The past three days had tested every inch of the diplomatic upbringing that Luke had received. He wanted to shoot Bel Iblis. Or Mon Mothma. Or maybe find some more of that vile firebrandy that Wedge had with the Bandits. He wasn't sure how Bail had worked with those two previously. Between talks of military structure, diplomatic goals, and governmental procedures, Luke was sure that he was ready to vent the entire conference into space.
He had retreated to his room aboard the station, where Winter was working on coming up with a new strategy for the day's talks. What little Winter had been able to peace together had mostly fit what the previous days of negotiations. The Corellians wanted a military organization to the cells, and Mothma wanted a more formal organization to the nascent rebellion. Luke personally wanted to champion a middle ground, but he realized that the differences between Mothma and Bel Iblis were already too entrenched. There needed to be another voice, or something to change it.
The door chime for the room beeped, and Luke called out. "Come in!"
Ahsoka came into the quarters, holding a datapadd in one hand. "We've got a problem."
"Beyond two former Senators who like listening to the sound of their own yelling?" Luke asked, voice unable to hide the frustration he had in his voice.
"Beyond that." Ahsoka sighed. "I just got a notice from one of the rebel cells on the Outer Rim. This one's stationed on Lothal, where they've been disrupting Imperial operations there." She explained. "One of their members is a former Jedi named Kanan. He's been captured."
Luke looked up from his reading, a coldness settling in his stomach. "You mean the Empire's captured a Jedi?"
Ahsoka nodded. "He's been taken to the Imperial sector patrol base on Mustafar. The Empire's Inquisitors are going to take him apart until they've gotten everything they can from him."
Luke frowned. "What do you know about Kanan?"
"He was a Padawan during the Clone Wars. He's a good man, from what my contact in the Lothal cell's told me."
Luke nodded. "Winter, what do you know about the Mustafar base?"
Winter thought for a moment. "It's a dock and supply base for the outlying systems. It's typically staffed by two Acclamator-class cruisers, but if Jarrus is there, they might have recalled other ships to assist in the protection of the base."
Luke looked to Ahsoka, and nodded. "We're going after him." Luke said, with an assurance that he hadn't felt since leaving Alderaan.
"Excuse me?" Ahsoka said. "Luke, I-"
He grabbed his commlink. He paged the assistants to Bel Iblis and Mon Mothma. "We need an emergency meeting. Now." He turned off the link, then turned to Ahsoka. "We've got the thing we needed to change this. Follow my lead." He said.
Ahsoka let a little grin cross her face. "Sure thing, Apprentice." She said, with just a little hint of mirth.
Around twenty minutes later, the late-night meeting had begun. Bel Iblis didn't particularly look like he enjoyed being stirred, though he was sipping caf with the measured stoicism of a military man who had been roused too many times in his life. Mothma seemed completely unfazed, and Luke wondered if the Chandrilan slept.
"I'm curious to know what Prince Organa considered so desperate he needed to meet at this hour." Bel Iblis grumbled.
Luke placed a datapadd in front of Bel Iblis with a copy of the information Ahsoka had given him, then another in front of Mon Mothma. "Ahsoka's intelligence has told us that the Imperials have captured a Jedi, Kanan Jarrus. Jarrus is one of us. He's been fighting the Empire, and we cannot leave him in their hands." He sensed that objections were coming from both sides, but Luke decided to storm on.
"We are fighting a Galactic Empire that doesn't care about our petty squabbles. A rebel, one of our own and a Jedi, is sitting in an Imperial prison, and we have the resources to save him. If we work together, we can do this. We can unite the cells, do something, and show the Empire that there is a united front against them. We can figure out the details later, but now we need to do something."
A silence hung through the air, hanging for a minute. Ahsoka spoke next. "We can assemble the cells, and if we can do this together, that's more proof than anything we can talk about that we can work together, make an Alliance that will hold up. If we can strike a blow against the Empire, we can only grow from here."
Garm Bel Iblis frowned, thinking for a moment. "Where's the Jedi being held?"
"Mustafar. It's an Imperial outpost. There's a station there that they're holding Kanan in." Ahsoka explained.
Mothma thought for a moment. "I can spare a medical frigate, the Redemption." She said.
"That's a start." Ahsoka said, and she looked over to Bel Iblis. "How about you, Senator?"
"Between the Corellian sector, the only forces I know that we could divert to Mustafar in time would be three gunships. I'll contact them immediately."
The rest of the meeting was a blur. Assembling what they had, they would meet in Atravis, an Outer Rim system close to Mustafar, and stage there before conducting the raid.
As they dismissed the meeting and reached the corridors to walk back to their quarters, Luke remarked. "That went better than I expected."
"What did you expect?" Ahsoka asked him.
Luke shook his head. "For them to toss me out on my backside, and to have a perfectly good excuse to run off and do this on my own."
Ahsoka groaned. "You've got too much of your parents in you." She sighed.
Luke realized she said parents. Not just father. He would definitely need to ask about it later. When they weren't saving someone.
The next few days were a blur. Captain Serrin, who had assumed command of the task force, had a new styling of Commodore. The flotilla that the rebel cells had assembled was impressive, to say the least. The most impressive was Phoenix Squadron, commanded by Admiral sato. Three Corellian corvettes and a squadron of A-Wings, they packed the biggest punch. There were two groups of armed freighters, which had been made into a makeshift bomber squadron armed with proton torpedoes. Iblis's Corellian delegation added three more gunships.
Luke looked over the final numbers. Six Corellian light craft, one medical frigate, eight freighters of various classes, eight Headhunters, a Marauder-class corvette, twelve A-Wings, and the Firestorm.
There was also the last arrival, the Ghost. Compared to the Riptide, it was a monster of a ship, he thought. The crew couldn't even dock it in the Firestorm's hangar bay. They sent a shuttle over, the last group to come over for the briefing on the Firestorm's bridge.
The captain of the Lothal rebels was a Twi'Lek woman dresed in coveralls. While she wasn't physically imposing, something about the way she walked immediately told Luke that she was in charge.
Ahsoka extended her hand to the captain. "Ahsoka Tano, Fulcrum."
"Nice to finally meet you in the flesh. Hera Syndulla." The two shook hands, and Luke noticed the rest of the party.
The two humans looked remotely his age. One was a girl with hair that looked like a sunset after a storm. She wore Mandalorian armor that matched her hair, with her helmet tucked under one arm. The other was a young man, shorter than even Luke. Luke immediately felt a difference in him, something he noticed with the weapon on his side.
"Is that a lightsaber?" He asked, voice very soft.
The boy looked down to his side. "Yeah,. I'm Ezra. Kanan's my…teacher, I guess."
Luke felta little surge of curiosity. "You're a Jedi?"
"Not really." Ezra laughed softly. "You're that Alderaanian prince, right?"
"Luke." He said, offering a little smile. "Ahsoka's my teacher. Don't havea lightsaber yet, though."
The Mandalorian elbowed Ezra in the side. "Come on, we've got a briefing. You can dork out over crazy religions after we've got a plan."
The two of them went to stand next to Hera around the holotable in the center of the bridge, while Luke joined Wedge near Ahsoka.
Commodore Serrin started her briefing. "Firstly, I wish to welcome all the Rebel cells that have joined together for this momentous operation. This will hopefully be the first time that we work together to strike against the Empire, the first of many. Now that all the commanders are here, let's get started."
A holographic image popped up on the table, showing a space station flanked by two Acclamator-class cruisers, their spearhead-like silhouettes threatening even in their smaller sizes. "This is Mustafar Orbital, the station where Kanan Jarrus has been held. Mustafar Orbital is protected normally by two cruisers, the Vigilance and Onderon. However, with a prize like a Jedi, we can expect local reinforcements might have been called in.
"We'll divvy up the fleet into groups. Phantom Group will compose of the Firestorm, our two CR-75s, and the Marauder. We'll act as the reserve group, ready to deploy to whatever threat is most apparent. Star Group will be the three Corellian gunboats, which will provide direct engagement with the Acclamators."
The Corellian commander, Bel Iblis's aide, had a wan smile on her lips. "Don't worry, we can handle the heat." She said in that typical Corellian bravado.
"Phoenix Squadron, led by Commander Sato, will be leading the attack on first, the fighter screens, then on to the capital ships," Serrin continued. "Bandit Group, composed of the Headhunters and our freighter screen, will be the tip of the spear. Their job is to see the Ghost to Mustafar Orbital. The Ghost will be carrying Spectre Group and Ahsoka Tano. Bandit will be tasked with bringing down station defenses to allow the Ghost access to their docking bays."
Serrin took a deep breath before continuing. "The primary goal of the mission is to see Bandit Group completes their objective, and can get aboard. How long it will take them to accomplish their primary goal can be variable. We need to secure a perimeter around the station, and hold off any reinforcements that arrive while the team works to get aboard."
Hera spoke up next. "We'll have Chopper, our astromech, working to slice into the station's computers, and hopefully get us through any security barriers."
"If I may," Luke spoke up. "What if we had a squad of troops to act as a diversion? The Ghost or another ship tailing behind could dock and attempt to take station control as a diversion. Get a team into their command center, and we could have a major advantage."
Serrin nodded. "An excellent idea, your Highness. We've got an assault team on Firestorm. They'll be on the Ghost, ready to deploy once you're aboard."
Hera smiled. "We can take the passengers."
"Excellent. We'll depart in two hours. Man your stations, and may the Force be with you." Serrin said, and the crowd around the table started to disperse.
Ahsoka was about to turn away, when Luke walked up to her. "Ahsoka, I want to ask a favor."
She tilted her head slightly, looking at him curiously. "You want to join me onn the team." She said, voice soft.
"I don't want to just stay here." He said, his voice soft. "I want to help."
There was a moment of pensive silence, before Ahsoka nodded. "Very well. But there's two things you'll need if you're going to come with me."
"What's that?" Luke asked.
"The first is mission gear. Blaster, commlink, scanner, the usual." She then held out a hand, one of her lightsabers in it. "And this. You'll need one."
Luke took the lightsaber into his hand, and clipped it onto his belt. "Thank you."
Ahsoka placed a hand on his shoulder. "You'll have to learn sometime. Don't worry, I'll be with you every step of the way."