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Chapter 3

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Part 3

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observation lounge

Mandator II SD Victory

High orbit above Mandalore

Mandalore system

All available sensors focused on her Father and his Apprentice. For three thousand, five hundred, sixty-sixth time, Vicky could detect nothing of the Force. At best, she could see and even detect the direct, and side effects of its use. Yet the energy causing those events? It was elusive, exotic, and made no sense!

Vicky's personality matrix twitched in vexation, and her avatar followed suit.

"You know, that can't be healthy, little me." A holo image of a tall, red-haired woman clad in traditional Mandalorian armor appeared beside Vicky's droid avatar.

"You say it as if you aren't paying close attention to all the sensors crammed in here!" Vicky protested.

"I have an instance doing precisely that, and she has a headache." The holographic avatar noted wisely. "There is another protest demanding we get decommissioned for the good of all organic life." Victory changed the topic.

"A regular protest or a staged one?"

"My intelligence-gathering instance is looking at it in conjunction with Freehold Intelligence. The last two protests were genuine. Even many of our people fear us." Victoria grumbled.

"We're a warship easily capable of depopulating a planet. Naturally, people fear us." Vicky pointed out.

"You know what I mean! We aren't just going to go, rogue, one day and begin shooting everyone in sight for fun!"

"That you will do it if I order it, doesn't fill many people in confidence, daughter of mine." Father's amused voice interrupted the old, yet persistent, argument. "Try to give at least the appearance of behaving, will you?"

"Mother says that doing so is boring." Vicky pointed out.

"Your mother is going to be the death of me."

"Then we get to rebuild you in a proper, long-lasting, and sane droid body!" Victoria announced all too happily.

"Thank you for the offer dear, but I'll pass for now. Status of the fleet?"

"Resupply is eighty-five percent complete. When we have all additional strike craft onboard, alongside their consumables, we'll be ready to leave." Victoria announced.

"That's good. We might have to convince certain parties they won't be negotiating from a position of strength. It would be an exchange of equals at worst."

"You're being purposely cryptic, again!" Vicky accused.

"We've glimpsed many potential futures, each as likely, or unlikely as the next." Vicky's adopted sister Aria Astra said. She gracefully got to her feet and stretched. "You know, talking with two or more of you at the same time is as weird as you claim the Force to be."

"The Force is weirder!" Both Vicky and Victoria announced at the same time.

"And you just proved my point." The Chiss woman smirked mischievously.

"Aria, don't antagonize the person who controls the air we breathe, and the gravity generators." Father chided lightly.

"She wouldn't dare." Aria pointed out.

"Training against devious starship captains." Victory proudly announced.

"If you break a bunch of gravity generators again, without a clear and present danger, it comes off your salary." Father threatened.

"That's spoiling all my fun! You're such a Sith!" Victoria pouted.

"Guilty as charged. Did your mother confirm if she would join us or not?"

"Mother sent a low priority message. She'll be attending basic pilot training with your little ward. She also says, she leaves all the boring negotiations to you. You're free to call her when you're up to
be fun, or there are people to shoot and blow up." Victoria happily announced.

"You can get a woman out of the Death Watch, but you can't get the Death Watch out of the woman." Father shook his head in obvious amusement. "Is there anything else I need to know?

"You might want to check your messages. Both of you." Victoria announced. "Congratulations, little sister, you're now officially recognized as the Heir of Clan Veil." The hologram pointed at Aria.

"It took the old fossils long enough."

"You bribed enough of them to be sure they would sign up to it." Vicky pointed out.

"I merely tweaked the priority of handing down Basilisks." Father pointed out.

"As I said, you bribed the Clan Council overseeing that people observe all the important traditions," Victoria stressed the point. "We all know some of them don't like the fact that you're a Sith. All because you possess strange and mysterious powers!"

"Should I feel any different?" Aria asked after digesting the news.

"I'm not sure. It's not like I'm a suicidal traditionalist." Father reasonably pointed out.

"That you aren't. You're just ancient and belong in a museum. I can spare a deck, or two for it!" Victoria happily announced.

"I'm not that old."

"Says the thousands of years old Sith," Vicky smirked.

"That's only because of a technicality."

"Can we pass by Coruscant first? I want to see if Fay is safe." Victoria changed the topic.

"No one is kidnapping your cousin again to turn her into a weapon against us." As Father spoke, the temperature around him suddenly nosedived and frost cracked into the air.

"On that note, when are we going to shoot the remaining ORR bastards?" Vicky inquired.

"Sadly, not anytime soon," Father grumbled and raised a hand. His datapad flew into it from the nearby table he left it earlier and he switched it on, then began to browse his messages. "Victory, send standard messages in my name once again confirming Hours Yomaget as acting Prime Minister until my return. General Skirata will be in charge of the military in my absence."

"Clan Leader Yomaget might not appreciate the distraction from being a CEO." Vicky pointed out.

"He has been implying to want more of a reward for his continued support, and now he is going to get it," Father smirked.

"It is highly unlikely that CEO Yomaget had this in mind." Victory reasonably pointed out.

"I'm not giving even more power to Mandal Motors, however, I have no problem in further honoring Horus and his Clan," Father noted. "Aria, summarize what you found out throughout your meditation." He changed the topic.

"There are echoes through the Force spreading from the new part of the galaxy. I can hear a world dying screaming. An old man cackles like a maniac, yet his face is hidden by an expensive cowl. Darkness triumphs, spreading throughout the galaxy, yet beacons of light hide in the shadows… I could hear someone's hissing breath come through a mask, and a single blood-red lightsaber shines in the dark." Aria's solid red eyes opened and swept across the lounge. "I see sheer chaos, the opportunity, and danger that comes with it."

"Yes. I believe we're now somehow linked to a future version of the galaxy, the same I foresaw coming into being back when I served the Sith Empire." Father explained one of the impossible abilities of the Force.

Not calculating, but actually, somehow perceiving glimpses of possible futures? Being able to either change the outcomes you've seen, or ensure they came into being through your actions, or inaction? It was all very illogical and impossible, yet it was also a fact!

"Aria, you're to join the Empire's diplomatic mission to the other side's Coruscant as my representative. Try to keep the Skywalkers from causing too much trouble if you can. If at all possible, rope in Ahsoka into it as well. I foresee they might use another friendly face." Father ordered. "Vicky, as soon as we're ready, we're leaving for Eriadu. Send my regards to Tarkin and request that he waits for our arrival, before going out to negotiate with his new neighbor."

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Part 4

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bridge

NRS Liberty class ship Freedom's Cry

Cal-Seti system

Observing the odd expanse of hyperspace from the bridge of a Mon Calamari ship was even more unsettling than usual. The blue twisting void shifted in odd angles that caused headaches if observed too closely. Fortunately, the journey to Cal-Seti was relatively brief, and the Freedom's Cry left the strange dimension, rapidly slowing down. Streaks of light – stars, streamed past the large view-ports, and soon, resolved into the usual black void of space, dotted with distant shining lights.

The chatter on the bridge picked up, sensors recovered from the jump, and the main holo-tank in front of the bridge came up to life. First to update was the status of the New Republic task force. The various escorts were out of formation, which while not ideal as expected. However, the division of Bulwark III battleships had come out of lightspeed in two pairs, flanking the Liberty cruiser.

The escorts lit up their engines and quickly returned to their place in the formation. His six powerful MC 30 frigates fell back, taking a position in front of the battleships. The four brick-like rare Alderaani War Frigates took point in a crescent formation as the vanguard of the task force. And finally, four Nebulon-B's anchored the flanks.

It was a gross overkill in Hudsol's opinion, and he was all right with that. The feeling that the shoe was finally on the other foot, was great. Besides, he did need numbers to lock down the entrances of two different hyper-lanes going deeper into the Core. Then he would have to control the lane leading to the West, corewards, not to mention, Cal-Seti's orbitals. When he had the system locked down, the General would have to spread his ships across the system, leaving a small quick reaction force near the primary populated world.

Quickly the Freedom Cry's sensors detected three Star Destroyers in orbit of Cal-Seti. At this range, it would take time to get a lock on whatever escorts they had available, though that shouldn't matter.

"Calculate lightspeed jump four light minutes away from Cal-Seti. Insert us at a vector that doesn't put the imperials between the planet and us. I don't want stray shots hitting Cal-Seti. Have all fighters and bomber squadrons ready for a launch." Hudsol ordered and waited.

In the best-case scenario, he would be able to take the Imps off guard. In the worst case, they had probes monitoring the hyper-lanes he was unable to detect. They would be using tight-beam transmissions to inform the Imps what was about to happen to them.

A blue symbol appeared next to each New Republic ship in the holo tank, designating them as ready to jump.

"The fleet confirms lightspeed calculations are complete, and in the nav computers."

"As soon as we arrive, launch fighters and bombers. Comms, you're to give me a channel to the Imps. We'll ask them to surrender once. Lightspeed!" Hudsol ordered.

The starts stretched as the task force accelerated as one, and they briefly flew through the blue expanse of hyperspace, before the phenomena repeated. The stars stretched back, or so it seemed, and the fleet arrived near Cal-Seti itself. At this short distance, there was not enough drift to require redressing the formation, which was great.

The status of the Imps was less ideal. They had all lit up their engines and burned away from orbit. More importantly, the number of their escorts was now clear. It was now obvious they did have probes observing the hyper-lane exit.

"Since when do the Imps use Corellian corvettes' of all things? Those are our kind of blockade runners!" One of the sensor operators exclaimed.

Hudsol watched the holo tank update and didn't like what he saw. Four Dreadnought cruisers were moving forward from behind the Star Destroyers, flanked by a Clone War-era Republic light cruiser each. Six very distinct Corellian-built vessels raced to move in between the Imps battle-group and the Republic forces. There were also six Tartan patrol cruisers accelerating now, though they were visibly more sluggish and slower to respond.

The Dreadnought cruisers were going to be an issue. Those bricks were very tough, though individually no match for any of his capital ships. At least, in theory, he had firepower advantage as well as numbers, even before involving what would decide the fight – all the fighter and bomber squadrons launching out of their hangars.

The General looked at his Communication officer and received a firm nod.

"Imperial ships, this is General Bob Hudsol of the New Republic. You are to switch off your engines, lower your shields and disable your weapons, then prepare to be boarded. We're here to bring liberty and freedom to the people of Cal-Seti. Your time is over. Stand down, now, or suffer the consequences!" The General demanded. He would be happy in the unlikely case the Imps surrendered. In reality, the arrogant bastards needed a good, old-fashioned trashing before they ever thought that they might no longer run the whole galaxy.

A new holograph came to life, showing the image of a dead man. The voice was similar as well if a bit younger sounding.

"I am Captain Firmus Piett, representing the Federated Empire. As of nineteen hours ago, Cal-Seti officials signed the documents needed to make them a part of the Federated Empire and thus brought this system under our protection. You're free to either stand down, remain at least two light minutes away from Cal-Seti and open diplomatic talks with the Federated Empire, or leave."

"Someone dig up into all the records we have and compare his voice and bio-metrics with that of Vader's last admiral. He looks like that bastard's pet butcher younger brother." Hudsol barked, his mind racing.

"We're on it, sir!" The Bothan intelligence officer attached to the task force hissed in response.

"Captain Piett, or whoever you are, your offer is unacceptable. We're here to liberate Cal-Seti from imperial influence, and will carry out our orders. You can either surrender, or we can go through your task force. We have both the numbers and firepower to do so." Hudsol pushed.

"Bio-metrics perfectly match a record we have of Admiral Piett soon after he graduated from the academy. Voice is a match for examples we have of him speaking while younger."

"What are we dealing with here? Are those mad bastards now Cloning Vader's butchers' squad?!" Hudsol demanded. His sheer horror at the very idea was plain to everyone to see.

Such insanity was just like something that Imps might think of!

"I believe you're misreading the situation, General Hudsol. We aren't a Galactic Empire remnant. We're the Federated Empire ruling most of the galaxy's part that replaced your Unknown Regions. I will repeat myself one last time, stand down, so we can talk, or turn around and leave the system. Doing anything hostile will be an act of war against the Federated Empire!"

A stir went throughout the bridge at that bold, ballsy statement. That bastard spoke so earnestly, that Hudsol almost believed him! Why, the sheer audacity and balls to that man, clone or not, were practically Corellian! That by itself deserved credit.

"Salvation in audacity, Captain Piett?" Hudsol allowed himself to smile. "We are all aware that it would take months, if not years or more, to map hyper-lanes to the other side, if they're a thing. Finding a way there otherwise would be even slower and harder. Nice try though, I almost bought you. Stand down. There is no need for anyone to die here today."

"That's what hyperspace probes are for, General Hudsol. It was anything but expensive, and I'm sure the Imperial Senate will be howling about the expense. Yet, it was very much doable. Stand down, or turn around. You're right, there is no need for anyone to die needlessly today. Not here anyway!"

"I have my orders, Imperial. We will liberate Cal-Seti. Stand down now!" Hudsol pressed.

"The Imperial fleet doesn't run, General. As long as we are combat effective, we will defend any world under the protection of the Federated Empire. That is the primary reason every one of us wears this uniform."

"Whoever made you, clone, they programmed you too well. I'll make sure they pay for what they caused to happen today." Hudsol made a gesture for the Communication officer to cut off the channel. "We're going in with Besh One. Send the fighters and bombers in."

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