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Phase 6: Lootforce One

=RK=

Part 7

Royal Palace

Theed

Naboo

"Wilhuff, an explanation is in order, I recon. A good one." The moment I could justify it, I dragged Tarkin to a secluded room near the Audience Chamber. I made sure no one could listen to us even if they tried and focused my whole attention on my minion using every bit of enhanced senses that the Force could grant me. As far as I could tell without vivisecting his mind, Wilhuff was loyal. The altering I did back on Kamino was holding strong and unless a powerful Force Adept who really knew what they were doing got their hands on him, that wouldn't be changing.

Figuring that out merely opened a new can of worms. How the kriff did Tarkin pull of this stunt under my nose?!

Wilhuff returned my cold stare with a calm eyes. The bastard was actually amused by what was happening even if he did feel a pang of fear.

"I did what I could withing the boundaries I'm able to act. My Lord." The last two words were clipped and chock full with emotion. A spike of painful mixture made of reverence and utter contempt at what I did to him surged through his whole being before Tarkin regained control of his emotions and pushed them aside in a matter no Jedi of this age could ever hope to achieve. Couple of seconds later all could feel coming from him was grim amusement at the situation and Wilhuff began his explanation. "I know enough of your goals to do my best pushing them forwards. I'm still loyal to Eriadu however." The bastard actually had the gall and balls to smirk at me. "All I've done was my best to protect my home while forwarding your agenda, my Lord. I know if you find it useful you'll throw Eriadu away without a second thought. At best you'll regret the waste. Tonight, that's no longer the case. This alliance, if we can make it stick, will give you a real voice in the Senate. Along with Mandalore, if it's still around when we get there, could be the foundation of a New Order that can finally fix this messed up galaxy!" He spoke earnestly.

There was no sign of deception I could detect. No hint of treason. Tarkin believed every word he told me. What's more, from his point of view it made sense. He was right – if push came to shove, I would have thrown Eriadu and the allies I made there to the wolves. Especially if I had to chose between helping them or Mandalore. However, this alliance he planned under my radar, it had a great potential. With Tarkin being in my pocket, if we could ensure that he was in the leading position of the Mid-Rim Alliance, it would guarantee me as much political control over them as possible at the foreseeable future. That was the one commodity I sorely lacked ever since I arrived in the future. For politics to work, connections were essential. Knowing the players, having personal connection with them – there was no substitute. Building such rapport, the alliances that came with it as well as the rivalries and enemies – it took years. Decades. There was a reason why my initial goals centered around either a Reformed Republic or utilizing Palpy's plan for an Empire, preferably by placing myself as his obvious successor.

As an outsider with the burden of being a Sith and now Mandalore, anything more would have been a pipe dream. That's why Palpatine getting himself gutted back on Coruscant was such a blow to my plans. I haven't had much time to contemplate all the consequences, but at the very best his death pushed back my long term plans with years. Of course, Sidious' demise wasn't the only political blow I suffered. Some I did to myself – by becoming Mandalore I knew I would shoot myself in the leg in the short to medium term. However, the benefits of being head of state, and ally to the Republic and having an independent power base, no matter how vulnerable, were worth. The same was true for this alliance and Tarkin, the bastard, knew it. The risk here was even greater – both military and political, yet the rewards – a success would make for a lot of the opportunities lost with Palpatine's death. If the Republic fragmented, the Mid-Rim Alliance, or whatever we ended up calling it, might very well prove vital for a victory over the Separatists.

Perhaps. Might. Too many unknowns. This was no proper way to plan a campaign. It was chaos.

It was a good thing that I've learned to thrive in such an environment a long time ago.

"Wilhuff, such an initiative and prudent thinking needs a reward." I smiled cheerfully at my minion and clasped his shoulder in a reassuring gesture. For some arcane reason Tarkin flinched and began radiating anxiety. "You're going to be my point-man for this alliance. You're going to deal with all those bloody bastards, make sure that they will follow through with supporting us fully. When, not if, but when, we secure this region of the Mid Rim, you're going to officially take another hat as the face of this scheme. You'll be the one to sell it to the Senate when we're back to Coruscant. You my dear friend will have to ensure that all the local politicians will follow the party line and officially support our agenda, including our ultimate plans for the Republic."

"I'll do it, my Lord." Tarkin nodded stiffly.

"I know you'll do it, Wilhuff. A failure is not an option." I squeezed his shoulder. "On the bright side, we have a lot of battles to win before you'll be dealing fulltime with the political consequences of your stunts."

"You do have a plan?" Tarkin asked hopefully.

"You don't?" I inquired. "This is your brainstorm after all." I smirked.

"I might have an idea or two..."

"You'd better have more than that, especially when our logistics situation is concerned." I patted his back and took a step back. "I think that our command will be called Lootforce One." I beamed at Tarkin who suddenly looked like he just bit into a particularly sour lemon. "It has a nice ring to it, don't you think?" I wiped any trace of cheer off my face. "Looting our way to enough supplies to neutralize just the current Separatist presence in the region will be a challenge. Ensuring we would have the fuel and ammunition to meet any counter-attacks and then make our way to the Core with a decent sized fleet would be significant challenge. We have just a day or two at best before we had to leave. Ideally we'll be on our way tomorrow evening because giving any more time for the Separatists to figure out what to do about us might very well prove fatal." I paused and made to leave the room. "Tarkin, you'll run by me any scheme that has a chance of making complications for us before even thinking about implementing it, am I clear?" I glowered at my minion.

"I will, my Lord." To his credit, despite the sheer fear and disappointment at failing me in any way shape or form that he felt, Tarkin held his ground and didn't flinch.

=RK=

Part 8

Bridge

Corellian cruiser Freedom

Naboo

Thirty six hours. That's how long took us to make a kludge of a plan. It took too long. I had no doubt that by now the enemy was reinforcing critical positions against the off chance we raided important worlds nearby and preparing to attack Naboo again to pin our armada in place until our supplies ran out.

It wasn't enough time to plan a proper campaign. Far from it. Considering our supply situation, everything was made much worse, because if we kriffed up, soon our mighty fleets would be fit to only run for as long as their fuel lasted. If someone just went by numbers, the grand fleet I currently had at my disposal was one of the strongest forces in the galaxy. Nevertheless, while powerful, it was brittle and with limited endurance.

That's why I decided to cheat again. Or at least try, on multiple levels at that. First, I made sure that Tarkin – who I made my liaison with the politicians on Naboo, presented the rough draft of a operations plan to every ambassador and head of state at the Royal Palace. It was a given that the contents would be leaked to the CIS and they would have a brief window of opportunity to prepare.

What I did was a gamble – unless my gambit worked we might end up going with something quite similar that Tarkin presented and that had the potential for a disaster. Technically we took precautions by understating how bad our supply situation was and overstating what Eriadu could supply us with. According to the plan, the bulk of the fleet would smash its way back to Tarkin's home and resupply. Only then we would begin taking out every important enemy system in range, leaving Sulust, the toughest nut and biggest prize for last, striking at it once we've reduced the amount of mobile assets the CIS could throw at us.

Meanwhile, our allies were supposed to gather everything armed that flied at Naboo along as many supplies as they could with few exceptions. Those were the major industrial systems still under friendly control, which were to retain their current garrisons.

My commanders and even Tigellinus agreed that this plan was the only one having a prayer of working given our situation. They swore up and down in front of the politicians that this was the case. In reality, the odds of it working were quite low. Too much hinged of the CIS not figuring out that we were going to plunder everything we could. In reality someone would catch up on our game too soon and implement scorched earth policy and our war-machine would stall for lack of ammunition.

That's where I came in. What I intended was a gamble – a long shot that would be impossible for a regular force. After all, people couldn't change the realities of astrogation on a whim. To be fair, I couldn't do it too. What I could potentially pull off, if it was at all possible was to use the force to divine if there was currently available hyperspace route from Naboo to the real prize.

Time was up. The armada gathered at Naboo split up into multiple fleets.

Mine was Lootforce One. I was taking the Freedom with me along with Joanna as an XO. We were going to hit the toughest nut and our success was essential. No matter how important their tasks, the rest of the fleets were distractions.

Lootforce Two I gave to Tarkin and enjoyed the way he grits his teeth every time he had to pronounce the name. He was going to hit Enarc – the place where the Trade Federation staged their forces for their first invasion of Naboo ten or so years ago. It was a staging ground today too and Tarkin was going to trash it along with every enemy ship he could catch there.

Tigellinus got Lootforce Three. He wasn't particularly happy with the whole scheme, not just the name of his new command. However, Roofan was a realist enough to know he didn't have much of a choice. Too many of the forces in system were likely to support me, especially once the alliance became a reality at least on paper. He had his misgivings about the effects our stunt was going to have on the Republic, yet he agreed to join us in the end. I thought it was a combination of the possible rewards of a success and not wanting to be blamed for instigating a potential second civil war if he tried to go home with whatever forces decided to follow him. Besides, doing so would have kriffed him and his family somewhat fierce if the Senate ended up endorsing our actions. Right now, he was in a position to blame everything on me if things went pear-shaped and even had a reasonable chance of pulling it off.

Lootforce Four I gave to Mandolin and his target was Omwat after he and Tigellinus smashed Sanrafsix – a world we mostly bypassed on our rush to Naboo.

Next was TF Aegis, which we left under the joint command of a Clone Rear Admiral and Naboo's Royal Navy. Obviously their job was to keep the system as safe as practical.

TF Broadsword was meant to hit Malastare and reinforce the Republic forces still fighting there. If practical they were to get Jedi Master Adi-Mundi and bring him so we could have a chat. The last we heard he was on the ground there on the run from both sides.

Last came TF Bastion. They would head for Eriadu and further fortify that system while it became a staging ground for supplies from all over the Western Quadrant.

That was the plan anyway. Now it was time to see if it was going to die in the cradle.

"All forces are in position, general. We await your word." Joanna finally gave me the all clear. The fleets were ready.

I was alone on the empty bridge standing in front of one of the large windows.

There was nothing gentle in what I did. I grabbed the Force and imposed my will upon her. The Dark Side erupted all over the empty compartment and I felt a chill equal if not greater than the one outside. The stars shone at me with cold contempt as if mocking my efforts.

My perception expanded until it surrounded Lootforce One. I used all the people I could feel as an anchor and a beacon before I threw my awareness forward towards the distant dim dot that was Sulust.

A human mind couldn't handle the necessary calculations, nor the sheer wealth of information that passed through my awareness as I drove myself towards my target. Everything was in motion – planets, stars, whole systems and the galaxy itself. It was a complex system working on a scale vast beyond proper human comprehension. Even just the distance between a planet and its moon were so vast that most people couldn't really wrap their heads around them. The distance within a star system? Even less could understand it deep down. That between the stars? Feeling the gulf that made up most of our galaxy was a humbling experience. Only being deeply submerging into the Force and processing everything through her allowed me to comprehend the sheer scale without my mind breaking.

Was it minutes, hours or even days? Time had no meaning. That was an invention that he galaxy didn't know or care about. There was distance. Gravity. Solar winds. I could feel them all and eventually I could divine a route among the constantly dancing star systems between Naboo and Eriadu.

Now time finally began to matter. The stars would align soon and we could jump for the first leg of our journey. Three more and we would reach Sulust, avoiding any blocking enemy force that could intercept us and doing the impossible.

I let go of the Force and in a distant tone began to rattle the hyperspace coordinates of our destination.

What I didn't know was what awaited us at the end of our journey. Was I leading this fleet to victory or into a cauldron where the Confederation could finally pin us in place and destroy us?

A part of me couldn't help it but eagerly await the confrontation. That was the warrior I became on Korriban. Baras' tempered me later and Zash finished the job with her Inquisitor training I received later. That along with every shred of experience I had as an officer screamed at me that this was an insane risk I was taking. That I should reconsider.

"Calculations complete, general. We're ready to proceed." Joanna broke my glum thoughts.

"This is general Veil. Jump now." I ordered.

The dice was thrown. Was this my madness talking? Did it finally slip its leash?

I smiled. I was a Sith. By the reckoning of any normal being my very existence was madness. My morals, my mindset, my goals and the price I would extract from the galaxy for them, they were evil. Immoral. Insane.

I chuckled at that thought. So what if I was mad? So what if I would see the galaxy burn for power? So what if I lay waste to a large part of it if doing so might mean no one ever dares harm Bo again? It was very much true and it didn't mater. Sanity was overrated anyway.