Chapter 36

A month later, the orbit of Earth

Author's note: This is the longest chapter in the history of this fic! So I guess I should try and explain the differences between the canonical rebellion and the one I have in this story. Simply put the rebel alliance is far larger than is shown in the movies and TV, and therefore can take and hold territory for extended periods of time. They are much more like was shown in the book Twilight Company which mentions that the alliance committed thousands of ships and hundreds of battlegroups to an offensive. I won't get into specific numbers here, but first of all the Alliance Fleet would absolutely dwarf the size of Earth's fleet right now, and they also have the ability to take and hold territory. They control a number of the worlds that have major shipyards and industrial facilities such as Mon Cala, Sullust, and Lothal and while their industrial capacity is nowhere near that of the empire, it still is respectable. Most of the territory they currently hold is in the outer rim, and while the Empire still has a large presence in the region it is starting to fade. Recently the Alliance has started an offensive into the mid rim where the Empire has put fewer resources into defending.

While the alliance does have a large number of worlds that are directly occupied and controlled by them (with the consent of their population of course) there are a number of worlds that are either highly autonomous due to their power in within the Alliance (such as the Mon Cala, who while giving their naval power and industrial facilities to the Alliance have a disproportionate impact on decision making, which is probably due to the fact the Alliance holds its government and high command there) or simply independent and allied to them. Many of the Mandalorian Clans that are fighting the Empire are in this position, and Earth is fast turning into one of the larger of these.

Additionally, there are some changes in regards to some characters that survived or didn't. All the members of the Ghost crew from Star Wars Rebels are alive or have not disappeared, even though they may be working in different roles now. I will also mention that more Jedi are alive and are assisting the rebellion (though they are few in number). I intend to do a quasi rewrite of Star Wars rebels later on that will take place in this universe, but not be fully focused on the Ghost Crew. Some legends characters will be a major part of it, as well as a number of OC's.

That's all I'll mention. I don't' want to give out too much information as I will be writing more about this period and the period before at a later date (I might have a project in another universe that I will be published first) but I do expect this to come before the sequel to this fic because that mentioned sequel will involve a lot more of characters from both the original trilogy and to an extent rebels. I wonder if you can guess what is going to be happening there. *Wink

The Home One type Star Cruiser Home One, flagship of the Alliance Fleet emerged from hyperspace with the rest of its battlegroup in tow. Five other various Mon Calamari Star Cruisers along with a smattering of cruisers, frigates, and corvettes, and logistics and support vessels made up one of the rebellion's most potent battlegroups. Many of these ships were the same ones that had come to the relief of Earth during the second time the Empire had attempted to invade it. But the people who were on it were the main reason the fleet was here, though not the only one.

Several of the Alliance High Command's senior members, including its leader and commander in chief Mon Mothma, were coming to visit Earth. The other members present included Fleet Admiral and head of the Alliance Fleet Gial Ackbar, General Caralist reeken, who represented the Alliance Army, as well as General Datvis Draven, the second in command of Alliance Intelligence. Former Imperial Senator and Princess of Alderaan Leia Organa, who had previously visited the planet, was also coming, as her combination of diplomatic skills would be useful.

Several other people who were not members of the alliance high command would also become. Leia would of course be bringing along her bodyguard Han Solo. He had also been to Earth before and had a high opinion of their firearms and alcoholic beverages, but some poor thoughts on their anti-piracy laws. The squadron leader of the elite Rogue Squadron and Jedi Luke Skywalker would also be joining them. He would not be the only member of the mostly defunct order to join this mission. Jedi General Ezra Bridger, the man who had played a critical role in the liberation of Lothal several years ago, nearly sacrificing himself in a risky combat maneuver that involved the space whales known as Purgil and led to the decimation of the elite Imperial 7th Fleet under Grand Admiral Thrawn. This humiliation, as well as his ability to not stop or significantly slow the growth of the rebellion meant that he was reassigned to some sort of unknown region's expedition. While they didn't exactly know what he was doing in uncharted space, the Alliance was just happy that he was not commanding fleets against them.

The last major figure to come with the high command was not a member of the organization herself but essentially an honorary member with a good deal of respect within the high command. Sabine Wren, a Mandalorian warrior and leader of the powerful Wren Clan who before ascending to her current position had served as a member of the elite crew of the VCX 100 freighter Ghost, known as the Spectres. While she was still a member of that team, she was mostly busy as one of Mandalore Bo Katan Kyrse's top warriors, one of the Alliance's best allies who were not directly a member of them. She had been sent here by Katan to observe this new ally of the Alliance, who had performed stunning feats against the Empire.

While few Imperials outside the sectors near where Earth was in the process of attacking the Empire knew of the growing world, the exact opposite had happened in territories controlled by the rebellion which had free and uncensored communication with one another. Stories of Earth's massive gains in such a short time had led to a morale boost throughout the Alliance and its allied forces. And going forwards the Earth's endeavors deeper into the galaxy would likely lead to the Empire diverting fleets and armies to combat them instead of having them oppose the mid rim offensive that the alliance was undertaking.

There were a number of reasons that the officials who came decided to come. Mon and Leia had come to look at the political developments of the planet and the nature of its relationship with the rebellion, as well as that of the Free Confederacy as well as Illustrois's Tibannas Sector. They both wanted to secure trade deals that would allow for the purchase of much-needed Tibanna gas, which was used in a variety of roles including blaster ammunition. The generals and admirals, as well as Sabine, Ezra, and Luke were coming to look at Earth's military strength and assess it. The young Skywalker was interested in Earth's fighters, who had scored a simply legendary kill to death ratio that had been unheard of in recent galactic history.

Such a large fleet of ships would also not normally be used for escorting a diplomatic mission, but these ships were going to join the ongoing mid rim offensive against the Empire, led directly by Ackbar. These were all high-quality ships with crews that were hardened veterans, and they would make a significant contribution in the small area of operations they had been assigned by Ackbar. While the offensive already contained thousands upon thousands of ships and hundreds of battlegrounds, these elite forces would assault several worlds that had not been attacked yet and likely succeed. But first, it would be escorting the rebel officials to Earth.

The fleet emerged from hyperspace near Earth, giving the officials who stood on the ship's observation deck a birds-eye view of everything that was going on in orbit of the world. Massive shipyards and orbital factories churned out parts that would be used in the construction of starships, while hundreds or even thousands of shuttles and light transports took parts and supplies between the stations and the planet. There were several hundred operational ships in orbit, with over a hundred being combat-capable warships. Over time the proportion of ships being kept at Earth versus the rest it's occupied territories had decreased, with now only about 1 / 8 th of it's fleet in orbit of the homeworld.

Most of the ships in orbit were either being repaired or of the logistical and support variety. Many were assisting in one way or another with the construction of new ships.

"It's shipbuilding faculties have appeared to heavily increase," Ackbar said. "They won't be rivaling Mon Cala's anytime soon, but this level of growth is unprecedented on a galactic scale."

"I believe that this conflict is deeply personal to them. The Empire got close to occupying them twice and they want to never go anywhere near that reality." Leia said. "They understand that if they want to keep their independence and become a player on the galactic stage, they need a strong navy to do so."

"I have also heard of their ferocity on the ground," Sabine said. "They are a planet that has had very few years of peace in their history. Throughout their existence somewhere someone is fighting an armed conflict, and they have perfected it. They have not been like the old republic, which went millennia with only intermittent wars and small conflicts. But they understand when fighting will be to their detriment, as seen by how they have not fought a globe-spanning war in 80 years. I believe that Earth and Mandalore share many common values and practices." It was a sentiment that was echoed by those who lived on Mandalore, who seemed to have found a common cause with the planet. Great feats of martial skill did not go unnoticed by such a society, and this was one of the reasons the young but senior Mandalorian warrior was sent to this world.

"Perhaps most fascinating is that this planet has proven that democratic societies can both exist for a long time and have the drive to fight major wars," Mothma said. "While not entirely due to them, the democratic powers were the ones that stood victorious in the last major conflict the planet fought. It is a direct piece of evidence to counter the Imperial claims that a democracy can not fight a war with the same vigor as a dictatorship. And since that war was fought, the main power of the world was a democracy, and has been one of the largest contributors to the war effort against the Empire." There was a murmuring of agreement as the officials made their way from the observation deck down into Home One's extensive hanger to board a shuttle that would take them to Earth's surface.

"Do you sense anything in the Force, Ezra?" Sabine asked, turning to the young but mature and powerful Jedi.

"I feel… Something." He replied in a distant voice. "But I can't pin down what it is. The two different things I can feel here are that this place is important on many levels and will become even more so in the future, and that there is something here that we do not know yet, but has a presence in the force."

"I think I might know what you are sensing." General Draven said sarcastically. They were passing below the massive Bellator Dreadnaught that the planet had captured a month ago over Garnizon. There were a number of chuckles.

After a few moments, Luke spoke up. "In all seriousness, I feel the same." The young Jedi said. "If this place has a population of nearly eight billion, then wouldn't it be likely there are at least a few force sensitives on this planet?" He said excitedly.

"There may very well be, but finding them might be difficult. Unless we are able to directly sense them within the area, there would have to be tested to determine the midi-chlorian count. Creating tests like that would not be difficult, but distributing them all over the world would take years if not decades." Ezra said calmly.

Soon the shuttle had descended down from the atmosphere and set down on top of a large building, the headquarters of the nongovernmental organization that was not starting to take the form of a government and was responsible for the overseeing of Earth's interactions with outside entities. The United Nations.

They were met by a number of figures, mostly guards and other support personnel. But the central person was none other than Fleet Admiral William Johnson.

"Welcome to Earth, Senator, Admiral, Generals, Princess, Masters, Mr. Solo and Clan Leader Wren. everyone." He said. "Earth is honored to host such distinguished guests of the rebellion." He led them down into the building. "Secretary-General Pierre is glad to see all of you again and meet some new faces.

"Your fleet has made great strides since we saw you last. In such a short time you have managed to grow so much." Ackbar said as they were led to the Secretary General's office.

"Our planet knows what the Empire will do to us if they break through our defenses and occupy us. We have sworn to do everything in our power to prevent this." Johnson said.

"Isn't he a little young for an Admiral, much less commander of their entire fleet?" General Draven whispered to Mon Mothma, just out of earshot of the young admiral.

"He's the one who planned the entire offensive that captured the Zoloch Sector in a matter of weeks with only minimal losses. Whatever his age he is doesn't matter." Mothma responded in a whisper.

They soon arrived at the office of the Secretary General. Albert Pierre shook all of the visitor's hands and greeted them warmly.

"It's good to see all of you." He said, and engaged in some light small talk with the rebel delegation. Most of the important events would take place the next day however, as Mothma and Organa would be speaking in front of the UN General Assembly and the officers would be touring a variety of installations both on the planet and in space.

Johnson then was tasked with escorting the delegation to their respective quarters. However, Ackbar had been particularly interested in the plans he had drawn up for Operation Vengeance, the offensive into the Zoloch Sector. So Johnson had decided to show him the plans in the quarters. After showing the Alliance's seniormost naval officer his quarters, he took him back to his to show him the plans.

When they reached Johnson's quarters, he hoped that Allison would be decent inside it. They had been unofficially cohabitating since he had returned to Earth, and he hoped that Ackbar would not think poorly of him. Johnson knocked and then entered, to find Allison reading over the schematics of one of Earth's new ships.

Noticing the presence of the Alliance Admiral, she turned around and got up.

"Admiral, it's good to see you again." She held out her hand at the Mon Calamari, who shook it.

"I'm pleased to see you again, Admiral. Congratulations on your promotion." He said. "General Blissex told me about how impressive your ship designs were.

She chuckled. "I wouldn't have been able to do it without it." do it without him. He provided invaluable help in the early designs." The young woman moved towards the door. "I'm sure you have important matters to discuss." She said as she left the room.

"To use an Earthen description, are you two a thing?" Ackbar asked.

Will chuckled. "Yes, since a little after the second time the Empire attacked.

"I don't know her well, but based on what Blissex said I am pretty sure you made the right choice." Ackbar said in his gruff voice. His attention moved to the rest of the quarters which contained several rooms. It was fairly sparsely decorated, with the exception of a large portrait of Alfred Mahan, the author of the famous 19th century book The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. Beside it was a large bookshelf with a variety of titles, mostly nonfiction to tiles about history as well as military and political theory.

"I read Mahan's book on the influence of seapower, and I believe that it contains invaluable opinions that are still relevant within space." Ackbar said.

"That is exactly why I have that painting here." Johnson said. He moved over to a computer that was stationed at one of the desks and pulled up several maps, which he then displayed on a large television screen.

"This is Earth in relation to the Zoloch Sector." Johnson said. "It's only a few hyperspace jumps through wild systems to get from us to the tip of the Zoloch Sector, which makes an invasion easier but also helps shield us. After the second battle we extended our ring of sensor nets and surveillance equipment to detect anything in these remote systems. One of the most critical parts to any operation as you know is intelligence. Due to how much we were cut off from the galaxy, any significant usage of human intelligence was not going to be realistic until much further in the campaign. But we had managed to produce a number of small drones with powerful sensor arrays and long range cameras. They would leave hyperspace out of the Empire's detection range and then travel at sublight speeds until they gathered the needed intelligence, and usually stay there to inform us of any new developments. I had one sent to every major system and most of the minor ones throughout the sector."

"These probes showed us some astonishing results, that the Zoloch sector fleet' operational Star Destroyers were at half of their normal strength and that the escorts were only in a slightly better position. Another area that we had managed to gain significant strength in was electronic warfare, and we were able to hack and monitor Imperial communications. We learned that there was a local resistance group known as the Free Confederacy that had been responsible for the destruction of a number of the ships that we had not been able to account for. We also learned that a task force led by a and that included an interdictor cruiser would be reinforcing the sector fleet, only a little bit after our new Revenge Class Battleship would be operational. We attacked the fleet and destroyed or captured a number of the ships, including the interdictor cruiser. It also gave us experience with the new battleship and allowed us the ability to work out its design flaws before it saw heavy combat." Johnson paused before continuing.

"We were able to deploy two teams of special forces to make contact with local resistance movements on the sector's two most important worlds, Garnizon II and Zoloch Prime. They were able to locate the groups and make contact with them, allowing us to contact and meet with the Free Confederacy's leader, Admiral Zut Gorky. He was receptive to our attack, and it allowed us to attack the Empire on several fronts at the same time." Johnson said. "The special forces teams stayed on the worlds and when we began to attack the sector forces they assassinated several key members of the sector's leadership and paved the way for our larger ground forces to later attack them on the ground. Meanwhile, in space, our forces were able to attack a few remote Imperial systems and due to our captured interdictor cruiser were able to prevent them from leaving. Our electronic warfare superiority also allowed us to jam any outgoing transmissions, preventing the signaling of reinforcements. Three systems were able to be captured before the Empire knew anything was happening."

"This I assume puts you in a good position," Akbar said.

"Indeed. The Empire had no idea we were coming. And when they responded to us, it meant that the Free Confederacy was able to take advantage and launch flanking attacks on the rearward Imperial positions. The Imperial fleet was already under strength and had no idea the attack was coming. They were unable to put up an effective defense with our fleet constantly attacking them. During the First Battle of Garnizon, they did pull a few tricks on us but were unable to stop us or even inflict significant damage on the fleet. It was then three months before the Imperiled counter-attack and while some of the battles were close we managed to hold almost all the major systems. And Illustrious was able to aid us where we needed it and advance with the Imperial sector forces occupied by us, and deliver crippling losses. Several of the Imperial Sectors are in as bad of a position now as the Zoloch Sector force was right before we attacked." Johnson said.

"And with the added industrial capacity of the Zoloch Sector as well as a pool of people who are eager to help us and see us as liberators, we have regained the strength we lost due to the Imperial counterattack. We have already begun to attack these weakened sectors, and we hope to take as much as possible before they reinforce or we overextend ourselves."

"Fascinating," Ackbar said. "Earth's fleet seems to have a good grasp of the strategic sense of a war, but what about the tactical aspect?"

"In that regard, I studied the tactics you and other major rebel fleet commanders have used, such as those of Admiral Raddus, Admiral Eclipse, and Commander Sato. The role of starfighters was inspired by that of the Alliance, with some changes. One of the staples of modern air combat in our world were missiles that could engage other fighters from dozens of miles away. Since Imperial fighters lack any form of electronic countermeasures we were able to shoot them down with ease as well as bombard their capital ships with long-range missiles. And as you know, the Imperial Star Destroyer is a poor platform when it comes to point defense." Johnson said. "As for capital ships, Allison can fill you in on design specifics but essentially they have the role of anti-capital fighting above all else, and can punch above their weight, especially at long range. Many of our corvettes for example carry heavy anti-ship missiles and torpedoes along with a large gun armament for their sizes and were used to devastating effect in several battles. Of course, some serve in an escort role, designed to shoot down incoming fighters and missiles but our fighters are easily able to take care of this and missiles. Even if they happen to slip by the fighters, all of our combat vessels have adequate point defense weaponry, unlike many Imperial ships." Johnson said.

"I would not expect a planet so isolated and technologically primitive by galactic standards to have such an advanced military as well as a well-thought-out doctrine for it," Ackbar said.

Johnson chuckled. "Well Admiral, there have been few years in our recent history that no armed conflict or war was fought. We know how to fight, and have been doing it constantly since we became a species, unlike the Republic, which languished under a thousand years of peace with only a regional conflict here and there with nothing large until the Clone Wars. And when humanity sees that survival will only be gained by fighting, well, I would not like to be on their opposing side. It is why we have come so far in such a short time." He said.

"I believe it is getting late Admiral," Ackbar said. "I intend to return to my quarters."

"Do you know the way or should I show you?" Johnson said.

"I know where I am going." Both of them got up and shook hands, and Johnson was surprised at how to form the fish-like skin was.

"It's been a pleasure talking to you Admiral," Johnson said.

"The pleasure has been mine." The mon calamari admiral said and left.

A few minutes later Allison re-entered the room and began to move close to Johnson.

"How was Ackbar?" She said,

"I can learn a lot from him, and he is a better Admiral than me," Johnson said. "But I feel that he is impressed with me, and with time I believe he will become a good friend."

"Not as good as I am I hope." She teased.

"You're different." He said as he began to kiss her. "I'm not into fish."