Chapter 13: Wolves and a door
April 23.
Jaral had been offered the captain's quarters, instead she asked to be able to use Thabo's quarters. They were secluded, humble...perfect for meditation.
Now more than ever, she needed to trust the Force. She needed to know if the plan she hatched had any real chance of success. She meditated for hours, and the more she looked into the Force, the more she became convinced that there was a chance for not a simple victory: but for 'supreme excellence.'
When she disconnected, it was time to go. Darvos called her on the comlink and informed her that the rest of Task Force Magellan had arrived.
She put on her jacket and gloves and headed for the command room, though she found that Darvos was waiting her outside of the room.
"Have you been watching all night?" she quipped.
He chuckled. "No, just the last five minutes. I wanted to make sure you were okay."
Jaral simply moved forward and kissed him on the lips.
"I've missed you down there, Darv." she said as they embraced.
"I missed you too. I wish I was there for you." he replied.
"You're here now. That's all I need for what awaits us." she concluded as she headed for the galaxy map, where Raniza and Salazar where waiting to brief her.
"Grand Marshall, All the ships of Task Force Magellan are accounted for and the Chalcedon has brought the Ghost along. I took the liberty to send Commander Rex and Lieutenant Kallus to take control of the freighter while we waited for you."
"Excellent Work, Raniza." Jaral complimented. "As soon as those two are done and all the Systems Alliance personnel is back on their ships, make the jump toward the wormhole.
"Yes, ma'am." the Asari replied.
"The trip shall take 17 hours." Salazar informed. "But the fleet has already started passing the wormhole, they're waiting for us to get there and guide them."
"Good. It shall give me some time to perfect the invasion plan." Jaral said.
"Something is bothering you, ma'am?" Raniza asked.
"Well, I think that we will need to send a small force to destroy the imperial outpost in the orbit of Dornea, which is very near to our path. If we destroy it, we shall blind the Imperial fleet on Lothal and retain the element of surprise.
"Besides, if we have so many ships, we might be able to even free Garel, which is the second most important planet of the Sector. Still, I'll have to consult with Admiral Edrix."
"I understand, ma'am. Since Captain Bridger has delegated his rank to you, feel free to roam the ship as if it was yours." Raniza explained.
"I'll make sure not to disturb the duty personnel." Jaral reassured.
"We appreciate the consideration." the Staff Commander concluded.
"All right, I need to contact Rebel Command, now. If you could please send them in the comm room."
"Right away, ma'am." Salazar replied as he started tapping buttons on his terminal.
Jaral headed toward the communication room, which was situated at the end of the Deck 2, after the strategic room. Darvos accompanied her until he reached his post in the latter one, then she headed into the small space where there was a holo-projector that occupied half of the room, but it sported a better audio and visual reception of the speaker(s).
A couple of seconds later, the holograms of Mon Mothma, Admiral Raddus and even Senator Organa appeared in front of her. The two humans had a sorrowful expression, but it was Raddus who spoke up.
"Grand Marshall. We have been informed about Kanan Jarrus. We're sorry, his sacrifice won't be forgotten."
"Thanks, Admiral. However, we have an opening and we must exploit it. How's the campaign in the Outer Rim going?"
"Better than expected. The tactics you suggested have been extremely effective against the Empire. According to our spies, the Empire is tightening the grip in this region, but they are being forced to deplete other fleets in the Outer Rim."
"Perfect. Now, Admiral, do you think you can bring your battle group here on Lothal?"
The rebel leaders looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Technically, yes. But what good could we ever do?"
"The Federal Fleet is arriving." Jaral declared. Raddus seemed to understand immediately, while Mothma and Organa seemed to require a bit more of explanation. "They will have to attack from Dornea, but I want the Rebel Fleet to attack from Kamdon as well. We will trap Thrawn's fleet into the crossfire. With a bit of luck, we might be able to capture him as well and remove him from the big picture once and for all."
Mothma and Organa looked intrigued.
"If we could remove Thrawn…" Organa started.
"The Empire will lose its best strategist, giving us an edge." Mothma realized as well.
"It's a bold plan, Grand Marshall. But what about Lothal's surface? The Empire still controls it. They might be in time to build new land-to-orbit defenses."
"My brother is on the surface, Admiral, trust me, when we will arrive there, the capital will be already under our control. Besides, that's not all of my plan."
The leaders listened, again, confused. What more did she have in mind?
"If we free Lothal and create a joint fleet with the Federation, as soon as their invasion force will settle on Lothal and reinforce it, we will start a campaign to free Mon Cala."
Raddus' eyes widened as much as they could.
"Are you...are you being serious, ma'am?" he asked.
Jaral nodded with a resolute face. "Yes. We need to exploit the momentum as much as we can. Mon Cala just happens to sit right next to Lothal and we need your people's skill as ship-builders, Admiral."
The leaders looked very interested now. If they could free Mon Cala, its shipyards would be the foundation to build a much larger and more powerful fleet for the Rebellion. And Jaral was making sense: Lothal and Mon Cala sat on the same trade route. While it was an ambitious plan, with the help of the Federation, it might be doable.
After letting them decide for a few seconds, Jaral turned toward Mon Mothma.
"Madam Senator, I know this plan sounds way overboard...but I ask you to trust me."
"How many ships will the Federation send us?"
"Two thousands." Jaral replied firmly, letting the rebel leaders amazed. "Plus two divisions of the Army they have graciously trained for us, and this is just the first wave. Colonel Undir assured me that the Federation's industry is working around the clock to enlarge their Navy and their recruitment offices don't have a moment of peace for how many volunteers they are finding.
"I know that we can do this, Madam Senator. Do not doubt it."
Mothma regained a bit of composure. "Grand Marshall, we elected you as our military leader. If you believe you can do it, then you have my full support."
"I'll prepare the fleet immediately." Raddus declared. "We should be there in three rotations."
"Three?" Jaral asked. "The strike force took four."
"Because they were only starfighters. They had to stop for fuel and food, but our ships have much more autonomy. We only have to avoid confrontations with the Imperial Navy."
That declaration gave Jaral even more confidence. "Understood, Admiral. Signal me when you're ready to hit Lothal."
"Yes, ma'am. May the Force be with us."
"It will, Admiral, I'm sure of it." she said with a smirk.
Raddus surprised everyone by chuckling. "If a Jedi says so, I feel much safer." then his hologram disappeared.
Mothma and Organa turned again toward the Grand Marshall.
"So this is it. The war is about to begin." Bail commented grimly.
"Yes, Senator. But there is no alternative against the Empire. The Emperor is not one that shares power, that much I understood, by now."
"We'll trust your judgment, Grand Marshall." Mothma said solemnly. "For how much I would've preferred a diplomatic solution, I, too, am afraid that there is no other way for us to be free."
"Good. See you soon, Senators. I'll come back with good news, I promise."
"May the Force be with you, Jaral Bridger." Bail concluded, and the two holograms disappeared as well.
The young woman left the room and went around the holotable in the strategic room. Darvos briefed her.
"Jari, we're already in hyperspace. We should reach the wormhole in a few hours."
"Good." she sighed and leaned against the table.
"Something wrong?"
She shook her head. "Just wondering what Ezra, Dad and the others are doing down on Lothal, right now."
"I'm sure they got everything under control." her husband reassured.
Jordan didn't know exactly what happened and how much time had passed. All he knew was that Ezra intended to go take a look at the Jedi Temple on Lothal, and when he noted that they didn't have a ship and the temple was on the other side of the planet, his son had used the Force to summon a pack of Loth-wolves. The creatures had piggybacked the Specters plus Jordan, Thabo and Michalina and, after running for no more than two hundred meters, everyone had fallen asleep only to wake up on the top of a cliff, still on the wolves' backs.
Ezra was the only one woken, and seemed to be talking with the white Loth-wolf.
Jordan gently dismounted from the creature that brought him, patted him as a thanksgiving and walked toward his son, pretty much at the same time that everyone woke up again.
As the white Loth-wolf turned away from the group, Ezra spoke.
"They say the Temple is not far from here, toward North-West. But we will have to walk from this point on."
Thabo looked with fascination, though the helmet didn't allow the others to notice his gaze.
"Can you actually communicate with them with the Force?"
"Yes, Kanan said that they have a strong connection with it."
"I'm just glad they're on our side." Zeb commented.
"More like they're on Lothal side." Ezra corrected.
"Is there any difference?" Sabine asked skeptically.
Ezra simply gazed at the last wolves leaving. "Let's hope not." he replied. "Come on, the road is not exactly brief." he concluded as he started walking toward a trail that led into the plain in front of them.
"Oh, great." Zeb groaned.
"Come on, big guy. A little movement won't kill you." Michalina exhorted him.
Thus they walked. And walked, and walked for at least three hours. Since they had landed in a zone where it was late afternoon, they reached the nearby of the Temple at the first darkness of evening, however, it was actually useful, because Ezra quickly noted that there were artificial lights coming from the position of the temple and the giant rock that hosted the structure seemed to have disappeared.
Ezra made a gesture for everyone to keep a low profile as they approached a pile of rocks and rubble. They hid behind it and looked downward, discovering with a lot of discomfort that the Empire was there.
It didn't look like a simple military occupation, though. There were several workers and digging vehicles of the Mining Guild. The area resembled more like an open mine and the workers were extracting, cleaning and cataloging numerous pieces of artwork.
That was an excavation site.
"Ezra, do you see anything they might be interested in?" Jordan asked.
Ezra was using the internal scopes of his helmet to look around. He hummed a bit, then he pointed toward the oval rock that once hosted the temple.
"It looks like they had removed the doors. One has been completely carved out." he commented.
"Well, they've uncovered a lot more artwork." Sabine said. "Maybe I would be able to make more sense if I get a closer look."
"I agree." Hera said firmly. "You and Ezra get down there and take a look. We will stand watch." she said referring to her, Zeb and Chopper.
"And if things go really bad," Jordan said. "We will blast our way in and come to get you out." he declared referring to his squad.
The Legionnaires materialized their weapons to reinforce the concept.
"Look there." Zeb indicated a couple of scout-troopers on bikes that were leaving the mine to patrol the perimeter on speeder-bikes.
"You're gonna need a disguise." he said with a grin to Sabine, since Ezra could already use the hologram technology.
The group hid. The Legionnaires activated their cloaking devices, which had been replied by the technicians of the Constantinople based on the projects of the Bridger siblings and now had even been given to the Federation.
They waited until the scouts passed near their position, then Chopper activated a holo-registration of Thrawn that he made from the battle of Atollon.
The troopers saw the hologram and dismounted, pointing their pistols.
"Identify yourself." a female trooper intimated.
Chopper made the hologram turn toward the Imperials and let it speak.
"It's not everyday I get to fight a worthy opponent. Now, let us begin."
"What?" the trooper said, realizing too late that her comrade had been hit in the face by one of Zeb's punches, who then hit her with full force.
"I really needed it." Zeb groaned satisfied.
As Ezra scanned the armor of the male trooper, Sabine seized the armor of the female and put it on.
Once she was ready, the teens took the bikes and made a circle around the external perimeter of the mine, reaching the road that led them to the lower ground of the mine.
They parked the bikes with the rest and dismounted, so they could start walking casually around the site.
As they approached one of the many painted rocks that had been carved out of the structure, a worker got away and Sabine knelt down, lifted the frontal part of the helmet and took a look at it.
"There's a language here. Not so much in words, but pictures." her attentive eyes noticed.
"I saw pictures like these inside the temple." Ezra commented, but a voice coming from behind them interrupted them.
"Trooper!" the teens immediately turned around after Sabine had put back the helmet.
They saw a man clad in a black outfit and a strange hood that was separated from the rest of the clothes. His posture was a bit crooked but he was certainly gesturing to them.
"Get away from there at once!" he commanded with his voice, which wasn't exactly intimidating, but the two Death Troopers behind him certainly were.
The teens obeyed and let the man pass as he went to inspect the rock that Sabine barely touched.
"I've said it before, none of you are to touch the artifacts!" he insisted, then stood up again. "The tiniest blemish could erase evidence which is critical to understanding the gateway."
"The gateway?" Ezra whispered instinctively, but realized it was an error when the old man turned around to look at him.
"Uh, Yes, sir. I mean, sorry, sir!" he exclaimed immediately.
One of the Death Troopers interrupted. "Minister, Coruscant is contacting you." he said with the mechanical voice given by their helmet.
'Minister?' Ezra this time refrained from any comment, instead he ordered Jinx to search for anything in the old Tseebo database.
The old man frowned at him and passed the teens.
"This conduct reflects poorly on you, Commander." he scolded one of the Death Troopers.
"Yes, Minister." the other replied with a bothered, mechanical tone.
As the 'Minister' walked away escorted by the other trooper, the scolded one turned toward those that he perceived as scout troopers.
"All right, you two. Numbers and clearance codes, now!" he ordered.
However, Ezra had other plans. He passed a hand in front of the Trooper.
"You don't need our numbers and clearance codes." he said with a calm tone. By now, Ezra had become so used to the Mind Trick, that he didn't need to reveal his face and establish direct contact with his eyes to do that.
"I...don't need your numbers and clearance codes…" the trooper replied.
"You will forget everything about this." Ezra commanded as he and Sabine walked past him, leaving the trooper clueless as to what he was doing there.
"That was a close one." Sabine whispered.
"Yeah...Jinx, found anything about that guy?" Ezra said in a hushed tone as well.
"I don't have specific intel about that man." Jinx reported into the teens' communicators. "However, his clothing is the same as that of the servants of the Imperial Court."
"Wait, does he come from Coruscant?" Sabine asked surprised.
"I don't possess sufficient data to provide an answer, Sabine. Perhaps a bit of eavesdropping on him might provide some answers."
"Good idea, my friend." Ezra said. "He has entered that prefab, let's find a safe spot between it and the cliff."
Walking calmly, as they were supposed to be there, the teens walked in the position that Ezra indicated, right behind the prefab, where Jinx could easily access the communication device inside of it and detect the transmission that the Minister was receiving from Coruscant.
"We have recently made some remarkable discoveries, my Emperor." the Minister said quite enthusiastically.
That name had everybody on high alert, but the voice that followed froze their blood.
"We must discover the secrets of the Temple for even now our enemies move against us."
On Coruscant, Thrawn was starting to having serious doubts about the task in front of him.
Certainly, one of the most remarkable traits of the Grand Admiral was his complete and absolute confidence in whatever he was doing, but recent events had seriously undermined that trust in his abilities.
First the constant ineptitude of his subordinates except one, and the one had been taken away from him, then no more than an hour ago, when the Emperor eventually refused to give other funding to the TIE Defender Project, but still asked him to defend Lothal, because there was still something that the Emperor apparently thought was very valuable, but whatever that could do, Thrawn ignored it.
As he waited for his personal shuttle to come and get him at the Royal Palace, Thrawn was starting to hesitate for the first time in his life. He had no intel about the Federation's invasion force. How many ships would they bring? With the entire Sector Fleet left to support his 7th Fleet, he had a total of 40 Star Destroyers, but those ships could not be moved without Pryce's authorization, and Tarkin would most likely oppose that, because leaving even a single planet undefended was against his beloved 'Doctrine' of keeping an iron fist on every civilized world.
In other words, for the defense of Lothal, Thrawn could only rely on no more than a dozen ISD and relative escorts, and he had no idea whether he would face a few tens of enemy ships or even more. Ships that, at the battle of the wormhole almost two years before, had completely wiped out the Imperial flotilla sent to retake the anomaly, without suffering casualties of their own.
His thoughts were interrupted by a woman's voice.
"I beg your pardon, sir."
He and his Death Troopers turned around and they spotted a middle-aged human female, probably about to reach her 50s, with the uniform of the civil servants of Coruscant.
"Need something?" he asked.
"I'm sorry to disturb you, sir. Are you Grand Admiral Thrawn?"
"That would be me."
The woman made a short bow. "It's an honor to meet you, I'm Sekta Tanis, Iulius' mother." she presented.
Thrawn was a bit surprised, and his eyebrow bones lifted very slightly. Still, he made a gesture to the Death Troopers that they could relax around her, then he went to extend his right hand.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Madam Tanis." he said as the woman shook his hand gently. "I get that your son talked about me?"
The woman chuckled softly. "It was quite an easy guess. Yes, Iulius has spoken very highly of you." they released hands before she continued. "I suppose you're very busy, Grand Admiral, so I will go straight to the point and thank you."
"Thank me?"
"For giving my son a chance to shine." she answered calmly.
"I'm sure Iulius would've had his own chance…"
"No, you don't understand. If you didn't call him for that mission on Ryloth, and allowed him to serve under you, my husband would've kept him to a very short leash. Using him as a workhorse to enhance his own career, and that I wouldn't have been able to take." she explained.
Thrawn hummed. "Have you been told where he has been redeployed?"
Sekta seemed to hesitate. "He told me, but...I'm not sure I'm allowed to tell you."
"Madam, if he found suitable telling a civilian, no matter the parenthood, then it means he's not supposed to hide it."
The woman pondered for a moment. "I suppose so. I don't know the details, but I think he is supposed to establish a colony in Wild Space. His fleet has departed just yesterday, and it included many civilian workers."
Thrawn stroke his chin, humming. Honestly, that couldn't possibly be all. Why would the Emperor acknowledge Iulius' talent only to have him supervise the creation of a colony? No, forget that, why would he even bother to send a military fleet to support the creation of a colony?
Clearly, the Federation wasn't the only threat the Empire was preparing against.
"I see." the Chiss concluded. Then he put a hand on his chest in a sign of humility. "I thank you for sharing this information, Madam."
Sekta made a small bow again. "Farewell, Grand Admiral. And thank you again. If I have the chance to talk with Iulius, in the future, would you like to tell him anything?"
"Well, aside from my greetings, tell him that there is no problem he cannot resolve. Iulius is a talented officer, and only people like him mights save the Empire."
"Thank you, Grand Admiral. And good luck." the woman concluded before taking her leave.
Thrawn turned around and headed for the landing pad, where his shuttle had finally arrived. As he stepped in the passenger area and he was transported back to the Chimaera, Thrawn pondered. If Iulius was into the Wild Space of the Northern Fringe, he might not be too far from the space controlled by the Chiss Ascendancy.
He discarded the possibility of the Emperor wanting to invade his own people: right then and there, the Empire would gain no benefit into trying to reach Chiss Space, not simply because it would've been a hard fight and the two nations had no reason to go at each other, but the Unknown Regions and Wild Space don't have established hyperspace route.
The reason why those portions of space were, and still are, barely explored is because moving with the usual navigational technology was almost impossible. The Chiss needed Force-sensitives children to navigate hyperspace, because only they could see if there was a black hole or any gravitational body that had suddenly blocked a path that was clear just a few seconds before.
Unless Iulius had been provided with a Force-sensitive, which seemed unlikely, it was more likely that the threat was someone else. And Thrawn thought he knew who.
A species of nomadic and mysterious warriors that tended to enslave the minds of minor species and use them as cannon fodder. A people that was a threat to both the Chiss and the Empire, and who Thrawn just had another encounter shortly after Atollon along with Darth Vader.
Iulius had been sent to fend off the Grysk.
The Grand Admiral sighed quietly. He could only hope that the young Admiral he groomed was ready for the sheer horror and madness that was about to crash down upon him.
For now, all he could do was to do his part and find a way to stop the impending invasion that was about to come on Lothal.
As he stepped on the bridge he commanded.
"Set course for Lothal."
A few minutes later, as April 24 came around, the Chimaera entered hyperspace, starting her two-days cruise toward Lothal.
"We're approaching the wormhole." Rut announced to Jaral, who was standing right next to him.
In the emptiness of Dark Space, there was only one faint light in the distance, the strange vortex of the wormhole.
"Commander Raniza," Jaral turned behind her. "Prepare the communication buoy."
"I still don't get why, ma'am." the Asari asked. "Who could ever receive anything on 'frequency zero'?"
"I know it doesn't make sense, but I promise it will all be clear when we get back." she said with a diplomatic tone.
Raniza decided that it was worth the risk and headed out to go relay the order to the hangar bay.
Rut checked his holo-terminal.
"All ships are on stand-by, the guard fleet has given us permission to pass the wormhole."
"Let's proceed, then."
After sending the all-clear signal, Rut brought the ship forward. The Constantinople passed between the guard fleet, which was commanded by two human dreadnoughts and it was composed of at least 40 cruisers of Human and Turian manufacture, plus various corvettes, destroyers and frigates for support. The Federation had even dispatched some defense satellite platform armed with Magnetic guns or missiles, depending on the model.
"Approaching the wormhole." Rut announced. "You might want to hang on, ma'am."
An alarm blared briefly into the ship. Crossing the wormhole meant undergoing some hefty gravitational pressure for the ship.
"Jinx, status." the helmsman asked.
"All systems engaged, we can go."
The frigate approached and, indeed, it started shaking a bit, but it wasn't particularly harsh. The other frigates followed suit.
'Ezra, Dad...hold on. I'll be back soon.' Jaral thought, just when she noticed that the bond with her brother went somewhat mute as the frigate entered the void darkness of the wormhole. Only to be followed by a sudden, blinding white light.