Chapter 16: Kett Attack
June 2.
At the very least, the death of Moff Borret meant that the imperial offensive on Vinsoth was immediately called off and the borders of the D'Astan Republic were finally safe again. Their main assembly had also accepted to allow the Tau to build their industrial complex on Axxila, effectively putting the aliens in charge of that front for the Coalition.
With Vinsoth secured, the Jedi made a stop at Axxila, where President Vulis of the D'Astan greeted and thanked them for stopping the imperials. After receiving the compliments and consuming a nice meal, the Jedi and their crews gathered in a room that had been reserved for them and discussed the last developments.
"The appearance of these new guys clearly suggests that the Emperor is trying to replenish its ranks of people who can go toe-to-toe with us." Kyle commented.
"After all the dark-siders we killed last year, that's hardly surprising." Ezra said.
"I think it's also thanks to the fact that you dueled and defeated Vader on the Amerigo." Luke added.
"I hardly 'defeated' him, Luke. More like I held my ground against him."
"Still, you've proven to be on par with the Emperor's strongest warrior." Cal encouraged. "That must have suggested the Sith to change approach."
"Which is most likely them throwing their pawns and keep us busy while they strengthen themselves. I can't stop wondering why they wanted the soul of an ancient Sith Lord so badly."
"Right now, we can only make conjectures." Jaral said calmly. "For now we should focus on finding out more about our new foes. Someone should go to Celanon and investigate the Astarte family. Maybe we'll find some answers there."
"I'll go there." Petro said. "I have some friends on Celanon that can bring me to the Astarte patriarch, though I do not expect him to cooperate."
"Don't worry, me and my crew will come along." Cal reassured.
"Excellent." said Ezra. "Contact Ahsoka and ask for her help, if you need it. Also, I suggest we intensify our efforts in locating new Force-sensitives, so we may be able to protect them. Something tells me the Sith might retry their plan of kidnapping children to convert to their cause."
"I agree." said Luke. "We can't let them swell their numbers any more, or it will be even harder to eradicate them."
"All fair points," said Kubari. "but what about the war? Those guys might be used as spearheads for imperial offensives. Sure, the one on Vinsoth was only meant to draw us in, but who's to say they won't try elsewhere?"
"That's a really fair point." Hera intervened. "We should coordinate with the Coalition. Find out if Jade and those warriors are going to pop up somewhere and be ready to intercept them."
Sabine intervened with extended hands. "Hang on, there are only so many Jedi Knights. You need to choose where to focus your efforts. Either the Sith or the war."
"We can take care of both." Jaden said confidently, but Jaral rose her hand to restore order.
"No, Sabine is right. Our top priority is to expand the Order, because if we lose the few Knights we already have, the training of new younglings and Padawan will come to a halt, and the Sith will have won at that point. The Coalition can handle the war in general, so I suggest we focus our efforts on finding out what the Emperor is using that artifact for."
"But if we stay outside of the fight, then what was the point of proclaiming that we were going to help restore justice to the galaxy?" Sellion issued.
"That doesn't mean fighting on the frontline. There are enough of us so that we can investigate and keep helping the people in the freed territories." Lissia replied.
As the debate kept going, Ezra was silently humming in thought and stroking his chin. When she noticed that, Jaral eventually asked "What's on your mind?"
"The artifact those people stole. I wonder if it has something to do with your trip to Korriban and Dromund Kaas last year." he replied.
"You mean Palpatine's quest for immortality?"
"Yes. What if he wanted the artifact of that Sith Lord we found on Agamar in order to keep studying ways to preserve his conscience even when his body will inevitably die?"
"You already killed his puppet last time. Is he building another one?" Sabine asked.
"We can only speculate and that won't bring us anything." Jaral calmly replied. "We will have to find out the answer."
"So what are we waiting for?" Petro exhorted to end the meeting. "The more we wait, the more we allow Palpatine to be an eternal thorn in the galaxy's side."
"Sounds strange to say this, but I agree with him." Cere added.
The siblings looked at each other and quickly exchanged opinions with the bond: indeed, standing around and discussing the issue wasn't going to provide them with a clearer view over what was happening among the ranks of the Sith, and they still needed to figure out what Starkiller was doing, scavenging around ancient ruins by himself. Whatever the dark-siders were concocting, the Jedi had to stop them, one way or the other.
"Very well, but remember to be extremely careful: the Astartes are somehow able to hide their presence to the Force, so if you think you're going into a trap, just bail out and call for reinforcements." the younger Bridger admonished.
"Don't worry." reassured Cal. "I saw that myself. We'll try to avoid a fight at any cost."
"Then this meeting is adjourned." Ezra declared. "May the Force be with us."
Petro and Cal's crew were the quickest to walk away from the room, likely heading straight to resupply the Mantis and then head to Celanon. The others started to walk away, and in the end only the Bridger siblings were staying back, because Jaral had received a message from Mira.
"What's mom saying?" Ezra asked.
"That Samira is fine, but it should be ME taking care of her." Jaral explained, stressing the pronoun with a mixture of amusement but also melancholy.
"And…?" Ezra encouraged.
Jaral sighed. "I know it sounds selfish, but I do want to spend some time with Samira."
"How can that possibly be selfish?" Ezra said tenderly, putting a hand on her shoulder softly. "You have every right, just as Samira deserves to be around her parents."
"I know, but I also promised Sellion and Lissia that I would start taking quests with them. They were so excited to come with me to Agamar…"
"That's not a problem at all. We get a lot of requests for help in the free territories. In fact, I think it's much better for you to take those in order to get back into shape. Of course, you'll use Lothal as the main base."
Jaral mumbled a bit embarrassed. "I was also looking forward to work with you again." and gave him some puppy eyes.
Ezra smirked and put his arm around her shoulders. "I have been missing you too, sis. But things have changed and your daughter should be your greatest priority. There will be plenty of chance for us to go on an adventure." he reassured her.
Jaral gave him a tender lopsided smile. "It's always amazing to see how mature you've become Ez."
Her brother feigned nonchalance, but his cheeks clearly blushed lightly as he huffed amused. "I learned from the best."
"Still, I'm sure you will be a great father, one day."
That compliment suddenly reminded Ezra that there had been a doubt buzzing his mind for a while that regarded Sabine. He quickly excused himself, to Jaral's surprise, and headed out of the room to reach Sabine, who was talking with Hera, Zeb and Chopper.
"Hey, you said you had something urgent to ask me?"
"Glad you remembered that." Sabine replied as she turned on her omni-tool, bringing up a star map. "This is Anzat, a planet of the Mid Rim now laying in what is essentially a no-man's space in the war. Normally, it wouldn't hold any value, but a few rotations ago, I received a call from Ketsu."
While she searched for the message in the omni-tool, Jaral had reached them and Ezra asked: "Ketsu? Damn, I haven't heard about her since the liberation of Lothal, where has she been?"
"Doing what she does best: hunting down people...and treasures." Sabine replied as she finally found the record of the call.
The hologram of Ketsu appeared as the registered voice spoke up.
"What's up, Ketsu? You don't usually use the word 'urgent' in your messages."
"Well, hold on to your plates, 'Bine, because this might be crucial to rebuild the strength of the Mandalorians."
"All right, you have my attention."
"One of my contacts in the Black Sun has mentioned that Prince Xizor is sending in expedition on Anzat. Apparently, his scavengers found a trail to the lost weapon of Mandalore the First."
So that was about the Mandos, Ezra understood. That made sense, but he was also left with his preconception now making him feel like a fool.
Jaral felt that and gave him a quick glimpse that he didn't miss before returning to listening the message.
"Mandalore the First? I thought there was nothing left about him."
"And yet here is. If it's like the legends say, it's a lance made of pure beskar. And even leaving aside its properties as a weapon, you know better than me what its importance to our people is."
"Of course...do you intend to snatch it away?"
"I can't do it on my own. That's why I'm asking for your help."
"Won't this make you an enemy to your main employers?"
Ketsu's hologram shrugged. "I am quite fed with this work anyway. It's time for me to rejoin my people...and bringing a precious relic will certainly win back my clan's trust."
"Not that there are many Onyo on Lothal left." Sabine commented.
"True, but I heard about your alliance with the Jedi. I thought that, perhaps, I will find a better meaning to my life if I come back."
"I will be glad to have you back. Look, I'm now leaving for a mission I can't delay, but I'll come to help as soon as we're done. Until then, stay low and keep me in the loop."
"Don't take too long. See ya." and the transmission was closed.
Sabine deactivated her omni-tool, leaving the crew to ponder.
"An ancient mandalorian weapon...what do you intend to do with it?" Zeb asked.
"More than weapon, its importance as a symbol is what interests me. If we can recover a relic like that, more mandalorians who are now wandering around the galaxy will join our ranks on Lothal."
"I suppose Tristan and the others are already on board?" Hera asked.
"Yes, I informed them during the travel to Vinsoth. We are going to recover that lance, no matter the cost."
"And you want our help." Ezra understood.
"Not much because we need it," Sabine explained. "but because a group of Jedi helping us recover one of our most sacred treasures will cement the alliance between our groups even further."
The siblings looked to each other, then Ezra smiled and patted the shoulder of his sister. "Then you're lucky my big sis is just dying to go on an adventure with me."
The other Spectres giggled while Jaral smiled and gave her brother a sudden but amicable push away. "Come on, let's go get the Padawans."
Hera then hummed in thought. "However, I'm not sure the Ghost is enough in case things go south. For how much I hate it, we need to ask for help."
June 8.
Kadara was a beautiful planet, there was nothing to say about it. If it wasn't for the fact that it had turned out to be a refuge for smugglers and scum of the worst kind, and those people were not happy at all to see uniforms show up. Jane had managed to calm the local boss by remembering that they were not the Empire and thus had no reason to stick around except for activating the vault, get the coordinates they needed and then disappear forever.
Apparently, the planet had started to be used as a resting point by various species of the Unknown Regions around ten years before, the Angara had only spotted the planet through telescopes and the survey expedition never came to be as the Kett started their invasion. The planet had never been fully colonized probably because it was too far from any organized state in a relative vicinity and also because the water on the planet, even if there was plenty, was acid.
Most likely, activating the vaults would have mutated the situation of Kadara dramatically. Jane couldn't help but think how much of an impact those vaults had, and how simply turning them on meant changing the geography of that region of space.
At least it was in a good way: habitable planets were rare to find even in Andromeda, and even if the known part of the galaxy counted millions of them, there were still billions that were not.
With that in mind she activated the second tower linking to the vault, though she turned out to be the first as the other two were still not projecting their beam toward the vault.
"Shepard to Bravo and Charlie, what's your status?" she asked in the comlink.
"Your petulant children are debating over the solution to their part of the puzzle." Javik replied on behalf of Charlie, the one with Scott and Sara in it.
As for Wilhelm and Jaal's Bravo team, he came in a few seconds later. "Almost...got it." and the beam of the first tower activated, converging on the position of the vault. The final beam followed a few seconds later.
From her position, Jane could spot the vault's entrance suddenly rising from the ground for a few meters, revealing the access trench and allowing her to call in the search team.
"Liara, now it's your turn." she said.
"Copy that. We're heading to the vault." the Asari scientist confirmed. She was escorted by Chief and two additional marines.
"All teams, hold your positions until the vault is reactivated." Jane finally instructed.
"Stay in place. Got it." Garrus commented a bit bored.
"You'll soon have all the action you want, Vakarian." Tali teased him.
"Right. Are we sure we're not leaving anything before we storm Meridian?" the Turian asked.
"What else should we worry about?" Jane asked. "The Kett don't even know where the planet is. The only thing that should worry us is whether the Tanis can convince Akksul to a ceasefire."
"Right, I almost forgot about it." said Garrus.
"Well, if they can't, we'll simply have to blast our way through any Roekaar that crosses our path." Tali commented confidently.
"Leaving a trail of blood among the Angara, even if in self-defense, would risk strengthening the xenophobia among them. It would be better to avoid it, considering that we won't be around for long." Jane explained.
"Sure, but I'm not going to be a sitting duck if they won't see a reason."
"For how much I hope the Roekaar will see reason, I'm not sure they will be able to." Tali added.
"What makes you think so?"
"Have you noticed that the Angara are particularly passionate? Once they take a stance, it seems pretty difficult to convince them to change it."
Thinking back on the last few months, Jane had to concede it. "I see your point. But let's not worry about…"
"Alert! Shepard, come in!" EDI's voice arrived suddenly through the comlink, startling even Jane.
The Captain used the neural implant to pick up the call, then spoke up. "EDI, what's the situation?"
"An unknown warship has just emerged from hyperspace. I don't recognize its signal, but I intercept transmissions in the Kett language."
Jane didn't need much time to understand that they were soon going to swarm them. "How much time before it can launch dropships?" she asked.
"At the current speed, I estimate twelve minutes."
"Tali, give me the map of the region." she promptly ordered and the Quarian immediately complied, projecting the map created by the previous scans of the Normandy. After quickly analyzing it, Shepard took the decision and marked a small plain not far from the third tower. "Mazak, drop all the landing teams at this coordinates and tell them to link up with Bravo, first."
"Roger that, Captain." the helmsman replied promptly.
"Shepard to ground teams. We have an enemy warship heading in our direction. We expect shore parties will try to take the towers. Liara, do you copy?"
"Doctor T'Soni has already descended inside the vault, Captain." the voice of Glyph, Liara's personal drone, informed.
"All right, then we just need to hold on. Dig in and prepare to fight, everyone. The Normandy is bringing the entire marine detachment." Jane declared.
"This is Bravo Team, understood." Wilhelm replied.
"Order acknowledged." Scott said.
"Looks like troubles found their way to us." Garrus joked.
"Was there ever another way?" Tali returned.
"Focus. Let's see how we can exploit our position at best." Jane ordered.
The unidentified warship showed up on the skies of Kadara two minutes earlier than anticipated. Jane saw her in the distance and was left speechless at the sheer dimension of the vessel, probably bigger than a heavy cruiser and yet it had arrived into the atmosphere of Kadara from the edge of the gravitational well in just a handful of minutes.
Which could simply mean she had made an in-system jump, but that wasn't the problem right now, because the scanners clearly indicated that Kett dropships were taking off from the bow of the capital ship.
Jane couldn't help but wonder if those were Grysks: the design was too different with those of the Kett ships she had seen so far.
At least a good news arrived when Sergeant Johnson arrived into the comlink.
"Captain, this is Dagger. Marines on the ground. We're moving on Tower Three."
"Understood, Sergeant."
"Here they come!" Garrus yelled just as a Kett dropship flew toward them. Jane could see some others heading for the other towers, but she stayed focus on the one threatening them.
The dropship tried to drop the kett troops a bit too close to the tower, and to remind them of that, Jane just popped a stick grenade and threw it in when the doors opened. The explosion killed two troopers and convinced the pilot to get away, drifting away a few meters and letting the other soldiers drop further from the tower, but on a terrain with much less cover. That meant that Jane and Garrus sniped down half of the Kett team before they could get too close to shoot. Then even more fell to a small field of intelligent mines that Tali had predisposed, the rest were easily taken off by the three veterans, who could also count on a better weaponry and protections.
It didn't take long, however, for another dropship to come by and deploy additional Kett forces, including some heavy weapons. The team managed to repel those who got too close, but Jane seriously risked at one point when the burst of a repeater nearly broke her shields.
The burst that came later, though, was much sweeter to her ears: the quad turret of the M35-38 'Thresher' of the Normandy, a variant of the more famous 'Mako' had arrived on the scene, with Wilhelm leading the charge of the marines, and the Kett were quickly taken care of.
Jane was about to thank them when a transmission arrived from Sara and was heavily disturbed.
"Char...to Alpha. Taking h...fire, we need backup!"
"Hold on, Charlie, we're heading your way." Jane replied.
As she took a glimpse toward the final tower where her kids were, Jane could see that there were shots being fired outside the perimeter, meaning that the twins and Javik were likely moving around to avoid being cornered. She could also spot the dazzling tech armor of Scott, who was firing with his Revenant MG into a pack of Kett.
Then she saw something much more sinister: a Kett shuttle suddenly arrived and flew over the tower, releasing a cloud of what Jane recognized as the seeker swarms that had previously taken away entire colonies.
Shepard jumped on top of the Thresher, motioned for Wilhelm, Tali and Garrus to do the same and then knocked on the panel where she knew the crew commander would be. "Get us there, quick!" she yelled.
Now she realized that she was feeling panic. Panic for her children. The tower was quite far and the driver took three minutes to get near it, but they were intercepted by heavy fire coming from the Kett forces. Jane and her companions dismounted while the Thresher halted and started firing with its quad turrets, taking out a couple Kett, but the others had already set up a few field works to protect themselves and fire back. The marines tried to push but the volume of fire from the enemy forced them to keep their heads down and return fire only occasionally.
Eventually, to her distress, Jane saw the Kett shuttle land, stay there for a few seconds, and then departing again.
"No!" Wilhelm yelled.
A moment later, as the Kett tried to fall back to their dropship, one of them was blown away by a sudden biotic explosion.
It turned to be Sara, who had just used a Charge to burst among the enemy lines. She immediately gunned down two more Chosen and then threw a biotic bullet to a Destined, projecting him meters away.
Sara was screaming as she was doing all that. A scream of rage and sadness, but for now Jane ignored that and took the opportunity at hand, surging forward with her companions and taking out the rearguard of the aliens, but that was a very meager consolation as the shuttle spirited away.
As the fight came to a conclusion, Sara fell on her knees, gasping and sulking.
"Captain." the voice of Javik came from Jane's left. He had joined in the charge, but she hadn't noticed.
"Javik...is…?" she asked tentatively.
The Prothean lowered his head in what was his own way to express condolence.
"They took Scott away. He separated from us to provide cover fire...but I suspect the Kett were waiting exactly for that."
Jane heard the explanation, but that did little to comfort the oppressing feeling that was crushing her heart.
As the mysterious warship started to turn around, Jane went to hug her still shocked daughter.
"Remember: we just need him and his people to leave us do our work for a few more weeks. Try not to provoke him in any way." Darvos recommended.
"I know." Iulius sighed, annoyed at the fact that his brother treated him like he was new to politics. "I'm just skeptical about all this. Everything we've learned about this Akksul leaves me intending that he may not be willing to hear us out."
"We won't know until we try." Darvos concluded in a positive tone.
Iulius didn't know if to feel reassured or irritated at his brother's positivity, not understanding whether he saw simple optimism or naivety in his words. Still, they were there to obtain a ceasefire between the Roekaar and the uneasy alliance between the Empire and the Coalition that was intent on crippling the Kett and, by extension, giving the Grysks a scare to keep them out of the major side of the galaxy.
Those concerns would soon receive an answer, though, because a handful of minutes later, the door of the office opened, letting in the Moshae and an Angara with orange armor and a face paint of the same color. Both Humans recognized him from the pictures they had been shown in preparation.
"Grand Admiral, Colonel, this is Akksul." Sjefa introduced cordially.
"I only came here out of respect for you, Moshae." the Angara immediately said with a seething voice. "But I am not glad to see those things here on Aya."
Iulius gave a glimpse at Darvos and shook his head. Things couldn't have started worse.
Still, the Colonel stepped forward and talked in a conciliatory and firm voice. "We're only here to offer you peace, Akksul."
"You speak of peace, yet all I've seen from you are your soldiers." the Angara replied.
"We didn't come here to fight you, but the Kett. Who are also your enemy." Iulius said.
"So you expect us to trade an enemy with another? Every day, you're bringing in more of your troops. Doesn't sound like you're liberating us out of your pure hearts."
"The Kett are a strong opponent." Iulius insisted. "Even if our weapons are more advanced, we can't defeat them with just a few thousand men."
Akksul snorted. "You know, when the Kett first showed up, they didn't do it by shooting at us. They did as you are doing: they feigned to be our friends, infiltrated our government and then stabbed us in the back."
Good thing that the Tanis had already heard that story, so Darvos was prepared to react. "We are not here to conquer. The Kett are a threat to us, too. They've kidnapped thousands of our people and we need to put a stop to their raids. In fact, we want the Angara to rule Haeleus, so we can go home."
"I see beyond your lies. What both of you want is to pull my people into your own war." Akksul accused.
The Tanis looked at each other: clearly, Akksul wasn't going to listen to reason, so they implicitly decided to go with the proposal they were keeping as a last resort.
Darvos made another step forward and nonchalantly asked "All right then, let's set a deadline."
Akksul's eyes blinked three times very quickly, the Angara clearly disoriented. "What?"
"A deadline." Iulius pushed, stepping next to his brother. "We promise you that in three weeks we will have driven the Kett out of Haeleus." he said while lifting three fingers.
"Then we will leave." Darvos resumed. "We will even share our technology with you, so that you may prepare to fight against the Kett, should they return, or for every possible threat out there."
Akksul hesitated. Clearly, he wasn't expecting his supposed enemies to make such a concession. Iulius decided to deliver the final line.
"All we ask is that you let us do our job and that your people stop attacking us. If we won't deliver in time, then we will accept responsibility and you will resume your attacks."
The Angara hummed silently. There was definitely a crack in his wall of hate, and the Moshae seized the opportunity, too. "Akksul, these Humans saved me from the Kett. They helped us reclaim Eos, Voeld and even Havarl when they had no obligation to do it. You can trust them. No, you need to start trusting again."
Akksul could not ignore the words of his teacher. The conflict in his mind was clearly visible, however he eventually gave in.
"Three weeks. Not a day more." he grunted. "Or I'll kill you myself."
"That's a start." Darvos concluded in an amused tone. "Thank you."
Akksul snorted and then turned around to get the door, leaving the other three in the office.
"I swear he wasn't like that, once…" Sjefa said with sadness in her tone. "He was curious...brilliant…"
"If the Kett are defeated, maybe he'll find the time to rediscover that part of himself." Darvos said with still more optimism.
"I hope you're right, Colonel Tanis."
"We got the armistice. That's the most important part." Iulius commented quite coldly. "Now we should get back to our main objective."
"Geez, would a little empathy kill you?" his brother replied.
"That guy killed my soldiers when we were helping his people. You wanna go tell their families to have empathy?" Iulius snapped at him. How could he not feel the same when even Darvos had lost some men at the attack on Eos.
This time, the younger Tanis had no remark. Instead, it seemed like his brother's words hit a wound that Darvos wasn't probably aware of.
The Lord-Protector then realized that he had just showed an unbecoming behavior for an imperial officers and wiped the angry expression from his face. "Come on, Shepard should have reached Kadara, by now. Let's see if we can raise her." he invited eventually.
"Right." Darvos muttered. He then thanked the Moshae for her help in setting the meeting with Akksul and the brothers took their leave. On the way back to the landing pad where the Constantinople had landed, they didn't say a word. The last exchange of opinions had left them to deal with their own issues as officers and human beings with emotions.
They finally reached the landing pad, where they were surprised to see that Jordan and Thrawn were waiting for them. The former with his hands crossed on his chest and looking grim, the latter standing with his hands clasped behind and a face that, Iulius knew, meant he was preparing one of his plans. The question was for what?
"What happened? You two seem distressed." it was Darvos who asked.
Jordan curled his lips briefly before answering. "We just talked with Captain Shepard. They have found Kadara and recovered the final coordinates for Meridian's control, but...the Kett attacked them and took Scott away."
"Uh?!" Darvos asked incredulous.
Iulius was surprised as well. "But wasn't Kadara unknown to them, too?"
"Indeed." Thrawn said. "But there is an explanation to them." and took out his small holo-projector. What came out of it was the design of a ship that Iulius had never seen before...or maybe he had.
He squinted his eyes, trying to remember, then it all came back to him. "It's oddly similar to those of the Yavzakhs." the Lord-Protector said surprised.
"Yes. And it just happens to be a Grysk warship. A WarMaster, If I recall."
"So you know them?" Jordan asked.
Thrawn waited a second more than expected before he gave his answer. "My last battle as an officer of the Chiss Ascendancy was against a Grysk flotilla. I remember their design."
"Hold on, are you saying that the ships I fought over Carunoia were actually built by the Grysks?" Iulius asked with a sudden realization.
"Most likely." the Chiss replied.
"Why didn't you tell me?" the Lord-Protector asked baffled.
"There were some difference, and I had not seen those models before. However, there are also some aesthetic differences between this new WarMaster and the ones I remember. Now I believe it is reasonably safe to assume that the ships you encountered on Carunoia were manned by Grysks, except for the transport that you captured."
"Didn't you say those two vessels exploded with just a burst of turbolasers?" Darvos asked.
"That also reinforced the theory that they were Grysks: they are incredibly zealous in making sure no trace is left of their passage. I saw both their ships and their own soldiers getting disintegrated by their own equipment, rather than leave anything for their enemies to study."
"Right." said Iulius, who had regained his composure. "But that also showed that their ships are more vulnerable against turbolasers and our weapons at large."
"Yes. In a way, your mission to Carunoia has showed the Grysks that they stand no chance right now in a full invasion of the galaxy, because even a small imperial fleet could cause heavy losses on their own. I think this whole scheme of kidnapping colonists was not simply to study Humans, but it's possible that the Grysks have taken an interest in you, Iulius."
"So...you think they have taken Scott to lure us out?"
"Possibly. At this point, however, I think they are just trying to gather information on our forces."
A brief silence fell as the Humans pondered over what to do next. However, Iulius noticed that his Grand Admiral didn't seem too worried. And that, in Iulius' experience, meant only one thing.
"I assume you have an idea on how to finally defeat the Kett?"
"If you would like for my advise…"
Iulius sighed, knowing that he was about to hear something absolutely mental, but trusting that his mentor knew what he was doing.
"All right then. Surprise us."