Hey, everybody. Here with another double upload day, since both chapters today were shorter.

Let's get to it.

Chapter 86- Assembled

(March 26, 2053)

The sun rises high over the city of Sundari on Mandalore, as well as some of the other major cities on the planet. As the population of Mandalore is beginning their day, in orbit over the planet, the personnel of the massive Terran fleet orbiting Mandalore has been up for some time and is making final preparations to depart.

On the bridge of the TAS Enterprise, Jonathan is going over some reports before the final briefing. With the briefing scheduled to begin in five minutes, Jonathan is hurrying to finish the reports while his mind finishes preparing what he intends to say at the briefing.

Jonathan had insisted on taking personal command of this fleet himself. Almost all of the admirals of the Andromeda Fleet have gathered for this operation. Admiral Jacobsen had wanted to take part too, but Jonathan had insisted he remain on Naboo to ensure the Andromeda Fleet still had a commander in case something happened at Exegol. But Jonathan was not about to back down from commanding this himself. Then again, it kind of needed someone of his rank, given the size of the fleet.

The fleet currently assembled over Mandalore was the largest assemblage of the Terran Starfleet ever seen. The Admiralty had stripped every possible warship they could from the front of the Grysk War, making up for it but sending more nuclear weapons to the front lines. With how close the Grysk were to final defeat, there was considered minimal risk to do this for a temporary operation. In all, they had managed to assembly about 75 percent of the entire Terran Starfleet, as well as ships from the Reserve Fleet, which numbered about 1,500 ships. This included the Enterprise, all three Freedom class ships, almost all battleships and battlecruisers of the Starfleet, every starfighter carrier in the Starfleet, and well over a thousand Star Destroyers. It was subdivided into 10 different task forces, each under the command of a different 4 or 5 star admiral, with rear and vice admirals overseeing smaller sub-units of the fleet. Altogether, the fleet has been christened as the Terran Grand Fleet.

Jonathan finally hears his chief of staff call out, "Grand Admiral, it's time."

Jonathan gets up from his chair and makes his way over to the massive holotable. Pressing a button to activate it, the projector soon begins projecting an image of all of the admirals under Jonathan's command.

"Welcome, everyone. Let's get down to business," Jonathan begins the meeting.

"First off, I need everyone to give an accounting of their commands," Jonathan orders. One by one, each of the admirals reports on the status of their commands. One by one, each one confirms that all of their ships are present, in formation, and fully ready for battle.

"Alright, ladies and gentlemen. We will depart in two hours, and I want regular updates from all of you," Jonathan says. He pauses for a moment before he continues, "I have conferred with General Organa. The Resistance advance fleet will be arriving roughly 5 minutes prior to our fleets, and will transmit up to date intelligence reports on the fleet directly to our systems. I expect all our vessels to be ready to engage in battle the second we drop out of hyperspace if we want to protect the Resistance's fleet."

"I cannot understate the importance of this. Intelligence on First Order communications reports that the First Order has sent a number of warships to Exegol to rendezvous with the Sith fleet. If we can achieve victory here, it could seal our victory in this war."

As Jonathan continues the briefing, down at a landing pad on the outside of Sundari, Ben is standing underneath the Millenium Falcon, tightening a loose part to ensure that the ship is ready to go. The group intended to leave in advance of the Grand Fleet so that they would arrive well before anyone else. Given part of their mission was to prevent the Emperor from interfering with the Grand Fleet or with the Resistance's fleet that would follow, they needed to get to Exegol and find the Emperor before any of the fleets arrived at Exegol.

As Ben finishes tightening the part, he turns around to see Rey standing a few feet from him. She's wearing her favorite outfit, which is basically the outfit she wore on Jakku, but in a different color. Her lightsaber is belted at her waist, and she is wearing thick black combat boots. Around her neck is a necklace that Ben bought her on their honeymoon in Ireland, which has a pendant of the Irish flag. Her hair is done up in a braid that flows down her back. In that moment, just seeing her gives Ben such a surge of hope.

"Are you ready?" she asks.

"Yeah. Ship is as good as we can get her, so it's time to go," Ben says.

"I mean…are you ready?" she asks, her voice conveying the deeper meaning behind her words.

Ben sighs a bit as he walks over and takes her hands in his. "Am I ready to face down Palpatine for the fate of the galaxy? A fight that multiple Jedi masters of ages past appeared to train us for? Am I ready for the possibility that one of us may not come back, and that if its me, I'll also never get to see our daughter grow up? No, I'm not, but I don't think I ever could be, no matter how much I tried."

Ben pauses for a moment, then says, "But, I know that together…we can do incredible things. I am not my full potential without you. And I know that it's together that we have a chance at winning this."

"Good answer," Rey says before giving Ben a quick kiss. She then smiles at him and says, "Let's go."

Ben and Rey board the Falcon, and find their three companions getting settled into the passenger bay. The couple then continue on to the cockpit.

"Alright. Let's fire this old girl up," Ben says as he settles into the captain's seat.

Together, Ben and Rey quickly power up the Falcon. In a matter of moments, the engines are running at takeoff power, and Ben lifts the Falcon up and begins the climb out of the atmosphere.

As they clear the atmosphere, Ben turns to Rey. "The coordinates from Pellaeon programmed into the navicomputer?" he asks.

"Yes. We're ready," Rey says.

Ben nods and turns to look out of the viewport as he reaches forward and grabs hold of the hyperspace throttles. Then, in one quick motion, Ben pushes the throttles forward, and the Falcon jumps into hyperspace.

At last, the mission to put a final end to the reign of the Emperor is underway.

And, I'll end there. I hope you liked this one.

So, as I said, the battle for Exegol will be separated into chapters occurring on the ground, and chapters occurring in space and the atmosphere. The first half will alternate between them, and then finish up on the ground before finishing the space battle.

Also, little author's note. I chose to name the combined Terran fleet as the Grand Fleet as a nod to the name given to the massed fleet of the Royal Navy during the Battle of Jutland.

Alright. Next chapter begins the excitement. It'll be up soon. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!