[End of 14 BBY]

[Command Bridge, Venator-class Republic Star Destroyer Jubilant, Recusant Squadron, (formerly) Republic Third Fleet, mid-system, Coruscant System, The Core, remnants of the Galactic Republic]

Captain Erika la Shran, of Kuat, starred in numb horror at the great world of Coruscant before her, and, moreso at the rings and balls of wreckage that floated around it. There were fires on Coruscant…and in space, which should be impossible, but…

Somehow wasn't. Hyperspace drives were active amidst the wreckage….or it was hyperspace anomalies, just as gravity was thrown off in sections of the system. Her, now somewhat old, Venator-class Star Destroyer had arrived in-system with its escorts to try both rescue and scouting operations for the forces that had seized control of the galactic capital….

'What a bitter joke' was on her mind as she gazed at the mass of death and wreckage that surrounded the world they had taken from the traitors. Loss and dread filled her mind. Many fleets had gone in, and now all that was left were fragments of once seemingly invincible armadas from both allies and enemies. The Supreme Chancellor himself was dead, and that had shattered something inside of Erika, leaving her feeling lost, an emptiness where once she had felt decisive. Now she felt cold and drained, numb as the remains of the fleet remained above Coruscant on her systems, but carefully away from the rotating…distortions…in real-space and hyperspace.

By war standards…it was a pathetic sized force to hold the system – barely eight intact Republican-class Star Destroyer and one remaining Mandator II Star Dreadnaught, the Vigilant. That was all that remained of four entire fleets…millions upon millions of dead just on the warships alone, with billions dead on the surface Erika guessed. Or at least she prayed it only so few with the destruction visible upon the upper levels of the city-world where gravity had distorted near the former Senate districts, and where ships had crashed into the surface when…

Whatever horror weapon that Corellia had used activated. Hundreds of billions of sentients lived upon Coruscant at a minimum, deep down, and she wondered how many of them knew what was happening, or how the Supreme Chancellor had died for them to live…

'The Supreme Chancellor is dead' was all that dominated her mind through the horror, furthering it, surrounding it with a sense of shock. All the deaths. All the sacrifices. All for nothing. That was how it felt to the republican warship captain as she numbly gave orders for her small squadron to make a slow, sub-light, approach towards Coruscant. All while mapping out a route for follow on units, images of the death, of the last transmissions from a till then victorious Grand Army of the Republic till the Supreme Chancellor gave his life for humanity and the Republic it had built. Now all that remained of the dream was the broken wreckage and screams for help from that wreckage that surrounded the liberated, but now battered, capital world.

Erika's right hand formed into a first, nails digging into her palm as she called for Z-95s to be launched to scout ahead where sensors were getting wary results. It was busy work as much as vital work, in scouting out the fact space was filled with broken ships along with strange gravitational eddies. Duty and follow through on the now shattered plan felt like the only thing that was keeping her, and her crew, somewhat sane as they worked to ensure Coruscant could be supplied as planned. There was still heavy fighting on the surface unbelievably, as enemy forces continued to resist and attack from the lower levels.

Allow with other horrors it seemed as she forced her hand to release, hiding the cuts in her palm as she maintained a calm image for her crew. Long-range reports from the liberation forces, what was left of them, were screams for help, and of warning. Rakguls reported alongside other horrors emerging from the great rents torn into the city layers on the southern hemisphere continent where the great Eye of Palpatine had crashed through over a hundred city-layers at least. Erika merely acknowledged the report – there were greater problems out here, in space as rescue targets shouted about ghosts and shadows aboard their damaged vessels. Those were potential dangers like Starweirds or other hyperspace dangers she'd encountered only on the wildest and most dangerous routes as rumours…

"Mark with a buoy" she instructed as they came to another series of grav-distorted shipwrecks smashed together by the…whatever horror weapon…that also had still active hyperdrives somehow. Something that shouldn't be possible, but clearly was "That isn't safe. Any vessels need to work around it"

Duty kept one strong. Duty kept one focused. At least that's what Erika hoped as she gave orders in the face of the vast expanse of death all around her. Coruscant had fallen, but it felt like they'd lost everything they'd been fighting for in the taking of the system. Kuat stood victorious yet broken now, and empty, cold, feeling in her stunned soul as what's left of the fleet command gave orders. She didn't even recognise the senior captain taking charge and giving orders…

--

[End of 14 BBY]

[Command Bridge Republican-class Republic Star Destroyer Expedient, orbital CEC dockyards, Corellia]

Garm bel Iblis resisted gritting his teeth as he stood on the bridge of the battered Star Destroyer that had limped its way back to Corellia, the sole returning survivor of the coalition defence of Coruscant. Oh, there were, supposedly, more surviving fleet units, but they had either not yet returned…or had no intention of returning from the nightmare they'd endured. The nightmare horror playing out on the screens, now that the crew had been removed and only Garm and his closest advisors were now on said bridge. Many of the crew had undergone mental breakdowns….and he could understand why as the screens went crash towards the conclusion of the battle before the Expedient had fled.

It was nothing short of catastrophic what had happened over Coruscant.

Almost all of the alliance's mobile reserve, almost all of CorSec's and its primary allied fleets, had gone in…

'And this is all that has come out' he though with soul crushing tiredness as he found himself almost falling into captain's chair, which the coverings on the armrests had been seemingly dug into in spots. Garm sat forward, hands together, elbows on his knees, looking at the figure ashen faced nearest to him "Grandmaster Kenobi, it seems your premonitions were correct"

The Jedi gave a tight nod "Yes, Chancellor, unfortunately that is the sabacc hand we have been dealt"

"Such a hand it is" Garm muttered back with a shudder, shaking his head "What did they do?"

"The enemy Chancellor? Our so-called allies?" it was Bail Organa there, the Alderaanian Senator-in-Exil pacing about energetically "The Fleet….all the lives on Coruscant…"

'Let us not mention saved by Palpatine of all people' Garm though bitterly, though the transmissions out from the system had clearly been Kuati planned propaganda. Not that the Sith had likely planned on dying during the battle as seemed to have happened…that Garm prayed was the case, as a living Palpatine would be a disaster now that the fleets were gutted. The fact that the Kuati fleets were just as devastated was little comfort as word of what had happened spread, now slowly with hypeercomm relays a favoured target in the war, throughout the Core and Colonies.

Naboo had been the largest battle in the wars till…

…till…

'Till we nearly help destroy the galactic capital' was dominating his mind, as that was one of interpretations of whatever horror the Alsakan…or Kuati…had unleashed. Garm had to assume it was the Alsakans despite their strenuous objections' mere hours ago. It was doubtful after all that Palpatine would try to blow up the planet while he was on the thing after all. All those lives lost. All those lives…

He shook his head, finding it hard to clear it, mind wandering over all the terrible implications that had come to be to his shock. Coruscant should have been a defence against the tyrant playing at liberator, not this disaster that was still shaking itself out. So, he looked at the Jedi, as he wasn't blind to fact the Force itself could have nasty implications after an event like that "Grandmaster, do you have any input to give on what occurred on Coruscant?"

Kenobi nodded, pale faced and unhappy looking "Chancellor most every Jedi….I suspect must Force Sensitives, felt the events the just happened in the system. Even now it is…"

Garm watched the man hesitate, seeming to search for a description, before motioning with his hand in a side-to-side motion "It is like watching a violent storm, or a raging flooding river….Master Drallig sent back those he could before events went out of hand, and I would not see it as best to send many Jedi into the system unless they are truly prepared"

Kenobi gave him a look "We have few Jedi left of that level Chancellor"

'Meaning – Do not ask us for help' Garm understood from that, and he wasn't as inclined to do so after the fact the remnants of the Jedi Order had just taken further losses they could not easily take. He could, he really could, but now Corellia had taken so many losses in just a day - it was unbelievable. Not only that but the defence of the system had failed. They'd jointly defended it with Alsakan and its cronies…and the Kuati had still taken it in the face of the horrifying superweapon that the Alsakans had dredged up from some nightmarish hole. What to do? What could they do?

He looked around "I need options from you, my advisors, this is beyond any one of us right now I believe. At least beyond talking to so-called allies, who we are now forced to cooperate with despite this….horror"

Because Garm knew many of them wished to break any deals made till now because of the deployment of this unknown horror and now direct lies in response. The problem was, as Garm struggled to make them understand, was they were stuck with the Alsakans right now….because Kuat had won, and if Palpatine had survived, unlikely as that seemed, then they needed the alliance. A vast military had been raised, yes, but the best units they had had just died over Coruscant, as had the Alsakans, and they couldn't afford to fight against the mobilised enemies surrounding them without the unwanted coalition. The New Republic would live or die by whatever negotiations could be done to try end this madness. Which meant he hoped deep down that the so-called Supreme Chancellor was, in fact, deceased and they could try negotiate some sort of ending to the war.

He looked around the bridge of the battered warship. This was all too much…

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