[21 BBY]
[Executive Security Solutions City-ship/Capital-class Warship Stormcrow {II}, Republic 19th Sector Army, In Orbit Javin, Javin Sector, Outer Rim Territories]
"What's the bad news?" I asked coming up unto the command section of the bridge where Gardan and others staff were hovering around the galactic map as a steady stream of information appeared to be buzzing back and forth to the display. I'd barely gotten into the shower before an alert had come in, and now it seemed there were major enemy movements under areas of our concern. Thankfully there was a mug of kaff waiting for me, and a quick spell test for safety later, I was glad of the drink as my Executive Officer nodded to me, gesturing at the screen.
"General Grievous and a large Separatist force just took General Kenobi's Second Mobile Fleet just after he arrived in the Socorro System on patrol..." Gardan detailed as I came up to the display and the tactical information came to life as he opened up the tabs over flashing icons "...and inflicting heavy casualties before our forces were forced to retreat to Reuss, and now to Orto Plutonia"
"How heavy is heavy?" I asked in surprise "And, what about Separatist losses?"
"Seppie losses are reported as light General, but General Kenobi's Fleet is now listed as being combat ineffective. Exact details have not yet been forwarded but it's fairly clear they were caught by surprise and effectively destroyed. General Kenobi seems to be injured by all accounts. General Geen has ordered a raising of all Sector Armies Alert status as Grievous's fleet went back to Llanic rather than pursuing Kenobi"
I raised my eyebrows at that. The hatred of the Confederate's Cyborg General, and Obi-wan Kenobi in particular, was well known with the GAR after all, so to retreat after decimating his fleet rather than pursuing was a...surprise to say the least "That's...not good, lots of options from Llanic, a number of hyperlanes to move along; Christophsis, Naboo, or even back to the routes towards hyperlanes leading towards Kamino. Numbers seem to be on their side looking at this basic report Kenobi sent back. Any word back from our outer system pickets?"
"Nothing Sir, at least beyond a few small convoys plus light escorts moving up towards Thyerra or Bestine based on their system exit vectors"
I nodded studying the various system plots. One could understand why the Jedi Order hated General Greivous, beyond his killing them, as, best I could tell, he was an unconsciously self-taught, non-sensitive, quasi-Force user. Almost a wizard, or anti-wizard kinda considering his aspects, rather than the nature of Force Sensitives as natural sorcerers, whether Jedi, Sith, or other. Everyone was connected to the Force after all, and the cyborg's hatred and iron will seemed to have given high level resistance to the Force by all reports I'd managed to get my hands on. Not enough to stop it being used on him in full power, but certainly enough to screw up pre-cogs.
'Not that I disagree, pre-cogs are annoying to deal with' I thought idly as the rest of my mind focused on the strategies available to him; Naboo being the most likely target in my view. I tapped the holographic icon for that system "Naboo do you think?"
Gardan nodded "Yes Sir that is my opinion and that of the analysts as the next target"
'Bad match up for Anakin that as usual' I mused, nodding back to Gardan silently as I thought on matters. The Force...faintly warped itself around Anakin as best I could tell, favouring him ever so slightly...I could see how the potential future Darth Vader could wipe out so many Jedi in that time I hoped to avoid. Well, there was little I could on that at moment from here, and I had my orders how to act in response "Right. We can only hope General Skywalker is ready for anything like that. Set Alert Status Two, I want a rotating Close Space Patrol and all shield and barrier systems brought online aboard the fleet. Worse case it becomes a drill...time it will you please Gardan"
"Of course General" my XO replied moving away and bring things up to standard. In truth it wasn't a massive jump in status from where I normally kept our forces in terms of combat readiness. Merely going from being ready for a surprise attack with defensive systems ready, shields up, to full combat readiness with shore leave cancelled and doubled shifts for the crew. If we had to deploy on a moment's notice I wanted my merry band of troopers to ready after all.
I turned my head towards the Force signature walking towards me, in traditional Jedi robes of course "General Allie"
The glare was expected, and I gave a faint chuckle at it "If you will not call me Jedi, or Master, Daron at least call me Stass"
"Of course Stass" I smiled back politely, then gestured at the holo-screens "Now, the situation at hand. Grievous just took out Kenobi's fleet here, and then back-tracked by his last transmissions..."
--
[21 BBY]
[Republic Navy Venator-class Star Destroyer Selfless, Army Group South Command Fleet, In Orbit Eriadu, Sesewenna Sector, Outer Rim Territories]
It was a complete and utter disaster Locus knew as the reports came in one after another "It's confirmed Corporal?"
Corporal Vida nodded "Yes Sir, General Skywalker's Fleet has suffered severe losses, and the General and surviving units have retreated groundside under the planetary shield or fled the system"
Locus closed his eyes a moment, taking a breath, then opening them again "General Skywalker was injured?"
"Yes Sir, was knocked unconscious during the battle, some injuries but he's been treated"
He nodded to nobody in particular. Both of his mobile formations had been absolutely gutted, and there was little to show for it beyond Skywalker inflicting heavy casualties on his fleet. But that was cold comfort when they couldn't replace ship losses as fast as the Separatists could; and now had to defend these Sectors with less modern designs. To his surprise the feared Cyborg General of the Confederacy had yet again abandoned the system after destroying obit industry and scuttling heavily damaged ships. Where too he didn't yet know, and that was a major problem in of itself as I waved away the Twi'lek officer and thumbed the comm button.
"Moff Tarkin, I bear more bad news"
"Yes, I have also heard. Naboo"
"Yes Moff, it's a debacle, and yet again Greivous refused to stay and siege the system. Moving Core-ward, possibly the Kalinda-Lazerian lane, and his strength was significantly above what was projected. Casualties have been inflicted, but there are reinforcements at Lazerian and Wroona according to our intelligence. At least by last report, several of the hyper-pulse transmitters on the routes have been either disabled, corrupted, or destroyed as they've gone dark since this has started"
The avatar of the harsh faced man nodded, hands clasped behind his back "A futile attempt to prevent us sending warning to the Core systems. Their likely next target of course. For Eriadu, you can confirm the creature's currently observed fleet will not be able to threat this system's security?"
"I can confirm such Moff Tarkin, the system defences here in conjunction with the defensive fleet would be more than a match for Grievous's forces even if he was heavily reinforced. Javin, Ryloth, Chrisophsis, also have sufficient forces to see off between deployed system defences and combat ready squadrons at his currently observed level. His losses over Naboo were significant, if..."
"Less than desired, yes" Tarkin replied nodding "...General Skywalker was too aggressive in his forward defence of the planet in my opinion, but that is later review. Now, we must deal with the aftermath of this situation. General Stormcrow's and General Yanthis's counter-offensives are best held off"
Locus Geen nodded with a tired sigh. Minutes had felt like hours, and hours like days, since this disaster had started to unfold "Yes, I very much agree. Our losses of Venators and Acclamators...were significant, and we can't afford more losses. If Grievous had sieged or invaded..."
But he didn't he didn't say, rubbing at his eyes, as the damned cyborg had simple hit, then run. Clearly after other targets, which was concerning in many other ways, and that was a problematic change, from his and other Separatist commanders, standard operating procedure. If he had then the reserve forces he'd sent towards Naboo would have caught them up against the planetary shield and the defensive fleet...if that fleet had still existed rather than dying attempting to defend the far orbitals.
Now he'd have to dig more deeply in the reserves of the ORSF, Ailon Nova Guard, and the ORSF allied Republic Aegis Guard with the loss of modern starships, though thankfully Clone losses were fairly light in both actions. So perhaps he could afford to crew any forces he could scrounge together without going too badly in the pockets of the militants and mercenaries. In some ways the reduction of Jedi led forces made things both easier and harder in relation to the ongoing power struggles between the Jedi and non-Jedi Generals. Such a way to end the year...
--
[20 BBY]
[Office of the Supreme Chancellor, Senate Buildings, Galactic City, Coruscant]
To the galaxy at large he would appear to be taking a brief nap, the weary Chancellor of the Republic taking a brief respite from the crushing weight of his office. In part one could claim he was doing just that Darth Sidious thought carefully allowing the Force to fill him, the Dark Side to guide him. The Grand Plan was going well, if not as he himself had truly expected, but loath as he was to admit it his now dead Master, Darth Plageuis, had been closer to the truth than he himself had been.
Perhaps understandably; the old Muun had always been closer to logistics and mercenary side of things while he himself in guise of Palpatine had been closer to the political levers of power. No matter. It merely meant moving to a 'long war' setting, and likely needing to crush remaining organised forces rather than remnants as he had desired. A swift war would have been ideal, but recent events had shown that the venal and corrupt within the Core would happily turn upon him, and still retained the power to thwart his efforts as well.
Young Skywalker had suffered a defeat at the hands of Greivous, and his woman, that dreadful Amidala woman, injured alongside him. His recent message burned with barely restrained rage after all. He resisted a smile at that; there were cameras here, and two Jedi at the doors. That he resisted the opposed urge, to lash out in rage, at by their presence; attractive females the Master and Padawan might be perhaps, a sop by the Jedi to him or to their public image, but the matters more difficult to manage. Damned assassination attempts by fools who would die very soon, despite his minions recent failures.
'Of course is Tyrannus a failure? Or plotting?' he considered carefully spinning the futures out in the Force, drawing upon the guidance of the Dark Side. His Apprentice would die of course, he was clearly unworthy, and his control of the Confederacy not as firm as it should be, but the when of the matter was hardest to pin down of late. There was so little time to Demand Answers of the Dark Side, and there were other factors at work now that muddled things as other factions appeared in the chaos of war. His former Master had warned of such, but it was grating to no longer have total surety of the future after time to consider every angle and factor.
Grievous's little escapade, with Denon now aflame and panic filling the Colonies and Core, was a boon despite being unplanned. Problematic too as opinion polls showed, but the blame could be easily shifted to the Jedi in this regards, and it a small tarnish upon Kenobi's record hopefully. Emergency Legislation could be pushed through in the panic, and his own forewarning would be ammunition against the more peace loving members of the Senate calling for peace talks with the Confederacy. He nodded, opening is eyes so Sheev Palpatine could get back to work; while the events were a surprise, and unfortunate one, he could work with it...
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