This chapter's barely above 3,000 words but I'm trying to get back into a more regular update schedule.
An Acclamator-class transgalactic assault ship dropped out of hyperspace above the planet Mubon. Shortly after, the three carriers and lone corvette of Atrisa Squadron did too.
Commander Friedgren and Sergeant Major Astarot were in a communications suite near the assault ship's bridge. Apart from a comms technician, they were alone. A viewscreen on the wall in front of them turned on, showing Colonel Rilvert.
"Commander," Rilvert said.
"My forces have arrived at Mubon system," Commander Friedgren said. "We are heading to rendezvous with Captain Tybur."
"The report about Vice Admiral Autren's suicide is disturbing." replied the Colonel. "Governor Tiberian, Moff Irion, and now him…with General Forgus killed in action this puts great strain upon those of us in the command structure who remain alive."
"Everything is falling apart in this sector," Commander Friedgren growled. "We must hurry to squash these rebels."
"Gosruuk is…" Colonel Rilvert began.
"At peace." Commander Friedgren said firmly. "I have brought peace to Gosruuk in the name of the Emperor."
The faintest trace of a scowl appeared on Colonel Rilvert' face, but disappeared immediately.
"I fear that to restore peace to the Mubon system will require far more time." the Colonel said. "Prefect Hirano reports that the rebels on Ivort Four are dug in outside the city. Major Gaos leads Imperial troops to fight them off."
"How soon until we get reinforcements?"
"Neighboring sectors are sending ships," said Colonel Rilvert. "Moff Jellrek is sending two Imperial-class Star Destroyers from the Galov sector within a week. Additionally, he has already sent several frigates and light cruisers on their way. And a Carrack-class light cruiser and two Raider-class corvettes are due to arrive at the Bigthe system in a few hours from the Tammuz sector."
"Didn't Grand Admiral Grunger order an immediate fleet redeployment to help us secure this sector?" Friedgren grumbled.
"Pirate activity in this wing of the Outer Rim has suddenly picked up…something Naval Intelligence suspects is connected to the sudden appearance of Zann Consortium warships acting in concert with the rebel forces." Colonel Rilvert explained, grimacing. "The local sector fleets can hardly spare any ships, and the Admiralty has few naval assets in the region that report directly to them instead of one of the local Moffs. Unless the long-lost Katana fleet has actually been in hidden this sector all these decades, then I can guarantee few, if any, additional starships."
Friedgren's scowl deepened. "I want to push on through the enemy blockade at Ivort Four as soon as possible. Our forces on the surface can't indefinitely keep up the fight. Not without help, at least."
"Petition Imperial Center for reinforcements again?" Sergeant Major Astarot said. "Even if much of the Rim forces are tied up securing key systems or chasing Rebel war fleets in the Mid Rim, I'm sure our fortress worlds in the Colonies and the Inner Rim can spare some Star Destroyers and ground troops. Byblos, Dergesjt, Exodeen, Melaji Prime, Carida, Fondor, Uviuy Exen…they could all offer small parts of their garrisons, together field a large relief force for us."
"Good suggestion," Friedgren said. "Heck, even just a few additional AT-ATs or some tanks, and half a legion of Stormtroopers could securely and permanently turn the tide in our favour."
"I'll do that, then." said Colonel Rilvert.
"I intend to move on the blockade ships above Ivort Four as soon as possible," Commander Friedgren said.
"The Consortium fleet supplementing the Rebel ships poses a challenge," observed Colonel Rilvert. "I urge caution."
"Caution on our part gives the Rebellion forces time," said Commander Friedgren. "And makes us look even weaker."
"Commander, I urge you to recall what happened to General Forgus." Colonel Rilvert retorted as evenly as possible. "He was ambushed by Rebellion forces and now he is dead."
Corporal RewRchung and Private Nurboo were the two guards stationed in Fort Salliche's brig. RewRchung was an Ishi Tib man from Denon. Nurboo was a Valltii woman from Vallt. RewRchung had been recruited into a rebel cell operating on the planet Castell and other worlds in that sector of the Colonies before it was evacuated to the Expansion Region and then to the Outer Rim under orders from General Jan Dodonna. Afterwards, he had been transferred into the reserves allotted to the Zoraster Sector Forces under General Fenwhudn. Nurboo was recruited after Rebel Alliance agents took note of her skill at killing Imperial snowtroopers on her homeworld.
Both of them were very bored. The new occupants of the brig-Ferb, Vanessa, and Monty-all sat stone faced, saying nothing.
They had been found out upon landing on Ivort Four. A communication from the General's base revealed Vanessa's disappearance once the Sunspring dropped out of hyperspace, and General Fenwhudn had put two and two together by the time they had gone down the well. Monty had arranged for it to be so suspicion did not fall on Corporal Parker. He would've done the same for Ferb, except for the fact that it was impossible to concoct a believable story where a light freighter captain was unaware of a stowaway on his own ship.
So now, the three sat silently in the brig in the tunnels beneath Fort Salliche.
"Hey," Corporal RewRchung said. "Hey!"
He rattled the bars of the cell with his old Clone Wars-era, Republic Grand Army-issue DC-15 blaster.
"Hey!" he shouted. "C'mon, do something!"
They said nothing.
"You're boring!" snapped Nurboo.
They said nothing.
"Do something!" RewRchung whined.
They said nothing.
"C'mon!" Nurboo said.
They said nothing.
RewRchung rattled the bars of the cell even harder.
They said nothing.
RewRchung was beginning to shake the bars with his hands when-
"STOP!" Lieutenant Moak's voice boomed. RewRchung and Nurboo turned.
"Lieutenant Mosk and Sergeant Devoria to see the prisoners." Mosk said. He and Sergeant Matthew Devoria stood in the doorway separating the brig from the corridor. Nurboo gaped. Mosk scowled. "Troopers, what were you just doing?"
"Er, sir?" RewRchung said. "You need permission to enter!"
"CORPORAL!" Sergeant Devoria barked. "The Lieutenant gave you an order!"
RewRchung, his resolve shattered like a glass Bukarilarian sculpture dropped on the floor, shrugged and waved them in.
"You will have that on them bigger jobs," he muttered, though if anyone else in the room knew what that meant they didn't say.
Mosk walked up to the prison cell in which Ferb sat.
"Well, Polo," he said.
Ferb said nothing.
His eyes turned to Monty, and then to Vanessa. They too said nothing.
"They say that y'all betrayed the General," Mosk said.
They said nothing.
"Working with an enemy faction or something."
Monty snorted. "I wonder if you've thought who the real traitor working with an enemy faction is."
Mosk said nothing.
"Oh, so now they can talk…" muttered Nurboo.
"You will have that on them bigger jobs," RewRchung said, shrugging.
"Hmm." Mosk said. He turned to Sergeant Devoria. Devoria nodded.
"Right," Mosk said. "I'll be going now. I just wanted to satisfy my own curiosity."
"Er, okay Lieutenant." RewRchung said.
"You will have that on them bigger jobs," Sergeant Devoria said, staring directly at Corporal RewRchung.
"You will have that on them bigger jobs." agreed the Ishi Tib soldier.
General Fenwhudn stared at the holographic display.
"The lines of the battle are currently thus." said Colonel Brucosl, pointing at the map. "Major Reaches the Rice Slowly has the Imperial forces engaged at this point. He has been advised not to push onto Mann City, lest he lose his forces under fire from the Imperial siege balloons and tanks."
"Very good." General Fenwhudn said. "You have done well, Colonel."
Brucosl's face showed pride and satisfaction. "Thank you, General."
"Our allies in the Zann Consortium have bolstered our blockade with their own ships, including a Keldabe-class warship." Fenwhudn observed. "Mm, 'tis good." Her facial tentacles then twitched in a way that Colonel Brucosl had long since learned was a Quarren equivalent of an irritated glare. "Or it would be, had Lady Charlene's daughter not been snuck aboard the freighter Sunspring even as her mother traveled to our base to retrieve her."
"Do we have any idea who these spies really are?" Brucosl asked.
"I have a feeling they're working for Alliance Command and Senator Mothma." General Fenwhudn growled. "Spies sent by Generals Cracken and Draven."
"This presents a…complication."
"Indeed. Mothma and Ackbar were always going to interfere, but to learn that they already had placed spies within our forces…well, it only confirms we were right to plan this split."
"Yes," Colonel Brucosl agreed. "With Tyber Zann's fleet, your strategy, and the coming attack by -"
They were interrupted as the sound of a blaster shot was heard all through Fort Salliche.
"What the hell?" Mosk said. "Did you-"
"I heard it too, sir." said Sergeant Devoria coldly. He was already reaching for his blaster carbine. "It came from over there."
They ran. Other rebels were spilling out of tents and yurts, some in confusion, some in alarm. Mosk and Devoria passed by a Koorivar mechanic heading in the opposite direction. A Zabrak guard ran out of a tent holding a halberd. George, the Duros chef formerly of Degul Outpost, was wandering around brandishing a butcher's knife as a weapon.
Lieutenant Mosk and Sergeant Devoria were not quite sure where they were heading to, only that they were heading in the general direction of where they'd heard the blaster shot.
"Think it could be an enemy attack?" Sergeant Devoria asked.
"But why have we heard no additional blaster shots?" Lieutenant Mosk said.
"A probe droid that infiltrated our defenses to sow terror, perhaps?" Sergeant Devoria said.
"Mmm, perhaps."
"It could be likely. It shows up and does some light recon, then attacks us at random. Stirs up panic, messes with morale, etcetera."
"It could just be a weapons malfunction, a misfire. That sort of thing."
"Could be."
They had been running for two minutes in the direction of the sound now and there had been no further blaster shots.
They came upon a gathering near some large munitions crates sequestered at the back of one of the C-9979 landing craft. Mosk and Sergeant Devoria forced their way through the crowd.
Private Moliv was kneeling next to a body.
"Moliv!" shouted Sergeant Devoria.
"Sarge!" She looked up, almost in tears. "Sergeant Toam, he…he-"
"Is that…" Sergeant Devoria began.
"That's Sergeant Toam's body." Mosk confirmed gravely.
"He killed himself." Private Moliv said bluntly. Then, unable to hold back any longer, she began sobbing.
Cassian had landed his U-Wing in the Tarsik Lowlands on Boh Jorka. Slipping through the local picket fleet's orbital blockade had not been easy, but he had managed it. Now he and his team were waiting to rendezvous with Monty-unaware he languished in a prison cell on Ivort Four.
"Any sign of their freighter?" Cassian asked.
"No," said Ruescott Melshi.
"Anything on the local military frequencies?" Cassian asked. They'd tapped into those.
"No," said Candace.
Cassian scowled. "Hmm."
Major Reaches the Rice Slowly's forces had punched a hole through the center of the Imperial lines defending Mann City. Instead of rushing through the hole towards the city, Major Reaches the Rice Slowly had the rebel forces attempt an encircling manoeuvre. The tanks advanced on the right side-Major Gaos' left wing-while infantry, battle droids, and Bantha-II cargo skiffs moved to capture positions in the center of the Imperial trench lines, where they had punched through. This drew the AT-STs away from their position in Major Gaos' right wing.
On the outskirts of Mann City, Chief Bansoro and a few of his policemen watched with dismay through their pairs of macrobinoculars. Besides himself, he was accompanied by Sergeant Banu Jonium and three others. One was Detective Par Yalcom, an ex-soldier from Boh Jorka. The second was Lieutenant Sfv'sdi Iroa, a native of Ivort Four. The third was Lieutenant Quosh Pavan, also a native of Ivort Four.
"The Empire's struggling to hold the line." observed Par Yalcom. He spoke matter-of-factly, in the voice of a man who'd seen combat before and was in the habit of relaying information as bluntly and concisely as possible. He had been an enthusiastic ally of Chief Bansoro's mission to bring discipline to the Mann City Police Department.
"I wonder if we should even be here,' said Quosh Pavan. They eyed a nearby All Terrain Personal Transport and the Stormtroopers clustered a short distance away from its powerful legs. "The Imperials might be embarrassed that civilians like us are watching them get beaten back by the enemy."
Banu Jonium scoffed.
"We are the lawmen of Mann City." Chief Bansoro said firmly. "Lieutenant Elaxiabeter gave us clearance to be here. The soldiers shouldn't bother us."
Banu Jonium made a hacking noise like he'd started to scoff again but stopped halfway through. Chief Bansoro didn't react.
In a backroom in Dannison's Bar on Saleucami the smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca sat with several others drinking and playing sabacc. It was after hours, so Dannison and Urganz the bouncer had joined them. Iphremi the smuggler was also there as was Labun, a Devaronian smuggler from Halpat . The final member of their party was Benry Sabgas, the Gotarite in the employ of the Tenloss Syndicate who had been part of the group which rescued Han and Chewie from Grizz Freenz over a month ago.
In the weeks since that night Han had begun taking jobs from the Tenloss Syndicate and hanging around the cantina on Saleucami when not out on runs.
"Where's Tygin?" Iphremi asked. "That kid owes me money."
They had just finished a hand and she had lost the most; evidently, collecting outstanding debts was now on her mind.
Han, Benry, and Dannison all began laughing.
"The kid finally worked up the courage t' ask out Melissa." Dannison said.
Melissa was the Twi'lek dancer whom Tygin had long nursed a crush for.
"You're shittin' me." Iphremi said.
"Deadass," grunted Urganz. "Though to be fair she had to almost trick him into it. She'd been waiting for months for him to do it."
Benry scoffed. "She shoulda just asked him herself then. We all honestly thought he wouldn't work up the courage."
"Fucking hell," Iphremi said. She was laughing.
Labun was the dealer for the next round and he dealt out the cards.
"When did it happen?" Iphremi asked.
"About…eh, I wanna say two weeks ago?" Benry said.
"Ah, when I was over at Junkfort Station, picking up some cargo to take out to the Daronak system." Iphremi said.
"Yeah," Han said.
"Daronak…the Daronak system is out in the Jospro sector, right?" said Labun.
"No." Iphremi said. "Daronak's not that far from Saleucami. It's just right up in the Phelleem sector."
Labun nodded. "Ah. Was just trying to figure out if I'd ever maybe been to the Daronak system. I've done a lotta work in the Nyasko system and have spent time on Sriw-2 Station in the Asvfuo system, but I haven't done much else in the Phelleem sector."
"Really?" Urganz asked. "The Phelleem sector's right near here."
Labun shrugged. "I just haven't been up there much. I usually just breeze straight through on the Salin Corridor on my way up to Sy Myrth."
"Fair enough," said Urganz.
"Sy Myrth?" Dannison asked, scowling.
"Yeah, what about it?" Labun asked.
"Ah, just bad memories." grumbled Dannison. "It was an enemy planet back during the Clone Wars. I remember the boys in the Eighty-ninth spent a lotta time fighting Sy Myrthians and their Holwuff allies on nearby Waskiro trying to get us a beachhead to invade Sy Myrth. One of General Grievous' lackeys-a Koorivar named Suv Tenne-lead a relief force of battle droids that pushed our boys off Waskiro. The Republic commander was a man named Grunger, I think he's some ranking Imperial Admiral now? A lotta good men died when we pulled outta Waskiro."
"You were there?" Labun asked.
Dannison shook his head. "Nay. The Eighty-ninth was, but my regiment wasn't. We were stationed on Centares to prevent an enemy counterattack there. Grunger and the Eighty-ninth retreated to Centares and our barracks were turned into a hospital for the wounded. That's how I know so much about the fighting around Sy Myrth during the last war."
"Sy Myrthians, Holwuffs, Koorivars…" Iphremi muttered.
"Hmm?" Han said.
"Oh, nothing." she said. "Just think how it's always funny when you remember just how many species fought against the Republic during the Clone Wars. Popular perception has always been cloned soldiers fighting hordes of mass-produced war droids but that's not necessarily the whole story, right?"
Dannison nodded. "Aye. I know where you're going here."
"Countless worlds on both sides had their own militias, picket fleets, and Planetary Defense Forces fighting in the Clone Wars. Entire battles could be fought between armies drawn from local populations, with no clones or battle droids among them." Iphremi said. "People tend to forget that, I think."
"Many of the Separatist-allied species face intense discrimination nowadays," said Benry. "Beyond even the Humanocentrism pushed by the Empire-even other nonhumans still resent them for their role in the war."
"Indeed," said Iphremi. "You have to wonder what kind of resentment that breeds." She shuddered. "I can barely even begin to imagine."
Lieutenant Mosk and Sergeant Devoria sat in silence under a tent.
"I think there's no foul play," Mosk said. "He genuinely killed himself-he wasn't killed for stumbling onto something he shouldn't have."
"Stumbling onto something he shouldn't have?" Matthew Devoria asked. "You think that might've been a possibility?"
Mosk eyed him.
"Yeah…" he said. He sighed. "We've got a fucking pirate fleet in orbit. Colonel Brucosl was evasive when I confronted him about it but…yeah, it's definitely some pirate fleet."
"The rebellion has long allied with unsavory elements, to be fair." Sergeant Devoria said.
"But there's something different here," Mosk argued. "I have a bad feeling about this. If they were just privateers or smugglers or something, the Colonel wouldn't have been so…weird when I asked him about it."
"There's a bad vibe about this, aye." said Sergeant Devoria.
"I was thinking…" Mosk began. "You know all those training missions where we struck at criminal elements across th' sector?" Sergeant Devoria nodded. "What were they really about?"
"We were told it was training of course," said Sergeant Devoria. "But are you saying…"
Mosk thought of his participation in an anti-smuggler raid on the Wolftooth Moon, and of Lieutenant Fox telling him of the time they assassinated a Muun banker in league with a band of slavers.
"It feels more like we've been clearing out this sector of all criminals." Mosk said. "Leaving the way for someone to come in and take over the local underworld operations."
"Someone…" Sergeant Devoria said.
They both looked up to where the fleets waited in orbit above.
Mosk thought back to
"Someone." Mosk said firmly. He thought back to Monty talking about 'the real traitor working with an enemy faction'. "Someone."
I'm getting close to the payoff.
The cantina segment pulls on the astrography of the regions surrounding Saleucami, mostly from Fry and Wallace's Essential Atlas, and the lore around which systems in the area were pro-Separatist.