-Chapter 54: Internal Affairs-
Location: The Outer Rim
"The jobs that go unnoticed and unappreciated are often the most important ones."
In the Senate Intelligence Bureau headquarters...
Obi-Wan Kenobi, Mace Windu and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine stood around a holotable while Republic officers worked at terminals all around them. Also in their midst was Commander Thrawn, recently returned from a successful defence of Kamino against a Subjugator cruiser. The news of its defeat had made headlines, the seemingly unkillable brand of cruiser now not-so-unkillable.
"My congratulations once again, Commander. Your success at Kamino will be remembered for a long time to come." Palpatine told the Chiss. Master Windu nodded.
"Agreed. If the Separatists believed these Subjugators would be our end, they'll surely be rethinking that now." Thrawn accepted the praise with a quiet nod.
"While that might be so, Master Jedi, if the Separatists are in fact the forward-thinkers they are described to be, than this loss will not be so major to them." He calmly responded. "To that end, it is highly recommended that the other Subjugators be sought out and stopped."
"To that end, I couldn't agree more." Palpatine replied in consensus. "To that end, Master Kenobi's find on Pammant has provided us with a great deal of information concerning these Subjugators. Much of it has been encoded, but we have managed to decipher most of the data."
"I'm curious to see what else was in that cache. If it contained the blueprints for six, surely there would be more, similar items of interest." Obi-Wan said, stroking his beard as though he were attempting to figure out what was in there already.
"We can give you that answer in more ways than one, Master Jedi." Palpatine informed him. Switching on the holotable, a network of data was revealed to them, all of it pertaining to the Separatists Project: Iron Tyrant, the secret undertaking to build a fleet of Subjugator-class heavy cruisers. "Intelligence operatives have been busy working to crack these other files you brought back and so far we've had some decent strokes of luck. Among the data, we found references to an 'Installation A' and an 'Installation B', supposedly located somewhere in either the Outer Rim or the Mid-Rim." The Chancellor explained. "I have already sent Republic Commandos on scouting missions to investigate the areas we think these installations might be located and, fortunately for us, our work has paid off and we recently received a communication from both teams of their success." Obi-Wan raised an eyebrow.
"Well! I see you've been busy, Chancellor," he observed with an approving nod, "either that or we've been far too preoccupied with stopping The Wraith and battling the Separatists." He mused.
"A most forgivable task, I assure you, Master Kenobi." Palpatine replied.
"What do these scouting teams have to say, Chancellor?" Mace inquired. The Chancellor smiled and toggled a switch on the holotable.
"Why don't I let them explain it...?" The spread of data disappeared and was replaced by a single Clone in traditional Katarn-class armor, his helmet removed. The recording began to play moments later.
"Apex One scout group, priority communication to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Captain Vyss reporting. We've got good news sir, we've managed to locate one of the installations, temporarily dubbed 'Installation A'. It's a massive docking ring in orbit around the gas giant Yavin in the Yavin System, Outer Rim. We count two ships, one of which is still under construction. The other appears finished. Awaiting orders." Coming to a pause, the watchers straightened up as they digested the news.
"Yavin... That is out of the way." Obi-Wan noted.
"And it makes for a perfect hiding place for such large equipment." Thrawn calmly agreed. "After all, what assets do the Republic or even the Separatists have in Yavin?" He wondered.
"Nothing. It's a desolate system." Palpatine replied with a shake of his head. That seemed to confirm the data for everybody, nothing more needing to be said, Palpatine bringing up a second recording of another commando.
"Apex Two scout group, priority communication to Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Captain Xyr reporting. We have managed to locate the 'Installation B', a large docking ring in orbit over the planet Jhas in the Hoth System, Outer Rim territories. We count approximately six docking spaces, four of which are occupied by Subjugator-class heavy cruisers, all of which appear completed but have yet to depart." The commando paused as something off-screen drew his attention away. "I am receiving word now that some of our men have managed to slice into the docking ring's communication systems. Lieutenants Foss and Ryder will now take over." Stepping out of the way, two other Clones took his place, one of which carrying a datapad.
"Supreme Chancellor. We managed to access the ring's network and discovered they are still using this place for production purposes. One more of these things is apparently still in development." The Clone to the right reported.
"We managed to identify docking ports attached to one of the other docks, the kind used for connecting to a ship under construction," the second Clone explained, "a sensory sweep gave the dock a designation, the... Masterforce God Planet Bomber...?" The odd name threw him off for a moment, before he shook his head and continued, "Gotta be a codename."
"If that thing doesn't transform in some way, the name will've been for nothing." The other Lieutenant agreed. With that, they quickly stepped off as Xyr returned to the center.
"Thank you men. We've got a location ping and are awaiting your orders, sir. Apex Two out." The commando signed off, the recording freezing seconds later.
"Did we not lose a listening post near the Hoth System some months ago?" Obi-Wan inquired.
"Yes. And now we know why it was targeted." Palpatine replied.
"I guess that answers several questions. Jhas and Yavin..." Mace mused, crossing his arms in thought.
"And they're still building some." Obi-Wan finished. "Sounds like a lot more than just six."
"Agreed, and that makes these a priority target." Palpatine concurred.
"The question now is how should we proceed?" Mace wondered. "We have to destroy these Subjugators, but we can't risk them departing before we can get a proper fleet out there." Obi-Wan and Palpatine couldn't agree more, yet were uncertain as to how to proceed.
But Thrawn did.
"I believe I can be of some assistance in that area, Master Jedi." The Chiss calmly answered. He then turned to Palpatine. "Chancellor, if you give me one half-hour, I can give you a means to destroy these Subjugators in a manner that no Separatist will ever suspect until it is too late."
"By all means, Commander." Palpatine nodded, ready for a solution. "But, please, do try and hurry. Even half an hour might be too long..."
Later, in the Hoth System...
On the opposite side of the planet Jhas, a CR25 troop carrier lay stationary as they awaited their orders. The squad of Clone Commandos on board were a little anxious about their upcoming assingment. They knew the docking ring fairly well thanks to their extensive scans, revealing that the only weapons to worry about would be those mounted on the Subjugators. Now the only question remaining of when they would act. High command had yet to give them any orders and they were waiting tensely for the go-ahead.
"If they don't send us something soon, those cruiser-crushers are gonna be gone and all we'll have left is the ring." One of them complained.
"Relax, Jos. I'm sure something will be coming along soon. They wouldn't want to waste an opportunity like this." Another responded.
"Vice is right, Jos." Xyr continued. "The Chancellor wants these things gone and that's what we're here to do."
"I'm just saying, I know they want them gone, but if they don't do something soon then they'll have missed their window." Jos explained, the Clone rationalizing his complaint. All the others nodded, sharing his sentiment and more than a little ready for some action themselves.
It was then Foss strode over to Xyr with a communicator in hand.
"Message from Coruscant, sir," he reported, "it's marked priority." He added. Xyr nodded.
"Look alive men, it's go time. Foss, bring it up." The captain ordered, the commandos quickly readying themselves as the lieutenant plugged the communicator into a nearby holotable. The image that flickered to life moments later was that of Thrawn.
"Apex unit two, I am Commander Thrawn. Chancellor Palpatine has tasked me with providing you the necessary resources for the termination of this docking ring." The Chiss calmly informed them. Xyr readily accepted this.
"Awaiting your orders, sir." The Clone smartly replied.
"You will be receiving several files that will be uploaded to your ship's primary terminal. Among them are specially-designed viruses." Thrawn continued. Xyr raised a dark eyebrow.
"Viruses, sir?" He repeated.
"Correct, Captain. The kind you upload to a computation server." Thrawn clarified.
"Understood Commander. How do you want us to proceed?"
"Included with the files are the blueprints for the docking ring. Highlighted are a series of hardpoint terminals that upload data to the cruisers. You will need to upload the virus five times over the course of each update upload."
"Sir, if I may, why five? Why not just one?"
"A single, direct upload would be easy to catch by the ship's programmers. This virus is designed to take effect after upload to the ship's core sector terminals where it will not be immediately detected." Thrawn explained. "This way, it will take the cruiser crew by surprise and when they least expect it." Xyr nodded in understanding.
"That's sounds mighty fine, sir." He stated. "We do love to give the Seppies a nasty shock everynow and then."
"Then you'll find this one to be right up your alley." Thrawn informed him. "I shall cut this transmission short in order to maintain your unknown presence. Best of luck, Apex Two."
"Copy that, sir." Xyr replied, smartly saluting as Thrawn disappeared.
"Guess this is a slicer-heavy mission." Foss mused as he unplugged the communicator.
"Guess so, Foss. Do us a favor and get that data ready to go." Xyr replied as he turned to address his squad. "Alright men, we've got four cruisers and a virus for each. I'm splitting us up into four teams of three, one of which will be responsible for uploading the virus into the command terminal." He explained, knowing that at least one-third of his unit were expert technicians. "Ryder, Shorty, Dregs, you three are after the Executioner. Case, Vice, Mic, Overlord is all yours. Kor, Jos, Strype, you're on the Behemoth. Foss, Sketch, you two are with me on the Eradicator." Each of the Clones sounded off and grouped into their respective teams. "We make for this hangar in one of the empty docks, there should be minimal personnel there. Once you've uploaded the virus into each of your terminals, return to the hangar and one of our gunships will pick us up. We're in and out, understood?"
"Yes sir!" They all chorused.
Standing in groups of six, the twelve fully armored Clone commandos stood in the two null gravity ports of their CR carrier. They were going to make a very precarious drop to the docking ring, using zero-g to perform a space debarking.
"Arrival in three... two..." Xyr started counting down as the Clones prepped for launch. Their ship would appear above the dock, roll, release the commandos and then leave again. It was a very close and precise mission that required their every ounce of focus.
Failure to do so would result in their demise.
"One!" The shudder of the carrier leaving hyperspace was felt by all, and the rolling maneuver was just as obvious. "Launch!" Red lights turned green and the doors to open space whooshed open, the deadly vacuum that threatened to suck them out held off by only a thin ray shield. One after another, the Clones leapt out of their ship and began to plummet through space towards the docking ring and four Subjugator cruisers below. Their Katarn-class armor was sealed and able to support them for the trip through space, but only for a short while. They needed to get their soon and simple inertia alone wasn't enough. Activating a series of retro-thrusters on their packs, the commandos picked up the pace and started to control their descent as the CR carrier vanished back into hyperspace.
"Not being fired upon... guess that means we did it." Shorty quietly mused into the comms.
"Stay alert Commandos." Xyr cautioned. "We're not out of the woods yet." The groups of Clones maintained their formations, making to enter the destined hangar on opposite sides. "Arrival in five..." Drawing his blaster from behind, the other Clones with him following suit, Xyr moved into position to enter the hangar. "Four... three..." Priming his thrusters, Xyr waited until the top edge of the blue shield covering the hangar entrance entered his line of sight. "Two... one... go!" Triggering the thrusters, Xyr propelled himself forward and into the hangar, promptly regaining his weight and dropping to the ground. His fellow commandos were right behind him, hitting the ground with stealthy agility. Rising up and arming their DC-17m blaster rifles, Xyr and company looked on to see the other six Clones dropping in across from them on the other side of the hangar. They were up and ready soon enough and, with all twelve commandos ready to go, a quick hand signal from Xyr split them up and sent them all jogging in different directions. Xyr moved out towards the Eradicator, Foss and Sketch right behind him. The Subjugator was stationed far from this hangar, making their journey harder as they had to venture over to the far side of the docking ring.
But they were Clone commandos. They could handle this.
With their weapons primed and ready, Xyr's and Foss' DC's with the blaster-rifle attachment while Sketch carried something resembling a scatterblaster, the trio of commandos moved quickly yet stealthily through the halls of the assembly station, keeping a careful watch for any battle droids that might be around. Xyr's initial guess was correct, this particular hangar was void of droids due to the lack of a Subjugator near by. It made for an easy on-off route, but there would be no doubt that the rest of the trip would be harder with an increased droid presence.
They had no idea their already impossible mission was about to get even more difficult...
Meanwhile, in a separate hangar, a Sheathipede-class shuttle touched down, carrying none other than the Fleet Admiral overseeing the Subjugators: Sereva Shak. After a rather disappointing loss at Kamino, the Lethan Twi'lek's next assignment from Count Dooku was to oversee the launch of Jhas' four completed cruisers. She had no idea of the Republic transport that had so recently been destroyed, nor had she any idea of what they'd left behind. All she cared for was to see these ships off and away, back to Separatist home space.
Sereva was looking for a win, something to make up for the failure at Kamino, and she could only hope that such a win would be found with the potential of these Subjugators.
Her shuttle touching down within one of the docking ring's hangars, Sereva stepped out into the full-metal structure and was greeted by a tactical droid, the facility overseer.
"Fleet Admiral Shak. Your presence is unexpected." It told her in a flat, monotone voice.
"Count Dooku thought it best I participate in the launch of these ships myself, TC-Four-Five." Sereva replied, stepping onto level ground. She was a bit shorter than the droid, having to look up a little in order to meet the unflinching gaze of his photoreceptors. But her commanding presence boosted her shorter stature tenfold.
"Count Dooku did not inform me of your arrival. However, such a late inspection would be prudent as a test of these ships and their crew." The droid explained. Sereva nodded and moved on, not deterred and in full business mode.
"You will escort me to the Behemoth, droid. I wish to begin my examination there." She stated. The droid complied.
"Follow me, Admiral."
Arriving at their destined computer, a rectangular shaped construct built into the wall, Xyr and Foss took of defensive positions and scanned the hallways around it. Poking their heads around corners and sticking their blaster muzzles right and left, they secured the area to ensure there would be nothing that would interrupt Sketch, their resident slicer.
"Clear." Xyr reported.
"Clear!" Foss echoed.
"Alright Sketch, work your magic." The commando captain ordered, keeping his sights trained on the hall before him. Stowing his weapon, Sketch approached the computer terminal and set to work, pulling out some wires and cables from his pack as he examined the surface layout of the machine.
"Ugh, 'course the controls are made for droids." He grumbled.
"Won't be a problem, will it?" Foss wondered.
"Nah. I'll just have to get under it's skin." Sketch replied as he started to pry open a panel.
"And you're real good at that, aren't you?" Foss joked.
"Cut that chatter, Foss. Sketch, keep working." Xyr interrupted. Foss shut up as Sketch went back to work, plugging his wires into the now-exposed circuitry of the computer and into a personal data terminal he'd withdrawn from his pack. A few keystrokes later and the Clone had successfully sliced into the system. His gaze running across the lines of programming code that cropped up before him, Sketch quickly realized how this was going to go.
"Huh. Looks like these ship updates are stored on data cores. That'll make this easier." He mused, quickly plugging in some new commands to access the cores. As he finished inputting a command, prompting another panel to pop open and reveal the three cylinders that were his target, Xyr received an incoming communication from Commander Jos.
"Captain, bad news: a fleet admiral has arrived on the ring." The team leader informed him in a hushed tone. "She appears to be performing a routine inspection before launch." Xyr took the new development in stride.
"Understood Jos. What's your status?"
"We've had to cut and run for a bit, but she's disappeared into the Behemoth now and Kor is almost finished his upload."
"Good. Stay out of sight and stay out of trouble. You see her again, let me know ASAP." Xyr ordered before signing off. Turning to Sketch, he saw the Clone had opened up the middle data core and had plugged his terminal into it before also plugging his data pad containing the virus into his terminal. The middle core was devoid of all security measures, all of them contained within the first core where all the data had to pass through first. Without this security, Sketch could easily hide the virus within a new data stream that would blend in with the rest of the information in the core as it was uploaded to the ship. Xyr held off telling him about the Admiral, not yet seeing a need to rush him.
"Accessing their data now, Captain. Give me a parsec or two and this virus will be irreversibly in their system." Sketch reported as his fingers ran rapidly across his terminal.
"Good. A few parsecs might be all we've got." Xyr grimly replied.
The Behemoth was identical to the Dominance in every way, right down to the order and placement of the ceiling tiles. If blindfolded and forced to identify the ship from within, Sereva doubted she'd be able to. It truly came down to exterior markers in order to distinguish ship from ship. The Behemoth had a series of teeth painted along the upper and lower portions of her crescent-shaped bow, giving it the appearance of a gaping maw ready to devour any enemy ships in her path.
In a sense, that was exactly her mission.
Her sister ship, the Overlord, bore several jagged lightning bolts running down the length of her bow, all of them painted in black. Those were obvious differences that helped to tell the ships apart. But Sereva would be spending very little time looking out today. Her inspection was all about the inner-workings of the ship and how well the crew of droids handled the ship. The Twi'lek would likely accompany them back to Separatist space on their inaugural hyperspace jump before being transferred back to the Dominance, the flagship for the upcoming fleet of Subjugators. These four were new acquisitions for said fleet, intended to fly under her command. The more familiar she was with them the better.
Walking down one of the ship's many thousands of corridors, Sereva was flanked by a pair of armed battle droids that acted as her official escort. So far, the Behemoth was completely ship-shape, everything looking to be in top condition and more than ready to enter the Clone Wars. Entering a new section of the ship, the Twi'lek quickly spotted a super tactical droid accessing one of the Behemoth's control terminals. Painted dark blue, its three red photoreceptors shifted to assess the approaching Admiral before its entire body turned to her.
"Fleet Admiral Shak." It greeted as she approached. Sereva tilted her head in acknowledgment.
"Captain Nomori. I'm quite pleased with your post thus far." She replied.
"The Behemoth is currently at ninety-seven point six percent functionality. I am completing the final terminal checks before launch." Nomori explained. "I presume you will be accompanying us on our hyperspace jump?"
"Potentially, provided the Overlord is greenlit as well. I'd rather be around to witness any issues and see how they're resolved."
"Then you should join me on the bridge for when the Behemoth is fully brought online. Although I calculate zero issues of any kind will be uncovered." Nomori countered. After a moment of thought, Sereva agreed.
"Very well."
"Hurry it up, Sketch, we're on the clock here!" Foss hissed. The group of three had already been at the terminal a lot longer than they would've liked.
"I'm having trouble mixing the data into these other scheduled uploads," Sketch growled, sounding frustrated, "this ain't gonna be easy."
"Get creative. Foss is right, we're running out of time." Xyr stated. Knowing their directive to upload the virus across the five different uploads, in which information would be beamed to the Subjugator's five hardpoint terminals straight from this very computer, Sketch realized that there was simply no time to make that work. Going against the order, Sketch quickly bundled the entire virus into one package and marked it to be uploaded directly to the ship's bridge terminal. The process was a quick, albeit sloppy one, but it got the job done.
"There, finished!" Sketch announced, starting to put his tech away. As he did, Xyr got another call.
"Captain, we've been spotted! Taking fire and heading back to the hangar!" It was Ryder, the commando in charge of the team after the Executioner.
"Did you complete the upload?"
"Affirmative! Dregs just finished!" Ryder replied, the staccato of his blaster firing echoing in the background.
"Confirmed. Get your men back to the hangar, we're all ready to pull out." Xyr commanded. He then switched channels. "Apex Home this is Apex Leader, requesting immediately extraction from beacon designation hangar four." He called, requesting from the carrier.
"Copy that Apex Leader. Gunship is inbound. Word of warning, you'll likely have to jump for it."
"Roger that." Xyr confirmed. By the time he was done, Sketch was all packed up and ready to go. "Let's move commandos!" He ordered, the trio jogging down the hall they'd come from.
The tactical droid led Sereva through more corridors and up several turbolifts before they arrived at the ship's bridge. It was identical to the one on the Dominance, and Sereva half-expected to see Mazari there. Admittedly, she felt much more at home here, more so than in any other position aboard a ship. Being in command, playing a key role, making a difference... this was where she belonged.
"Captain and Admiral on deck!" A battle droid announced upon their arrival.
"Well, Nomori, what's left to be done?"
"Upon final data processing of the bridge system terminal, the Behemoth will be one-hundred percent functional."
"Then by all means, proceed with the terminal check." Nomori moved to do so, but Sereva paused to answer an incoming call from her communicator. It was from the same tactical droid from earlier.
"Admiral, our security forces have engaged a group of Clone commandos within the facility. We anticipate there are more." It reported. Sereva acted quickly.
"Keep me informed of their whereabouts. Send all available security droids after them, we can't afford any setbacks!" She commanded. The communication came to end and the Twi'lek turned to the ship's captain, a new plan in mind. "Nomori, forget about the terminal for a moment. I wish to see a demonstration of the kind of firepower this cruiser is capable of." She requested. Nomori stopped, turned on heel, and made to comply.
"Very well, Admiral." Approaching his station aboard the bridge, Nomori started issuing orders to the various battle droids on station.
"And while you're at it, open a channel to the other cruisers." Sereva added, deciding it would be best to coordinate their efforts.
Xyr and his group had run afoul of a few droids themselves, quickly blasting them with refined precision.
"Guess we've lost our element of surprise." Foss noted as he gunned down a droid with three shots.
"Keep moving towards the hangar, we need out of here stat!" Xyr stated, blasting yet another droid. Rounding a bend, they found several other commandos fighting off red-painted security droids, having completed their objectives and now waiting anxiously for an evac ship.
"Captain! What's the ETA on that escape ship?" Vice asked, his smoking DC-17m in hand.
"Any second now." Xyr replied. He did a quick headcount, noting the presence of Vice and his men, Ryder and his men as well as his own. But there was no sign of Jos and his men. "What's the word on Jos?"
"Don't know, sir. Haven't heard from him since he spotted the Admiral." Vice replied.
"What do we do about him, sir?" Shorty wondered.
"We wait until the ship shows up, they know where to go." Xyr replied. "If he doesn't arrive by the time we need to be gone, assume the worst." The commandos grimly accepted the order. They hated to leave their own behind, but if they were dead and gone, there was nothing more for them to do.
"Droids! High left!" One of them called, blasters lighting up as a squad of security droids appeared on an upper catwalk. The commandos could hold their own no problem, but preferred to leave before the stations entire accompaniment of droids came to attack them. Xyr trained the sights of his DC-17m on one of the red-marked droids and shot its head clean off, switching targets and destroying another droid with two hits to the body. The battle droids themselves were raining down fire on the commandos, hoping to box them in.
"Leader to Home, where's that gunship?!" Xyr demanded through his comms.
"Coming your way, sir!" A Clone replied. Moments later, the thrum of a familiar engine indicated the arrival of a craft. Turning to the hangar's exit, the commandos saw a Republic gunship hovering outside. "The name's Stick, and I heard you boys wanted a lift?" The voice continued over the comms as the gunship's pilot waved at them.
"Seal armor and jump for it!" Xyr ordered, knowing their was on time to waste. The commandos did so and then sprinted towards the gunship. "Go go go!" Xyr cried as the ship's side door swung open. The commandos used their inertia to float through open space and into the waiting ship as Xyr made one last call. "Jos, come in! Evac has arrived!" All he got for a response was static, indicating the commando's commlink was no longer responsive. "Kor! Strype! Do you read?" Still nothing. Sighing, Xyr leapt through the day shield and floated into the gunship. The door sealed behind him and the room pressurized as the craft took off. One by one, the commandos unsealed their armor and pulled off their helmets. "We lost Jos, nothing from Kor or Strype either." Xyr revealed.
"Dammit." Vic grumbled. The others sympathized with him, regretting the loss of a brother. Before they could continue, red lights switched on followed by a steady alarm.
"Is that-" Sketch hesitantly wondered before being cut off by Vice, who'd flown enough of these craft to know what the alarm meant.
"Someone's locked on to us!" He exclaimed. His words were quickly affirmed by Stik, who called over his shoulder,
"Hold on! I'll try to shake 'em!" Stik shouted from the cockpit. The ship shuddered as rounds glanced off their port side shields, indicating something in that direction was firing on them. "Those cruisers are tryin' to light us up, probably testing their targeting systems!" Stik informed them, forcing the gunship's thrusters to their maximum. "Come on, you gutless wonder! Come on!" He growled, fighting with the controls as he strove to take them into open space and out of their range.
Hopefully the carrier could pick them up before they suffered too many hits.
The commandos in the back were tossed about as round after round rocked the space around the gunship while Stik worked hard to keep them from getting vaporized. Red flashes streaked past the cockpit transparisteel cover in front of them, all of them heavy cannon fire from the Subjugators and most of it coming from their port side.
"It's the Eradicator..." Vice realized, having memorized the positions of the enemy cruisers. "Stik! Either nosedive or climb before they finish tracing us!" He called ahead, knowing the Separatists would soon find their mark.
"Working on it!" Stik called back as he pulled the gunship into a steep climb. The shudders grew fewer and fewer, the bolts of red flying past less and less while the brightness grew ever dimmer. "Hang tight lads, we'll be out of this befor-" His sentence went forever unfinished as twin turbolaser rounds from their starboard side struck the gunship and turned it into a destructive fireball. Splinters and slivers of the ship went careening off into space, the product of some erroneous design flaws. The target-lock systems failed to indicate just how many were locked on to the ship and while their efforts to avoid being shot were fruitful in one sense, they were for naught in another.
The Eradicator might've missed them, but the Executioner had not.
Sereva watches from the Behemoth's bridge as the small explosion brightened the space above the other Subjugators, the turbolaser fire from the Eradicator and Executioner dying down moments later.
"Captain Venaki confirms one destroyed Republic gunship." Nomori declared.
"Very well, inform them I am pleased with their efforts." The Twi'lek replied. Nomori nodded and sent the message before stepping up to the top of the bridge.
"I will complete the final terminal check now." He stated, voicing his next course of action and not seeking permission.
"By all means." Sereva agreed, deciding to contact the ring's overseer and request that security droids sweep the facility for any signs of tampering.
The super tactical droid stepped over to the computer terminal near the bridge exit and cycled through the update that had recently been beamed in. Once the data had been acquired, Nomori connected his own processor to the network and began screening the data for himself. The terminal began to relay system checks, subroutine scans and efficiency data to his processor, uploading all kinds of mechanical, electrical and core server data directly into Nomori... along with the Republic's virus.
His systems quickly realized the foreign nature of the data he received, but the large nature of the entity promptly overloaded his processor and started rewriting his programming almost instantly. What Thrawn had intended to be a delayed reaction was now an instantaneous act that suddenly turned Nomori from an ally into a hidden enemy.
For a brief moment his photoreceptors blinked off before powering back on, appearing the same despite the alterations made within. Still patched into the Behemoth's systems, Nomori now saw them through a very different light. The ship's navigational data now showed a new enemy target directly off their starboard side. It was a high-priority target, meaning it needed to be destroyed immediately.
Turning on heel, the droid marched back to the center of the bridge, right past Sereva and started issuing orders.
"Engage defensive protocols alpha through gamma. Prepare fighter squadrons for immediate engagement." He stated. Sereva looked up with a start, terminating her communication.
"Nomori? What is it? Are there more?" She wondered.
"Affirmative. Sensors confirm one high-priority target. Preparing to engage." The Droid continued, not regarding her as he went about his duties. Sereva double-checked via a nearby droid's terminal, revealing to her, no Republic vessels, but the Overlord instead.
"High-priori-...?" She trailed off, now thoroughly confused. "Nomori, there's nothing around! Just the other ships!" She exclaimed.
"Your analysis is incorrect. Sensors indicate one enemy contact to starboard." Nomori replied, adamant in what information he had. Just what the virus wanted him to...
"Nomori what in the universe is wrong with you? There are no enemy vessels around!"
"Negative. One high-priority target has been confirmed off starboard side. Preparing to engage." Diving headlong into his insane action, Nomori started issuing far more severe orders. "Acquire targeting coordinates, charge up starboard ion cannon. All stations, prepare to open fi-" Nomori's head suddenly disappeared, destroyed by a shot fired from Sereva's blaster pistol.
"Belay that order!" She commanded, stowing her weapon back on her hip as the droid's body hit the deck. "As Fleet Admiral, I'm taking command of this vessel. Someone open a communication to the Overlord and the others, we need to make sure they aren't malfunctioning as well." The droids shared glances of momentary confusion before they shrugged and continued on, willingly respecting the chain of command. They sent messages to the other cruisers, the Lethan Twi'lek waiting rather anxiously for the results, although she never appeared to have lost her calm, authoritative behavior.
"Both Eradicator and Executioner report no more enemy hostiles in the area, Fleet Admiral." The communications droid finally reported after reading a message. Sereva breathed a sigh of relief. So far so good. "Incoming call from the Overlord." The droid continued.
"Put it through." The Twi'lek ordered, straightening her outfit after the last few frazzled minutes. The holodisplay before her flickered to life and revealed the head of another super tactical droid. "Zorecki, give me a status update on the Overlord. We ran into some trouble aboard the Behemoth and need to know if the others are suffering from it as well." She explained.
"Negative. No computational or structure inconsistencies have been detected." Zorecki declared. Sereva was just about ready to relax when Zorecki continued, "One enemy target had been confirmed off the port side. Preparing to engage."
"No, dammit! That's us! The Behemoth!" Sereva shouted.
"Negative. Sensors indicate one high-priority enemy target to port." Zorecki replied, adamant that he was reading the Republic ship and not a fellow Subjugator. Thinking quickly and recalling everything she'd learned about these ships from her time on the Dominance, Sereva put a plan into action that would, hopefully, spare them any further trouble.
"Droid, patch into the Overlord's network and upload a remote command to disable all weapons systems!" She ordered.
"Roger roger." The battle droid complied.
"Zorecki, you will stand down and power down your vessel immediately." She then ordered, trying to buy herself some time while simultaneously attempting to appeal to the droid's sense of hierarchy. Unfortunately, it didn't work.
"Negative. All other orders are to be disregarded in favor of priority directive."
"What priority directive?" She questioned.
"The extermination of all nearby hostiles." The communication suddenly cut, leaving Sereva alone to dwell on Zorecki's final words.
"He perceives us as a threat." She realized. Something in his programming must've switched his sensory understanding of the ships, marking them as Republic instead of Separatist. "Have all these damn tactical droids crossed their wires?" She wondered aloud, exasperated by the complications affecting what was supposed to be a routine inspection. "Have the Overlord's weapons been disabled?"
"Yes Ma'am." The droid responsible announced. "They won't be able to fire any of their weapons, not until they get a repair tech to remove the programming block." He explained, sounding quite proud of his work.
"Good. Contact dock security and have them send a detail up the bridge. Remove Zorecki and get that ship back under control." Sereva commanded. Hopefully this little incident could be cleaned up and easily explained. Perhaps things were returning to normal...
"Uh... Admiral? You may want to take a look at this." A droid manning the sensor array piped up.
Perhaps not.
Sereva strode over to him and checked his readings, noticing a very large energy spike, one that grew every second, had appeared on their port side.
"Is that coming from the Overlord?" She asked. The droid nodded.
"Sensors indicate power for the ion cannons is being redirected to the ship's central power cells. If all that ionic energy is condensed into too small a node, it'll create a chain reaction that will cause the ship to self-destruct from an overload! And the blast will destroy us along with it!" It exclaimed in a shrill voice as it read off the frightening report.
"As well as half the docking ring..." Sereva realized, coming to the conclusion that Zorecki had found a way around their weapons block... a suicidal one. "How much time do we have?"
"At this rate, not a lot." The droid stated. Thinking quickly, Sereva put a plan together. She needed to keep at least three of these cruisers safe, and even if she couldn't solve this problem, she could at least walk away with three out of four.
"Communications! Tell docking staff to get to the Overlord and fix it ASAP! Then contact the Eradicator and Executioner and have them prep for hyperspace! Navigation, plot a course to the nearest Separatist-aligned system and share it with the others. Hurry up and get us as far away from the Overlord as possible! There may be no saving it now." She ordered the staff. The droids all complied with monotone precision.
"Roger roger."
Minutes later, the Executioner, Eradicator and Behemoth pulled away from the docking ring and lifted off, coming together before blasting off into hyperspace, just as a white glow began to consume the Overlord. The glow grew brighter and brighter until a shockwave of destructive energy exploded out from the doomed Subjugator, reducing it to atoms while simultaneously turning the docking ring into nothing more than chunks of debris and pieces of wreckage that filled the space over Jhas.
The Separatists would get no more cruisers from here.
