Chapter 5: Uneasy Alliances
February 12.
Sitting on the floor of Tarfful's hut, Iulius was listening and trying to understand what the Wookiee Chieftain was trying to say. But really, he had never had much time to learn their language, so he could only show to be attentive and wait for the protocol droid to translate.
"Chieftain Tarfful says that the Wookiees will fight to defend the Empire alongside you, Lord-Protector. However, they do not wish to be sent in the Outer Rim to fight, as he believes that those peoples rebelled because they didn't want to be imperial citizens. He says that they have all the right to seek happiness on their own, and he will not order the Wookiees to help oppress them."
"You have my word, Tarfful," Iulius replied sincerely. "the recruitment of your warriors is purely defensive. As long as you oppose entry on the planet to the Coalition, not a single Wookiee will be forced to fight in the Outer Rim without consent."
Tarfful made a growl in a tone that Iulius found quite positive, and the protocol droid confirmed.
"Then it's settled. Under these conditions, the Wookiees will fight for the Empire."
Iulius put a hand over his heart. "Thank you, respectable Chieftain. The Empire is honored to have you at its side."
After exchanging the last pleasantries, Iulius stood up and left the hut, rejoining his escort and Qathora in the middle of the Wookiee village.
"Hod did it go?" she asked.
"Tarfful agreed to send some of his warriors to the local garrison. We'll be able to free up the stormtroopers we have here."
"Sounds great."
"Yeah. In a way." he muttered.
He would've worked even better if Coruscant hadn't significantly reduced his budget. Iulius' initial idea had been to bolster planetary armies for their self-defense while investing heavily in the recruitment of stormtroopers to prepare a large-scale offensive in the Outer Rim, but the sudden budget cut had crushed that plan. The Lord-Protector had wanted to extend the recruitment for the Corp to non-Humans, but the lack of funds prevented him from commissioning new equipment to the industry, so for now only near-Humans were allowed to enlist, because the standard armor could be issued to them as well.
What bothered Iulius the most, was that he didn't know the reason for this monetary restriction: Qathora had kept an eye on Minister G'Ray and she did find proofs that the budget projections had been altered, but in order to know why somebody would have to go inquire at the highest levels of government. Even Moff Gideon said that he could not divulge anything about it.
So now Iulius had to literally scrape the bottom of the barrel. He needed to bolster the ranks of the Army with every able-bodied sentient and free up as many possible candidates for the Stormtrooper Corp as possible.
There were also a lot of additional complications: different species also meant different needs, between medicines, food, environmental protections...there were now countless variables that were driving the folks at the logistic department crazy.
The only exception were the standard weapons: most imperial weapons like the E-11 could be easily wielded by most of non-Humans, so at the very least, the new recruits could be given the main tool for a soldier.
Luckily for the Lord-Protector, he had Thrawn. The Grand Admiral had studied the history of the Imperial Federation during his imprisonment, and he had learned how the Systems Alliance could manage such a diverse army. His insights had been extremely precious to ensure that the reorganization of the army didn't leave the Mid Rim forces in complete chaos that would have left an opportunity for the enemy.
While he reflected on all this, they had already returned back to the Admonitor. From his desk, Iulius sent order to set the course for Naboo while he started going through the huge pile of reports waiting in his holo-box while Qathora took a peek into the Fulcrum network.
Around two hours later, the console on the desk started beeping. Iulius saw that the transmission came from Sloane, so he picked it and the hologram of the woman appeared, standing at attention.
"Lord-Protector."
"Admiral. Report."
"Sir, I need to report that some probe droids found a hidden base of the Zann Consortium in the Sharlissia system."
Iulius was alarmed by this news, but managed to retain his composure. "How did they get there without us noticing?"
"If I have to guess, they paid some high-ranking officer, but that's up to the ISB to find. My point is that they are amassing a consistent land force on that base."
"I assume you already took measures?" he asked.
"I already ordered Commander Zahra and her squad to deploy over Crait. If you wish so, we can storm them in two rotations."
Iulius pondered the situation for a moment: Sharlissia wasn't far away from the Triellus Trade Route and sat at the end of a major hyperspace lane. From that position, the pirates could threaten to sever communication routes between Naboo and Eriadu.
Yet, Iulius thought that this wasn't the only reason. Sure, That route had seen a boom in traffic in recent months, but there were still Star Destroyers guarding the more critical junctures and a small flotilla ready to intervene.
Zann was a crime lord. He measured his power by controlling a limited territory. Most of the rest was about controlling black market and bribe his way up the imperial hierarchy to see what he could exploit to enhance his financial fortunes.
In all honesty, those troops could be preparing to storm the fortress of a rival gang, or something like that. However, the Consortium had attacked the Empire previously, and Iulius could not take that chance.
"Steve, if we set course for Crait, how long will it take?" he asked to the AI that had a terminal on his desk.
"I'm confident I can take us to destination in time to meet with Commander Zahra's unit."
"Perfect." Iulius replied, then pushed a button to communicate with the bridge. "Commander Ree. Change of plans. Set course for the Crait system."
"Yes, sir." Ciena replied without hesitation.
"Admiral, inform Commander Zahra that I will join the operation." he concluded.
"Yes, sir." Sloane said with a sure nod before closing the transmission.
"Something wrong?" Qathora asked. "I almost thought you didn't consider Zann as a threat anymore."
"He's not as directly dangerous as the Coalition is, but the more I look into his activities, the more I feel that he's looking for something. Something he thinks he can use to destroy the Empire."
"Any idea what that could be?"
"No. But I'm ready to bet that it's something the Emperor is hiding."
"Which could be a lot of things." Qathora concluded sarcastically.
Iulius sighed lightly. That was painfully true: for all the Emperor could praise him about being the greatest military leader of the Empire, Iulius was being kept in the dark of so many things. What he feared most, was that Palpatine might be squashing money on some other super-weapon. Maybe not another Death Star, but something else that was ridiculously powerful. There was at least a new Super Star Destroyer in production at Kuat, but the costs for that didn't entirely justify the budget cuts he had suffered.
He could only hope that the money was going to new powerful ships that at least would make sense, because a single super-weapon was only a waste of resources and a liability if the enemy could find a way to blow it up like it happened to the Death Star.
After his subconscious finished this considerations, he decided he needed to prepare. "Let's inform Cody." he said as he stood up.
February 14.
The junior class was going through the choreographed form of fight in almost perfect synchrony. Jaral was supervising the exercise, since Master Yoda needed to meditate and it didn't seem like the students needed much correction. And as she looked at them, Jaral felt a pinch of pride, seeing how the kids she had trained every day in the last three months had steadily improved. Pipey and Alora, probably because of their previous experiences with the Jedi and the Inquisitors, seemed much more motivated than the others and had clearly emerged as potential leaders.
The group eventually finished the exercise at the same moment and they stood up in front of their teacher.
"Well done, younglings. Your rate of learning is truly admirable." she complimented.
"Master Bridger." Alora asked timidly. "There is something I would like to ask."
"Of course, Alora." Jaral said in a caring tone.
The kid seemed to hesitate. Her head bobbed a little and she rubbed her hand nervously. After taking a few moments, she spoke up. "Do we...have to learn how to kill people?"
Jaral was caught a bit off-guard by that question, for she never thought about it herself. She retained her composure and her air of maturity, as she could see that the other students were looking with curiosity.
Pipey's throats beeped out a few words in his language as he gestured with confused eyes toward his friend.
"I know there are many bad people, Pipey, but…" she said, then shut her eyes closed as if she wanted to avoid seeing something gruesome in front of her.
Jaral could feel a sensation of cold. Sadness and fear were wrapping around the young girl. The Knight knelt down with a careful haste and reached a shoulder of the youngling, using the Force to soothe her.
Alora managed to calm down and regain control. Jaral could guess what this was about, but she knew that Alora needed to externalize this thought. The kid understood that, as well, and finally spoke up. "I saw people killing people. I don't want to do that." she said.
It may have been quite a simple phrasing but it was eloquent: the experience of seeing the Inquisitors who were hunting her massacring the crew of the ship where she and her grandmother were traveling on had left a mark on Alora, even if she was just a year old at the time. The fear of the victims, the anger and hate of the Inquisitors...the Force certainly reminded her of all of that.
"We are to be Jedi!" Faulcis exclaimed. "We have to kill bad people."
Jaral immediately gave the young Mirialan male a severe look. "Wrong." she said in a tone that froze up the younglings "Our job is to protect the innocents and help those in need. Sometimes, that means fighting against evil people, but to fight doesn't mean you have to kill." she said as she put her hand around Alora's shoulders. "Alora actually says something very important. For the duty of a Jedi is to defend life, not take it. When you will learn how to be an ally of the Force, you will realize that you don't need to kill somebody in order to defeat them."
The kids certainly took her tone seriously, though it seemed that what had been a certainty for them had just been crushed and they needed to elaborate that little shock.
"Listen to your teacher, you would be wise to."
Everybody turned suddenly and saw Master Yoda, who had presumably just come out of his meditation in time to witness Jaral's lesson. He was standing there, leaning on his walking cane and that usual kind expression on his face.
"Master Yoda." Jaral greeted. "Everything ok?"
The green alien made a huff as if clearing his throat. "Hard to say. A blur, in the Force I saw."
"Well...if you didn't see what it is, maybe it's not necessarily bad?" she quipped.
Yoda chuckled. "Indeed, young Bridger. Indeed."
Jaral then felt an unmistakable tug, coming from the bond. She turned around toward the capital in the distance. The sun was disappearing slowly between the skyscrapers, but among the small figures of ships trafficking around the city, one of them was coming toward the complex. It didn't take long before the shape of the Silver Bullet became clear and the rumble of the engines too. The Gauntlet turned around and landed next to the training grounds and the ramp descended.
To Jaral's delight, the first person to come out was Darvos. She smiled and went straight to hug him.
"It's so good to see you again." he said happily after months away from her, after which he took a quick look at her belly.
Jaral though had something else in mind. "Hey, Ezra told me about Iulius." she said carefully.
Darvos looked at her in resignation and sighed. "Yeah, well...there are a few people you should meet, first." and stepped aside so Jaral could see the ramp.
The next to come down were Ezra and Sabine, who waved friendly at her and she returned the gesture. Then it was time for Ahsoka to step outside...followed by a rich combination of five aliens and only one Human. All of them wearing various clothing, but every single one of them had a lightsaber hanging from their belts.
"Hello, Master Bridger." Ahsoka greeted with a quipping voice and the two women greeted each other.
"I'm still working on it." Jaral replied in tone, then turned her gaze toward the newcomers. "So, who are your friends?"
Ahsoka went to face the group of Jedi and extended an arm to introduce them.
"May I introduce you to Katooni and Ganodi." she started, indicating a Tolothian and a Rodian women. Then passed on to the Human, the Ithorian, the Wookiee and the Nautolan. "Here are Petro, Byph, Gungi and Zatt."
Jaral registered the fact that they were all quite young, but still older than her by at least 5 years. Then Katooni walked forward and extended a hand amicably.
"Nice to meet you, Bridger. Your father and your brother spoke highly of you."
"Thank you. Just be careful, for they like to exaggerate." Jaral replied ironically.
"Well, it's not just them." Petro said after he shook hands. "In the last two years I heard some rumors about you and your brother. For long, I thought it was a trick from the Empire to draw us in the open, but now…" he said, finishing with an admired tone.
"Speaking of which, I thought you had received more aid requests than six." she said in general to her friends, wondering what had happened.
Darvos pursed his lips and then replied. "We did. But the other signals we investigated were empty. Well...all but one."
"What happened?"
Ezra stepped in to explain. "The last we looked for was a Jedi Knight, but when we arrived he had been surrounded by Purge Troopers. We arrived too late to save him, and we can only assume it was the same for the others."
"I see." Jaral replied, accepting the harsh truth. Then she tried to sound a bit more welcoming in tone. "Welcome to Lothal, fellow Jedi. I hope you will consider share your experiences as Jedi with the students at the Academy."
"Are you kidding?" Ganodi replied with enthusiasm. "It's great to have a place to call home again."
Then it was the time to reunite the former Padawans with Master Yoda, who had met them in the past just like Ahsoka, when the Jedi were still younglings at the Temple on Coruscant. But while Petro and the others got to meet the new students of the Academy, Jaral took Ezra and Darvos and brought them into her house to discuss the last developments.
"So...what happened on Bettok?" she asked after they sat in the living room.
Darvos was leaning forward, his hands holding up his chin while the elbows were propping up on the knees, in a thoughtful pose that reflected his conflicted state about this entire issue. Nonetheless, he kept his cool and started narrating, with Ezra's help, what happened on the surface. How they discovered the Kett menace and how the short reunion between the two brothers had played out.
Jaral cared about the fate of the colonists, but first of all, she wanted to figure out if the truce between the Tanis brothers could actually exist.
"Did Iulius really proposed that you work together to fight these Kett?" she asked.
Darvos had by now straightened his back and spoke with more confidence. "He did. And I'm sure he meant it."
"Yeah, allow me to point out that he might say the truth, but he works for the Sith. Nothing easier that the Emperor will try to use this chance to kill us all at the first opportunity. Heck, that Dark-sider who was with Iulius might do that on his own initiative."
"Dark-sider?" Jaral asked. "Who are you talking about?"
Darvos was surprised. "You didn't tell her?"
Ezra was about to reply, then he remembered something that made him connect two dots. "...hold on, that must be the guy who blinded Master Kota!"
Jaral was startled. "What?! And you just forgot to tell me?! This might be critical!" she yelled all of a sudden.
Now it was time for the two men to be startled by the unexpected reaction of the woman.
"Woah, easy. You know, he's not the first dark acolyte I found. I just realized that he may have been stronger than the others."
Jaral realized how she had just behaved and her face showed immediate contrition. She touched her forehead with her right hand and sighed a bit tired. "Sorry. I'm sorry. I'm just a bit tired."
"You sure you don't want to go to rest, first?" Darvos asked in a caring tone.
Jaral waved her hand lightly to say no. "Please, how long can this be? I promise I'll go to bed earlier tonight. Now, where were we?"
"The Dark-sider." Ezra reminded. "The fact that working with the Imperials is a really bad idea."
"Right. Have you reported this to Mothma, I hope?" she asked her husband.
"Of course. She replied she would have to consult the Grand Marshall and her Ministers. That's why I wanted to talk to you. If you support the idea, I'm sure she will authorize it."
"You just said that this collaboration would imply you going into totally uncharted space along with a fleet of imperials, who are not famous for treating allies fairly, for Force knows how long. Or did I miss something?" she asked in a tone that couldn't be more sarcastically eloquent.
Darvos tried to be more condescending. "Jari, if we don't do something, the people in the Northern Fringe will be at risk."
Jaral had a very rude one on the tip of the tongue, but as a burst of anger was passing her mind, she managed to turn it away, shutting her eyes and not looking at her husband. Then sadness and fear were the next in line. She stormed out of the room before she was tempted to lash out at the guys and instead she entered the backyard of the house and found in front of her only the endless prairie, surmounted by the orange colors of the sky.
It was a good thing, cause a good view always helped her calming her mind. She leaned with her hand against the fence while the other hand instinctively went to gently stroking the belly.
Just a minute later, Darvos calmly arrived through the door and simply went next to her, putting a hand around her waist. It was evident that he understood her worries.
"Can't you just send someone else?" she asked in a rare feat of egoism on her part.
"I'm the only one Iulius would ever trust in the New Republic, you know that." Darvos replied calmly.
She sighed. "Yes. But...going into Wild Space...facing an alien species we know absolutely nothing about...I'm scared, Darv. And Ezra has a valid point: how can you trust to work next to a Sith?"
"Actually, I intend to ask Iulius that we do not involve any Force-user."
Jaral barred her eyes. "What?!"
"True, I can't trust anyone who deals in the Dark Side, but I can't ask the Imperials to trust the Jedi, either. I was thinking that, if we need someone with strange powers, we already have a psionic."
"Who?"
"You didn't know? That woman Ezra worked with, Saori Gozo, is now part of the Normandy crew. Shepard already said that she will come with our joint expedition, so we can rely on them."
Jaral turned down her gaze to think. That seemed like a very reasonable compromise. Sure enough, Iulius and Thrawn would see that. But all of this sounded dangerous, and the chances that she would never see Darvos again seemed unusually high to her.
No! She realized that she wasn't just scared for his well-being. She was afraid of something far more important, and there was only one way to put her mind at ease. She pushed herself away from the fence, turned toward her husband and took his hand gently.
"I know you have to do this. And I know you will come back." she gulped silently before resuming. "But since we don't know how long it will take." and she slowly pulled his hand over her belly. "How do we call her?"
Darvos looked impressed at first, seeing how fast his wife had accepted the situation. Then smiled, reminding himself that she had always been insanely stoic. He gently caressed the belly and spoke softly.
"I've been thinking about it for a while, actually. I looked up some names and...I'd like to call her Samira."
Jaral considered that. "Uh...Samira Bridger. Doesn't sound that bad." she quipped.
"Come on, I thought long and hard on the sound." he replied feinting to be offended.
She chuckled lightly and leaned forward to rest her head on his chest. "And you thought well. All right. Samira will be."
Darvos smiled and put his arms around her shoulders in a gentle embrace.
February 15.
The Consortium fleet guarding Sharlissia was pitiful and had quickly escaped, but the imperials needed to act fast if they didn't want the pirates to destroy every evidence they had in their surface base, which was quite big.
As preparations were going frantically inside the hangar, Iulius instead watched at a holomap provided by the probe droids, with Cody, Qathora and Yagler in their combat uniforms standing around. The scans indicated that the pirate base was next to a river. It was made of a compound with barracks and turrets, protected by a localized shield. The only possible landing zones were two open fields amid the thick forest covering that region. The land forces would need to cross the river, which was always a difficult maneuver against an entrenched enemy.
"I suggest we engage them on the river from Landing Zone A. Then we send our best troopers on Landing Zone B to cross the water and hit them in the flanks."
Iulius nodded in approval. "That would allow us to use our numbers at best. But if we want to exploit the artillery piece we need to deploy it first."
"Well, they probably don't expect us to expose it immediately." Yagler noted. "We should be able to send down reinforcements to escort the cannon."
"The SPHA-T can squash everything, but it's slow." Cody commented. "Its infantry escort will have a rough time until we can send backup."
"We have trained our forces on speed just for this reason." Iulius replied. "We'll send the TIEs to take control of the skies and continually hit the hostiles."
"Yes, sir." Cody said without question.
Next moment, a transmission came from Zahra. Iulius picked it up and the hologram of the woman, she, too, wearing her combat gear, standing with her hands clasped behind her back.
"Lord-Protector. The shuttles are ready for the drop. What shall we send down first?"
Iulius thus laid out the deployment: the artillery company, supported by a company with repulsor-lift tanks would land on point A. Meanwhile, a stormtrooper division with the support of an AT-ST regiment would land on point B. He would stay on the Admonitor and direct the battle from that position in the hangar, for when the shield would be destroyed, he would personally lead his small team and the 212th to attack what seemed to be the main lair of the pirates. With the general plan laid out, the Acclamators moved in low orbit in order to reduce the landing time of the Army forces, and the battle began.
The SPHA-T was deployed and the colossal artillery platform started to move using the many legs beneath the hull. The Army troopers and few stormtroopers assigned to its defense, along with their ITTs and tanks instead rushed toward the river to prepare, as scanners and the TIEs flying over the battlefield reported that the enemy was preparing for an immediate counterattack. But when images came in, Iulius and his collaborators were stunned.
"I don't believe it." Cody mumbled. "They use Separatist tanks?"
Precisely, Iulius thought. Those were AAT tanks, the main armored vehicles of the Separatist Alliance during the Clone Wars.
"Not only that." Qathora added, herself quite surprised, and pointed at the mass of infantry.
Among the aliens, one could see a consistent group of battle droids.
"Where the kriff did they get them?" Cody asked like a grumpy old grandpa.
"Well, they did start to use upgraded droidekas." Iulius reminded.
"Correct, and I doubt Zann can field an army of mercenaries to get on par with us, or even the Coalition." Yagler commented. "Droids may not be the best warriors, but they are cheap cannon fodder."
"Still, we'll have to get to the bottom of this." the Lord-Protector declared. "Yagler, alert the ISB of this. And let's hope we can find some clues on where they build them."
"Yes, Lord Tanis." the woman diligently said, then stepped away from the group to go somewhere more private to call Moff Gideon.
Meanwhile, the battle on the river started. The huge mobile artillery fired on the enemy lines and inflicted some terrible casualties, but the slow ratio of fire meant that there were still plenty of pirates with their tanks to attack the main battle group.
The slug went on for at least fifteen minutes, with the droids and mercenaries recklessly attacking while trying to pass the river. The imperials thus had a favorable position, but the sheer number of the pirates eventually started to take its toll. Despite a dozen of AATs had been reduced to charred remains and some pieces were being slowly washed away by the river, the four imperial tanks eventually were all blown up, so Iulius ordered the infantry to fall back and defend the artillery at any cost.
Yet, the pincer maneuver finally paid off: the second column, left pretty much unhindered, crossed the river through another ford east of the main fight and then slammed into the Consortium forces from the flank while they were still trying to cross the river. Under crossfire and now heavily outnumbered, the pirates were almost entirely annihilated. Only a handful of them managed to retreat, in complete chaos, toward the main base, which the imperials assaulted next like an avalanche.
Once Zahra gave the 'all-clear' signal, Iulius put on his helmet and mounted on a gunship with his team, Cody in turn ordered the drop of the 212th.
After a quick descent into the orbit of the planet, the Lord-Protector disembarked inside the base while the orange-striped stormtroopers prepared to storm the main bunker. Iulius ordered a preliminary bombardment with mortars. A constant hammering that was to be kept to cover the troopers from an enemy response as much as possible, so they could approach the objective mostly unhindered. When they were 20 meters close, the mortars ceased fire to avoid friendly fire.
Still, the reaction of the mercs was fast. The platoon defending the entrance sallied out to meet the stormtroopers and a quick firefight followed up. The imperials suffered five casualties, but quickly wiped out the enemy.
"Lord-Protector, the path is clear." Mickey said through the comlink.
"Good work, Sergeant. We're coming." Iulius replied.
He and his small escort walked through the devastated shield generator, the barracks and the small factory where the pirates seemed to store and repair their tanks. Now their bodies littered the field among the fire and the destruction.
Iulius watched that show in front of him. While he certainly wouldn't pity those pirates, part of him couldn't help but loathe such waste of life.
The thoughts were set aside as he regrouped with the troopers, who were ready to storm the building. Iulius noticed that there was a second floor, upward.
"Cody, you and your men secure the base. I'm going up." then he turned around toward the two women. "Yagler, Qathora, you come with me."
They nodded affirmatively and took position behind him.
"Ready...Breach!" the order came from the old clone and the fusion charge activated, melting the main door in a fountain of sparks and making the piercing sound of a saw cutting through metal.
As soon as the sparks fizzled out, the stormtroopers charged inside. Iulius could hear them open fire as soon as they entered whether there were enemies for real or not, but that question was immediately answered as he could hear the sound of blasters that were not imperials, and some of them even flew out from the door.
Iulius crouched then sprinted inside once the soldier in front of him had entered. The stormtroopers had already pushed far into the corridor and most of the mercenaries were laying dead on the floor, making it hard for the imperials to walk without stomping the bodies. Iulius first found some cover behind the threshold of an open door and looked at the situation.
At the end of the corridor he spotted some stairs, that his men were ignoring as they were still fighting against the pirates, so he gestured to Yagler and Qathora and the three passed behind the mass of stormtroopers still mowing down the Consortium forces and they rushed upward.
With the sound of the blasters muffled in the distance, the three silently swooped the floor, but there didn't seem to be anybody.
That was until they reached a pretty dark room with a shut holotable in the center.
Yagler went first, then probably heard something as her head jolted to her left. Iulius saw her made a leap forward and avoided just in time a blaster shot that she returned. A grunt followed and Iulius hurried inside the room, only to see a soldier with red armor rush against Yagler.
Iulius recognized that the man was a Defiler, the main agents of Zann, and Yagler apparently intended to take him alive, cause instead of firing, she threw away the rifle so she could have both hands ready to use his momentum against him.
And so it was. The Defiler tried to shoulder her, but she managed to nimbly lead him to smash against the holotable and then quickly blocked him into a lock on the ground, pressing her knee on his back and bending his arm.
The man grunted furiously, but the ISB Agent still managed to put the handcuffs on him.
"Excellent work, Agent." Iulius said frankly.
"No big." Yagler replied as she forced the pirate to sit on his knees.
Iulius nodded to Qathora, who moved to take out the helmet of the man, revealing a human with a scar on his right eye, bald and with a very short buzz beard. He was still grunting through his teeth and looked madly furious at them.
"Cody, send up a team, we found a guest for the cells." the Lord-Protector said through the comlink.
"Copy that." Cody replied.
"He doesn't look very friendly." Qathora commented, implying that he may not say anything even if under torture.
"Oh, I think Galen will find a way to untie his tongue."
After additional stormtroopers came up to seize the pirate, Iulius brought his group outside of the base, where a shuttle was waiting for them.
