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.

Interlude

"Controversy about the short and brutal Mid-Rim campaign launched by general Delkatar Veil continues to persist to this day. Despite notable figures like Fleet Admiral Joanna Holt and Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin coming out to set the record straight, many simply don't believe their statements. There are multiple eye witness accounts as well as surviving Republic logs indicating that after Darknell and Naboo, the general intended to fight his way to friendly space. Both Tarkin and Holt stressed that point on multiple occasions, most famously during the Senate hearing upon their return to Coruscant (see Appendix 2).

Despite persistent conspiracy theories, there's no credible evidence that general Veil planned his infamous Mid-Rim campaign while at Eriadu in the weeks following the fall of Kamino. True, he did hold talks with notable political and industrial figures at the Tarkin Family Estate, yet as far as anyone knows that was merely a means to reassure the local notables that the Republic was far from defeated. Any deals that general Veil made at Eriadu were simply meant to ensure that he and his soldiers had the resources needed to return to the Core. Indeed, when his fleet left for Darknell it was a more powerful force than the one he managed to salvage from the ruinous battles at Kamino.

It is a matter of record that general Veil planned a quick surgical strike at Naboo meant to disrupt Separatist operations there, gather intelligence and if the planet still held, reinforce it with part of his fleet, including but not restricted to ships damaged in the previous engagement. He intended to gather enough Intel to determine what might be the best way back to the Core.

As we all know, the Battle for Naboo, which had been raging for more than a month by that point, changed the general's strategic projections. The outcome of that engagement, both military and political had far reaching consequences, which helped shape the state of the galaxy to this day. In this author's personal opinion, this is the reason why many see a conspiracy in the general's actions at Eriadu and Naboo – the thought that today's order was not only shaped but perhaps made possible in the first place due to a lucky coincidence... why that's simply unthinkable, isn't it?

However, the facts are clear – Naboo was meant to be simply a jump off point for a dash through CIS held territory in the Mid-Rim with Kashyyyk as a planned end point. Even general Veil freely admits that while he did briefly thought about striking further Separatist targets in order to relieve the pressure on the Malastare and Naboo pockets, he dismissed that idea. In his professional opinion, his fleet would have been ground into usefulness for a dubious strategic gain. Captured Separatist records tend to support his supposition – a whole Confederate Sector fleet was separated into its Task Forces and set up into blocking positions as a reaction force once general Veil was located within the region. Further, there was another enemy Sector fleet in the area staging for a further assault on Eriadu, Malastare and Naboo. The local correlation of forces as far as anyone knew was extremely in the Separatist favour even before taking into account the Republic logistic situation in the Mid-Rim after the Confederacy gained control over the important hyperlanes in the region...

It's important to stress that what the Republic fleet under general Veil found at Naboo was an unexpected surprise. Both Naboo and Malastare were cut off from direct communication with the rest of the Republic shortly after the beginning of the biggest and final Separatist offensive during the first stage of the war. While general Veil did hope for the best, because he did know where the Republic naval forces ordered to avoid contact with the enemy for as long as possible were supposed to rally, he had no idea if they succeeded or were destroyed in detail.

This fact is merely a further proof that any conspiracy theories are just that – theories with no substance backing them up. In order for general Veil to engineer the foundation on the Rim Alliance, he had to know that the key members of that organization could survive the initial Separatist onslaught thrown against them, which was far from sure thing. While, he emerged out of the Unknown Regions after his hunt for Crimson in the nick of time to save the Western Quadrant from being overran, his arrival at Eriadu was almost too late. Mere few hours could have made all the difference. People tend to forget that he nearly didn't make it that far. During the climatic battle that actually secured most of the Quadrant for the Republic, general Veil came awfully close to losing when the battle deteriorated into a general melee. It's not a stretch of the imagination to call the outcome of that engagement a stroke of fortune.

Kamino came next, where the general nearly lost everything. It was another miracle that he was able to salvage as much of the Republic naval and army forces in system as he did when rogue Jedi working for the Separatists unleashed a devastating counter-measure for his famous Battle Meditation ability...

At best, it's believable that general Veil cut certain deals upon his return to Eriadu in order to ensure that his battered fleet received the supplies and repairs it sorely needed. It is also plausible that he later used those deals as the basis around, which Moff Tarkin and the general forged the Rim Alliance. Nevertheless, the sheer amount of coincidences and lucky breaks that made it all possible indicates that they merely saw an opportunity and seized it instead of being the men behind a conspiracy to weaken or even replace the Republic as some of their detractors accuse them of..."

"The rise and fall of the Galactic Republic"

Kerrington Byron, Eriadu Publishing Corporation

=RK=

Phase 5: The Naboo Affair

=RK=

Part 1

Flag Bridge

Corellian cruiser Freedom

hyperspace

Few hours of down time, a trip to the fresher and I just had enough time left to browse through few status reports before joining Joanna on the Flag Bridge. I nodded in approval as my eyes went over Tarkin's brief AAR of his exploits back at Darknell. I should have thought about trying to capture useful CIS supplies if the opportunity presented itself before we even headed out from Eriadu. That way we might have been able to get more of those transports Wilhuff managed to capture intact. The man deserved a commendation about his fast and creative thinking – that was precisely what I needed in the people surrounding me, especially when they managed to think about things I missed taking into account.

The very idea of capturing CIS supplies at Darknell never crossed my mind – I was too absorbed in ensuring that we caused as much damage to the enemy as possible to even consider borrowing their own supplies. Considering we had a quite long stretch of enemy controlled space to cross before coming back to Republic controlled territory, I should have take such opportunities into account. Damn it, it's been very long time since I've found myself in charge of a fleet that was far away from easy source of resupply. Actually I could think only of one such occasion. Still, I should have thought about more than simply hurting the enemy.

I vowed to keep such opportunities in mind when I entered the Flag Bridge. One more time into the breach and so forth.

"General on deck!" A CorSec sergeant, part of the security detail of the compartment shouted and saluted.

I nodded at the woman and returned the salute. "At ease, carry on." My voice was loud and clear, with no trace of the weariness it held after my brief use of Battle Meditation above Darknell. It was a far cry from the previous two times I had to use that technique and hopefully it would be a long time if ever before I was in a position demanding that I utterly exhaust myself through it.

With my luck, I would have to liberally use Battle Meditation at Naboo. All the Force was hinting at was an opportunity waiting in there, which meant we might get into a nasty scrap upon our arrival.

"General, the fleet is ready for transition to real space. ETA five minutes." Admiral Holt reported when I joined her next to the primary holo-tank. "Are you sure about our approach?" Joanna added quietly.

"Sure? Not really." I admitted. "All I know for certain that something interesting is waiting for us at Naboo."

"Interesting as a heroes' welcome or as in a battle ready Separatist fleet?" Joanna asked pointedly.

"No idea." I smiled cheerfully. "Isn't the anticipation fun?"

"Not in this context." My admiral frowned. "We should have sent recon frigates."

"They could be detected. Now the enemy knows we're on the move and a recon force might warn them we're coming. At Darknell we got the opportunity to sent in reconnaissance assets much earlier."

"Something you didn't inform anyone about." Joanna gave me a brief hurt look before her face was back into a bland professional mask.

"It was necessary. I still don't know how many people back at Eriadu could be trusted. There was a reason why I declined deciding where we would strike first before we were about to leave." I explained. It was all but guaranteed there were a lot of CIS spies at various levels back on Eriadu. The little we knew about the events at Coruscant for certain – that various Republic intelligence services aided the attempted coup wasn't reassuring in that respect. Eriadu's local services were doing their best, Tarkin's family was using the opportunity to consolidate even more power in their clutches too, but even if they could reasonably secure the whole planet from enemy agents, it was going to be too late for make a difference in our flight to the Core. That's why I played my cards as close to my chest as practical and then some.

"We're going in blind when we really shouldn't be." Joanna continued to voice her displeasure.

Even Shaak Ti's ghost in the back of my mind stirred long enough to voice her displeasure at my methods. She's been very quiet after her explosion after I turned her Jedi friends on Eriadu and I still wasn't sure how much of a problem she was going to be. Knowing my goals didn't really endear me to the Jedi Master. She did agree that if the Vong were real and as much of a threat as I feared they might be, they had to be opposed by a united galaxy or else the casualties would be severe. My methods on the other hand – they were mostly unacceptable to her. She was sworn to protect the Republic, Democracy, with capital D. The infernal woman was actually an idealist. For her the Republic wasn't just a shell protecting and shielding the Jedi. Protecting it was one of the major purpose of the Jedi Order as far as she was concerned.

It was both sad and amusing. The events on Coruscant were proof enough that the other Jedi saw things clearly, just as I did. The Republic was a means to an end. The wars between it and the Sith were as much caused by our need for control as by the fact that it was a shield protecting the Jedi from our vengeance; at least that's what my masters told me back in the day before I could really care for the Empire and despised the Republic because instead of continuing to fight the war they accepted the peace offer after Coruscant was sacked. That single choice made by the Republic, well the old one, was very important to me. It ensured I threw my lot with the Empire because that act of cowardice proved to me that the Republic didn't have what it took to ultimately bring the Empire down. What I learned from history books since I found myself in the future supported my choice – the Empire did win the war in the end and I still could feel a tingle of pride because I was one of the people who engineered said victory.

"General?" Joanna asked.

"Sorry, I was deep in thought. What did you say?" I returned to the situation at hand.

"We could still exit hyperspace outside of the system and send in a recon flight while the hyperdrives cool down and we re-calculate a tactical jump." Joanna pushed.

"It would be less than ideal but we still could." I agreed after a brief glance at the tactical plot. We were still a lot of light years from Naboo and could force an emergency return to real space in dark space. "Speed is our best bet I recon. No doubt a message about Darknell would have beaten us there. Any Separatist forces at Naboo would be looking for scouts exiting hyperspace in sensor range of the system. Besides, we do have Tarkin's bunch trailing a couple of minutes behind us at a bit slower pace. We're playing bait again."

"We just did it at Darknell." Joanna huffed.

"I can assure you, after Naboo we won't be using the same trick again any time soon." I smiled mischievously. "Or perhaps we'll just try to convince the enemy we won't."

"Why do I ever bother?" Holt grumbled.

"Because you're a professional." I answered her rhetorical question.

"Battle stations. Brace for hyperspace transition. ETA one minute." The captain's voice sounded across the ship. I knew the same ritual was happening across the rest of the fleet too.

"Now we'll see if you're too arrogant for our good." Joanna whispered.

"You can't win without taking risks." I shrugged.

"There's taking risks and then there's being reckless." Joanna gave one last pointed glare, then was all business.

The time for idle chit-chat was over. I called on the Force, which felt mischievous. There was going to be a surprise all right. I just hoped it wasn't one I was going to rue.

"Arrival in ten, nine, eight..."

A light shudder came over the ship, one I could feel only thanks to the Force and then the tactical display began updating. The only thing in our close vicinity were the other ships of the fleet. Seconds passed and then everything about Naboo began shifting in bright green, blue and red colours.

"That's a lot of ships..." The words fell from my lips while I was trying to make out what the sensors were telling me.

The holo-image blinked again and this time there were IFF tags attached to the green dots which were shifting into symbols showing ship classes and names. The same was true for at least few of the blue ones. Awesome amounts of liberally thrown ECM obscured the details but our sensors combined with the relatively short distance were enough to give me a rough picture – there was a vicious battle going above Naboo by two forces roughly as powerful as the fleet under my command. This was certainly unexpected. I suspected that there might be a lot of surviving Republic ships in system, perhaps enough to keep at least part of Naboo's orbitals neutrals but this – there were two whole sector fleet equivalents tearing at each other in front of my eyes and I had no doubt that Naboo had been under siege for at least a month. What in the name of the Force had been happening here?

"Contact whoever is in charge on our side. Plot tactical jump on the Separatist's flank. I want Tarkin coming at their back – we're going to crush as many of the enemy against the planet as we can." I ordered. We had to end this battle before more CIS reinforcements could come in and make our current numerical superiority moot. For all I knew this was a trap and the enemy force in system was the bait.

I smiled at that thought. If that was the case I was going to show them exactly what they were trying to catch. I was good for at least few hours of Battle Meditation after all and I might just get the opportunity to use it.