[20 BBY]

[Republic Navy Venator-class Star Destroyer Selfless, Grand Army of the Republic Group South, 1st Mobile Fleet, In Orbit Eriadu, Sesewenna Sector]

It was almost enough to drive a man to the bottle General Locus Geen thought sitting down at his desk and considering the orders he'd been given from his direct superior. Ones that weren't entirely in agreement with those being issued by GAR High Command, but right now preventing a violent schism...no, mitigating the violent schism between current Republic forces was his unenviable task. All while a quasi-purge, silent and thankfully bloodless, was starting to occur as he was being made 'reform' Army Group South's command structure by shoving the Jedi out of it as best he could.

'All while filling the ranks with Tarkin loyalists, Ailon Nova Guard and Aegis Guard' he resisted muttering looking at the agreed upon Sector structure and fleet plan. Understandable as Jedi General Pong Krell had been proven a traitor after Yanthis and the Stormcrow attacked and destroyed his fleet over Ryloth. Locus let out a breath at that...

His commanders had fought a miniature civil war, and maintaining his current position was truly only due to the willingness of said commanders to work with [rather than for] him, and Moff Wilhuff Tarkin wished him to remain in the role. Only Jedi and General Rahm Kota retained any significant forces from the Jedi, and that was entirely due to unwillingness to pick sides in the Krell versus Yanthis and Stormcrow battle. Proven correct as Daron, because the grandstanding mercenary bastard would, published the proof of the Jedi Master's treason while giving speeches rallying support to his forces. It was also somewhere to put the other Jedi, who were currently planning on heading to Ryloth...because of course they were.

"Problems General?" Corporal Vida asked as she and Corporal Trask entered his office, saluting and standing at attention "Reporting as ordered"

"Nothing but those of late I'm afraid, now please sit..." he replied gesturing at the chairs before his table, then picking up and handing over two data-pads "...and here, our marching orders from above. I'm going to need extra work shifts, and progress reports on everything under repair or construction as soon as is feasible"

"We're going on the offensive Sir?" Vida as surprise, perhaps shock, hinted at in the tone "...after everything that's happened?"

'We're going on the offensive *because* of what's just happened' Locus wanted to say, but merely nodded calmly "Yes Corporal, our recent defeats, and losses...and Ryloth...mean we will have to shift to a more mobile, and aggressive, defensive strategy to enable us to maintain our current position. We know the Separatists have reduced their forces opposite us, and hitting their rear supply areas...

Another big reason was to get one of his rebellious Generals, Daron Stormcrow, away from Ryloth and the Jedi likely to try arrest him and start another battle they could ill afford. So his and General Vladimir Yanthis's desire to go on the offensive was more than welcome to Locus, and above him to Moff Tarkin; though it been merely a perfunctory sign off he expected.

It was very likely the nano-second the confirmation order arrived the assembled fleet in what had been the 14th Sector Army's operational area would be on the move. Politics forcing the Republic to hurl its forces into the breach to prevent further internal disorder...and at least give the veneer of independence to the investigation into General Krell's betrayal.

Idly the Stormcrow's fleet went off and did some damage to the Separatists for several weeks, did a few patriotic acts...and let this kriffing crisis die down most importantly. To give time the Senate or Chancellor time to calm the Jedi down with a 'free and fair' investigation of their traitor before this exploded further; at worst Daron went off and got himself killed, hopefully taking down more Seppies than his forces lost, and the crisis resolved itself that way.

In truth Locus expected the campaign to be muddled, the Aegis Guard to wreck a number of places, before returning back crisis dimmed after raiding targets of opportunity distant on the hyper-lanes...

--

[20 BBY[Plus Three Hours]

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

"Techno Union?" I muttered glancing up at Shesagora's avatar "...what the kriff were they doing in a system in the back of beyond like this"

The former pirate, now Republic Admiral and my 'second-in-command' shrugged "No sure yet, your ship's computers and droids better suited to ripping apart data-modules. Best guess to setup a secret base or listening post. It is in the middle of nowhere, and same reason we used it as a staging point. They got nothing out, so our covers good"

I nodded "Not that we'll linger here, departure in ten after all. We've got authorisation, so time to rampage, cause chaos and disarray"

"Heh, just what I like ta do youngin..." Shesagora drawled out thickening her accent before shrugging "...I'll transmit data now, forward me the results when your slicers crack it would ya? For now let's get this circus on the hyper-lane"

"Agreed, your lead on this Shesagora so make sure to confirm all ships are slaving navi-comps to your coordinates..." I replied with a nod "...cuz there's always..."

"Some idiot who fails, don't I know it" the avatar replied the hologram flickering "...copy that Daron, will confirm jump prep two minutes prior. Shesagora out"

I sighed, rubbing at the bridge of my nose before standing up and moving to exit my small 'ready room' beside the main bridge aboard the Stormcrow. It was extraordinarily stressful to go ahead with this course of action...or the potentially disastrous path I'd set myself upon. Part of me just wanted to reach out to Stass, to Bariss, even to Anakin...but that would be terrible idea right, forcing people to choose sides should they be ordered to follow through on arresting me. It would be unfair, on them as well and me, and in so many ways it was easier to throw myself into the coming campaign, the barebones of it at least.

'Too much will depend on day-to-day responses and scouting to be able to plan out a true route beyond *raid spinward as far as we can* anyway...' I admitted to myself stepping out unto the bridge '...and we can't trust official intel with Siddy very much wanting me dead now I imagine'

It was a flurry of activity of course, just before plotting a fleet-wide jump and moving to hit the first Confederate targets along the Triellus Trade Route and the Manda Merchant Run. Breaching through Rodia and Geonosis was the first step, though only we'd be hitting the Rodian system while Yanthis's forces hit Geonosis again to eliminate the ray-shielded droid-foundries the Confederates had reactivated there. A hit and run operation, albeit with a commando style ground invasion, that would hopefully distract from our blasting through Rodia and out unto the Confederate trade routes.

I studied the assembled Battle-group; an eclectic mix of captured Confederate vessels, our own purchased refits like the Stormcrow, and the one Venator-class and three refitted Acclamator-class as our Republic ships. If we lost this it'd be a hammer blow, but there were options along the way that could help swing the tide. It was time to roll the dice...after weighting them in our favour as much as I could of course. Rodia and Geonosis were under defended according to both Magic Mountain and our ESS slicers despite GAR-HQ Intelligence stating they were at full strength, reinforced by drone laying mines. Time would tell who was correct on that matter.

"Yulen" I greeted striding over to the Captain of my former ship, safely stored in the hangar bay, as my XO, Gardan, commanded the bridge in preparation. Yulen served better as a 'battle commander' and aide-de-camp than having another Gozanti on the fields, and he seemed content to be in the action. Certainly made information control of our 'black' projects I found "...there'll be some data sent over by Shesagora's Shieldmaiden of Chandrilla, we need sent down to Analysts. See if they can find anything useful from it, Techno Union codes an' all. I know we're jumping, but we'll have an hour before the second transition to Rodia so we should..."

--

[20 BBY[Plus Fourteen Hours]

[Executive Security Solutions City-ship/Capital-class Warship Stormcrow {II}, Battle-group Army of Light, GAR-South, Just outside Orbit Rodia, Tyrius System, Savareen Sector, Outer Rim Territories]

"Limited resistance so far General..." Yulen informed me as I watched the holographic display of the assault upon key targets on Rodia "...Assault-02 has reached the shield generators, should be down shortly"

I nodded, watching the three strike groups hit their targets as the Fleet remained in orbit and traded shots with the planetary defences, or provided close in support to the three assaults "Good, give them whatever support they need. Once those shields are down, destroy the AA and then send in the gunships"

Rodia hadn't been as well defended as Republic Intelligence had believed, surprise, surprise, and the force of four Munificent-class and several hundred droid-fighters hadn't lasted long under our assault. Not that the Rodians were down and out, they still had their defence forces, numerous bounty hunter clans, and a large force of aerospace fighters. It'd be an impossible task to take the world without a siege, but we weren't here to invade, conquer or siege; no, we were here to be legally sanctioned pirates.

All we had to do was focus our fleet on part of the planet in overwhelming force, then bring our firepower to bear as we conducted as smash and grab on one of planetary bank storage vaults, a Trade Federation mining outpost, and an R Facility located nearby. The third was more a target of opportunity, but time was a consideration when we were blocking comms-traffic and transports out of the system...and could only do so for a limited period. Thankfully all we had to do was threaten the food storage areas and the Rodians diverted their mobile garrison units there rather than towards our actual targets.

"Send in the haulers yet?"

I shook my head "No, not till that AA is gone and we've got air superiority. How goes the situation with the defence fleet?"

Yulen gestured at the icons in orbit "Munificent-01 is too close to a planetary ion battery to attempt anything, Two and Four are wrecks, so we're just scuttling the engines and they'll be useless Captain-General. Three here, we've taken the engine room and slicer-droids have taken the self-destruct offline, though enemy droids onboard are still resisting and attempting to re-activate it"

"Well, boarding and engineer teams have till we clear out the target locations to get that thing captured and moving..." I replied stroking my chin in thought "...if we can't it's to be wrecked so it doesn't fall into enemy hands again. Honestly I'm surprised nobody planet-side is responding to our demands"

"Make things easier wouldn't it General"

"Yeah, certainly would..." I answered sighing "...thankfully the freighter Captains were much more accommodating"

Yulen gave a snort at that "Boss you blew up two of them, and threatened everyone else, so...yeah, they gave in quick at that even if it'll break a lot'em losing their ships like that"

"War isn't a game Yulen, and them's the risks we take. Crippling the Confederate capacity to trade and move supplies is just as important as killing starships. Anyway, fuck the Trade Federation and Techno Union, they've been out to get us since we set up shop"

'It'll also serve as a nice tribute/bribe/gift/whatever to those fat slugs so we can use their hyper-lanes without getting stabbed in the back. Or at least decrease the chance of it anyway' I didn't say, watching the various operations underway in the system as our countdown clock continued to tick down on the tactical display. It wasn't exactly the most noble way of making war, but we'd seized seventeen freighters in orbit under 'trading with the enemy' rules and they'd help our supply chain.

I frowned as my comms-buzzed faintly, a glance showing one of the one off codes I'd supplied. Seemed a message had gotten routed here from the staging area and I noted to attempt contact once task this was done...

--