when compared with more recent wars on Earth.

Perhaps Earth would fall victim to the Empire eventually, as their numerical advantage was simply massive. Perhaps the planet would be invaded in a brutal slog, unlike anything its people had ever seen, or reduced to molten slag from orbit.

But such a prospect was far away. And hopefully, it would never come.

Regardless, Ochiwa would be keeping the ships and troops of Earth supplied to the best of his ability and making sure the resources that were needed to fuel the war industry got where they needed to go.

Because if there was anything that would make or break this war, it would be logistics.

Rear Admiral Hunt Godfrey looked around at the hallways of the UN building. He was led by two guards to Admiral William Johnson's quarters. The rear admiral didn't know yet why he had been summoned, though he suspected that it was about his next mission.

Hunt had commanded the Revenge class battleship Bismark, one of the first of its kind constructed and also one of the more decorated. It and its air wing had scored some kills including three Star Destroyers and over a dozen smaller craft throughout numerous battles from the beginning of Operation Vengeance to just a few weeks ago at Hkeen. Little stood in their way to victory, and Godfrey was proud of the accomplishments of himself and veteran his crew.

He soon entered the room, saluting as he always did to Johnson. He returned the salute and smiled.

"So Admiral, do you have any idea why I summoned you here?"

"You want to give me a new assignment?"

"Yes, I do," Johnson said. He pulled up a map of the surrounding sectors to Earth's front line."

"We're making good progress across these sectors but some of the ones we are coming to will have more resistance," Johnson said. "I'm also expecting reinforcements to start arriving to aid these Imperial forces so we are going to have more and more trouble as time goes on." He said.

"So what do you want me to do sir?" Godfrey asked.

"Operate behind Imperial lines and disrupt their supply lines, installations, and unsuspecting fleets. Try to eliminate both supplies and capital ships with your ship and air wing. You will have a supporting fleet as well, and the Free Confederacy and the Independent Zoloch Sector have agreed to both send small task forces to support but this is primarily an operation for Earth. Your missions will vary in nature and you will have a lot of autonomy to make independent decisions where you see fit. You've always been an independent-minded commander so I think this is a good use of your talents."

"Thank you, sir," Godfrey said.

"You and the task force will have a week of leave and then begin on your first mission into Imperial space. You will be informed as objectives are found, but you will be given great autonomy as to what you decide to attack. Don't attack anything that will incur serious losses on your part."

"How am I going to get that deep into Imperial space before being detected?"

"There are several hyperspace lanes our privateers use that the Empire has not caught on to yet," Johnson said. "You might be working with them a little bit here and there. They are operating over there right now so keep an eye out for them as well. Unless you have any other questions, you are dismissed." Johnson said. "Go enjoy your time off."

"I will sir, thank you."

A week later Godfrey was traveling up to the Bismark by shuttle after his break. The ship had received a mini refit during the small break, and its stores had also been restocked for extended operations away from the fleet. The other ships I'm the fleet were also being prepared for the upcoming campaign.

He would rendezvous with the Free Confederacy and Illustrious force later, but to start he had a decently powerful fleet. The Bismarck was his flagship but he also had another Revenge Class, the Hood. She had also been one of the first members of the Revenge Class and had a mostly British crew. That made sense since her namesake had been a powerful battlecruiser in the Royal Navy. One that ironically had been sunk by the Bismarck's namesake.

I wonder if Johnson did that on purpose. He thought to himself. The irony was quite visible to any student of military history. Perhaps it was just a matter of what units were available for the operation, others of the Revenges were assigned to other missions.

So far the Revenge Class was the only class of battleships operated by Earth. Currently, 32 were in service along with eight captured Imperial Star Destroyers, refitted to the standards of Earth. More were under construction and plans were being drawn up for new ships to serve as an improved version of the already effective class.

With the requirements for larger and more powerful ships to fight the Empire a few different designs emerged. The first was an improved version of the revenge class, about 200 meters long and with a larger armament, including a second large prow mounted heavy turbolasers a second heavy ion cannon that had the power to disable an ISD in one shot and several times a minute. The Revenge Class already had one superheavy turbo and super heavy ion cannon, a design philosophy similar to that that the separatists had used with the Munificent Star Frigate. Aside from that improvement in armament, its improvements would be evolutionary rather than revolutionary.

The next design was smaller than the previous one and even the current Revenge Class at only 1200 meters. It kept the entire of the previous class's primary armament and shield system but sacrificed some of its secondary armament, armor, and starfighter and ground compliment. There was some debate as to the viability of the class as while it was cheaper and faster to produce it lacked many of the capabilities of the larger ships. And still, there were only so many slipways and drydocks that could build ships of that size. But ones that had the size to support ships up to this new class would be easier to produce than ones that could produce 1600-meter ones. And none of the designs were final so there was time for them to be reworked.

The last of the designs were developed with the understanding that Earth would be encountering more and more Imperial battlecruisers and Dreadnaughts. Something would be needed to counter these formidable vessels, and with the capture of a Praetor Class Battlecruiser earth now would be able to gain experience with such a type of vessel. From what he understood it was still in the early stages of development but it was personally being designed by Admiral Chipper, who had been responsible for most of Earth's capable designs since the Empire had attacked. Details on it were still unconfirmed but it would likely be about 4 kilometers in length. That would make it the largest ship to be designed and produced by Earth by a significant margin. Once they started entering service they would be some of the most powerful ships in the region, really only superseded by some Imperial battlecruisers and Dreadnaughts. And considering these were far rarer than Star Destroyers it would only be an occasional problem.

Moving on to the rest of the fleet, two Indomable Multi role supercarriers would also be assisting in operations for the campaign. These over a kilometer in length were multipurpose carriers, normally capable of carrying 300 starfighters and 60 shuttles, dropships, AWACS, light freighters, and other support craft. They could also carry a formidable invasion force, a little smaller than that of a dedicated planetary landing ship.

In this case, half of the landing force and almost all of their vehicles and supplies had been offloaded, as the operation didn't call for planetary landings. Some were still retained for mission flexibility. Instead, extra supplies such as fuel and ammunition along with more starfighters were being held on each carrier. While carriers were generally not meant for heavy combat these were somewhat of an exertion; they weren't designed to get up close and personal with an Imperial Star Destroyer but they had formidable long-range weapons. Several batteries of heavy turbolasers and missile tubes meant that these ships could stay at the wage of a formation and bombard a fleet while out of range. In many ways, they were a newer and more advanced version of the old Republic's Venator Class Star Destroyers, many of which still were in service with both the Empire and Rebellion.

Next were the four Los Angeles Class Heavy Cruisers. Designed as a larger improvement over the Hallisey class that had preceded it, the cruisers were nearly a kilometer long and heavily armed even for their size. They were capable of taking on a Victory Class Star Destroyer one on one and winning with only minor to moderate damage. That was an impressive feat for any cruiser, and two of them could also take down an Imperial I or II class Star Destroyer. One could single-handedly take down an essential any Imperial vessel that was under a kilometer alone, which made them powerful and sought-after ships for a task force. There were 44 currently in active service and over a dozen more under construction. There were also plans being drawn up for an even better version that took into account all of the various pieces of feedback that had been given during the past few months, but right now there were more important projects considering that it was already a good design that had proven to be very effective.

Next came the destroyers, eight of which would be participating in the task force. They were all of the Benson Class, the most modern class that Earth currently was fielding. According to the standard anaxes system (which everyone hated but still used for some reason anyways) most of Earth's destroyers would be classified as light or medium cruisers. However, their role as escort and defense for larger ships meant that they were closer to what the modern Earth's water-based navies considered to be a destroyer. They still were formidable vessels and had a good combination between firepower, speed, protection, and production time. This made them a good medium-sized ship capable of a variety of missions not just in support of but independent of a fleet.

Last but not least there were the frigates. All of these eight were of the Stormbringer Class, also the newest model of a ship within the classification. On some level, a frigate was just a smaller destroyer with more emphasis on escort rather than independent operations away from a fleet or task force but in Earth's service these ships were still formbivly armed for their size, and also would be the fastest ships in the fleet when it came to sublight speeds. One of the bigger advantages to these ships was that they required very little manpower to operate effectively. The Stormbringer class only required a crew of 10 and this could be decreased to four in a pinch. This was possible due to new droid technology similar to what was used on the free confederacy ships, such as the entire fire control and weapons system being droid controlled except for a gunnery officer that controlled all of the ship's weapons. In general, all of Earth's ships were highly automated as they simply couldn't train crews as fast as they were building warships. And decreasing the training time meant that they would be cutting corners and making the crews less well trained. So where they could, Earth used droids and computerized systems to ensure that they could field as many ships as possible.

Those were all of the combat vessels in the small task force but there were several ships designed to support the fleet. The first of them was one of Earth's new Corner Class Interdictor Cruisers. These types of vessels could prevent a ship from jumping into hyperspace and force them to stay instead of retreating. This was a very potent asset for counter-insurgency warfare and therefore the Empire had put a lot of effort into such designs. The rebellion had captured more than a few and proceeded to build even more on their industrial worlds such as Mon Cala, Sullust, and Lothal. Such ships were also incredibly useful while raiding convoys. While she was called an interdictor cruiser her size was closer to that of a destroyer by Earth's standards and had the armament of a frigate as she was not supposed to get into heavy combat but they were equipped with some weapons for point defense. These vessels would stay at the back of any fleet and not engage in combat unless necessary.

Next was another support ship meant to travel into the battle zone. An Anonymous Class electronic warfare frigate. These ships were meant to jam enemy transmissions across an entire system and also provide long-range sensor capabilities to a fleet. In a brief convoy raiding mission, their communications jamming abilities might be a little overkill but the fleet may very well be conducting raids on planetary systems so it would be useful in that situation. The vessel was about 450 meters long but had little weaponry as most of its space was taken up by sensors and its massive electronic warfare suite.

And finally was a group of four transports that would be loaded with all the supplies the fleet would need for several months. These would stay in a pre-scouted area to reinforce the fleet with supplies as necessary and prevent the long and tedious journey back to Earth. The supplies would be necessary to sustain the campaign and keep all of the ships supplied.

Soon he was back on the deck of his vessel, walking to its bridge. These men and women of his fleet were all capable and in his opinion some of the best in the fleet. A significant core of them even was from before the Empire had come and the fleet was still secret, such as Godfrey himself. The bridge crew saluted as he entered but immediately got back to work on the various stations they were assigned to. Military discipline and formality were important but they shouldn't distract from a person's job.

"What's our status, Captain?" He asked Kara Braun, the ship's commanding officer. While he was in command of the fleet Braun was in charge of the ship so that he didn't need to command both at the same time.

"All of the ships are ready to go, Admiral, all personnel are aboard and we have secured for the first jump."

"Tell command we are requesting to depart then." He ordered the ship's communications office, who promptly t received confirmation that they could depart.

"Hyperdrive is online." The helmsman said.

"Then let's get this show on the road," Godfrey said as the fleet entered hyperspace.

Over the next few days, the fleet made several complex jumps all across nearby space to get into the position they would be staying in to launch their attacks. A direct hyperspace route could allow travel between two places in a matter of hours but there wasn't a hyperspace lane to every single place from every single place.

The time it took was compounded by the fact that they had to avoid most inhabited systems, as the Empire would likely catch on to the fleet and be prepared for them, which would negate the point of the mission. Luckily there were still plenty of hyperspace lanes that they could travel, with the knowledge of many purchased from criminals or provided by Earth's growing network of privateers who used these same networks for their raiding. Additionally, they were also counted before by long-range drones to make sure that they were safe even though they most likely were.

Soon they arrived at system HKJIO-10228, which would be their base of operations. The system was sparsely populated, with only two uninhabitable planets, a few moons, and a large asteroid field that would make it a good hiding place for the fleet. It also wasn't on most Star charts and therefore it would be hard to find even if the Imperials were looking for it.

But the system was not exactly uninhabited.

"Send the authentication code," Godfrey said.

"Welcome to the party, Admiral Godfrey." Dunkan Sogqet, the unofficial commander of Earth's privateers. He was also the commander of Lanthia's Paradise, a notorious pirate bolt hole and mobile space station. "Everyone else is here, and we have the intel that you want. You can come aboard the station where all of the commanders are meeting."

He's pretentious, he thought to himself. But competent, and he's sunk a fair amount of shipping.

As they entered the asteroid field some ships came into view. They were split into roughly three categories, former Imperial vessels from the Independent Tibannas Sector including an Imperial II Class Star Destroyer, a Strike Class medium cruiser, an Arquents Light Cruiser, a Nebulon B Class frigate, and four Raider II Class Corvettes. As Earth had further exposed the vulnerabilities and weaknesses in many Imperial designs that had been known before they had many refits and upgrades.

A fleet from the Free Confederacy was also present. The two largest ships present were a Recusant Class Light Destroyer and a Munificent Class Star Frigate. Like all other of these vessels in the Free Confederacy, they were heavily modified and with greater armor, weapons, and a hanger that could carry a large number of droid fighters. Nine smaller ships were ranging from a rebuilt Dreadnaught Heavy Cruiser to three Charger C70 corvettes that had ironically once served in the republic navy, a small but potent expeditionary force.

Lastly was the privateer force under the command of Sogqet. They consisted of another Munificent Star Frigate and a variety of smaller ships from lighter cruisers to corvettes. Godfrey knew that he didn't have all of his forces in this place right now so he had a significantly bigger fleet than this, which had been swelled recently by several Imperial ships being captured. His large station came into view, and it wasn't Lanthia's Paradise. It was a smaller Imperial Carden Class defense platform that had been stripped of its weapons and now was the privateer's command center. This was from what he understood only for his raiding operations and not for the illicit trade operations that went on at his other station.

Soon he was aboard the station and was escorted to a central dining hall that was also used as a command center. He was impressed at its condition and professionalism, with the men and women who manned it acting like they were a part of a military force rather than glorified and legitimized pirates.

He soon reached where the other commanders had gathered. The recently promoted Rear Admiral Codore Gent commanded the free confederacy forces on this expedition. His ship, the Munificent Class Minotaur had proven to be quite successful ship during Operation Vengeance. Next to him was Miles Dumpkey, a newly rear admiral and member of Illustrois's Imperial remnant. He had proven himself to be an effective commander when Illustrious had invaded the surrounding Imperial sectors around her, taking large amounts of land all with only a small force and inflicting major losses on the other Imperials with little losses of his own.

There were other officers there as well, but those two would be in command of each of their task forces. The three factions had agreed in the past to a uniform chain of command that hopefully would allow for good coordination between the groups so Godfrey was in command of all of the forces.

Well, except the privateers. Working with them might be a little difficult but as long as they received their payment and share of captured materials they would probably be satisfied.

"Admiral, it's good to meet you," Sogqet said as he motioned for everyone to sit down. The space pirate said. "I hope that your time here will be frugal."

"Likewise Mr. Sogquet, do you have the list of targets?" He asked.

"Indeed, I was meaning to discuss them now." He pulled up a holo map that held many systems.

"Imperial shipments and convoys travel on regular patterns though they alternate as time goes on to throw off our raids. They mostly have stopped sending solo shipments due to the effective interception of my forces. At least when it co was to regularly scheduled flights, there are a number of both shuttles and cargo freighters that go through without us attacking them most of the time. There simply is no need." He said.

Then Sogquet pointed out half a dozen hyperspace lanes that led to fairly critical systems in one of the Imperial sectors. Lots of traffic made it through these places each year, including a variety of ships that had been captured by the privateers.

"If we were to temporarily sever these lines of supply, it would cause a lot of trouble for these systems. It would force them to go around in roundabout ways if they wanted to reach their destinations. And it would enable us to capture a lot of shipping, probably more than we have ever done in a short period. I'm talking upwards of a hundred vessels, most of them fully laden with supplies."

"Wouldn't that require a large force of marines?" Dumpkey asked.

"We have ample amounts of battle droids to secure the ships with, with almost all of them being upgraded B2 super battle droids or the newer B3 model. Coupled with Earth's highly skilled marine teams then I think we have a force to be reckoned with."

"Indeed," Sogquet said. "Not to mention my pirates, who are quite skilled at this business of boarding ships. And generally, Imperial cargo vessels don't have a lot of personnel aboard to save on costs. So I think we won't have a problem."

He paused for a moment. "Unless there are any disagreements, then there is another stage of the plan that I think can be set into motion. Once the Henris system realizes it is being cut off from all directions it will mobilize its forces immediately to go and clear the hyperspace lanes. That will leave the system, and its orbital drydocks, easy targets to attack. There are several Imperial Class Star Destroyers docked there for regular maintenance with only a few thousand crew aboard. We could sneak special forces teams in to capture them and send them into hyperspace to a secure location. Maybe also plant some explosives around the stations to make our sunrise even more welcoming. I've heard the free confederacy has some effective frogmen. He said and Gent nodded. The Free Confederacy's force of soldiers that planted explosives on ships had been effective, knocking out a variety of Imperial ships with comparably few losses.

"I also have heard stories of formidable special forces teams from Earth." He said and Godfrey nodded. I'm this region of space the UN Special Operation Force had become well-known amount Earth and its allies for its impressive victories against the Empire and a large amount of damage it had done.

"We have a few squads aboard that you are talking about, though I must stress that all of Earth's troops are high quality," Godfrey replied. Units of the Special Operations Force were in high demand, and he was lucky to get a few vaunted squads that had participated in the liberation of Ganrizon and Zoloch. It would have been nice to have the 1st squad, 1st platoon for this mission directly under the command of Colonel Petrova but that squad was in very high demand and had just finished some other grueling missions.

"Another benefit of this plan will be that the Empire will reinforce the Henris system after our plan is put into motion. That will leave other systems vulnerable to our attacks." Dumpkey said.

"Then I believe that we should carry out this plan as soon as possible. But only after more details have been examined and we have a concrete plan." Gent said. There was a murmur of agreement and soon everyone was beginning to plan the irregular offensive. They would take the Empire on with a force that was small and could not survive in open battle but hoped to cause major damage nonetheless and pave the way for the system to be attacked properly.