Chapter 47 - Eve of War
Vardos
Resurgent-Class Star Destroyer Ravager
Under the reign of the Empire, Admiral Ramius Hux had received the visitation of the Sith on several occasions, most from members of the Imperial Inquisition though once was even from Darth Vader himself. In every one of those visits, they'd been expected to clear the Hangar receiving them and to have at least a company of soldiers as a standing ovation.
In those days, a much younger Hux always silently berated this inefficient ego stroking. His men had better things to do than to stand around for some pompous state sanctioned sorcerer who existed outside the chain of command and therefore were not legally required to do so. Yet, the word of the Emperor's servants was effectively the word of the Emperor himself.
Hux allowed himself a satisfied smirk as the pirate LAAT Gunship touched down in his hangar. He'd outlasted all those fools, and he would not stand for a fool's 'tradition.' For that reason, the hangar was still buzzing with activity as his men set about their specific tasks, and he was awaiting Kylo Ren with only himself and his medical officers.
His men had better things to do than to stand around for some state sanctioned sorcerer, especially when they were mere hours from potentially going to war. Though he suspected Kylo Ren didn't care for that sort of thing, and it made him wonder what the Empire would've been like with someone like him in command instead of Sedriss or Vader.
"Admiral Hux," Kylo Ren addressed as he exited the transport and marched up to him, "our mission was successful."
"I assume as much," he replied, eyeing the grav-stretcher leaving the transport. He sighed and gestured for the medical crew to take possession of it from the pirates.
"She'll live, sir," Kylo said suddenly, catching his eye, "Sydow gave her the best care he had on hand."
'He'd had better,' Hux didn't say. Instead, he just nodded. "And we have the missing piece?"
Kylo pulled a datacard from his robes and handed it to him. Hux held it delicately, the weight that this single, fragile thing held the fate of his government and the galaxy firmly settling on his shoulders. "I'm a little surprised you didn't just send it to us remotely. It would've saved some time."
"Admiral, our work over the last several years all hinges on the contents of this disk. I didn't want to take the chance some other prying eyes seeing the transmission go through. Better to give it to those we can trust."
Hux nodded, his earlier question redoubling without a clear answer.
"I understand perfectly, son," he said at last, "I will have the information taken back for analysis. Assuming the Rangers did their part in things, we will have what we need in a few hours. One other thing, your colleague arrived a few-"
"I know," Kylo groaned as the door behind them opened and an overly cheerful, mechanical voice rang out:
"My good son! How are you? Ah, you come bearing gifts!"
"Oh no," Hux heard Kylo breathe as Mechos Ren, adorned in his blue uniform and battle-plate crossed the distance and enveloped his fellow Lord in a monsterous bear hug. Kylo was lifted off his feet as Mechos' cybernetic limbs drove the breath from him, his back curling as the sound of joints and bones popping rang painfully loud.
Hux had to resist chuckling as Kylo groaned, "N-nice to see you, too… Mechos?"
"Yes, my good son?"
"Let me go. My spine is going into my spleen."
"Oh, I am so very sorry!" Mechos laughed heartily as he set him down, brushing off some imaginary dirt from his fellows robe, "It is merely the fact we have not chanced each others company in so very long. Makes me quite happy."
"We talked hours ago," Kylo panted.
"But I mean in the flesh, my good son, in the flesh. A mere holo-graphic communique is not a sufficient alternative."
"If you say so, Mechos," Kylo looked behind Hux and gestured, "and you've brought your Magi, then?"
Hux turned to observe the red and gold robed individuals, each adorned in respirator masks with a pair of mechanical limbs poking out from their backs.
"But of course, Lord Kylo!" Mechos boomed, "They shall helped me commune with the great spirit of the Forge! Turn its will into our employ!"
"Just so long as it doesn't cause any of you to turn into another Malek, we'll be fine," Hux said, causing the two lords to look at him strangely. He merely shrugged, "I can read."
"Your sense of humor is welcomed, Admiral," Mechos chuckled, "it is a commodity far too rare in my humble opinion. Also, with your permission, I would like to take possession of the starmap and the existing fragments we possess in the record. My Magi can decypher and merge them faster than your cartographers… no offense meant to them, of course."
Hux had worked with Mechos before, but it still surprised him how polite the man was. An Inquisitor would not have asked permission, and Vader would've expected it before he even arrived.
Hux nodded and handed him the datacard, "Permission granted, Lord Mechos."
Hux caught Kylo shooting Mechos an odd look. The Talos merely laughed, "My friend, always build a good rapport with those you meet. You might require their aid later."
"Unless they're shape-shifting Gorgons?"
"That witch is the exception, and I am certain the feeling is mutual."
"Mechos, I didn't realize you had a wife." Hux commented.
The Talos spun and glared at him, "I do, and I am deeply offended you associate her with such filth."
"Apologies," Hux chuckled, "your comments reminded me of my late wife."
"You have my sentiments, Admiral. My Magi and I shall be in your data-archive. If you require assistance in other regards, I shall answer."
With that, he and his entourage turned to leave. After he was gone, Kylo shook his head at Hux, "Admiral, you may have been the first person outside of Typhaen to spur such a reaction out of him. I'm surprised he didn't take it personally."
"That does sound like my wife, and that was on purpose, Lord Kylo. I don't trust anyone who works in extremes, even one as cheerful as Mechos. It usually means there is something wrong with you."
"Noted. Have my quarters been prepared?"
"They are as you left them."
"Thank you, Admiral. Until Mechos is finished with his work, I don't want to be disturbed."
With that Kylo made his leave, and Hux watched him go.
'How things change,' the admiral thought quietly, 'and how they don't.'
Some minutes later, Hux found himself back in his office with a shot of Corellian ale balanced in one hand, a dataslate in another, and a pile of holo-reports in the other. He wasn't conscious of the time, he had too much on his mind to think of that. He flipped through preparation reports and read them with practiced ease; his eyes taking in the flurry of activity and data-streams.
There was a knock at the door. "Come," he said.
Captain Canady walked in, and Hux's dataslate changed to a med-bay. He was at first confused as to why until he saw who was in it. He looked up and asked, "Her status report?"
"You pick them well, sir. They inform me that she'll live, granted she'll need extensive cybernetic rework."
The admiral's fists clenched and turned white as he growled, "They're not going to turn her into one of Krennic's old Dark Troopers, are they?"
"No sir, she'll be human. Well, mostly. But she'll live."
"Good. Borodin, can you spare a moment?"
His old friend smiled and nodded, "If you can spare that ale, Ramius."
After Canady seated and poured a glass, Hux began. "I need to confess something, Borodin. I am afraid. History is repeating itself."
"You mean with us returning to Jakku, and the fate of our government resting on a single battle? I don't blame you. It stinks of Endor."
"Yes, yes it does, and I suppose that's the problem for me. At Endor, we had the advantage of position, numbers and surprise… and yet we lost. At Jakku, we were evenly matched and had yet again position at our disposal, and that only guaranteed a stalemate. A bloody stalemate."
"I would disagree, Ramius. We won that battle, and we secured the future of the Empire Reborn."
"Yes, a future of hiding like rats while my son blows up a building like a coward," he shook his head, "Canady, why do we fight this war?"
"To make a better galaxy, Ramius, and I know what you're going to say next. The difference between us and the Empire is that we know what we want. Palpatine didn't."
"I'd say he did, or at least that was what was reflected in his followers," he poured them another shot, "I still remember the madness in Lord Inquisitor Sedriss when he made that trap for Skywalker," Hux watched Canady's eyes run to his cybernetic limb, "so full of revenge, of anger. His actions almost cost us that battle, and I lost a perfectly good Executor."
"I remember, Ramius. But I don't think that is what we have now."
"Heh, you always did have a way of reading my thoughts. Elaborate."
"Well, I don't know Lord Kylo personally. Then again, I didn't know Sedriss or even Vader personally either, so I suppose that point is moot. Regardless of that, they're not the same."
"They are Sith, though."
"And we are both officers of the Navy, yet we are not the same."
"Yes, I suppose," he took a sip and sighed, "I asked a question to myself earlier when Lord Kylo brought us the map. I guess because I compared him to Vader and Sedriss, and I suppose by extension the Emperor. If the Knights of Ren had existed in their stead, would things have been different?"
"That depends on what you mean. In the system we have now, or the system we had back then?"
"I hadn't really thought about it, but that does make sense. What we have now only exists because of what we learned."
"The Reek or the Egg, then? To answer your question… I really don't know. Perhaps things would've been different, maybe better. Or perhaps things would've turned out the same. I think the issue is that we are not the Empire, nor are we in the same position as we were thirty years ago."
Hux smiled at that. "That's the thing that is bugging me, then. We don't know, just like we don't know how this war will turn out with them at our side. The Sith led us to ruin, but these are not the same. But does that matter?"
"I think you think too much, sir," Canady chuckled, "better not to think, just do. Make things easier. Take things as they come."
"I'd argue that also is responsible for a lot of our troubles as well."
"Heh, I think when you eventually retire, you should go into philosophy. You're certainly relentless enough."
"And what do you want, Borodin? I've never really asked you that before."
"I want to go home. Not Samara, you understand. But my real home."
"Carida, you mean?"
Canady nodded thoughtfully, "I don't hate New Republic for taking my home. Truth be told, it's doing quite well at the moment. We Caridans serve whoever is at the lead to the best of our abilities. But it has been a very long time since I've been home. I remember when my father took me out fishing. It's quaint, but I do miss fishing."
"Is it worth going to war over? There are plenty of worlds with lakes and oceans."
"There are, but it's not the same, is it?"
"No, I suppose it isn't. Borodin, do you actually think we can do better? Not just better than the Empire, but what there is now?"
"I'm not a politician, Ramius. I just follow orders."
"Yes, but you must have an opinion."
"To be honest, sir, it doesn't matter what I think. This war is inevitable, like two bull Rancors fighting over a mate. It'll happen at some point, even if it doesn't happen today. Better we win it and decide how things should be after. Besides, we're soldiers. We're not meant to think about such things."
"History tells us that soldiers are often king-makers."
"Not this time, sir. We aren't the Empire."
"Let us hope so, then," Hux chuckled as the two men rose, clinked their glasses and finished, "and we have our duties to fulfill. I think it's time I give the speech."
"Does seem like good timing, sir. After you?"
Hux rebuttoned his uniform and the two men made their way to the bridge. The crew even in their busy stations were prompt enough to rise to attention. Hux smiled at them like they were his children, and in truth they were. Phasma had that effect on him.
He bade them back to duty and pulled down the intercom. "Comms, set me to a fleet wide frequency. Thank you," he took a breath, thought about the words he'd made years ago and began:
"Gentlemen, this is your Admiral speaking. It is an honor to be speaking to you on the eve of our nation's greatest achievement. As you know, in mere hours we will be making way to secure the Star Forge, and in turn secure the future of our children and theirs.
"However, as you will guess, things will not be so easy. Once more, like your fathers and grandfathers before you, we will be playing the great game with our old adversary, the New Republic. A game of Dejarik, where our wits, training and technology will once again be pitted against theirs.
"But this time, the game is different. The odds will be greater and more everlasting. No longer will we be striking from the shadows only to be chased away by those who take their orders from glamour houses of Chandrila. This time, we have the advantage, and will not be chased away.
"This reminds me of the days of Thrawn and Soontir Fel, when the galaxy trembled at the might of our will and strength. They will tremble again as we will secure our rightful place in the galaxy. And perhaps in time, we will be sailing for the Core, for Coruscant. For our rightful home taken from us. Your father's dream of the Empire Reborn shall be achieved by you, and you alone.
"Gentlemen, we sail into history. Admiral Hux out."
No sooner than he was off the comm than the crew began to sing 'Old Imperial Glory.' Hux resisted the urge to laugh as their nationalistic fervor, or just the influence of Sydow and his pirates, took them over. Though he could not help but chuckle when he saw Canady quietly following the choir of their former glory.
On an impulse, he switched to the fleet frequency and his smile lengthen when the fleet followed to their beat as the stars became their audience. It was more than just pride in his heart, but resolution. Here was where the difference between the First Order and the Empire lay: they had faith.
Within hours, they would be departing not to lose like Endor, to bleed white indecisiveness at Jakku. No, they would win… or die trying.
The music came on over the intercom shortly after the Admiral gave his speech. While its appearance was startling, it was not surprising. The Empire Reborn was on the verge of victory… or so they thought.
In the shadows, calm hands worked at the communication relay that processed incoming and outcoming packets of data, both within the ship and between them. Silent eyes watched these streams coming and going at a consistent rate, finally settling on two. One read in the data-code as Talos/Info_Sensitive, the other was an outbound communique between the Ravager and Scarlet Night.
The encryption codes in the beginning were sensitive and had taken a year to crack. But now that they were, they were bypassed with relative ease. Of course, after this the First Order would change those codes and it would take time to crack them. But this was the time, and the point of interest.
First, a frequency bouncer was installed on the server line, making it impossible to determine where the breach had occurred and by extension who had done it. Following this was slicing into the data stream itself and uploading a Tydirium Virus. From there, it was merely a matter of piggybacking off of the streams and working inside until the cam-screens came to life.
Two immediately came to focus: the Talos Magi within the Ravager's Server Room and Rey locked away in a prison cell on the Scarlet Night. Old Imperial Glory played in the background, and it was ironically calming, allowing the minutes to slowly tick away until finally a message came to the screen.
Map collectivization complete. Beginning synchronization procedure. Prepare for package compilation.
A smile crossed the face of the slicer as the stored data-package was copied onto a digital drive. It would take the Magi another hour to complete the synchronization and from there the First Order would make its move. They would get to the Forge, there was no question about that, but they wouldn't be alone for very much longer.
The copied package was rerouted via the transmission relay and sent as an E-communique to two separate coordinates. Each was signed with encrypted callsign Red. Once the message was sent, Red turned to the image of Rey and typed in a command: Execute_Cell Extraction and Containment.
Moments later, the silent image of hydraulics coming to life played out. Rey was jolted awake, the door to her cell opening as her imprisoning table slid across the floor into the next room. Once it came to a stop, the cell doors closed again and trapped the Ysalamiri behind the arma-glass.
However, the Ysalamiri's Force nullification had a range of three yards, and she was still within bubble sphere by less than a foot. Red considered what to do as Rey struggled again to escape her bounds to no avail. She just needed to be moved over by inches, but how?
Red had a thought and typed in the command: Execute_Drive Servo Detachment.
An exhaust of air blasted out and the table toppled over from its sprocket, Rey landing face first. A silent cry followed, but she was accustomed to pain and used her knees to slowly crawl the needed inches away. The moment she was clear, the table flew into the opposite direction and Rey rose to her feet.
She eyed the camera in the room, and Red pointed it at the door. She nodded reluctantly and made her way to the door.
Execute_Door Release.
It unlocked.
Upload_Cam-Delay. Execute_Procedure.
With that done, a twenty minute loop began to play over the Scarlet Night's security cameras. The rest was up to Rey alone. She took a last look at the camera, and Red nudged it along. She looked up crossly, then nodded. When she was through the door, the signal was cut and Red was on the move.
"Admiral, were getting an unknown transmission!" the comm technician called out and Raddus spun in his chair.
"From where?"
"Sir… it's from the Unknown Regions, and the transponder code is Ranger in origin. It's also got some heavy encryption coding for a data-packet. I can't open it."
"Must be one of Shrike's operatives or something. Is he out of surgery yet?"
"I don't know, sir."
"Find out. Open a transmission with the Temple."
"Yes sir."
It took several seconds to patch through, and then several more for it to be cycled through until the wearied and bandaged Ranger Commandant came into view.
"You just interrupted a very good dream, Fishman. This better be important."
"I would assume so, pinkskin," Raddus replied dryly, "considering it's from one of your operatives in the Unknown Regions."
Shrike's hazy eyes suddenly snapped open, "The hell you talkin' about? We don't have any operatives that far out."
The comms officer quickly explained and Shrike shook his head, "I don't know who the hell this Red is, but we need to find out. Jakers! Get in here! Transmit our operational codes to-don't second guess me, you schmuck! Just do it!"
Moments later, the nine-digit access code arrived and was entered. Everyone's eyes widened when the packet opened and spread across the command deck.
"That's... Shrike, what am I looking at here?" Raddus asked.
"That, Admiral, is a Star Map, and judging by the upper corner there… yup, this is the map they stole from us. And it's been completed. Only it hasn't been properly processed yet."
"Someone sent us the complete map to the Star Forge? Who?"
"For once, I don't have an answer, but we need to get this processed pronto. Admiral, send it down here immediately and we'll-"
"Sir, we're picking up multiple signals here!" the scanning operator reported, "They're coming in via-hyperspace! New Republic Fleet Codes, all of them!"
"Is it the Fifth Fleet?"
"It's… it's a mix of signals, sir. I'm picking transponders from the Fifth, Ninth and Tenth."
That only meant one thing: Ackbar was coming in hot. "Battle Stations! Raise Red Alert, all ships!"
Sirens ran out as signal calls were sent and the bridge crew moved with organized chaos. Raddus turned back to Shrike, "Are the Temples' defenses back online?"
"Working on it. Get the map down here, but have it copied and moved to one of your ships. We may need it to rabbit out of here."
"Understood, we'll-"
"Sir, we have incoming!"
Suddenly across the bowline, a massive hole in reality opened and dozens of vessels were pulled through in waves. First the ships of the Fifth Fleet, recognizable with their faded white and red markings reminiscent of the Old Republic Navy. Coming in right behind them were elements of the Ninth and Tenth with blue and yellow markings, their guns screaming after them in pursuit.
"Ensign, patch me into their communications."
"Aye sir."
The intercom crackled for a moment before being replaced by the authoritative bark of a Zabrak, "That was a warning shot, Ackbar! Power down your ships immediately, or we will open fire!"
Had Raddus not seen what had happened to Hera, he would not have believed his ears. "That damn Borealis is going to get us all killed. XO, send a signal to the fleet. Close in and intercept the pursuers."
His XO looked at him like he'd gone mad, "You want us to engage our own?"
"They are already engaging our own. We need to stop this before someone gets hurt. Order the fleet forward."
"Yes sir."
The mon-Cala Cruisers came about and began their intercept course.
'Hang on, Uncle," Raddus silently thought, 'just hang on.'
Author's Notes
Hey everybody, this is JSailer and Squasher. Just as a reminder, we have switched our uploading days to every other Monday. So, the next chapter will be uploaded January 19th. We'd like to thank Terminator-57, Kamen Rider Raika, and sweeting for their reviews. We hope you enjoy this chapter.