Into the Chaos -- Author's note.

Welcome to the tenth chapter of my story 'Into the Chaos'. A Sci-fi story that just happens to take place in the Unknown Regions of the Star Wars universe just after the Great Galactic War, almost 4000 years before the events of the movies.

To those not really into star wars lore, the events in this story happens about 2600 years before Darth Bane instigated the Rule of Two, limiting the Sith to a One Master, One Apprentice system. In other words, there were thousands of Sith in this time period. Some were immensely powerful (Like Darth Malgus), while other were not.

As I said, this is the tenth chapter and if you haven't read the previous ones, I recommend that you do that first.

Disclaimer: I do not own or hold any rights to any Star Wars licenses, including the star ships used in this story.

Some warnings:

This is an erotic sci-fi adventure, meaning that there will be both sex and violence, but I don't mix the two.

This story is posted on the Literotica website and the author does not give permission for it to be reposted or reprinted anywhere else without consent.

P.S. The series is self-edited, so any mistakes are mine, though I now have a proofreader, that can catch missing words ect. Thanks to Jessejames932006 for doing that.

P.P.S. While you're here anyway, please rate the chapter and leave a comment :)

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Chapter 10 -- Grinda system

Dreadnought Majestic

Getting there

"Treat your crew as you would your own beloved children.

And they will follow you into the deepest valley."

From the Holy Book of War

The first two jumps were nerve-racking. At least for the bridge crew and others who knew just how close the fleet ventured to black holes, several nebulas, and other dangerous astrological phenomena and if I hadn't been able to use the Force to navigate through the dangers of hyperspace, it would have been hopeless, instead of 'just' being difficult.

In a way it was strange, as what I had considered the start of my career, being a Chiss ozyly-esehembo or Skywalker, now again was the most important part of my job.

Fortunately, once we had entered hyperspace, there wasn't much to do except wait, and I used my downtime during the first couple of jumps to walk rounds on the ship with a bodyguard in safe distance, greeting any newcomers I met and talking a little with each one, just to get a feel for them and give them a chance to get to know me before we went into battle together.

If there had been any doubt in my mind that liberating the prisoners had been the right thing to do, my walks around the ship would have dispersed it, as every single crew member I met saluted me with wide smiles on their faces.

Eventually, I came down to the hangars, where Flight Lieutenant Kierian had collected the 'new' imperial pilots. When I arrived, the more than two hundred pilots were walking around in small groups, talking among themselves as they looked at the Super Sting and Dragon Claws that were hanging from the ceiling racks.

I was just here for a glimpse of the new pilots, but Flight Lieutenant Kierian quickly spotted my black uniform and walked over to me with a smile on his face. "Hello, sir."

"Hello, Flight Lieutenant. How's it going with the new people?"

"I've just had time to say hello and give them some general info about the fleet, before I gave them some time to look at the starfighters." He paused. "Could I persuade you to give a little welcoming talk to them? I can easily do it, but after seeing them, I feel that they need to hear from a commanding officer."

Looking at the pilots, I nodded slowly. Most of the former imperials I had talked with so far mistrusted their commanding officer and it was an attitude we needed to change before the fleet would be truly effective.

"I trust your instincts." I told him. "Just give me a few minutes to think up something."

"Yes, sir."

He walked away and I called up Tavune. "Mister Tavune, I'm about to give a speech to the new pilots and for that I need two 45 second footages from the Battle at Nodia Prime. The first one featuring Lieutenants Wang and Caranut, while the second one should be about the S-13 Super Stings. Both are already done, but I need to be able to access it in the port hangar in a few minutes.

"Not a problem, sir." He answered cheerfully and I could hear him access the computer. "View channel 1 for the forward projector, channel two for the aft one."

"Thank you, Mister Tavune."

"You're welcome, sir." He paused, but then asked. "Can I record this, so the speech can be used on the cruisers? The pilots there might need to hear the same."

I was silent for a moment. Not due to the request, because that was a reasonable one, but in appreciation of how far he had come. "Good idea, Mister Tavune. Let's do that."

"Yes, sir."

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"Attention on deck!" The Flight Lieutenant called about five minutes later. "Fleet Commander Commodore Thalen present."

I walked over to the podium Flight Lieutenant Kierian had used for his own speech and looked at the men and women in front of me. Since the Imperial Navy didn't allow non-humans in their ranks, there were a lot more humans than any other race, but aside from that, there were a lot of different skin and hair colours.

"At ease, ladies and gentlemen." I said and as a result they shifted to a more relaxed stance. "Fellow warriors, welcome to the Dragon Defence Force. I won't bore you with practical details, that's Flight Lieutenant Kierian's job. Instead, I'll explain what I expect from you, which is pretty simple. I expect you to follow orders, to do your best in combat, to treat every member of this fleet with respect and I expect you to survive." I paused for a moment and looked at their faces. "Let me explain the last one. I don't mean 'survive as long as you can' or anything else like that. The road that brought you here has already proven that you are survivors. I would like to keep it that way and for that reason, we'll give you some of the best starfighters in the galaxy." I gestured toward the rack that held the Dragonclaws. "What you see there is the Dragonclaw Interceptor and it's our version of the Mk. VI you all know... except that it's faster, nimbler, better armored, better armed, shielded and it even has a pressurized cockpit with its own air supply, that can be ejected as an escape pod."

Some of the pilots looked sideways at each other, doubt in their faces.

"Now, we also need scouts, so those not getting a Dragonclaw, will get a S13a Super Sting like the ones at the end of the hangar." I gestured to the racks. "The Super Sting is an upgraded version of the ordinary Sting, with shields and better armor." I paused for a moment to give them time to digest the news, and then continued. "Now, I know that all this sounds too good to be true, so allow me to show you their performance at Nodia and the battle to rescue you guys." I activated the com. "Tavune, Channel 1 please."

A moment later the giant screen at the end wall switched on and for the next 45 seconds, we followed Lieutenants Wang and Caranut in their Dragonclaws, as they took down several S-13s and MK VI Supremacy-class starfighters.

Instead of watching the video, I studied the pilots, who looked stunned at first, but when the vid was over, smiles had begun to show on their faces. The second vid started, this time showing our Super Sting going against the Imperial S-13 and winning.

"That, people, is the Dragonclaw and the S13a Super Sting in action." I said as they returned their attention to me. "As you might have noticed, we also use the old Aurek Tactical Strikefighter due to the fact that it's one of the fastest strikefighters that have ever been built. However, since all of you here are used to the Imperial layout of the cockpit, those of you who make the simulator tests, will get to pilot either a Dragonclaw or a S-13 Super Sting, since that eliminates the time it takes to get accustomed to a new layout. This is important, because in ten days we're going to ambush a battlegroup with a Lictor that carries nine thousand of your fellow prisoners along with five thousand children from Nodia. "That means that we have to take out a S-Class cruiser, two Terminus-class destroyers, two Delta-class carriers, eight Drake-class frigates and three Manta-class corvettes."

This time they looked surprised and slightly shocked.

"In case you think that it can't be done, this battlegroup consists of this dreadnought and eight cruisers, carrying more than five hundred starfighters. We have the firepower to take them, and the trick will be to make sure the Lictor isn't allowed to escape or blow up. The job of the starfighters will most likely be to take care of the enemy starfighters, as well as those capital ships who're not bristling with anti-starfighter weapons."

The weapon layout on the Imperial capital ships varied wildly depending on the role said ship was expected to fill, and the upgrades we had encountered in Nodia, didn't make it any easier.

"Now this isn't a combat we'll just throw you into," I continued. "So, for the next nine days, you will be extremely busy in the simulators. Make no mistake, people. Not all of you are going to make the grade. Not for lack of ability, but despite that you've all been cleared by the medical staff, the simulators will be more than some of you can handle. That is on purpose. I do not want to clear someone for fighting, only to have them die in their first combat." I looked at the rows of people in front of me. "The last and most important thing you need to understand is that we're alone out here. We do not have the almost limitless number of people and resources of the Empire or the Republic to draw upon. That means that every one of you are valuable members of the crew, with hard-earned skills we can ill afford to lose. Those who don't make it this time, will get more physical training if they chose, so they can make the grade later, or become pilots on a larger ship, if that is the choice. It also means that every craft is one we can't easily replace, so while most combat will cause casualties, trust me when I say that we try to avoid that."

Some of them still looked doubtful, but most of them were smiling, and I got the impression that they were looking forward to piloting a starfighter again.

"That's all, people. Good luck in the coming week and now I'll leave you in the capable hands of Flight Officer Kierian."

With a nod to them, I stepped down from the podium and walked out of the hangar.

I hoped that as many of those pilots as possible made the grade, because while we did carry five hundred starfighters, we only had around two hundred pilots and bringing the starfighter complement up to full would dramatically increase our chances of liberating the prisoners, adult and children both.

The sound of children laughing and running feet brought me out of my thoughts and I just had the time to step aside as three children came running around a corner. Unfortunately, they had totally overlooked one of the small cleaning droids and a moment later they stumbled over it, ending up on the floor in a pile, with one of them, a human boy, hitting the wall of the passageway and immediately starting to cry.

With a sigh, I signalled the guard to keep distance, walked over to the human boy and helped him to his feet. At least I tried, but as it turned out he could only stand on one leg. "Easy now. Your leg hurts?"

"Yes, the knee." He cried with tears running down his face as he pointed at the wounded knee.

I went down on one knee and examined it carefully, putting my meagre first aid knowledge to use. "Well, it doesn't feel broken, but I'm not an expert, so let's get you to the Infirmary so they can check it." Then I looked at the two other kids, a Twi'Lek boy and a Pantoran girl, noticing a scraped knee and a ditto elbow. "You two better come along as well."

"Yes, sir." Said the Pantoran girl with a smile. "You're an officer, aren't you?"

I nodded with a chuckle. "Yes, I am. Did you recognize the uniform?"

She nodded. "Yes. Dad says that black uniforms are only for high-ranking people."

"Listen to your dad." I advised. "It sounds like he knows what he is talking about." I looked at the human boy. "Can you walk?"

He gently placed the foot on the deck, but immediately grimaced and shook his head. "Sorry, sir. It hurts too much."

"Then I'll carry you there." I told him as I placed an arm around his legs and stood, lifting him. Then I sent the other two a smile. "Come."

Giggling, they followed me as I walked towards the lifts. "So, how do you like the ship?"

"It's fantastic!" The Pantoran girl exclaimed. "Especially the park. It's awesome!"

"Anything you wish was here?"

"A place to play." The Twi'Lek boy said immediately, making the girl nod in agreement. "Yes, we're not allowed to..." Her voice faded, making me chuckle. "I guess you were going to say that you are not allowed to run in the passageways."

"Yes." Said the boy on my arm, "But it's so big! Dad says that it's the biggest ship he has ever been on, and he has been on a lot!"

"Oh." I looked at him. "What does your dad do?"

"He used to be a weapons officer, but something happened, and he became a gunner instead."

"Oh, sorry about that."

"Don't be sorry." He declared. "He's proud of it."

"Sounds like there's a good story there." I chuckled as we walked into the lift, still followed by the bodyguard. The three kids eyed the guard, but didn't say anything, so I ordered the lift to the infirmary.

"Wow!! You can talk to it?" Said the Twi'Lek boy with wide eyes. "We usually press the buttons!"

"Both methods work, but yes, you can talk to it."

He opened his mouth, but the girl quickly held a hand over his mouth. "Not now, Alex. We can try that later."

The lift stopped and we walked into the infirmary.

Shakka was talking to a patient, but discovered me right away, smiling when she saw me carrying a child and walked over to me. "Hello, sir."

"Hey, Doctor Shakka." I greeted her. "I'm afraid we have a crewmember with a wounded leg here. Where do you want him?"

Calling him a crew member made the boy look at me wide-eyed and then giggle.

"Please place him on the bed here, sir." Shakka chuckled and gestured in the direction of an empty bed.

I placed him on the indicated bed and Shakka examined the legs with elegant and practiced moves. "What's your name, young man?"

"Dalcas Karstein." He said immediately. "We're in cabin C35."

"Are your parents there?" Asked Shakka.

"Yes. They're decorating the room, so we went out to play."

"We're neighbours." Said the Twi'Lek boy with a smile, making Shakka smile and nod. Then she turned her head and told the nearby medical droid to call cabin 35C and tell the parents that their son was in the infirmary with a sprained knee.

"Have the dad come down here." I told Shakka with a smile. She glanced at me, saw the smile and did as I asked, before giving Dalcas Karstein a supporting bandage around the knee. Then she had the two other kids sit next to Dalcas Karstein on the bed and treated their wounds as well, while chatting with them, putting them at ease.

She had just finished, when a couple came into the infirmary, walking as fast as they could without running. One of them was a human male and the other was a beautiful blue-skinned Pantoran female. My guess was that the male was a former imperial and the woman a former republic, since that seemed to be the most common coupling among the former prisoners. At least a lot of families were like that. They were stopped by my bodyguard, but when Dalcas looked up and said "Mom. Dad.", I asked the guard to let them through.

The Black Dragon stepped back, letting them pass and a moment later the pair was at the bedside, the mother asking the boy about what happened, while the father looked at my black uniform and then at my face in what looked like shock. Then he saluted sharply. "Sir! I hope the boy has behaved himself."

That in turn caused the mother to look over as well and swallow something, as she stood and saluted as well. "Sir."

"As you were." I said and looked at the father again, "May I have a moment of your time?"

His eyes widened a bit. "Certainly, sir."

I walked a few meters away from the bed and lowered my voice. "You are a gunner?"

"Yes, sir." He said, looking nervous.

"But according to your kid, you used to be a Weapons Officer, or Master Gunner, as they're called in the Republic, and got demoted. So, what happened?"

He was silent for a long moment, but then said. "During a battle I was ordered to fire at fleeing civilian vessels, but tweaked the attacks so they would miss, sir. The guns did fire and close enough to their target so my commanding officer couldn't accuse me of disobeying orders, so instead I was demoted for incompetence, and placed on another ship, the Gage-class transporter Fire Hound. That was later so badly damaged over Alderaan, that we had to vacate by escape pods. The Republic won and we were captured, but later exchanged for some republic prisoners. Then we were court-martialed and brought to Nodia where I've been ever since."

"Are you a good Master Gunner?"

He nodded proudly. "I was one of the very best, sir."

"Good. Tomorrow at ten, I want you to show up on the bridge, ready to try the simulators. I know you're rusty, so you have a week to train in before taking a test. If you make it, you'll have a chance of being promoted to Master or Senior Gunner on the Majestic."

He looked at me slack-jawed. "Could you repeat that last bit, sir?"

I chuckled and repeated it, adding. "At the moment, we have only one Master Gunner onboard and as he can't be there for every shift, we need another one. To be honest, very few people here have that training, so if you make the grade, the job is yours if you want it."

His eyes filled with tears, as he said 'thank you' in a quivering voice.

"Wait with thanks until you've passed the test." I said and asked. "Which reminds me... do you know if there are any other people from Nodia that are demoted officers? Excluding former imperial starfighter pilots, that is."

He nodded slowly. "I can think of a couple more at least."

"Make a list." I ordered. "If they're competent enough to pass the tests we put them through and can explain why they were demoted, they just might get their old rank back. Have it ready tomorrow, but if you think of someone at a later date, don't hesitate to tell us or ask them to come forward."

He was smiling, as he said. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Have a good day, Gunner Karstein."

"Thank you, sir."

I said goodbye to the kids as well and walked out of the infirmary, heading to the wardroom to get a cup of coffee, calling up XO Betty Nagos while I walked, and asked if there was an unused space, where children could play, since we had a lot of them on board and they couldn't be expected to be in school or home all the time.

"Not off the top of my head, sir." She said with a chuckle, "But since we don't have a brigade of troops on board, there are bound to be some unused space somewhere. Let me look into it and then I'll get back to you."

"Sounds good. Thalen out." I replied and walked into the wardroom. Unlike what I had expected, it wasn't empty as Lieutenants Cabur and Mormill were there, sitting in the sofa group, drinking coffee while chatting among themselves.

"Hello, Commodore." Said Mormill as soon as she saw me, causing Cabur to blink in surprise as she looked at me, and repeated what Mormill had said.

"Tea, sir?" Asked the server droid a moment later.

"Not today. A cup of coffee, please."

"It'll be there in a moment, sir."

"Thank you." I looked over at the two former imperials. "So, lieutenants, how do you find your new life so far?"

"Much better than before!" said Mormill immediately. "The crew here are not only competent and well-trained, but both helpful and friendly."

With a year of learning and training while trying to get out of the Snare system, the first part didn't surprise me, but it was nice to hear that the crew was helpful and friendly.

"And the morale is fantastic." Added Cabur. "Yes, I know that it's usually the case after winning a battle, but I feel this goes deeper. Many of the crew members seem to think that the fleet can overcome everything... at least that is the feeling I get when talking with them."

Mormill nodded. "Yes. The difference between this and the Imperial fleet is so big that it's difficult to describe properly, but in my opinion, it comes down to the motivation. Like we tried to explain last time, the Imperial fleet is motivated by fear. This fleet is motivated by hope and there's a world of difference."

I was silent as I digested what was said. I haven't thought about it that way before, but Mormill was right. In the Snare system, it had been the hope of getting out, that was the driving force. Now it was the hope of catching the other Lictor that drove many people, though for some of the freed prisoners, there was a good deal of revenge behind it as well.

"The funny thing is, that such things are supposedly a reflection of the officers, sir." Said Cabur thoughtfully. "At least that is what we were taught at officer's school, but it's a point most Imperial officers seem to forget as soon as they leave the school and meet the realities of serving in the fleet."

"How does it feel to have non-human commanding officers?" I asked as I walked over to sit in the comfy chair at the sofa group. "That must take some getting used to."

"Not as much as you might think, sir." Said Cabur and hesitated for a moment. "May I ask if Captain Iska is a Force user? She carries a lightsaber and normally only a force user does that."

"Does it matter?"

Mormill nodded. "The Empire might not allow non-humans in their fleet, but they do allow them in their ranks and as Sith outrank Imperial officers, they're the commanding officers." She frowned. "This may be the strangest question ever asked, but are you aware that your Doctor is the spitting image of a Sith? Darth Atroxa to be precise. I saw a picture of her once."

"Oh." I said with a snort. "She's a freed slave and her former master had them made, though I don't know why."

"I have a good idea about that." Mumbled Mormill, causing Cabur to nod slightly.

"You might be right." I said with a chuckle. "But to return to Captain Iska, rank and position in this fleet is determined by skill and competence, and Captain Iska is the Flag Captain because she lost out to Second Squadrons commanding officer, Captain Meistrin."

That made Mormill look at me in surprise. "Wait a minute... How come she's the Flag Captain if she lost the test?"

"It was a test of the officers tactical and strategic skills." I explained. "Captain Meistrin won with the thinnest of margins and since I need the Second Squadron to be able to act for itself, just as it is right now, I placed the most competent person in command. I do however need a good tactician to conduct battles while I focus on the greater picture, so the second best became my flag-captain."

Mormill rubbed her face with both hands, mumbling. "That is so logical that it makes my head hurt and it shouldn't."

Cabur laughed at her. "I know what you mean. After ten years in the Imperial Fleet, it's hard to wrap the head around the concept of a fleet that is run by logic, skill and competence, instead of connections and luck."

"Well, it's a lot easier to manage in a fleet as small as this one." I admitted. "But you were saying something about non-human Sith?"

"Yes." Said Cabur hesitantly. "Captain Iska reminds us of Kantu, one of Lord Xhal's apprentices."

That caught my interest. "Well, rest assured, that Captain Iska is not a Sith. Hmmm... Is this the Lord Xhal you mentioned some days ago?"

"Yes. He has an apprentice named Kantu and an initiate named Raman."

"Hmmm... What's the difference between an apprentice and an initiate?"

"As far as I know, Sith start out as Initiate and then, if they survive, become an apprentice." Answered the dark-skinned woman. "Despite his low status, Raman is an arrogant Sith, but Kantu is different."

Lieutenant Mormill removed her hands from her face as she nodded in agreement. "She's a Twi'Lek, though she's green and not purple like Captain Iska, and she's just as gorgeous as she is dangerous. Kantu is one of the few Sith that know her limitations regarding naval tactics, and she doesn't have a problem listening to the people under her... Unlike Lord Xhal and Raman, who regard everyone that isn't a Sith as below them."

"She's also totally devoted to her master." Said Cabur thoughtfully. "Though the question remains how devoted a Sith can really be to another person."

"Not much." I said dryly. According to the Jedi Holocron Yaki had found, a Sith needed to kill their superior before they could advance in rank, and while I had trouble believing that, since it would make the organization unable to grow in size, there were no doubt that the Sith fought each other just as much as they fought the Jedi or anybody else.

"Anything else you can tell me about this Lord Xhal? I would like to know, since he commands the escort we're planning to go up against."

"Lord Xhal," said Cabur slowly, "is the embodiment of what people think of when anyone says the word 'Sith'. He's powerful, hot-headed, brash and has no problem executing people under his command if they displease or disagree with him."

"Sounds like a lot of other Sith's." I admitted as the server droid brought me my coffee. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, sir." It answered in the typical mechanical voice.

"By the way, sir." Said Mormill when the server droid had departed again. "Why do you keep thanking the droids? I mean, they're machines and I don't say 'thank you' or 'please' to my computer every time it works as it's supposed to."

"Because it's polite." I answered with a slight smile, "and, perhaps even more important, we have intelligent droids on board, and as they are regarded as crew members on the same level as everybody else, they deserve the same politeness as the rest of the crew. The problem is that we simply don't know exactly when a droid becomes intelligent, if at all. So, I prefer to take the side of caution and simply treat everybody the same." I thought for a moment. "I bet you've met Siths that treat those under their rank as machines, accepting their service without any thanks... and think that no thanks are needed since the lower ranking people are just doing what they're supposed to be doing."

They looked at me in silent surprise, making me chuckle. "Treating the crew under you with respect is the hallmark of a good officer, because we depend on the crew to carry out our orders and if they do not respect us, their motivation goes from being one of pride in their job and the fleet they're part of, to fear and self-preservation. They follow orders because they fear what might happen if they don't and that is when morale starts degrading, just like it did on the destroyer you served on."

I stopped to drink from my cup, letting the pause stretch out until lieutenant Mormill said. "I think I understand what you mean. Was that why you let Commander Kindsta go? To erode their morale, I mean."

Shaking my head, I placed the cup on the table again. "No, as far as I know, most imperials are too brainwashed for a single officer to really have an effect beyond the level where they are now, with a few exceptions like you two."

"So, why did you let her go, sir?" Asked Mormill curiously.

"Because I didn't want her. Commander Kindsta had acquired her rank by lying and politics, not to mention luck. Luck is always good, but the two others are characteristics that I don't approve of in an officer. In addition to that, she's extremely slow to react when surprised. When Second Squadron dropped in behind you, she should have been changing course almost immediately and rearranged the shields, but none of that happened. Did she freeze up?"

Mormill nodded. "Yes, sir... or rather she freaked, doing nothing while complaining that those ships just couldn't be there. I think it took a good fifteen seconds before she began giving orders and by then, it was already too late."

Fifteen seconds was a lifetime in close combat. Especially, when a destroyer was getting hammered by dreadnoughts and cruisers. "That's about what I thought... and that makes her someone I would rather meet in combat than have by my side."

That made lieutenant Cabur laugh softly. "You sent her back, so you could beat her again?"

I considered it for a moment and nodded. "Yes, that's pretty much it. Hopefully, her lies and playing politics will cause her to take the place of someone competent."

That made both of them laugh.

"Well, think about it for a moment." I said when their laughter had died down a little. "Commander Kindsta had the chance to go to the Outer Rim and settle down. However, she chose to be flown to a prison camp used to house Imperials that have been court martialed for surrendering, while the officers in charge had been executed. Of course, she didn't order a surrender, but she was still taken prisoner, which to some Sith is just as bad." They nodded. "Granted, I doubt that Darth Arkol is in a position where he can afford to lose that many people, but if I had been in her shoes, I would have chosen to go to the Outer Rim." I paused for a moment and then asked. "By the way, what can you tell me about the commanding officers in Darth Arkol's fleet... Especially the Sith?"

Lieutenant Cabur shivered and grimaced at the same time. "Not much to be honest. Each of the larger battlegroups is led by a Sith, but I don't know what rank they hold. I do know that there's only one Darth and that is Darth Arkol."

"Could you write down the names of those Sith and whatever you remember about them?"

"I will do that."

"What about the military commanders in the larger battle groups?"

"Well, the most competent of them are Admiral Kinbar and Admiral Sandhors." Said Mormill thoughtfully. "Especially Admiral Sandhors to be honest. It takes a tough and highly intelligent woman to become an Admiral in the male dominated Imperial fleet, but she managed it. Not only does she know how to play politics, but she's a very good tactician, some would even say brilliant."

"The Iron Lady." Commented Cabur with a grimace. "But I'll have to disagree just a little with Lieutenant Mormill. Yes, she's good, but she's also a cold-hearted bitch, that doesn't care how many of her own people die, as long as the objective is reached."

Mormill considered it for a moment and then nodded. "You're right, but that isn't really a weakness in the Imperial Navy."

"Out here, it is." I said thoughtfully. "As a renegade, Darth Arkol no longer has the support of the Empire."

"Yes, we heard." Said Mormill with a sigh. "And it's not common knowledge in the fleet to say the least. My guess is that only the higher-ranking officers and the Sith know that."

"You didn't know when you defected?"

She shook her head. "No. It wasn't part of my evaluations." She looked over at Lieutenant Cabur. "What about you?"

The dark-skinned woman shook her head. "No. I thought we were on a special mission."

In a strange way it made sense. By not telling the rest of the fleet that they had effectively defected from the Empire, Darth Arkol and the higher-ranking officers avoided unrest and defections in the fleet. It wouldn't work forever, but it would most likely last long enough for Darth Arkol to carve out a small Empire for himself in the Chaos. Of course, there was also the far out possibility, that he was under orders from someone higher up in the Sith Hierarchy to pretend that he had defected and would rejoin the Empire at a later date. I considered the thought for a moment. It was possible, but highly unlikely and it didn't really matter. As long as Darth Arkol was officially a defector from the Empire, attacking his forces wouldn't damage the relationship between the Sith and the Chiss Ascendency.

"I'm sorry to hear that, but at least you know now." I drank from the coffee. It wasn't as good as Raika's chocolate coffee, but then again not much was. "Lieutenants, I have a job for the two of you. We have a lot of defected Imperials in the brig and during this trip, I would like your help to determine if they really mean it or if they're really fanatically loyal Imperialists."

They both nodded, before Millmore asked. "Can you say how that is going to happen?"

"I'm good at reading people. I'll be there, looking like a guard, while the two of you talk with the Imperials. With my helmet on, I can communicate with you by ear-piece."

"Sounds good, sir." Said Cabur. "Is there a list of questions you want us to ask?"

"Yes, and I'll have the list sent to you so you can go over it, but feel free to add your own. You have a better understanding of what would make people defect from the Empire than I do."

"Yes, sir."

Drinking the last of my coffee, I stood. "Have a good evening, lieutenants."

"Likewise, sir."

------------------------

"Oh, hello sir." Said Betty Nagos, when I entered the bridge again. "I found a place for a playground, or rather a few places."

"Good. Let's see." I said with a smile and walked over to her.

She called a map up on the screens and marked a room in the trooper area. "There. It's a training area for the troopers that we don't have, so we might as well use it as a playground for the kids."

Nodding, I looked at the room's dimensions and was pleasantly surprised as it was fifteen meters wide, thirty meters long and three meters tall.

"The beauty of this is that there are several of these rooms on each level of the trooper area, so we can have at least one on each level." Betty Nagos explained. "If we use four of them, it should be enough for the eleven hundred children we have on board... at least for now."

"Good. Have the freed prisoners that don't have a job work on them. That should give them something to do." I thought for a moment as I looked at the map of the ship. "There're a lot of those training areas, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"This is just an idea, but will it make sense to convert half of the others into small green areas? The Hangar Park is magnificent, but with all the people here, it's getting rather crowded."

She nodded eagerly. "Yes, but why just half?"

"Because we really don't have facilities to keep that many civilians entertained for a longer period of time." I told her. "And for that reason, I need you, Astrogator Jandar San, Master Mechanic Arthur Waydar and four representatives from the freed prisoners, to come up with a solution to that."

She nodded slowly. "I'll gather a team, sir."

"Thank you."

"May I include Marie Munmaki and Lena Agusta in that team? They really need something to do if they're not going to be bored to tears."

After thinking for a moment, I nodded. "That is an excellent idea."

"Thank you." She said with a smile. "Oh, did Commander Samko contact you? She said that she needed to talk with you, but it wasn't urgent."

"No, she hasn't contacted me... but if it wasn't urgent, she would most likely just wait until I'm on duty again."

Betty Nagos shook her head slightly. "Sir, if you're not on duty, why're you even here? Shouldn't you be relaxing?"

"This is relaxing." I told her with a smile. "Seriously, I'm just walking around talking with people, having a good time. That I get to clear up some lose ends is just a bonus."

"Commander Yaki was right about you, sir. You really don't like down-time."

"I love down-time." I protested with a grin. "I just also like to do something productive while having it."

"Well, at least you don't expect everybody else to think that way as well." She said with an approving look on her face. "I've met several officers that were that way."

"So have I, despite the teachers at the Naval Academy trying to get us to think otherwise." I chuckled. "Usually by running us into the ground and then demanding that we did something productive that wasn't related to the rest of the training."

"Let me guess, sir. You liked it?" Betty asked and looked surprised when I shook my head.

"No, I disliked it. Imagine training tactics, strategy, shooting, close-quarter combat and spending hours in a physically demanding flight simulator and then having to spend two hours of our downtime learning how to cook a delicious meal... outside... on a campfire."

"Really? You had to do that, sir?"

"Yes." I smiled a little. "It wasn't until the course had ended that they explained to us that if we had found the cooking course totally irrelevant, we should remember it every time we asked the crew to do anything outside their job or in their downtime."

That made her laugh. "So, you're telling me that you can cook a good meal on a campfire?"

"Yes, and since they disguised it as survival training, I can skin and clean an animal as a preparation for the meal as well." I thought for a moment. "Unless they have changed the course since I was there, so can Commander Yaki, Captain Mivito and the rest of the Chiss officers, but more importantly, most of us know better than to force people into learning things in their downtime that doesn't interest them. It's far better to arrange a wide selection of courses and then let people decide for themselves."

Betty Nagos nodded slowly. "That makes sense, though the courses we have arranged have fewer participants than I expected, but I guess that is mostly due to the crew having families that take up time as well."

"Yes, and after a year of intense work in the Snare system or years in the mines of Nodia, most of them feel like they deserve to relax, which they do." I shrugged slightly. "The number of people in those courses will slowly increase over the next months, depending on how many battles we have to conduct to free prisoners. The actual number of people in the courses are really not important. Giving the crew an opportunity to meet people and spend some time doing something unrelated to their job or warfare is the important part."

"Oh, yes." The XO agreed. "One of the advantages of the trooper quarters are the many gyms in that area. Having a place to do something physical is extremely popular among just about everyone... which is good considering the quality of the food Chef Winston manages to make." She padded her stomach with a smile. "Otherwise, I think we would all pack on some kilos."

I nodded, but didn't have a chance to comment, before she continued. "Which reminds me, we need to expand Raika's Café. With all the new people, it doesn't have enough room. Not even if we consider that two thirds of the people on the ship are either working, training or sleeping at any given time."

Considering it for a moment, I said. "In that case, we need to add a floor or two. We can't easily expand the café outwards, but considering the height of the hangar, we can add a few floors." Chuckling, I added. "Talk with Raika and some of the civil engineers. They might have better ideas than we do."

"I will, sir." She sighed slightly. "I had considered making more café's, but Raika's Café is a meeting place for everybody and like the Hangar Park, it brings people together that would otherwise rarely meet."

"Yes, so let's see if we can't keep it that way." I said with a smile. "Anything else while I'm here anyway? Otherwise, I better go see what Commander Samko wants."

Betty Nagos hesitated, but then nodded. "We have an age problem, sir. Some of the freed prisoners were caught a long time ago and some of them are pushing sixty, which is really too old for low-ranking jobs in the Navy, but on the other side they don't have the skill and training to be officers. I'm slightly at a loss of what to do with them."

"How many are there?"

She grimaced. "Almost two hundred, sir. Many of them are partners of people that had been transferred here on the basis of their skillset."

"That's really not your problem, but Commander Samko's." I determined. "I'll take it up with her as soon as possible."

She looked relieved. "Thank you, sir."

"No problem. I'll go find her now."

"See you later, sir."

---------------------------------

Elise Samko's office was just one level down from the XO's and I was almost there when my earpiece came to life.

"Hello sir. Senior Mechanic Waydar here. I just wanted to inform you that the guard droids are ready."

Glancing over at the Black Dragon that was following me, I smiled to myself as I said. "I'll be there shortly."

"Good, sir. I'm in the droid workshop."

Ten minutes later, I walked into the droid workshop, where a smiling Arthur Waydar was waiting for me, along with a much younger and thinner man with spiked blonde hair.

"Hello Senior Mechanic." Looking at his face, I smiled a little. "You look like you have a surprise for me."

"I do, or rather Droid Tech Gov Zedas here has a surprise for you." He nodded to the young man. "You take it from here, Tech Zedas."

"Y-yes, sir." The young man stammered and looked from Waydar to me. "You see, sir. Data Tech Hudson and I were looking through the cargo manifests of the fleet, when she noticed seven Mankara Droid Company T2 'Tiger' Exploration Droids." He whistled and a moment later two large cats came ambling out of a back room, looking somewhat like the tigers I had seen in holovids, which were large, powerful felines. "These droids are top of the line exploration droids and were designed to escort scouts into the field during their explorations of new planets as a companion and protector." He shrugged lightly. "We had to load a new mission parameter into them, but basically they're the same as the two panther droids, except that they can't relay their sensor readings, since we have removed the transmitter."

Waydar smiled a little. "No more spying."

"I appreciate that." I told him and looked at the droid tech. "How intelligent are they?"

"Not much, sir. Their processors are extremely limited." Replied Gov Zedas. "About the level of a very intelligent animal, but on the other hand they're extremely loyal." He thought for a moment. "This model has been described as a rudimentary, animal-like self-awareness of a semi-sentient degree, but they excel at spotting dangers to their owner." He gestured in the direction of a screen. "You can see their stats here, sir."

"Nice." I said and skimmed through them. The droids were armored and could function in almost any environment. Despite their size, they were able to move silently due to the padding under their clawed paws. They also had excellent sensors, a secondary battery, and could receive orders both verbally and over a commlink. They were able to record vid and play it back, but not remotely and only when ordered to do so. It even had an internal storage, capable of holding small items, accessible only by the owner.

The weapons were almost the same as the panther droids, with vibro-teeth and claws, as well as a blaster hidden in its mouth, though the teeth were capable of retracting completely, enabling the droid to hold something without crushing or wounding it.

"Good job. This looks very good." I told the Gov Zedas, causing him to smile. "Thank you, sir."

"One thing, sir." Said Waydar. "These droids are very good, but they're no replacement for trained marines, so according to Commander Yaki, you'll still have half a squad of Black Dragon as protection when you leave the ship." He lifted his hands as if to forestall any protests. "Commander Yaki's orders, not mine."

Thinking it over for a moment, I nodded. "I will take that up with Commander Yaki later, but I doubt anything will come of it."

"The penalty for following your own rules, sir." Said Waydar, looking like he was trying not to laugh.

I nodded at that. In the Chiss Navy, the Commander of the Space Marines was also the one responsible for the safety of the commander of the fleet, and when making the rules for the Dragon Defence Force, Yaki had sneaked that into the rules. A detail I had missed when I approved them, which had come back to haunt me several times.

What it meant, was that I could not deny any reasonable security measures she placed into effect and having half a squad as bodyguards was within reason, as it was the normal size for a bodyguard unit in the Chiss navy when in hostile territory.

"Yes, Commander Yaki pulled a fast one on me there." I admitted. "And not one she's going to let go either." I looked around in the workshop. "What else are you working on down here?"

Waydar looked at the droid tech, who got the hint and gestured in the direction of a large work table. "Well, sir. Right now, we're busy analysing some of the droids from the Snare system... We picked up some really interesting old droids there." He walked over to the table and patted a three-legged droid that reminded me of a spider, though it was a meter tall, with a dual blaster mounted on the central body. "This is the old Mark IV assault droid, made by Czerka Arms. As you can see, it's somewhat similar to the newer Imperial Mark 1 War Droid." He paused, causing me to nod slightly. The Mark 1 had four legs instead of

three and had a larger body, but there was a passing similarity between the two.

"However," The droid tech continued. "Despite being at least three hundred years older, the Mark IV has a shield generator, making it more resistant to ranged weapons. Granted, the shield generated is weak, but it's there, so we're working on trying to equip one of the Mark 1 droids with a shield."

"And how is that progressing?" I asked.

He scowled. "Not that well, to be honest, sir. We can do the calculations, but we don't have the materials needed to make shield generators. Aside from that, shields take a lot of energy and the stronger the shield, the greater the power. So, we can have a strong shield for a few minutes or a weaker shield for longer, and even that is limited by the size of the droid's battery."

"Well, if you happen to solve it, let me know." I said with a slight smile. "A small shield generator with an equally small battery would be a great addition to the Marines armor... even if it just lasts a few minutes."

Waydar grinned and nodded. "Cheap, easily produced and long-lasting personal shields are the dream of many Military Engineers. The ones that already exist are not worth the cost."

Again, I was reminded that the shield technology of the wider galaxy was centuries ahead of that in the Chiss Ascendency, since I had never heard it was possible to make personal shields before.

"How expensive are they to make?" I asked. "Not that it matters out here, but I wonder why the Empire, or the Republic haven't equipped some of the special forces with them."

Waydar shrugged. "Last I heard, it would double the price of a typical armor, sir."

"That's not bad." Commented Gov Zedas thoughtfully, making Waydar chuckle. "Yes, it is."

When the droid tech looked at Waydar in confusion, I added. "Imagine Majestic was full of troops, which is eight thousand. Let's say that a Sith armor costs around six thousand credits. Eight times six is forty-eight. Thousand times a thousand is a million, so the cost of armor for all the troops is forty-eight million credits." Gov Zedas eyes widened at the numbers, showing that he was getting it, as I continued. "That's a lot, but with shields, it would be double or ninety-six million credits."

"Oh... I get it, sir." Said the droid tech. "And the Empire has a lot of Harrowers with almost the same number of troops, so equipping them all with shields would cost an enormous amount of money... or at least resources."

"Exactly." I nodded. "Every piece of military equipment is subject to a cost-benefit analysis. Otherwise, any armed force would quickly be too expensive for any system to maintain for a longer period of time." I looked over at the two tiger droids, who were now laying on the floor, looking relaxed. Just like any other cat. "Can I take them with me now?"

"Yes, sir." Nodded Gov Zedas, the movement making the spiky hair wave. "I just need a few minutes to make you the owner and code the lock on the hidden compartment to you."

"Thank you." I said and turned towards my guard. "And thank you for your service, Specialist Ram, but for now, please return to your unit."

"Yes, sir." The Black Dragon said and saluted before turning around and walking out of the room.

Waydar looked after her with a chuckle. "Is it me, sir, or did she sound insulted?"

"She did." I determined, "but unfortunately, I can feel the force in people around me and constantly being followed by a guard gets on my nerves, even when I can't see them."

"Excuse me for asking, sir." Said Droid Tech Zedas as he looked up from the console. "But how good are droids against force-users?"

"Quite useless." I answered. "But I guess that depends on the force user's skill and the type of droid used."

"Useless?" He blurted. "Really, sir?"

"Yes, really."

"Even with a shield generator?"

"Yes, even with a shield generator, since a shield doesn't stop the Force." I confirmed patiently. "A force user simply has too many options for a normal combat droid, like the Mark 1 to succeed. Granted, gather enough of them and they might overwhelm the force user. Surprise might work as well, but otherwise they won't stand a chance in one-on-one combat."

"Good to know, sir." He said with a smile and went back to focus on his console.

"Young people." Chuckled Waydar. "Always inquisitive."

"Well, that's the way to learn things."

"That is true, sir." Said Waydar and lowered his voice. "And that young man is one of the best droid techs I've ever seen. He really is a natural with droids."

"Nice to know." I chuckled. "Who is the Data Tech... ehh... Hudson he mentioned earlier?"

"She's one of the best of Commander Resa's slicers and programmers, and he's quite smitten by her. Unfortunately for him, she's too occupied with computers to notice that."

Shrugging slightly, I said. "She will in time, or somebody else will. With the screwed male-to-female ratio we have, it's only a matter of time."

He nodded. "I agree, sir. Seventy to thirty percent is really not a good mix, but I guess that won't change any time soon. Not unless we find an all-male prison planet, and that is highly unlikely. As far as I know, female slaves are more expensive than male slaves and that is what counts."

"Done!" Called Gov Zedas and stood from the console. "The droids are all yours, sir."

"Thank you." I told him and looked at Waydar. "I'm sorry, Senior Mechanic, but I need to go talk with Commander Samko."

He showed his white teeth with a wide smile. "No problem, sir. Have a nice day."

"You too, Senior Mechanic." I nodded to the droid tech. "A good day to you too, Tech Zedas."

"Thank you, sir."

Then I walked towards the lifts again followed by the two tiger droids, their paws almost silent against the deck.

----------------------------

It took a while before Elise answered after I had pressed the door chime. "Yes?"

"It's Thalen. You wanted to see me?"

"One moment."

Half a minute later the door opened. Somewhat to my surprise, Samko was dressed in a green bathrobe, and looked flustered, but she was smiling as she stepped aside and said, "Come in."

Still slightly puzzled, I walked inside the office and was met by the odour of an aroused woman. A scent that went directly to my dick, making it harden almost instantly.

"Oh... you got new guard droids." She said as the two tiger droids followed me. "They're gorgeous."

"I totally agree!" I said with a smile, as I turned to look at her.

She met my glance with a hungry look and said bluntly. "Are you up for sex?"

The mere thought of it, combined with the lust in her eyes, went right to my balls, and I could feel an erection starting. "Yes!"

The smile on her face widened, as she opened the bathrobe to show that she was naked underneath and then let it fall to the deck as she walked closer to me, red hair and breasts waving as she walked. "Thalen, I need your dick inside me now."

That meant no foreplay. An activity Samko normally enjoyed a lot. On the other hand, the room was filled with the odour of aroused pussy. Smiling a little, I asked. "DD5 wasn't enough?"

Her eyes widened a bit before she grinned at me. "DD5 was licking me when you pressed the chime. It was good, but not enough."

Before I could say anything to that, she threw her arms around me and gave me a kiss hot enough to melt through armor plating.

Luxuriating in the feeling of her curvy body against mine, I found her ass and fondled it, making her moan into my mouth, as she grinded her pelvis against my now hard dick through the uniform.

Elise broke the kiss to groan, "You have way too many clothes on."

"Patience, my dear." I chuckled and used the Force to move a few items from her desk to a nearby table, before walking towards it with her still in my arms.

She played along, giggling as she walked backwards until I had to remove my hands from her ass to avoid them being squashed against the table. From there it only took a small lift to place her on the table.

With another hungry kiss, she spread her legs, locked her ankles behind my back and pulled me in against her, the soft curves of her breasts mashed against my chest.

One of her hands wandered into my black hair, fingers playing, while the other hand went the other way, going down the front of my body.

Still kissing we worked together to open my uniform, after which she reached into my uniform pants and freed my stiff dick.

She clearly didn't want to waste any time, because she immediately pressed down on the shaft, making the head come into contact with the wet lips of her pussy. Groaning into my mouth, she moved it up and down a few times, before placing the tip right at the entrance and using her legs to press my cock inside her tight warm pussy, easily at first, but despite how wet, and how eager she was, she was still tight and the position she was sitting in only made her tighter.

The feeling made Elise break the kiss to groan. "Fuck... just what I needed."

"Oh, yeah." I agreed and took a hold of her neck to help her keep her balance.

In response, she began wriggling her hips as she kept up the pressure and little by little, my cock slid into her.

I groaned at the feeling as my cock went into her hot, tight pussy, rubbing against her inner walls. It felt like my cock was being squeezed by the most exquisite glove, her slight rotations sending pulses of pleasure through my body.

Since she was doing all the work anyway, I used my free hand to caress her back, letting my fingers dance on her soft skin.

Suddenly, she eased up with her legs, moved her hips to adjust the angle and then started pressing again just as abruptly as she had stopped. Whatever she had done it worked wonders, because the rest of my dick slid right into her until I bottomed out in her.

With a groan, she sent me a smile and said, "Docking complete, sir. Now stand still."

"Yes, Captain." I chuckled and shared a kiss with her, while her hands travelled up my body while opening my uniform.

"I have to get this off you." She said as peeled the uniform top off me. "It doesn't look right considering what we're doing."

"Well, if you have to be screwed over by a superior officer... "I started with a grin as I helped her in getting my arms out of the uniform, causing her to hit me playfully on the shoulder. "Not funny!"

"No? Then I'm afraid I'll have to un-dock." I told her and slowly pulled out of her, loving the way her pussy grasped my dick, gently and lovingly constricting around it, but before I could get all the way out, her legs locked behind my back, preventing me from going further. "Sorry, sir, but countermeasures have been initiated. You better activate the thrusters."

"You have a point." I admitted and slammed my dick into her hard and fast.

Elise yelped happily and then groaned, throwing back her head, as I repeated the move.

"Yes!" She growled and kissed me hungrily, rotating her hips as much as she could while still sitting on the edge of the table with her legs around my hips.

I just stood there luxuriating in the feeling of her big breasts pressed against my chest, her arms tightening around me, as the muscles of her pussy massaged my hard dick while her rotating hips made it move inside her.

Elise changed the direction of her hip movements and started rocking back and forth, gently fucking herself on my dick as we kissed. While the moves were too small to get me closer to an orgasm, they certainly worked for her, as her pussy gripped my shaft tight, and she began to tremble as she came closer to orgasm.

Moving my hands to her hips, I took a firm grip of them and fell into her rhythm, which made the strokes longer.

Breaking the kiss, she leaned her head against my shoulder.

"Shit, this is good!" She gasped and kissed the skin of my neck. "Don't stop."

Enjoying the silky-smooth feeling of her pussy, stopping was light years away from my mind and as she picked up the speed, I followed her, slamming into her faster and faster.

The moaning escalated, and tell-tale muscle spasms started, then her body went tense, and she gasped. "I'm coming!"

I continued at the same speed, using my hold of her to slam into her body harder and harder with each move.

Opening her mouth, she came in a wordless cry, arching her back as her pussy clenched around my cock and her legs locked me in place with my dick as deep as possible into her.

We kept that position until she let go of me with her hands and with a satisfied smile lowered herself back until she was laying on the table. A position that for some reason made her look even sexier, and I responded by fucking with long, slow strokes, enjoying the sight of her almost as much as the feel of her pussy around my dick.

Not only did it feel great, but the sight of her beautiful face also contorted in pleasure and her full breasts rocking back and forth with each stroke, was an almost hypnotic sight, and I enjoyed every second of it.

Giving in to temptation, I moved my hands to her breasts, caressing them and letting my fingers tease and squeeze her rock-hard nipples in time with my strokes.

"Oh shit, this is good!" She muttered and flexed the muscles in her pussy, making the slippery flesh grip all around my dick. Unfortunately, it was also a little too good and I could feel I was getting closer to coming, so I slowed down and used shorter strokes as I leaned down to kiss those tempting tits.

"Too good." I grunted between kisses. "If you continue squeezing me like that, I'm going to come."

"Oh yesssss." She hissed and shivered, as when my lips closed around a rock-hard nipple and groaned, as I sucked it into my mouth and flicked the tip of my tongue over it. Out of the corner of my eyes, I could see her hands travel down and grip the edge of table. "Fuck me hard!"

A she had requested, I changed tempo and slammed into her with long and fast strokes, taking my dick almost completely out of her, before going to the bottom again.

Elise moaned loudly, her body bucking up to meet my thrusts, while her hands kept holding on to the edge of the table, preventing her from sliding away from me.

"I'm coming!" she squealed as her body started to thrash. I kept moving and caressing her breasts as she shook like a leaf in the wind, her body shaking and quivering through a shattering release.

Lowering the pace for just a moment, I moved my hands to her hips to get a better grip, before I went back to screwing her again, still using long hard strokes.

Elise screamed as a second orgasm followed right on the heels of her first, while I continued to hammer my cock all the way into her in long strokes. She was shivering, glistening perspiration glowing on her hot sexy body, as her pussy pulsed around my dick, making my own orgasm approach rapidly.

Too rapidly. Suddenly, I withdrew totally, went down on my knees between her legs and inserted two fingers in her pussy, while my mouth closed around her clitoris. Finding the G-spot, I started to massage it as fast and firmly as I could.

"Frak!" she shouted, as another toe-curling release took control of her body, her pussy squirting a huge gush of juice out, most of it splashing against my chin. Her body jerked several times, each time associated with another gush of juice. I drank it happily, enjoying the taste.

Her orgasm was just finished, when I stood up again, slid my cock back into her and started fucking her again.

"Uh... uh... uh...," her moaning was continuous now as another climax shot through her.

Her pussy seemed to quiver more now, clenching and unclenching around my cock in fast little spasms, almost as if she were having one long drawn-out orgasm. Along with the sight of her fantastic body and beautiful face in the grip of a climax, that was enough to bring me to orgasm, despite my efforts to stave it off.

"I'm going to come." I warned her.

"Yes!" She howled and came again with a soft scream, bucking against me, her back arched and her entire body tensed as an orgasm rippled through her.

That was all it took, and I saw white as I exploded inside her, coming so hard my ears rang. When I came to my senses, I took her arms and dragged her upper body into a sitting position, so we could kiss.

Elise responded by throwing her arms around my neck and kissing me back. Without breaking the kiss, I took hold of her ass and lifted her, so I could walk out of the office and into the bedroom, where I placed her on the bed and lay down beside her.

"Nice." Chuckled Elise and snuggled up to me, draping her fabulous body halfway over mine and resting her head on my shoulder. "Nothing like a good snuggle after some orgasms."

"Yes, it's nice." I agreed as I used a hand to caress her back, enjoying the feel of her silken skin under my fingertips.

"If you continue doing that, I might fall asleep." She warned me. "And I'm back on duty in three hours."

"Majestic. Set an alarm and wake us in one-and-a-half hour!" I ordered with a smile.

"Yes, sir." answered the computer obediently.

"It seems like I'm not the only one in need of a nap." Chuckled Elise, giving my leg a little hug. "I like that thought."

"So do I."

----------------------

As ordered, the computer woke us up ninety minutes later, but we stayed in bed, talking about everything. At least until I remembered one of the reasons why I had come to see her.

"Sorry for being all job-like, but the XO mentioned an age problem. Care to tell me about it?"

Elise turned so she could look at me and nodded. "You know that the war has lasted for way too long, when some of the prisoners are above sixty, but that's the problem and we have three hundred of them. All former Republic people."

"Yes, XO Nagos mentioned that, and that you can't find a job for them?"

"Not all. Some of them have suggested that they could look after the children, kinda like what most grandparents do, and I have said yes to some of them, but we still have about two hundred left." She said, as her warm hand slid down my skin, going towards my flaccid cock. "To make matters worse, some of them are in really sad condition after having spent years in a prison camp."

I shivered slightly, as her hand closed around my dick, gently playing. "Give them time to recover, then we can look at it later."

"Deal." She said, "but that still leaves a hundred or so."

"Do you have a list of their professions?"

"Sure. Majestic, show 'List C'."

"Yes, Commander."

A moment later a list showed on the big screen, and I skimmed through it, though Elise Samko's teasing, pleasing as it felt, was quite distracting.

However, not more than when I noticed something interesting. "Elise, how many of those are from the same ship or at least the same fleet?"

She stopped fondling me and turned her head towards the screen. "What do you mean?"

"We have Hangar Directors, Starfighter Handlers, Ordnance handlers, Senior Cargo handlers, Senior Point Defence handlers and several other positions on ships carrying starfighters." I tilted my head a bit. "To me it looks like the crew of a Valor-class cruiser, without the officer's corps, of course. Though I have to admit that it's the only ship in the Republic line-up I can think off, that merits having these positions on board."

"Majestic, list the ship of origin of these people."

"Yes, Commander."

On the screen, the list expanded, showing that many of the crew did indeed come from the same ship. A Valor-class cruiser by the name 'Sentinel', that was a part of a Republic Battlegroup that ran into an Imperial Fleet in the Outer Rim some twenty years ago. Vastly outnumbered and outgunned, the Republic Battlegroup was annihilated, but for some unknown reason, the Imperial Fleet did not kill their prisoners but shipped them off to the prison camp at Nodia instead.

"Wow." Breathed Elise. "These people have been prisoners for a long time!"

"Yes." I glanced at her. "You didn't know?"

That made her chuckle. "Thalen, I'm juggling thousands of people. Individual cases like this take a back seat at the moment."

"I get that." Looking at the screen again, I said. "You do know that these people have skills we really need, right? Not to mention, that most of the positions only require a calm mind and the ability to direct people. Hangar Directors, Starfighter Handlers and Senior Cargo handlers are all normally positions held by Non-commissioned officers or NCOs... Basically, it's an officer that hasn't been through officers' training, but has risen through the ranks. So, they're Sergeants, Master Sergeants and everything in between."

"To be honest, I thought that they would be too old to be in the navy. That's what the XO told me."

"Well, technically, you're right." I chuckled. "However, I will rather have an old hand arranging the starfighters in the hangars than some newbie, that happens to be a faster runner and better fighter. The Wing Commander may be responsible for the tactics of the Starfighter wings, but it's the Starfighter Handlers that determine the launching and landing of the fighters and the Hangar directors that decide where to put the fighters once they're inside."

"I thought those jobs were covered." Said Elise and started fondling my dick again. This time it reacted, slowly growing as I answered her.

"They are, but mostly by self-taught people assisted by droids. It works, but I suspect that the new ones have a ton to learn from the older ones we have here, so we need to put them in a position where they can teach the new ones their craft, without insulting people who have been doing the work for more than a year without incidents." I shivered as my dick became fully erect again, causing Elise to play with the head. "I'm not saying that it'll solve all of your problems with the group, but as far as I can see from that list, we can easily put at least half of them to work." I thought for a moment. "We better go talk to them."

"You're not going anywhere before I've had a few more orgasms." Elise said in a serious tone, but with a smile on her face. "Lay down. I want to ride you."

With a grin, I lay flat on the bed and a moment later, she had straddled me, forcing my stiff cock down against my stomach, with her pussy on top of it.

I reached up, took hold of her neck and dragged her in for another kiss and as we kissed, Elise moved her hips back and forth in a gentle rocking motion, grinding her pussy against my hard cock, moaning as her clitoris came into direct contact with the shaft. I did the same. The feeling of her pussy sliding over my dick, along with her big soft tits against my chest, felt fantastic.

Without breaking the kiss, Elise moved a little more upwards, releasing my stiff cock and when she moved down again, the head of my cock slipped right in between the hot, wet lips of her pussy, slowly followed by the rest as she raised her upper body to get a better angle and she sat down.

"I love that feeling." She moaned as she gradually took me inside her.

"Likewise." I told her, as I reached up to caress her incredible tits, while she moved up and down on my cock.

"Good, so relax and let me do the work this time." She chuckled with a shiver. "Frak, it's good."

I agreed and then relaxed, as Elise rode me, coming several times, before I came again, giving us just enough time to take a bath and dress again, before she had to go on duty.

------------------------------

Instead of meeting everyone from the group of elderly people, I had decided to do what I had done with the freed prisoners and met with two of their leaders, which in this case were two humans, Master Gunnery Sergeant Jess Norken and Military Counsellor Mik Norken. That they shared the same last name wasn't a coincidence as they were married, just like Arthur Waydar and Betty Nagos.

Elise Samko had told me that Jess Norken was sixty-two, but he looked ten years younger and quite fit for a human male of his age. His wife, Mik Norken, was about fifteen years younger than him, while looking to be at least twenty years younger, and was a good-looking woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair, slanted brown eyes, a pleasant smile and a warm personality that immediately put Elise Samko at ease.

She wasn't the only one. According to several of the freed prisoners, Mik Norken's positive attitude and good counselling had saved many of the prisoners from going insane or committing suicide over the years.

They did look somewhat nervous when they entered Commander Samko's office but relaxed a bit when they spotted the coffee and cake on the table.

"Hello." Greeted Elise with a smile, "Have a seat and some coffee. This is going to be an informal meeting, so just relax. I'm Commander Samko, responsible for crew assignment, and... "She gestured in my direction. "this is Commodore Thalen of the Dragon Defence Force."

"Nice to meet you, sir." Said Jess Norken with a salute.

"And thank you for the rescue." Added Mik Norken with a smile.

"You're welcome, though the credit goes to the starfighter pilots that made a complicated plan work." I smiled. "And talking about that, I hope you found the cabin to your satisfaction."

"Oh, yes, sir. It's a lot better than what we're used to." The Master Gunnery Sergeant said with a smile. "And better than ninety percent of the ships I've ever been in."

"And the Hangar Park is fantastic!" Exclaimed Mik. "It really helps people relax."

"Not to mention that the air quality is a lot better than on a normal ship... or on Nodia for that matter." Inserted Jess Norken and tilted his head a little as he asked. "Sorry for asking this, sir, but in my experience, there is no such thing as a free ride and Commander Samko has already arranged for a job for Mik, so I guess this is really about what I'm going to do... along with the rest of the Old Guard."

"You're quite right, Master Gunnery Sergeant." I told him. "Could you tell me a little about your background?"

He nodded and leaned back in the chair as he started to explain. Born on the agricultural world of Chandrila in the Core of the Republic, he had grown up on a farm but joined the Republic Navy when he turned eighteen. That turned out to be the right place for him and he stayed there, rising through the ranks, while the ships he was assigned to travelled to various stations in the Republic. From the capital world of Coruscant to Alderaan, Corellia and Fondor to Anaxes, the home of the Republic fleet, and that was just the names I recognized among the ones he mentioned. His career was equally impressive, as he had been Hangar Director, Starfighter Handler and Point Defence Coordinator during his years on the Valor-class cruiser 'Sentinel'.

"Are the rest of the... Old Guard, I think you called them, as versatile as you are?" I asked as he paused.

"Some are, most are not." He said honestly. "Unfortunately, most of us are out of touch with the jobs we were trained to do. Fifteen or twenty years is a long time."

"Yes." I agreed and thought for a moment. "Am I correct in assuming that most of you want something meaningful to do?"

He nodded. "Yes. I mean, after that many years as prisoners having some days off is wonderful, but the insecurity about the future is killing the enjoyment of down-time."

That made me smile. "Oh, don't worry about that. I got plenty of things for you guys to do."

He frowned a bit. "Even at our age?"

"Especially at your age." I said calmly. "You have the experience some of our people lack and I want you to pass on your knowledge to the new generation."

His eyebrows rose in surprise. "Teachers?"

"'Mentors' is probably a better word. I want you to observe how things are done now and then give suggestions on how we can do the various tasks better, faster or safer." Jess Norken looked like he wanted to ask a question, but I continued. "You can get the background later, but what it boils down to is that this ship has a starfighter complement of one hundred and eighty, and none of the people here have any experience with that many starfighters on a ship, so we would benefit from your knowledge. As far as I remember, the Valor-class have about one-hundred-and-fifty starfighters, which means that the Old Guard have more experience with starfighter complements of this size."

Jess Norken was silent for a moment, looking like he was thinking, before he finally asked. "How long do we have?"

"The time you need," I replied and added. "Though we're going into battle in about two weeks in order to free the prisoners on the Second Lictor."

There was a gasp from Mik Norken and she stared at me, as her hand covered her mouth. The Master Gunnery Sergeant noticed it as well and placed a calming hand on her leg, before looking at us. "You believe you can catch it before they reach the hyperspace lanes of the Outer Rim?"

I almost sighed as I realized that we had a failure in communications, as both the pilots and the couple in front of me should have known about this. We had made a mission statement for the crew before leaving Nodia, but we must have forgotten to repeat it after the prisoners had arrived at Majestic.

Those newcomers who had the time and clarity of mind to ask the crew might know, but the rest have been clueless for two days and that simply wasn't good. Fortunately, it was an easy fix, as we could simply give a statement, but we needed a procedure to prevent this from happening in the future.

I made a mental note to take it up with the XO, as I explained the situation to the couple.

"Yes, we have their route and we're going to catch up with them in a little under two weeks in the Grinda System, where we're going to ambush them, disable the Lictor and free the prisoners." Looking at the slanted-eyed woman, I added. "I take it that you know somebody on that Lictor?"

She nodded with tears and hope in her eyes, and it was Jess Norken that answered with a little nod. "Yes, sir. Our son is on that Lictor."

"Well, we'll do our best to get him out."

"Thank you very much." Mik Norken said in a broken voice, before blinking her tears away and when she spoke, her soft voice was firm. "If we can do anything, don't hesitate to ask. We're stronger than we look."

Impressed by her willpower, I nodded to her. "I firmly believe that anyone surviving an Imperial prison camp is stronger than they look." Looking at her husband I asked, "I'm aware that some of the Old Guard might need a refresher course. Can you arrange both that and the mentoring, Gunny?"

He blinked in surprise at the use of the shortened version of his rank, but I knew from talking with former Gunnery Sergeant, now Lieutenant Titlow, that it was normal in the Republic Navy, and he nodded. "You can leave it to me, sir."

"Thank you... Oh... Have you met Caskey Titlow yet?"

"No, sir. I didn't know he was here, sir."

"He's now a Lieutenant... and may I suggest that you talk with him about the fleet and the people here? I'm pretty sure that he can give you some insights in the workings of the fleet."

"Yes, sir." Jess Norken replied with a slight smile. "Gunnery Sergeant Titlow and I go way back."

"I thought that might be the case." I said and stood from the chair. "We will talk later when you have put together a group of mentors, Gunny."

He immediately stood to attention and saluted. "Yes, sir."

Sending the couple a last nod, I looked at Elise. "Commander Samko, I trust that you and Master Gunnery Sergeant Norken can work out the details?"

"Yes, sir." She replied with a smile.

"Thank you, Commander."

------------------------------

Four days later, I was frowning, as I stood on the bridge and watched the image of a giant ship on the viewscreen. At three kilometres in length, it was shaped somewhat like an elongated box, but aside from that, it was also bristling with weapons. Not that I was worried, because the ship's reactor wasn't running, making it as threatening as an asteroid.

What bothered me was the ship's location. Our journey had brought us to a system in the middle of so many navigational hazards that it was a small miracle seeing a ship here at all, much less a huge battleship like this one.

Yet it had been there, drifting in space in front of us as we dropped into the system from hyperspace, giving everyone on the bridge a collective shock, though it fortunately hadn't been so close that we had rammed it.

"Strange place to park a ship." Remarked Iska. "Any I.D. on it?"

"No match in the ship's database and its transponder isn't working, sir." Said Karnos from her place at the tactical section. "Shall I call the Chief Engineer?"

Before I had the chance to answer Karnos, Tavune said. "Chief Engineer Keller is calling."

"On screen." I ordered and a moment later, Keller showed up on the main viewscreen. "Hello, sirs."

"Hello, Chief Engineer." I said with a slight smile. "We were just about to call you about a certain ship."

He smiled back. "I thought so, but unfortunately, I have no idea what that battleship is or what it's doing out here."

Considering that Keller usually knew more than anybody else when it came to old ships, that was quite surprising.

"Hard as it is, I'll try to accept that." I declared. "But judging from you smile, you know something that I don't."

"Yes, sir. Judging from our scans, the materials used in construction and so on, this ship is almost as old as the Pius Dea ships we found in the Snare system." His smile grew as he continued." However, as far as we can see, it has turbolasers, the hyperdrive is a lot smaller and the construction indicates the presence of shield generators, so my guess is that it's about six thousand years old."

My eyebrows lifted and I looked at the screen with the ship again. Six thousand years was a long time, but unlike the Pius Dea ships in the Snare system, the sun in this system wasn't a pulsar and in theory the ship could have been here for all that time without suffering that much damage, preserved in time by the vacuum of space.

"Chief Engineer," I said slowly. "I know you're dying to take a closer look at it, but unfortunately, we're on a time critical mission." I could see him nodding in sad acceptance. "However, we have about half an hour while the 'gators are calculating our next jump, so in that time, let us fly closer and scan that ship with all available scanners from the whole fleet."

Keller lit up in a smile. "Thank you, sir."

I nodded back to him. "You're not the only one that is curious about it. I just wonder what it's doing out here."

"My best guess is hyperspace malfunctioning." He said as he looked away, obviously studying something. "There's no obvious damage on the drives or any other system that would prevent them from getting away."

Thinking for a moment, I looked at the solar system data and then at the Scan section. "Scan, are any of the planets here habitable?"

"No, sir." Came the immediate reply. "None of the planets or moons are habitable by humanoids or other known intelligent life."

"That ship was without doubt built by humanoids." Inserted Keller. "I would even guess near or within the Galactic Republic, due to its tech and construction."

Iska stepped a little closer to the screen. "Can you take a guess at the crew size of such a ship, Chief Engineer?"

"Well, sir, it depends a lot on the design, but if it's built along the same design principles as the Pius Dea ships, I would say between five to seven thousand."

Looking at the ship again, I thought it over. A crew of five to seven thousand might seem large to most people, but for a three-kilometre-long ship more than six thousand years old, it wasn't. As a comparison the one-point-three kilometres long Centurion-class battlecruiser from the war three hundred years ago had a crew requirement of a staggering thirty-one thousand, which, according to Keller, was mostly due to an attempt of keeping costs down by eliminating most automatization in the ship. The eight hundred meters long S-class cruiser had done a bit better, but still had a crew of twenty-five hundred, excluding gunners and flight crew.

The thought of a flight crew made me ask. "Does that ship have any hangars?"

Keller shook his head. "No, so the crew can't have left using shuttles."

Iska grimaced. "Not exactly a fun thought."

"Dying rarely is." I said dryly and looked at Keller. "Scan the ship, Chief Engineer. The astrogators will be done soon."

"Yes, sir."

The screen blinked as Keller disappeared and was replaced by the giant ship growing bigger as we came closer.

"Stay out of turbolaser range." Ordered Iska, relaying the order to the fleet and glanced over at me, lowering her voice. "That ship might be dead, sir, but it gives me the creeps and we're not going close to it if I can help it."

Despite not getting any bad feelings from the derelict ship, I nodded slightly as I sent out my force senses, examining the ship, but finding no trace of the dark side there. Of course, the Dark Side isn't the only source of problems in the universe, but we could handle most other things with conventional means.

Looking at one of the view screens that had a zoom of the ship, I noticed something strange. A series of small protrusions on the hull, that were barely noticeable from a distance.

"Resa, look at screen 4. Are those shield generators?"

She looked over and nodded. "Yes, sir. The reason for the large number of shield generators is simply a matter of necessity. Back then, the shield generators weren't strong enough to cover a large ship... especially not one as large as that one."

"So, they couldn't angle the shields against an attacker?"

"No, but the smaller shield also means that if one is knocked out, it's a very small percentage of the total shields that're gone, with the other shields protecting the rest of the hull." She said with a smile. "Not to mention that smaller generators recharge faster than large ones. I can show you the calculations if you want."

"Thank you, but no." I said with a slight smile and looked at the ship again. That way of shielding a ship tugged at my memory, and I was sure I had read about it somewhere. It took some time to dig up, but I finally managed to do it. "Resa, could you pull up the Battle of Hoth and especially a Mon Calamari cruiser named 'Dauntless Star'?"

"If I can find it, sir." She answered as the Blue LED in her temple started blinking. I waited patiently until she said. "I can find the battle and a reference to a Mon Calamari, but nothing on the 'Dauntless Star'."

Concluding that the Chiss Naval Intelligence had better files than those in the Majestic's database, I nodded slightly. "Do you have a picture?"

"Here, sir." The droid said and a beautiful, streamlined ship showed on the screen. It had roughly the same triangular shape as the Dragon and Wyvern classes, but everything about it looked curved and organic. It was also the ship I remembered having been puzzled about during my analysis of the Battle of Hoth in the Naval Academy. The same battle I had asked Commander Kindsta to recap just five days before.

There was a soft whistle from Iska. "That's a beautiful ship, sir."

"Yes, it's quite striking to look at." I agreed thoughtfully. "It's also effective. Despite being under heavy fire, that ship alone took out almost five squadrons of MK. VI during the Battle of Hoth. Granted, not at the same time, but during the battle and while under fire from the Imperial capital ships and giving as good as it got."

"I'm impressed, sir." Declared Iska.

"So was I." I gestured at the screen. "Resa, could you zoom in without losing too much clarity in the picture?"

"I can try."

A moment later, we were looking at a slightly blurred close-up.

"Oh!" Resa blurted, as small blisters on the hull were suddenly visible. Some were obviously housing weapons or sensors, but others were not. "That's the same pattern of smaller shield generators!"

"Exactly and I think the Mon Calamari still uses that technique to shield their ships... with a lot of success, I might add... Hmm, are there any Mon Calamari among the prisoners?"

Resa shook her head. "No, sir. Apparently, they're not considered attractive for most other humanoids, and are quite feisty by nature, so their value as slaves is limited."

"Too bad... I would have loved to hear about the thoughts behind the shields and other design choices."

"The route is ready, sirs!" called Jandar San.

"Thank you." Said Iska, "but the Chief Engineer still has ten minutes left, so I'll issue a ten-minute warning."

"Yes, sir."

---------------------------------------

Ambush

Dreadnought Majestic

"To surprise the enemy is to defeat him."

Vice Admiral Zedais, CEDF

Despite the dangers of our route, we didn't encounter anything interesting for the rest of the journey and we arrived in the Grinda WM4 system half a day ahead of schedule, arriving in the outskirts of the system, where we launched scouts and fighters to cover the battlegroup as we travelled deeper into the system, while the Kraken went into hiding in an asteroid field.

According to the star-maps, the Grinda WM4 system had ten planets with one of them being capable of sustaining humanoid life and while the maps said that the planet hasn't been colonized yet, the information there was at least fifty years old, so it was entirely possible that somebody had colonized it in the meantime.

Since there was no way to be sure of the exact time the Lictor and its escorts were to drop in from hyperspace, I had ordered the highest state of alert, meaning a constant watch on all weapons, a full third of the starfighters were in space and all crewmembers had to wear their combat suits. Looking nothing like the armor the Spacemarines used, it was basically a vacuum suit with a little extra padding, that was reasonably comfortable to wear and didn't slow the wearer down.

Some might complain about having to wear it, but the greatest danger on a capital warship wasn't direct hits, but sudden decompression due to hull damage, making the light armor a good choice if we happened to go into combat.

I was not an exception to that rule and was standing on the bridge in full armor with weapons by my side, staring at the screens, while trying to determine why this system was giving me the same uneasy feeling as the Epsilon Eta system, where we had been surprised by the two Kiltirin-class, but so far, I couldn't see anything threatening.

"Mister Tavune?" I called, while looking at the screens.

"Nothing, sir." He answered immediately. "No radio signal or other communications, and we're too far away from the planet to detect life or orbitals."

"Thank you. Give me the Fafnir-pack on the comm." Looking at Iska, I said. "Captain, this feels wrong. Have the Dragons and Wyverns launch the rest of the fighters. Half of them assigned for ship protection."

She raised her eyebrows in surprise, but wasted no time in doing as I said, while I turned my attention back to the screens, watching as more starfighters began leaving the hangars.

Fortunately, enough of the former Imperial pilots had made the grade to give us a full complement of Dragonclaws, M7 Nightsingers and S-13s on all ships, and while the same couldn't be said about the Aureks and Dragonfangs, it was still an impressive number of starfighters.

Captain Tristana showed up on the view screen. "Yes, sir?"

"Take your cruisers and go to the asteroid field on the opposite side of the system, captain. I want you within striking distance of the other hyperspace exit but laying low and on passive scanners only. Do not move or attack anything unless ordered to do so."

"Yes, sir."

The three Fafnirs broke off from the main formation and headed towards the other, and the system's third, hyperspace jump point. That gave us less firepower, but at least it kept us safe from flanking attacks by anything less than a battlegroup.

Moving closer to the other jump point almost five hundred starfighters left the hangars of our capital ships and spread out in front of us with the Super Sting scouts in front.

Tension rose steadily on the bridge as we ventured further into the system, but it was as empty as any other non-populated system we had been in, so we reached the planned position without any incidents and settled in to wait.

"Mass alert!" Called Tavune an hour later and with intensity in his voice. "Cruiser size with support ships."

"Right on time." I heard Lieutenant Mormill mumble to herself. Sitting next to Lieutenant Karnos, the former Imperial Lieutenant was observing the data-screen intensely. She was right. Seconds later, the Lictor-class dungeon ship we had been hunting dropped into the system from hyperspace in front of us, followed by the escort of an S-Class cruiser, two Terminus-class destroyers, two Delta-class carriers, eight Drake-class frigates and six Manta-class corvettes.

"Execute Plan Alpha." I told Iska, who turned and started to give orders, while I transmitted the usual demand for surrender, hoping that at least one of the ships did so, but doubting it would happen.

At the same time, Captain Mivito on the Osprey activated the gravity well projectors on the Interdictor, preventing the fleet from taking off into hyperspace. All in all, it was an almost perfect ambush and as ambushes were designed to do, it gave us all the advantages we could wish for.

Not only couldn't they run away, but all our capital ships had their bow pointed towards the group, while they had their sides towards us, giving us the opportunity to use almost all our weapons, while they could only use the weapons of one side.

Closing my eyes, I dived into the Force and used it to boost the skills of the entire fleet.

The timing was excellent because a moment later the time was up and Iska transmitted the attack command, just as the S-class sent off a turbolaser salvo towards us. It was a salvo fired in panic I judged as I watched most of the shots fly past us, while the few that connected were absorbed by the shields.

A moment later the cruiser seemed to shudder, as the combined firepower of Majestic and the four cruisers hammered it, smashing it's shields and tearing into the hull, ripping great holes in the armor. It was by far the most dangerous opponent, and I had determined that we needed to take it out as soon as possible, making it the target of more than one hundred and fifty turbolasers, while the Ion-cannons spat bolts of ionized energy at the Lictor.

The screens lit up as a second volley hit the S-class cruiser, making it explode.

"That should take care of the Sith." Remarked Iska in a low voice, making me nod in return. It was difficult to imagine anyone, including Lord Xhal, surviving that explosion. It also made me glad, that according to the records, the S-class cruiser didn't have any prisoners on board. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said about the Delta-class carriers, where the Imperials, according to the defected imperial crews, had placed two-thousand-five-hundred prisoners, forcing us to be extremely careful. On the bright side, whoever had designed the original version of the Delta-class had made a serious design flaw, at least in my opinion, as the ship didn't carry any anti-starfighter batteries at all, making it a prime target for the Dragonclaws.

On the screen, more Ion cannons hit the Lictor, and its drive signature suddenly disappeared as the ion cannons shut its drive down as planned.

The same fate had happened to one of the Terminus-class destroyers, who had been hit by a salvo of Ion shots from the capital ships, while one of the Drakes suddenly exploded in what looked like a classic example of terminal reactor failure.

We had assigned no less than one squadron of Nightsingers to each of the frigates, while the faster Mantas were attacked by a squadron of Dragonclaws, and the effect was spectacular, as the Drakes and Mantas desperately dodged and weaved to avoid both the fighters and the salvos from the capital ships, while trying to launch their own fighters.

Only a few succeeded, as the frigates and corvettes were either blown up or drifted without power, depending on which type of starfighters got the shots in, before the starfighters even had the chance to launch.

I grimaced as several of our fighters disappeared from the tactical plot, having been hit by point-defence lasers and I blinked as I realised that those lasers had come from the Delta-class carriers. Apparently, the Empire had adjusted their new ships according to the starfighter heavy Republic tactics.

I ordered the starfighters into a more evasive attack pattern but didn't have time to see how effective that was, as a salvo from the destroyers and Deltas hit our shield, causing a few whispered curses from the shield section. Glancing at the shield indicators, I discovered that the destroyer's salvo had made the shield strength drop by two percent, making it clear that with only one destroyer and two Deltas left, there simply wasn't enough firepower to break the Majestic's shields with one salvo.

I quickly moved the target symbol on the tactical display, telling Falcon to go for the remaining destroyer, while Vulture and Eagle went for the two Deltas, while Hawk fired at the smaller ships and Majestic was on a holding pattern, ready to fire at any ships that were still functioning.

The turbolasers from the cruiser flared against the distant stars for a brief moment, before they slammed into the destroyers, smashing shields and armor, and a small cloud of escape pods left the destroyer, and a quick glance at their vectors told me that they were traveling towards the planet.

They hadn't done that in the Nodia system and that puzzled me for a moment, until I realized that unlike the Nodia system, the planet here could sustain humanoid life, so launching escape pods was a safer bet than staying in a dead ship. Especially after the largest ship in their group had just been destroyed.

Space lit up again as the cruisers' following salvo of ten heavy ion-cannons hit each of the remaining ships, making lightning dance on their surfaces, before their engines went out as their reactors shut down, and more escape pods followed the first wave.

"Cease fire!" Ordered Iska immediately and looked over at me with a smile on her face. "I'll write that one down as a 'mission accomplished', sir."

"Not until we get away with the prisoners from the Lictor and the Deltas, but so far so good." I said and looked around on the bridge. Captain Iska wasn't the only one smiling, as similar grins and smiles were plastered on the faces of the entire bridge crew.

"Alright people." I said after having activated the all-ship channel. "Good job winning the battle, now we need to clean up and free the slaves. Osprey, get a hold of that Lictor-class. Eagle and Hawk, you got the two destroyers. Stingray, Vulture and Falcon, get a hold of the surviving Drakes. All launch Sharks and Super Stings and have them look for survivors. Both ours and the Imperials. We can transfer them to the planet afterwards. Orca and Beluga, stay away from the captured ships, until we're sure they haven't activated a self-destruction device."

"Yes, sir!"

Switching the channel off, I looked into space for a moment. The feeling of being in danger hadn't disappeared with the capture of the enemy fleet and that worried me.

Unfortunately, there was very little I could do about it, so I would just have to do what needed to be done, while doing it with caution.

"Wing Commander, get the Dragonclaws back in a protection pattern by the fleet. The Aureks and Nightsingers can secure the rest."

"Yes, sir."

"Lieutenants Cabur and Mormill." I said, looking first at one and then the other. "There might still be people left on the ships, so if you're aware of any people on board those ships that might want to defect, please inform Commander Yaki as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir."

It was a remote possibility, but one I was willing to try since it didn't cost us anything.

--------------------------

Two hours later, the situation was no longer chaotic, and we got the enemy ships under control, except for the Lictor-class.

With most of the crew on the enemy ships having escaped in escape pods, I had left it to Commander Yaki and the space marines to take control of the ships and she had assigned Lieutenants Seze and Titlow to the Delta-class carriers, while taking on the Lictor herself.

It hadn't taken the two lieutenants long to secure the Deltas and less than an hour later, our shuttles had started transporting people, prisoners and surrendering Imperials alike, off the two ships.

The Lictor on the other hand was a tougher nut to crack, as the Zygerrians refused to surrender, guessing or betting on, that we wouldn't blow up the ship with the prisoners inside. On the other hand, the safety features on the Lictor ensured that the doors to the cell could not be opened while the ship didn't have power, so the Zygerrians couldn't use the prisoners as hostages either, since they couldn't get to them short of using explosives.

Unfortunately, the Lictor was well protected against boarding actions, so getting into it would be a problem unless we were willing to risk a lot of marines attacking a well-prepared ship, and as the life-support on the ship was offline along with the reactor, we were running out of time.

"I'm in two minds about this." Admitted Yaki to me as we were going over our options in a call. "I want to free the slaves, but I also want to preserve our troops. I know danger is part of the job, but it's the duty of the commanding officer to minimize the risks to the troops."

I chuckled. "That was straight out of the lessons at the Naval Academy, but yes, you're right about it. The Lictor will be a nightmare to board using the airlocks and it doesn't have a convenient hangar we can use to enter."

She sent me a suspicious glance. "I know that look on your face, sir. You have a solution."

"Not one you're going to like."

"I am not going to send you into the ship first." She said firmly. "That time in the Kiltirin-class in the Epsilon Eta system was scary enough."

"That wasn't what I had in mind but let me hear your solution."

"I haven't got one, sir." She said with clenched teeth. "Neither have Lieutenants Seze and Titlow."

"Fair... now if I promise not to enter the ship first, can we go with my plan?"

She sighed. "Yes, sir, but please don't place yourself in any unnecessary danger."

"No worries, Commander." I said, trying to look innocent. "I promise, I'll be in armor."

"Yes, sir." She sighed and turned the call off.

-------------------

Half an hour later I was using the magnetic boots in my armor to walk across the hull of the Lictor, going towards the transparisteel windows of the bridge, carrying a sack, and followed by a squad of Black Dragons.

Zygerrians were a humanoid feline people, and I could see them on the other side of the transparisteel, pointing at me while taking with each other.

I waved merrily at them and stopped in front of the largest transparisteel window. Reaching into the pack, I took a large sign and held it up, so the Zygerrians could read it.

The text read "Last chance to surrender!", but as soon as the captain had read it, he shook his head to indicate a 'no'.

I shrugged my shoulders. While less protective than normal armor plating, transparisteel was designed to be blaster-proof and depending on the thickness, it could even withstand the power of turbolasers. However, it wasn't lightsaber proof, so I ignited my lightsaber, and pressed the tip against the window, slowly working my way through the glass-steel.

Their eyes suddenly wide with the understanding of what was going to happen, the Zygerrians fled the bridge as the lightsaber went all the way through, letting the atmosphere out of the bridge. I ignored it as I made a circle large enough to let a trooper through.

"Nice move, sir." Said Yaki over the intercom as she came up behind me with a squad of space marines carrying a small ramp.

"Thank you." I answered with a chuckle as I used telekinesis to remove the circular piece of transparisteel I had just cut out.

The marines placed the ramp and a moment later, they were all inside the bridge.

"We're in. Land the droids." I heard Yaki call over the radio and a moment later a shuttle landed behind me, unloading a group of Wardroid Mk.1's. Once they were inside the bridge as well, Yaki ordered the marines to open the door to the bridge. An action that would open at least a part of the ship to the vacuum of space.

The door was opened, and the droids charged forward, firing at everything that moved or gave off heat.

Knowing that my job was done, I turned and walked towards the shuttle. It was a messy way to clear the Lictor, but the slaves were more important, and we had run out of both options and time. Fortunately, going into the ship from the bridge would force most of the defenders to change positions, as they most likely were set up to ward off boarders coming through the airlocks.

Suddenly the chill in my spine intensified, as Tavune called. "Mass alert! Three more Dreadnaughts with destroyers and supports coming out of the third jump point."

Cursing to myself, I activated the advanced heads-up display in my helmet, so I could see the new threat. Then I cursed again as I saw it was a battlegroup, consisting of a Harrower Class Dreadnought, two BSX-5 'mini-Harrower' heavy-cruisers, six Terminus-class destroyers, two Gage-class transports, two Delta-class carriers and ten smaller ships, most likely Drake-class frigates and Manta-class corvettes.

Not only did the newly arrived fleet outnumber us, but they could also deal some serious damage and as we didn't have a convenient star base or shipyard to repair our ships in, this could quickly turn into a problem. Under normal circumstances, I would simply have ordered the fleet to jump out of the system, but as we still needed to get the prisoners out of the Lictor, that wasn't an option.

I glanced at the range on the display. Thankfully, they had dropped from hyperspace a good distance away and it would take them at least twelve minutes to get here, while I needed six minutes to get back on Majestic. Looking at the position of Orca and Beluga, thoughts started racing in my head.

Since I had ordered them away from the captured ships, they were a lot closer to the enemy battlegroup than we were. Depending on how the enemy battlegroup deployed, that could be a problem or an opportunity, so I ordered them to stay where they were for now.

---------------------------------------

Enter player 2

Dreadnought Majestic

"Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows.

A commander works out the victory in relation to the foe whom he is facing."

From the Holy Book of War

A moment later, I walked toward the shuttle, moving as fast as the magnetic boots allowed. "Tavune, any ID yet?"

"Their codes correspond to the ones found on the ships in the Nodia system." Reported Tavune. "This battlegroup is part of Darth Arkol's fleet."

That meant that it was most likely the battlegroup that had taken off from Nodia a long time ago. "Give me captains Witt and Hel."

A moment later, the two captains of the Gage PA-class showed up on my head-up display.

"Yes, sir?"

"Move back towards us but switch off most of your engines. I want to make it look like your ships are damaged, though you need to be ready to use all of them when I say so."

They both smiled. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Thalen out." I switched to the other channel. "Tavune, give me Captain Tristana."

"Yes, sir. We have an incoming message from Lord Agotov. He demands our surrender to the Imperial Navy."

"Ignore him and ask Lieutenants Cabur and Mormill if they know him. If they do, find out what kind of person he is. Oh, and send the usual surrender message to them."

"They won't do that, sir." Said Iska with certainty in her voice. "At least not when they're all unharmed."

"Well, if they keep going in this direction at that speed, that condition will change soon anyway." I said dryly. "Transmit the signal we used in the Nodia system and turn towards them."

"Captain Tristana is ready on line 3." Tavune said, his voice shivering as he continued. "The enemy is launching fighters. I estimate that there's about two-hundred-and-fifty starfighters, followed by bombers."'

I felt my eyebrows raise. That was almost all the fighters they had and that they were able to launch them this fast meant that the pilots had been given the 'go' order some minutes ago, before they had even asked for our surrender. It seemed like their commander was eager for a fight.

"Keep feeding me info, Tavune." I ordered, as I looked at the display in the helmet. "I might not answer, but I need it."

"Yes, sir... The enemy responded to our surrender message rather rudely, sir. In short, they refuse."

"Thank you." Switching to line 3 and Captain Tristana, I immediately asked. "Are the pack within shooting range?"

"Yes, sir." She replied. "We have a clear shot of their rear."

"When I give the word, I want your pack to launch your fighters and fire all turbolasers at the Harrower." I ordered. "I want you to keep shooting while your hyperdrives are warming up. If the battlegroup turns towards you, retreat into the asteroid belt. If they follow you, jump out of the system as soon as possible. Three cruisers can't go head-to-head against the equivalent of three dreadnoughts with heavy support ships."

Unlike the modern and heavier ion cannons on the newer cruisers and Majestic, the older ion cannons of the Fafnirs simply didn't have the range to reach the battlegroup.

"Yes, sir."

Climbing into the shuttle, I threw myself into the nearest seat, ordered the pilot to get me to Majestic as soon as possible and then leaned back in the seat, focusing on what I could see on the head-up display.

Calculating the enemy fighters speed and distance, I opened a channel to Orca and Beluga, our two Gage-class Transporters, and had them fly a route between the advancing fighters and our fleet, still using only part of their engines.

Those two ships would be our first line of defence against the enemy starfighters and bombers, and their presence between us and the enemy would prevent the enemy from getting exact scanner data on our starfighters, as those were too small to show up on gravitronics.

Then I ordered most of the Dragonclaws and Dragonfangs around the capital ships to rendezvous at the Gage-Class transports, while the rest kept watch over the enemy ships along with the Interdictor, and the Aureks flew towards the enemy fleet, just in case we needed it. No matter what, they would miss most of the fight, unless the enemy battlegroup slowed down a lot and I couldn't see that happening. The Nightsingers stayed in a protection pattern around Osprey and the Lictor in case more ships arrived at the jump point.

There was a curse from Tavune, before he added. "Sorry, sir. Six more ships are dropping in. One is a Lictor, the second is a Delta-class carrier and the third is a huge unknown ship that I sincerely hope isn't a warship. The rest are corvettes."

Under normal circumstances, I would have called him out for that non-professional remark, but as I saw the newcomers on the head up display, I understood his observation. The last ship was simply gigantic. At a staggering two kilometres in length, six hundred meters wide and four hundred-and-fifty meters tall, it was almost as long as the old battlecruiser we had encountered on our way here. However, this ship had to be newer and a lot more advanced, and if it was some kind of super dreadnought, we were in serious trouble.

"The database identifies the large ship as a Tork-class replenishment ship." Reported Tavune, relief obvious in his voice. "It's a support ship."

It was good news, but the battlegroup racing towards us was bad enough. Unlike the battlegroup, the newcomers slowed down instead of speeding up, keeping as far away from the coming battle as possible, not knowing that a trio of cruisers lay dormant in the asteroid field behind them.

"The Delta-class is not an ordinary one, sir." Continued Tavune. "According to the ID, it's the Imperial Medical Transport Reliable"

"Sir," said Iska over the comm. "According to Lieutenants Cabur and Mormill, Lord Agotov is a powerful Sith warrior that loves to fight. He's also one of the Sith that doesn't take any prisoners."

"Thank you. I'll be on Majestic in a few minutes. As soon as we're in the hangar, go to full speed towards Orca and Beluga's position."

"Yes, sir."

"Enemy fighters approaching combat range." Reported Tavune's voice. "It looks like two hundred-and-fifty MK. VI and fifty B-28 Extinction-class bombers."

Looking at the head-up display again, I considered the options for a moment. Chances were that the fleet and its starfighters would turn the moment the Fafnirs started firing on the Harrower, the Lictor, the Medical Transport and the Tork, but it was a chance I had to take before the Harrower was out of range... Which would happen in forty-five seconds.

"Tristana. Keep the plan but aim your ion cannons on the new arrivals. Assume the Lictor is full of prisoners and that the Medical Transport is full of medical personnel."

"Yes, sir." She chuckled. "Already sighted in."

Diving into the Force, I boosted the skill of everybody under my command and then ordered the Fafnir pack to fire.

A moment later, the display in the helmet lit up as more than sixty dual turbolaser batteries fired both barrels at the same time, throwing a hundred-and-twenty capital ship turbolaser bolt barrage at the Harrower's aft section. Whomever piloted the Harrower had exceptionally good reactions, as the pilot immediately started to turn the Harrower, trying to move the fragile engine section, so the bolts didn't hit it dead on. They were only partly successful. Not all of the bolts hit as the Harrower was now at the extreme range of the turbolasers, and most of them hit the heavy armor around the engines and mid-section, sending armor and weapons flying through space, but enough of them hit the engine section to break through the shield and damage the engines.

At the same moment, the shuttle landed in the Fleet Commander's small hangar, and a moment later, I was out, running as fast as I could to the bridge, slowing into a walk just before the door opened, so I could walk inside in a calm, dignified manner. It might seem ridiculous, but seeing their commander come running in what looked like a panic wouldn't do any good for morale.

Iska looked over with a smile of relief when I walked inside. "Glad to see you could find the time to join us, sir."

"I considered taking a nap instead but decided that I wouldn't miss the show." I told her while I took off my helmet as I walked to my chair and sat down. Enjoying the luxury of having the large screens and tactical displays of the bridge, instead of the limited head-up display of the helmet.

"Update on the nearest group." Said Tavune. "The smaller ships are four Drakes and six Mantas."

As he spoke, the Ion-cannons were fired from the pack, with one Fafnir going for the Tork, another for the Lictor and the last for the Drake-class escorts, hitting the aft ends of the much closer ships with uncanny precision and a moment later their power signature blinked out. That left the Medical Transport, but as the ship had no chance of getting out of range before the cruisers could fire again, Captain Tristana had made a good judgement call. The Fafnirs went to active scanners and moved forward.

Looking at the screen I saw that according to the scanner data from the Fafnir pack, the Harrower had lost at least one engine, perhaps two, from the attack, and while it wasn't enough to stop the Dreadnought from exiting the shooting range of the Fafnirs, it had slowed it down. The BSX-5's, Terminus-class destroyers and the smaller ships had slowed as well, so they would present a coherent formation, when meeting the rest of our capital ships, except for two Deltas, two destroyers and three Mantas, who were turning to meet the new threat from behind.

Since the battlegroup didn't turn, I activated the channel to Tristana again. "Captain Tristana, take out the Medical Transport and then follow the battlegroup from out of range, launch your Aureks and take down the destroyers and Deltas that are coming towards you. Oh, and assume that the Delta's have prisoners on board as well, so be careful if the situation merits it."

"Yes, sir." She answered, as I turned my attention to the capital warships. Like when the Imperials had slowed down in the Nodia system, it was a good tactical move, that was poorly chosen under the circumstances. Mostly because the fighters were so much faster than the rest of the battlegroup, and that the capitol ships were too far away from the fighters to support them.

If they continued this way, the enemy fighters would reach the Gage-classes almost two full minutes before their capital ships arrived, which meant that either they had a plan with the starfighters I didn't understand or they had taken the bait, that was the seemingly damaged and slow-moving Gage-class transporters.

On the other hand, with the amount of starfighters they had, it was a tactic that might have worked if they had caught the majority of our starfighters too far away to be able to join the fight in time. They had even halfway succeeded, as the Super Stings, Aureks and Nightsingers couldn't join the starfighter combat anytime soon and even two anti-starfighter ships like the two Gage PA class wouldn't last long against more than two hundred fighters and fifty bombers. Fortunately, they didn't have to, as the Dragonclaws and Dragonfangs were right there and racing to meet the enemy.

Another advantage for us was that while their starfighters were out in the open, ours were partly hidden from the scanners by the two Gage-class. They would have detected some of them, but they couldn't know how many there really were, and once the fighters were past the enemy fighter screen, the enemy Terminus and Gage-classes were going to have a rough time... unless they were the upgraded versions we had encountered in the Nodia system.

The two-hundred-and-fifty enemy fighters reached the Gage PA-classes, but if the enemy had thought that they were on the hunt for two simple transports, they were dead wrong, as the two Gage-class transports suddenly turned so their front was pointing at the incoming fighters and a moment later, the area was lit up by laser fire.

A standard Gage-class carried only five laser cannons and the upgraded version carried thirty-two lasers, but the Gage PA-classes put that to shame as thirty-six quad laser cannons fired from each ship. All in all, no less than seventy-two quad lasers fired at almost the same time, laying down a barrage of bolts that obliterated the first wave of the Supremacy-class starfighters before they even knew what had hit them.

Then two hundred Dragonclaws and twelve Dragonfangs came swooping in, formations going over and under the two transports to cut through the second wave of Supremacy-class, rapid-fire and heavy lasers blasting, as they went directly for the bombers. I grimaced as a Dragonclaw was hit, lost control, and rammed into one of the bombers, making both explode, but our other starfighters stayed in formation as they cut through the enemy starfighters to punish the slow, lumbering bombers, and the Gage PAs picked off the dazed and confused enemy fighters.

The clock on the screen ticked down along with distance between the enemy capital ships and ours, but it had taken them too long. The enemy starfighters would be wiped out before the capital ships were close enough to support them. In fact, we would be within shooting range of the enemy starfighters before their own capital ships were.

"Orca and Beluga. Full speed away!" I ordered, before the turbolasers on their capital ships were within range of the two Gages. "Dragonclaws and Dragonfangs. Delta Turn! You'll be within range of the capital ships in twenty seconds. If you can stay out of range from the Harrower and the BSX-5's, go hunt the smaller ships."

As one our starfighters turned, firing on new targets on the way back, leaving explosions and wrecks behind them. Just like that most of the enemy fighters had been neutralized, as the few remaining fighters and bombers were fleeing for their lives with the Dragonclaws in hot pursuit.

Behind the enemy fleet, the three Fafnirs had accelerated towards the destroyers, Deltas and Mantas, ion cannons hitting the Lictor, the Tork and Medical Transport as the three cruisers passed, and I noticed a small swarm of escape pods launching from the drifting ships. Then the Fafnirs fired their turbolasers again, turning a Terminus-class destroyer into so much space dust as it simply exploded, while the remaining destroyer and one of the Deltas was damaged, causing more escape pods to be launched, before the turbolasers began targeting the Mantas.

I shook my head slightly, wondering what the enemy scanners had seen, since they had sent seven screening ships up against three cruisers. It was like sending light infantry out to stop an armored brigade on open ground. Yes, they might get a few hits in, but chances were that the armored brigade would just roll over the light infantry.

That thought made me take a look at the screens and then smile in pleasant surprise, as I discovered that the Fafniers' ID's read as belonging to three different Terminus-class Destroyers. Being of roughly the same size, it was impossible to tell the difference from gravitronics alone and as the Fafniers had been in an asteroid field when they had started their attacks, there was a good chance that the scanners had been disturbed as well. All of which made the ploy Tristana had used a clever one.

"Shields to the front." Ordered Iska, as the enemy ships continued coming right at us, despite being caught between us and the three Fafnirs. There was a good chance that this Lord Agotov was either impatient, inexperienced in naval combat or both, since no ordinary navy commander would charge us that way. It reminded me a little of the headless way the Sith on Alpha Viga had reacted.

Behind the enemy fleet, the two Deltas and the remaining enemy destroyer had come closer to the Fafnirs that fired again, ion cannons and turbolasers hammering the enemy ships. The effect was immediate as the destroyer exploded, while the drive signatures of the Deltas along with two Mantas blinked out. The remaining Manta turned and tried to run, but it was too far into the firing envelope of the Fafnirs and a moment later it was drifting in space, escape pods leaving the ships.

"Enemy neutralized, sir." Reported Tristana dryly. "Continuing towards the main group."

"Good work, Captain." I replied and focussed my attention back to the main group, as Iska continued to give orders. "All ships: Turbo's on the Harrower, Ions on the BSX-5s. Fire as they bear. Wyverns close formation and tie into the defence net." She closed the channel and looked at the tactical section. "Master Gunner Kansen, you're in charge of coordinating fire with the cruisers. Senior Gunner Karstein, take over the Turbos, so Kansen can focus on the rest."

"Yes, Captain." The gunners said in unison, and Senior Gunner Karstein was smiling widely as he took a seat at the gunnery station. The former Imperial Weapons Officer did finish the simulator training as one of the best I had ever seen, but since there could only be one Master Gunner on the bridge at the time, Iska had made it so the one on duty was the Master Gunner, while the other was Senior Gunner, giving her more flexibility to split the fire from the Majestic.

"Fafnir pack, go to top speed and feign an attack against the Harrower, but be ready to turn away from them." I ordered and switched the channel off again before looking over at the gunners. "Gunners, hold off the Heavy Turbolasers until I give the order."

On the screen the Fafnir pack raced forward, looking like it was trying to get into range before our two groups met.

Suddenly, the three heavy capital enemy ships turned as one, the timing almost perfect, as they would have completed their turn as the Fafnirs entered shooting range.

Nodding with satisfaction, I activated the comm. "Fafnir pack, sharp turn towards your left! Move your pack away from the dreadnoughts, and circle around them." I drew the route on the tactical display and sent it to Buzzard, so she could see it. A route that would also have most of the Fafnir pack rendezvous with our Dragonclaws, as they came around the enemy fleet in the opposite direction. "Feel free to take out targets on the way."

"Yes, sir." Answered Tristana and I could hear the satisfaction in her voice. A moment later, the three Fafnirs turned suddenly, denying most of the enemy large capital ships a shot at them. Only one of the BSX-5 was in range and its salvo was limited to about fourteen turbolasers. Fired at extreme range, only half of them hit and were brushed off by the shields, but the enemy destroyers and Drakes went into pursuit, while the Mantas stayed with the main group.

Glancing at the range graphics, I said. "The heavies are free to fire."

The enemy commander had been careful to turn while out of turbolaser range, but they had unknowingly entered the range of the long-range heavy turbo's while turning and it was time to take advantage of that.

A moment later the long-range Heavy Turbo's on Majestic spat glittering bolts of energy towards the Harrower, hitting the aft end of the Dreadnought. Being out of normal turbolaser range from us and not knowing about the heavy long-range turbo's, the Harrower had it's shield focussed towards the three Fafnirs and five of the six heavy bolts hit right in the engine section, ripping through one of the already damaged engines and sending it flying through space.

The last bolt missed the Harrower, but accidentally hit one of the BSX-5 making it's shield flare.

At the same time, the Fafnir pack sent a salvo against the pursuing ships and as before, they hit with uncanny precision, nailing two of the Drakes with multiple shots, smashing their shields and ripping into the hulls.

The enemy ship's continued turn meant that they now presented their side to us and the front towards the Fafnirs, which had now left turbolaser range, leaving them in a very bad position. Their broadsides might be aimed at us, but it also left half their weapons unable to fire, while the forward pointing Majestic, along with the four Wyvern-class cruisers, could use all non-rear turbolasers and ion cannons due to their design.

The heavy turbolasers fired again, sending bolts of energy into the Harrower, hitting its side and weakening its shields without breaking through them.

Then the capital ships were within normal turbolaser range of each other and Majestic rocked slightly as the shield was hit repeatedly. The enemy fleet targeted it with everything they had, obviously hoping to take the larger ship out first. However, as we were still at extremely long range, only about half the bolts hit us, which wasn't enough to break through Majestics strong shields, that had been made even stronger by their forward focus.

A cloud of proton torpedoes and missiles left the enemy fleet, racing towards us.

"Porcupine! Porcupine!" Came the warning from the tactical section, using what I knew was an old warning for incoming missiles, that couldn't be confused with anything else. "Incoming missiles."

"Evasive manoeuvres. Point Defence, get ready." Ordered Iska calmly, followed by hectic activity at the point defence section. "Senior Gunner Karstein!?"

"Almost there, Captain." He said and looked at Kansen. "Ready?" Kansen nodded and Karstein followed a moment later by a "Fire!" as he hit a button.

Kansen and Karstein had been coordinating the fire with the other ships and a moment later a massive salvo of turbolaser fire left all our ships and hit the already badly damaged Harrower at the same time, striking it squarely in the area around the command tower, and made the shield overload, allowing bolts to hit the hull. Some bolts hit the low tower right on, while others hit the area around it. An area where many of the Harrower's turbolaser batteries were located and most of them were hit, smashing them as the bolts ripped through shields and armor plating alike as if it was paper and not some of the hardest armor in the galaxy.

It was an impressive piece of aiming and predicting the movement of the ships and I was glad that I had given Karstein the chance to prove what he could do.

Our point defence lasers weaved a tapestry of fire in the space between the two fleets, as the lasers of all five capital ships worked in unison to pick off the missiles and torpedoes. Fortunately, the hard-hitting proton torpedoes weren't that fast and in my opinion better used on starfighters in close range, where the point defence didn't have a chance to destroy them before they hit the target. My opinion was proven right, as our well-coordinated point defence lasers and missiles picked off the enemy missiles and torpedoes before they could hit us.

Then Majestic's six heavy turbolasers fired again, hitting the low command tower on the Harrower and caused an explosion. A scream of rage vibrated through the Force and was cut off as suddenly as it started, leaving me with a nosebleed from the amount of dark-side force projected and causing me to exit the battle meditation I had been using to boost our people.

I shook my head to clear it. Whomever Lord Agotov had been, he had clearly had a lot of power, but considering the end of the scream had been cut off, I doubted he had survived the destruction of the Harrower's bridge. As the Harrower had a secondary bridge, it wouldn't stop it from fighting, but as the best officers were usually on the primary bridge, there was a chance that the skill of the people flying the Harrower had just been dramatically reduced.

"All ships go to individual shooting." Order Iska. "Spread the turbo's."

For a moment I considered ordering Mivito in the Osprey to place a gravity well where we were fighting. With the Harrower badly damaged, there was a chance that some of the smaller craft would try to enter hyperspace and I didn't want Darth Arkol to get the news just yet, but looking at the display, I discovered we were out of range for that. The gravity well projectors had an extremely long range, but not long enough to cover the distance between the Osprey and us.

Then I noticed the shooting ability of our fleet had suddenly become worse, with a lot more near misses than before, and realized that the battle meditation I had been using really made a difference. Without it, our crew of newly liberated prisoners simply wasn't as good as their Imperial counterparts.

Consequently, I dived into the force to activate the battle meditation again. We could work on improving their skills later, when we had survived this battle.

The ten heavy ion cannons fired, but at the two BSX-5. Their shields flickered but held. At least until the four wyverns fired their turbolasers, hitting their targets and causing the shields to disappear for a short while, allowing some of the bolts through, sending armor plating flying into space.

Trusting Iska to fight the capital ship battle, I watched the display. Whomever controlled the enemy fleet now had clearly given new orders, because the Harrowers and BSX-5's were turning back towards us, most likely to be able to use all their weapons against us now that the Fafnirs were no longer threatening their back, but that turn gave us a golden opportunity.

"Fafnir Aurek squadrons, engage the Harrower! Gunners, cover them!"

On the other side of the enemy fleet, the three squadrons of Aureks that had followed the battlegroup from out of range of their lasers and point defence, suddenly raced towards the Harrower. It wasn't as suicidal as it looked though. The complete turn the Harrower had made, had presented its heavily damaged engine section to them, a section with very few anti-starfighter weapons. To make it better, their earlier turn had forced the enemy ships so far apart that the anti-starfighter weapons on the two BSX-5s couldn't reach them.

While the Aureks closed the distance, a salvo of turbolaser and Ion-cannon fire raced towards the six Mantas, hitting some and forcing the rest to make evasive manoeuvres, preventing them from locking up to the approaching Aureks.

Consequently, the first squadron of Aureks encountered almost no fire from the anti-starfighter weapons as they went in, firing proton torpedoes and heavy lasers against the damaged aft end of the Harrower, smashing the shields and ripping the remaining engines apart.

A moment later several escape pods left the wounded ship, which was a wise move as the next squadron of Aureks arrived a moment later and their heavy lasers and proton torpedoes had an almost unhindered flight through the disintegrated engines, slamming right into the reactor section. An attack that was repeated by the last squadron.

The reactor section of any ship is protected by the heaviest armor, but not even that had no chance to withstand that many heavy lasers followed by proton torpedoes all hitting the same general area.

There was a flash of light as the reactor exploded and for a second the Harrower spouted flames out of all openings before it blew apart, sending the crumbling front end of the ship hurtling through space, disintegrating more and more as it went.

"Fafnirs, go!" I commanded as the three cruisers had reached exactly the right place.

On the left side of the enemy fleet, the three Fafnirs charged the enemy battlegroup and from their position they were shielded from the BSX-5s by the pursuing enemies force, which in turn was hit by the Fafnir's turbo-lasers and ion cannons. As I watched, one of the enemy Drakes was nailed by two or three turbolasers from each cruiser and simply ceased to exist, while the destroyers shuddered under the onslaught, and the ion cannons hammered the destroyers and the Gage-class transports.

It wasn't one-sided though, as the three cruisers were hit repeatedly with turbolasers, but Tristana had sacrificed some of the Fafnirs damage potential by setting the route to minimise the return fire, and the enemy turbolasers were spread over all three cruisers which limited their effect.

So did the fact that there simply weren't that many ships left in the pursuing force. Being the target of our Dragonclaws and Dragonfangs, the smaller ships had been in a rough time indeed. All of the Delta-class carriers were drifting without power, both Gage-classes were trying to turn toward the Fafnirs, and the Drakes and Mantas were losing their drives or blowing up.

"Hawk and Vulture, focus Ion-cannons on the two remaining Gage-class carriers." Iska ordered as I turned my attention back towards the two BSX-5s. One of them was drifting without power and as I watched a few escape pods left the 'mini-Harrower'. Those were followed by more and more, until a cloud of escape pods was heading towards the planet.

That was followed by another cloud of escape pods from the other BSX-5 just as yet another barrage of heavy ion cannon shot connected with the hull and shut the warship's power system down.

Going back to the Gage-class, I watched as lasers, ion cannons and ditto missiles hammered them, destroying shields and making their drive flicker on and off.

Escape pods left the ships as their drives went into what could only be an emergency shutdown and a moment later Tavune said. "Surrender message from the BSX-5! The entire battlegroup is surrendering!"

"All ships, cease fire!" Ordered Iska with a smile as cheers echoed on the bridge.

With a smile of my own, I activated the all-ship channel. "Alright, people. Fantastic job. Now let's make sure we don't stumble just before the finish line. First of all, we need our disabled fighters back and get the surviving enemy fighters secured. Falcon, that'll be your job. I want every one of the Super Sting scouts out there looking for our people and the Kolareth transports ready to pick up anybody you find, friend or foe."

"Yes, sir."

Looking at the scanner screens, I kept assigning both capital ships and starfighters to watch over the enemy ships. Mostly because there were simply too many for the capital ships to take care of alone.

To make matters worse, or at least more urgent, that the ships had fired escape pods didn't mean that the entire crew was gone and there was a chance that the crew had activated the self-destruction mechanism, though I wasn't sure that these ships actually had one.

That meant that we had to clear them out, a task that was made more complicated by us having to rescue any prisoners on the Lictor as well.

Switching the channel off again, I turned towards the comm section. "Mister Tavune, get together with Lieutenant Karnos and go through the scanner data to see what happened to those of our people that are missing. I want them found if possible. Oh... And get me Commander Yaki or Lieutenant Seze on the comm. I want to know how the boarding action on the Lictor is going, and I want a boarding force ready to take the other Lictor."

"Yes, sir. I have an update. Lieutenant Seze is currently in command of the boarding action. The Zygerrians have surrendered, and Commander Yaki is on her way back."

"Thank you." Turning towards the tactical section, I asked. "Lieutenant Mormill, do you know if the Imperial capital ships come with a self-destruction system?"

She shook his head. "The large capital ships don't. Having a mechanism that can be operated by a small group of people to destroy a capital ship was deemed unsafe. However, with a half an hour of work, you could take the restraints off the reactor and overload it, bringing about the same result fifteen minutes later. Providing that the reactor was actually running, which is not the case with these ships." She looked at the display. "But to be honest, I don't know about the Mantas."

"Then we'll have to wait it out." I said with a slight nod and looked at the XO. "As usual we have a lot to do, so have the Kraken join us and let's get to work."

"Yes, sir."

---------------------------------------

Hostile guests

Dreadnought Majestic

"Bravery is being the only one who knows you're afraid."

Vice Admiral Zedais, CEDF

I leaned back in the seat, wondering why the sense of unease I had felt since entering the system hadn't gone away and going through things in my mind to see if I had forgotten anything, but was interrupted when an alarm started blaring. "Intruder alert!"

A screen blinked as it shifted to a security camera in the small port side hangar, where a Ministry-class shuttle had landed and three black-clad persons, one tall, one medium and one shorter, armed with ignited red lightsabers were killing some of our space marines that stood guard.

"Shit." Exclaimed Lieutenant Cabur. "That's Lord Xhal, Raman and Kantu!"

"Lord Xhal is the tall one." Added Mormill, her voice shaking. "The small one is Kantu."

Cursing loudly for once, I stood from the chair, grabbed my helmet and ran towards the lift.

"Keep feeding the security camera to my helmet!" I ordered as the two Black Dragons stationed on the bridge followed me into the lift, just as the door closed. I didn't even bother ordering the lift verbally, but simply smashed the palm of my hand against the controls and then donned the helmet, before I cloaked myself from detection. No need to give my presence away.

No-matter how fast I got there, the Sith would have overwhelmed the guards in the small hangar in the time it would take me to arrive, and by then they would have moved into the large hangar or to the lifts, depending on their goal, which was most likely to either take this ship or just going away in a ship with a hyperdrive.

Switching to Cheunh, the Chiss language, I said. "Majestic, Command override Mitth'ale'nuruodo 476. Close all lifts except this one and activate all interior blast doors leading out of the hangars or into the bridge. If you lose my life signs, control goes to Captain Iska... Oh and have the Defender squad stand ready at the bridge."

The Defender squad was the squad of Space Marines equipped with songsteel swords, charric guns, deck-sweepers and electro-net guns that we had made to counter this exact situation.

"Yes, sir" Said the computer obediently.

Glancing at the head-up display, I saw the three Sith walk towards the door leading into the main hangar, stepping over the dead guards as they did so.

Looking at the guards, I said. "You two stay here. This is not your fight, and you need to guard the lift."

The lift stopped and a moment later the door opened, creating a strange overlap, as I saw the three Sith come walking into the hangar from my point of view and from the security camera at the same time.

Stopping the feed, I walked out of the lift as I drew a lightsaber, but held it hidden in my right hand for now, while I held my old, trusted Tyrant charric blaster in my left. With my Force power hidden, there was a chance they thought I was an officer, and I didn't want to give myself away before I had to.

Since I knew exactly where they were, I had no problem locating them, but I had no doubt I could have found them by feel alone, as they radiated cold malice and darkness.

The sight of me coming out of the lift, wearing full armor with a helmet and a cape got their attention, and they paused for a moment, their ignited lightsabers glowing angrily. Or rather the tallest and the shortest stopped, while the medium sized Sith attacked the moment he saw me, quickly closing the distance between us, just like the Sith on Alpha Viga, and like that Sith his movements were powered by the force, as he slashed with the lightsaber. It was an arrogant attack, meant for a non-Force user, going for a simple overhead killing strike and trusting his Force powered quickness to finish the battle before it even began.

Dodging to the side and backwards to get out of reach of the humming energy blade, I held my hand until it was too far down to reverse the move and then shot him in the chest with the charric blaster, being careful not to extend my hand too much. The armor took much of the blast, but the interaction between the maser bolt's microwaves and the metal of the armor created an electrical discharge that stunned him for a few seconds. Long enough for me to shoot him in the head twice, shattering his metal mask with the first shot and the head with the second. He fell to the floor as a headless corpse.

Looking up at the two other Sith, I said, "If you just want a shuttle to get out of here, take one."

The only answer I got was another attack, as the tall one I assumed was Lord Xhal, raised his hand and sent out some kind of lighting. It hit me all over the body, momentarily stunning me though the armor took most of the physical damage. That was fortunate, because in the second the attack stopped, Lord Xhal charged me with impossible speed, as he activated his lightsaber.

In a move born from pure reaction and hours of training, I dropped the blaster on the floor and ignited my lightsaber. The Sith's red blade flashed through the air but hit only my blade as I parried the slash and counter attacked. That in turn was blocked and suddenly I was in a lightsaber duel with a Sith.

With a sudden surge, he lunged at me, but unlike my usual training partners, his movements were swift and precise, his strength immense and his ferocity that of a predator. His strikes were powerful, fuelled by anger and hate, and our blades clashed violently, sending sparks flying.

The impact reverberated through my arm, but I managed to hold the parry, pushing back against his unnatural strength.

Doubt and fear started to seep into my mind. I was only one against two freaking Sith! The chance of me surviving this was somewhere between slim and none. At least unless I used the corruption to gain some extra strength. Then I might have a chance to save the people on the ship.

Another powerful slash and another parry, making our lightsabers clash with a furious crackle, the force of his blows pushing me back with each swing of the red lightsaber.

Gritting my teeth, I dodged the next attack instead of trying to block it, which for some reason cleared my head a little. If I could dodge the attacks of a Sith Lord, the very essence of hatred and aggression, I did have a chance, just as I would against any other opponent.

Pushing the thought of using the corruption of the dark side away, I felt the Bicit vzeat settle over me.

The Calm of Battle as it's called in Basic, is the Chiss counterpart to the rage some other races enter in the middle of a battle, and it's the complete opposite. Instead of going into a state of rage, we become calmer, more focused as emotions are drained from us and we do what makes sense.

In this case, it had the effect of chasing the rest of the doubt and fear away, and I suddenly realized that the doubt and fear had been the Dark Side of the Force calling out to me, tempting me to use it, only to be rejected by my resistance. A resistance that was now boosted by Bicit vzeat, leaving me with a calm mind as the battle continued.

His blows were insanely strong and even with the lightsaber in a two-handed grip, I had trouble parrying them as they threatened to bash my blade away. A particular hard blow hammered through my parry and the tip of his lightsaber glanced over the armor covering my left shoulder and upper arm but since it was only a glancing blow, it was deflected by the songsteel-duranium composite of the armor.

Diving deeper into the Force, I stopped parrying head on and started to redirect the blade away from me along with his energy, forcing him to overextend if he continued the same way. Powered by the boiling rage inside him, he pressed on with another powerful slash, but instead of parrying his blade, I redirected it to the side so it missed me and hit him with a Force push that sent him flying through the air and into the durasteel walls of the hangar between a crate of spare parts and a droid. He hit with a loud clang, the metal against metal sound softened a little by the cape he was wearing, but the sound still echoed through the hangar.

Two masers fired at him from the lift area, but apparently Lord Xhal's lightsaber had the right frequency or he knew a Dark Side power the Sith on Alpha Viga hadn't known, because he parried both bolts, sending them back to where they came from.

The sense of someone attacking from behind caught my attention and I whirled around just in time to parry a blow from Kantu, the Sith apprentice, who had finally decided to join the fight. I had expected an extremely hard strike, but the slash I parried was weaker, but faster and most likely also more precise, than the ones Lord Xhal had used. Still, she was a Sith, and I was sure she would still cut me open and eat my heart for lunch if given the chance.

There was a familiarity with the fluid way she moved that I almost instantly recognized from sparring with Iska and Shakka, but I didn't have the time to take advantage of it, as Lord Xhal joined the fight again, making me dodge to the right and into the open space of the hangar.

They followed me, attacking in tandem, a relentless onslaught of red blades and seething hate. Lord Xhal's strikes were brutal, aiming to batter me down with sheer force, while Kantu's were more measured, her attacks probing, searching for weaknesses.

However, even in the middle of the whirlwind of crimson light, I could feel the Force moving through me, guiding me, and as I slowly let completely go of my fear of failure and the doubt that I could protect the people on the ship, it gradually moved more and more freely. My movements became faster and more fluid, my senses heightened, every breath a focus of will. My blade became a blur of flame-coloured energy as I made full use of the agile curved-hilt lightsaber to deflect their strikes, turning their own aggression against them, as I forced them to dodge or parry my counter attacks.

The calming effect of Bicit vzeat began to change as the Force ran through me, allowing emotions to seep through my mind. Not much, but slowly, hope started to fill me. Hope that I could indeed stand my ground against two Sith. Hope that no more soldiers needed to die in this battle. Hope that we would free a lot of prisoners and take them to a better place, where they could live in peace.

Trejar Melbate had said my style of combat allowed for seamless integration of telekinesis into the bladework and enabled me to use it to enhance my own abilities and as I flowed with the Force, I realized what it meant. Without me even thinking about it, the Force added Telekinetic power to my parries, stopping Lord Xhal's brutal Force-powered strikes without my arms or wrists hurting, while another force push from me sent the woman flying into the wall.

Pausing his attacks, Lord Xhal once again sent lightning against me. Still moving within the force, I parried the lightning with my lightsaber, where it danced on the blade as an almost physical and living thing. Like a snake coiling around the blade.

The apprentice stepped forward again, but with a flick of the wrist, I sent the dark energy in her direction, hitting her right in the chest. The lightning must have hurt her as much as they hurt me, because she was flung backwards, her body twitching from the electrical energy.

Lord Xhal growled at that, and I could almost feel his anger and hatred as a physical force as he lost patience and went into a combination of powerful strikes, slashing at me repeatedly with all his might.

Deflecting the first few strikes, I parried the next head on, the telekinetic power behind my blade stopping his blade completely, catching him in an awkward position. He drew his blade back to hit again, but instead of stepping back, I surged forward, into the opening his move had given me. My flame-coloured blade flashed through air, flesh and bone, severing one of his hands at the wrist, and delivered another powerful Force push that sent him flying through the air, howling in pain all the way, until he crashed into the same wall as before. The loud clang echoed through the hangar once again, and I turned to deal with the woman as she returned to the combat.

The female Sith hesitated for a split second and in that instant, I moved forward, pressing my attack with a series of rapid strikes. She was skilled but my sudden attacks rattled her and with a swift disarming manoeuvre, I sent her lightsaber flying through the air until it hit a crate and fell clattering to the ground.

Without hesitation, the female Sith used a flying jump to separate us and called her lightsaber to her hand.

A scream echoed through the hangar, interrupting our duel and I glanced to the side for a fraction of a second to see Lord Xhal die as the droid positioned near the wall when he had landed, had closed one of its three fingered hands around his head, while the other was around the neck, and as I glanced over, Lord Xhal's lightsaber flashed out, cutting the droid in two. That didn't help him. Even as the droid fell to the deck, metal limbs that could lift several tons ripped his head off the body and crushed it in the same movement.

It was only when I saw the painting on the droid, that I realised it wasn't a normal droid, but G4-S10, or Gaslo, as the intelligent droid preferred to be called. It had remained still until now, ignored by the three living beings, but it had most certainly made its presence known now.

There was a scream of rage and hatred from the female Sith, and a moment later, a ball of ionized energy left her hands, racing towards the droid.

It only hit the lower half, as I used telekinesis to yank the upper part of the droid out of the way, sending it tumbling down the mostly empty hangar. It might need even more repairs afterwards, but it was better than being wiped by an attack.

Her revenge denied, the female Sith howled as she went on the attack, moving towards me with the grace of a predator, the red lightsaber a flurry of red light.

I parried and dodged a few times before counter attacking, my Force enhanced strike breaking through her parry to glance off her head, cutting the cape open and ripping off her helmet, but her reactions were fast enough for her to avoid having her head cleaved.

As I had been told, she was indeed a Twi'Lek, but unlike Iska and Shakka, she was jade-green and her face, now visible, would have been beautiful under normal circumstances, but now it was twisted with rage, and the next strike would have decapitated me, if I hadn't blocked it. I redirected her next strike, spinning away as I counter attacked, but she was fast as lightning, recovering in time to parry.

Our blades locked, crackling with energy as we pushed against each other. With the rage of the dark side, she was much stronger than she looked, and even using a two-handed grip on the lightsaber, my muscles strained to keep her blade away, but at the same time I could see the strain on her face as well.

With a move borrowed from Tristana, I slowly turned while allowing her to push me backwards. She smiled triumphantly, but the slight turn along with the locked blades, had blocked her ability to parry anything else than my lightsaber and she howled in pain as I kicked her in the ribs, the armor on my lower leg connecting solidly with her body.

With a roar of pain and frustration, she broke the deadlock and leaped back to gain some distance. The brief respite allowed me to catch my breath, but a moment later she attacked again, more cautiously this time despite the rage on her face, probing my defences with feints and quick strikes, while dancing and jumping around me.

I deflected each one, baiting her, and as she came at me with an overhead strike, I shifted my stance, deflecting the blow with my lightsaber in a one-handed grip, but before I could counterattack or use the force, she jumped over my head in a move obviously powered by the force. She also slashed at me in mid jump, but having expected the attack, I had already moved out of the way of the strike.

However, as I was dodging and she was in the air, I drew and ignited my other lightsaber with my free hand, using it to parry the strike she made the moment she touched the deck again. Her eyes widened in shock as her attack was stopped, and a fraction of a second later, my long blade slashed her unprotected chest in a lethal strike, cutting through her armor to cleave the heart.

For a moment, she just stood there, looking at me with shock and disbelief painted on her face. The red lightsaber cluttered to the ground again, flickered and then deactivated, as she stumbled backwards and fell to her knees, life draining from her eyes.

Then my shorter blade flashed again, cutting her head in two. I had heard horror stories about Sith coming back from near death and I didn't want to be part of another one.

Deactivating my lightsabers, I watched as her body collapsed to the ground, her body crumpling like a puppet with its strings cut.

Looking around, I could feel myself leaving the almost trancelike state I had been in during the fight, and I was suddenly aware of my heart racing, the burning feeling in my strained muscles and my laboured breath, as my body started to ache as exhaustion settled in. My arms, heavy from the Sith's powerful attacks, began to shake.

Still, it didn't drown out the feeling of amazement that filled me, as I saw the three dead Sith. It was difficult to believe that I had gone up against them and had come out alive, though with the close fight I felt more like a survivor than a victor. Granted, the first Sith had been an arrogant fool and Gaslo had killed Lord Xhal, but it was still amazing.

The thought of Gaslo prompted me to start moving and thinking again.

"Majestic, release the lifts, open the blast doors and tell the Defender Squad to stand down." I ordered. "Resa, get some droid techs down here to attend to Droid Gaslo. It needs repairs and I want them done as fast as possible. Doctor Shakka, we need a medic team in the port side hangar, we have wounded here. Tavune, look at the scanner data. I want to know where that Ministry-class shuttle came from, and how it got here without being detected. My guess is the S-class cruiser from the Lictors escorts, but please check it."

"Yes, sir!"

Nodding to myself, I sent out my force senses to see if anyone near me was alive. There were no life signs in the Sith, or in the shuttle, but to my pleasant surprise two of the five guards in the small hangar were still alive, if barely, and so were the two Black Dragons in the lift. A testament to just how good the armor Yaki and Waydar had made was.

I had planned on checking the wounded Black Dragons first, but as I turned towards the lift, the door closed as the lift was activated, so I walked into the small hangar instead to check on the two badly wounded guards. One was missing an arm and the other had been stabbed through the chest, but fortunately their armor had taken most of the attack and the automated systems in their armor had already released medicine into their bodies.

The medics arrived with repulsorlifts and took over, so I walked back to the other hangar, where Resa and a group of droid-techs were loading Gaslo onto yet another repulsorlift.

To my surprise, it was still activated and as I walked over to check on it, the droid said. "Glad to see you survived, sir."

"Likewise, Gaslo, and thank you for the help."

If it had wanted to say something, it was interrupted by a worried looking Resa. "Gaslo, we might have problems repairing this chassis. If you need a new one, would you like the same model or something else?"

"Same model, sir," The droid said. "But if you could add some better manipulator hands, I would be very grateful."

"No worries, Gaslo. They'll be there when you come around again. Now, I have to switch you off before your power system goes highwire."

"Yes, sir."

Resa switched him off and then looked at me. "May I add things without it having to pay for the upgrades?"

"Yes... and while you're at it, add all the upgrades it has been saving up for."

Resa chuckled and the blue LED blinked a few times. "So, better hands, armor, a built-in fire extinguisher, secondary battery and improved sensors?"

"Any mechanical problems with installing that?"

She shook her head. "No, it'll add some weight, but nothing major considering it's designed to lift several tons at a time."

"Do it."

"Yes, sir." She said with a smile and walked off with repulsorlift and Gaslo. Looking after her, I discovered that Yaki had arrived in the hangar and was walking towards me, looking like an ion storm.

"Commodore." She said stiffly when she came to a stop next to me.

"Before you say anything, Commander." I told her in a low voice. "Be aware that the role of the bodyguards does not include getting themselves killed when fighting against an enemy they're not trained or equipped to fight. I'm also totally aware that I left the two tiger droids in my quarters, because they wouldn't have been useful anyway. Not in the space battle and not against Sith. I know you're angry and worried, but it doesn't change the fact that from time to time there will be dangers you cannot foresee or protect me against."

She took a few deep breaths as she thought it over and then sighed. "Sorry, sir. I was really worried when I saw you taking on three Sith."

"You saw it?"

She almost snorted. "I have access to the security feed... and so has every guard stationed in the hangar areas... They were trying to get here when you closed the doors." She sighed. "Not to mention that having that combat on the head-up display in the helmet, made it the longest shuttle ride in my life."

I chuckled. "You'll live and good that the guards were stopped. They would just have distracted me."

Reports from the latest war between the Republic and Sith showed that a Force user could be taken down by determined and specially trained troopers, but the costs of such action were almost always horrific and the Defender squads was a last resort, meant to protect the bridge and thus the ship.

Nodding slightly, Yaki looked over at the three Sith. "What about them?"

"Strip them of personal items that are not weapons, armor or clothing, and send their bodies into the sun." I ordered. "I will not have a single piece of their essence on this ship... or any other ship for that matter."

"Yes, sir. Leave it to me."

"I mean it, Commander. I've heard too many stories about cursed Sith items for me to take that chance, so do it personally just in case some knuckleheads get the bright idea of collecting a souvenir or something like that." I thought for a moment and added. "Oh, and could you please scan their lightsabers before they're sent on their final journey?"

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you. Now, I better go see how the clean-up after the battle is going."

"Before you do that, you better secure this, sir." Yaki said as she handed me my handgun. "It was laying on the deck over there next to one of the Sith lightsabers."

"Thank you again." I chuckled, holstered the blaster and activated the comm-link, as I walked towards the lifts. "Tavune, lock the security footage of the combat in the hangar."

"Yes, sir." Came the immediate reply. "But I'm not sure how much good that will do."

"What do you mean?"

"Half the guards saw it live and the word has already spread all over the fleet and if I lock the recording, that tale will just get wilder and wilder. That you sent a Sith flying into the bulkhead with enough power to make an impression in the metal is wild enough already."

"What?"

He sent a still from the recording, proving that he was right. Lord Xhal had indeed hit the bulkhead so hard that there was an impression of him in the metal. The Dark Side had protected him from greater harm, but it was still impressive. I sighed. The only thing that travelled as fast as a ship in hyperspace was rumours in a fleet and Tavune had a good point. If people didn't have the fact, they tended to make their own stories. "Very well. Give it some days and then both lock and remove it. I don't want that recording to fall into the wrong hands."

"I'll put a time limit on it, sir."

"Thank you." I said and switched off the intercom, as I tried to use the head-up display in my helmet to get a quick overview of the situation outside. A moment later, I gave up. There were too many things to keep track of with a display as small as the one in my helmet, so I took the helmet off and tucked it under one arm.

The fatigue that had hit me after the combat was almost gone now and my arms weren't shaking any more. Still, I felt like I could use a few days of sleep.

"Hello again, sir." Greeted Iska with a slight smile as I walked into the bridge again. "Glad to see you're still alive and in one piece."

"Thank you, Captain." I replied as I walked to my seat, painfully aware that everybody at the bridge was looking at me. Some with disbelief in their eyes, others with awe, while the two former Imperial Lieutenants had a mixture of both. "How's the situation?"

"Messy, sir, but we're slowly sorting it out." Iska replied and started the explanation. Osprey was still by the first Lictor and the Zygerrians had given up, which was the most important part. We had full control of the two Delta-class carriers from the first Lictor's escort, which were being emptied of prisoners by shuttles.

Two of the Manta-class frigates had unexpectedly blown up, which had to be caused by a self-destruction mechanism, but so far, no other ship had been lost. To be on the safe side, the marines hadn't boarded any of the smaller ships yet and they were guarded by Dragonclaws ready to shut them down again, if their reactors showed signs of re-activating.

Two of the Fafnirs guarded a BSX-5 each, while the third Fafnir had a tractor beam on a destroyer that had been in danger of drifting into the planet's gravity well.

Near the other jump point, the Vulture had a tractor beam on the Tork-class replenishment ship, while Eagle was responsible for the other Lictor and the Medical Transport, Hawk had the other two Delta-class carriers and Falcon was placed between the planet and our ships, with its Sharks and Super Stings now searching the system looking for damaged starfighters, with Kolereth-class transports ready to pick them up with a tractor beam if they found any.

The Space Marines that weren't busy with the two Lictors were already organizing boarding parties to search the surrendered vessels and our two Gage PS-class transports were ready to receive the rescued prisoners.

During the two combats, we had captured two BSX-5s, six Terminus-class destroyers, four Delta-class carriers, two Gage-class transports, eight Drake-class and eight Manta-class frigates, in addition to the Medical Transport and the Tork, though it was still unknown how many of the ships were able to fly.

It was an insane number of ships, and it would be interesting to hear what Keller said about it, once he was done taking a look at them.

"Thank you." I said when she was done and looked over at the tactical section. "Lieutenants Karnos and Mormill?"

The former Imperial Tactical officer looked up and for a brief moment, a worry showed on her face, before years of experience made it disappear, while Karnos was smiling. "Yes, sir?"

"I want an analysis of this engagement, complete with tactical errors the enemy made and suggestions to how they could have done otherwise and the same for our side. I want to know if there was anything I overlooked or could have done better."

"Yes, sir." Said Lieutenant Karnos immediately, echoed by Mormill a second later.

I added. "You'll need to work together on this and be honest." I looked at Mormill, "I'm not your former commander and this is the only way to learn from our battles."

She widened her eyes a bit. "Yes, sir."

"Good." I turned back to the screens, while running through the tasks we needed to do and I discovered that there was nothing left to do until the tasks we were already doing had been completed.

That gave me some time, so I excused myself and I walked into my office, got out of my armor and took a quick bath, before changing into the uniform, let myself fall into the sofa and asked the computer to replay the combat in the Hangar. I might as well use the time to do some reflection over the combat and see if I could learn anything.

It played out pretty much the way I remembered it, but watching it now, it also went a lot faster with the lightsabers being blurs of colour as we duelled. I slowed the combat to fifty percent and started over, noticing where I had started using the Force to argument my parries and strikes. It really did help a lot as I could see my technique getting better and faster, while the strong blows from Lord Xhal were starting to take its toll on the Sith.

The part with Lord Xhal using his strange lightning attack was especially interesting, as I noticed how he had to stop his bladework to send those lightning, while my Force push a little later was seemingly a natural progression from the previous stance.

Pausing the recording, I looked at the overhead, thinking it through. The ability to integrate Force powers into lightsaber combat was certainly a technique I needed to train, as it would give an advantage against the Sith. I was also painfully aware that it was an advantage that I needed. Most Sith had fought hundreds, if not thousands of lightsaber duels, and if I had the misfortune of meeting more Sith, they too would have more experience in lightsaber duels than I had.

That left surprise, skill, knowledge and the Force on my side, and I wouldn't always have surprise. If events like this continued to happen, it was only a matter of time before Darth Arkol would know about us and with the Dark Side abilities his henchmen had shown, I really didn't want to be anywhere a real Darth.

I might have taken out two or three Sith depending on how I looked at it, but I had no doubt that Darth Arkol as a lot stronger than they were. Otherwise, there would be someone else in command, and the chance of me surviving such a meeting was somewhere between slim and none.

I might have spent over a decade training with a lightsaber, but it was still a lot less than a full-blown Sith, and in addition they would have force powers I had never heard about.

"Majestic, do we have any recordings of Sith fighting with lightsabers?"

"No, sir." Answered the computer. "Such recording is not kept in my database."

"What about Jedi fighting with lightsabers?"

"The same, sir. Such recording is not kept in my database."

"So, where are they kept?"

"I don't know, sir, but most likely on either in a Jedi temple or on Drumund Kas."

Drumund Kas was a place I sincerely hoped not to visit. The alliance between the Chiss Ascendency and the Sith Empire was a matter of politics, and while I could see the necessity for the Chiss Ascendency in general, it wasn't a politic I could agree with on a personal level.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, sir."

With nothing in the database, there was only one other source and that was the Holocron, so I found the case, sat down on the sofa again and inserted the crystal into it.

Somewhat to my surprise, it wasn't a garden this time, but a training room, with Trejar Melbate dressed in what I assumed was the attire of a Jedi trainer, which I supposed was a reflection of my mood.

"Well, hello again Commodore Mitth'ale'nuruodo." He said immediately.

"Hello, Master Melbate." I said with a slight bow and gestured around. "Nice change of scenery."

"Thank you. It seemed to fit your mood, which I guess will also reflect in your questions."

"Yes." I said and explained about the three Sith and my combat against them, especially Lord Xhal and Kantu. "I feel that I need more information."

"In that case, I will need to look into your memory of that combat. Will you allow this?"

"Yes." I nodded with a slight sigh. Trejar Melbate had asked before and each time, I had rejected the suggestion, since I didn't like the thought of anyone looking into my memories, despite him explaining that he would only have access to memory of the subject he was looking for.

I didn't feel anything change, but the gatekeeper was silent for a time, before he bowed. "I owe you an apology, Commodore Mitth'ale'nuruodo."

"For what?"

"From the stances you showed me," He told me. "I assume that you used a fighting style that incorporated moves from Makashi, or form 2, into Niman, or Form 6. However, seeing the combat, I realised that I was wrong."

"I see." I said, rubbing my forehead, wishing that he would just continue instead of apologizing. Everybody made mistakes, even gatekeepers, when trying to guess at something using incomplete data. "So, what is it?"

"I don't have a name for it, mostly because I've never seen it before." Trejar Melbate explained. "Niman is a hybrid form combining several of the older forms into one, but the form you're using has more moves from Form 5 than I'm used to. Form 5 has two primary disciplines Shien and Djem So." He said, adopting what I had named his 'teacher voice'. "Shien is what you use for defence against multiple enemies, deflecting lightsaber blows, having a counter-attack after each parry, and deflecting blaster bolts back at the very enemy firing them. Djem So is an aggressive form, great for lightsaber duels, but slightly worse against blasters. Both are great for two weapon combat, though many only use one."

"They sound like two different styles. So, why have the Jedi piled them into one form and not two?" I asked.

"The philosophy behind the two forms is the same. Defence through offence." He smiled a little, "though you have a tendency to stay defensive a lot longer than most people."

"Yeah, Captain Tristana told me the same." I told him. "I've been working on it, but I prefer to get a feel of my enemies, before going on the attack."

"Just as with naval attacks, sometimes attacking and forcing the enemy to surrender as fast as possible, will save a lot of lives in the long run."

Thinking it through, I nodded. "Good point, but how does that mix work?"

"As far as I can see, it enables the user to use more moves from Form 5, while still taking advantage of Niman's ability to integrate the use of the Force in combat. To that effect, the moves typical for Form 5 have been changed just enough to make it faster and easier to use the force in the flow of a combat." He paused, but then added. "I must say that it's a unique combination that I have never seen or heard of before."

I was silent for a long moment. The description of the form described by Trejar Melbate made a lot of sense if you only looked at the form itself, but as it was taught to all Praetorians in the Chiss Ascendency it made a lot less sense. By and large, the former ozyly-esehembo that became Praetorians were strong in the Third Sight, as the ability to sense the future and use it for navigation was called. While good for avoiding attacks, the Third Sight didn't really offer any direct aid in lightsaber combat and training a form that excelled in that seemed like a waste of opportunity.

"Is there a form that takes advantage of the ability to sense the future?"

Trejar Melbate nodded. "Well, both Niman and Ataru use it, but if you're asking about a form that specialises in it, I will say Form 3 or Soresu. It's mostly a defensive form, but done well, it can be great. It's also the less physically taxing of the forms, and personally I think you will find it quite boring."

Nodding slowly, I thought it over. It did sound like the perfect form for most of the former ozyly-esehembo, but instead Master Brin had taught everybody the Niman based Praetorian Style. I sighed slightly as I began to suspect that Master Brin perhaps wasn't the almost all-knowing person I had thought when I was younger. Like everybody else, he was limited by what he had learned, and from what I had learned so far, there were areas where his teaching was somewhat uncertain, not to mention narrow.

If I was to survive out here, I needed to learn more about the abilities and powers of my opponents. Just like preparing for a battle by studying the opponent's ships and tactics, studying the different kinds of lightsaber combat styles, would be prudent in case we ran into more Sith who wanted to go into close combat instead of keeping it to space battles.

"Master Melbate," I said slowly. "I think I need to learn a lot about lightsaber combat as the Jedi and the Sith use them."

He smiled widely in response. "I think that is a good idea... Now let's start with Form 1, also known as Shii-Cho..."

I held up a hand. "I didn't mean right now, Master Melbate. And before you ask what could be more important than that, we have just fought a space battle against two Sith forces and liberated fourteen thousand prisoners. A number that could potentially go as high as twenty-five thousand people once we're done emptying the captured enemy ships. Those people take priority above just about anything."

The gatekeeper sighed but smiled. "I can't really complain, since your priorities was one of the reasons I agreed to listen to you in the first place, but the sooner we get started, the better."

"I know, but I happen to command a fleet, and don't have all the time in the world, so I'll just have to come back later when I have more time."

He nodded. "Don't take too long, Commodore. The fate of your fleet might just depend on what I can teach you."

"I know. We will talk later."

A moment later, I was back on the sofa in my office.

With a sigh, I stood to put the Holocron away and then sat down to meditate. The lure of the Dark Side that had affected me during the combat against the Sith worried me, and it was something I needed to think about and meditate on, so I could avoid it later.

That was for later, though. Right now, I needed to sleep.

---------------------------------------

So many ships, so little time

Dreadnought Majestic, Grinda System

"Logistics is the hard part of fighting a war."

From the Holy Book of War

"That was a bloody mess." Said Yaki when we all met late the next day for a briefing, and I had asked how the boarding of the first Lictor had gone. "They didn't give up before the second battlegroup transmitted their surrender message, and at that time, half of them had died, taking two marines with them and wounding ten others."

"Fortunately," said Lieutenant Seze. "The other Lictor was a lot easier. The Zygerrians used the escape pods as soon as the battlegroup surrendered and the few droids that defended the ship were destroyed with relative ease by our own droids."

"Well, at least it tells us that they had planned to meet in this system." I observed. "Lieutenant Seze, how many prisoners will you estimate that the second Lictor carries?"

"Well, all the doors to the cells are shut, so it's hard to say for certain, sir, but anywhere between five and nine thousand."

"You can add five thousand to that number." Said Yaki with a smile. "Lieutenant Titlow found that many prisoners in the Delta's that turned towards the Fafnirs."

"Then there's most likely nine thousand prisoners on the Lictor then." I said slowly. "Unless the Lictor was full, there would be no reason to place prisoners on the Deltas."

"Good point, sir."

Iska sighed. "In that case, there's another prison colony out here somewhere that the battlegroup visited before coming here. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense to bring the prisoners along. They planned on meeting here, so the second Lictor could join the first one, so they would have an escort the rest of the way, without having to send the whole battlegroup."

"I think you're right, but I hope one of the few remaining officers can tell us more."

Captain Ramzed Hel of the Beluga raised a hand. "Excuse me, sir, but with the freed prisoners from Nodia as well, do we have room for twenty-eight thousand people?"

"No," I replied with a slight shake of the head. "We'll have to use some of the captured ships, which means prioritizing those who can take a lot of prisoners, like the Delta's." Looking over at Resa, I asked. "How many passengers can the BSX-5's take?"

"Fifteen hundred." She answered immediately. "The Delta's can take three thousand three hundred."

There was a chuckle from Captain Georgina Witt of the Orca. "Sorry, but I've been busy placing freed prisoners, so could someone tell me exactly how many ships we captured during the two battles yesterday?"

"Two BSX-5s, six Terminus-class destroyers, four Delta-class carriers, two Gage-class transports, eight Drake-class and eight Manta-class frigates, in addition to the Medical Transport and the Tork." Listed Resa with a slight smile. "But until Master Engineer Keller and the rest of the engineers have been through them, we don't know how many of them we can repair."

Captain Witt shook her head slightly, as in disbelief. "That's an insane number of warships. Do we have enough people to place a prize-crew on all of them?"

"That will take a lot of juggling people... again." Admitted Elise Samko. "But until we know how many of them we can repair, there's no way to say for certain."

"And as always, the prisoners have first priority." I looked at Resa. "Going back to the first Lictor, have we cracked the code to the database yet?"

"Well, the engineers got the computer up and running yesterday and currently, we're trying to slice it, so we can open the doors, sir. Also having the data on the prisoners will help us determine if any of them are simply too dangerous to keep." She gestured and the hologram of a nervous looking young man appeared next to her. "That is why I've brought Tech Specialist Wildec Gaslau here, so he can explain it in a little more detail."

The Tech Specialist gulped nervously but got himself together. "The system is extremely secure and resists most attempts at tinkering from the outside, but like the Lictor in the Nodia system, we found a backdoor into the system and I expect that we're into the system in about four hours."

"That is fast." Commented Iska with a little smile.

He looked gratefully at her. "Thank you, sir, but we already had the system structure from the Lictor in the Nodia system and the prison system is completely separated from the ship's computer, which again is separated from the Navigation computer, and that makes it easier, since we don't have to worry about the other systems and can focus on one. Once we're into the system, we can open the doors and give you the data on the prisoners, before moving on to the last Lictor."

"Good. Thank you, Specialist Gaslau."

He nodded and the hologram faded away.

I looked at Yaki. "Commander, when we're done transferring the liberated prisoners, send your marines out and have them loot the ships we can't take with us. Transfer everything into whatever ship the Chief Engineer thinks is done first." I thought for a moment and looked at Betty Nagos. "XO, find out if any of the freed prisoners from Nodia are former cargo masters or loaders. If so, they'll have a job once we figure out what this fleet was transporting."

"Yes, sir."

"Commander Yaki, could you save an Electro-staff for me when you empty out those Lictors?" Asked Captain Bucbro with a little smile. "Just in case we run into the Sith again. We can't all be as good as the Commodore here and take three of them, but I'll give it a try with one."

"I'll make sure you get one, Captain Bucbro." Yaki chuckled.

The smile on the captain's face grew larger. "Thank you, commander."

There were several good-humoured chuckles, and Iska said. "Perhaps we should have started with mentioning the Banta in the room, which is the Commodore's fight with the three Sith." She smiled a little. "I know that everybody has seen the security footage by now and I think I speak for all of us, when I say that I'm eternally grateful that you're on our side, sir, but aside from that, I don't really know what to say."

"I did tell you, that you're a lot better with the lightsaber than with a vibroblade, sir," said Tristana with a slight smile. "But after seeing the combat, I realized that I didn't know how much better you are when you don't have to hold back." She bowed slightly in her seat. "Well fought, sir."

"Yes, well fought, sir," Said Captain Barlee. "But most importantly, it showed all of us that the Sith are not unbeatable, not even in close combat, and for a lot of people, me included, that is a huge relief."

"Yes, Senior Mechanic Waydar told me that when we were watching the second instalment of Dragon Quest."

He nodded. "One thing is seeing it as an animation. Seeing it caught on security cameras is something completely else, sir. The majority of people here have lost battles to the Sith. Either in space or on the ground, so seeing the Sith being defeated in both space and close combat is a huge boost to morale... and the morale was pretty good to start with."

Captain Zwul nodded. "I agree. I suggest that we leave that video up until all the newly freed prisoners have seen it. That will boost their morale a lot and give them hope that we can take them to a better place."

"Not to mention, that it just might make our lives easier. " Said Captain Tlath from his ready-room on the Eagle, his face a mask of seriousness. "With a high morale and a force user in command, the chance of people running away with a ship is greatly diminished."

"You all have good points and the recording stays up for now. However, let's get back to the business at hand." I looked at Yaki. "Commander, are we done with cleaning out the other ships of Imperials?"

"Not totally. We have removed the crew from all of them, but we have only had time to go through the Deltas and the BXS-5s, sir, and they're as empty as can be. We have searched them with both scanners and physically, looking in every nook for hidden people or attack droids, and every remaining Imperial crew member was taken prisoner before Chief Engineer Keller and his people went to work on the damaged electronics and computer systems. Unfortunately, all the officers took escape pods and none of the remaining Imperials had any useful knowledge about what they were doing here, as they thought that they were on a routine patrol. There're a few exceptions, and we're talking with them now. We'll know more when we get a look at the logs."

"We'll wait then." I commented but wasn't really surprised. The lower rank on a ship rarely knew the big picture, and the logs on the computer were notoriously hard to slice. I looked at Corlew Bucbro, Captain of the Falcon and the one that had been in charge of rounding up the enemy starfighters and finding those whose ship had been disabled. "Captain Bucbro, what's the status of our starfighters?"

He grimaced. "Twenty-one of the starfighters were destroyed, but thanks to the cockpit functioning as an escape pod, only eight pilots were killed. The rest were picked up by the search parties."

"Good job and we'll have a funeral later. How did it go with the enemy star fighters?"

"Only two of the MK. VI survived and they both flew to the planet and disappeared in the landscape, along with the escape pods. Since they have neither hyperdrive nor landing gear, I elected to just let them be instead of risking our own ships and focussed on getting our disabled fighters back."

"Good choice." I said firmly. "There's no reason to risk our people for star fighters we don't really care about. Hmm... can the Imperials survive on the planet, or do they need help?"

"They'll live." He said without hesitation. "We dropped some basic tools and shelters for them, and according to Imperial regulations, the escape pods contain some weapons, so they can even hunt."

"A question, sir." Said Yaki. "Can we place the hard-core criminals on the planet as well?"

"I haven't really had time to think about it." I answered.

"It's better than the fate they were destined for." Said Captain Barlee, making most of the other nod.

"At least they'll have company." Remarked Elise Samko. "According to the latest count, the escape pods carried between twelve and fifteen thousand imperials on the planets."

Captain Bucbro looked surprised. "That many?? Hmm... I guess we better drop some more shelters and rations then."

The sheer number of people was as always insane, but I guessed that would be the case every time we dealt with Imperial Fleets. Capital ships of the size the Empire preferred demanded large crews and defeating a battlegroup meant thousands of prisoners. In that regard we were fortunate that the battle had taken place in a system with a habitable planet, since it freed us from having to transport all those Imperial prisoners to another system.

With that in mind, placing the convicted prisoners on the planet as well wasn't that bad an idea, since it also freed us from having to transport them anywhere.

"Place the criminals on the planet along with the rest." I ordered. "And as Captain Bucbro said, drop some more necessities for them." I thought for a moment. "I considered placing an automatic beacon here, so they can be found when Darth Arkol comes looking for his ships, but I guess the wrecks alone makes it pretty obvious."

That made people around the table chuckle and nod.

"Alright people," I said. "We could continue here for a while, but you're all busy, so instead of rambling on, let's go get the job done and get some sleep before we meet again." I looked at Keller. "Chief Engineer, I need a word with you before you leave."

"Yes, sir"

--------------------------------

The holograms and screens winked out, leaving me alone with Iska, Resa and the hologram of Keller. "Did you have time to look at the captured ships, Chief Engineer?"

Keller smiled tiredly. "I've already looked at most of the destroyers and I have to say that besides being an extremely gifted tactician, you're the luckiest commander I've ever worked with, sir." He noticed my lifted eyebrows. "Please let me explain, sir. The Terminus-class Destroyer is highly modifiable, but if we disregard the minor differences between versions, it comes down to hyperspace speed. The older versions have a Rank 3 hyperdrive, but as those couldn't keep up with the Harrower, a new engine was made and when the ships came in for refit or to have combat damage repaired, the new hyperspace engine was installed instead, giving the Terminus-class a Rank 2 hyperspace rating. The Gage-class transport is built on the same hull as the Terminus, so these were upgraded as well." He glanced at something outside the hologram and then added. "Oh... and as we found out, these ships also have the same upgraded point defence system as the one we encountered in Nodia."

I thought about it for a moment. The Terminus-class destroyer was made in the shipyards at Dromund Kalakar, where Keller had worked with the experimental battlegroup. Pieces fell into place. "That's the same engine as on the experimental Terminus-class destroyers in the Snare system, right? The same general design as the one on the ships we got there."

"Exactly right, sir." He said with a chuckle. "And it's not just one, but all six of the surviving destroyers. Granted, it's not totally unlikely, as about a fourth of all Terminus-class Destroyers were scheduled to be upgraded when I left five years ago and we know that Darth Arkol arrived directly from Dromond Kas as a reinforcement force, but it's still lucky. Unfortunately, we can only use five of them. The last one had its electronics damaged so bad that it'll take weeks to fix, and I doubt we have the time for that."

"You're right and we'll blow it up or fly it into the sun before we leave the system." I told him. "What about the Tork-class replenishment ship and the Medical transport?"

Keller grinned as he answered my question. "I did tell you, that you are lucky, sir. I don't know if the Chiss Navy has them, but Replenishment ships are essential to most fleets on long range missions."

I shook my head. "I know what they are, but I have never studied them. The CEDF usually doesn't operate that far from Chiss territory."

"Oh... Well, if Darth Arkol has any brains, he'll cry himself to sleep over the loss of this one... though admittedly, any Sith would be more likely to smash something in anger." Said Keller, looking like he found the thought amusing. "The Tork-class carry fuel, ammunition and spare parts for an entire fleet, and have repair facilities to repair, rearm and refuel two Harrower-class dreadnoughts, or four Terminus-class destroyers, at the same time. I don't know for certain yet, but there's a good chance that Darth Arkol had it brought here to repair, rearm and refuel his ships."

Iska whistled softly. "A ship of that size can carry a lot of goods."

The Chief Engineer nodded. "They do, but more importantly, they're the much bigger brother of the Kraken. An Imperial replenishment ship is the next best thing to a Spacedock when it comes to repairing capital ships. It has docks so big that you can fly a Drake or a Manta into them and repair them in atmosphere, just like the hangars here on Majestic can do with the starfighters." He smiled widely. "We can load four of the damaged Drakes or Mantas into the ship when we get out of here. Even better, it's really not a warship, despite having both armor and weapons. Those are mostly to scare off pirates, so the crew needed to fly one of them are just twenty, just like the Kraken, the rest are engineers, technicians, mechanics and droid handlers, along with gunners. The only downside is that it's equipped with a Rank 4 hyperdrive, making it somewhat slow in hyperspace."

"For a flying and hyperspace capable shipyard, that's really not bad." Commented Iska. "What about that Medical Transport?"

"It's a variant of the Delta-class carrier," explained Keller, "And it's a version I never thought that I would see." He smiled. "This version was made to work in tandem with the experimental battlegroup and especially the Gage PA-classes. To put it briefly, the Medical Transport is equipped with four hundred Bacta tanks, eight hundred medical droids, fifty doctors and two hundred medics, and has room for more than fifteen hundred patients at the same time, though I guess most of them are currently on the planet right now."

"Most likely." Agreed Iska and asked. "Can it do landfall like a normal Delta?"

"Yes." Answered Keller with a nod. "But it has twelve medical shuttle and twelve rescue craft just in case it's needed."

"Is that normal of the Empire?" Asked Resa.

"Yes." Said Keller without hesitation. "The problem with having a big army and using it a lot, is that soldiers get wounded in battle, so you'll need doctors, medics and places to heal them. Consequently, the Empire has a lot of Medical Transports and this Delta-class variant is just one of many. However, what makes the Delta-class variant special is the Rank 2 hyperdrive, the ability to do landfall and the armor and weapons to keep it safe while doing so." He smiled. "And as with the Tork, Darth Arkol is not going to be pleased about losing this one."

"What about the BSX-5s?" I asked. "What's the condition of those?"

"I don't know." Keller replied. "I simply haven't had time to look at them yet, as Commander Yaki needed to make sure they were empty."

I nodded. Keeping the engineers safe was the highest priority.

"Depending on how you look at it," Said Iska slowly. "Darth Arkol is either a renegade or a traitor to the Sith Empire, which means that he can't just request a reload of supplies from an Imperial base. So, any supplies have been bought, not given to him."

I nodded in agreement. "I think that is why Darth Arkol is selling slaves: To get Credits from the Zygerrians, so he could buy supplies." Looking over at Resa, I asked. "Can you give me a number?"

I could see the Blue LED on Resa's temple blink rapidly for a moment. "According to the database, slaves are generally around two thousand credits for unskilled ones, three thousand for a lightly skilled one, seven thousand for speciality skills, like piloting, astrogating or what-ever. Good-looking pleasure slaves can go for anywhere from fourteen to thirty thousand credits." She paused for a moment and then continued. "If we assume an average price of about ten thousand credits per slave, and that only the first Lictor reached the Zygerrians, that is ninety million credits. However, that's the price on the market, but the slavers only pay about thirty percent, so about thirty million credits, which is a lot of supplies."

"But not even close to being enough." Stated Keller with certainty in his voice. "If we assume that the Tork and the Medical Transport went to get a refuel somewhere, thirty million credits aren't nearly enough. I mean, it costs about a hundred thousand credits to replace the bacta in a tank, so just getting refills for all the bacta tanks on the Medical Transport will cost forty million credits. Proton torpedoes and capital ship missiles are around two thousand a piece, and that will quickly become a lot of money when you have to arm a fleet. Conducting a war is horribly expensive, which is why it's normally conducted by empires or republics."

Iska nodded and looked at me. "You need to stop being right, sir."

When Keller looked like he had missed something, she said. "When we were searching for Nodia, our Commodore noticed that there were other planets out here that are only present on local maps and some of them might be prison planets."

Keller nodded. "That is likely, and it explains why Nodia was still populated more than a year after we ran into the two Kilterin-class and the Lictor in the Epsilon Eta system. After three ships were lost, I have no doubt that the Zygerrians demanded escorts and there must also be a limit on how many Lictors they were willing to risk at one time." He thought for a moment. "There's an even chance that Darth Arkol might already have made a few hundred million credits from emptying other camps, which would explain how he got the credits for the refill of the Tork and the Medical transport. However, he can't have emptied them all, even if he started with those camps closer to the Outer Rim, if such camps exist."

Looking at the droid, I asked. "Resa, if we assume an average of three thousand credits per slave, how many shipments would it take to reach two hundred million credits?"

"A little more than seven shipments of nine thousand slaves. If they used the Delta class carriers to carry slaves as well, as we have seen here, it'll only take seven shipments."

Keller grimaced. "It's a lot, but it's doable. Nodia held thirty thousand prisoners, so it would only take two other prisons to reach that number... and two hundred million credits is the lowest estimate. I haven't seen the inventory yet, so it might be a lot higher."

"Good point, which means that we have overlooked something." I said thoughtfully. "Well, that's a debate for later. We're taking too much of your time here. Go get some sleep, Chief Engineer. We can talk again, when we know more about which ships we can take from here and what they carried."

He nodded slightly. "Yes, sir."

The hologram faded and I was still for a moment, thoughts running in my head. There were so many things to do and consider, that it was becoming difficult to focus and I could feel that I needed to meditate to clear my head, though this time it wasn't the force or dark side I need to meditate on but more mundane things, like finding crews and keeping the whole fleet running.

"I need to go meditate." I told Iska and Resa, "but just out of curiosity, Captain, who do you have in mind for a prize crew from Majestic?"

"First Officer Felcro and Lieutenant Karnos are ready for it," the beautiful Twi'Lek said with a little smile. "and to be honest, so is Pilot Satomie, though she won't admit it."

First Officer Max Felcro was one of the people Iska had chosen for the bridge crew almost a year ago and was a competent and good looking black-haired and blue-eyed human male. I liked him, but unfortunately, my down-time and rest periods coincided with his duty schedule, so I didn't get to talk with him that often, but he had done an excellent job as First Officer and I trusted Iska when she said he was ready to command a ship.

I nodded with a chuckle. "I agree."

--------------------

A lengthy meditation, followed by a night's rest, a bath and a meal, went a long way to making me feel better and after dressing in a fresh uniform, I felt ready to go to work.

My first call was to Yaki to get an update on the prisoners, and I discovered that they had succeeded in slicing the computer on the first Lictor and Elise Samko and DD5 were currently looking through the database, while waiting for the prisoners to wake up. The slicers had moved on to the second Lictor and expected to slice that within a day.

"By the way, sir. Captain Iska was right." Yaki said with a smile. "According to one of the few remaining officers, the two groups were supposed to meet in this system, but that is the extent of his knowledge. We have an officer from the battlegroup as well, but Betty Nagos is talking with her right now, so I guess we'll have to wait for more details."

"Thank you."

My next call was to Keller, but he was sleeping, so instead I walked through the office and onto the bridge, followed by the two tiger droids.

As always there was a feeling of quiet effectiveness there, that made me feel good. Iska was quietly talking with First Officer Max Felcro over to one side, while Tavune and Karnos were busy at the scan section and in general, everybody was doing their job.

I walked in the direction of Iska and Felcro, but before I was even halfway, Tavune called. "Commodore, I think you need to see this."

With a slight sigh, I changed direction towards the scan section. "What do you have?"

"The shuttle carrying the Sith didn't come from the S-class, sir." Said Tavune. "Look at this scan."

I looked at the screen and watched as the Ministry-class left the hangar of one of the Delta-class carriers moments before the S-class blew up, which basically meant that the three Sith must have been ready to board the shuttle or already in it, as the group dropped out of hyperspace.

Whoever piloted the shuttle was very good, because the moment the shockwave from exploding S-class hit it, the pilot had switched the drive off, allowing the shuttle to be carried away from the attacking starfighters by the shockwave.

The shuttle drifted for a while until it was at a safe distance from the action. Then the pilot activated the drive and flew even further away, hiding behind an asteroid.

"They stay there for the rest of the combat." Said Tavune, with Karnos adding. "We think they were waiting for the battlegroup to arrive, or for us to go away."

"That seems logical." I said and pointed at the asteroid. "But just to be on the safe side, do a close scan of that asteroid. With a length of five kilometres, it could easily be a base like the one in the Epsilon Eta system, though I have to admit it's unlikely."

"And if it is a base?" asked Karnos.

"I'll expect you to come up with a suggestion as to how to deal with it."

"Yes, sir."

Tavune smiled. "Shouldn't be that hard, sir. We've got the firepower to melt it if we so chose, and if they have just the most rudimentary of scanners, they'll know that, too. A simple threat should make them give up."

"And if they don't?" I asked curiously.

"A few warning shots with the heavy turbos should make them reconsider that, sir." He said with a shrug.

"Good point, but so far, we don't even know if it is a base, so do the scans first and then we'll talk. Now let's see the rest of the shuttle's journey."

"Yes, sir." He jumped to the point where the shuttle emerged from its hiding place, which was right after the Harrower had exploded. Then it flew directly towards Majestic, still going unnoticed by the gunners and simply flew into the hangar.

There simply had to be some kind of force power in action, I determined, just as Tavune said. "This looked so strange that Lieutenant Karnos and I looked through the data from the gunners and the point defence, and as it turned out, some of the droid gunners did detect the ship, but were overruled by their human controllers."

"Sith powers." I explained. "They don't affect droids, only living beings."

"Let's release those near the hangars from the controllers then, sir." Suggested Lieutenant Karnos. "I know Droid gunners are bad at longer distances, but that isn't really an issue with the point defence lasers."

"Good idea, Lieutenant. Write up a detailed description about it and give it to both me and the Master Gunner. Then we'll debate it."

"Yes, sir."

A thought suddenly struck me. Perhaps the reason for the major powers in the galaxy to not use droids as gunners was exactly because they weren't affected by the Force. For the last thousand years, most of the major conflicts had involved Force-users, and not only had our shooting improved dramatically after the influx of gunners from Nodia, but the moment I had been stunned by the force scream and my battle meditation disturbed, our shooting had become much worse.

It made sense for the Sith and Jedi to crew their ships with beings, whose abilities could be improved by the use of Battle Meditation, instead of droids who weren't affected. Battle Meditation was one of the things I hadn't talked with Trejar Melbate about, but perhaps it was time I did that.

Another thought popped into my mind. "Mister Tavune, have you scanned the Delta the three Sith were on?"

"Yes, sir, and I found no surprises there."

"Ask the marines to do a complete search of the ship." I ordered. "I want to know why three Sith were on board a Delta instead of the S-class cruiser or instead of their flagship. It might have been the whim of Lord Xhal or something else, but I still want to know."

"Yes, sir."

Lieutenant Karnos frowned. "Excuse me, sir, but do you have any idea about what they were doing?"

"No, but Lord Xhal disliked prisoners so much that he wouldn't have any of them on the S-class cruiser he used as a flagship, so the question is what he was doing on a ship with prisoners. " I explained. "It could be a lot of things, so I don't want to guess, but it could be important, so I do want to know."

"Got it, sir." Said Lieutenant Karnos with a smile. "And thank you for the explanation."

"You're welcome."

"Excuse me, sir." Said Resa, making me turn to look at her. "The flight officer is debriefing the pilots now and you did say that you wanted to be there."

"I'll go there in a moment." I told her and looked at Tavune and Karnos. "Excellent job as usual but remember to scan that asteroid and find out what the Sith were doing on that ship."

"Yes, sir."

With a nod I commanded the tigers to wait in my room and turned back to Resa. "Let's go."

She looked at the droids. "You're not taking them along?"

"With you around, I already have a droid bodyguard." I told her with a chuckle and started to walk, waiting until I was so far away from the rest that they couldn't hear me, before lowering my voice and adding. "Even if you look more like a dream, than a bodyguard."

She looked surprised and pleased at the same time, and as we entered the lift, she whispered. "Thank you."

"No need to thank me for the truth." I chuckled and winked to her.

---------------------

Flight Lieutenant Kirian was conducting the debriefing of the starfighter pilots, when we quietly entered the room. Unfortunately, I had chosen the wrong entrance, as I entered within sight of the almost two hundred pilots in the room, who noticed the black uniform immediately and before I could say anything, someone shouted "Attention! Commander on Deck!" and a moment later, they were all standing to attention.

"At ease." I said, as I stopped and looked at them, waiting for them to take a more relaxed stance. "I'm just here to congratulate you all on a job well done. Yes, we did lose good men and women out there, eight to be exact, but everybody did exceptionally well. There wasn't a single time in that battle where I found myself doubting your abilities to do the tasks given to you."

I paused for a moment as I looked at them.

"Now, I did tell you before we ventured into this combat, that you would be given some of the best starfighters in the galaxy. That was not an exaggeration, as I truly believe that, but I'll get back to that in a moment. Another important thing is the tactics used. I do believe that we're trying to use tactics that give you guys the best chance of surviving, while still getting the job done. You, however, might not agree on any of these things. More to the point, you might even be right. Oh, by the way, do you like the triple rapid-fire lasers on the Dragonclaw?"

Most of them nodded and several said. "Yes, sir!"

"Why?" I asked with a smile.

"Because it makes it very good in ship-to-ship combat." Said one of the older pilots. "Especially combined with the ion-cannons."

"I agree, but it was originally designed with two heavy lasers and three Ion-cannon, and the only reason why it was changed was due to the pilots here who, with Lieutenant Maxwell as their spokesperson, suggested that the rapid-fire lasers were better..." I paused for effect and then continued. "And had the simulator data to back it up."

Most of the pilots looked at the young lieutenant, who just smiled, but they looked back at me when I continued speaking, paying attention.

"We are willing to listen to you, so if you have any suggestions that will make our starfighters better, do not hesitate to suggest them. I will however demand you do try them in the simulators first, since our engineers have enough to do as it is. However, if you do manage to make them even better, I will be delighted. Strange as it may sound to you, the same applies to tactics. If you have any suggestions, make a detailed description and give it to the Flight Lieutenant, who will pass it on to the tactical officer and we will test those suggestions. If the suggestions work in the simulators, we'll test them in real life and if they're still successful, those changes will be implemented."

Some of the pilots were smiling and I held up a hand. "A word of caution. Military tactics are developed from successful combats and such experiences are paid for in blood and lives of dead combatants. That is the reason that any changes in hardware and tactics will be tested again and again, before they're used or implemented. As I have said before, and as you have seen now, we can't afford to throw pilots and craft away."

There was silence for a moment, but then a pilot asked. "May I ask a question about the recent combat, sir?"

"Certainly."

"Why did you wait so long before ordering the Aureks to attack the Harrower, sir? I mean, we've seen the recordings, and it seemed like there was a clear shot at it earlier."

That made me smile a little. "How many anti-starfighter cannons does a BSX-5 have?"

He thought for a moment. "Ten, sir."

"Yes, but it's ten quad lasers, just like the Harrower has twenty-five quad lasers. A slight turn from the capital ships, and the Aureks would have had somewhere between twenty and thirty quad lasers pointed at them. Instead of risking losing half of them, I just waited until they were too far apart so the BSX-5 couldn't support the Harrower and then had them go in."

He nodded with a smile. "Thank you, sir."

A human female pilot asked. "Another question, sir?"

"Yes?"

"How come..."

That was the start of a longer session, where the pilots asked questions about the tactics, which I answered.

It was both fun and educational and I could feel some of the former Imperial pilots loosen up and ask questions as time went by.

"That's it for now, Ladies and Gentlemen." I said after answering a last question. "Commander Resa over there is signalling that there is something I need to do, so the time is up." A thought struck me. "Which reminds me... Please come here, Commander."

I waited until she stood by my side. "In case you haven't met her before, this is Commander Resa. She's not only one of two sentient droids we have here, but she's also the one that designed both the Dragonclaw and the Dragonfang, including it's escape pod, so if you like your starfighters, I suggest that you give her a hand."

They looked at her in surprise and there was silence in the room for a second or two, but then Lieutenant Maxwell started to clap, quickly followed by the rest of the pilots.

Resa smiled and bowed. "Thank you. It's a pleasure to design craft for pilots as good as you people... and as the Commodore has just said, if you have suggestions for improvements, please let me know."

They clapped again and then I held up a hand. "We need to go. Flight Lieutenant Kirian, they're all yours."

"Thank you, sir." He said with a smile. "Alright, people. Let's get back to business."

The pilots found their seats and Resa and I left the same way we had entered.

"Thank you, sir." Resa said in a low voice as the door closed behind us.

"No problem, you deserve the praise."

She chuckled. "Not for the praise, sir. For your timing of telling them, that I'm a sentient droid right before that."

That made me smile. "For some people it's a large pill to swallow. It goes down easier with a glass of praise. Why were you signalling for me to stop?"

"The freed prisoners from the Deltas weren't gassed as those from the Lictor, and Doctor Shakka is done treating them. Three of them are waiting to talk with the commanding officer in the Hangar Park." She explained. "There're guards waiting for us to escort us down there."

"Alright."

--------------------------

The Hangar Park looked just as idyllic as usual and I enjoyed the sight, as Resa and I walked towards a small enclosure with a table and some chairs. It wasn't a sight most people expected to see on a military ship and that seemed to include a group of three men that were sitting at a table, drinking coffee, while they looked around with confusion in their eyes and faces. They weren't alone as they were under the watchful eyes of half a squad of space marines, who looked oddly at home in the idyllic surroundings in the highly decorated armor Yaki had designed.

As the marines saluted me, the three men looked up, eyes widening as they saw me coming nearer in my black uniform, with the beautiful Resa trailing me.

As usual, Resa stopped a few meters away, while I walked up to the table, stopping next to it.

"Good morning, gentlemen. Good to see you in good health."

"Thank you, I think." Sighed one of them. "Could you tell us who you are, where we are and what our status is? None of the medical personnel or the fancy troopers would tell us anything."

"I'm Thalen from the Dragon Defence Force, which in case you didn't know, is the force that rescued you from the slavers and the Empire." I said with a slight bow. "What may I call you?"

After a moment of silence, the one who had spoken introduced himself as Yakow, while the two others were Zoris and Duzas.

For once, they were easy to tell apart. Yakow was blond, Zoris had dark hair and slanted eyes, while Duzas had dark skin and hair like Waydar.

"Nice to meet you. Now, can I ask, why did you become prisoners in the first place?"

"Because our Commanding Officer was an incompetent idiot, and we got the blame." Sneered Zoris, making Durzas nod and add. "Not to mention, that the Empire screwed us over."

"That sounds interesting." I said and sat down in a chair, as I activated a Force power that would tell me if they were lying. "What happened?"

"It's a long and sad story."

"I got time."

Taking turns, they explained that they had done service on the Harrower-Class dreadnought Scorpion, as they went to reclaim the planet of Ord Radama for the Empire, under the command of Darth Malgus. It had started out well, but the battle dragged on long enough for the Sith forces to need reinforcement. They never came. Instead, they were taken by surprise by the sudden appearance of a Republic fleet. Before they could even launch their fighters, Scorpion was pummelled by enemy fire and the crew forced to evacuate the dying ship via escape pods.

They weren't the only ones to do so and when the Imperial Fleet was forced to escape the system, they were taken as prisoners of war.

Some months later they were sent by ship towards the Republic to join a prison camp, where they stayed for the rest of the war.

When peace came with the Treaty of Coruscant, they were finally returned to the Empire, only to be court martialled. The higher-ranking officers from the fleet, who were everybody above the rank of Lieutenant, had been sentenced to death. The rest had been sentenced to slavery and had been transported to Nodia, where they had stayed for years until they had been loaded into the Lictor.

When they were finished, there was silence for a moment.

"That's a fucked-up story." Said Yakow with a sigh. "We have the worst luck in the galaxy."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." I said with a chuckle. "Considering what you have been through, it's amazing that you haven't died."

"That's one way to look at it." Muttered Zoris as he ran a hand through the black hair.

Behind the group at the table, I saw XO Betty Nagos walking quickly towards us along with her husband, Senior Mechanic Waydar, but before I could introduce her, Zoris, who had been the main storyteller, asked. "So, what happens now?"

"That hasn't been decided yet, but at the moment, the guards are just here to ensure the safety of our ship, not because you are prisoners or slaves." I said firmly. "We can figure out the rest later... hmm... I assume that there are no hard feelings between the Imperials and the Republicans anymore?"

Zoris smiled a bit despite the situation. "Most of the Imperial Citizens had been taught that non-humans are lesser races. After what we have been through, I doubt that's the case for any of us anymore."

"Good to hear." I said and stood up from the chair. "Now, allow me to introduce you to someone you know and who can tell you more about the situation. My XO Betty Nagos and Senior Mechanic Arthur Waydar." I gestured in the direction of the pair.

"Hello guys." Said Waydar in his deep rumbling voice and grinned a friendly grin as the three at the table looked over at him with disbelief written on their faces.

"And quit whining." Added Betty Nagos with a smile to match her husband's. "You guys got the greatest luck in the galaxy."

"Arthur!"

"Waydar!"

"Betty!"

I smiled slightly to myself as the three jumped up from their chairs to embrace Waydar and the XO.

Then I gave the marines a slight nod, stood and walked over to Resa.

The liberated slaves would have a lot of questions and not only could the XO and Waydar answer them, but they were also friendly faces that the newly rescued slaves trusted, which I thought they needed more than anything else.

While they got reacquainted, Resa and I took a tour of the ship's medical facilities to look at the former prisoners, both Imperial and Republic. Somewhat to my surprise, many of them were female, making it the first time I had seen female Imperial soldiers. At least to my knowledge, as the heavier armor normally hid most obvious signs of the wearer's gender. Aside from that, they were as varied as most large groups of people were.

The people from the Republic were even more diverse, though many of them belonged to the same races as those we had already freed. Apparently, they were the races that humans found pleasing to the eye. There were blue-skinned Pantorans, green-, yellow- and purple-skinned Mirialan, horned Zabraks of every colour and a lot of Twi'Lek, who seemed to be the favourite slave of choice for many people. Of the races I didn't know were some several females that were so dark, that they were almost black and several felines, that remind me of a Zygerrian, except that they were more human-like.

As Zoris had said, all of them were good looking, even the felines, and I had no doubt that they would have fetched a good price on the slave market.

The number of Twi'Leks was still a source of amazement for me, so I walked to the infirmary to ask Shakka, who was in a better position to answer that question than anybody else I knew, except for Iska and she was busy on the bridge.

Somewhat to my surprise, Lena Agusta was there as well, dressed in a jumpsuit from the medical staff and helping with treating people.

"Hello Commodore. Hey Resa." Greeted Shakka cheerfully as we entered. "What brings you here today?"

"A totally insensitive question." I warned her.

The beautiful red Twi'Lek smiled. "Try me."

"Why're Twi'Leks so popular as slaves?" I asked softly. "I mean, yes many of you are gorgeous, but so are several other races, so why Twi'Leks?"

She sat down next to a console, her lovely face looking thoughtful. "There's a lot of different reasons, but I'll give you two of them. First of all, from what I've heard, when our home planet of Ry'loth was discovered by outsiders, we didn't have hyperdrives, but we did have rich stores of the rare and valuable Ryll spice." She sighed again. "That is where the Hutt came in and, despite promises from the Republic, enslaved us. There's on old saying among Twi'Leks: You can't defeat the storm; you have to ride it. So, we do what we can to survive and there's a great many Twi'Leks living in freedom in the galaxy."

As I thought it over, it made sense in a horrible kind of way. Without technology to match the intruders, the people of Ry'loth were at the mercy of most galactic powers. Especially the Hutts, who were ruthless galactic gangsters. What puzzled me was that the Republic had not only allowed it to happen but had done nothing about the situation for a very long time. Then again, the inability of the Republic to do such things was one of the reasons why the Chiss Ascendancy had become allies with the Empire.

"And the other reason?"

"Many other races seem to find Twi'Lek women sexy. Now biologically, most near-human females cannot enjoy being taken by force. The brain will shut down the pleasure receptors." Shakka explained. "That does not happen with Twi'Leks. We simply do not have that function in our brains."

"So, you can have an orgasm, even if you're raped?" Blurted Resa, looking horrified.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lena Agusta widen her eyes in surprise over the question. Then again, it wasn't exactly polite conversation.

"Yes, that about sums it up." Grimaced Shakka. "For some it's a blessing, for others it's a curse. That all Twi'Lek enjoy it physically does not mean that they enjoy it mentally."

"That goes without saying." I agreed.

"For you, maybe. Not the rest of the galaxy." She sighed. "That has caused the rest of the galaxy to look at Twi'Lek women as some kind of subservient sex object." She looked at me and it seemed like she was about to say something, but then her eyes shifted to Agusta and changed her mind. "Do you have more questions?"

"Yes, but not related to this." I chuckled and nodded in the direction of Agusta. "Hiring people?"

"Not really." Answered Shakka with a smile. "Agusta is just helping me. Her medical skills are lacking, but she has a talent for making people relax." She shrugged. "And arranging playgrounds doesn't take all day, so she's getting bored to tears in that cabin."

"Good point." I thought about it and then asked. "You two seem to get along. How would you like being responsible for her for the time being?" I looked at Agusta. "I'm sorry, but if you're just sitting in your cabin waiting for visitors, you'll quickly get a lot more bored."

"I can live with that." Agusta smiled. "What about you, Doctor?"

Shakka nodded. "I like that idea. At least now, when I'm not that busy. It's always interesting to hear about other cultures."

"Good." I said and remembered something. "By the way, do you happen to have a former Imperial pilot named Mariann here?"

"Nope, there's nobody of that name here, but let me check the database." She turned and asked the computer about it and a moment later it answered. "There's a former imperial pilot named Mariann on the Hawk. She is not awake yet but is expected to wake up later today. There's no other former Imperial pilots with that name."

I nodded slightly. "Can you have her transferred here?"

"Yes, but why, sir?"

"She's one of the XO's old friends from Nodia and I got the impression that they were really close. However, before I tell the XO about it, I would like to talk with her, so I know that she's the right person. I would hate trying to surprise someone with the wrong one."

Shakka laughed softly. "Yes, that would be bad, sir. I'll have her transferred now."

"Thank you, Doctor... oh, and if you somehow can confirm that it really is the XO's friend, just tell the XO. There's no reason to tell me first."

"Yes, sir."

---------------------------

"That was thoughtful of you." Remarked Resa as we walked out of the infirmary.

I shrugged slightly. "It's not often Betty Nagos allows emotions to tone her voice, but when she talked about Mariann, I could hear that it affected her. This is the least I can do. Which reminds me... How is it going with Gaslo?"

"Oh... it is fine. The Droid mechanics switched it on yesterday, but there were a few glitches they had to fix, so it was switched off again and is not on active duty yet." She smiled a little. "You'll have to wait a few days before visiting it."

"Please remind me about it when it's switched on again." I told her. "I'm very grateful for it helping with the Sith."

Resa chuckled. "I've talked with it about that and according to Gaslo, you had thrown the Sith into the wall so hard that he was stunned or dazed, which caused Gaslo to take the chance and crush his head. The ripping off part was more a result of Gaslo falling after having been cut in two."

"To be honest, I'm just happy about the result... hmmm... Talking about results, let's visit the slicers at the data centre. They've done a very good job with the Lictors."

Resa smiled as she nodded. "I think they'll appreciate that."

The data centre was buzzing with activity as the techs worked intensely to slice the codes on the second Lictor. In fact, they were working so concentrated that most of them completely ignored Resa and I as we entered the room, and I realised that despite having been living on the ship for more than a year, it was the first time I had been in the datacenter.

Rows of computer screens cast a pale glow on the concentrated faces of the techs, each hunched over screens filled with lines of code and diagnostic data. Fingers clattered rapidly on keyboards, punctuated by occasional murmurs and exchanged glances as they collaborated. Some had furrowed brows as they leaned closer to monitors, while others gestured at screens, explaining theories or potential fixes to teammates. Occasionally, someone would stand to consult a colleague, eyes weary but determined to find a solution.

"Sir!" Someone called. "Could you take a look at this?"

I opened my mouth to answer but closed it again as I realized that the tech had been speaking to Resa and not me. This was her area of expertise, not mine.

"Sure, Mitch." She replied with a smile and walked over to the young man, to look at the screen over his shoulder, while I glanced around in the room. I had seen some of them in the gym, doing their mandatory physical training, but had never really talked with any of them, though in all fairness I usually didn't talk with anyone while training, as it's difficult to have a conversation while breathing hard after physical exercise.

Several of the chairs were empty and I guessed that some of the missing techs were currently on the first Lictor, trying to slice the ship's database.

"Got it!" Someone suddenly declared and on one of the big screens data started to roll so fast, that it was impossible to follow.

Resa straightened with a wide smile and looked over at a young female Pantorian who was leaning back in the seat with a satisfied smile on her face. "Good work, Hudson!"

"Thank you, sir." The Data Tech said as she smiled widely. Recognizing the name as the one belonging to Droid Tech Gov Zedas's love interest, I studied her for a moment and I could easily see why the droid tech would fall for the young woman. Like almost all of our former female prisoners, she was good looking and there was a certain charm in the way she was smiling.

The door opened and another woman came running into the room. This one was a human, dressed in drenched training clothes, wet and with sweat running down her skin, but she seemed oblivious to that as she hurried towards a console, saying "Move, move!" to get the techs out of her way.

Reaching her target, she threw herself into a chair and started to type so fast, that her fingers were a blur. Then she hit a key with the gesture of one who knew her actions would work and looked up. Another of the big screens blinked into activity and I suddenly realized that there was a sticker under each screen. This one read 'Primary Power systems' while the one Data Tech Hudson had activated was named. 'Main frame'

"Yes!" The sweaty woman shouted triumphantly and looked at Resa. "We got control of the main reactor, sir!"

"Thank you, Shul!" Resa exclaimed and turned towards another screen. A moment later, a person in the armor of an engineer showed up on screen. Resa wasted no time, as she said. "Engineer Sistal, we got control of the Primary Power System, curtesy of Data Tech Shul Eho. You can start up the mail reactor now."

The Engineer bowed slightly. "Thank you, Commander Resa. We'll get on it right away. Please extend our thanks to Tech Eho."

Being able to start the main reactor was a major accomplishment, as it allowed the life support to be switched on again, providing air to the prisoners and freeing the techs from working under a time-limit.

"I will do that." Said Resa and switched the screen off again, before turning towards me. "This is going even better than expected, sir."

Her use of 'sir' made everybody look in the direction Resa was looking in and silence fell in the room as they saw my black uniform, a colour reserved for captains and fleet commanders.

"I can see that." I looked around. "Techs, I know that being hidden away in the Data room, most people don't realize how good a job you're all doing, but rest assured, that the work you do here, behind the scenes, makes all the difference."

That made their eyes widen in mild surprise, as if they were unused to public acknowledgment, which they most likely were. Some exchanged glances and faint smiles, a flicker of pride passing through them.

Letting them have a few seconds to take that in, I continued. "While others may see the action out there, it's your work that makes freeing the prisoners in a timely manner possible. I see your work, and I appreciate it more than words can say."

Looking around, I met the eyes of each one of them before giving them a nod of respect, that was almost a small bow. "You are the unseen backbone of this crew. So, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for your relentless dedication."

"Thank you, sir." Said Resa sharply, but with a smile, followed by most of the others.

"Now, I know you're busy, so I won't take up more of your time, but keep up the good work. You're making all of us proud."

Knowing that staying in the room longer would disrupt their work, I gave them another nod and walked out of the door.

---------------------------------------

Getting an overview

Dreadnought Majestic

"A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well

and to help those who are doing well to do even better."

From the Holy Book of War

It took no less than four days before we had a clear picture of the situation. By then, the codes to the Lictors had been sliced, the prisoners had woken from their drug induced slumber and the structural integrity of the ships' systems had been evaluated, so I held a meeting with XO Betty Nagos, who was in charge of the defected Imperials. Commander Elise Samko, who was in charge of the prisoners and Chief Engineer Keller, who naturally was in charge of repairing the ships, and almost as always, Resa was there as well.

"All right. Let's start with both the prisoners and the defected Imperials." I said as I looked at the others. "How many want to join us, how many do we not want and how many want to go to the Outer Rim?" I chuckled. "And please, just round numbers."

"Well," said Elise Samko. "There were nine-thousand people on the second Lictor and five thousand on the Deltas, for a total of fourteen thousand prisoners. However, unlike the first group and Deltas, there were no children among them. According to the prisoners, and confirmed by Doctor Shakka, this is because the male prisoners were sterilized."

"Is that reversible?" Asked Nagos.

Samko nodded. "According to Doctor Shakka it is. Though with six thousand males, it's going to take some time... and yes, that means that there are eight thousand females." She sighed. "About half of them are humans, the rest are the usual mix of races often selected for slavery, though there are less Twi'Lek among them than in the group from Nodia." I looked at her datapad. "Regarding people we don't want, there are about two thousand people that are here because they're hardened criminals, and I suggest that we ferry those to the planet. We don't have the facilities to keep them here, since the brig on the various ships are filled with Imperials."

That surprised me. "How many imperials have defected?"

"About seven hundred." Said Betty Nagos. "I don't believe all of them, and I'll need to talk with them again. On the bright side, fifty of them are doctors and medics from the Delta Class medical ship, so if they check out, we'll have a lot more medical personnel than before."

That was good news. So far, the only real doctor we had was Shakka, while the rest were combat medics. Granted, they were very good, but once in a while a real doctor was needed, and I hoped at least a few of them had decided to leave the Empire.

"Lieutenants Cabur and Mormill can help you." I suggested. "They're good at interviewing people."

During our time in hyperspace on the way here, the two lieutenants and I had interviewed most of the defectors from Nodia and with a few exceptions they had joined the fleet, taking the relevant tests to determine their abilities.

"How many of the former Imperials want to go to the Outer Rim?"

Betty Nagos shrugged lightly. "Only about two hundred. Very few of them believe that the current peace will continue and when the war starts again, they don't want to be in a contested area."

"Wise of them." I commented. "How many of the former prisoners wish to go there?"

"A lot more." Said the XO. "Four thousand, along with a thousand children. This is from both Lictors."

"So, a Delta-class carrier." I looked at Keller. "Is that possible?"

"Yes, but as we went through the captured ships, we found a few surprises." The engineer said with a chuckle. "The greatest surprise was that the repair docks on the Tork weren't empty."

He tapped his datapad and a ship showed up on the screen. Somewhat to my surprise, it reminded me a lot of Razor's Edge, the converted passenger freighter the Escors had used when they had been thrown into the Snare system. My eyes automatically sought the name of the manufacturer, and it was the same: Hoersch-Kessel Driveworks, but where Razor's Edge had been one-hundred-and-seventy-five meters long this one was two-hundred-and-seventy-five meters long and both taller and wider. Then I noticed the carrying capacity. Four thousand people in cabins and eight thousand metric tons of cargo.

"This is a Star Wanderer passenger liner built by Hoersch-Kessel Driveworks, or HKD, and the Tork holds four of them." Keller listed the stats I had just read, adding. "However, these four ships have been converted into prison ships." He tapped the datapad again and the stats changed somewhat. Now the ships had room for five thousand prisoners, five hundred guards and seven thousand tons of cargo, and the life support was rated for seven thousand. "As a bonus, these ships are the first four out of eight ordered according to the cargo manifest."

"Frak!" Mumbled Betty Nagos, causing Samko to nod in agreement.

"Well, on the bright side, that also means that Darth Arkol hasn't got any yet." I said as I studied the info on the screen. Like most civilian ships, it had a class 3 hyperdrive and was only armed with laser cannons, though it had four of them. As a commercial ship, it also had a price listed and at one point six million credits, it wasn't even that expensive compared to all the rest we had been looking at, reminding me once again that military hardware was a lot more expensive than their civilian counterparts.

"When Darth Arkol gets some of these, he doesn't need to rely on the Zygerrians and their Lictors to fetch the slaves for him. He can just send the Star Wanderers, along with a large escort."

"Yes," Keller agreed, "but at least he didn't pick some of the larger passenger liners. There're some that can transport five times that many people, though those can't normally make landfall and I guess that is the reason for him not choosing those. Otherwise, it will take a long time to load the prisoners."

I nodded. As most shuttles couldn't take more than around thirty passengers, loading twenty thousand passengers into a ship would take a lot of trips. Especially since prisoners needed guards to ensure they didn't escape or take over the shuttle.

"Well, it does solve the question of how to transport the freed prisoners and defecting Imperials out of here." I said and looked at Keller, noticing the little smile on his face. "Why do I have the feeling that we're not done with the surprises?"

"Because we're not, sir." He said as the smile widened. "Will you take it from here, XO?"

Betty Nagos nodded with a smile and tapped controls, causing the picture on the screen to shift to a star-map. "According to the files and the information from the defecting Imperial officers, the prison camp the battlegroup had visited before coming here is just three jumps away in the Qek-40 system." Another tap and the screen showed a moon in orbit around a gas giant, just like the one in the Centauri 21 system. "The current prison population is four thousand."

"Why didn't they take the last four thousand prisoners along?" Asked Samko, puzzlement on her face. "They had the ships for it."

"Unlike Nodia, the Qek-40 mine is still in operation and they need those four thousand prisoners to keep it running." Explained Betty Nagos. "According to our information, the mines on the moon are rich in trimantium, quadranium and chromium."

Keller nodded and explained that the green-grey trimantium was used in hull plating, quadranium in fuel tanks, and chromium as a hull covering that gave a mirror shine to the surface of a ship. It also blocked radiation and could reflect glancing laser attacks. However, as the Empire didn't use trimantium or chromium in starship construction, and as the metals were loaded into the ships that were supposed to join the first group, he assumed that the mining operation was mainly for profit.

"Chief Engineer Keller, do you have an inventory list from the ships in the battlegroup?" I asked slowly, thinking as I spoke.

"Yes, sir. And it's huge."

"Majestic, please compare the estimated value of the battlegroup's inventory without metal cargo with the estimated value of the inventory of two Delta-class carriers, two Gage-class transporters and six Terminus-class destroyers, if they were loaded with duranium and doonium in the same ratio as we got at Nodia."

"An estimated value would be around seven point five billion credits." answered the computer after a few seconds, showing the calculation on the screen. "However, raw materials rarely fetch more than one-tenth of their retail value, so a realistic value as a sales object will be seven hundred and fifty million credits"

There was another pause, but then it continued. "The estimated value of the inventory of the battle group, including the Tork-class and the Delta-class medical transport is eight hundred million credits.

I sighed. "Now I know what we forgot in our talk the other day. The metals." I gestured at the screen. "Darth Arkol cannot afford to refuel, repair and rearm the ships, with the income from the sales of prisoners alone, but some of those mines have been producing metals for years and the sale of that, combined with prisoners sold as slaves, should be enough to pay for what this battlegroup carries."

"How can it be that much?!" Exclaimed Betty Nagos, looking at the screen. "Those numbers are insane!"

"I'm sorry, XO Nagos. My data is outdated by four years, and this is the best estimate I can give you" Said the computer. "The bacta tanks alone are forty million, weapons and armor for ten thousand soldiers are ninety million, hyperspace fuel in the tanks of the Tork is sixty million, two thousand war droids are thirty million, Tibanna gas...

"Stop Majestic." Said Betty Nagos with a sigh. "I get it."

"Majestic, what was that about war droids?" I asked curiously.

"According to the inventory, there are two thousand Systech A-series assault droids." It said, showing the droid model on the screen. Four legged, two armed and equipped with shoulder mounted double blasters and heavy armor, it looked a lot like the Sith MK 1 war droid we had, except for being slightly bigger, and according to the stats, it was faster and had better sensors, as well as an inbuilt flame thrower.

"Somebody stole that design from the Empire." Commented Samko.

"Well, it is a tried and tested model." Said Keller with a slight shrug.

"Even more important," said Betty Nagos. "It also fits perfectly with what the officer, Commander Janik, told us. According to him, the battlegroup along with the Medical Transport and the Tork, took off from Nodia with a full load of metal and prisoners and travelled to Zygerria, where the prisoners were sold. Then they travelled to the Doldur sector, where they sold the metal."

"There are several large shipyards in that sector." Inserted Keller. "They always need duranium and doonium and are willing to pay well for them. It's also in an almost neutral area far from Korriban and Dromund Kaas, lessening the chance of a large Imperial Force there."

"Exactly." Betty Nagos nodded. "They ran into a problem there, since they needed to refill both the Tork and the Medical Transport, aside from having some of the capital ships repaired. Getting enough bacta, droids and everything else in those amounts took a lot longer than they had planned." She chuckled. "I guess they were not used to having to buy things and wait for their delivery, instead of just getting a free refill at an Imperial shipyard... Anyway, that was also where they bought the four Star Wanderer-class and had them rebuilt as prisoner transport."

"Did he explain why they've bought armor, weapons and equipment for ten thousand troopers?" I asked.

Betty nodded. "Yes. Darth Arkol was supposed to bring reinforcements to the Imperial Forces in the core regions. Mostly ships, but also personnel. However, these fresh reinforcements were rushed through training, got their assignments and were shipped off almost immediately, so it's a relatively inexperienced crew on all levels. In addition to that, Darth Arkol was supposed to deliver the fleet to Darth Malgus, so there weren't that many troopers on those ships. Twelve thousand to be precise."

While that sounded like a lot of troopers, it was a great deal lower than what an Imperial style fleet the size of Darth Arkol's were able to carry. The part about the Imperial personnel being inexperienced was one of the most interesting pieces of information the XO had dropped so far, as it explained why Darth Arkol's forces followed standard Imperial Naval Doctrine to the T, which made them a lot less effective than they could have been.

"In other words," the XO continued. "Darth Arkol needs to recruit more troops from somewhere and that is what those ten thousand sets are for, and the reason for the two thousand droids. Unfortunately for him, he hasn't had much luck with finding human planets here in the Chaos and like most other Sith, he's xenophobic and will not allow other races in his military."

"Well, that explains a lot, but we need to get back to the ships." I said and looked at Keller. "If we reserve a Star Wanderer for the people who want to go to the Outer Rim, what does that leave us with?"

The Chief Engineer tapped his datapad and a list showed on the screen. "This. Common for all the ships we have captured, is that they for obvious reasons need to have their escape pods replaced. Most ships carry some spares in their hold, but not enough to completely replace those they have used. However, they are reusable, so I would like to request that we send one of the Wyvern-class cruisers to the planet to pick up those they can find. It shouldn't be too difficult as they're all equipped with an emergency signal relay telling us where they are... unless the people inside them have switched it off."

With a nod, I looked at Resa. "Which ship is available?"

"Both the Vulture and the Hawk." She replied immediately.

"Send both, please. We need those escape pods... hmm... and if they happen to find the two missing starfighters, tell them to destroy them. Otherwise, there's a good chance that ships coming into this system are going to be attacked and taken."

The blue LED blinked a few times. "Done, sir."

"Thank you." I looked at Keller again. "Sorry to interrupt you, but as you said, we need them."

He nodded. "You're right, sir. Anyway, if we take it from the top, the BSX-5's will be ready in a few days. They were hit hard and some of the electronics need to be replaced."

"I assume that we have spare parts since you say it like that."

"Yes, sir." Said Keller with a nod. "The circuit boards used are standard and if they're not, there should be spares in the cargo hold and even if those are missing, I'm sure the Tork carries some." He looked at his datapad. "Four of the Terminus-class destroyers are ready, but the last usable one has taken a lot more damage than we had originally estimated, and it'll take weeks to repair."

"Regrettably, we can't stay here for that long. It's only a matter of time before another battlegroup shows up looking for the first and we're not in shape to take that on. Any ship that takes more than a week to repair, needs to be destroyed."

"Agreed, sir." Said Keller and tapped his datapad once more. Two destroyers disappeared from the list. "The surviving Gage-class transports were hit hard, but as they have the same armor as the Terminus-class they're in better shape than I expected and we're almost done replacing the damaged electronics."

On the list the two Gage-class transports turned green, followed by the four Delta-class carriers a moment later, as Keller continued. "You were reasonably careful with the prisoner carrying Deltas and we have already repaired those. The same goes for the Delta-class Medical transport and the Tork."

"In four days?" Said Samko, sounding impressed. "You guys have been busy!"

"Yes. Very busy, but we've had lots of practice and since the shields on our capital ships took most of the incoming fire, there has been very little damage to repair, freeing the engineers and techs to help with the captured ships." He paused and then added. "Even with additional crew, we have been working in shifts for four days straight... and please remember, that when I say that a ship is ready, it doesn't mean that they're combat ready or anything close to that. It simply means that they're capable of flying and entering hyperspace."

"Got it." I said with a nod. That basically meant that until they were done repairing those ships, they were as much use as an unarmed transport.

Samko smiled. "I guess the new crew members from Nodia helped as well."

"Not as much as you would think." He answered with a sigh. "My best teams have been working together for more than a year now and they are very effective. Much more than any newcomer could be. Granted, they're getting better, but the year in the Snare-system has given the old hands a ton of experience, and that is hard to beat."

"What about the frigates and corvettes?" I asked, still looking at the list.

"If we unload the four Star Wanderers from the Tork, we can load the four less damaged of the smaller ships into it." Keller explained. "And that means that we're left with five Drakes and four Mantas in space and two of each in the Tork. If we do it like that, we can be out of here in two to three days."

"Okay. Let's start crewing those ships" I determined. "Move one of the Star Wanderers out of the Tork and crew it with those people that want to go to the Outer Rim. After that we need to pick crews for the Tork and the Delta Medical Transport. Then we can work our way down the line." I looked at Samko. "However, I would like to request that Lieutenant Karnos be made prize captain of one of the BSX-5s, while First Officer Max Felcro should have the other. Do you have any objections to that?"

Samko shook her head, as usual causing strands of red hair to fall into her face. "No, I would have picked them as well. They're the ones here with the most experience in handling large capital ships."

"Except one." I told her with a chuckle. "I want you to captain the Tork."

She blinked in surprise. "Seriously, sir?"

"Yes. You're the best in large ship handling and while it's the largest ship around, the Tork is not a warship."

That had been Samko's major stumbling block. She was an expert ship handler but hated the thought of operating a weapon of war.

"It is however an engineering ship," I continued, "so you'll get Engineer Ring'abosa'taini (Gabosat) as a co-captain."

Gabosat had been with us from the start and was a brilliant engineer and manager. If he had any weaknesses, it was a lack of creativity and imagination, but he really didn't need that as co-captain of the Tork.

"Yes, sir." Samko said with a smile, as she brushed hair away from her face.

"Good." I looked at the others. "Have I forgotten anything?"

"Not that I can think of." Chuckled Betty Nagos. "But I do have a request."

"Yes?"

"Some of the people on first Lictor and the two Deltas have friends and families on ships in the fleet. Can we rearrange their quarters so we can re-unite them?"

"Families, yes." I told her. "However, we still need to get out of here as fast as possible, so you'll have to coordinate it with everything else." I gestured at Samko. "If the two of you get together and plan how to do this, it'll be fine, but move those that there're jobs for first."

There was a smile in her voice as she said. "I guess that was the best I could hope for."

"Anything else?"

They shook their heads. "No, sir."

"Then let's get to it."

I waited until Samko, Nagos and Keller had walked out and then looked at Resa. "What's next?"

"You wanted to talk with the rescued Imperial pilots, sir." She reminded me.

"Right. Let's go." I hesitated for a moment. "Which one of our former Imperial pilots did best?"

"Pilot Kerwil, sir." She replied without hesitation. "Five enemy fighters downed."

"Have him meet us at the brig in fifteen minutes." I ordered. "I need to suit up before talking with them.

"I will, and just for your information, Pilot Kerwil is a woman, sir."

"Thank you."

------------------------

During the search after the battle, we had found and rescued fourteen Imperial pilots and they were sitting on their beds in a large cell in the brig when I entered along with two guards and Pilot Kerwil, who had turned out to be an ordinary looking woman in her late twenties, with light brown skin and shoulder length curly dark brown hair. She was also the only one of us that wore a flight suit, instead of armor with a closed helmet, since we still didn't know if the rescued pilots would join us or not.

As expected, all of them were humans, but despite what Betty Nagos had told us, I hadn't been prepared for how young they looked. Most of them were in their early twenties and several appeared even younger than that, looking like they had just come out of the Imperial Flight School at the Naval Academy.

That caused her to smile. "Wrong guess, stonehead. Allow me to introduce myself. I am, or rather was, Lieutenant Kerwil of the Imperial Navy, fighter pilot in Second Squadron of the Harrower The Empire Prevails."

That caused several of the pilots to blink in surprise, but Pilot Kerwil ignored it as she continued. "All of you were saved from certain death, but before you join your fellow pilots and navy personnel on the planet here, let me tell you a little story... and you better pay attention, or I will personally kick you out of an airlock without a suit."

Her voice had taken the voice of a commanding officer, causing the pilots to stand at attention and say, "Yes, sir."

Slowly and carefully, Pilot Kerwil told her story, describing her education in short, precise terms, before going on to tell about the battles she had been in, including the one where the Harrower she had been stationed on had been destroyed, how the other ships in the fleet had gone into hyper without picking up their pilots and how she had been forced to land on the system's planet, where she was taken prisoner. That was followed by a trip to a Republic prison camp until she was part of a prisoner exchange. That had brought her home to the Empire, only to be court-martialled and sent off to a remote prison in the Unknown Regions of space, where she had spent years as a miner along with other court-martialled Imperial personnel, and as well as Republic prisoners.

It was a story that was very similar to the others I had heard, but it had an effect on the young prisoners.

"That can't be true." One of the rescued pilots exclaimed.

Pilot Kerwil glanced over at me and I nodded and switched on the intercom. "Bring in the others."

The door opened and four other pilots came in, took position beside Pilot Kerwil and introduced themselves, before telling their story. In essence it was a repeat of the story Pilot Kerwil had just told, just from four different ships and four different battles.

Reaching out with my Force senses, I did a superficial read of the captured pilots' emotions and while some of them were too brainwashed or stubborn to believe the pilots in front of them, others were not.

Using the head-up display I called up the prisoners' files and marked those who didn't believe the pilots as ready to be transported to the surface of the planet, where they would join the rest of the imperials.

The rest would have the opportunity to talk more with the freed prisoners and if I felt that they meant it, they would have the chance to join us. Unfortunately, they only had two days before a decision had to be made and that was precious little time compared to the years of brainwashing they been subject to. On the bright side, Imperial pilots were chosen from some of the brightest and most headstrong of people, since they needed that to keep cool while in combat, and that could make at least a few of them go to our side. Not that we really needed them, as we were now in the luxurious position of having more pilots than starfighters, but every pilot that went over to our side, was one less Darth Arkol had.

"Commodore, this is Tavune. Do you have a moment?" I suddenly heard Tavune say over the intercom.

"Yes. What's up?"

"We scanned the asteroid as you told us and while there are caverns in it, it's not an active base, sir. At least there are no power signatures and no life signs, but I think we should check it out ourselves anyway."

I closed my eyes and sent my force senses out to the asteroid, but there was no feel of the Dark Side. Satisfied, I retracted them again. "Alright. Send out a squad of marines and a tech to look at those caverns." Getting an idea, I added. "Since you're cleared for zero-G armor, go along with the group and take a look at it yourself."

Tavune paused for a moment, but then said. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Report to me when you get back. Thalen out."

Returning my focus to the pilots, I discovered that the situation was almost the same, if more divided. Those who were in favour of Darth Arkol and the Empire had become even more so, while those in doubt were horrified by what the former imperial pilots had told them.

I let the talk go on for ten more minutes, but then activated the intercom to Pilot Kerwil's earpiece and told her, that it was time to stop.

She reacted with an almost invisible nod and rounded up the conversation nicely, before we walked out of the cell.

"That was very well done, Pilot Kerwil." I said when the door to the cell had closed behind us. "We will need to transport some of them to the planet, but several of them showed promise."

"I agree, sir. And they're all so young." She said with a sigh. "May I ask who you want to send to the planet?"

I listed the names, making her nod. "May I object to one of them?"

I nodded. "Yes. Who're you thinking about?"

"Matthew Ranton."

Looking at the files, I discovered that Pilot Ranton had been one of the people that been on the edge at the start, before he finally fell in with those loyal to Darth Arkol. "May I ask why?"

"Yes, sir. I feel that his resistance mostly stems from an idea that we were somehow agents posing as former Imperial pilots and I think that a trip through the living areas of the former prisoners will cure him of that misperception."

"You might be right." I looked at the guards. "I'll send you the files. Some of them are going to join the rest of the Imperials on the planets, but some are going to stay here for a few days more."

"Yes, sir."

"And get two more guards down here. Their job will be to escort Pilot Kerwil here and the prisoner Matthew Ranton as they go for a little walk."

"Yes, sir."

I turned towards the former imperial. "I'll leave this to you, Pilot Kerwil."

Her face split in a smile. "Thank you, sir."

"Just be aware that you only have a little more than a day before we need to leave, so you better get moving. Good luck."

"Thank you, sir."

------------------------

Back in my office, I sat down in one of the comfy chairs and ordered the computer to pull up a star-map showing the location of the Qek-40 system Betty Nagos had talked about and discovered that it was located in what could only be called an astronomical cul-de-sac, without any other systems within easy reach. Like the Yrla-system, it was surrounded by astronomical hazards and the way into the system was also the only way out, making it a risky system to visit, as we could easily get trapped in there.

While it was a perfect location for a prison planet, it sucked for a rescue mission. To make it worse, the key system that led into the Qek-40 system had no less than five possible routes, making it close to impossible to defend or close off, so I couldn't even just take the fleet there and dispatch a couple of ships to empty the prison planet, while we guarded the entrance.

All I all, it made it an extremely risky operation, and in my mind, I debated whether it was worth the risk. Another question was if I should take the whole fleet along or not.

In theory, I could send most of the ships off towards Nodia and just take Majestic and two of the Star Wanderer ships along with me. The Qek-40 system didn't have any orbital installations or defending fleets, and while it did have a starfighter squadron stationed there to defend it, the Majestic alone had enough fighters to totally annihilate them without even breaking a sweat.

The more I thought about it, the better I liked it as it allowed us to free some additional prisoners and keep the majority of those already freed relatively safe. Closing my eyes, I sent out my force senses in search for a nearby system, where the rest of the fleet could hide. It took a while to find one that fit my parameters, and it involved two jumps, but otherwise it was perfect, as it had no habitable planets of any kind and did figure on all maps, making it unlikely it was yet another prison planet or base.

After that I took a closer look at the Qek-40 system but didn't find any unknown hyperspace routes in or out of the system. Retracting my senses, I sighed. I didn't like going off without a picket line, but the Mantas and Drakes we had captured simply weren't functional warships yet. Both due to damaged systems and lack of qualified crew, so they were out of the question, and I would have to make do with Majestic and its starfighters.

Not that it really was a problem. The Dragon-class dreadnought was one of the most powerful ships in the galaxy and anything less than another dreadnought was unlikely to pose any threat to us, so chances were that I was just being overly cautious.

The door chime made me look in that direction. "Come."

The door opened and Betty Nagos walked inside, followed by a tall, dark-skinned and beautiful woman that for some reason reminded me of Waydar.

The XO stopped just inside and smiled. "Hello, Commodore."

Slightly puzzled, I stood. "Hello XO." Then it dawned on me that the woman next to her had to be the Mariann she had talked about. "I guess you found your friend."

Betty Nagos chuckled. "Yes, sir. And thanks for having her brought to the Majestic." Turning slightly, she gestured in the direction of the woman. "Allow me to introduce you to my friend Mariann Waydar Hardan, former Imperial pilot and my husband's niece." Then the XO gestured towards me, "Mariann, allow me to introduce you to Commodore Thalen of the Dragon Defence Force, the person responsible for getting us here and freeing you guys."

"Pleased to meet you, Commodore." Greeted Mariann Waydar Hardan with a smile as white as her cousin and a velvet voice that was low in pitch without sounding like a man. Apparently, low voices ran in the family. "And thank you for saving us."

"You're welcome." I studied her for a moment. "May I ask if you're going to join us?"

"Oh, that I am." Mariann chuckled. "I can't wait to try a Dragonclaw or a Dragonfang. I saw them in the hangar, and they're beautiful!"

Betty Nagos shook her head. "Mariann is a born starfighter. According to Arthur, it's all she ever wanted to be."

"Not a squadron commander?" I asked, making Mariann grimace. "Oh, I have been acting squadron commander a few times, sir, but never as a permanent position." She shrugged. "The wing commander wasn't going to promote me unless I took him to bed, and he looked like a Hutt and smelled like a Rancor, so principles aside, there was no way I was going there."

"Too much info, Mariann." Mumbled Betty Nagos and looked at me. "Mariann has passed the medical test, sir. May she try the simulators for the Dragonfang? Both Arthur and I will vouch for her."

I thought for a moment and then looked at Mariann. "Is the rest of your squadron here?"

"No, sir." She replied with regret in her voice. "Only five. The rest died... either in combat or in mining accidents."

Reaching into the Force, I asked. "Can we trust you to defect?"

She looked surprised, but then gave a firm nod. "Yes."

She did tell the truth, so I nodded back. "Very well. Try the simulators for the Dragonfangs, but I want you to split the time with the Aurek simulator. Right now, we don't have Dragonfangs to spare, so until more have been produced, you'll be flying an Aurek once you have been cleared for real flying."

"Yes, sir." Mariann said with a salute, the smile on her face nearly reaching her ears, as she said, "Have a nice day, sir." and walked away.

Betty Nagos was about to follow her, when the intercom suddenly came to life and as I looked over, I saw that it was a call from Yaki on one of the Delta-class carriers. As it wasn't flagged as a private call, I simply accepted it. "Thalen here along with the XO. What's up, Commander Yaki?"

The screen shifted to a live feed from Yaki, who was standing in what looked like a cargo hold. "We've been going through the Delta the Sith was on, and we found something interesting in a cargo hold." She turned her head, so we could see what looked like some obscure work of art. A dark relief of a man in what seemed to be grey stone set into a metal frame.

"To make it even more intriguing, there's a life system monitor on the side of the frame, and according to that, whoever is in there is still alive." continued Yaki. "But no matter what, it's not in the cargo manifest. I've asked Chief Engineer Keller, but he didn't know what it was either."

I nodded slightly and turned to look at the XO. "Get a hold of the defected officer, Commander Janik, I believe you called him. He might know something about that... oh and get Master Gunnery Sergeant Norken as well."

"Yes, sir." She said and ran off while I returned my attention to Yaki. "Do you have access to the security cameras, Commander?"

"Yes, and they clearly show Lord Xhal walking in here alone twice during the four days, using ten minutes in here each time. Unfortunately, this hold is the only one without security covering, so we don't know what he was doing. The rest of this cargo hold has nothing interesting in it so far, but we will inspect it later." Something made an electronic noise. "Sir, Resa is calling. Can I include her in the talk?"

"Please do."

A moment later Resa showed up next to Yaki. "Hello, sirs. As Commander Yaki requested, I looked at the log and scanner data of the other ships, and according to them, the group encountered a small freighter four days ago, just as they left hyperspace. The freighter was quickly overpowered by the S-class's ion cannons, after which it was pulled into the cruiser's hangar bay by tractor beams. Two hours later a shuttle left the S-class for the Delta and almost as soon as it arrived, the entire fleet went into hyperspace, going for the Grinda system."

"Well, at least it explains why they were on the Delta." I said thoughtfully. "But I would like to know what Lord Xhal was doing there, because it makes very little sense."

Fortunately, Betty Nagos returned with both Commander Janik and Master Gunnery Sergeant Norken in a surprisingly short time.

Commander Janik was the highest-ranking officer that had defected in the Nodia system and proved to be a thin man with a sharply defined face, whom I had seen once before, when I had used the Force to check the defected Imperials for ill intentions and finding none. Like Lieutenants Cabur and Mormill, he had become disillusioned with the Empire and the Sith and had managed to break their indoctrination, joining us for almost the same reasons as they had.

I took a few moments to explain the situation to them, including showing them the live feed from Yaki.

"I'm sorry, sir," said the Commander with a slight shake of his head. "I've never seen that before."

Master Gunnery Sergeant Norken was silent for a moment more, and then asked. "Did you say that it has a monitor on the side?"

"Yes."

"Then that statue has to be a person frozen in carbonite." He determined firmly. "It's a very old way of preserving people for long voyages." He looked at the screen. "Commander Yaki, is there a room on that ship that looks like a pit with a lot of cables running into the wall from the outside?"

She shook her head. "No, aside from this... person encased in carbonite, the ship looks exactly as any other Delta I have ever been on."

"Well, sir." Said Norken. "Then the freezing chamber was on the S-class cruiser. As far as I know, there's no way to make these without a freezing chamber."

I thought for a moment. "So, why would a Sith put a person in a freezing chamber on his own ship and then transport the frozen person to another ship?" The obvious answer popped into my mind as I spoke. "Any chance that the frozen person is a Jedi... or any force user for that matter?"

"Since the frozen person is held in suspended animation, they can't use the force, so I would say that it's highly likely, sir."

"May I ask how you know that?"

He smiled, looking a little embarrassed. "A long time ago, I used to watch a holodrama called 'Galaxy', and it was used several times in that as a plot device. That made me look it up and according to what I read, freezing people prevents them from doing anything."

"Ah." Betty Nagos chuckled. "Good to see that someone got something out of those holodramas."

"So," Said Yaki. "There's a good chance that this frozen person is a Jedi?"

"Yes." Answered the Gunnery Master Sergeant. "As far as I know, it's the only safe way to keep a force-user prisoner for a longer period of time... at least according to several holodramas."

"I'll assume that the person is a Jedi." I told them. "Otherwise, they could just as easily just have thrown him in with the rest of the prisoners."

"Yes, sir." Said Yaki. "But what do we do with him?"

I shrugged slightly. "Transport it to the Majestic and lock it into a hold. This is not the time or place to..." I looked over at Jess Norken. "How do they get out of there, Gunny?"

"In the holodramas, there's a control panel on the side that is used for thawing the person inside."

"Thank you... Well, as I was saying, it's not the time or place to thaw a force-user we know nothing about, so we will wait until we're in a safer place than this system."

"Yes, sir."

Looking at the screen, I asked. "Commander Yaki, can you have it transported to the Majestic?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Then do it and let's get the prize crew on board so we can get ready to get out of here. Hmm... Does the frozen guy have anything that looks like a lightsaber on him?"

"Not that I can see, sir."

"Then do a search of the room and the VIP rooms on the Delta and see if you can find it, but don't spend too much time on it. In all likelihood it was on the S-Class when it blew up... If I had caught a Jedi, I know I would keep his weapon on another ship just in case he broke free."

"Yes, sir." She said with a nod and then the screen winked out.

Turning around, I said. "Commander Janik?"

The former Imperial officer looked surprised. "Yes, sir?"

"Last time we talked I forgot to ask you why a commander was captaining a Gage-class transport." I said as I used the force power to detect lies. "Could you please clarify that?"

"Yes, sir." He said with a slight grimace. "I had some disagreements with Commander Naniyan Kindsta, whom I privately consider one of the worst tacticians in the fleet, and she suggested to her lover Admiral Kinbar, that I would be a good choice for a captain to one of the new Gage-classes, since it had more weapons than the old version." The thin face split in a sardonic smile. "So, it didn't take long before I found myself on the bridge of a Gage-class transporter."

Since he was speaking the truth, at least as he saw it, I nodded slightly. It fit with what Lieutenants Mormill and Cabur had told me about the officers. In Commander Janik's case they had described him as a 'sharp witted tactician, but without the connection or social skills it took to become a higher-ranking officer in the Imperial Navy'.

"I have a challenging job for you, Commander Janik." I told him, as I studied him carefully. "You hold the rank of a commander, but to be honest, I don't know if you can command." He looked slightly offended for a fraction of a second before he got his face under control, but before he had a chance to comment on it, I continued. "I don't doubt you have the skill or the tactical knowledge to be a commander, but the only Imperial officers I have encountered commanded by fear, not respect, and I want to see if you're different. For that reason, we're going to make you a First Officer of the Majestic, while First Officer Max Felcro is acting captain of a prize crew."

He clearly hadn't been expecting that, because his eyes widened a bit. Then the smile showed on his face again. "I accept the challenge, sir, though I have to say that it comes as something of a surprise. I shall do my best to honour your trust in me."

"Good. First, I want you to sit down with First Officer Felcro and have him fill you in on the details. Then follow him on the job until he leaves, which might take a day or two. First Officer Felcro is a very good officer, so observe what he does and perhaps more importantly, why he does it. Learn as much as you can in the short time you have, because when he's gone, you're it."

"Yes, sir." Commander Janik said and saluted. "Permission to leave?"

"Granted."

He walked out, causing Master Gunnery Sergeant Norken to ask. "Was that all, sir?"

"Yes and thank you for the help." I told him.

He saluted. "You're welcome, sir... and thank you for the return of my son. Both Mik and I are eternally grateful."

"You're welcome."

He nodded with a smile and walked out of the room, leaving me with Betty Nagos.

She waited until the door had closed behind the sergeant, before asking. "Do you think Commander Janik will make the grade, sir?"

"I hope so, because according to the test he has run, he's a very good captain. However, as I told him, he needs to win the respect of the crew and that is a tall order for a former Imperial officer. This job will give him the opportunity to show if he can do it, while under the watchful eyes of you, me and Captain Iska."

"So, a safe training environment?" Betty Nagos said with a slight smile.

"Yes. I know that it's faster than usual, but we need skilled personnel and if he makes it, he can be a huge asset to the fleet."

"I agree, sir, I just have my doubts about Imperial officers."

That made me smile. "So do I, but let's see how it works out."

------------------------

Lena Agusta and Doctor Shakka were busy attending patients when I arrived in the infirmary. Mostly, the patients were freed prisoners suffering from the effect of the gassing they had been subject to when the Lictors' protective system had been activated as their reactors shut down, and fortunately most of them were improving rapidly. That most of them were in excellent health had helped a lot. Since they were destined for the slave markets, they had been well fed and combined with the hard physical labour they had done, it had kept them in good shape, which in turn had lessened the long-time effects of the gas.

"Hello, Commodore." Shakka greeted me cheerfully when she saw me. "What brings you down here today?"

"Oh, I need to have a private talk with Lena Agusta here." I said and looked over at the Yrlar with a smile, who, to my surprise, was blushing.

Shakka had clearly seen it as well, because she smiled as she said. "It might be better if I came along... As far as I understand, Sublar women are not supposed to be alone with males unless they're married."

Agusta nodded. "I would like that, Doctor."

Shakka looked at me. "Is that a problem, sir?"

"No. It's not my secret I'm trying to protect." I answered with a smile. "Do you have a free room where we can talk?"

Shakka stood. "The only free room at the moment is my office. Come."

I followed them into the office and as the door closed behind us, Shakka said. "So, what's up, sir."

"Majestic, I need a star-map of the area around the Qek-40 system on the screen here."

"Yes, sir." the computer answered and the requested star-map showed up on the screen a moment later.

"This is the Qek-40 system, where there is yet another prison mining complex, holding around four thousand people." I explained. "The problem is getting in and out of the system. The only way in and out of the Qek-40 system is through this system here." I pointed at the screen. "And there's no way I'm going to take this fleet and the twenty-eight thousand freed prisoners into an astronomical cul-de-sac from where we can't escape." I turned to look at the female Sublar. "Lena Agusta, can you use your Wegweiser ability to find another way out of the system?"

"Not into it, sir?" She asked calmly.

"No, the way in is pretty clear, but I would like a way out that is not the same as the way into the system."

"How long do I have, sir?" She asked, adding. "I would like at least several hours."

"No rush." I said as I smiled to her. "We have at least a day or two."

That made her smile. "That is plenty of time, sir. You'll have an answer later today."

"Thank you."

Smiling, she nodded and stood, looking at Shakka. "Can I go to my cabin and try it there, Doctor?"

"Sure." Nodded the Twi'Lek. "Thank you for your help today."

"You're welcome." Said Agusta and curtsied, before walking out.

Shakka looked at me. "Excuse me, sir, but can't you find a way yourself?"

I shook my head. "No. I tried, but I couldn't find any. However, that I can't find them doesn't mean that there aren't any there and I sincerely hope one of the Wegweisers can find one, because otherwise I'm not going there until we have the rest of the fleet with us. It's simply too risky. I have even considered hiding the rest of the fleet here and only taking Majestic and a few Star Wanderers there."

She grimaced. "I get our point, sir, but I don't like the thought of leaving four thousand prisoners to their fate."

"Neither do I, but there's no easy way to do this and I don't want to get caught by a battlegroup or Darth Arkol's main force with all the captured ships and freed prisoners."

"Do you think there's a possibility for him to send his fleet this way?" Shakka asked, looking alarmed.

"Yes. According to one of the captured Imperials, the task force sent a Drake to Quamire system to inform Darth Arkol of the delay and the reason for it." I told her. "When they knew the delivery time for the items they needed, they sent another, informing him of the expected time and the route they would take. That is how the task force we were pursuing knew when and where to meet up with the returning task force."

Shakka nodded slowly. "Giving a specific time is still risky here in the Chaos. They could easily have been delayed even more."

"I agree, but according to the officer, the route from here to Fondor is relatively predictable. What it boils down to, is that Darth Arkol might send yet another force this way, when the returning task force doesn't show up on time or he might be impatient and decide to go meet them." I explained. "Either way, I think a force will arrive here sooner or later, and I prefer not to be here when that happens."

"That I can understand, sir. So, what're you going to do now?"

"I'm going to give the same task to Marie Munmaki and see if she can find a route. With any luck one of them will be successful and as long as we have a way out of the Qek-40 system, I'm willing to go in to free the prisoners."

She nodded and stood to give me a soft, sweet kiss. "Good luck, Thalen."

I kissed her back, just as short and sweet as she had kissed me. "Thank you, Shakka."

The beautiful red face split in a smile. "I wished we had time for more, but I'm on duty and so are you. Later?"

"I would be honoured and delighted."

"Good." She walked over to the door. "Let's get out of here before we become too tempted, sir."

"One moment." I said, making her stop. "Yes, sir?"

"Do you happen to know why Lena Agusta was blushing earlier? It isn't the first time she and I have had a private talk, and she wasn't blushing back then."

Shakka chuckled. "The sexual education in the Sublar culture is extremely limited and your question about my race some time ago prompted her to ask a lot of question about sex, so I had her watch some educational vids about sex. However, since educational vids are somewhat impersonal, it made her curious enough to ask me questions on a more personal level. Now, I didn't tell her anything about us, but I did describe my encounter with a Chiss in detail, so now she blushes when I talk with a male Chiss... not that we have that many on board anymore."

I nodded at that observation. With only a little more than five-hundred-and-fifty Chiss in the entire fleet, including those in the Second Squadron in the Nodia system, there were indeed very few Chiss on any given ship in the fleet. Majestic was one of the ships with the most Chiss on it, since the Black Dragons were stationed here. However, since the Black Dragons were all females, they didn't count in this instance, and as far as I remembered there were only three male Chiss on the Majestic: Me, Tavune and an engineer.

"Well, that certainly explains it." I said and followed her out of the office. "And now I have to go visit Marie Munmaki."

-------------------------

"You have asked for something to do," I told Marie Munmaki ten minutes later, when we were both sitting on the sofa in her cabin, while her two lovers had retreated to the bedroom, allowing us to talk freely. "And I have an important job for you."

"Oh, that sounds exciting." She smiled, her slanted brown eyes sparkling with excitement. "Do continue."

With a nod, I explained about the Qek-40 system and the prisoners there, causing her to nod. "Of course, I will help, sir, but I had hoped that you had a more permanent job for me."

That made me smile. "A more permanent job would be impossible to learn in the time we have before we reach Yrla to return you to your people."

She lifted her head, looking defiant. "I'm not going back to Yrla, sir... At least not if I can help it."

"Care to tell me why?"

"Because I don't want to be a slave owner anymore." She said firmly, steel in her voice. "I've spent too much time hearing about the experiences, thoughts and feelings of the freed prisoners here, to be able to be a slave owner again. My conscience would kill me. Unfortunately, there's no way around that if I go back to Yrla. I might own the estate, but if I free all the slaves there, my family will think that I have gone insane or have been brainwashed by you people, and they will stop it. Even worse, they have the legal power to do so."

I thought about it for a moment. "How much of this is due to Sean and Benny?"

"Less than you think." She answered honestly. "Their main contribution to this has been to show me that they're intelligent beings that deserve to be free." She looked a bit sad. "Commodore, I've seen some of the females here and most of them are incredibly beautiful. I doubt I can hold Sean and Benny's attention for long now they're free and I have acknowledged that."

"Will your family accept it?" I asked. "The part about you not coming back, I mean."

She laughed humorlessly. "To be honest, they'll be happy. My parents are dead, so I'm sitting on their inheritance. If I disappear or leave the planet for good, my estate will go to my family and they have wanted it for years." She shrugged. "My special ability simply isn't useful enough on the planet to be valuable for the family, as we rarely venture outside our system. The other Wegweisers in my family are better at sea than I am and that's where most of our wealth is generated."

With limited ships came limited use of astrogation and I nodded as she spoke.

"As I usually say at this time, once you have joined us, there's no going back. You cannot change your mind once we reach Yrla again."

"I accept that."

"Good. However, before I say anything final, we will need to find a job for you that's within your capabilities to perform at the present time." I lifted a hand to stop any protests. "Yes, I know that you can educate yourself to other jobs, but it would be best to have a job and then educate yourself, instead of the other way around." I thought for a moment. "Hmm, I'll need to ask the XO about that, but chances are that you'll have to go through the basic training for spacehands, no-matter what. No-one should have a job on a military spaceship without basic training, especially in regard to safety."

That caused her to smile widely. "I cannot tell you how much I look forward to learning something new, sir. I'm honestly bored here."

"Well, as soon as I get an official request to join the fleet and that is approved, you'll be a lot less bored." I told her with a smile. "Anyway, how much time do you need for finding a route out of the Qek-40 system, if there is one?"

"You'll get the request shortly... and I'll try to get you an answer on the Qek-40 system later today."

"Thank you." I said as I stood. "Then I'll go on with the planning."

"Yes, sir, and thank you for trusting me with this job."

"To be honest, you're not the only one working on it. I'm just hoping that one of you will find a way."

"The Sublar Wegweisers?" She guessed with a slight smile. "As far as I know, Lena Agusta is quite skilled."

"How come you're guessing that she's the one?" I asked. "Not saying that she is."

She shrugged slightly. "When that idiot Baron blurted it out in the hospital, there were still some slaves in treatment there. They told Benny and Sean, and they told me, so it's not exactly a secret. Added to that, the Agusta family have been Wegweisers for centuries and the other Sublars simply don't have the temperament of a Wegweiser. They're too aggressive."

For a moment, I didn't know what to say. Mostly because she was completely right. As far as I knew, force-users with the ability to do astrogation by the use of the Force, had to have a calm mind and my encounters with the other Sublars had shown that Marie Munmaki's assessment of the woman was right.

"In any event," she continued. "We have been working together on the children's playground and Agusta knows I'm a Wegweiser, just as I know that she is as well." She shrugged slightly. "It wasn't fair that I was the only one with that knowledge, so I simply told her.

"Well, I will look forward to see if you find a route." I told her. "Until then, have a nice day."

"Likewise, Commodore."

--------------------

"Sir," said Tavune almost immediately when I entered the bridge, "I think you would want to see this."

"What do you have this time, Mister Tavune?" I asked with a smile, as I walked over to his station.

"Scanner data, sir." He told me. "The asteroid wasn't a base, but when we searched it, we found this." He hit a key and the image of a rectangular box showed. "This is an Imperial data case and inside that we found the complete scanner data on our fleet as it was the moment the first task force dropped into the system from hyperspace." He smiled a bit. "There's a beacon connected to it, timed to start in a week."

That meant it would have started after we had left the system. "How long does the unit have power for?"

"Several years." He answered immediately. "Once activated, it emits a short signal every half hour, so the power used is limited."

"So, what more does it have?" I asked, watching Tavune widen his eyes and then smile. "How did you know that there's more, sir?"

"If it was just the scanner data, you could have sent me a message." I chuckled. "You normally only call me over when you have some sort of juicy detail."

That made him laugh. "Right you are, sir." He pressed another key and the image of Kantu, Lord Xhal's Twi'Lek apprentice showed up, though she still had her mask on. "There's an encrypted message that took the slicers about ten minutes to break. Shall I play it?"

"Do that."

The message was short and to the point, as Kantu started by stating her name and rank and then proceeded to explain that the task force had been ambushed by an unknown force, as they were on their way from Nodia to meet up with a battlegroup in the Grinda system. What made it even worse, was that they had managed to capture a human Jedi named Regon Harbru. The Jedi had resisted Lord Xhal's attempts of trying to turn him to the dark side, so the Jedi had been frozen in carbonite for ease of transport. She finished the message by stating that the fleet they had met had taken out not only the taskforce she had been on, but also Battlegroup Agotov (Which apparently was the name of the battlegroup). She suspected that we were part of Darth Malgus' fleet and warned whoever was listening to this of going against us unless they had superior numbers and ships. She finished off by saying that Lord Xhal had decided to enter one of the ships and take command of it.

There was silence as the recording stopped, but then Tavune said. "Well, if he thought it was a Sith fleet, it makes more sense to board it like that."

I shook my head slightly. "He would have boarded a ship no-matter what. Otherwise, he would be stranded in a faraway system in a shuttle without a hyperdrive. They were just arrogant enough to choose the largest ship. Hmm... Well at least we now know the name and profession of the frozen prisoner."

"Yes, sir." He said with a nod. "A Jedi, though I have no idea what a Jedi would be doing out here."

"Well, the obvious guess is that he was running away from, or looking for, something." I told him, "But we can ask him once we wake him up."

"Do you think he'll tell us, sir?"

"No... at least not the whole truth." I answered with a slight shrug. "But sometimes what people don't tell you is just as important as what they do tell you. In any event, we'll have to wait and see. I don't intend to get him out of there until we're back with the rest of the fleet, and to be honest, I would prefer to do it on a remote planet with only him and I present. That way, he can't do any harm to the fleet even if he wanted to."

"You don't trust the Jedi?"

"No more than I would trust any other person and any organization that has had their headquarters smashed by a rival has to be somewhat desperate." I said thoughtfully. "Not to mention that according to all reports, the Jedi and the Republic work closely together and I don't want this fleet to be involved in the fight between the Republic and the Empire any more than we already are as that would damage the relationship between the Empire and the Chiss Ascendency."

Tavune nodded slowly. "Good point, sir."

"I thought so too." I said with a slight smile. "Do you have more to show me?"

He shook his head. "Not at the moment, sir."

"Then I'll go on, but good work, Tavune. That was an excellent find and I'm glad you found it instead of Darth Arkol. Keep up the good work."

"Thank you, sir."

------------------

Later the same evening, I was in my office talking with Iska, when Marie Munmaki called.

"On screen." I ordered and a moment later, the Escor female showed up on the viewscreen.

"Good evening, Commodore. Good evening, Captain." She greeted as she saw both of us. "I did find a route, but as I can't access the star-maps from my cabin, I can't plot it."

"You have a point." I chuckled. "I'll have you escorted to my office."

"Thank you, sir."

The screen switched off again and I called the communication section. "Comm, tell the guards outside Lena Agusta's cabin to escort her to my cabin, if she asks for it."

"Yes, sir."

Ten minutes later, the door to the office opened and two guards escorted Marie Munmaki inside, before walking out again. Marie Munmaki stopped for a moment to take in the room, before walking to the sofa group where Iska and I were sitting.

"Hello, sirs." She said cheerfully. "May I ask where the astrogation station is?"

"Hello Lady Munmaki and you can use the one by the screen." I told her. "It's connected to the ship's system."

With a nod, she walked over to the station and looked at it for a moment. "I might need some help. I'm not familiar with the layout."

"Let me assist you." Chuckled Iska and stood from the sofa to walk over to the station.

They spent a few minutes inserting the route and then stepped back to look when a star-map showed on the screen. "This is the best route I could find, sir. It's not perfect, but it's there."

I walked over to them, studying the map. As Munmaki had said, it wasn't perfect, as it involved a rather long and dangerous system-to-system jump from Qek-40 to a nearby system, but once there, the rest of the way were two straight forward jumps that ended in the BO-89 system, which happened to be the same system I had looked at some days ago, when searching for a system to hide the fleet.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get any closer." Said Munmaki quietly. "But the Qek-40 system is even more isolated than Yrla."

"Lady Munmaki, when asking the impossible, I'm more than satisfied with anything possible." I said with a chuckle. "Majestic, mirror this map on the astrogation station and give me a line to Astrogator San, audio only."

"Yes, sir."

"Astrogator San, I might have a route, but I need to know how many of our ships can make a jump at that length?"

"One moment, sir." There was a tapping on keys. "Only Majestic, the Wyverns and the Star Wanderers can make that jump. Apparently, the ability to make long system-to-system jumps are one of the reasons for the Star Wanderers' popularity here in the Chaos."

Unlike when using a hyperspace route, a ship's ability to make long system-to-system jumps were closely connected with the amount of hyperspace fuel that could be used at the same time. Unfortunately, so was the speed of that travel, and since speed was important for most warships used in the rest of the universe, builders tended to prioritize jump speed over the ability to make long system-to-system jumps.

So only the largest ships or the ones designed for it, had the engine size to make long jumps and this jump was extremely long, making us unable to use most of our ships.

"Astrogator San, could you pull up the warships that are known to make a jump this long?"

"Yes, sir."

The list that showed on the screen next to the star-map was a short one, as it consisted only of the Dragon- and Wyvern-classes along with the Harrower-class Dreadnought, the Valor-class cruiser and, odd for a smaller ship, the Hammerhead-class.

"Oh." Said Marie Munmaki in a low voice. "I didn't think about that."

"No worries." Said Iska with a gentle tone of voice. "That is our job, not yours." She looked at me. "Is it doable, sir?"

"Yes." I said slowly. "At least if we place most of the fleet in another system and only bring Majestic, a Star Wanderer and perhaps a Wyvern, we can take the prison camp, load the freed prisoners into the Star Wanderer and get out of there as fast as possible."

The purple Twi'Lek smiled. "Got a bad feeling about this, sir?"

"Not really, but I recognize a potential deathtrap when I see one, and that is exactly what the Qek-40 system is. If, and that is a huge if, anyone wanted to ambush a fleet, that would be the place to do it, though I doubt Darth Arkol has another battlegroup around here, given the fact that we have already beaten both a task force and a battlegroup here."

"Excuse me," said Maria Munmaki, "but are these to scale with each other?" She gestured in the direction of the list, where the ships were indeed shown in a relative scale, so that the Harrower was almost two and a half times larger than the Hammerhead.

"Yes." Answered Iska absently, causing the Escor to gasp. "That can't be! Hammerhead-class cruisers are three hundred meters long, making that..." She glanced over at the screen for a second. "... Harrower-class Dreadnought... almost three times longer!"

"The length of a Harrower-class Dreadnought is about eight hundred meters." I told her. "So, yes that is correct."

Looking a little wild-eyed, she turned back to the screen. "And judging from what the Astrogator said, this ship isn't a Wyvern class, so what is it?"

Iska eyed me, making me nod slightly. I had received her official request to join the fleet earlier, so we might as well give her the information now.

"Majestic is a Dragon-class Dreadnought." Iska told her. "And in case you're wondering, at nine hundred meters, it's a hundred meters longer than the Harrower."

She looked speechless for a moment, but then slowly nodded. "I guess that means that the Hawk you showed me is a lot larger than I assumed... I guessed three hundred meters and as far as I remember, you didn't correct me."

"That is correct. I didn't correct, but since you have elected to join the fleet, I can tell you that Hawk is seven hundred meters long." I gestured in the direction of the screen. "It's a Wyvern-class, if you want to see the comparison."

She studied the ships for a moment and then sighed. "I used to think that Razor's Edge was a magnificent ship, but now I get your comment, that it was just a modified old freighter and not a real warship."

"Not 'just' an old freighter." I chuckled. "As I said at the time, I did study it and the modifications were very well done."

"Still nothing compared to the ships in this fleet."

"Well, it didn't have to be. Razor's Edge was built to combat the Sublars. Majestic was built to battle both the Valor-class cruiser and whatever else the Republic could come up with." I thought for a moment. "By the way, how many hyperspace-capable ships do the Escors and Sublars have? I've only ever heard about the ones we encountered in the Snare system."

She hesitated for a moment, but then shrugged. "I feel like I shouldn't tell you, but on the other hand, if you decide to take the Yrla system, that information will make no difference whatsoever." She sighed. "The Razor's Edge has a sister ship called Dagger... The Sublars had five ships, but as you know, four of these were destroyed when they were chasing the Razor's Edge, so they only have one left, which as far as I know is an old freighter." She smiled a little. "Don't get me wrong, we have more ships, but not with a hyperdrive installed."

I was silent for a moment as thoughts ran through my head. With a sister ship of the same kind, chances were that someone high up in the Escors chain of command had a stroke of genius. Send off the Razor's edge to buy new ships and make sure the opponent got that information as well. When the opponent took the bait and followed it, a second ship was sent off and that ship would have a much better chance of making it to the Outer Rim. More to the point, we had searched the Razor's Edge looking for survivors and while we did find almost seventy, there hadn't been more than a hundred and fifty on the ship. Way too few to crew any larger warship they might be able to buy.

"Do you know what kind of warships you were looking to buy?"

Marie shook her head. "Not precisely, but they talked a lot about an exploration frigate called an Astra."

"Majestic, do we have any files on an Astra-class Exploration Frigate in the database?"

"Yes, sir." Answered the computer and the stats of yet another ship showed on the screen.

Made by Rendili Stardrive, the Astra-class was designed for exploration missions beyond known space and included a hydroponic garden, a well-equipped galley, spacious quarters, and equipment for a variety of recreational activities. It also had decent armor and shielding, and two light turbo lasers, six laser cannons and a tractor beam projector for weapons. To top it up, it could even carry six small starfighters or scouts in its hangar. The most fascinating part was its engine configuration, since it had no less than three hyperdrives and three ion engines, ensuring that the ship would rarely get stranded by drive failure.

"Impressive." Commented Iska as she read the stats. "All that and only with a thirty-person crew. That's good engineering."

"It's also the perfect choice of ship for a system like Yrla." I said thoughtfully. "This ship won't have a problem reaching Yrla from the Terminus system, it's uniquely suited for the Chaos and is well armoured, despite being a little under-armed for a ship of its size." I paused for a moment, before I sighed and looked at Marie. "I don't know how to say this politely, Lady Munmaki, but Razor's Edge was bait."

"What?" She exclaimed.

"This ship has a crew requirement of thirty and except for slaves, there were just enough people on the Razor's Edge to crew it, so even if you reached the Terminus System and were able to buy ships, how would you get said ships back to Yrla?"

She blinked a few times and looked at the screen. "I don't know."

"Neither do I, but the obvious answer is that they took one of their ships, loaded enough slaves into it for any spy to think that the Razor's Edge was transporting enough crew for the reinforcements you were going to buy, along with enough gold to make it seem plausible. Then they sent you off, hoping that you would make it, but knowing that you would be pursued by the Sublars."

"That can't be right!" Exclaimed Marie.

"I can't be certain," I said with a slight shrug. "But if they didn't have a second ship ready to go with enough crew to take any ship they brought back to Yrla, it doesn't make sense to send you off to buy ships. So, following that way of thinking, it's logical to use the first ship as bait to draw the enemy away and then send off the real ship. The one with people educated to crew a warship, making sure their new ships would make it back to Yrla." A thought popped into my head. "Do the Escors have another, and most likely higher ranking, astrogator that can do what you can?"

"Yes. The original Wegweiser was my older cousin, but he became sick a few days bef..." Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened slightly, as she realized that there was a good chance that I was right.

"Frak!" She sighed. "We were set up."

"I think it was more like a tactical decision."

"Well, the result is the same." She said angrily. "We almost all died."

"Yes." I agreed. "But your country is in an undeclared war with another country and people die in wars. Especially when they're on a mission where the success could determine the outcome of the war."

"What do you mean? We just want to be able to defend ourselves!"

"Lady Munmaki." Said Iska with a sigh. "Considering the ships the Escors and Sublars have, whomever shows up with a modern warship has effectively won the war... even if it's only two or three Astra-class Exploration frigates."

"At least unless your non-hyperspace capable ships are equipped with turbolasers and good shielding."

"Ah... well, both sides have shielded spacecraft armed with lasers." Munmaki told us. "We're not that much behind in technology. It's the hyperdrives we can't make."

It sounded like the two nations were in a stalemate regarding space superiority and no-matter what Marie Munmaki thought, the Escors would win if they managed to secure a modern warship. Even if it was a relatively small ship like a modern Hammerhead or two or three Astra-class frigates, as Iska had suggested.

All it took was for one side to get space superiority and then use that to destroy the enemy cities or production centers from above with meteor- or asteroid strikes. A twenty-ton meteor hitting a target from space would wreck just as much havoc as a small nuclear missile and didn't leave any long-term radiation or fallout problems.

So, one ruthless, but efficient, tactic to win the war, would be to drop one meteor on a weapon production facility to destroy it and then threaten the other side to drop meteors on their major cities if they didn't surrender.

The intercom interrupted my thoughts and I accepted the call as it was from one of the guards. "Sir, Lena Agusta wishes to see you."

"Escort her to my office in five minutes."

"Yes, sir."

The screen switched back to the star-map, and I looked at Marie Munmaki. "You both know about each other's Wegweiser abilities, right?"

She nodded. "Yes."

"Good, then you can stay."

It didn't take long before the chime announced that there was someone at the door and a moment later, Lena Agusta was shown in by the guards.

She blinked in surprise, when she saw that Marie Munmaki was in the room as well. "Excuse me, did I arrive at an inconvenient time?"

I shook my head. "No, quite the opposite actually. I believe you know Marie Munmaki here. Like you, she has elected to join the fleet, so I gave her the same task, as I gave you. More options are almost always better." I gestured at the terminal. "You can use the terminal over there."

As with Munmaki, she wasn't familiar with the controls, so Iska walked over to help.

"This is the route I found." Agusta declared and stepped back to watch the screen, while I walked closer again. Amazingly, Agusta had found two routes out of the Qek-40 system. One that went into the region of space we were in now and one that went the other way, going towards the Outer Rim.

"You didn't say which way you wanted to go, sir." Agusta explained. "I assumed you wanted to go this way, but just to be on the safe side, I sought out another way as well."

"Good thinking, Lady Agusta." I said with a slight smile and looked at the route going our way again. While being slightly different from the one Munmaki had found, this one also demanded a long and dangerous first jump to get out of the Qek-40 system, meaning that it didn't increase my choice in which ships to take there. It was still only Majestic, the Wyvern-class cruisers and the Star Wanderers that could make the jump.

However, that they had both found a route at all, meant that their Wegweiser abilities functioned in another way than mine. My powers found the lesser-known natural hyperspace lanes, but their powers found the possible clear jumps. In that way they were more like the Chiss Skywalkers than I was.

Interesting as the concept was, I turned my attention back to the prison camp and the fact that only a few ships could make the jump out of the system.

Strange as it might sound, taking the prison camp wouldn't be much of a challenge if handled right. According to the freed prisoners from there, the Qek-40 camp and its mines were restricted to one moon with no orbital mining or facilities, and only a single wing of MK VI starfighters combined with a Drake-class frigate to protect against pirates. It wasn't a bad protection, but against a Dragon-class Dreadnought, they didn't have a chance.

The only thing that worried me was that the prisoners had said that the camp had gotten a new commanding officer from the taskforce. Since the new commanding officer had arrived as the prisoners were loaded into the Lictor and the Deltas, they had no information about the officer and if we were unlucky, the new officer might be a Sith. Granted, if it was so, it was most likely a very low ranking Sith, but it was still a force user and thus someone to be respected for their abilities.

The possibility of a Sith being present meant that I had to be there to make sure the operation went as planned, but beside that, there weren't any overwhelming reasons not to free the prisoners.

Turning towards Agusta and Munmaki, I bowed slightly. "Thank you for your help, ladies. Without your assistance, we wouldn't have tried to free the four thousand prisoners in the Qek-40 system."

They both smiled, as they curtsied, blushing slightly.

"You're more than welcome." Said Marie, while Lena Agusta added. "That was the least we could do after what you have done for us."

They said their goodbyes and left the office, leaving me and Iska alone.

The purple Twi'Lek sent me a smile. "So, sir? How many ships?"

"Three, as I said earlier. Majestic to take the camp, a Wyvern-class cruiser to help and a Star Wanderer to transport the prisoners." I told her. "But first we need to talk with both former prisoners and some of the defected Imperials. We need to know as much as possible about the prison camp before we go there." I smiled. "And when I say 'we', I mean you, me and Commander Yaki."

"And the rest of the fleet goes into hiding, continuing the repairs while we wait for you to return." Said Iska with a slight nod, "Are you still hooked on the BO-89 system?"

"Not if you have a better suggestion." I replied with a smile. "What is your suggestion?"

"The Esk-32 system." She said without hesitation, causing me to think it over.

The Esk-32 system was where we had found the three-kilometre-long battleship on the way to the Grinda system and had several advantages. First and foremost, while the system was somewhat difficult to get to, it was possible and it was highly unlikely that it would be visited. Otherwise, the wreck of the battleship would have been dissembled for spare parts a long time ago. Secondly, we knew the way there and it was already locked into the navigation computer. The downside of the Esk-32 system was that despite having the navigational data, it wasn't an easy system to get to.

Another advantage with picking a system closer to Nodia, was that with the limited speed of the Tork, the fleet would spend more time in hyperspace and with just a little bit of luck, we would arrive at the Esk-32 system less than a week after the others.

"You have an excellent point," I told her, "but just to be on the safe side, Marie Munmaki and her lovers need to be transferred to the Hawk. Zwul is the senior captain and will have command, while we're in the Qek-40 system, and for that he needs a Wegweiser. Who has the fewest liberated prisoners on board?"

"Falcon." Iska answered immediately. "They were busy fetching damaged starfighters, pilots and escape pods, when we placed most of the freed prisoners."

"Good. Then we'll take Captain Bucbro's ship and a Star Wanderer with us. That should be enough life-support to hold the prisoners once we have freed them."

"Sounds like a plan, sir." Nodded Iska.

"Yes, but if we're not there within three weeks, I want them to move on, taking the safest route towards Nodia."

"Make it four weeks, sir."

"No, three weeks is enough. I know that the Chaos is an unpredictable place, but even if we take longer than that, we will still be able to catch up later due to the difference in hyperspace speed."

"That is true, sir." Smiled Iska. "I just hope they'll never have to move on without us."

"You and me both." I chuckled. "But I'd rather plan for it and never have to use it, than not plan on it and need it."

"Makes sense, sir." She glanced at the screen. "Hmm, I would have suggested that we go talk with Commander Yaki, but she's off duty and most likely asleep by now." She looked at me. "Do you have something else you need to do tonight?"

Remembering my talk with Shakka, I nodded slowly. "Yes, I actually do. Doctor Shakka is coming to visit."

"Well, in that case..." She grinned and walked closer. "Do you mind me joining in on the fun? I know that the good Doctor is up for it."

"I would like that very much."

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The next few days went according to plan. Marie Munmaki and her lovers were relocated to the Hawk, after I had briefed Captain Zwul of her abilities. The captured Imperial personnel were transported to the planet along with those prisoners we didn't want, which turned out to be quite a lot. Unlike the prisoners from Nodia, there were almost three thousand hardcore criminals among the prisoners from Qek-40 and despite the chance that some of them had been innocent victims of the Empire, we simply couldn't risk it, so they were transferred to the surface as well. Additional supplies and shelters were also dropped, making sure the prisoners had something to live in after we had taken those escape pods we could find and returned them to the ships.

Falcon even managed to find the two MK. VI that had escaped to the planet and used its tractor beams to capture them, making sure the prisoners didn't use them to capture unsuspecting freighters passing through the system.

The enemy ships that couldn't be repaired were emptied of most of their cargo and supplies, and then sent into the sun, destroying them.

It hurt to watch, but we didn't have the time to repair them nor the crew needed to supply them with prize crew, and while we in theory could have hidden them in the asteroid field, the chance of them being discovered was simply too high.

The Star Wanderer with the people who wanted to relocate to the Outer Rim was sent off and the rest of the fleet started their journey towards the Esk-32 system, while Majestic, Falcon and a Star Wanderer, named 'Walrus' by the crew, continued to the Qek-40 system.

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The Qek-40 system

Dreadnought Majestic

After the heavy combat in the Grinda system, taking the Imperial prison in the Qek-40 was pleasantly easy. Majestic, Falcon and Walrus just dropped into the system and flew to the planet, where we launched the fighters and demanded that the prison guards surrender.

Initially, they refused, but a short bombardment took out their turbolasers, fighter hangars, anti-air guns and scanner towers, and when we asked a second time, they complied,

allowing us to simply land a force of space marines and take the whole complex with relatively ease.

Just in case the leader of the prison was a Sith, I was there as well, though Yaki had decided that the safest way was for me to ride in the last dropship, which I did. Then I just relaxed, waiting for Yaki to tell me if there was a Sith or not.

"Sir," called Yaki over the intercom after a while. "The commanding officer, Lieutenant Kreen, is surrendering the garrison with the condition that his soldiers are treated well, but he insists on surrendering in person."

"Accept it." I ordered. "And make sure that the prisoners don't try to kill the guards. I'm going to join you now."

"Yes, sir. I'll have him scanned while we wait for you."

Ten minutes later, I was looking at a uniformed man that looked too young to be a Lieutenant, despite what the insignia said.

The Black Dragons must have introduced me, because he immediately saluted. "Commodore, I hereby surrender the garrison under the condition that the soldiers are treated well."

"I accept your surrender, Lieutenant Kreen." I told him with a salute to match his, as I reached out with the Force to get a glimpse of his feelings. Mostly he was afraid on behalf of his men, which coupled into the knowledge that his own career just had gone up in flames, but behind those feelings was an iron will bent on doing what was right and not sacrificing his men needlessly. "And I applaud any officer with the knowledge to know when not to fight and when to do what is best for the people under his command."

"Thank you, sir, though I'm convinced that my superior officers are not going to take the same point of view as you are." He gestured in the direction of the Star Wanderer, where the freed prisoners were being guided up the ramp by our Space Marines. "I know that some of the troopers there have been court martialled for doing the same as I have done. My only consolation is that my people were ordered to surrender and those who were court martialled were not."

"You would be correct in that." I said with a slight nod and activated the channel to Yaki. "How much time until the prisoners are out?"

"Ten minutes." She chuckled. "We had a few debates with prisoners wanting to kill some guards, but we got that under control." She paused and then added. "You might find it interesting, that the prisoners had it much worse under the previous commander. It seems like Lieutenant Kreen is quite competent and has forced the guards to clean up their act or face punishment."

"Thank you, Commander." I said and deactivated the comm again, before I said. "Lieutenant Kreen, my people seem to think you have done an excellent job here."

He shrugged slightly, brushing off the compliment. "I just enforced the rules as they are. The former commander here really let things slide and they needed to be fixed."

"Still, not many would have the will to do that."

He sighed. "Look, Commodore. When I get sent to do a job, I do the best job I possibly can and worry about the consequences later. Yes, I will most likely get court martialled for surrendering my command, but that is a cost I'm willing to pay and if you're trying to recruit me, please stop."

I smiled slightly to myself inside the helmet and nodded. Not only was Lieutenant Kreen competent, but he was also loyal to a fault. Of course, his age might have something to do with it, but whatever the case, he clearly hasn't had enough of the Empire yet.

"Very well, Lieutenant. Allow me to wish you good luck."

"Thank you, Commodore," he said with a wry smile. "and I hope you forgive me for not returning the wish."

I nodded as the intercom clicked on at the same time.

"Walrus is ready to lift off, Commodore." Said Yaki. "I'm recalling the troopers as we speak."

"Thank you." I told her and turned towards Lieutenant Kreen. "We will be leaving now, Lieutenant. Thank you for your cooperation."

"And thank you for keeping your word, Commodore."

We saluted each other and then I walked off towards the dropship, followed by the half squad of Black Dragons Yaki had appointed as my bodyguard.

"Commodore, Resa here." Resa's voice said over the intercom. "You wanted to know how many criminals we have freed, but I'm happy to inform you that according to the database, there isn't a single criminal among the prisoners. Apparently, the new prison commander went through the files when he took over and the few criminals they did have were shipped off with the lictor we encountered in the Grinda system."

Once more, I wished that the Imperial Lieutenant had been just a little older and had seen more, so I had a chance to persuade him to join us.

"Thank you, Resa. What is your status?"

"Mission accomplished, sir. We're on our way back to the drop ships now."

"Good." I said as I walked up the ramp to my dropship. "Thalen out."

My feeling of everything going according to plan vaporized as the ramp closed behind me and my intercom came to life again.

"Commander, we've got company." Announced Tavune. "Several frigate or corvette sized ships just dropped out of hyperspace at the jump point. They're too far away for the scanners to get a clear picture of the type."

"Coming towards us?"

"No, they're holding their station by the jump point."

"Notify me if that changes." I ordered and shifted to the all-commander channel. "Enemy incoming. Get back to your ships with all possible haste."

That the small capital ships stayed near the jump point meant that they were either guarding it, waiting for more ships to arrive or both, and we needed to get out of the system as fast as possible. Unless they were on patrol, frigates and corvettes were normally used as a screening force for larger ships and no-matter what side they were on, I had no wish to go into combat with any large capital ships unless forced to do it.

Time seemed to slow down as we got the last people into the dropships and took off, flying at full speed towards Majestic.

We were almost there when Tavune called again. "Mass alert! Big one." He paused, most likely to watch the scanner output. "A Harrower, two BSX-5s, three Deltas and six Terminus-class destroyers, though the last ones might be Gage-class transporters. The screening force is moving towards us at full speed."

"Identification?"

"Too early for that, sir. Give it a few minutes, but it looks like one of Darth Arkol's Battlegroups."

"That is most likely." I replied and looked at the helmet's head-up display. The screening force could reach us in eighteen minutes if we didn't move towards them, less if we did, more if we flew away from them.

On the bright side, all our ships were faster than both the Harrower and the two BSX-5s, leaving 'only' the destroyers, Deltas and screening ships able to pursue us.

"The fleet is calling us, sir, as usual demanding our surrender." Said Tavune.

"Politely decline." I ordered and changed the channel so I could talk to Iska. "Captain, this is not a battle I intend to take, considering how many people we have on board. Tell the fleet to turn and head towards the second planet, while warming up their hyperdrives. We need to get behind it, so they can't get a read on our vector and follow us."

"Yes, sir." Replied Iska as the dropship entered Majestic's hangar.

"Oh, and have Lena Agusta brought to the bridge with all possible haste."

"Yes, sir."

"Thalen out." I said as I walked to the door as the dropship landed on the deck. The ramp opened and a moment later, I was out, walking as fast as I could towards the lifts.

By chance, I arrived in my cabin in time to see Lena Agusta walk into my office from the bridge.

Taking off the helmet, I sent her a slight smile. "Lady Agusta, we need you to confirm the route you found earlier. An Imperial battlegroup has just dropped into the system."

She swallowed something and nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Thank you. You can use the astrogation station here as last time." I walked past her and onto the bridge. "Status."

"It's one of Darth Arkol's battlegroups under the command of one Lord Bawon." Said Iska calmly. "The Harrower and the two BSX-5 are not a problem for now, but the screening force will overtake us in fifteen minutes, the destroyers in twenty-five minutes."

Stopping beside her, I looked at the plot. Both the Dragon- and Wyvern-classes were faster than the Harrower and the BSX-5, but while the Star Wanderer might be able to make long jumps, its real-space speed was slower and even if going at full speed the enemy Harrower and BSX-5 would catch up in thirty-three minutes.

Since we would be behind a planet in twenty minutes, that didn't worry me much. It was the smaller and faster ships that were the problem, especially the Mantas. Not that they would catch us before we reached the planet, but the longer it took us, the bigger the chance that they would get a reading of the vector when entering hyperspace, which they could then relay to the Harrower.

Looking at the plot again, I discovered that five of the pursuing ships were pulling away from the rest and the computer had identified them as Manta-class corvettes, which wasn't a surprise. At that speed they couldn't be anything else.

"Master Gunners Karstein and Kansen." I called. "I have a job for you."

They looked at me in surprise. "Yes, sir?"

"Launch a flight of missiles..." I started and told them about the tactic I had used in the Alpha Viga system. "Yes, I know the chance of hitting one of them is extremely low, but I want them to change course just a little or otherwise slow them down."

"Yes, sir." Karstein said and started programming, while Kansen asked. "Excuse me sir, but how many ships can I use?"

"Both Majestic and Falcon and as many salvos as you can. Coordinate with the Falcon and fire when ready."

That would make a serious dent in our missile storage, but getting away was more important and the Tork had plenty of missiles on board anyway.

He nodded with a grin. "Yes, sir." And a moment later the two gunners were talking with each other in a low voice.

One of the navigation screens flicked into life, showing a route.

"Astrogator San. Double check this route and change the jump point to be behind the planet. We're not jumping before their scanners can't detect us."

"Yes, sir." Said the Sullustan and went to work, just as Lena Agusta entered the bridge from my office and almost immediately sat down in a vacant chair at the tactical section.

"Missiles away!" called Kansen. I acknowledged it with a 'Thank you.' and looked at a screen as the planet kept growing as we came nearer. It was a large gas planet and quite ordinary except for being able to hide our jump, so our pursuers couldn't follow.

"Six minutes to scanner shadow, sir." Said Cabur.

"The enemy Mantas will reach us in five." Commented Iska and looked at the tactical plot., as she ordered the aft gunners into high alert.

Without anything to do but wait, I watched the tactical plot as the clock ticked down.

"Ten seconds to missiles." Announced Karstein suddenly.

"Five."

Almost everybody on the bridge turned their attention to the tactical screen.

"Now."

Near the pursuing Mantas, twelve capital ship missiles activated and went after the Mantas. Lasers flashed through space and point-defence sent out rockets as the Mantas went into evasive manoeuvres.

"Frak." Someone mumbled, as only one missile survived to hit a Manta, which wasn't enough to break through the shield.

Suddenly twelve more missiles ignited their drives, then yet another twelve. All coming from different directions flying towards the Mantas.

"Three minutes." Said Cabur.

The first Manta took out five missiles, but four managed to avoid getting destroyed by the point defence and slammed into the small capital ship, causing it to slow down and then stop completely. The next in line was attacked by three missiles and somehow failed to take out more than one, causing the two remaining missiles to slam into it, seriously damaging it.

Another twelve missiles came to life, forcing the Mantas to slow down to have more time to take them out and make evasive manoeuvres at the same time, decreasing their speed even more, which in this case was the important part.

"Two minutes."

In front of the pursuing Mantas, it looked like thirty-six more missiles lit their drives, causing the Mantas to manoeuvre frantically, trying to avoid the attacks.

I chuckled as I realized that the Gunners had used a salve of decoy missiles, made to confuse the point defence by making it seem that there were a lot more missiles than there really were. To make it worse for the Mantas, there were a few real missiles hiding in between them.

Unfortunately, the decoys could only fool the sensors and not the persons manning the lasers, so the real missiles were shot down, but not before the scare had forced the Mantas even more off the direct course.

"One minute."

"Route checks out." Called Jander San. "Sending it to the group now."

"Check-up." Ordered Iska. "I want to hear that Falcon and Walrus have gotten the route."

"Checking." Said Tavune and went to work.

"Time!" Called Lieutenant Cabur. "We're in the sensor shadow."

"Hold it." I ordered, looking at the clock. The sensor shadow from the planet wouldn't last forever, and...

"Clear!" Called Tavune. "All ships ready to jump."

Hitting the all-ship channel, I said. "Go!"

The two other ships disappeared and with a few seconds delay, designed to make sure that the civilian ship got away safely, Iska activated the hyperdrive. Stars elongated and a moment later we were gone as well.

"Well done, everybody." I said and looked over at the gunner section. "And good thinking with the decoy missiles."

"Thank you, sir." They said in unison.

Iska looked at me, one eyebrow lifted slightly, causing me to nod. We both knew how lucky we had been with getting off the planet with the freed prisoners and undamaged ships. If the battlegroup had arrived half an hour earlier, it would have caught us with the Walrus and the drop ship on the planet, which would have added enough time to our take-off to make it a fighting retreat against a larger force. A situation that most likely would have resulted in the loss of the lightly armored Walrus along with all the prisoners, and perhaps even Falcon and Majestic as well.

"Let's get back to the rest of the fleet, Captain." I said quietly.

"Yes, sir."

------------- To be continued ---------------

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