Chapter 15: Logistics
As the Army rounded up what was left of the mercenaries in the city, The siblings followed Mon Mothma back to the Senate and into her office, which luckily had been spared from the fighting. Shortly after, Hera and Moot also joined the conversation.
"General Syndulla, General Moot. I commend your work in helping our forces retake the city." Mothma congratulated, considering that Hera had given a hand by taking out a few gunships of the Consortium and used the Ghost to quickly move small teams of special forces from one point to another according to Moot's instructions.
"Just doing my job, President. But clearly, somebody didn't make theirs. How is it possible that nobody noticed anything about Mordys?" Hera replied quite frustrated.
Mothma felt ashamed that she didn't have any real answer. "I suppose the fault is mine. Mordys made several choices in the last few months that seemed quite odd, but I overlooked them."
"Like what?" Ezra asked patiently.
"For starters, I should've been more suspicious when he recommended to put Darvos as leader of the offensive in the Fringe. One does not usually send the Head of Intelligence to lead a campaign and distract his agency from its surveillance duties. But we have been short on Generals for a while."
"Don't you have an agency to keep an eye on internal affairs?" Ezra asked.
"That is...a tricky matter, Ezra." Mothma said cautiously. "Some of us raised that concern, a few months ago, but it caused an uproar among the Senators of minor worlds and the public opinion. They are all afraid that any agency for internal affairs would be just like returning to the times of the Empire and the ISB."
Mothma then glimpsed outside the large window that surrounded her desk in a semi-circle. "Although, I guess today's events might convince many that we need to review our security policies." she said before turning her head again to her guests.
"All of this still sounds quite absurd." Moot commented. "How did Mordys plan to hold on to power? Why did he openly use a criminal group to do this?"
"And how come that a man who preached about security and authority all the time resorted to the help of criminals?" Hera added.
"The investigation will have to clear those questions, but the more I think about it, the more the recent events seem to make much more sense." Mothma said calmly.
"Like the attack at the Academy?" Ezra asked.
"Yes. It's clear by now, that it was Mordys who allowed the imperials to make their stunt on Lothal. He probably thought that, if the Jedi suffered a terrible blow like that, you might be tempted to request the protection of the New Republic. But then, you found out very quickly that somebody at the Defense Ministry was involved, and so Mordys decided to speed up his coup."
"You really think he was planning it for long?" Jaral asked.
"Of course. You don't improvise a coup of this size. I'm sure he had a way to make sure I and the members of the Cabinet who are usually against him, would be killed in some kind of accident. This open defiance was clearly an improvisation. He probably was going to hand us all to the Consortium and then he would be allowed to walk away and make it look like he miraculously escaped."
That reconstruction was perfectly believable. Both Ezra and Jaral were impressed by how quickly Mon Mothma seemed to have cracked the case so quickly. Then again, she had been in politics for decades, by that point.
"So what happens now?" Hera asked.
Mothma intertwined her hands on the table. "Luckily, the rest of my Ministers are alive, which means we can go back to work, but we need to strengthen our security framework, and I want somebody I can trust on this." she turned to look at Hera specifically. "General Syndulla, I want you to head to Mygeeto and bring General Tanis back here. I want him to choose the right candidate for Internal Affairs."
The Twi'lek nodded. "Consider it done."
"There is also another thing we shouldn't forget." Ezra intervened. "That the Empire…"
"Has another Death Star." Mothma interrupted him. "Yes, unfortunately, your sister already reminded me of that." she sighed before retaking some composure. "Which is another reason to bring our Head of Intelligence back here."
"I can go and take his place in defending Mygeeto." Moot proposed. "I was on standby anyway."
"Good. Sort the formalities with the Grand Marshall. And Bridgers, I know you decided to devote yourself to civilian duties and I respect it, but I think you can convene with me that another Death Star is not something that can just be ignored."
"Of course not, Madame President." Jaral replied calmly. "We have already decided to help the UACT in taking out the Emperor and Vader once and for all, but our resources and volunteers are still going to continue our humanitarian tasks. Me, Ezra, and the other trained Jedi are willing to accompany your forces, but that's all."
"That's all I hoped for." Mothma replied with a bit of relief. "Well, then. I think we have said everything that could be said. How about we get back to work?"
"Definitely." Jordan replied. "I still have to reach our forces for the attack on Sullust."
"Then may the Force really be with us." Mothma concluded. "Thank you for your time, friends."
The group left the office. Moot took his leave as he needed to get his wound checked on again and then prepare the troops to relieve Darvos and the 501st. That left the Specters to finally breathe a sigh of relief and comment on the situation.
"This was way more than I signed up for this investigation." Ezra said.
"Well, at least we know that nobody in the New Republic will stab us in the back for a while." Jaral replied. "Which should give us one problem less as we look for this new Death Star."
"How did they even find the time and resources to build another one?" Jordan asked in general. "The Empire is strong, sure, but they lost the entire Outer Rim and most of their industry is geared toward backing the fighting forces."
"It might just be that they were already building it shortly before they finished the first." Hera suggested.
"When we will find it, we will assess its effective condition." Jaral concluded. "Now let's get to Mygeeto and get Darvos back here."
They agreed and started walking back toward the landing platform that the Ghost had taken for itself. Ezra thought to his sister. "You must be quite thrilled to see him. He's been away for months."
"Of course I am. But I heard that he's been through some of the worst fighting. I only want to see if he's okay."
News from Andromeda were still scarce, but Jane had to keep that thought for later as the first teams of the Alliance were already attacking the outposts of the Magonid mercenaries. The first teams had secured various positions, including the planet's moon, and took several enemy facilities that they would now be used to cover the retreat and give the Commune's forces a solid footing.
Once all AA posts were taken down with the element of surprise, as the mercenaries had now way to detect the arrival of the Normandy nor the Amerigo, the stealth cruiser could get inside the low orbit and allow the transports of the Commune Army to start their descend on the capital.
As she observed things from the strategic room of the Normandy, waiting for her father's signal to launch her phase of the operation, Jane admired the rapidity and precision of their deployment.
"Your army is well-trained, considering it's very young." she said to Xhanya and Tr'eluk.
"Most of us gained experience during the revolution." the Kinayet replied. "But it wasn't difficult to find former soldiers of the Federation among the colonists."
"Yeah. You better not underestimate us." the Urshin replied in a less neutral tone.
"I assure you, I am not." Jane replied patiently. The hostility of the green-skinned alien was honestly starting to get annoying, but she hoped that she would be able to change his opinion after this operation.
They all observed for a few hours as the forces of the Commune took control of the city center. Apparently, the civilian population was watching with curiosity but seemed to have no intention whatsoever to intervene. It was quite clear that they didn't care much for the rich oligarchs controlling the planet. The mercenaries were quickly overrun and forced to hole up inside the palace, meaning that it didn't take long before Admiral Shepard gave the green light and the Normandy descended down to the planet. Aboard it, the Kodiaks were loading up the teams tasked with securing the two main platforms, while the Normandy herself would go straight for the outer landing area and drop most of the Marines there.
Jane's team included the two aliens, plus Kane, Chief and Garrus. The twins were leading the other dropship while Wilhelm would be leading the bulk of the forces. The signal finally came and the Kodiak were released into the skies of Irsivia. The pilots descended at full speed toward the capital city of Randanata, and among the large, poor houses that covered most of the city, there were also luxurious buildings surrounded by high walls, and the most outstanding of them all stood in the middle of the square, taking over several square kilometers with its gardens and crossed by the only river that flew in the city.
The shuttle reached the insertion point, which was a large catwalk on the back of the palace, right above the river. That area was meant for maintenance, so the defenders were not expecting any attacker to use that place as a springboard. The team was thus able to land quickly and undisturbed.
Jane took a quick look at the environment around them. Most of the terrain around the city was a rocky desert, and it had become like that in the last few decades because of the relentless exploitation of the soil by the corporations. The gardens of the villas were the only part of green left in that region.
But for how depressing that thought was, she needed to stay focused. They couldn't afford to waste time, for the members of the Cartel were certainly trying to escape. Most likely there were some underground tunnel below the palace that would allow them to reach a more isolated place away from the capital, and from there, they could fly away with relative ease.
With that in mind, Jane sent the code phrase that she had landed, then led her team into a garage bay of the palace.
"We need to get a map of the palace before they notice we're here." Garrus suggested.
"Agreed. Chief, find somewhere to plug Cortana in." Jane returned.
The Legionnaire didn't waste any time and he was able to find a local terminal right after they passed the door of the garage. However, they also met a small sentry team of mercenaries and they didn't kill them quickly enough to prevent one of them from alerting his comrades.
"Do all your 'stealth' missions blow up the moment you step in?" Xhanya asked sarcastically.
"As a matter of fact, they do." Jane replied lightheartedly.
"Welcome to the 'Shepard business model'." Garrus commented.
"Cortana, tell me you got something."
"Almost...I'm in. Okay, it seems like the entire Cartel has taken refuge in a safe bunker two levels below. If we move, we can get all of those fat toads."
"All right." Jane replied before setting her transmitter on the channel shared with Scott and Sara. "Dagger-1 to Bravo, do you read me?"
"Bravo, here. We read you, Dagger-1." Scott replied.
"We've located the targets inside a safe bunker on sub-level 2. We're moving to take them, you coordinate with the company and make sure to seal this entire building on the surface."
"Roger that. Good hunting."
The squad rushed forward, since it was best not to stay in one point lest possible reinforcements cornered them. They reached a courtyard without much effort, and from there they had to pass through the area of the energy grid where they were faced again by a squad of mercs with enough firepower to pin them behind a few covers.
"Chief, try to flank them, we'll cover you." Jane ordered.
"Aye, ma'am." the Legionnaire replied.
"I'll take the other side." Xhanya announced a moment later. So, when Chief dashed on the right flank, firing a few precise bursts with his Revenant rifle, the Kinayet instead rushed on the left flank, with a speed and the low profile of a cat, she dashed from cover to cover so quickly that the mercs needed a moment to realize what she had done, and that moment would be fatal as the sharpshooters of the team gunned them down.
After clearing the area, they were free to proceed to the vault. Cortana quickly hacked it and they went inside.
Even the large emergency corridor was quite luxurious: the material that made up both the floor and the walls and ceiling were expensive, polished and clean. There were pedestals with intriguing artworks and small statues on the sides. The lights, too were inside stylish lamps. Also, now that the air was clean, most of the group removed their helmets.
"The people in the street struggle to survive every day." Tr'eluk commented with a grunt. "Here they have so much money that they use quartz to build an emergency tunnel."
"No amount of money in the galaxy will be able to save them, now." Garrus replied in a tone that tried to encourage the Urshin.
"Let's keep pushing." Jane remembered them.
It didn't take long before they met another group of enemies, this time it included a mixed group of Turian, Salarian and Batarian. It was honestly amazing how the Magonid had not recruited anybody from the Terminus.
The squad got rid of them quite easily and then proceeded to the elevator they needed to use in order to reach the second underground level, only to find out that it was about to reach their level, most likely with more mercenaries inside.
"Take cover, people." Jane ordered as she took her Mantis rifle and put herself behind a portable cover.
It was a sound decision, because out of the elevator came a group of five soldiers and a Krogan mercenary with an old Blood Pack armor. Another firefight ensued, but the mercs were out in the open and too few to make even the slightest reaction.
Only the Krogan, who added shields to his armor and natural resistance, managed to get through the volley and soon enough he was on top of the nearest member of the assault team: Tr'eluk.
The Urshin and the Krogan engaged in a furious melee, since a shower of bullet had not stopped the warrior in Blood Rage. However, Tr'eluk was fully aware of how dangerous Krogans are in CQC, and instead of taking him head-on, he made sure to dodge the charge, then bayoneted the Krogan in the back as soon as he was exposed. It wasn't enough to take the Krogan down, however, and once the latter managed to disarm the Urshin, the two giants were interlocked in a brief brawl, which lasted until the Blood Rage started to tone down and the Krogan became more vulnerable. It was at that point that Tr'eluk managed to get his pistol and shot the Krogan in the head three times, finally killing him.
With that out of the way, the squad finally got inside the elevator and Cortana brought it to the level they needed to reach.
As soon as they reached that floor, they were met by a large squad of mercenaries in black armor, but Jane quickly noticed that they were all Batarian, strangely enough. Chief jumped in front of everybody and activated his directional shield, charging forward to give his comrades the chance to get out and dive behind a few covers, allowing them to return fire with their superior marksmanship and use of their gear. With grenades, omni-tool powers and with Tr'eluk revealing himself a biotic, the squad tore the guards to shreds.
All that was left was the vault of the safe bunker, and the strike team wasted no team to go and breach the door.
Inside, they found the members of the Cartel. The Magonid really resembled some of most hideous toad species on Earth. These ones were so fat that the lower limbs were partially covered by their main mass, had a few scales on their faces, but they were also richly dressed.
"Freeze!" Jane intimated to them as she entered with her assault rifle pointed. However, her gaze immediately fell on a holo-table at the center of the room, from which the image of a Batarian was giving her the shoulders.
Once Jane entered inside the field of the holo-table, the Batarian turned around, revealing his face, which was clearly old, but Jane felt like she had already seen that yellow color with a few black patterns on the side of the head.
The alien looked at her with scorn and grunted meekly, revealing part of his sharp teeth.
"Another Shepard. Seems like your family is my curse." he said.
"What?" Jane asked confused.
"Balak?!" the voice of Garrus came suddenly. "Is this a joke?" he added as he approached the table to get a better look.
Jane's mind quickly connected the dots, and indeed, she realized she was looking at the Batarian who had tried to destroy Terra Nova. An attempt thwarted by John Shepard when he was still a Commander trying to stop Saren.
"So you are behind the attacks?" Jane asked firmly.
"You might think you just won, today. But you're too late, just like your father always was, little Human." the Batarian replied unfazed.
"What do you even want?"
"Nothing less than the freedom of my people. And to do that, I have to tear down the state that subjugated them."
"Subjugated?!" Garrus asked furious. "The Federation saved your people. We helped them rebuild and recover from a very close extinction. The Batarian Space has tripled since the end of the Reaper War. What are you even talking about?!"
"I'd rather have my people go extinct, than to play as puppets for the Humans!" Balak replied with even more bitterness. "You have robbed the Batarian of their pride, but we shall see how you will fare once your precious Federation lies in ash."
And without any warning, he closed the transmission abruptly.
Jane looked at her friend with a partially lost gaze. The Turian had little to add and only shook his head as he himself couldn't believe what he just witnessed.
"We need to warn my father." was her conclusion.
May 20, 2227.
Between the attack to the Jedi Academy and the attempted coup on Lianna, Iulius felt like his head was exploding as he tried to figure out how all of that fit into the grand scheme of things. At first he thought that even the coup was orchestrated by the Emperor and Vader, but then it turned out that it was a single Minister hiring the Zann Consortium.
Had this been another plot of the central government, Iulius would have been very angry for not being preemptively informed about it, since it seemed like a perfect opportunity to crush the New Republic altogether, but he had to recognize that their Army seemed unaffected by the chaos occurring on the capital world of Lianna. The defenders of Mygeeto were still resisting, even though Rax's forces had managed to at least snatch the research facility after two weeks of fight and heavy casualties.
The constant recons of Octis showed that the rebel forces defending Ringo Vinda were all still there and there were no signs of reinforcements coming their way. At least one thing was sure: if he wanted a chance at taking that fortress world in a reasonable time frame, he needed to act quickly, before Rax's offensive ran out of steam and the rebels had their hands free to send reinforcements along the Perlimian Route.
And it was because of that decision that the political and military machine of the Mid Rim was working tirelessly to train new recruits, build ships and gather the gear necessary for the task.
Now he had gathered his trusted triumvirate of Admirals on Naboo to decide how to effectively storm the orbiting shipyards of Ringo Vinda, and with the officers there was also a commission of engineers led by Namedra, to assist in the decision-making.
"Before we start this attack, we need to make sure the rebels will be tied down on other theaters." Iulius said. "Krybos, do you think you have the strength to put the Commonwealth under enough pressure that the New Republic will be forced to send help?"
"Not as much as I'd like, but I think I can use Llanic to continue the advance toward the Corellian Spine. That should alarm them enough." the Admiral of the Trailing Sectors replied calmly.
"Good enough. Sloane?"
"I can distract them for a while, but I don't think I have the strength to make a decisive advance, even if a chance erupts."
"I see. Sorry to hear that, but we need the bulk of our forces focused on this offensive." the Grand Admiral replied.
"It would be much easier if the Core would give us some of its forces. I mean, what are they even doing?" Bolo asked a little frustrated.
"I'm afraid we're not allowed to know that." Iulius replied sarcastically. But it was indeed something that bothered him enormously.
By now, the fleet of the Core had been largely rebuilt since their disastrous losses two years before. Rax was only using a fraction of it, and they clearly had enough ships and manpower to bolster the frontline. Instead, they were just sitting around in the Core and a few other regions at the edge of the galaxy under the personal fiefdom of the Emperor.
Even Vader had refused to lend the Executor for the imminent siege, when the super-dreadnought had been built exactly to take care of large defenses like the ones they were about to face.
"At least they left you the Bellators. Are they operational?" Iulius asked.
"Yes, Grand Admiral. They are gathered on Kashyyyk and await instructions."
"All right. Then let's discuss the main target. STEVE…"
The holo-table changed automatically, exchanging the galaxy map for a projection of Ringo Vinda, with the large metal ring orbiting its equator and the last known position of the rebel fleet defending the planet.
"All right, ladies and gentlemen." the Grand Admiral said to the engineers. "We need your professional opinion. Which is the best point where we can land a few thousand of people?"
Namedra looked at one of the members of the commission, a structural engineer, to invite him to speak. The man stepped forward, cleared his voice and then spoke up.
"Well, Grand Admiral, of course taking one of the main yards would be necessary to allow the safe landing of an army. However, since we assume those will be sealed and heavily defended, we believe the best approach would be aiming at the energy sector, first. There are three on the shipyards of Ringo Vinda, and with each of them, you control a third of the ring."
Iulius hummed in thought. "Do you happen to have the schematics in your archives?"
"Yes, Lord Tanis." the technician replied, then tapped his datapad a few times and the hologram was updated with the internal structure of the rings, which could be enhanced when requested. "However, keep in mind that these schematics are three-years-old, from the last time a census of the planet was conducted."
"I see it." Iulius calmly replied. "In fact, there are a few dark zones." he added, pointing at at said spots. "For us, it was a useful but secondary shipyard. For the rebels, it's their most important. No wonder they enlarged it in these last years."
"There is also no insurance that they haven't overhauled the inside, as well." Sloane pointed out.
"I doubt they had the time, or a reason to." Bolo replied. "That doesn't mean they haven't mined it or set some traps."
"For sure, they wouldn't risk damaging it too much unless they think they have no chance of keeping the structure." Krybos added. "Whatever traps they put, we have enough men to just ignore their effect."
A harsh statement, but such was the reality of war. Indeed, there were bound to be some defensive measures, but at least Iulius could hope that either Starkiller or the Astarte twins, with their set of skills, would be able to neutralize them and pave the road for the troopers.
"There is also the supplies of oxygen to consider." Namedra added.
Except Iulius, the Admirals looked at her. "Oxygen?" Krybos asked.
"Yes. It's an orbital yard. Either you wear a suit, or oxygen must be injected and recycled inside the structure. Problem is, the amount of oxygen was built to host only a few thousand workers, spread out all along the ring. But you are likely going to put many more men in a single area, and oxygen would run out quickly for everybody."
The three officers felt caught off-guard. But after all, this was a particular that hadn't come up in all the war. Even on Llanic, the battles on the space stations were fought by groups of hundreds, who could be sustained by the vital supports of the orbiting structures.
However, it was already clear that Ringo Vinda was going to be a battle unlike any since the Clone Wars. A large assault that would involve entire regiments to take the huge durasteel ring from a force that was determined to defend it till their last drop of blood.
"Ok. So what do you propose?" Iulius asked calmly.
"We have two options." Namedra started explaining. "First, we can reconfigure some transports into giant canisters of oxygen and link them with the sections our troops will conquer, so they can start pumping the gas into the structure and allow our men to breathe normally.
"However, before that can be done, we can provide the soldiers with a smaller version of the oxygen purifier used in space suits. That should give them a reasonable autonomy in a fight."
"How many do you think you can produce in a month?" he cut short.
"I need to verify it, but I believe we can make a hundred thousand."
"Good. Thank you all." Iulius concluded with a polite nod, telling them they were free to return to their duties.
As he watched Namedra walk away, Iulius was reminded that he hadn't even asked her out for a while, and he had just revealed to her uncle that he intended to propose her.
But there was so much to do. Plans to simulate and review; now there was the problem of storing and using oxygen when necessary; then there was also the problem that several experienced officers had been recalled on Coruscant to be reassigned, which meant the 101st had lost the most important gears of its machine.
And if that wasn't enough, Iulius had not missed the speech done by the Bridgers. It seemed all to clear that he would have to factor the Jedi and the Mandalorians coming to the help of the Republic for this battle and more.
He sighed softly and returned to the planning of the several phases of the offensive.