[20 BBY]

[Ruins of Boorka the Hutt's New Palace, Planet-side Tattoine, Tatoo System, Arkanis Sector, Outer Rim Territories]

"We're being watched..." Anakin told him the obvious as Obi-wan found himself studying the, still burning in some parts, ruins of the Separatist supporting Hutt's former Palace and Spaceport "...about maybe...nine...no, ten"

Obi-wan sighed as knelt down, feeling the area through the Force, and nodding in agreement with Anakin's observation "Mighty Jabba's I'd imagine, one could almost feel his great joy at our presence here even over the holo"

Not surprising really, the Hutts rarely wanted Jedi around unless they wanted something off those Jedi, and right now it was very clear Jabba had gotten what he'd wanted thanks to the actions of the wayward friend of Anakin's, and former Padawan of Master Allie. A General of the Republic, and now off on mad crusade against the Separatists after slaying Master Pong Krell...the traitor Krell very clearly, and the damage that treason had done still persisted. He sighed again, shaking his head as he stood back up, glancing in the direction of their watchers, then over to where Ahsoka was investigating with Captain Rex.

"Could you and Ahsoka encourage them watch us elsewhere, I'm afraid I must contact the Council"

"Why, so they can try figure out how to deal with the mess they've created" his padawan, his brother-in-arms, muttered back gloomily and Obi-wan gave him an exasperated look. Anakin folded his arms across his chest, not-quite-glaring "What?"

"Hahh...Anakin, these are trying times, patience and understanding are best used..." Obi-wan replied awkwardly, the whole situation was bizarre and confusing, let alone trying on said patience and understanding for himself "...so unless you wish to speak with them on the matter?"

"Fine, Fine, getting Snips, scaring off the Hutt merc spies, on it"

Obi-wan shook his head a little as Anakin strode off, the Force swirling about him in the usual controlled frenzy as his emotions waxed and waned beneath that iron control. In other words he was till sulking in Obi-wan's experience, but was perhaps to be expected when everyone else was being somewhat overly dramatic so Anakin's lesser form could be more easily forgiven. The war was fraying everyone's nerves, as much some liked adventurous lives the nastiness, constant, dark-side touched nastiness of a galactic war was undermining old sureties and draining everyone's morale.

Including the Council's he found placing the holo-disk on the stone block and activating the communication through the repaired Negotiator upon in orbit. One of the few ships left to them, such as the other two ships in orbit with his Venator-class Star Destroyer, as the situation with Krell had done more than burn bridges with General Daron Stormcrow it seemed. Even Master Rahm was ignoring many Council requests, and that was a better position than the outright resistance, and even veiled threats, issued by the other Sector Army Generals operating under Moff Tarkin and General Geen. They'd even had to avoid Ryoth for fear of violence erupting.

"Master Windu, Master Ti, apologies for the delay...dealing with the Hutts is as troublesome, and less than pleasant, as ever I'm sad to say" he greeted the two other Council members as the holograms sprung to life in miniature before him. Once a matter such as this would warrant the entire Council, but there were too many just as bad, or worse, crisis to deal with these days so they worked as best they could on dealing with them as they reared their heads.

"Obi-wan, no need to be so formal..." Mace replied "...and what is the situation on the ground?"

"Not much of a welcome I'm afraid, but we can confirm that our rogue General hit the Separatist positions and supporters like an angry rancor amongst bantha. Clearly after cutting a deal with the other Hutts, but one clearly favourable to the Republic I have to note"

Shaak Ti nodded "As we had thought, whatever our concerns on his pronouncements and the situation with Master Krell recent actions have been all in service of the Republic"

"Aggressively so..." Mace Windu added on with a nod, then continuing when Obi-wan gave a curious glance in regards his words "...we've a report his Fleet hit the Siskeen system not long ago. Through the GAR of course rather than to ourselves, and we're expecting something to appear on the Holo-Net detailing it"

"The lack of trust is crippling"

Mace's hologram glanced at Shaak Ti's "I did warn, the young man is mercurial and somewhat paranoid, also prone to retaliating to perceived slights. The vague allusions to the Sith code would be up his hyper-lane for a way to hurt us without causing harm"

Obi-wan nodded "For what it's worth Anakin agrees..." in a much less polite manner of course "...with you Mace, but we are where we are, and the depths of Pong Krell's Fall was only apparent after the fact. But...hmm, Siskeen? He's moving fast and with surprising surety deep into Separatist territory...do we know where he's headed next?"

Both shook their head, Mace folding his arms across his chest "No, the same as ever. Perhaps it is talent in the Force as we suspected...hahh...no matter, catching up with his fleet may be impossible without risking the loss of your vessels, or yourselves, as they never seem to linger long anywhere and refuse to tell GAR Command, even the Chancellor, where they are or are heading"

"At least that is understandable..." Shaak Ti muttered softly "...communication would be both more difficult with Separatist territory, and more open to interception. Everything we know of young Daron's actions as a Republic General have placed him as independent minded and..."

"Paranoid"

She nodded at Obi-wan "Yes Obi-wan, I'm afraid so, though that seems to be a trait of the entirety of the Grand Army in the Galactic South. Such as the Clone situation"

Obi-wan winced at that, Anakin was somewhat unhappy about that implication laid out in his friend's speech, and now he and Ahsoka were supposedly attempting to 'fix' the problem within their remaining forces such as the 501st "Ah...yes, a troubling situation, and one I find distasteful, even if it has been necessary to preserve the Republic. Master Rahm was...of similar mind to Generals Stormcrow and Yanthis, though thankfully there has been little trouble amongst the Clones..."

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[20 BBY]

[Executive Security Solutions City-ship/Capital-class Warship Stormcrow {II}, Battle-group Army of Light, GAR-South, Exiting Hyperspace Rothana System, Quiberon Sector, Outer Rim Territories]

"I hate not knowing where we are" I muttered as the fleet followed out the KDY security cruiser into the top secret system. It was a blind jump, at least for us, as we tied in our navi-comps to theirs and let them guide us through without knowing the bloody system destination. But I couldn't complain considering what had happened at Kuat itself, and seeing the large defence fleet hovering in position around the great shipyard world itself.

"They'd never let us in otherwise Captain-General"

"I know Gardan, I know..." I answered with a shrug, watching the tactical display light up with icons "...and, truth be told, I very much doubt we'd have even been allowed to do this if KDY wasn't in the middle of an ongoing financial crisis"

'Or the polite indicators we had a crude idea of where they were, and I'd sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement on what we know as long as we could resupply and reequip here' I didn't say, though it was the truth. KDY, and therefore Rothana Heavy Engineering as subsidiary, were under pressure and with the Confederate advances into the Core had found routes less than easy. Then again it was costing us a solid fortune as well, but that fortune had come courtesy of several worlds of the Confederacy of Independent Systems that we had taken short stops at.

"Well Boss, it does get rid of the merchies we picked up along the way..." Yulen told me as we coordinate the fleet into defensive formation without looking threatening "...better to have a few warships in exchange than trying get that lot through enemy territory. Hard enough guarding the repair ships as it is"

"I know, I know, but as seen there was a method to my madness..." I replied with a snort of amusement "...and we somewhat need to lay low a week or two after everything, even if just to make repairs"

The truth was I'd raided to raise credits and materials to trade in for what they were building here, such as the modern Republic warships, such the Venator-class Star Destroyers I could see on the plot. Getting even four would significantly improve our odds, but purchase of lots of other Republic gear would replenish our losses of star-fighters, ground vehicles, and landing craft. More would be appreciated, but that'd come down to the haggling that would need to be done and how much we can get for all 'not-stealing' we'd been doing since departing Ryloth. Fun times as ever I thought.

"And where next Boss, after all this?"

I shrugged "No idea Yulen, that'll depend on our friends on the other side react, and what our foxhounds find while we're hold up here rearming for Phase Two"

That...wasn't entirely true of course. I did have general idea of where we'd be going; through Hutt space at some stage, but the exact nature wasn't planned out yet. In all honesty it was almost impossible to know as that depended on where the Confederate forces were weakest, or where we could use smugglers hyperlanes to hit them from an unexpected direction. There was also the matter of meeting Ventress, somewhere, somewhen, once we departed...along with finally having to face the music in answering my friends and former Master with more than a brief message.

Hyperlanes made travel...strange I'd found since learning about it. The Confederate strategy was to lay across the primary trade hyperlanes, mine or blockade them, and thereby cut the easy movement of starships along them. Because 'you can go anywhere really fast' basically translated to 'you can anywhere really fast, if nothings in the way, and with other restrictions' in reality. I intended to move up to towards Mon Cala, or Kashyyk, but it all depended on multiple jumps and available lanes before that. Drawing off a Confederate Fleet, and maybe even draw out Dooku, brought risks as well as opportunities...

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