Many thanks to those who continue to review, were are on the home stretch for RoDV, with this and ten chapters remaining. in lue of this, and the fact that i will start writing the final part of the trilogy soon, I placed a poll on my profile that I would be most appreciateive if people went and voted on. it has to do with what characters you'd want to see more perspective writing from, should they survive into the third book. with that important announcement stated, on with the chapter, and as always, i hope you enjoy it! ~F
Chapter Fifty Two
A Twist of the Knife
Gor-lak smiled to himself as the fleet emerged from Hyperspace with the terrestrial world of Carida before them. A powerfully important world to the Republic, as it housed some of their elite military academies and weapon depots, the Master of Cruelty was going to be pleased to level it completely.
A heavy blow indeed, and all the fools thinking that the Armada of the Sith would pass by them unscathed as they battled the newly revealed monstrous ship of their precious Republic. First that needed to fall were the outlying sentry posts that orbited the planet, long before they could signal the Republic and summon reinforcements.
The main cruiser of the Dread Seeker fleet therefore initiated jamming sequences immediately, while the escort ships and fighters swarmed out to engage the four smaller stations and their garrison of fighters and small corvettes.
How Gor-lak wished that they had time to actually take control of the orbital defenses, as it would secure the world much better than just destroying them, but they had to move on as quickly as possible to engage the Hok system beyond Carida, to push the blade of their attack even further before the Republic could react to their change of strategy.
Over the scramble of chatter that the various wings of fighters and other ships were bouncing back and forth throughout this battle, the ork mind within its human shell paced back and forth, allowing his brilliant mind to wander. A thought that had been brewing for some time resurfaced, that of the myriad of species that this Galaxy housed, and the possibility, however faint, of finding a host more suitable to his original form, stronger physically and more menacing that could house his spirit more comfortably than the weak human that he had had to settle for.
Gor-lak had taken careful time to seek out the various races in every directory that he could, and thus far had found nothing that suited his needs, but he was not yet without hope, and there were a few that would be acceptable alternatives, much more adaptable than the human form he had now, but there would be potential complications. This form at least could handle his abilities with his Sorcery, whereas others may not be receptive. It would be unfortunate to be trapped within a body without his full range of capabilities.
Perhaps it was time to petition the Emperor for a constructed body for his use, arranged and created by the secretive and powerful Sith Alchemy, that would be tailored to match him perfectly, but he was not sure whether the powerful human would be appreciative of the ork's sudden desire to be at his full strength once more, especially if he could be viewed as a rival.
Not that that would ever be the case, as Gor-lak knew when he was beaten, now at least, and he stood absolutely no chance against this Empire, with its fanatical loyalty to those of the Dark Side of the Force, especially the Emperor himself. He would find himself betrayed and dead within hours of any sort of treasonous action, and he knew it.
Therefore, better to make certain that he was loyal supporter, and then ask his favor of the victorious Emperor once the Galaxy was his fully. It would be best, but in the meantime he would continue to seek out the correct species to closely portray his original form.
The massive explosion as one of the orbital platforms ruptured brought him slowly back to the moment at hand, even as many of the other leading officers congratulated themselves on a progressing victory, but Gor-lak noticed the steady stream of new fighters stemming from the planet itself.
The battle was far from over yet, and soon they would have to go planetside, or bombard them from orbit until the world surrendered. This was further proven true, when from the direction they had come, out of Hyperspace came a massive Republic cruiser, fully armed with a fleet of smaller ships around it.
"I thought no transmissions got through your jamming," Gor-lak demanded as the Republic fleet started its attack run, and the other aspects of the Dread Seeker reformed around their command ship to protect them.
"I swear, nothing did, this must be a reconnaissance mission from the Core," the officer in charge of the jamming systems assured him, and Gor-lak chose to believe the man for the time being, as there were more pressing matters than punishing an officer.
"Turn about, being all forward weaponry to bare, I want this pesky fleet neutralized so we can return to the planet and get this over with," Gor-lak demanded, watching as a fresh wave of fighters were launched from his ships, flying out to content directly with the Republic fleet and their new surge of armaments.
The ork had to admit, whoever designed the new weaponry of the Republic knew what they were doing to counter the old tech of the Empire, and had their fleets not been upgraded when they joined with the Armada, Gor-lak would have been sorely outmatched.
But their heavy shields were now able to take the brunt of the heavy lances that the Republic cruiser shot out, missiles and other ordinances being shot out of the air with pinpointed laser fire and retaliating.
The only thing that seemed to still be an issue was the massive shield projection that the Republic had worked into every ship larger than a fighter, and it was tough to break through with most weaponry, which was why Gor-lak had demanded that every potential ability be researched and upgraded on his fighters, that they might get around those shields and attack the vulnerable ship behind them.
He was already seeing the reward of that purpose first hand, as their snub fighters tore through the Republic's and circled around to harass the larger ships, clearing the way for their bomber to make for the command ship, specifically the mount that held the shield projection. Within moments that pesky field would be down, and the battle would be engaged in earnest.
"Prepare all weaponry to fire on the command ship, I want it torn down the moment that shield drops," Gor-lak commanded, shifting to look at the holographic display the monitored the entire battle around them.
Only moments after his declaration, the shield brightened to a white intensity before failing completely as the bombers succeeded in their task. "Open fire!" Gor-lak directed, pointing at their target on the holographic display, even as the entire Dread Seeker command ship unleashed every weapon in its arsenal upon the Republic ship.
The hull of the enemy ship seemed to be extremely durable, as a solid ten second of the bombardment was required to even start to show signs of damage on the ship. If they weren't in his way, Gor-lak would have been impressed with the craftsmanship of the ship, but he merely ordered for his engineers to intensify the forward firepower, and punch their way through the fleet.
A pair of their corvettes, their captains clearly mad with the desire to get into Gor-lak's good graces, charged the bombarded ship, laser fire spewing in all directions from their multiple gun ports. "What are they doing?" several officers declared in surprise, even as escape pods jettisoned from the small ships over the hull of the Republic command ship.
"They are being brilliant," Gor-lak replied, seeing the tactic moments before the first few exploded on contact with the enemy. "Bring those captains to me once this battle is over and we are underway to the next target, they've earned their reward for their mad heroism."
Thoroughly damaged from the explosive packed pods, the Republic ship was quickly neutralized by the heavy fire from the Dread Seeker and started to come apart from internal explosions. While the escort fleet went in to mop up the smaller craft, Gor-lak had their main ships turn back to the planet and commence the bombardment from orbit, softening up the populace into accepting their new masters.
Only if they continued to resist would he give the order for landfall, but he was hopeful that the extensive space conflict would teach them that victory against the Sith was a fruitless undertaking.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~line break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Hermione was pleasantly surprised that Draco had come to visit, and congratulate her on the success her ship had in pushing back the Sith advance, as well as introduce some of her more generous backers, who had gone through extraordinary leaps to make sure that she had all the facilities that she could possible need.
She was as polite as she could muster, in the midst of many new ideas swarming her mind of the condition of the standard Republic trooper and their needs and comforts that ought to be better met. Courteously, she offered to let them all watch her develop one of these prototypes, as an idea of what their money was paying into, and the group happily accepted, watching from behind a protective screen as she wove her wand in spirals, conjuring and manipulating several large piles of scrap from various materials into a complex case, which would unfold into a private refresher and contained several other items for personal grooming that she felt would be sorely lacking on a battlefield.
"For extended campaigns planetside," she explained as she added some other touches, etching runes into the side with her wand, "I was thinking that some sort of portable device to help keep our soldiers at their cleanliness would assist with moral, as well as give them the peace of mind to fight at optimum effectiveness."
Many of the Senators were muttering happily among themselves, clearly speaking of the great boon that such a devise would have on their armies, when Severus burst into the room from the rear doors, waving his wand to close and seal them from the inside, and summoning two of the security droids from their bays to guard the doors.
"Severus? What's going on?" Hermione asked, exiting her experimenting theatre, and watching her chief of security fly about the room, setting her Jedi guard on edge, even as they too turne to the doors and unclipped their weapons.
"There are assassins in the building," he mentioned quickly, to the shocked gasp of the assembled politicians, "I cannot determine if they seek you Director, or the Chancellor, but in any case we need to get you all out of here now. I've blocked them as every turn I could manage in getting up here as swiftly as possible, but they are not far behind me," Severus said, gesturing for them to make to the private stairs to Hermione's personal escape shuttle.
After the madness at New Terra, both Lord Berethon of the Jedi and Severus had agreed that it was in her best interest to always have a secret means of escape handy, just in case the Sith came for her once again, and it seemed that this was the case once more.
But who knew what the ruffians would do to her precious facility if she left it. "No, I will stand and fight." She declared, stopping all others in their tracks as she stood firm, "I will not lose another facility to my enemies. If they want me, then they will have to carry me out of here in a body bag first!"
And before anyone could stop her, she went to her desk and slammed a secret button that she had prepared, which opened a swiveling section of a personal bookshelf, revealing a full suit of heavy combat armor, and several repeating weapons. "Get the Chancellor and the Senators to my shuttle, and return them to the Senate Rotunda, they will be more than safe there. I will block the way if they are after Draco, and if they are after me, well… then they will find that I am more than they bargained for."
"Director, we must protest," one of the Corellian Jedi spoke up, but Hermione cut off the human Jedi, "I will not flee like some flighty bird from their nest and abandon my children, the war effort requires hard choices, Master Jedi, and I will stick to my resolve. Now prepare!" she declared, even as the door to the offices started to hiss and sputter as something began cutting its way through.
"You heard the lady, move Senators," Draco said hurriedly, guiding the other politicians from the room, and thanking her silently with his eyes, he departed.
"This is most unwise," Severus said as he came to stand beside her, taking up a blaster in one arm and his wand held in the other.
"Perhaps, but it is not what they would expect to happen." Hermione retorted, strapping the last of the armor onto herself and shouldering the remaining weapon, her own wand in hand.
"It is not the assassins that I fear, but whoever sent them, who likely is watching them even now, who will try again later with a better plan." Severus countered.
"War is, as you explained the Dark Arts to be, a many headed monster that adapts when you sever a single head, to which we must adapt in response to." Hermione said, throwing age old words back at the man, when he was helping her refine her abilities to fight the Dark Arts that seemed to be integral parts of the technology of the Sith.
Whatever else that they might have wanted to discuss had to be forestalled, as at that moment the door to her private offices and lab were cut apart, and fell with a crash into the room. Robed and armored men ran through, and Hermione gave them no time to prepare, "You will be paying for that door!" she shouted, opening fire with her repeating blaster and sniping off spells with her wand.
The first two assassins went down from the intense barrage that came from not only Hermione, but the two security droids, before the remaining three wised up to the ambush and started throwing in grenades. The destruction of her lab was not acceptable, so with a flick of her wand Hermione banished them all back into the corridor angrily, before sending a stream of blaster fire behind them to prevent the assassins to retreat into the room.
The muted screams and explosions were enough to tell her that the attack from that side was diverted for the time being, and she sent the two security droids to mop them up.
"That was too easy," Severus commented, waving his wand through the air to monitor that area around them, "they couldn't be giving up so quickly, keep your guard up…"
Hermione nodded, fanning out to see if there was more coming from different direction. Her large upper offices had large windows, which would be ideal to attack, but no matter where she went and looked.
"Just as I fear," Severus said as they confirmed that there were no more coming for them. "This was a probe of our defenses, which means that the target is you and not the Chancellor."
"Then we will simply need to prepare some new defensive measures that will be sure to throw off anyone who wants to infiltrate my complex and assault my people in an effort to reach me.
Severus seemed to understand completely, and nodded as he went to deal with damage control for the initial break in. meanwhile, Hermione turned her attention to more pressing matters, jotting her ideas down in a datapad to work on later for the survival and comfort of their armies. She had security of her facility and personnel to be concerned with now, and all her time and energy needed to concentrate on that foremost.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~line break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The other Senators were all speaking in low voices, wondering what they ought to do in regards to the attack that they had easily seen as Granger's shuttle vacated the building, but Anguis was silent. He knew that the people he had hired were incompetent, and under qualified to pull off such an endeavor, which was why he had selected them.
Regardless of how they performed however, the data he collected from the monitored equipment he had supplied them gave him a goldmine of information regarding the facilities defenses. In addition, it kept both Granger and Severus from thinking that he would have anything hostile against them, which was an additional plus to the concept.
He had been extremely put out that his old Head of House wanted nothing to do with him, all for the foolishness of his youth to bind himself to Potter, but there was little that he could do regarding that now, and for what it was worth it led to much success for the Galaxy as a whole.
But, schemes were as they ought to be, and he had to make sure that all end tied back to his gain in the end. His own augmented droids were now safely inside Granger's facilities, and would be able to lift some of the secrets of her new war droids for him, to implement on his eventual attack on the Jedi Temple.
The Jedi Knight he had started to reach out to was playing like a marionette that he held the strings of, giving him secrets of both Veneficus and the Temple, drawing closer and closer to the exact things he wanted to know, and his spies inside the temple were quickly finding other methods of entry that would allow him, or whatever group of assassins he chose from, to enter without fail.
Colin would have been ideal for this work, but his fanatical loyalty to Veneficus meant that he would have been gunning for Anguis' head over all else, as a traitor to the cause, the younger man being unable to understand how badly the Sith Lord had destroyed his life.
It was better to deal with incompetent substitutes rather than that fool, in the end, but Anguis was frantically looking for any bounty hunter or assassin that would be capable of fulfilling the job he had for them. Sybill Trelawney had to die, and soon, before she divined the true reasons for all the darkness that remained on the Capital. He had received another missive from her, encompassing a grand foretelling of the progress of the war up to this point and a bit beyond, as well as subtle threats of his own malice being the cause of the Republic's fall, and she was driving too close to the truth, it was only a matter of time before the Seer started to recall her own prophecies and tell them to the Jedi.
And knowing their prejudices and unfailing weakness, they would not tolerate working with anyone that followed the Dark Side, even though there was only a flimsy law, thousands of years old, that forbade the Sith specifically from taking part in the governing of the Republic. As technically Anguis was not Sith, Veneficus had seen to that, he would not fall under that law, but he seriously doubted that the Jedi would view him any differently than Veneficus himself at the head of the Republic.
Secrecy had to be maintained at all costs. All the more point toward Anguis' feint toward attacking Granger, as now Severus' every thought and action would be in further protecting her, rather than spent at the Jedi Temple where Anguis hoped to make his next move.
Gesturing to one of his personal aides as the shuttle came closer to the Rotunda, he mentioned casually to set up another meeting with his Jedi Knight friend. It was past time that he pushed a bit more for specifics, such as the routines of the Jedi Masters and their Mage-born guests.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~line break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Veneficus watched the display as his ground forces swept their way across the surface of Sakiya. He had commanded that his forces unleash the full horrific might of the Apex upon this world, and allow the Hutt Cartel to see the devastating firepower of the Sith Lord and his Empire.
The natives would run, but once in the open, a single blast of the main cannon would devastate their communities, as well as whatever terrain they happened to be crossing as the fled from his armies. Soon enough the world would surrender completely to him, and their presence in Hutt Space would proceed unchallenged.
Granted, the Hutts had already sent a fleet to try and stop them, but the pitiful resistance was swept aside by the superior firepower of the main capital ship of the Sith war machine.
In order to sow even more chaos and confusion among their forces, Veneficus opened a long range comm channel to the other fleets surrounding the worlds they controlled on the outskirts of the region, signaling them to attack the outer fringe worlds of the Hutts, namely the worlds of Teth, Nar Kaaga, Nar Haaska, and Toydaria.
These several attacks would coincide once Veneficus' fleet moved in on the next world toward Nal Hutta, a system known as Varl.
Once those commands were sent, while Veneficus returned to watching the progress of the land battle below, another communication came in. "Your Majesty, we've received news that the Hapes Consortium has fallen to the Empire, and we control their capital world."
"And their Empress?" Veneficus questioned, turning to look at the officer, who relayed the question.
"Captured and en route to Dromund Kaas as a political prisoner to keep to locals in check," the officer reported, and the Sith Lord nodded, pleased at the news.
"Good, have the battle fleet move down and attack the Republic at Cato Neimoidia," Veneficus commanded. The battle there had been going slowly since the Republic started pushing back at their attacks, and the added usefulness of the Adept Trio, as he called them, would be useful in defeating Flitwick's fleet, who had been holding the Empire at Commenor for a time now.
The dueling champion seemed to have quickly grasped the tactics of space combat, as well as utilizing Granger's upgraded ships to their fullest extent.
Veneficus knew that with their main attack forces concerned with Diábolis and the Dauntless that either of these other prongs would be the most effective means of penetrating the Core. He himself was already planning to strike from the northern sections of the Galaxy, countering McGonagall's attack group, and opening up the Republic like the oyster shell that it promised to be.
"Your Majesty, another segment of the planet has surrendered," reported one of the group operatives, and Veneficus nodded to himself. That made over seventy percent of the planet his now.
"Pull back the invasion forces and set down the permanent garrison, the remaining thirty percent of the planet will fall in time, so we can move on to Varl, and increase pressure on the Hutt Cartel." Veneficus commanded, sensing the need for them to get a move on before the Hutts could regroup and strike again.
Once didn't need the unlimited power of the Dark Side to know that the slugs would be planning something to try and stop the Apex specifically, but Veneficus hoped that his other attacks across the sector of space would assist in preventing the Hutts from amassing too much in their defense.
Fingering the empowered scepter in his hand, Veneficus wondered what the effects would be if he unleashed its might upon the stolen homeworld of the Hutts. It was unlikely that it would fracture the planet or something, but the effects of a torrent of pure Dark Side energy would be interesting to study.
Naturally that was unless the Hutts backed down and surrendered quietly beforehand, which according to Veneficus' vision was likely, as they played no major role in the destruction of the Republic, for or against, so it seemed clear that they would be either wiped out, which he doubted that the Hutts would allow, or suitably cowed into submission and rendered harmless to the Empire.
Soon enough the shuttles heading to and from the planet ceased, and the transfer of forces to the fleet and the placement of the garrison was completed. "Shall we plot course to Varl, my Lord?" the commander requested, turning to Veneficus.
"Proceed commander, we shall quickly crush the Cartel and return to our true enemy," Veneficus acknowledged, watching as the Apex started the long, laborious turn toward the center of Hutt space, and pulled the stars into lines as they entered the vortex of Hyperspace.
"Activate system wide time distortion," Veneficus commanded, signaling what they had officially called the ship's time turner, which allowed them to engage two places at once. They would first be heading toward Varl and defeating whatever forces awaited them, technically before the ever left Sakiya, which would head off most of the reinforcements from Nal Hutta that sought to hinder them from first entering Hutt Space.
Even as they neared the system of Varl, Veneficus sensed something amiss, "Bring forward shields online, just before we exit from Hyperspace," he commanded, wanting to be prepared for anything just in case.
Obeying without question, the crew were rewarded with the glorious vision of their ship emerging just in time to physically impact several smaller ships, all part of a large Hutt fleet, which had been preparing to ambush them back at Sakiya. Their arrival was such a surprise that only a meager handful of the ships slipped past them, unable to abort their jump, while many more were cut off from their goal, and now were forced to face the Sith Fleet directly.
"Eliminate them," Veneficus said simply, eagerly awaiting the bloodshed to come, but keeping his face impartial.
Alarms blared throughout the ship, signally for the crew to man their battle stations, and for Dark Adepts and Imperial Pilots alike to man their fighters, launching in swarms to overrun these pirates and security forces that served the Hutts.
The mercenary forces stood no chance, truly, against the military might of the Empire, and yet they continued to struggle against them. Veneficus was not aware what possessed the fools to fight. Were not their deaths worth something to them? Nevertheless, it was not something he was going to concern himself with.
The angular Imperial fighters darted through the marginally larger patrol craft of the Cartel fleet, tearing ships apart at random, waiting for the fight to bleed out of these worthless mongrels and for them to flee like the whipped dogs that they were.
"Shall we open fire with all batteries my Lord?" Commander Jhetc inquired, but Veneficus held him back.
"No, let them know of their folly in challenging up by our fighters alone. Concentrate our efforts on taking the planet. Move into range and begin bombardment of the light colonies on the planet." He commanded.
Technically Varl was a lifeless rock in space, but like many things uninhabitable it had significant value nonetheless. Veneficus had study the history of many races, and knew that the Hutts called Varl their true homeworld, destroyed by some catastrophe or another, but still they held the world sacred, and tried to keep other ships from coming near to it.
By doing just that, and metaphorically holding a gun to the head of such a significant place to the slugs, Veneficus hoped that they would at least give pause to further conflict, however much that may buy them out of their total destruction.
Even as they came into range, the communications officer approached, bowing low to Veneficus. "We're receiving long range communications from across Hutt Space, it seems that the Founding Families of the Cartel have come out of hiding at last, your Majesty."
The Emperor smirked, gesturing for them to be put through. Holograms appeared at even intervals around his throne, as countless Hutts of great or small statue, and girth, appeared, all looking horrified and appalled at his actions.
The first ones began to burble in their language, but Veneficus silenced them with a wave of his hand, "Speak basic, I know that most of you are capable of it, and this is the fate of your ancestral homeworld we are discussing. If you are here to negotiate my demands, then you will respect me and not try to hide behind the imaginations of a language barrier." He demanded.
They were effectively silenced, until one seemed to be nominated as their collective spokesman, and started once more with a more hesitant voice, "You cannot do this, sacred Varl has been recognized be all societies as an off limit world to all but those that the Cartel have chosen to live upon its surface."
"The Empire recognizes no such thing," Veneficus countered, "I have it on authority that you supported my enemies in this war, and therefore have made yourselves the enemy of the Empire. Was I mistaken?" he challenged, knowing that they had no claim to the opposite. "Unless the Cartel surrender in full to my Empire this instant, I will obliterate this planet, and move on to Nal Hutta immediately, wiping out every last Hutt that I encountered until your race is extinct. And only then will I turn my attention back to flattening the Republic that you so foolishly thought you could double deal with and still remain neutral in my war."
It seemed almost as though the Hutts were considering fighting to the death, but in the end they folded just as Veneficus figured that they would. "The Hutt Cartel yield to you, Emperor. We will take no more part in this war for either side," the spokesman said, even as the last of the ships guarding Varl withdrew from combat to a respectable distance from the Imperial fleet.
"There will also be significant requirements of raw materials from your worlds," Veneficus continued, knowing that the slugs would hope to get off easily with their worlds and power intact, "Governors that report to the Empire will be stations on all your worlds to... oversee this collection during the course of the war, and when I emerge victorious, we shall them incorporate Hutt space fully into my Empire."
The Hutts were clearly displeased with the demands, but agreed… grudgingly, to the terms. Veneficus doubted that it would last terribly long, but all he needed was for the Hutts to stand down for the remainder of the time he required to dismantle the Republic and rebuild it in his image, then he could eliminate the gangsters once and for all.
"Who knew that even vile scum and Gangsters had things that they held dear…" he commented to himself as he closed communications with the Cartel leaders. "Leave a portion of the excess fleet to maintain our dominance here, and press on to Nal Hutta, I will need to make sure that they intend to keep their world, as well as drop staff enough to make sure that our will is enforced here." he commanded.
Personally, he had been ready for more bloodshed than the Hutts were willing to tolerate, but it seemed that in the end, threats and terror won out over sheer destruction yet again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~line break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Luna could sense that something was wrong the moment they entered the Castell system. Despite the heavy Imperial presence, there was a distinct lack of ships that she had almost come to recognize in the course of their battles across the Galaxy.
"General, sensors report only twenty-two percent of the tallied ships of the Sith Armada in the system," one of the droid engineers of the Hope's Radiance said moments after they exited Hyperspace, confirming the doubts that had immediately surged into the Jedi Master's mind.
"They're trying to divert around us, or strike at more planets while we are otherwise engaged here," she surmised.
Even the massive command ship, the Dauntless, wasn't present, likely falling back another planet to pick up even more reinforcements while they were fighting here. Luna knew that they had little choice but to engage these ships, which looked to be the stragglers and damaged cruisers of previous battles, but that didn't mean that she had to allow the systems on either side perish as she made for the leadership of the Imperial fleet.
"I want several fleets to fan out and find where they have gone to, as I can sense that the Sith are trying to cause more harm to the Galaxy while we are distracted here, all other ships forward, we still need to push them from Castell, and retake the world. We'll send them a message that the Republic is not beaten just yet!" she commanded, and four fleets splintered from the sides of her battle group, two each turning to enter Hyperspace to the nearest systems on the edge of the Colonies.
They needed this victory badly, to show that they were capable of not only holding the Sith forces back, as they were managing at other points along the boundary of the Core, but could push them back toward the Outer Rim, and hypothetically take the fight to their own worlds.
Even as she thought of this however, a sense of trepidation rang through the Force for Luna, and she felt heavily in her heart that such was not to be the fate of the Republic at this time. she refused to allow herself to doubt that they would win in the end, but even amid the hopelessness that seemed to be their struggle, at least they would make a stand here and now for what was right.
Frigates and fighters surged forward toward the humbled and damaged Imperial ships, with the heavy cruisers following behind, surrounding the gargantuan of the Hope's Radiance as they went into to attack.
"Send shuttles down to the planet, I don't doubt that there's more than just an Imperial garrison on the planet for us to deal with, and we will need every ground force we can muster to drive them from the planet." Luna ordered, and the droids spread the word throughout the fleet.
While Luna had not commented about the significant droid presence of the massive lead ship she now commanded, she found it highly unusual, but refreshing. While she cared for the peoples of the Republic, and therefore all life, it was good to feel that they were not endangered by being on board, and that droids would take the brunt of the danger that was commonly associated with being near one of the Sith Emperor's hated foes.
It would certainly make it easier for her to give the command to attack whenever the Hope's Radiance finally came into contact with the Emperor's flagship, the Apex.
Once that day happened, Luna would happily toss aside all reason and charge into try and save her Padawan from the madman's clutches. That was, if the boy still lived. There was barely a whisper from the old connection between master and Padawan anymore, pain or otherwise. Luna hoped that the boy still lived, but it was growing fainter to try and determine anything about where he was or how Leon was faring.
Turning to another of the droids, who all more or less shared responsibilities about the ship, Luna commanded, "I want a batallion of ground combat droids prepared and waiting, I will be going planetside personally to make sure that the Imperials are routed from the planet.
"Yes, General, it will be done," the droid responded obediently. Leaving the small command structure of her old crew from the Vindication, Yoda having returned to his own ship, where the goblin felt more comfortable among a living crew, Luna made her way to the spacious hangar bay, where modified and heavily armored assault shuttles were already being prepped for departure.
The combat droids didn't look like much, but with Hermione's ingenuity, Luna had quickly learned to not judge things on their appearance. The literal magic that that woman could weave with a wand was truly astounding; in both the depth of complexity and the speed in which she could produce things, between herself and her personally trained assistants. Luna had learned to just not question whether the woman could make things happen when they were needed, or even when they weren't.
To think that she was constantly working on some project or another, Luna wouldn't be surprised if another super-class cruiser wasn't already rolling out the factory back on Coruscant for the Republic to use, fully armed and staffed by another legion of droids similar to this one.
It was no great surprise when Luna learned of the Emperor's plans for Hermione and the entire planet of New Terra, and she was supremely glad that they had thwarted that particular scheme. Having all these arms on the side of their enemy would have been a nightmare.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~line break~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fury was absolutely disgusted with the planet he had been assigned to capture. Little had he been told that the populace of the planet Belnar, a race of people know as the Khil, were peace-loving weaklings, who's own military were seen more of a long range security measure.
When the Sith fleet arrived, they were welcomed and 'permitted' to come within range for holocommunication, where the leaders of the planet, more of the gray, tentacle-faced creatures, formally surrendered in their musical tones that passed for a voice. Fury was so incensed that the creatures lacked any spine to fight at all that he even refused to participate, rather allowing the official diplomat of his fleet take the forefront in setting forth their terms.
But, even as they hashed out the exact location for the Imperial garrison placement and what need their troops would require from the general populace, something didn't feel quite right. Fury couldn't pinpoint if it was the ready acceptance that they could not win that threw him off, or the discrete cunning that he saw in the eyes of the planet's representative, but something rubbed him the wrong way.
Only after the communication ended did he approach and speak to the diplomat, "It was too simple," he stated flatly, not allowing the man to report anything that the Marauder already overheard.
"My Lord?" the man questioned, uncertain to what the Dark Adept was referring to.
"Their willingness to completely surrender, a race this close to the Core and that loyal to the Republic for centuries just up and surrenders to their enemies so easily. Something isn't right here…" Fury reaffirmed.
"Shall we attack anyway? I do not feel that they will be breaking their word, but if you wish it…" the Diplomat suggested, but Fury waved him off.
"No, we will continue, but make sure that the garrison commander is well aware that something might be going on, something subtle, like a resistance movement I think, or perhaps they will begin other means to try and overthrow our control of their system. I'm not sure what, but they are planning something even as we speak." Fury amended, sending the diplomat away.
It was a sense of irritation that would only pass after he had the joy of killing something. Once the garrison was set down and preparing on the planet below, Fury had them set course for the second of their worlds to attack before returning to Castell. Hopefully the world of Arkania had some populace with a bit more fight in them for Fury to break before they hashed out terms of surrender to the Empire.