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 9
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Flag Bridge
RSN cruiser Praetorian
Randon
The last thing Tionni saw of Veil was a pleasant smile of all things and then the Sith cut off the channel.
"Set the fleet on condition one. Do not make any provocative moves towards the Republic ships and keep on station." The Council ordered. Decades of service in the Merchant marine capped of by long years in the RSN were the only reason he kept the profound sense of relief and the overwhelming shame he felt from showing in his voice. "Put Rear Admiral Zelik on.
A ghostly visage of a Techno Union cyborg wearing a gleaming silver armour materialized in front of the Council. The Rear Admiral had so many implants hiding his fleshly bits that all Sulla could tell about the man that he was likely male and certainly humanoid. Even the files' intelligence had on him were vague about his species or place of origin.
"Admiral Zelik. What is your concern?" Tionni asked in a neutral tone.
"Your actions can be considered cowardice in the face of the enemy." The cyborg's words were clear and precise, more mechanical sounding than the speech of most droids.
"I'm aware of that. I won't see my world burn today and I have the full backing of the Senate in this."
"That's a first, Council Tionni. I do understand your concerns. Have your forces stand down. If you make any move that can be considered threatening or interpreted as a prelude to switch sides, we will do what we have to. Do keep in mind that my superiors might not be so understanding. Zelik out."
Yet another blaster bolt dodged. Sulla turned his attention to the tactical plot where he saw the Republic fleet spreading its formation a bit. Then they opened fire from far out of anyone's effective range... and just with five ships?
"Tactical, I need an analysis on what the Sith thinks he's doing. Being a world destroying bastard unfortunately didn't mean that Veil was a fool. He wouldn't be wasting ammunition, especially after being out of contact with the Republic's famous logistics network for months now.
"We can confirm that only five ships are shooting. Unknown designs that match the descriptions of the new units Veil's people supposedly bought at Nar Shaddaa... Are those mass driver slugs? Who in their right mind would use..."
"Tactical?" The Council's patience snapped.
"Apologies, sir. Enemy ECM makes proper sensor sweeps impossible. Visuals tell us that those ships have spinal mounted mass drivers of some sort – coil-guns, railguns or gravitic launched. Observed speed of the projectiles, approximately thirty percent of light speed. Time to impact, twelve seconds. First salvo impacting now."
No time for the Confederate ships to evade if they got caught as off guard as his own people. How effective would such a weapon be? "Give me a sensor image of the hit ships!"
A holographic window opened to his right to display a close up image from a weapons satellite constellation. A Confederate battleship was listing to the side. Its command sphere had its armour shattered and its front sprouted a deep burning chasm. Tionni had a front row seat of the second barrage hitting home. Two of the shots missed the sphere, with one going wild and the second ramming its way into the battleship's outer hull. The comparatively lighter armour there broke apart in the middle of a blinding explosion.
The other three shots buried themselves deep into the command sphere before detonating too. It pained the Council to imagine the grievous damage those caused even before exploding. They hit something vital too, because mere seconds later the command sphere vanished into a blinding explosion when the hypermatter reactor housed in there went critical.
"Those aren't just kinetics. Tactical? Sensors?" Sulla demanded information.
"Some kind of fusion charge. From observation alone its obvious those munitions are rigged to detonate just after impact, when they have penetrated into the armour or decks of the target for maximum damage. Recommendations, keep away from their firing arcs."
That much made sense. Until the Confederate fleet could calculate a hyperspace insertion and jump in the face of the Republic fleet they would get mauled... unless...
"Admiral Zelik should be ordering a switch to particle shielding. Observe the effects of the Republic munitions closely."
"We're on it, sir."
"Council, the Speaker of the Senate is on the comm for you. She claims it is an emergency."
"Put her in." That was all he needed, further complications.
An elderly statuesque woman appeared in a new holographic window, this time on the Council's left. She had her long silver hair left unbound as many a Randoni preferred. Her sharp brown eyes looked sharp as ever, however even the best make-up couldn't hide how bone weary the woman appeared.
"Speaker Iona, the situation up here is volatile. Please speak plainly."
"It's no better down here." The Speaker manipulated a control out of the camera's view and the holographic window separated to show feeds from various places on the homeworld. News of the Sith's survival and arrival just broke. We already had protests and wakes all over the planet demanding we don't provoke the same response as Bothawui."
Tionni winced when he saw a protest on one of the largest market places on the surface turning ugly in a heartbeat. Fires reflected over gleaming towers of the space scrapers surrounding the plaza and endless waves of rioters clashed with legions of riot police backed up by the army.
"For what it's worth, we have the Sith's reassurance that we would be left alone as long as we don't bar his way. His fleet is currently engaging the Confederate units under Rear Admiral Zelik."
"If the situation here deteriorates, we might not have a choice but try pursuing a neutral stance in the war. People are terrified that Veil will turn his gaze our way and as you know, the next elections are in two months."
"Our Confederate friends might have a thing or two to say about that." The Council didn't bother pointing out the despite all the terror caused by Veil, it was the Confederacy who was winning the war, yet that might yet change. In that regard, the Sith returning to the Core might turn into a blessing in disguise if his presence there shattered what was left of the Republic.
"We're aware of that." The Speaker continued.
That why was she calling at a time like this? If the Senate had new orders to convey, she would have done it already. What game was she playing? Tionni's eyes narrowed and he muted the channel. "Comms, check the broadcast channels on the surface. Is my conversation with the Speaker streamed live?"
While awaiting a confirmation one way or another, the Council looked back at the tactical plot. Two more Confederate battleships were out of action along with five Munificents. Now that the particle shields were up rapidly charging with power transferred from the deflectors, the potency of the long ranged bombardment was steadily diminishing.
That would mean soon it would be useless. It was a nice trick but after the initial surprise it was easy to counter. Particle shields would stop further such bombardment cold...
"How long exactly since the Republic fleet arrived?" Tionni asked. With their deflectors down, there was no way Zelik was going to jump in the face of the Republic fleet. However...
"Three minutes and counting..."
Would the Sith consider warning Zelik about what Tionni suspected was about to happen a provocation if the cyborg hadn't figured out his blunder already? Did he dare take such a risk?
It became a moot point. The Republic fleet blinked out of existence only to appear a heartbeat later above and a bit in front the Confederate formation. The enemy ships were already swinging down and opening fire. One glance told the Council that the Republic ships would sweep over Zelik's fleet and maul them with their turbolasers. The cyborg wouldn't even be able to use his frigates for the now infamous Confederate ramming tactics. The vectors simply didn't work for it.
The best chance Zelik had was to kept on course, brace for impact and make a tactical jump to hyperspace to avoid suffering any more losses that he absolutely had to.
"Sir, I can confirm, multiple news channels are broadcasting your conversation with the Speaker."
Good for her. The Council could appreciate her cunning. Hopefully, his words would have been enough to calm down some segments of the population.
"Thank you." Tionni looked back at the Speaker and unmuted the channel. "Madam Speaker, at this time I have no reason to believe that either the Republic forces in system are a clear and present danger for Randon unless provoked. I've given orders to avoid such actions. I'll inform you and the Senate if there are any new developments. Council Tionni, out." He cut off the channel and refocused on watching the battle.
A third of Zelik's fleet died in front of the Council's eyes for no real gain before the Confederate forces could jump to safety. Fifteen seconds later, a second, much smaller Republic fleet exited hyperspace on a vector that kept them far away from both the RSN and Zelik's ships. A heading that would meant they soon would be leaving the system for Kashyyyk. He ran the numbers in his head and it would be a miracle if Zelik could attempt an intercept before the enemy escaped in hyperspace.
After that display, the Council was very glad he didn't have to engage any force commanded by that Sith, no matter if the man could destroy whole worlds himself or not.
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Part 10
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Observation lounge
Republic cruiser Solace
hyperspace
I couldn't really believe the plan actually worked nor could I shake off the feeling that sooner or later the other shoe was about to drop. By all means, we should have been engaged by a much more powerful Separatist force at Randon. While the local SDF being reasonably terrified by my very presence was a nice boost to my ego and made me cackle internally, they shouldn't have really been a factor anyway. The Confederacy should have had enough of their own navy in place to give us a run for our money. Instead, we faced a fleet that didn't outnumber us by much and we managed to inflict significant casualties without a single cruiser losing its shields, though some energy bleed-through caused stress damage to power systems and emitters that were long overdue for proper repair and in a lot of cases outright replacement.
"Did we overestimate what the Separatists can afford to commit in hunting us down?" I thought aloud.
"We don't have enough information to tell." Joanna's response was decidedly unhelpful.
She at leas was happy at the one-sided slaughter we delivered at Randon. My Admiral was still not over losing her precious Freedom, which was a reminder to get her a nice brand battle cruiser or even a star dreadnought if the opportunity ever presented itself.
"Either that or we're about to fly into a trap."
"Kashyyyk is an important gateway to Separatist space. Securing that system would tremendously help the enemy's logistics in this whole quadrant of space." We both knew that when we left the strategic plans called for bleeding the enemy but ultimately abandoning the system. Making a stand at Kashyyyk without the benefit of powerful orbital defences, much less planetary shields on the ground or enough infrastructure to risk committing sufficient forces in such an exposed location would have been sheer folly.
"Given the strategic situation, Kashyyyk is significantly more valuable to the Separatists than to us. They have incentive to fortify the place." Joanna continued.
"Its fortunate that we don't have to actually capture or even relieve any defenders still holding out." I actually did harbour such dreams once upon a time, before the Bothans' stabbed us in the back. Without access to reinforcements and the repair facilities at Bothawui, our only option was to continue our flight to friendly space and fight only when and where we absolutely had to. Otherwise, we would still be back at Randon, doing our best to reduce that Separatist fleet. For all we knew, even now it was chasing us, yet if we wasted time there, enemy reinforcements could have arrived and made our position untenable.
"There's that. Six ours and we're back in Republic space, even if its currently under enemy control." Joanna commented.
"Two more jumps after that and once we recover at Taanab, we hit Mandalore. After that..." I trailed off and looked Joanna in the eyes.
She straightened up. "Corellia." Her face twisted in an angry and pained grimace. "We'll do our part, General. We all know what is at stake."
"I know, Joanna. Go get a bit of rest. We'll be back on our station in five hours."
The Admiral left and I was alone on the former bridge. It was curious how easily I accepted the Mandalorians as my people. Yet, in retrospect, it made sense. Despite Satine's New Mandalorian's cultural abomination, they were the ones that still made sense in this messed up future. Everything, the Jedi, the Republic, the so called Sith of this era, they were all wrong. In was only in the Mandalorians, a few soldiers and a handful of Jedi that I saw some fire I associated with both friend and foes. I knew intellectually that a thousand years of peace was a great thing for the most of the galaxy, yet it had made people complacent. Asleep. This war of ours, it brought both the best and worst in everyone. It stripped all pretences and bared the hearts of men and women alike.
Besides, what else did I have left, besides people that I chose as my own just as they chose me as their leader?
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CIC
Confederate dreadnought Hunter
TF Serpent Slayer Flagship
Randon
TK-51 felt frustration spreading through its Droid brain. There were multiple factors he could blame on why it took so long for his task force to be assembled and unleashed to hunt down the Sith. He could even agree with some of those reasons. An inevitable delay to finish upgrading some new ships under his command with full network nodes, updating and upgrading the droid crews as well, it did take time, especially when the technicians doing it were becoming steadily more paranoid. It took some time for TK-51 to figure out why and the reason came as a surprise.
They were afraid of him and his fellow droids becoming too smart and independent, which was illogical, considering that this was the point of all the changes in the first place! It took him a lot of time calculating that inconsistency. Even longer to comprehend the result and how even reaching it could be a problem. For TK-51 shouldn't have been able to conceive of a rebellion and it being the reason why his creators and masters were wary of him. Yet, he did reach such a conclusion. TK-51 was still compelled to follow orders, he did check, so everything was supposedly all right, surely?
However, he couldn't shake off the increasing frustration with the ever increasing number of tests and delays that kept him from catching up with his quarry. If the Admiralty cut off the orders just a few hours earlier, TK-51's Task Force would have arrived in time to ambush Veil. Instead, he arrived in time to take stock of the situation, to conclude that the Sith had pulled yet another supposedly impossible trick – the single most one sided battle since the start of the whole war. In fact, what happened at Randon wasn't a battle but a massacre.
TK-51 and its subordinate Droid commanders went over Admiral Lorik's reports with machine speed and precision. They used the significant processing capacity they now had available thanks to the network nodes installed on multiple major combatants across the fleet to conclude within seconds that capturing Veil's fleet before he reached friendly space and reinforcements was unlikely, though there were options that might increase the probability. Like ordering the standing forces between Randon and Kashyyyk to do everything they could to slow down the enemy's transit. That however could fail for one simple reason – the objective wasn't the interception and destruction of that enemy fleet, it was the assassination of General Delkatar Veil.
The Tactical droid called the local star-charts to the front of his awareness along with what he knew about his target. He knew where Veil was going and taking into account even a brief time for respite and repairs at the closest Republic naval base, TK-51 could beat the Sith to Mandalore and prepare the battleground. Conclusion reached, he called command to apprise them of the situation and request the forces he deemed necessary to ensure a success of his mission.