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Phase 6: Lootforce One

=RK=

Interlude: Historical notes

"Sanrafsix. Sulust. Eriadu. Naboo. Four worlds, four battles that ultimately decided the fate of the Mid-Rim Alliance.

I can assure you, at the time it didn't look that way. Tarkin succeeded at Enarc. His arrival caught the Separatists there off position when they were massing for a presumed raid at Naboo. While his Lootforce Two suffered heavy casualties in the resulting fighting, Tarkin managed to wrestle space superiority over the enemy, loot as many supplies as his surviving ships could carry and then retreat to Naboo. No matter how you look at it, tactically or strategically, Enarc was a mixed bag at best. Yes, Tarkin took out a respectable number of enemy ships, yet he was in no position to touch most of the industry in the system.

Malastare – TF Broadsword was the most successful of us all. It linked with the Republic elements still fighting there, broke the stalemate that persisted for more than a month and secured the system with light losses in space. Surviving industry and supplies along with those salvaged from destroyed ship from both sides proved vital in holding Naboo after I came close to single-handedly dooming the Alliance.

Sanrafsix. That battle still haunts me. When I led Lootforce Three and TF Bastion there, I expected a lot of things might happen, however even my worst case predictions didn't come close to the hell I found there. And to think that the battle began in such a promising manner...

When we arrived in system, there were two Separatist battle groups we could detect along with the local SDF. Three hundred ships, most of them frigates. While I commanded roughly two thirds of the force that gathered at Naboo before Veil's arrival, that still left me comfortably outnumbering and outgunning the enemy for once. Even the multiple stations in orbit around Sanrafsix weren't enough to address the balance of power. Most of them were civilian after all.

To this day I don't know if the Separatists planned the whole thing as a trap or not. Did the fleets that arrived to trap us around Sanrafsix came just because that system was a logical staging ground for a strike at Naboo?

What I do know is that I was arrogant that day. Our initial successes emboldened me. We smashed through a third of the enemy mobile forces before the rest could regroup and concentrate to oppose us. I gave the order to launch the boarding parties at various supply depots in orbit of Sanrafsix, which came under cover of our GUARDIAN systems. I sent parties to try capturing various ships docked at four civilian stations – both military and civilian alike.

It was fifteen minutes later that the first Separatist fleet came calling. Number wise it wasn't too threatening – a mix of hundred and twenty Munificent and Recusants acting as escorts for five battleships and a smattering of Providence Dreadnoughts. Even when combined with the enemy ships already in system we still had a decent advantage in firepower if no longer in numbers.

Besides, I did have my mission – to neutralize the space stations at Sanrafsix and loot enough supplies to make the strike there worth it.

I issued what orders I deemed necessary, our formation reformed into a defensive posture and our ground compliment continued assaulting their targets.

For the next hour or so the situation remained stable. The Separatists probed our formation multiple times including two determined attacks that we beat off with acceptable casualties concentrated in our light elements.

That's when another enemy fleet exited hyperspace behind us and moved to box us in against the planet. It was smaller than the first, yet more powerful. Fifty-three Munificents, eleven Recrusants, fifteen Providence Dreadnoughts and twenty battleships. Those were the survivors of the Sector Fleet we smashed at Naboo when general Veil arrived. They had picked up some friends too, because while the number of escorts did match, they had double the number of Lukrehulks.

Looking back, I don't know what possessed me to think that I could still complete my original mission considering the changed tactical situation. Perhaps if my forces weren't pinned in place in order to cover the ground troops... If I hadn't been so arrogant as to think that we could withstand everything they could throw at us...

There was a method to my madness. I still keep saying that to myself. From time to time I even believe it. The forces we fought until the second reinforcement fleet arrived were standard fare for the Separatists. They acted with the precision of machines, however their tactical abilities were nothing to write home about. The same could be said for the fleet we engaged at Naboo for the past month.

No one on our side knew it at the time, however what we faced were second line forces. They hadn't received the software and in some cases hardware upgrades that those thrown at Kamino and the Core got. Not until Veil re-appeared.

I guess I should be thankful that only those ten new Lukrehulks were upgraded so. They were bad enough. If the whole enemy fleet was able to act with that level of coordination and tactical ability, I have no doubt that Sanrafsix would have turned into a total disaster..."

"To ride the Hurricane"

Grand Moff Roofan Tigellinus biography

=RK=

Part 9

"Were you to blame?"

"Blame? How do you assign blame for something like the 'Black Rebellion' ?" The quotation marks were easy to hear. "Such a pretentious name."

"Ever since the Clone Wars formally ended, many analysts began to blame general Veil as one of the people responsible for the rebellion."

"Oh, you can accuse the General of many sins. The 'Black Rebellion' ? That's not one of them. However, I can see where those armchair generals and admirals are coming from. The first two confirmed instances of fully networked and updated Separatist ships came from the Mid Rim just after we began our offensive to liberate the region surrounding Naboo."

"That's correct. I've met many experts who claim that it was general Veil's actions that drove the Separatists into taking insane risks with the programming of their wardroids."

"Perhaps. We were quite effective. It's certainly possible that the excessive networking along with the software updates and hardware upgrades the Separatists implemented could have been a response to the General's actions ever since Geonosis. We do know that those actions were directly responsible for the 'Black Rebellion'. What I fail to grasp is how any of that is our responsibility. We did what food soldiers do – we won as often as we could while doing our best to minimalise our casualties."

"Not enemy casualties?"

"Please. We both know better. Doing so is a luxury that we couldn't often afford."

"Sulust?"

"Sulust. That's what you really want to ask about, isn't it? There we faced them for the first time. Even with the General's Battle Meditation..." Joanna grimaced.

"Your actions there were, still are in fact, highly polarizing. Besides, we do know for sure that it was the outcome of that battle that led to the Separatists upgrading a large part of their droid armies. So Sulust? Why?"

"Isn't it obvious? We had to neutralize that system. It contained too many resources we needed to appropriate, industry that had to be disrupted or destroyed if practical."

"If that was all you did there... Could you honestly call what happened a victory?"

"Victory, you say? There are a lot of ways I can characterize Sulust. It wasn't an outright disaster. But a victory?"

from an interview between Victoria Halcyon and

Fleet Admiral Joanna Holt,

taken for the first anniversary of the Clone Wars conclusion

=RK=

Flag Bridge

CIS Dreadnought Starcrusher

Sulust

Admiral Kirst did his best to ignore the unease he felt. After Kamino, he was the only organic commander left in Second Fondor Sector Fleet. He still often awoke drenched in cold sweat with the screams of a dying world echoing in his ears. He knew he handled whatever happened out there better than his subordinates, but that was a cold comfort. It let him retain his post and he was beginning to regret it.

Kirst was in the nerve centre of his fleet, surrounded by his staff.

All of them were soulless machines – droids, which with every passing day behaved less and less like the smart equipment they were supposed to be. It was an eery feeling.

"We have Hubs installed in every major combatant across the fleet. Software and hardware upgrades are being installed when droids come in for maintenance." TK-51 reported in an odd tone.

If the admiral didn't know better he could have sworn that the machine radiated smug satisfaction.

"Still on schedule then?"

"Yes, sir." His XO ever since Kamino, a Supper Tactical Droid, confirmed.

At leas that particular machine sounded like a regular droid.

His SFSF was still far from fully upgraded. All Lukrehulks and Providence Dreadnoughts along with the other command ships had the network Hubs on. That would substantially increase their effectiveness in combat, at least according to simulations and the few limited tests conducted before Kamino. However, the system wasn't perfect yet and it had its glaring flaws.

Flaws like the too smart for comfort droids gathered around the tactical table mounted on the left side of the large Flag Bridge.

"Do we finally have permission to go after Veil?" Kirst asked the important question. That was the reason why he and his fleet was stationed at Sulust – so they could be in a better position to continue their hunt. Unfortunately after he disappeared after Kamino, the SFSF got reorganized, a lot of ships were pulled out for repairs or to reinforce various battle groups conducting operations across the sector. In exchange he got the Starcrusher back after the ship was pulled from under his feet in order to receive UMBRELLA upgrade handful of weeks after he got command of it in the first place.

While by itself the dreadnought wasn't a match for Veil's flagship, with the core of upgraded capital ships SFSF finally got assigned to it over the past couple of weeks a victory with acceptable losses should be possible. That was SFSF's current mission, yet after the Sith finally surfaced and hit Darknell, Kirst didn't receive a permission to pursue. Command deemed the distance too large and ordered him to wait until they saw what way Veil would take towards the Core – his presumed target. Only then, once blocking forces could be mustered to slow down the Sith, SFSF would engage.

Instead of doing the sane thing and retreating, Veil chose to go on the offense. Enarc and Sanrafsix were assaulted five hours ago, yet no one reported Veil's flagship. In fact, there were too few ships in those two Republic forces to account for the combined armada that secured Naboo a few days ago. Sanrafsix was under counter-attack already, yet there was still no sign of the Sith. Where did he go? Was he using those attacks as diversions to cover his retreat? That sounded like something a Sith might do. Such a stunt certainly wouldn't surprise Kirst after Kamino. He knew the truth – Veil murdered that world for some reason, no matter it was strategically important for the Republic. Such a man would do anything to achieve his goals. That at least was something to respect.

It also made Veil much harder to predict than anyone else on the other side.

=RK=

Bridge

Corellian cruiser Freedom

hyperspace

"Why? Why are you doing this?" Ti demanded. "Even your delusions don't explain it!"

"What are you babbling about now?" I grumbled in exasperation. After Eriadu she's been mostly pleasantly quiet.

"I had enough time to examine your memories in detail and to reflect on them. You could have defected to the Old Republic! You could have exposed Sidious!"

"Perhaps." I allowed. It was technically possible to do either of those things, though it was a moot point now.

"You could have made the galaxy a better place! You could have opposed the Sith! You could have stopped the Clone Wars! I know that you aren't a puppet for the Dark Side! Why do you serve it anyway!?" Ti screamed at me and incomprehension vibrated within each word.

"Honestly? It was fear at first. I didn't want to die, much less by being made an example of by the Sith at the academy." I admitted. Those questions brought me back at the beginning. "Anger. The Old Republic threw away the best chance it had to win. They signed a peace treaty with the Empire after the sack of Coruscant. It was proof enough that as a nation they lacked the backbone to win. I hated them for it. That single action made the hell I was put through on Korriban pointless."

"That's it?!" Her disbelief echoed through my mind.

"Power." I ignored her outburst. "Do you have any idea what it is to be a slave? To be powerless at the mercy of people who had no concept of the word?" I hissed. When I thought about those days... Hell, I didn't even know if it really happened or if I was placed into this galaxy just after I manifested enough fury to awake my Force Powers and tear apart my owner. It didn't really matter. When I thought about those times, I could still feel the slave collar around my neck – fixed tight enough that I could never forget it was in place. I could still feel it lighting up my nervous system on fire when I disobeyed or just for kicks, even if that pain couldn't ever compare to 'discipline' in the Academy.

"Precisely! You knew firsthand what monsters the Sith were! You experienced it, yet you went on to become one of the Empire's best! What that power gave you? Ashara? You would have met her if you joined the Old Republic! You could have spent your lives together!" Ti exclaimed. Her passion was so unlike her usual behavior that it took me aback.

"You saw my memories, Ti!" I snapped. "Despite everything the Sith did to me, they gave me the tools to set myself free! What could the Jedi offer me? A gilded cage at best? In the Order I would have been as much a slave as if that kirffing collar was still around my neck!"

"You know that isn't true!" Ti countered. "Neither then nor now! You would have had to follow the Order's rules, true! You would have been no less free then than you are now! We don't condone slavery! Open your eyes, Veil!"

"My eyes are wide open, Ti. You should open yours. No attachments? Putting the good of a nation I care nothing about in front of my desires? Become a tool of a cause I don't believe in? Why I would ever do any of that?!"

"Listen to yourself! Whatever gave you such an idea, I would never know! And even if that was the case would it be so bad? How many people did you slaughter for a cause you didn't believe in? How many species you exterminated because the Empire demanded it? How many people you tortured because you were ordered to? How can you justify your actions to yourself?!"

"Easy. I told you already, Ti. Power. Raw, pure power. That's what the Empire, the Sith offered for my soul. That power freed me. Don't you get it? Morals? Justice? Right and wrong? None of that matter unless you have power! What use is a justice if you lack the strength to defend it? Does it matter that your cause is 'right' if you lose and your enemy triumphs?" I snorted. "I don't need to justify myself to anyone, much less you, Ti."

"Not to me. I can see you dreams you know."

I stiffened.

"I see you above Kamino. I could feel the little part within you that screamed in horror when you ordered another world to burn. I know you were a decent man once, Delkatar! I know you had morals and compassion! I know you had conscience! You weren't just another power-hungry madman! You weren't a psychopath who could feel no empathy! Why?!" Ti demanded.

I sighed. She really didn't get it, did she?

"You can't comprehend it even if its in front of your eyes." I shook my head. "Do you know what power is there in mastering yourself? In freeing yourself from all shackles? Morality? Conscience? The approval of society? They're all meaningless in the end. I would rather rule in hell than be puppet in heaven, Ti! That's the choice I made back in the day. I do have regrets, many of them, but becoming a Sith isn't one! The Sith, as flawed as they were, showed me the way. Why should I serve when I can be free to do what I wish? Why would I join an Order that tried to exterminate my kind multiple times in the past because they were afraid of what we represent?"

In the murky depths of my mind, Ti flinched. She was... afraid of me, yet that didn't deter her.

"Will you continue to tell yourself such soothing lies? I know you hate what you did at Kamino! At Onderon and Balmora! Why are you going to butcher your way through Sulust? There has to be another way! Why do you persist going on with this madness!?"

"Why not? Because its immoral? Evil? The Dark Side took care of that. Thanks to her, I could torch entire worlds and not only live with it but enjoy the act. Doing so would empower me too. This is power, true freedom! Kamino died because it served my agenda. Sulust will burn for the same reason. I can choose not to do it, you know. I could restrain myself. I have that freedom, which wouldn't be the case if I was constrained by laughable notions of morality, of right and wrong. I am free to act no matter what my conscience tells me. For this kind of freedom, for this kind of power, I would gladly see the galaxy burn again..." I trailed off. "You can't comprehend it, can you Ti? This isn't the Dark Side speaking. Just me."

"You're insane!" Ti declared in a stunned voice.

"Are you going to call me monster now? You would be right, you know." I chuckled. "Insane? By whose standards? I do consider myself a monster, you know. However, that's by my own standards. What right do you have to judge me, Ti? What right does anyone has to do so?"

"Attention all hands, ETA to Sulust, ten minutes. Man your stations." The captain's voice echoed throughout the bridge.