[20 BBY]

[Executive Security Solutions City-ship/Capital-class Warship Stormcrow {II}, Battle-group Army of Light, In Orbit Lianna, Lianna System, Allied Tion Cluster, Outer Rim Territories]

"Lady Santhe, welcome aboard the Stormcrow..." I greeted with a polite bow as I stood in my 'formal' light armour "...though one wishes the circumstances behind our presence in-system were different I'm afraid"

"Thank you General, and yes one would prefer different circumstances, but your arrival has been most beneficial to our cause" she replied calmly, a tiny young woman compared to my height, but oozing authority and pride as the heir of Santhe/Sienar Technologies. And quasi-ruler of the badly damaged world below, who's planetary and shipyard shields we now sheltered behind right now, along with her family's Corporate Security forces turned professional military and various patriot militarist groups drawn to her besieged banner.

It was almost amusing in a way; we were political allies, indirectly of course, through Palpatine of all people, much like with the Tarkin Family. But this was an ideal stopover location after the damage taken at Murkhana, all for little gain beyond the PR of striking at the home of the Shadowfeed. They'd had some nasty words to say about us the day after amusingly enough...then again we had blown up their very expensive outer systems comm-relays, so understandable really. I motioned with my hand towards the Engineering Bay which, to my surprise, she'd wished to see.

"This way my Lady, we can take the maglev to reach that area of the ship, there is more than enough room for your escort of course"

"Of course General, it is your flagship, so, please, lead the way" she stated, going quiet for a few minutes as I showed them into the brightly lit, and colourfully decorated to be honest, maglev system between the various innards of the Stormcrow. There was an element of comfort here to go along with the more pracmatic matters of a warship; safety and efficiency were key of course, but there was an effort towards crew comfort as well. That and for a guest such as this as sat down on the seats and she spoke again.

"How long do your forces intend upon staying in-systems"

"A week or so I expect, enough time to make repairs to restore the worst of the damage and then seek out our next target. Staying too long will give the Confederacy time to react to our presence, potentially trapping us here..." I sighed "...and our mobility and striking power is our only real advantage. If they pin us down, it'll free up the forces hunting us for the front"

"Hmm, I had expected as much..." she replied nodding looking ahead as she appeared to refuse looking up at my Solemite head looming over her "...as the supplies you delivered will increase such mobility?"

I nodded "In part, we're keeping a few of the faster or sturdier captured transports to use as auxiliaries, but everything else is yours. In part payment for our resupply costs of course, and hopefully the materials in the holds will aid Lianna's war-effort on behalf of the Republic"

"Oh it will go a long way I must say General, while our shipyards and manufacturing sectors have been protected the major problem has been one of supply of raw materials. Indeed we resource gathering and clearing battle damage have overlapped to a concerning degree over the past two years. Several dozen freighters with holds full will allow completion of a number of stalled projects"

I smiled softly "Well, I'm sure the Confederacy of Independent Systems is absolutely delighted to contribute to such a cause"

That earned a faint chuckle "Ah, I'm sure they are indeed. Now, as your quartermaster requested...our available supplies of TIE's and their spare parts will be freed upon for you. I'm afraid there are not available in major numbers, Republic Sienar is subsidiary and our production was limited here, but there should be enough, by including the prototypes and test-beds to bring them up the numbers you desire. In exchange for the lesser model interceptors of course, we shall supply those to the militia here, and combat data you have amassed on the modified variants your Army has made use of"

"Done and Done Lady Santhe" I agreed politely. They wouldn't be immediately deployable, in numbers at least, but we'd taken losses amongst the droid-fighters at Murkhana beyond what I'd have liked so getting our star-fighers quality as well as numbers up would help if we depleted the remaining Vulture and Scarab reserves we'd just used. Standardisation would also help greatly with storage space for the dozen odd star-fighter models we were currently using; that anything we'd managed to salavage on the way during our brief periods lingering after hitting a Confederate patrol "...though I fear that data will be even more vital to you, and the Republic, in coming days now that Mandalore has effectively seceded, and has essentially dared everyone to attack them"

"Yes, though my military advisors suspect it will divert forces away from us in the coming weeks, assuming this new attempt at restoration should succeed, and not be snuffed out immediately"

"I'd agree with them, though the chances of a quick victory seem low for either the Republic or the Confederacy based upon what forces have been assembled over the world. Unfortunately I don't think the Senate will be able to resist stepping on this particular landmine"

She gave a nod "No doubt. Though would not find allowing such a withdrawal as a betrayal of the Republic?"

"I'd focus on winning the war we've currently got due to the incompetence of the Senate, and then beginning the process of bringing the Mandalorians little club back in-line..." I replied with a shake of my head "...we have important matters such as relieving your position here, that of the Mon Calamari, of Bondan...of GAR-South where we started out campaign. Defeat the enemy in detail rather than wasting our efforts by flailing at all and sundry..." I sighed "...apologies Lady Santhe, some matters have irritated me of late"

Lady Santhe smiled faintly at that "Ah, we have heard of such even hear in Lianna General Stormcrow, as well as your views of traitors and incompetents. Ones we share I must say, though it is rare I admit to hear it from a non-human"

"Oh, it's it more common out here in the Outer Rim that many in the Core would like to admit. Allowed themselves to get complacent they did, and as ever it is us of more hardworking worlds that must preserve those ideals..." I replied well used to faint human-supremacy underlying wealthier humans, nine hells most humans, in the human controlled sectors of the galaxy. Seemed that no matter the dimension humanity still possessed that smug arrogance mixed with intolerance it always had. But that could be worked around, or with even depending, so I merely played along and pushed for more supplies and such...

--

[20 BBY[Plus Three Days]

[Executive Security Solutions City-ship/Capital-class Warship Stormcrow {II}, Battle-group Army of Light, In Orbit Lianna, Lianna System, Allied Tion Cluster, Outer Rim Territories]

"...so they're having a Royal Slave Auction in eight days. That's the ideal time to hit them"

I finished pointing at the system on galaxy map. We'd been bouncing around various ideas of what to do next, and then this little tid-bit had come in from our intercepts of Confederate comms-traffic, and general spread of information about the event. The Zygerrians were being rather boastful about the situation, return to greatness as they put it, and being dreadfully bad PR for the Confederacy should anybody care...which apparently, they didn't, beyond wanting to buy some.

"Hmm..." Shesagora, here in the flesh like the others as her Shieldmaiden of Chandrilla had repairs made to the shield generators and rear turbolaser batteries, rubbing her chin "...be a visible event we pull it off right...hmm, we've got enough data on the system and its defences to pull it off"

I shrugged "Yeah, been one on the target list since Centares after all, this was just the straw that broke the Bantha's back in deciding on it. High impact relative to other potentials, lesser risk relative too, and can break for the Bonadan pocket afterwards if need be, but here..." I tapped at where the Malachor system was, a memory from years past "...is our primary jump-point I think"

It'd been years since being that system and retrieving that holocron, dealing with a Sith Superweapon while I was at it, and it'd make an ideal jumping off point for an attack. Off the main hyperlanes, but connected by lanes by maybe two jumps into the Zygerria system. Shesagora seemed to agree, nodding and motioning with her finger to trace another route "If travel this route, up by Maken Te and Quermia, bypassing Deservo, we might convince them we're trying for Raxus, or even Serreno...jump into the Black, then to our hidey-hole system here while we get sniffers in Zygies home system here, let us know when to hit'em"

"Sounds good to me, but..." I gestured at the four officers standing to the right of Yulen "...you lot get to prepare us operational plans to chose from. You'll have twenty-four hours, as we'll have to get moving in the next two most likely, and we want options if we need to drop out into other systems along the way. You know the drill, lockdown till we hit the targets I'm afraid"

A round of nods, everybody here...well, beyond Ventress who was here by offering information on the CIS she'd been part of a time, and other agreements...was used to this process and the need for secrecy. It didn't really need applying to the Dathomiri witch wannabe Sith since she and her two 'sisters' were under constant monitoring anyway. Teamwork was important, as was training up my command staff and general officer pool, as the Twi'lek female Tann'Shiri had been a Hutt slave before we'd gotten her, and Baran Yetin was a human male who'd worked in Corporate Law.

I stepped back and let Shesagora do the rest as I stroked my chin, studying the regional galaxy map projected on the table before us. There were a lot of Confederate forces hovering around us now, hunting us, with a big fleet up in Desevro according to intercepts, and Greivous...fucking free because of stupidity in my view...was gathering a large fleet at Serreno alongside Dooku. Maybe; Information was unclear on the particular nugget as it was on official CIS channels, but the quasi-not-official command ones weren't as clear.

"You believe attacking Zygerria will make a statement?" Ventress suddenly questioned, and I glanced at her with a hmph sound, hand on my chin "Why?"

"Oh? Well, the Zygerrian Slave Empire was a big thing for a time, and they've always been chafing under the Republic since they got stomp on and forcibly integrated into it..." I replied turning back to the display"...and now they're going independent and Separatist allied. Now, they've always had a lot of capacity to build up, which their doing right now, as they really, really, wanted to get out from under Republic military restrictions...which are why they got watched more than most. So, they'll get stronger in a year or two, and this is their big moment, to say to the galaxy their back, slavery is back, and their neighbours should fear them again"

I nodded at the plot "Big, boastful, public, watched by billions of eyes in either triumph or fear. So, we're going to turn that moment around, to show their great proclamations aren't backed up by true power. They want to parade Republic citizens they've captured as slaves? Show their an enemy of the Republic? Fine. Then let them know there are consequences to those choices. Both treason and slavery are, very obviously, illegal, and the sentence is death...so I want them to look at this moment of declaring their power to the galaxy, that restoring their great Slave Empire is what they intended..."

Gestured at the glowing icons "And I want them to taste ash and bitterness and despair. To know the fear they think they can inflict on others without consequence or a care in the universe. We're going to hammer them, cuz that fleet their building? Isn't ready yet, and also show the promises of Count Dooku aren't worth anything. So I get to feel good about myself beating up some slavers and freeing slaves, make a profit taking their stuff, and serve the Republic by hammering on the economy and military of an avowed enemy of said Republic..."

I grinned at her "Win-Win really, assuming we win the battle of course"

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