Brentaal IV, the jewel of the Brentaal system.
Powerful, Ancient, Wealthy, Influential. I imagine all of these descriptors and more had been applied to this world at one time or another. Nestled snugly at the intersection of the Hydian Way and Perlemian Trade Route -along with half a dozen other major hyperspace routes- Brentaal was the turnpike of the Core Worlds.
Control Brentaal IV and the entire Core Worlds would be open to you. It should have been a key stronghold in the Empire's interior defense. An impassable bulwark that the rebel fleets would need to dash themselves futilely against time and time again, spent countless ships and fighters just to get a toehold in the system. Like Milagro in the galactic south, Brentaal IV should have been a Verdun for the renewed war against the rebels.
Something for them to waste their lives trying to capture.
Most importantly, it shouldn't have been a battle the rebels had a chance of winning.
Yet the circumstances were exactly that. System defenses were hilariously, grotesquely weak. This had allowed an entire rebel taskforce to slip past the picket ships and storm the planet's moonbase, securing not just a toehold over the system but a damn chokehold instead. One of the jewels of the Core, a titan in industrial might, material wealth, culture and high society soft power, was up for the taking in this prize fight at the end of the year.
The entire planet was under threat now and, as I lurked in the shadowed corners of an gaudy open-air chambers in Vultin, made the Force quiver from the fear the looming battle caused to the planet's people.
If I was a citizen of Brentaal IV, I too would be afraid. Afraid that the man who stood between me and the grasping alien hands of the Rebel Alliance was Lon Isoto.
"As you can see, Baron Fel, our supplementary defenses are coming along nicely." A reedy and nasal voice spoke up. I watched from my shadowed corner as Lon Isoto, garbed in a loincloth and a paulron with his admiral rank tabs and code cylinders stuck to it, reclined further into the low couch he was sitting on. He took a deep sip of the goblet of wine he was drinking and a deeper grope from one of the two scantily dressed concubines at his side.
"Some locals hermmm..protested." He limply thrust his goblet out, pointed at the outside of Vultin's walls where mining vessels were busy removing the dense tropical forest around the city. "I said that irrigating all that greenery was a waste of good water. The indigs are filthy rich. Let them import their pleasures, I say.
"Hardened missile sites, a launch bunker for my fighters, impressive." A deep voice replied. I lazily observed the famed Baron Soontir Fel. Commander of the 181st Fighter Wing. Fel was a propagandist wet dream come to life. Tall, well muscled, broad chested, a naturally stoic face with his black haircut short according to grooming regulations. I could see why they made recruitment holos for the navy with this man as the star of the show.
"Of course, as you wanted." Isoto boasted. "But come away from there. Your inventory is…tedious. This world has much to offer, Fel, you should partake of its treasures before the rebels unleash their wrath."
He punctuated his point by stroking the breasts of his platinum haired concubine and leering at the dark haired one who was feeding him some local grape-like fruit.
"I had thought the purpose of my being here was to curb the rebel wrath." Fel's contempt for Isoto was blinding in the Force, but he kept his face locked in perfect military blankness as he addressed his nominal superior.
Just as Isoto began to reply, I made my presence known.
"Baron Fel has the right of it, Rear Admiral. We are here to defend this world from the rebels. I believe that will require proactive action on your part." I emerged from the shadows and stared at Isoto. His paunchy face blanched at my sudden appearance and he shirked away from me.
"Ah, Inquisitor Lorak." He gulped. "I did not know you had made planetfall."
Baron Fel had adjusted his stance so he could observe both me and the admiral without having to move his head.
"Per my orders from Interim-Emperor Pestage, I am at your disposal for the defense of Brentaal IV." I reminded Isoto. "My fleet has linked up with your ships in orbit. However my communiques received no response. So I came down here to brief you on the situation in space. But I could not find you in Oradin or Cormond. Instead I have found you here."
"I command from wherever I chose, Inquisitor." Isoto snapped at me, evidently having recovered himself. "The rebels will strike wherever I am located. Vultin isn't Oradin or Cormond. It's out of the way, which means it's the perfect place to goad the rebels into striking. Baron Fel's 181st is based on the planet now. He will strike the rebels when they descend from the moonbase and eliminate them."
"My victory over the rebels will make me famous across the galaxy!"
"Except Vultin is strategically worthless, sir." Fel interjected. "Oradin has the primary spaceport for the planet. The rebels will need its facilities in order to bring their ground troops in. I believe that will be their target."
Isoto gathered more courage from gripping the hips of his concubine and replied. "Very well, you are the famed hero here, Baron Fel. You will defend the skies of Brentaal from the rebels. But a flight will remain here in Vultin to see to my protection. We wait for the rebels to make the first mistake."
Fel was military, he would accept those passive orders. I had no such compulsions.
"While the Baron defends the world, I'll take command of the fleet and recapture the moonbase once the rebels commit to striking at the planet." I told Isoto. "After Fel defeats them, the survivors will have nowhere to run."
"Unacceptable!" Isoto snapped. "I command this system. I command its defense. You are under my command, Inquisitor. Your ships will remain in their current position and await my orders."
I stared down at Isoto, and projected the contempt I felt for him at him in the Force. His face paled again.
"As you wish, Admiral Isoto."
Isoto turned away to his pleasures, clearly signaling that he was done with us for the time being. We exited his chambers.
As we descended back to ground level, Baron Fel turned to me.
"I didn't know that Inquisitors commanded fleets."
"Not originally, the ongoing situation in the Empire following the death of the Emperor at Endor has precipitated a change in doctrine." I replied.
"Then you must be Inquisitor Andorak and your fleet that came into orbit yesterday is…"
"The Deep Core Defense Fleet." I admitted. "A bit outside of our operational zone, I'll admit. But the Interim-Emperor and the Grand Inquisitor are close allies back on Imperial Center. I've been placed under Admiral Isoto's command until the threat to Brentaal IV has been eliminated."
My words seemed to disturb Baron Fel. He folded his arms and started at the city skyline for a moment.
"If your fleet remains on the far side of the planet, we will be hard pressed to intercept rebel landing craft should their snub fighters put a hole in our defensive lines." He said.
"Is that likely?"
"Rogue Squadron was at the vanguard of the initial rebel incursion that took the moonbase. They destroyed the 181st' Gamma Squadron during that attack. I have to say it's a real possibility." I joined the Baron in staring at the city's skyline.
Rogue Squadron. The boogeyman of the rebel fleet. Founded by Skywalker himself, they were the hatchetmen of the rebel fleet. If there was an imperial target the higher ups wanted dead, Rogue Squadron was sent in.
"The Rebels have committed their best." I observed. "What do we know about the rest of the taskforce."
Baron Fel shook his head. "Unfortunately they're hiding behind the dark side of the planet's moon and our scout ships get shot down before they can transmit clear data back to us."
Not the worst tactical situation I'd found myself in over the past year, I had to admit.
"Admiral Isoto acts for the Empire that we both serve." Baron Fel suddenly said as the turbolift finally reached ground level. "He is the shield that guards the citizens of the Brentaal IV. We serve him and through that we serve the Empire."
He looked at me, gaging my response to his words. I was thankful I was wearing my helmet so I could conceal my bafflement at his statement.
"For the time being, that is correct." I told Baron Fel. That apparently satisfied him. I watched as he strode away, heading towards the landing pad where his TIE was. He'd flown to Vultin from Oradin, fitting for a fighter pilot I suppose.
I, on the other hand, wasn't very good at piloting. I'd taken a shuttle and allowed my stormtrooper escort to fall in besides me as I went back towards it.
The reasoning for Fel's parting words escaped me but I believed I could grasp the meaning of them. Fel had his own enemies in the Empire and you didn't survive on the front lines as long as he had without developing a keen survival instinct. He had to know that someone was gunning for him. Maybe he figured someone was doing the same for me. Always something to be said about allies of convenience.
Imperial-I Class Star Destroyer Adamant
A day later, I stood on the bridge of the Adamant. Our scanners had detected movement from the captured moonbase. The rebels were making their move.
What would mine be?
Following Pestage's message, we flew straight to Brentaal. During transit, a follow up directive from the Grand Inquisitor had come in. While I had been instructed to obey the letter of Pestage's command, I was to ensure that my fleet remained combat effective and in good strength.
I could only imagine what the broader game Yiaso was playing with the Cabal, Pestage and Isard but I could guess at enough to know that I was a pawn far in front of my own lines. A quick check of what Imperial networks I had could access on the fly told me that there were no sighted Inquisitors north of Imperial Center.
I knew that Isard was playing the Cabal and Pestage against each other, telling each party that the other insisted upon incompetent Isoto to command the defense of Brentaal IV. Each party thought that Isard was the voice of reason for their own side to the other.
The loss of Brentaal IV was the altar upon which Isard would sacrifice her political rivals in order to bring about her rule over the Empire. Pestage would be quickly removed from power after this and…something would have in a month or two to the rest of the Cabal. I didn't remember what.
Coincidentally that Cabal did have the Grand Inquisitor among its ranks, I wondered how Isard planned to remove him.
Now I was wondering who had put my name before Pestage. Could I really assume that Yiaso had told Pestage to send me as reinforcements for Isoto?
No, I couldn't. Plays within maneuvers within plots. The Dark Side swirled around me as I fed my anxiety and irritation at the schemes into it. Fuel for the fire.
"Isard has a thousand ears" was a popular saying for a reason. I was a pawn in this game. I hated it, but it was the truth. Baron Fel and his 181st was a pawn. Lon Isoto was a pawn. Brentaal IV was a pawn. The rebels were pawns.
Not every pawn needed to die in order for a plan to come to fruition. But loose ends were loose ends and with what Yiaso had done with his enchanted stones…
If he died before I had the chance to remove mine, if my understanding of Isard's timeline was anything less than perfect…
No one but Yiaso truly knew the gritty details of the enchantment. If I were him, I'd put deadman switches on them, just in case a final 'fuck you' was needed.
Through my increasingly panicked thoughts, I sensed Masal walking up to me. The rebels had made their move, what would mine be?
A single belief crystalized in my thoughts. An ember of insight. Illumination from the Dark Side. I smelled sulfur.
'Live Free or Die a Slave.'
There was never a decision, I admitted to myself. You could not win through compromising. Law of the jungle, survival of the fittest. Win or die. Yiaso had to die and I needed this stone out. The rebels needed to be checked long enough for me to take this stone out and extricate myself from this massive venus fly trap.
"Sir?" Masal asked, he was both right next to me and very far away at the same time. "We've confirmed that the rebels are descending on the planet. The spaceport at Oradin and Vultin appear to be their targets. Reports from the surface indicate that the 181st Fighter Wing has scrambled over both planets to intercept the rebel squadrons. Rogue Squadron has been sighted in the rebel advance."
"Admiral Isoto's orders were clear." I addressed Masal and the bridge. "What is also clear is that he is isolated from the wider battle."
That was putting it charitably.
"Advance the fleet, Captain Masal. Scramble our squadrons and dispatch our interceptor squadrons to Oradin to assist the 181st. Tell General Benzenti to bring two divisions to standby, instruct the same to Commander Atten." I ordered, a plan of action firmly in place in my mind. "The fleet will move on the moonbase and destroy it."
"It will be half an hour before we reach the moon." Masal told me.
"Perfect." I replied. "I have a call to make before the battle. In the meantime, try and get a line down to Admiral Isoto, he should probably sign off on this."
"At once, Inquisitor."
I strode off the bridge. I did have a call to make, but it wouldn't be made using the holonet. I'd wish my co-conspirators good luck but I didn't care enough about their fates to mean it.
Now my fate depended on Jerec's spell and his truthfulness about what the spell would do. It wasn't a comforting notion.
A/N - Dun dun dunnnnnn. It begins, the great plot within a plot within three more plots while the New Republic is moving to capture a key imperial world. Classic Empire! The dialogue in the first part is ripped in some places from the Rogue Squadron comics that introduce brentaal iv, specifically the two pager spread on issue 21 that introduces the absolute slob that is Lon Isoto. Guy dresses like a knockoff pharoah and has two 'concubines' dressed in haram wear around him at all times. One of which is an ISB agent. Nutty guy.