Approximately 3 months earlier, aboard the Black Knight, returning from the Unknown Regions

Garin was rather pleased with the results of the training, the wing had gone through a total of nine runs against the Lusankya there had been one repeat of the first mission, very light resistance with minimal casualties—the two runs combined didn't amount to a dozen 'dead'—the other runs had been less forgiving. Of the seven other runs they'd managed to succeed in five of them; crippling the Lusankya—realistically speaking Hades could never destroy the warship completely, the best they could do was destroy some vital component such as the bridge or engines—despite the sim's attempts to 'kill' them and doing a fine job of it he might add. Of the remaining two runs, they'd been forced to withdraw; in one case because additional Republic forces had entered the system and in another case because the Lusankya had been fully functional and inflicted heavy damage, nearly half of Hades had been 'killed' in that one. Remarkably, in three of the other scenarios the static defenses had been very heavy, not the little popguns of the first run but full blown battle stations with armament approaching capital ship levels. Sure they had taken losses, but Hades had still hit hard and come through victorious.

The clones had performed with surprising ferocity and efficiency, he'd never put them through their paces in such a manner before and hadn't been certain of their performance in such a heavily contested environment. He was pleased to say that he knew he could rely on their skill if not experience. The latter would come with time, of that he was sure, just from this exercise he'd observed major changes by the clones, their capacity to learn was very impressive. Despite his reservations about using clones in this war and risking another Clone Wars scenario he had to admit that they were good men, and the occasional women, to have on your side; Thrawn had picked good stock. He tossed the datapad onto his bunk and stepped into the fresher station, he'd have liked to take an actual shower but airfreshers* were the norm on any sanely built warship; he'd live. He was enjoying the wash as best he could when his terminal chimed, he sighed and killed the airflow before throwing his uniform on again and sitting down at the terminal as it let out another insistent call.

"Yes?"

"Grand Admiral Thrawn just sent a message sir; we've received rendezvous coordinates with the main fleet."

Garin checked the coordinates and his eyes narrowed, "that's pretty close to the coreworlds."

"Yes sir," Iriana responded, "I think the Grand Admiral is going for the jugular this time."

Garin felt a smile creep over his features, this must be the big hit, or close to it if Thrawn was going to hit one of the prime systems in the galaxy. It should be interesting, it was good that he'd spent this trip training his people; they were probably going to need it for this.

"Alright, drop us out of hyperspace to plot the new course**. We don't want to miss out on whatever this is."

Between this bit of news, and the training session he was feeling better; not excellent, but better.

Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal cruiser Home One, Bilbringi Shipyards

"That was the attack on Coruscant wasn't it."

"Yep, and I was less than pleased when I figured that out."

Deana blinked and looked at me curiously, "why?"

"I still had family there remember? My cousins and sister, I didn't speak with them very much it's true but they were still important to me."

"It's funny, but you spent so much time creating Hades that I forget you had any other family."

I snorted and shrugged, "I grew up with my sister taking care of me, my cousins bringing in the money for the four of us. It wouldn't exactly be a great kindness for me to forget about them."

"So you were conflicted about the attack, what happened?"

I smiled at her and leaned back in my chair, stretching languidly; that had been one of the few times I had defied Thrawn directly.

Earlier that month, Inner Rim territories, aboard the Chimaera

Garin sat in the briefing room aboard the Chimaera; there were only command level officers, those in command of fighter units or capital ships, present. He looked around the room quietly as Pallaeon continued to explain the operation; Hades' isolation did have some unpleasant side effects. No one knew who he was and he didn't know who most of the officers were. Well that wasn't entirely true, he saw two familiar faces, Maarek and Vic'que were sitting on the opposite end of the holotank, both saw him.

"Let me reiterate," Pallaeon said looking around the room, "this is not an invasion, this is a siege. I do not want to see any atmospheric runs unless it is directly ordered. We will not be using ground troops during this battle. Our entire purpose is to buy enough time for the fleet to initiate the Grand Admiral's plan and then we will leave the area."

"With all due respect Captain," someone called out from the darkened crowd. "What kind of damage are we supposed to inflict if we don't directly engage?"

"You will engage any forces that move to intercept the fleet. The Home Guard Fleet is light compared to their field fleets. Provided they are not reinforced this will be quick and easy; the largest danger are the Golan platforms. Most of the battle stations are still in place and as all of you know even Golan Is and IIs are armed to take on small to mid sized capital ships and IIIs can take on a star destroyer. So do not get drawn into their firing lines, you will not be getting any assistance if you do."

"What exactly are the capital ships expected to deploy?"

"Asteroids," came a calm critical voice from the door.

Everyone turned to see Thrawn striding into the room, he didn't look at anyone as he passed and joined Pallaeon by the hologram of Coruscant.

"We will be placing asteroids in orbit around Coruscant; the purpose will be to effectively blockade the planet without the need for wasting valuable ships in a prolonged action."

One of the captains snorted, "forgive me Grand Admiral, but won't the Republic simply shoot them down?"

Thrawn smiled, that same superior smile Garin recognized and he felt a smile of his own creep across his features as Thrawn answered.

"They will be cloaked, and we will make it appear as if we are playing hundreds of them in orbit. The Republic will have no idea how many there actually are and will be forced to maintain the planetary shields or risk damage from the asteroids' impact. This will remove Coruscant from the war indefinitely if not permanently while the Republic scrambles to find a solution and we continue our expansion."

Garin liked the plan, it was a stroke of genius, it really was. However there was one problem: his sister was still on Coruscant. Looking at the plan as Thrawn displayed in detail what he expected everyone to do, he frowned worriedly. There was a lot that could go wrong and get people killed. He had to make sure his family wasn't among the dead.

"Commander!"

Garin turned to find Vic'que pushing her way through the crowd to catch up to him; he paused and waited for her.

"Captain Sajuuk," he said formally.

She snorted and looked at him disbelievingly, "since when did you get stiff?"

"When Thrawn beat me back into shape," he said with a smile as they began walking together. "How has the one-eight-one treated you?"

"It's not like Hades; for one thing we're not actually a full wing, more like a reinforced squadron."

"Attrition," he asked without needing the answer.

She nodded, "there just aren't enough pilots that are qualified to fly with us. One thing I miss about Hades though."

He waited expectantly for her to continue and she obliged, "more women. There is one other woman in the unit and that's it, and she's not even a lieutenant."

"Quite a change," Garin said. "Are you still flying Interceptors?"

She nodded, "no change really, we did get a nice boost though. The latest models have expanded electronic suites and even shields."

"Shields," Garin repeated in surprise, that didn't sound very Imperial.

Vic'que nodded and smiled, "Thrawn had all of the elite squadrons modified like that. The 128th and 181st were the first to get it. Something about us being vital combat assets that the Empire could ill-afford to lose."

Garin snorted, "well maybe the Empire is changing for the better. Next thing you know squadrons and wings will start operating independently from capital ships."

She chuckled, "sounds familiar."

"Well we were designed to use the Alliance's tactics against them, and we did it rather well I recall." He paused and a smile crept over his face, "we played your scenario."

"You do realize it was designed as a scenario for a potential suicide mission in case we ever had to face Isard."

He smiled at her expression and nodded, "yes I realize that. Harth and I went over some tweaks for it to make it more relevant."

"Relevant, how can you make it more relevant?"

"Simple, what would happen if the Lusankya was refitted in time for this war? Someone will need to take her out."

She stared at him for a moment, then started laughing, "that does sound like you. Preparing Hades for a crazy mission that might not ever have any relevance."

"Have you had any clones assigned to your unit?"

She shook her head, "no, but there are thousands on the Katana Fleet dreadnaughts."

"The Katana Fleet," he looked at her disbelievingly.

She nodded, "I was skeptical too until I saw all the dreadnaughts and their markings. Thrawn found it somehow and managed to get away with nearly all of them***. He's been using them to some degree or another in all of our operations."

"I see, that would explain a lot, those old dreadnaughts are supposed to be sturdy. Wha—"

"You aren't trying to recruit her are you Durives?"

They both turned to find Maarek Stele watching them with a stern expression on his face, Garin saluted.

"Major, and no, her choice was to remain one-eight-one, I'm not going to go against that."

Maarek eyed him dubiously causing Garin to grin, "you aren't still mad at me for that trick when Isard sent you after us are you?"

His eyes narrowed and Vic'que stepped between the two, staring dangerously at Maarek, "sir I don't think you need anything from the Commander."

Maarek looked at her for a moment, and then back at Garin before scowling, "I guess it shouldn't have surprised me."

Garin could hear the insult but took it as a compliment, "yes sir, you should have."

Vic'que rolled her eyes and turned on him now, "don't provoke him Garin. You are supposed to be on the same side."

Garin continued to smile and shrugged, "sorry."

Maarek's eye twitched, "just because you've never taken your loyalty seriously—"

"The Commander has always taken his loyalty very seriously Major, I would appreciate it if you would not force an encounter aboard my ship. If you must settle this, why don't you take it to the simulators?"

Thrawn was no where in sight, Garin and Vic'que both looked up at the nearest holocam; was Thrawn spying on them?

Maarek seemed to think so as he sighed disagreeably and looked at Garin quietly, "The Grand Admiral is right—"

"I'm so glad you agree Major," Thrawn said in a patronizing tone.

"—so let's put our past behind us now."

Garin nodded, "I can't think of anything that would better suit the situation."

Maarek nodded, "I'll see you in space Durives."

As he left, Vic'que shook her head and glared at Garin.

"I do still care for him; try not to get him into trouble."

"If he wants to pick a fight with me—"

"Then you will let him do it and ignore him," Thrawn's voice boomed.

Garin sighed, "yes sir."

"Good," Thrawn said darkly, "now get to your ship."

He nodded and clasped Vic'que's hand tightly, "good luck Vic'que. Keep out of trouble."

"You too sir, you tend to look for it."

Garin sat at his terminal, staring at the email message he was about to send, it would get there before the fleet did, and if the Republic intercepted it and read it the fleet could walk right into an ambush. His only hope was that no one would look for an email going through the public channels. He read it again to himself:

Sel, we're coming for a visit. Get ready for a party; we're going to rock the planet.

--Gar

His finger hovered over the send key, rising and lowering slowly as he viewed the message over and over again. He didn't want to endanger the fleet, but he wasn't going to sit by and watch his sister get killed either.

"That could get you in a lot of trouble," he jumped in his seat and turned around to see Daru standing by the door.

"I didn't hear you."

"I knocked twice, and then I decided to hardwire the door."

Garin nodded absently, turning back to his terminal, Daru moved to stand next to him and looked at the email curiously.

"Do you think it's worth it?"

Garin looked up at her, studying the supple lines of her face that somehow hadn't been ruined by her trade. She reached down and tapped the send key, the email sent and he took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before letting it out finally.

"Thank you."

She shrugged, "it was important wasn't it sir?"

He chuckled and shook his head, standing up look at her, "hoping I'll get in trouble?"

Her lekku twitched uncomfortably, "I wanted to tell you that I retooled the I-7s. It isn't much, but the lasers will have a little more punch now."

"Just a little, usually you'd rip the thing apart until it was perfect."

She smiled slightly, "I can't do anything without fully stripping the fighters' weapon systems and we can't do that while we're constantly being deployed against targets. I would have done it earlier if I'd thought of it before but there were…other things."

Garin glanced at her questioningly; she looked away and turned to leave, her lekku twitching back and forth rapidly.

"Be careful today sir, we don't want to lose you."

Present, interrogation room aboard the Mon Cal cruiser Home One, Bilbringi Shipyards

"You sent an email to your sister just a matter of hours before the attack?"

I shrugged, feeling her disbelief and understanding it fully. It had been pretty stupid, as I'd realized at the time, but then what could I do? It was my sister.

"Did you ever find it?"

"No," she said dubiously, "your assumption was right. Messages sent through public channels weren't paid attention to; that was still a major risk. If we had—"

"Yes yes," I said waving her words away dismissively. "I know it; hell I was going into that battlezone in just a few hours remember? For all I knew Daru had just sent up red flags all over the Republic's intelligence grid and gotten us all killed."

"And yet you didn't warn Thrawn," she pointed out with a slight smile.

"It was personal, I know it could pose a serious danger for all of us, but I trusted Thrawn's ability to win."

"Just like he won here," she asked smugly.

I shrugged, "if I'm any example, no one can win all the time."

Author's Note: yes, I realize I just submitted two chapters back to back, but fanfic wouldn't let me submit at all yesterday so yeah.

*Don't ask me how they work, but they are there.

**Very few ships of any kind could re-plot a hyperspace course once it was laid in. I've only ever heard of one being able to do so and it wasn't even a military vessel.

***Thrawn was able to get 178 of 200 dreadnaughts in the Katana Fleet while the Republic received the remainder.