Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Seed or Star Wars. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not created with commercial aim. I make no money from it.
Phase 17: Homecoming
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Part 7
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Observation lounge
Republic cruiser Solace
Dark Space
Just over a hundred ships of all sizes formed a protective shell over a two kilometres long and a third that tall mobile dock. Ever since robbing Greh'mora blind and blowing him up, practically everything went according to plan. Gord played ball, though he did haggle something fierce about future contracts, which raised his standing in my eyes. Three days ago, we left Nal Hutta with five brand new destroyers in tow and eight frigates in decent condition that had their weapons refurbished. We brought a some sorely needed supply vessels too, loaded with both hypermatter and Tibana gas. To top it all, a small train of freighters loaded with Gord's best toys followed. We met the fleet in a predetermined location in the vast abyss between star systems, unloaded everything we could from the civilian ships and made a series of random jumps to break any pursuit. Naturally, we kept jamming up and running to neutralize any tracking devices slipped into our new purchases. Our E-war specialists couldn't detect anything. The same was true for the people going through the new ships' computer cores.
No nasty surprises whatsoever. We even met with the mobile dock and its escorts, which were friendly, intact and no one came to break the party.
"You look ill at ease, General." Joanna commented.
"I am." I admitted and continued to watch the mobile dock work. Currently it was busy installing a completed Silencer into a Venator. Its engineers were damn busy along with almost everyone with technical expertise in the fleet. While a single mobile dock would need years to fix most of the damage we received getting there, its stores of spare parts and extensive workshops could patch up a lot of battle damage. The specialists on board had some nifty ideas on how to use what we had in creative ways. They were even convinced that they could build and install a second Silencer with what we brought from Nal Hutta, which was why I agreed that we would delay our flight home for a whole week.
It was going to be very busy seven days.
"Why? For a change, fortune broke our way." Joanna pointed out.
"That's just it. Ever since I found myself in this time, I can count on the fingers of a single hand the times things didn't go to hell." Hundreds of glowing dots darted all over the place – shuttles, people in space suits and repair droids that crawled over and within every ship in the fleet.
"You're getting paranoid, General."
"I was already paranoid, thank you very much, Joanna. Do you have the list?"
She walked to stand beside me and handed me a data-pad. I took it with my prosthetic hand and examined the contents. We better reach friendly space soon and replenish our loses. There simply weren't enough officers, junior or otherwise to go around to properly crew the new ships. Enlisted personnel we had enough after picking up survivors, cannibalizing and scuttling vessels that were too damaged to be worth it keeping around. However, the officer corps got hit bad during our campaign.
"Piett, too?"
"You'll survive without an adjutant until we get back to the Republic. He is capable, isn't he?"
"That's true. Still, an XO position on one of the Daggers?"
"Two days ago, her captain was a Lieutenant Commander."
I looked at the rest of the names. Most didn't ring a bell and the few I vaguely recalled hearing, it was in positive light. "Beggars can't be choosers. Besides, the Daggers won't fight like our regular ships. At least those boys and girls won't have a lot of 'bad' habits to unlearn. Cut the orders. We'll be working the new ships and their crews to the bone."
We had just a few days to break them in enough not to be more dangerous to us in combat than to the enemy. Again, not enough bloody time! We couldn't really afford to wait longer than a week. That gave the enemy more time to reinforce our obvious escape route, not to mention to hit Mandalore harder.
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CIC
Republic destroyer Assassin
Dark Space
Firmus Piett was exhilarated and afraid in an equal measure. Here he was, the XO of his own ship! Not just a dingy little frigate, but almost a cruiser weight vessel! Never in his widest dreams he could even dare hope for something like this happening so early in his career. However, Piett knew he was an inexperienced officer and the only reason why he was stuck with the job was because there weren't enough more senior people to go around.
"Helm, bring us to the rally point. Ten percent acceleration. Slow and steady." Captain Rioll Len, a veteran from the Freedom, ordered.
"Aye, sir. To the rally point." The helms-woman confirmed.
The Assassin's powerful engines came to life and a light vibration went through the deck before the compensator could properly handle the acceleration.
"I thought we got that fixed." The Captain scowled. "XO, have a word with Engineering. If its this bad at then percent power I dread to think what can happen to us if we need to move fast."
"Aye, Captain. I'll see to it."
The Assassin was a brand new ship, one of five Dagger class Destroyers in existence. That meant there were a lot of problems to fix before she could be safely brought into battle... and Firmus was painfully aware that they didn't have time to do it properly. They spent the last two and half days familiarizing themselves with the ship's systems while engineers from all over the fleet went over everything they could to check for nasty surprises and problems that needed fixing. Like that nasty kriff up in the ships inertial compensator.
Now it was time to bring the battle group and its escorts out for three days of manoeuvres and some live fire target practice at a nearby asteroid field. Then they would be tested in fire.
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Twelve hours later, Piett collapsed into his bunk. The General worked them up mercilessly, up to the point of collapse and when the first shift was done for, he continued with the second, the poor bastards. Firmus had no idea how, but the General managed to get them working up the basics of formation flying by the time the second shift took over. He had been in the navy for long enough to know that it should have taken much, much longer for a ship's crew gathered from scratch to begin working together instead of getting into each other's way. It took significantly longer to make sure even a small battle group could properly coordinate, yet somehow. They were doing it, if incredibly clumsily, at the end of the first day. At that rate, they might be somewhat ready by the end of the week, though Piett wasn't sure if anyone would be in any state to run a ship, much less fight it when that happened. He hadn't felt that tired and drained after multiple shifts under combat conditions and this was just a bloody training!
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Part 8
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Observation lounge
Republic cruiser Solace
Dark Space
Twelve hours and two random hyperspace jumps before we headed home, we gathered the senior officers of the fleet for one last briefing and as an opportunity to mingle and soothe any misgivings they had. Most of the people in the lounge wore the same cocoa tones faces, with a sprinkle of Corellians promoted from the Freedom and here lost escorts. The smallest two groups were regular people who were in charge of their own ships since the start – the so far rarest officers in the GAR and the handful of captains we picked up at Eriadu and Naboo. Our auxiliaries from local navies suffered disproportionate casualties during the battles that brought us up to this point. Locally built cruisers were often smaller and less powerful than the mainstay Venators. They were easier to cripple and consequently destroy.
I used the Force to telekinetically brush Joanna's shoulder and get her attention. She was at one corner of the room chatting with her surviving officers. The admiral looked up and met my eyes. I nodded at her and watched her make her excuses and head my way. Once she stood beside me, I amplified my voice through my power and used it to augment my charisma.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I feel compelled to thank you for your continued sacrifices against impossible odds. When lesser men and women would have faltered, when they would have lost their courage and broken, you pressed on! From Gerrenthum, to Eriadu and Kuat, from Naboo to Sullust you all went above and beyond the call of duty! The Separatists threw the worst they had at us and yet, here we are!"
Now that I got their attention and could sense their approval and pride, I telekinetically activated a holo-projector that displayed this section of the galaxy in high detail.
"We are just few steps from friendly space, resupply, reinforcements and some richly deserved R&R. For many of us, we are on the doorstep to home." Another mental command had three star systems light up in red. That was Joanna's signal.
"We all know what our next destination is. The enemy is aware of it as well." The holo-image zoomed in to show the Randon system. "Due to its strategic location as a crossroad between multiple hyperlanes and a gateway to Hutt Space, Randon is expected to be heavily defended, both by the Randon Star Navy and a strong Separatist fleet. Defences that we must assume were further reinforced in anticipation of our arrival. It is unfortunate that our contacts at Nar Shaddaa were unable to find us a viable smugglers route that would allow us to bypass that chokepoint."
There was in fact one such we knew off... which terminated in a dense asteroid field that due to stellar cartography couldn't be bypassed without making a couple of dozen precision jumps around. There were known enemy listening posts in that area and attempting to bring a fleet through there was sheer folly.
"The General will attempt to divine if there is currently available hyper route that would allow us to bypass Randon's defences, however we have to plan for the worse."
"The fleet will move in two echelons. The first will contain the bulk of our fire-power. We will engage and punch through the defences, make them concentrate on us and thus allow for the mobile dock and our supply vessels to slip through and make a second slower jump towards Kashyyyk. Once they are out of peril, we'll jump out too, using the full capabilities of our hyperdrives and secure a toehold in that system. Once there, we'll do the same and head for the next step of our way home." The holo-image zoomed out and now Lantillies blinked in red. "The current situation at the sector capital is unknown. We're assuming the worst once again, that it is in enemy hands. Strategic planning before we left to deal with Crimson postulated an attempt to hold onto that system, however if the navy faced overwhelming odds, they were to pull back to Gizer where they were to hold the line there at all costs." Another mental command had Taanab blinking in yellow. "As many of you know, Taanab is the breadbasket for many systems in the nearby sectors. If it fell, those worlds would have no choice but submit to separatist control or watch their populations starve. GAR High Command was determined to heavily reinforce and hold it at all costs. A naval station with extensive repair facilities and supply depots should have been operational there for months now. This is our ultimate destination."
Many captains perked up at the alluring promise of a safe ports and all the supplies their ships and crews sorely needed.
"Now, lets discuss how we will get there intact..."
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Eighteen hours later, I was alone in the lounge. The crews had a brief respite to recuperate after we worked them beyond exhaustion to prepare as much as possible in the time available and they needed the brief respite. Now we were in range of Randon and I was meditating, throwing my mind through the currents of the Force and trying my best to find a practical way to bypass Randon.
Worlds, stars, whole star systems constantly moved. Gravity fields ebbed and flowed as they pushed at each other. Safe passages between distant stars opened and collapsed in front of my eyes, more often than not faster than someone could input hyper-jump coordinates, much less traverse those routes before they vanished.
The stellar geometry simply didn't work. Bypassing Randon would take dozens of jumps at best and even after resupplying from Nar Shaddaa we simply lacked the fuel, not to mention the time for such a detour. I let of my power and cursed. My whole body tingled from the energy I just finished channelling. We would have to do things the hard way.
"Admiral Holt, we're a go. You already have the insertion coordinates." I contacted the CIC and ordered the fleet to deploy. That done, I closed my eyes, took a sip of an alchemical concoction I prepared to help me recover my strength and continued to prepare myself. Odds were good that before we were done I would have to use Battle Mediation again.
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Flag Bridge
RSN cruiser Praetorian
Randon
Council Sulla Tionni, the man in charge of the whole Randon Star Navy, was at the end of his wits. He had his whole force gathered in a defensive position above the homeworld, over a hundred modern ships paid for by the efforts of the strong mercantile empire of the Randon Trade Republic. Battle stations and constellations of weapon satellites surrounded the fleet giving it a false sense of security. Even without the large Confederate presence in system, Randon should have been more than secure. A few weeks ago, the Council would have sworn that the Galactic Republic wouldn't, couldn't pose a threat to his people unless fortunes changed and it began to win the war decisively.
Then Bothawui happened. As the man tasked with protecting Randon, he couldn't assume that the monster Veil perished murdering the Bothan homeworld... and even if he could, the GAR in the Core revealed that they had yet another pet Sith working with them, the same one who supposedly trained Veil. Intelligence wasn't sure what to believe, however, Tionni couldn't take the chance. He had to assume that this Zash woman had the same ability to murder worlds, even if it might kill her. He said as much during a closed Senate session and he didn't want to think about the fallout and political fire-storm that his words ignited, though he couldn't escape it.
The consequences were plain for everyone to see. There was a strain now between the RSN and their Confederate allies. The CIS Navy was eager to engage Veil's fleet when it attempted to break through Randon to reach Republic space. The Senate and Councils in charge of the Randon military were not so eager. If Veil had somehow survived... In that case he had his orders and one way or another there would be a hell to pay, even if he agreed with them.
With every passing day, the tension among the RNS rose as there was no trace of the expected enemy fleet. Until one day, rumours from Nar Shaddaa reached the ears of Randoni traders and intelligence agents alike. They spoke of a Cult that apparently saw Veil as their Prophet. That by itself was more amusing than anything else. By itself, even the proclamation of some cultists that their leader was finally back from the death, as promised thousands of years ago, was more amusing than anything. Who in their right mind would take fanatics at their word about something they believed in so strongly? Then the news of a Hutt crime-boss being robbed and slaughtered by Mandalorians acting with military precisions came followed by rumours that they used their ill gotten gains to by warships and a lot of assorted military hardware. That by itself wasn't too surprising. For months now, the Mandalorians were fit to be tied, acting more boldly and recklessly than usual.
Again, not unexpected. Their homeworld was under siege and in their shoes, Tionni would be doing everything in his power to liberate Randon. No, it was the rumour that it was Mandalore himself who led that band of Mandalorians that had everyone in the RSN on edge. Its been over a week since intelligence, both Republic and CIS sourced confirmed that major combatants were bought by the Mandalorians and they vanished in the ether. Veil's fleet was preparing to pay Randon a visit, that was beyond doubt and all the Council could do was wait.
When the enemy finally arrived, Tionni felt both hope and dread. There were only eighty ships in that Republic fleet. The RSN alone outnumbered them and when the CIS fleet was added to the mix... it might still not matter.
"We're receiving a transmission directed to the RSN and the Senate!" Sulla's chief of staff exclaimed after the CIC contacted him.
"Put it on." An ice ball formed in the bottom of Tionni's stomach.
"Greetings, people of Randon." A well known and hated voice echoed in the Flag Bridge. The Council's staff was quieter than a prairie rabbit that heard the barking of a pack of hounds.
A holo-image of Veil appeared, displaying him in polished Mandalorian styled armour. He looked older, with a few strands of greying hair and somewhat gaunt face, yet besides that, there was no trace that he had burned multiple times above Bothawui. Internally, the Council cursed up a storm. The enemy fleet was mere three light seconds from Randon. If the enemy came, he wasn't certain at all that the RSN and their allies could stop them before Veil was in range to repeat Bothawui... if he wasn't close enough already.
"As a show of mercy, I will give you a one time offer. Stand down and get out of our way or share the fate of all traitors."
Council Tionni bit the inside of his cheek. Oh, how he wanted to unleash his fleet upon that monster who dared threaten everything he held precious. However, he could still see in his nightmares the fate of Bothawui. He could see the Confederate transmissions of droids sent down to the surface to determine what happened. Bothawui was a dead world now. There was absolutely nothing alive down there, not even microbes or viruses, if you can call the later alive in the first place. To even risk the same happening to Randon was unthinkable.
"Give me a channel to the enemy flagship." Tionni hissed. "This is Council Tionni, the commander of the Randon Star Navy. We will not bar your progress as long as you do not approach Randon or engage our forces."
Ten seconds later, the Praetorian was bombarded with transmissions from his Confederate counterpart. However, what he deemed more important was the Sith's answer.
"It's good to see you're a reasonable man, Council Tionni. That way we can avoid actions that you wouldn't live to regret."