[17 BBY]

[Living Quarters, Personal Deck of Moff Daron Stormcrow, Eriadu Authority Capital-class Warship Stormcrow, Republic 5th Fleet (reconstituted), Kira System, The Kira Run, Expansion Region, Trailing Sectors]

"Ahsoka" Barriss Offee said gently, with genuine warmth, a mild concern, as she placed an arm around the shoulder of her friend, hugging her tightly "It is perfectly fine, I for one am not offended by such visions you had! Not at all! They just that, visions, dreams"

Bariss meant that, Ahsoka sighing miserably after her little rant, Daron sitting on the footrest before them, having listened immediately, sitting as Ashoka almost exploded with explanation, rather than retreat to the chair nearby. Now Bariss's friend seemed…spent almost, and she was concerned for, as Ahsoka was not exactly positive feeling currently through the Force "I had some too…unpleasant ones"

"Apologises again" Daron murmured awkwardly "I…didn't think that would happen"

Bariss couldn't help but giggle "Yes…you accidently broke the Veil of the Dark Side love. That's a good thing…that you did accidently"

"I…won the battle?"

"Yes, you did, you and Ventress, and give us all bad dreams" Bariss huffed back, part teasing, part annoyed, shaking her head with an exasperated sigh "It was so confusing…and not good feeling"

"This wasn't…" Ahsoka began, then shivered, voice going to a whisper "I Fell. I…remembered. That happened…what if…"

Bariss gave a squeeze, voice gentle "I have no intention of falling to the Dark Side Soka"

"Nor do I in letting her, or you, do any such thing" Daron said, hands together, elbows on knees where he sat, and giving Ahsoka a serious look "As to…Mortis…"

Bariss saw him paused, sigh "Would that I had known, and the whole situation with Xo'xann as well in retrospect…no matter. You knew but…"

"I…I didn't remember" Ahsoka muttered, tiredly "I knew…we returned and…Anakin didn't remember, but…the Council got a report, but they left that out. Told me that…it was like a Dream, but it was real…"

"Soka'" Bariss told her friend, holding her tight "You are here, with us…calming breaths, and then we can talk about it. I haven't Fallen either by the way. Nor has Anakin. Even Ventress acts…normalish…now"

"I wouldn't tell her that by the way" Daron offered, and Bariss gave him an amused glance. Part of her wanted to be angered, or jealous, of the close relationship he had with the Witch, but…Daron had never been secretive about the fact he would have secrets from her. Force related secrets rather than intimacy though, and if there was anything in that area Bariss was sure he'd tell her. Though the fact he had formed a Reciprocal Master Teaching situation with a Nightsister turned wannabe Sith Apprentice was an issue that they had rowed over. But, after Naboo, Bariss had felt…united, her own with Bond with Daron different to that with the other "But, yes, you are here, and not raving at us, or presenting any of the other symptoms of those deep in the Dark Side drug trip fall into"

Then he sighed again, looking at her "I am surprised you came to us to talk on it. Is this why you requested your rather odd request to continue with us rather than return to Eriadu with Commander Rex and the Senator?"

"I couldn't get back to my Master or too Obi-wan, and I…was afraid they'd pick up on it…Master Luminara or…" Ahsoka trailed off, and Bariss gave her own frustrated sigh at that. Her former Master and herself had…spoken…since that misguided…whatever Master had been thinking with that insanity of hers. The sheer idea of a threesome involving Master Luminara…

"Ahsoka" Daron interrupted unhappy thoughts, rubbing at his head "I…can't real criticise. I don't think they would do anything but attempt to help you. I gather most of them got unhappy vision times based on what Celeste and Aayla have told me in support of a long conversation with Rahm Kota. But, yeah, I was just as paranoid as well. Right. We can deal with this"

"Yes" Bariss agreed "Celeste, Knight Morne, has been teaching me when she can, and she understands the dangers better than any of this Age within the Jedi Order. What is left of it at the least, and, my Daron here…" she nodded at him, giving an amused smile "…has kept the witch-girls civilized, hasn't he?"

"We also have mind-healers aboard I'll note. They exist, and I pay them large sums of credits, for a reason after all" Daron pointed out his usual points, one of which was why he'd had her look into do several courses in both learning mind-healing, but also in seeing one owing to Bariss's own negative reactions to the war. Having time to properly meditate had helped greatly with that, but it wasn't enough in some ways as she understood she couldn't have been the perfect Jedi image she had wanted to be. Not that and a healer at the same time. Now though she felt at peace, and she'd help Ahsoka get there as well before her friend eventual returned to Corellia…

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[17 BBY]

[Command Bridge, Command Deck of Moff Daron Stormcrow, Eriadu Authority Capital-class Warship Stormcrow, Republic 5th Fleet (reconstituted), exiting hyperspace, Bracca System, Mid Rim Territories]

"Hyperspace emergence complete, all ships report status green, in formation" Gardan informed me as my fleet dropped back into realspace after a 'dash' through the Kira run "Enemy vessels detected in system…four Munificent and twelve transports according to sensors. Confirm. It matches scout reports. We have them pinned inside the hyper limit"

I nodded, arms folded across my armoured chest "Good, Blackout protocols in effect, signal them to surrender or be destroyed. Same with Confederate forces planet-side"

"Aye-aye Moff, by your command" he replied, calling out those orders as my fleet glided forward, ARC-170s and Y-wings already out and readying attack runs alongside the Star Destroyers and the Stormcrow. I had what could be called and overwhelming advantage here and now over the trade convoy to the scavenger world below, and I intended to use it as such. Four Munificent-class starships had no chance against the various Venator, or Venator-descendant designs that made up my fifty-two capital ship strong fleet. Heavens and Hells, the two Victory-class vessels alone would be too much for the Confederate picket…

"Droid commanded it seems" I noted clinically at the response in the negative almost immediately, in the sounds of a B-1 droid. With that, I raised my right hand, making a gesture "All vessels open fire. Knock them out before they escape or try to ram us. Engines and comms are priority targets"

Glanced at the holo-displays of the planet "And Comms, see can you scrounge up someone from the Scrapper Guild to discuss terms"

"It won't be more droids in charge?" Ahsoka asked me, still looking a bit awkward in her Eriadu derived uniform. But, as I'd told her, if she was serving in any told here, for this, this official rank was getting bestowed, even if under temporary status via Moff derived powers "With those ships being so?"

I shook my head as my Victorys and Venerables moved into place and began to pound the small enemy convoy into yet more debris to be sorted through on the planet below "Unlikely. Bracca should only be lightly secured, and its loyalty is…variable at best this entire war. No need for droid armies to occupy it. We hope. But the fact they've got B-1s running those ships is perhaps a good sign"

"Because their stupid?"

"In part" I agreed as I sent a ready alert to my assault troops under Braika. Ideally, we'd manage to grab some intact data-cores even on the destroyed ships, or at least on the ground stations with comm codes "They are stupid at times, but it's the fact the Confederates likely sent an automated convoy since it was B1s in charge of things that's a good sign. Harder to capture as the droids are stupid but programmed to resist…unless you have the codes. Which we'll try and pull from the wreckage if feasible"

Enough of the hidden Republic sensor nets were still intact enough further up the hyperlanes to have an idea of what the Confederates had, even without our penetration with SigInt. Or Force abilities. But maintaining our edge had to be taken at every opportunity, and Bracca had been an easy target as we knew where Kleeve and Trench had retreated too. This world was a giant junkyard, and while strategically important hadn't seen the same level of investment as others. There was no Bitter Enders here, no planetary shields, nor vital war industries beyond the salvage from said planet of scraped starships. Important to Eriadu, but not vital right now either.

No, this was a grand raid, and with the sole intention of further Tarkin's hand during the negotiations either occurring now, or about to occur. Securing Pax, Kira, and Bracca, were part of the desires in this region at a guess, so reminding them what could do was important. It was also useful because we'd slipped through Confederate pickets at Pax, avoided the Kerkoidia, and now we could break into their hyperlanes after getting past their two battered mobile fleets. In a perfect world before they'd realised, we'd even departed Naboo as our fleet jammed comms and the droid crewed convoy was swiftly reduced to floating wreckage. Boarding parties would be dispatched as we did our best to prevent self-destruct mechanism by targeting the command bridge and backup command storage subroutines areas.

One of the frigates exploded, and I sighed, shaking my head "If feasible that is. They've learned not to let us take ships if they can avoid it"

Despite that…Confederate information security remained not good as I saw it. In part it was due to the overall system that enabled them to control and direct their armies, and from that the culture behind it that had given rise to Trade Federation, Techno Union, and other groups that founded the CIS military. Where they used organics they were efficient, but they had a hard limit on droids intelligence to avoid droid rebellions, and they still relied far too much on this top-down, ultra-efficient, economic model to run their logistics. Efficiency was the enemy of redundancy and security when it came to that…and it'd hopefully allow us a successful raiding operation…

"Sir" Gardan said to me "We're getting a surrender notification from the planet, but we're also getting GAR comm codes from a separate location on planet. There over a year old. Requesting evac"

I nodded "GAR-South, Central Command, or Clone?"

"Clone my Moff, looks to be one of the special operations units judging from the codebook"

I nodded "We'll investigate, inform General Chorn and have her dispatch a unit. Have be ready in case they are still chipped"

The last real Republic presence had been over a year and a half ago, and that was around the time of Order Sixty-Six, even if new units could have arrived since. It was just the fact that Bracca was indefensible from the stretched resources we in what had been GAR-South had available. Clone Legions had been integrated into our forces as best as possible, I had several amongst my best units after all, but others had simply turned into insane droid organics. Or were newer batches churned out by a still unconquered Kamino to crew the Acclamators and other vessels built at the Rothana yards, in theory, loyal to Darth Sidious. I had my doubts they were loyal to anyone but Kamino by now, and Kamino was really just angling for the best terms it could.

'But first, worry about securing the system and getting your forces out safely' I reminded myself as fleet maintained a defensive formation while I 'trained' technically Knight Tano in command roles as much as mental defences against the Dark as it were. This operation who be a test on that after all, as this was to be a Great Raid when the enemy were getting wise to our tactics, and the war had gotten ever bloodier and with less safe harbours to go to. I watched the LAATs leave my Venators, TIES escorting them as ARC-170s went off to scout and patrol nearby systems. Now to cause as much chaos as possible behind enemy lines…

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