Into the Chaos -- Author's note.

Welcome to the twelfth 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 twelfth 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 12 - Searching the Chaos

Dreadnought Majestic, the Chaos

Another test

Dreadnought Majestic, Jenth-32 system

"First, make them masters of their tools.

Then, make them masters of themselves."

Ancient military saying

Like most of our journeys, the trip to the Jenth-32 system had been uneventful so far, but on the bright side, it gave Iska and I some alone time when it was First Officer Janik's watch. Something that didn't happen too often when we were in real-space.

Outside the ship, hyperspace showed off the kaleidoscopic myriads of swirling colours and patterns of light that make most people uncomfortable, if not downright hypersick.

It was for that reason that the wall screen in my cabin showed Majestic, Glorious and several of the Wyvern-class cruisers sailing through space, lit by the triple suns of the Tetra 7 system.

I didn't pay the view too much attention, as the sight of a naked Iska laying in my bed was an even prettier sight. Especially since I was standing between her legs and was fucking her slowly, causing her perky purple breasts to jiggle with the rhythm.

Her shapely legs were around my hips, their position making her hips look wider and her waist slimmer than they really were, but as those wide hips provided me with a good handle for my hands, I wasn't complaining.

For a moment I withdrew completely from her wet pussy and then slowly pushed my dick into her again, groaning as the wet, slippery lips parted as the head went into her, followed a moment later by the rest of my hard cock. As usual, her pussy was hot and tight, and I shivered with pleasure as the muscles contracted, squeezing my dick as I bottomed out in her.

Iska groaned and tightened the grip her legs had around my hips, so she could lift her ass from the bed, moving her hips in circles and massaging my dick all over.

"I'm coming!" She gasped after a little while, tensing up. "Fuck me hard."

I could indeed feel her pleasure rising, but it wasn't close to an orgasm yet, so I sent her a smile. "Not yet. I want to drag it out."

"Evil!" She hissed and then moaned as I rammed her a little harder than before.

"You haven't seen evil yet." I grinned and moved a hand to her clitoris, running my thumb in circles over the sensitive organ.

"Ohhh." She groaned as a shiver ran through her body. Her hips ground against me and her pussy convulsed around my thrusting cock, sending extra shivers of pleasure through me.

I increased the speed and power in my thrusts, hammering into her with increasing speed, as my thumb danced on her clitoris.

Iska gasped and released a loud wail of pleasure as her body exploded into orgasm. Her pussy contracted around my dick as her hips went wild as waves of pleasure ran through her body.

Leaning forward, I bent over so we could kiss, and the moment our lips met, she threw her arms around my neck, hugging me tightly as she kissed me with passion, mashing her breasts against my chest.

Placing my hands on each side of her, I kissed her deeply as I kept ramming her with long strokes that sent shockwaves through her body each time my pelvis made contact with her clitoris.

She broke the kiss to scream with pleasure once more as she came again, her feet losing their grip around my waist to land on the edge of the bed, while her pussy pulsed around my hard cock.

Slowing down a little, I kept driving my cock into her welcoming body through her orgasm, only stopping when she asked for a break.

With a chuckle, I pulled out of her and got to my feet, smiling slightly as she curled up on the bed, breathing heavily. There was something very satisfying in giving a person so much pleasure that they needed a break.

Still smiling, I walked to the other side of the bed, so I could sit on the bed while resting my back against the soft headboard.

With a slight smile, Iska moved, so she could rest her head against my stomach with a satisfied sigh. "Nothing like taking a break. And the view is quite good as well."

"Yes, the Tetra 7 system is very beautiful." I agreed.

That earned me a laugh, as she moved her hand to let her fingers play on the shaft of my still hard cock. "I was talking about the blue rod here."

She adjusted her position a little and suddenly her warm wet lips closed around the head of my cock, her agile tongue playing on the tip.

"Wow." I mumbled and let my right hand move up, so I could massage the base of her lekku. She shivered in return, but kept licking me with a soft tongue, moving her head ever so slightly, making her lips slide over the sensitive spot just below the head, while her fingers were still dancing on the shaft, moving to the balls from time to time before going back up.

Deciding that I would like to feel her skin under my fingers, I brought my left hand into play as well, letting it run over the soft, purple skin of her back.

With a soft moan around my cock, she moved the lower part of her body further up the bed, so I could reach her ass with my hand. Almost by itself, my hand followed the curves of her body, going over the flaring hips and firm buttocks until I reached the wet lips of her pussy, where I started to gently slide my fingers over and between them, mirroring what she was doing with her fingers. Enjoying the feel of her wetness under my fingertips.

Her tongue swirled lazily around the head of my cock, tracing the ridge with feather-light touches that sent sparks of pleasure shooting through me and her lekku twitched slightly as I kneaded the sensitive base with my right hand. The way she groaned in contentment vibrated against my shaft, making it throb harder in her mouth.

I dipped my fingers deeper between her slick folds, feeling the heat radiating from her pussy. She was still soaked from our earlier fuck, her arousal coating my digits as I slid one inside her, then two, curling them gently to stroke her inner walls.

Iska arched her back just a fraction, pushing her ass higher into my reach, her moan muffled around my cock as she took more of me into her warm mouth.

It was fantastic, relaxing, and extremely sensual all at the same time and for a while, we just lay there, relaxing as we lazily pleasured each other, a slow tide of mutual indulgence that ebbed and flowed between us as if neither of us wanted to rush the moment.

It felt like Iska didn't simply suck my cock. She worshipped it, drawing her lips up and down my length with measured, unhurried strokes, as if intent on memorizing every vein, every nuance of taste and texture with the tip of her tongue. Her hand twisted softly at the base, applying just enough pressure to drive my need higher without pushing me anywhere near the brink.

Having two fingers buried in her just made it better, as I let my fingers explore every part of her pussy, two fingers thrusting into her or playing with her lips. As if she was reading my mind, she lifted her leg, giving me unhindered access to her clitoris and she shivered as my fingers wandered a little further to draw slow circles around the sensitive little organ, while my other hand never paused in its caress of her lekku.

Every time I stroked the sensitive purple flesh at its base, she shivered so hard I could feel her whole lower body vibrate against my lap. Adjusting my hand just a little, I inserted a thumb into her pussy, going for her G-spot, while two other fingers kept up the pressure and movement on the clitoris.

When I began sliding my thumb in and out of her, gliding fingers over both G-spot and clitoris at the same time, she tensed up, her body shivering as she moaned and then doubled down, taking me deeper down her throat, the suction suddenly more intense as she hollowed her cheeks and worked her tongue along the most sensitive places under the head. I could hear the soft, wet sounds of her mouth, each bob of her head a lewd, loving kiss.

In retaliation, I increased the tempo of my fingers, thrusting them into her with a slow, deliberate force that made her whole body tense. Occasionally I would stop and tease her, just tickling the entrance with my fingertips, and she'd whimper, pushing back onto my hand with a need that bordered on desperate.

Not that I fared much better, as my cock throbbed in her mouth, and I could feel the hot rush of pleasure every time she squeezed my balls or hummed low in her throat. It wouldn't take long before I exploded, and I was sure that she knew that.

She proved it a moment later, as she removed her mouth from my dick. "I want to feel you come inside me."

"How?" I asked, the desire raging in me. In that moment, I just wanted to bury my dick in her.

She turned so she lay on her side with her back and cute ass towards me.

I got the hint and moved in behind her, hooked her upper leg gently and lifted it. My cock, hard and slick from the blowjob, pressed against her wet lips, the head gently parting them.

Iska snorted and suddenly pressed backwards, making my dick slide halfway inside her and her to moan. "Better. I'm way too horny for that."

"So am I." I growled and slammed my dick the rest of the way. Her body tensed and then melted at the sensation, her breath catching in her throat and escaping as a long, shuddering sigh, while her tight pussy almost vibrated around my cock.

Knowing that it wouldn't take long before I came, I slid a hand around the soft skin of her hips, found her clitoris and started playing with it. If she wanted to be fucked, I would fuck her good.

My other hand found her slender neck and took hold of it, holding her in place as I slammed my dick into her and played with her clitoris at the same time.

Her pussy tightened even further, squeezing my cock rhythmically as she moaned, and I could feel the spasmodic fluttering as her orgasm built to a fever pitch.

"I hope you come soon," I growled. "Because I will."

Her answer was a strangled, wordless cry, high and sharp as a laser bolt. Her whole body convulsed, hips jerking helplessly as wave after wave of pleasure wracked her.

By some miracle I didn't come, so I simply ignored her and sped up my movements, groaning at the feeling of her around me.

"Frak!" She moaned and came again, her hips grinding against me, her pussy clamping around my dick with a series of pulsing contractions. That did it and a moment later I emptied myself in her with an intensity that made my head spin.

For a moment, we just lay there, before I pulled her closer and simply used the Force to drag the blanket over us.

Iska let out a long, contented sigh, her body still trembling slightly from the aftershocks of her climax. "That was... incredible," she murmured, her voice a drowsy purr against my chest. "You just seem to know when I want it gentle and when I just want it."

I smiled against her lekku, breathing in the faint, sweet scent that was uniquely hers. "Pure instinct."

She laughed softly, the sound vibrating through her back against my chest. "Never lose that instinct."

My hand traced lazy patterns across the smooth purple skin of her breasts, feeling the gentle rise and fall of her breathing.

The stars continued their silent dance on the viewscreen as Iska's breathing deepened and slowed. Her body relaxed completely against mine, warm and comfortable. I listened to the soft rhythm of her breath, felt the gentle pulse through the firm breast beneath my fingertips, and allowed myself to be lulled by the quiet intimacy of the moment.

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Both Iska and I were back in our uniforms and standing on the bridge, when we arrived in the Jenth-32 system eight hours later, and it didn't take long to determine that it was empty. That suited me fine, as it would allow the fleet to fill their water tanks one squadron at a time, while the others kept watch, and I took off for the Kwin-34 system, going to Yrla with a smaller force.

Due to the layout of the star systems and general space in this part of the Chaos, it also meant that the fleet would be guarding my back, as the route through Jenth-32 and Kwin-34 was the only way to reach Yrla.

Since the Yrlans already knew about the Hammerhead-class, I had elected to take those along with Majestic to Yrla on this first trip.

Consequently, all the people from Yrla who wanted to return to the planet were transported to the Majestic. Most to the prison cells, but there were a few exceptions, like Marie Munmaki, who wanted to come along for the sole purpose of seeing her homeworld one last time.

I was glad to have her back. Not only was she good company in general, but I also needed to figure out if she had the same ability as Lena Agusta when it came to using a lightsaber.

It was for that reason I had asked her to meet me in the training room, which was where we were right now.

She had looked somewhat insecure when she had entered, but there was a certain nervous energy in her that I couldn't quite explain.

"Commodore." She greeted me with a salute as soon as she saw me. "Nice to see you again."

"Likewise, Astrogator Munmaki." I replied with a smile. "And good that you could find the time to meet me."

"No problem, sir." She smiled, "It isn't like my social calendar is filled, now that Sean and Benny are no longer there."

That made me raise my eyebrows. "I'm afraid that I have no idea what you're talking about. Are Sean and Benny not with you anymore?"

She shook her head. "No. As it turned out, our relationship couldn't survive freedom."

I tilted my head. "You'll have to explain that."

Marie sighed, folding her arms lightly across her chest. "It wasn't because we didn't care for each other... quite the opposite. Sean and Benny are good men. I freed them because it was the right thing to do, and we stuck together after that. But I think... somewhere along the way, we lost sight of what we each wanted. They looked to me for directions for so long, and I... Well, I didn't know how to stop giving it."

She gave a small, wry smile. "When we came aboard the Hawk, they started finding their own paths. New friends, new opportunities. They both ended up joining the Marines, which required that they move to Glorious. They're thriving there. Just as independent and free as they should be."

"And you?" I asked gently.

Marie exhaled slowly. "I realized I needed space too. To stop being the one they looked to. To figure out who I am now that none of us are bound to the past." Her gaze flicked to mine. "Which is why I asked to come to Yrla. It was my home, and... maybe seeing it again will help me decide what comes next."

I nodded. "That's a hard truth, but an important one. You've done right by them, and by yourself."

Her smile warmed, though her eyes still held a shadow of old wounds. "Thank you, Commodore. That means more than you know."

I acknowledged that with a nod. "Now, if you will excuse the change of subject, it's time talk about why I asked to meet you here."

She nodded, saying nothing, but the nervous tension in her heightened a bit.

"While you were at the Hawk," I continued, studying her face. "I used some time to train Lena Agusta in using a lightsabre and I wondered if you were interested as well."

She looked at me with an open mouth and wide eyes for a moment.

"A lightsaber?" she echoed, clearly caught off guard.

"Yes... a lightsaber." I chuckled. "If you've seen Dragon Quest you know what I'm talking about."

Marie blinked, then gave a quick, breathless laugh. "I... I know what it is... I just never imagined..." She shook her head. "I'm sorry for my surprise, Commodore... On Yrla, it's only men that use swords, so I've only ever trained with a Glefe."

"I don't think I know that weapon." I admitted.

"It's a spear or rather a polearm." She explained with a smile. "The shaft is a little over a meter long and has a long straight blade at the end."

The Glefe sounded like the myriads of other cultural melee weapons I had experienced or read about. The Echani had the vibrorapier, Zygerrians had both a whip and a staff, Zabraks had their Zhaboka staff, and the Wookiees had their Ryyk blade, just to name a few.

A common theme among these weapons was that they were somehow useful within their culture. According to Wing Commander Sollan, skilled practitioners of the Zhaboka fighting style were highly respected by other Zabraks, which alone was reason enough for some Zabraks to train in the style. The Zygerrians' staff weapons were designed to incapacitate opponents, so they could be taken as slaves. The Echani valued vibrorapiers so much that they used them in duels to resolve political conflicts, and there were many human cultures that used various sword weapons the same way to resolve personal conflicts in duels.

"What are those Glefe used for?" I asked curiously.

"A lot of things." Laughed Maria and her eyes lit up as she explained that a Glefe was usually carried while hunting in the dense forests on Yrla, where it was used if a hunter was attacked by a predator or a wounded animal, their long shaft enabling the hunter to keep the animal at bay while avoiding its claws or tusks. There was also a cultural use for the weapons, as they were used at their Moonlit Fairs, where people dressed up in elaborate costumes from old stories and spent a week living without technology. Naturally, there were also formal tournaments in sword fencing for men and Glefe combat for women, and as with the Zhaboka, there was a good deal of prestige in winning those.

"Did you win any tournaments?" I asked, amused by her animated explanation. She was clearly passionate about this.

The smile widened as she nodded. "I won the local championship for my class but was beaten in the quarter finals for the regional competition." Still smiling, she shrugged. "It's fun and training with the Glefe is good exercise... much more entertaining that using the machines here."

"Come with me, please." I said and walked over to the rack containing the still unused lightsabers to pick up the lightsabre pike laying at the bottom.

Turning around, I handed the polearm to her. "Here. Try this, but don't ignite it."

Looking both surprised and happy, she took the weapon and took a few steps back, before she ran it through a series of exercises, doing thrusts, parries and strikes with a fluidity that surprised me.

She stopped and looked me, the smile even wider than before. "It's a little longer than I'm used to, but it works."

"Not a problem. We can get Master Mechanic Waydar to shorten it." I told her with a return smile. "Now, ignite the blade by pressing the switch three times in rapid succession. That will put the weapon in training mode. Two times ignite it in combat mode. Never, ever, do that unless you really need it."

She did and there was a hum as the weapon ignited and a meter long blue blade of pure energy appeared at the end of the pike.

"Now carefully hit the floor with the blade. Just once." I told her, watching as she did so, causing sparks to fly but doing no damage.

"That the blade doesn't cut into the floor means that it's in training mode." I told her. "Always... and I do mean always... check that before using the weapon in training. Otherwise, you'll end up killing or maiming someone. That blade will cut through almost anything."

Eyes widening, she nodded. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Now try it again."

She did and once again executed the moves flawlessly... or at least as flawless as my limited knowledge of these pike weapons allowed me to judge.

"Do you mind a sparring match?" I asked when she was done.

"I'll lose," she said with a little smile as she stepped onto the mats. "But let's try."

Five minutes later, I was impressed.

Naturally, Marie lacked experience with the lightsaber pike, but her Glefe training translated well. Her grip was sure, her footwork precise, and she clearly knew how to control distance, though she did misjudge it from time to time, indicating that the lightsabre pike had a longer blade than the Glefe. What she lacked in familiarity with the energy blade, she made up for in instinct and fluidity.

The hum of the blades filled the air as we circled each other on the mats. I kept my blade low, watching her test the range. When she struck, it was a fast, darting thrust aimed at my midsection. I deflected with a quick parry, but she followed with a sweeping strike at my shoulder, forcing me to retreat a step.

"You're better than you think," I commented, smiling.

She grinned back. "You haven't seen me in a real match yet."

I advanced this time, using shorter feints and blade taps to probe her defenses. Marie adapted quickly, using the longer reach of her pike to maintain distance. Her movements were graceful and economical. Not the random flailing of an untrained opponent.

Another exchange ended with our blades locked for a moment, humming inches apart. I gave her an approving nod. "Good control. And you instinctively use the shaft for defence as well as attack. Very good."

She laughed lightly, breath quickened from the exertion. "It's what we're taught. The shaft is your second, and sometimes last, defence."

We disengaged, stepping apart to reset. I noticed then how focused she looked. cheeks flushed with the thrill of sparring. Her breath came steady and controlled, but there was a fire in her gaze now.

"You really enjoy this." I chuckled, lowering my blade.

Her smile softened. "More than you know." She twirled the pike once in her hands, almost absentmindedly, as if she couldn't quite let go of the motion. "On Yrla, fighting with the Glefe is more than sport. It's... tradition. An identity." Her voice took on a quieter tone. "When I joined the DDF, I thought I'd lost that part of myself. But this... this feels like coming home."

I nodded thoughtfully. "Then you'll make an excellent lightsaber pike user."

Marie's eyes lit up again. "Truly?"

"Truly." I smiled. "But you'll need to adjust your techniques. The weapon's weight distribution is different, the blade is longer, and it doesn't have the same physical blade resistance. You'll learn, though."

She lowered the pike, her expression thoughtful. "I'll train hard. And... Thank you for offering this, Commodore. I didn't realize how much I missed this until now."

"Good." I deactivated my blade. "You've done well today. We'll continue another day." I chuckled. "When we've found someone that can actually teach you."

She tilted her head. "You can't train me?"

"No." I said shortly. "I know about vibrorapiers and lightsabres, not pike weapons... but I would be extremely surprised if we can't find at least one person capable of teaching you." I activated my earpiece. "Majestic, do we have any crew known to use a pike-like weapon?"

"That is not in their files, sir." Answered the computer a moment later. "But according to the database, the Energy Pike was invented by the Echani subspecies of Thyrsians, so they might be your best bet for a trainer. Currently, there're eight Thyrsians onboard, all living on F-level."

"Thank you." I looked at Marie Munmaki. "I'll ask them as soon as I have the time. You need to go talk to Master Mechanic Waydar about adjusting the shaft and blade length to match your usual Glefe. That will help you transition faster."

She gave me a crisp nod. "I'll do that. And... may I ask something?"

"Of course."

"Once I'm ready... May I train with the lightsaber users?" She asked hopefully.

That made me smile. "There's one component to using a lightsaber style weapon, that I neglected to mention. They're all much better when used by a person with a connection to the Force... and as a Wegweiser, you're Force-sensitive at the very least, and more likely a fledgeling Force user. That means that you have to train with the others. Not only will it be good for your skill to fight against another weapon, but it'll be good for them as well."

She thought for a moment and the smile slowly faded, her brow furrowing. "Does that mean that I can turn to the dark side, as described in some of the files?"

I nodded slowly. "Yes, but that was always a possibility... which was the reason for the rules your family places on their Wegweisers. A Wegweiser that's cruel to their slaves and enjoys inflicting pain on them is well on their way to the Dark Side... which, as far as I know, would lessen their ability to navigate using the force." I shrugged. "It might not be called the Dark Side on Yrla, but it's the same thing... Most dark side users are by normal standards totally self-centred, megalomanic and psychotic. They care nothing for other people, seeing them as tools as best."

Marie was silent as she thought it over. "What would happen if I fell to the dark side? What would you do?"

My voice was calm and steady as I said. "The same as with all other force users in this fleet, including me. If they can't be turned back to the light side, they'll be killed. We simply can't afford to have a corrupting influence here. That will just turn the Dragon Defence Force into a mirror image of Darth Arkol's fleet."

She looked horrified at first but then nodded slowly and drew in a slow breath, shoulders straightening. "I see what you mean, but killing someone like you is not going to be easy. Who's going to do that?"

"The other force-users in the fleet with the assistance from the Black Dragons." I told her. "At least that is my plan so far. To be completely honest, this is so recent that I haven't had time to think it through yet."

She nodded and asked more questions, prompting me to explain the importance of meditation techniques for self-reflection, and ways to examine the emotions behind one's actions.

Marie listened intently, her expression focused, sometimes nodding along. Finally, she said softly, "This sounds a lot like what I have been taught, just with other words. I guess it's a universal concept for all Force-users."

"As far as I know, it is. The Force is universal and thus the principles and concepts are the same all over."

She thought for another moment and then sighed. "It makes sense, but it'll only work if we're never allowed to leave."

"That is correct. At least until I'm sure you're ready. If you hadn't chosen to join us permanently, I would never have shown this to you." I said calmly. "Without an organization that allows Force-users to take the time they need to meditate and think their actions over, most will fall at some point. In the Republic, there's the Jedi and the Navigator guild. The latter exists out here in the Chaos as well, though the two guilds are unrelated as far as I know. There're also several other Force traditions, but I must confess that I know little about them."

Marie laughed softly then, the tension easing. "One of the special things about talking with you is your honesty. When you're in doubt, you say 'as far as I know,' or you straight-out say you don't know." Her laugh turned into a warm smile.

I smiled back. "Pretending to know everything is a fast track to disaster. Especially for someone trying to lead."

She tilted her head. "And yet... you lead so naturally."

That made me chuckle. "Most things will look natural after fifteen years of constant training and I have the added benefit of being surrounded by a group of very competent people I trust." I sent her a smile. "That will include you, soon enough."

Her cheeks coloured slightly, but she met my gaze steadily. "Then I will do my best not to betray that trust."

I inclined my head. "That is all I ask."

She looked down at the lightsaber pike in her hands, fingers trailing lightly along the shaft. Then she glanced up. "Would it... would it be alright if I trained with it on my own in the evenings? I don't want to lose this feeling."

"Of course," I said with a smile. "Just remember to keep the pike in training mode... And if you wish, you can join Captain Iska, Doctor Shakka, Astrogator Agusta and me as we meditate and train."

She hesitated, then nodded firmly. "Yes. I'd like that very much."

"Good... oh, one more thing."

She straightened slightly, attentively. "Yes?"

"Remember, you're not alone in this." I said in a softer tone. "I imagine that it's easy to feel alone out here, but you're not."

Her eyes shimmered just a little, and this time her smile was brighter. "Thank you, Commodore."

I nodded once. "Now, go see Waydar about that adjustment. And enjoy your training."

"I will." She gave a slight bow, then turned and walked back to the mats, the lightsaber pike still cradled in her hands.

I walked out of the training room, as usual followed by the Tiger droids, thinking as I made my way towards the F-level. With the number of Force-sensitive in the fleet, and the potential for more force-sensitive among children of the Sith breeding program, making a Force-user tradition was becoming more critical by the day.

The force-sensitive needed training, guidance, and a supporting structure, if we were to avoid them falling to the dark side. The Jedi might remove the children from their parents to avoid attachments, but that was an option we simply didn't have here. Even if we converted a ship to a training center, the children's parents would be a short shuttle-ride away, instead of a thousand lightyears.

It would complicate matters, but considering that thousands, if not millions, of Jedi had been taught, grown up, lived and died in the twenty thousand years the republic had existed, it was unlikely that they had all gone through life without feeling lust, love and anger.

That meant it was more a question about how they handled emotions, than the emotions themselves that was the problem... exactly as I had been taught.

Unfortunately, what worked for a Chiss like me, might not work for Humans, Twi'Leks or Zabraks, so the problem became one of recognizing these differences and correcting for them while I still had the chance.

With a smile, I turned and walked out of the gym, the tiger droids following me like a shadow as I walked towards my office.

I still needed to find a lightsabre pike teacher for Marie and to consult the Holocron to get more information about teaching and training Force-users and until I had time to thaw the frozen Jedi, the Holocron was my best source of information.

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It didn't go according to plan. Before I had time to sit down with the Holocron, time had progressed enough for me to be on duty and a moment later the door chimed.

Laughing softly, I said. "Come in."

The door opened and XO Betty Nagos walked in. "Hello, sir."

"Hello XO, what can I do for you today?"

"We have a suggestion for the new uniforms ready for you." She smiled. "Or to be more precise, a suggestion for the officer's uniform. The group is still working on the other uniforms."

"Well, let's see it." I smiled as I sat down in the chair and leaned back as I turned to face the wall screen.

"With pleasure, sir. Majestic, please show the Standard Officer Uniform on the screen."

"Certainly, XO" The computer replied and a moment later a picture of their suggestion showed up.

"We tried to make it a sharply tailored ensemble that balanced formality, functionality, and understated authority." Stated Betty Nagos and then fell silent to give me time to study it.

The officer uniform was composed of a high-collared, double-breasted tunic in deep navy blue, with a narrow, metallic-silver trim ran diagonally across the chest from the left shoulder to the waist.

The tunic featured a silver nameplate above the right chest pocket, rectangular in shape, displaying the officer's surname in uppercase lettering. On the left breast, prominently displayed, was a rectangular rank insignia patch bordered in chrome and bearing a stylized silver wing or dragon-emblem and the rank title.

A broad, matte-black utility belt with a silver buckle wrapped around the waist, cinching the tunic and offering attachment points for equipment when in the field. The belt buckle was adorned with a faintly embossed dragon's head in profile.

The sleeves were fitted, ending at the wrist, and bore subtle silver piping near the cuff. Most notably, the left sleeve included an integrated metallic insignia or embroidered patch that echoed the primary chest insignia.

The trousers were equally formal and matched the tunic in colour and texture, falling straight with military precision over polished black boots.

"Not bad." I told her. "Can I make some suggestions?"

"Of course, sir."

"I know it's a tradition as old as navies but get rid of those boots." I told her with a little smile. "They don't make sense on a spaceship. Give me some good-looking practical shoes instead."

"Yes, sir." She said with a happy smile.

"Why do I get the feeling that the boots weren't your suggestion?"

Her smile grew wider. "I don't know, sir, but it's correct. They tend to boil my toes after a while, so I avoid them whenever I can." She gestured at the picture on the screen. "Anyway. This is the Command Dress Uniform. The daily uniform on ship. We also have a Field Duty Uniform, and a Ceremonial Uniform planned, but we're not quite done with those yet and I wanted to know if we were going in the right direction before doing more."

"Well, I like it a lot, but it needs some tweaking." I said, looking at the picture. "How do you distinguish between the various service branches?"

"Shoulder tabs on top of the shoulders, a patch on the side and piping down the side of the tunic and pants." The Pantoran explained. "We debated doing something with the belt buckle as well but decided that it was too much."

"Well, aside from the boots, I'm all for it." I told her. "This is excellent work... not to mention clearly better than what we have now."

"Thank you, sir." She hesitated but then said. "One thing we all agreed on. The uniforms for the captains and commanders will be black instead of blue, while the non-officers uniform will be grey. It just makes it easier."

I thought for a moment. "Any practical reason for grey? I mean, is it easier to make?"

The XO shook her head. "No. The dirt-repelling fabric is designed for spacefaring conditions in the navy, and we can make any colour you like."

I was silent for a moment and then said. "I once visited a zoo when on leave and there was a beautiful green, red and blue bird there that was called a Grey Hawk on the planet where it came from. However, our name for it is Seatisv, which means Rainbow. You see, the locals on the bird's planet couldn't see the same colours as we could." I gestured at the screen. "With all the different races here, it will be a good idea to find a colour that all see the same way if possible."

Betty Nagos blinked in surprise. "That thought hadn't even crossed my mind, sir. We better do that."

"And don't be afraid to use some different colours." I said with a chuckle. "Our armors are already way fancier than anything the Empire or Republic have, so as long as it doesn't look like a parody, I'm fine with it."

Betty Nagos nodded. "I agree, sir... and we need to have the design done as soon as possible, so we don't waste time and resources fabricating the old uniforms for the new people." She shook her head slightly. "Thirty thousand uniforms are a lot."

"For a new uniform, it'll be closer to forty thousand." I chuckled. "Not to mention that you can double that if you want to make a field uniform as well."

"Yes. The numbers stack up really quick." She admitted. "And if we find more camps it'll keep stacking... which I hope it does." Her lips parted in a smile. "At least as long as it's less than seventy thousand."

I nodded in agreement, even as I felt a cold shiver running down my spine. Seventy thousand was the number of people we had room for on the larger ships, including the Star Wanderer passenger ships, while we could transport eighty thousand people if we used all available cabins in the whole fleet. That, however, would mean that even the smaller Drakes and Mantas would have their full share of passengers and I preferred to keep the passengers on the larger and sturdier ships.

At least until they were done with their treatment or training, which was really a retraining in many cases, after which they were transferred to other ships as needed.

It was a system that has worked very well so far and one that has kept the number of passengers on Majestic below four thousand people, as the ships in the fleet slowly got the crew they needed.

The reason for the shiver was that freeing people, but lacking the capacity to transport them away from their prison was one of the worst situations I could imagine, and it was entirely possible that it would happen at some point.

The War had lasted for decades and involved thousands of ships, each with large crews and marines onboard. Added to that was the thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of people taken prisoner on the planets, moons and immobile space installations the Sith had taken.

The galaxy was a very large place, and the numbers of prisoners quickly became equally large, and even if the Sith had sent just 1 percent of people captured to the prison planets here in the Chaos, that would be more than a million people.

Not that I thought that they had bothered transporting that many people here, but it was still a possibility.

"Let's hope it stays below that." I told her. "Otherwise, we'll have to think of something."

She nodded. "Yes... Oh, I was looking over the files and it seems like we have about three hundred highly educated former civilians among the freed prisoners and to be honest, neither Samko nor I have an idea about what to do with them." She chuckled. "I mean, do we have any uses for persons specialising in Corporate Economics, Galactic History or Senate Policy Analysis?"

"Not that I know of but send me a file and I'll look at it." I smiled slightly. "Though I want you, Samko and the rest to keep working at finding them a place in the fleet as well."

"Yes, sir." The XO said with a nod. "But I better go get the uniforms done first."

"Good idea."

She left the room, and I followed her onto the bridge. It was time to get Majestic ready for the trip to Yrla... or at least Kwin-34.

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

Going to Yrla

Dreadnought Majestic, Jenth-32 and Kwin-34

"There are hyperspace jumps which must not be taken,

fleets which must not be attacked and

territory which must not be contested."

From the Holy Book of War

"Check-up." Ordered Iska an hour later, when Majestic and the Hammerhead trio were ready to take off towards Kwin-34. "Tell me that the Hammerhead trio have gotten the route."

"Checking." Said Tavune and went to work. A moment later, he looked up with a smile. "All ships ready to jump, sir."

Hitting the all-ship channel, Iska said. "Go!"

The Hammerhead cruisers disappeared and with a few seconds delay, the helmsman activated the hyperdrive... or tried to, but nothing happened.

"Lieutenant," she said in a calm, but icily cold voice and looked over at the new helmsman. "Would you please tell me why the hyperdrive is not charged?"

"Sorry, sir." Said Lieutenant Torik, looking pale. "I forgot to activate it."

"Now would be a good time to do so." Iska suggested in the same cold tone of voice.

Lieutenant Torik nodded and quickly did so.

There was a building tension in the silence of the bridge in the minutes it took for the hyperdrive to charge. Finally, Lieutenant Torik said. "Hyperspace drive ready, Captain."

Iska didn't quite sigh, but I could see the Lekku twisting, which made her look like an irritated cat. "Then I strongly suggest that you activate it, Lieutenant."

"Yes, sir."

Lieutenant Torik paled even more and activated the drive. Stars elongated and a moment later we were in hyperspace.

"I trust you will not forget that again, Lieutenant."

"No, sir. Sorry, sir."

"Very well." Said Iska with a slight nod and walked over to her seat. "Now let us focus on the task at hand. Comm, tell the Hammerheads that we'll be a little delayed."

She glanced over at me. I just gave her a slight nod.

With all the new people we had, such errors were almost unavoidable, but it was still irritating, and every commanding officer walked the line between getting the message through and not degrading the new officer's self-confidence too much.

In my opinion and experience, Iska had handled the helmsman's mistake right, so I leaned back in the seat and glanced at the astrogation station. Since our destination was Yrla, Iska had allowed both Lena Agusta and Marie Munmaki to be on duty for this trip.

Now that they were sitting side by side at the astrogator station, both in the bridge-crew uniform, they looked more alike than they would ever admit. Both were beautiful women, with slightly curly hair, despite Maria Munmaki being blonde and Lena Agusta being a brunette, and both looked at their instruments in the same cool and professional manner.

Despite their best efforts, they had been unable to figure out how to change Yrlan society so the two civilizations wouldn't be at odds with each other.

Not that I had expected them to work miracles. If the diplomats on the planet couldn't find a solution to the problem after having been working on it for hundreds of years, it wasn't something that could be easily fixed.

The obvious military solution would be to simply tell them that unless they demolished slavery in all its forms, their cities would be reduced to rubble. Unfortunately, that wouldn't work in the long run, unless I placed a detachment of the fleet in orbit over Yrla to ensure that they didn't break the law... which I didn't intend to do.

Right now, the plan was to deliver the rescued people back to their respective countries, perhaps have a talk with the Escor and Sublar leaders and then get out of there again.

Admittedly, it wasn't a great or ambitious plan, but with two civilizations entrenched in their beliefs that the other was the source of all evil and just wanted to destroy them, there wasn't much else we had time to do.

I smiled to myself. Perhaps there was some of the 'highly educated people' Betty Nagos had mentioned that could come up with a solution to the problem. It couldn't be the first time in galactic history that two warring civilisations had been stuck on the same planet.

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

The slight delay at the start meant that the three Hammerheads had arrived a few minutes before Majestic and we dropped directly into a battle, or at least the beginning of one.

"Contact!" Tavune barked the instant we dropped into real-space. "Two Terminus-class destroyers, a Gage-class and four drake-class frigates... And they're shooting at the Hammerheads!"

"Not a good plan." Remarked Iska calmly after glancing at the screens, as turbolaser fire flared against the front shields of the three Hammerheads, while Aureks were leaving the hangars, forming sleek arcs across the battle space as they raced to meet the Mk. VI Supremacy fighters the Imperials had launched.

Glancing at the readouts, I silently agreed with Iska.

Both the Terminus and Gage-classes were bigger than the Hammerheads but suffered from the usual 'multirole sickness' that plagued so many Imperial ship types. Built on the same hull type, both could carry three times the amount of cargo and consumables compared to the Hammerheads.

However, cargo space was of little use in a battle and the Hammerhead-class was a single purpose warship, designed to go head on against Imperial cruisers and dreadnoughts, with all the armor and shields that required. They also packed a serious punch despite their smaller size, as a Hammerhead Heavy Frigate was armed with twice as many turbo lasers as the Terminus-class and three times more than the Gage-class.

Most of its turbolasers might be light turbolasers but they could be fired considerably faster than their medium and heavy versions, allowing the Hammerheads to dish out a lot of damage in a short time. More to the point, the light turbolasers were agile with a fast turn speed and wouldn't have a problem targeting the nimble Drakes.

That was proven a moment later, when the lead Drake was caught by shots from all three Hammerheads and simply ceased to exist as it exploded.

In front of me, Iska gave orders in a calm voice. "Guns, fire at will. Prioritize the destroyers." Then to Wing Commander Drayk Sollan, "Launch all fighters."

"Yes, sir."

Confident that Iska could handle the fight, I went back to trying to figure out why the enemy was attacking. It couldn't have been an ambush, since it looked like the combat had just started and as far as I could see, the three Hammerheads were undamaged.

Leaning back in the seat, I looked at the screens. It the enemy commander had any brains and tactical sense, he or she should had focused on getting the frak out of the system. There was no way a couple of destroyers, with the support of an armed transport and four light frigates could take on three Hammerheads and a dreadnought without an extremely good plan and a lot of luck on their side.

There was always the chance that the Imperials were waiting for a larger fleet, but if that was the case, they should have pulled away, tricking us into hunting them while doing their best to stay out of range, drawing out time until reinforcements arrived.

Majestic's turbo lasers fired at the destroyers, making shields flare. It looked like the training time was paying off, because even without my battle meditation, most of the shots hit their targets and the targeted destroyer shuddered as more than twenty turbo laser shots hit it at the same time. The shields flared and disappeared after the first ten hits or so, and the following shots sent pieces of armor and weaponry into space.

With the ship's shield down, the rapid firing quad lasers went into action. Normally used for anti-starfighter action along with the point defence, but with no starfighters attacking us yet, they poured shots into the nearest destroyer, ripping even more holes in the hull.

As with most warships, the Terminus was built to take a beating, and it returned fire for a moment until Majestic's heavy ion cannons took over. Bolts of ionized energy slammed into the shieldless destroyer, making its drive shut down for a few seconds before it reactivated.

At the same time, the Hammerheads were engaging the remaining Drake-class frigates. It was an uneven match. Despite being equipped with a trio of heavy turbo lasers, Drake class frigates were designed to skirmish or defend against star fighters, corvettes and light frigates, not to attack heavy frigates head on... especially not Hammerheads, who, as the name suggested, were extremely well armoured at the front and their narrow profile made it hard to hit anything else when shooting at it head on.

Two more Drakes disappeared in balls of fire.

"Mass alert." Tavune shouted suddenly. "Two Core and a Screen."

That still didn't completely explain why the enemy commander hadn't retreated, I thought and looked on the screen as two BSX-5's and a Delta-class dropped into real-space. Then I frowned. The Delta had slowed down, lagging behind the two Core ships instead of speeding up as normal Screen ships would do. In fact, it behaved like our own starfighter carrying Delta would do.

Considering their naval doctrine, it was rather unlikely that the Empire had produced the experimental Delta-class carrier, but on the other hand Darth Arkol was not the Empire and might have other thoughts.

"Guns, target that Delta with everything!" I commanded. "Now!"

A moment later, every weapon on Majestic fired on the Delta-class, breaking through shields and sending armor plating flying through space. The Ion-cannons followed, spewing huge bolts of ionized energy into the Delta-class, making its drive flicker.

Then Majestic shook, as the combined firepower of the two BSX's hammered into it.

"Left shield down!" Came the call from the Shields section. "Forty seconds to recharge it."

"Evasive manoeuvres." Called Iska. "Turbo's on the BXS-5, Ion's stay on the Delta."

"Warning!" Called Tavune suddenly. "Scanners detect multiple open hangar doors on that Delta. It's most likely a carrier, not a transport!"

Majestic's ten heavy ion-cannons fired again, shutting down the Delta. I nodded in satisfaction. While the top mounts for the starfighters favoured by the Empire saved a lot of room, it had the weakness that it couldn't launch fighters without power, and I really didn't want to deal with several squadrons of enemy fighters right now.

Even as Majestic rolled to present the undamaged shield to the cruisers, I could see escape pods starting to leave the Delta, taking it out of the fight for good.

The enemy was still behaving weird compared to Imperial naval doctrine. Thinking it over, I made a decision and looked over at the screen where Wing Commander Drayk Sollan was shown. "Wing Commander, how many fighter squadrons have been launched?"

"Six, sir." Came the immediate reply.

"Close the hanger doors now and tell the Hammerheads to do the same." I ordered. "Work with what you've got out now."

On the screen the Zabrak hesitated, blinking in surprise, but followed the order. A moment later the emergency hangar doors we had installed in the Snare system snapped close, sealing the hangars.

The enemy Core ships were targeting Majestic, when they really should be going for the Hammerheads. Added with the strange no-retreat behaviour at the start, there was a real possibility that they were operating according to a plan.

However, the only plan I could think of that merited that behaviour was a boarding action, just like the one Lord Xhal had tried to pull off in the Grinda system. There the Sith had blinded the gunners and landed directly in a hangar, so closing the hangar doors would prevent them from boarding easily.

"Tavune," I said and looked over to that scan section. "Leave the rest to Lieutenant Bibboris and focus on the ships leaving the enemy fleet. Karstein, go to full droid control on the defence lasers around the hangars."

"Yes, sir." The Tech answered as Majestic was hammered by the cruisers again. Red lights started to show up and a quick glance told me that one of the turbo lasers had been destroyed, along with the gunner.

It was a surreal experience. In a smaller ship, you were never in doubt if you had been hit or not, but due to Majestic's size, it felt more like a shiver and I guessed that it would continue to do so until the damage became critical.

"The Hammerheads are closing their hangars." Reported Lieutenant Bibboris.

"Fighters have engaged the enemy." Reported Wing Commander Sollan.

"Guns, launch missiles and hit those cruisers!" Ordered Iska.

Focussing, I closed my eyes and withdrew from the ordered chaos on the bridge, reaching into the Force to stretch my senses outward past the three points of light on the bridge, through the humming core of the Majestic, the chaos of the skirmish, and into the cold silence of space.

There. Three dark presences. One blindingly dark, two dimmer, but still tinged with shadow. All closing fast on the Hammerheads from behind.

Retracting my senses, I opened my eyes and ordered. "Hammerheads, full speed forward and switch to droid control on the aft point defence!"

Thankfully, there was no hesitation as the Hammerheads accelerated immediately.

A moment later, the droid gunners on the Hammerheads started firing, just as Iska expertly adjusted her plan to the Hammerheads' change in speed and position. Orders were given and Majestics cannons continued to fire bolt after bolt into the enemy ships. The Hammerheads did the same, their side mounted lasers and turbo lasers cutting into the last Drakes, while their forward mounted weapons shot at the BXS-5 cruisers.

Space filled with fire and death as the Dragonfangs and Aureks attacked the enemy ships, while the Dragonclaws did their best to keep the Imperial starfighters away.

With impressive speed, Tavune had the video and targeting feed from the Hammerheads on the screens, showing three Venitran-Class Imperial Assault Shuttles flying in close formation towards Banshee, Jalmia Tarrick's ship.

Point defence lasers stabbed the void, and one shuttle took a flurry of hits. Its shields flared, then collapsed. The next salvo tore through the hull. I felt a scream of rage vibrating through the Force, before it was cut off as the shuttle exploded.

Another salvo hit the Majestic and more red lights appeared next to the screen and a shiver ran down my spine, as one of them indicated a malfunction in the hyperdrive. Until that was fixed, we were stuck here and could only hope the enemy didn't get additional reinforcements.

A flight of point defence missiles left Banshee and fanned out as they raced towards the two remaining assault shuttles. Some were lured away by counter measures, while others were shot down by the shuttle's point defence, but more found their target, slamming into shields already weakened by the Hammerhead's point defence lasers.

One of the missiles broke through, smashing into the engine section and took it out. The shuttle lost control and tumbled through space, venting atmosphere. Lasers caught up to it and shredded it mid-roll.

The last shuttle turned sharply, racing away at full power, while doing evasive manoeuvres.

"Take it out." I ordered. "There's most likely..."

Even as I said the words, two Dragonclaw fighters swooped in, Ion cannons flashing, followed by rapid-fire lasers that ripped the assault shuttle apart, leaving only an explosion behind as they flew on.

"... a Sith in there." I finished and sent out my force senses again, probing the void.

Finding nothing, I turned to see how the rest of the battle was going.

The BSX-5s had clearly been surprised by the Hammerheads charge and had turned towards them, pelting them with fire, taking down shields and destroying chunks of the armor.

The Drakes were gone, along with the Gage-class, and a Terminus-class destroyer was drifting in space along with the Delta-class carrier. Where the other destroyer had been was a cloud of debris that told a story of the effectiveness of our fighters.

A broadside from a BSX-5 hit the Majestic, sending sparks flying from the control panels and disabling half our missile launchers for a moment before the secondary system took over.

"The majority of enemy fighters have been eliminated." Reported the Wing Commander.

Taking a calming breath, I reached out for the force again, activating my battle meditation, just as the answering salvo from Majestic hammered into the side of the BSX-5 cruiser.

The situation improved markedly as the battle meditation kicked in. More shots were hitting the enemy, destroying armor and weapons alike.

A squadron of Aureks flew over one of the BSX-5s, hugging the hulls of the enemy ships as they delivered their Photon torpedoes, ripping armor plating off the ship and creating a hole in the hull.

Iska barked a course correction and Majestic rose up over the plane of the BSX-5s and then levelled out, quad lasers stabbing the enemy ships. While the hole was impossible to hit by the Hammerheads due to their angle of attack, Majestic was now in a perfect position.

"Guns, hit that hole in the BSX!" Iska ordered, as I quickly highlighted it for the gunners.

"Yes, sir." Kansen answered, fingers already moving.

The turbo's stopped firing for a few seconds, but then a salvo of medium and heavy turbolaser fire left the Majestic, slamming into the exact place I had indicated. The BXS-5 shuddered in space and then blew up, sending a firework of parts through space as it broke apart.

The other BSX-5 hit the Majestic again and I grimaced at the sight of even more red lights. Like all Dreadnoughts, Majestic was incredibly tough, but those BXS-5s hit hard.

It didn't improve the lone remaining enemy ship's situation though. Majestic's heavy ion-cannons responded, causing electric discharge to dance on the hull, paralysing systems and disabling weapons, turbo- and quad lasers biting into the hull.

The Hammerheads were engaging from the front, the rapid fire from the light turbo lasers biting into its hull, destroying weapons and armor alike, while BSX's few remaining functional lasers cannons were having trouble following the nimble fighters.

"Gotcha!" I heard Kansen mumble as Majestic's heavy turbo lasers hit the low bridge on the enemy cruiser, smashing it. Full salvo's from both the trio of Hammerheads followed, ripping even more plating and weapons off the cruiser, while the heavy lasers of the Aureks and Dragonfangs tore into the aft section, vaporising an engine.

Escape pods started to leave the ship, as the combined firepower of our ships pushed it past the breaking point.

Majestic's turbo lasers hit the place where the bridge had been, the bolts punching through the internal structure of the ships like it wasn't there, spearing deep into the decks below.

A split-second later, the medium turbo lasers on the Hammerheads joined in, showering the already weakened hull with hits. The plates crumpled under the pressure, buckling inward along the midline as the frame collapsed. Compartments split open, venting atmosphere in a fury of plasma and tumbling wreckage.

Secondary explosions followed as missiles exploded, power relays overloading and arcing wildly as conduits ruptured. A chain of detonations raced aft, each one hammering the next compartment in a cascade of destruction.

The surviving engines flared as the reactors destabilized, and the last of the surviving structural supports snapped, causing the already weakened aft section to sag outward, before it tore free completely, twisting on a plume of escaping plasma before erupting in a catastrophic explosion. The shockwave rippled through the debris cloud, sending shards of wreckage, some the size of shuttles, spinning outward in long, tumbling arcs.

Life pods were jettisoning from the wreck. Tiny, desperate flares of light against the backdrop of the dying ship. Some barely cleared the explosion, their thrusters firing wildly as they tumbled away from the maelstrom. Others were caught in the expanding fireball and vanished in a white-hot glare.

"Cease fire!" I heard Iska order calmly, as I released the hold in the Force.

Those escape pods which had managed to avoid the explosion raced towards one of the system's moons, followed by the remaining enemy star fighters.

"Comm, send the surrender request to the surviving enemies." I ordered. "Lieutenant Bibboris, is that moon habitable?"

There was a slight pause, before she said. "Yes, sir, if barely so. With the rations in the escape pods, they should be able to make it for at least a month."

"We'll drop some more," Betty Nagos said with a grimace. "Just to be on the safe side."

"Good." I told her and activated the all-ships channel.

"Well done, people. Now let's clean up this mess, so we can find out what was going on here."

Changing channel, I got hold of Captain Tarrick, the leader of the Hammerheads.

The dark-haired and blue-eyed human captain nodded with a slight smile. "Hello, Commodore."

"Hello. What is the status of your ships, Captain Tarrick?"

"Good, sir." She replied. "With the exception of a few missing point defence lasers and some damaged armor, we took a lot less damage than I expected. These Hammerheads are really tough ships."

I nodded. "Yes. Too bad there wasn't that many of the upgraded version at Snare system, but I guess scrappers can't be choosers... Anyway, I need your fighters to guard the Delta and the Terminus, while the Hammerheads set up near the jump point, ready to attack anything that comes through."

"Yes, sir." She said and gave orders to her second in command before looking back at the screen again. "Excuse me, sir, but wouldn't it be more prudent to leave here?"

Glancing over at the red lights, I nodded. "It would, but unfortunately, they managed to damage our hyperdrive. So, we are not going anywhere right now."

"Yes, sir." She said with a smile that looked forced. The news about our failing hyperdrive dispelling the good mood. "Can we assume that the enemy fleet's presence here means that there's a larger fleet at Yrla?"

I heard a gasp at the astrogator section but ignored it as I answered. "Most likely, but I'm not sure how big that fleet is. I hope to find information about that on one of the disabled ships."

"Yes, sir. We also have some surrendered starfighters." She showed her teeth with a smile that reminded me of a feral grin. "Without a hyperdrive, they cannot get anywhere now their carrier ships are gone."

I returned the smile. "They'll be taken care off. And exceptional good work, Captain Tarrick."

"Thank you, sir."

"Oh... By the way, how did it all start?" I asked. "We arrived too late to see the initial moments of the combat."

Captain Tarrick looked thoughtful. "It was strange, sir. They demanded our surrender several times, while we tried to lure them away from the jump point, since we knew Majestic was coming. However, the combat didn't really start until you showed up. I think that's when they realized that their boarding wouldn't go smoothly."

"You might be right. I'll look at it later." I closed the call, just as Iska got hold of the engineer. "Senior Engineer Janson, I need a report."

"Yes, sir." He said the moment he showed up on the screen, his youthful face looking worried and the light-brown hair a mess. "The first priority is the hyperdrive. This really was a freak hit and not even at the drive unit, but two lucky shots punched through the armor and damaged the control cables. We already have people on it, and we expect to be able to get it back online in a few hours. The secondary missile control is up and running and we expect the primary to be back soon. The rest of the off-line weapons are either total losses or minor damages."

Iska nodded shortly as she looked at the readouts. "According to my display, we have lost four missile tubes, four torpedo tubes, six quad lasers, four medium and one heavy turbo laser. Which ones can I expect back?"

"All the missiles and torpedo tubes, four of the quads..." He glanced down at what I assumed was his notes. "... and three turbo lasers. The heavy turbo cannot be repaired here. We need a repair ship for that."

"Very well. Give me a heads-up if things change."

"Yes, sir." He saluted and the screen went black again.

The loss of a heavy turbo was irritating, but not a disaster, and I was relieved to have most of the other weapons back, though with the hyperdrive being first priority, that might take a while.

Turning towards Iska, I said. "Captain, open the hangars and let's get this mess cleaned up."

"Yes, sir." The Twi'Lek turned and started to give orders to the rest of the crew.

Turning towards the screen with Wing Commander Sollan, I activated the comm. "Sorry for limiting the number of fighters you could use, Commander Sollan. Do you have overview of the cost?"

"Three Aureks, a Dragonclaw and two pilots, sir." The Zabrak listed with a slight sigh. "Cheaper than I had expected considering what we were up against... And while I didn't understand your order at the time, it quickly became apparent why it was necessary." He grimaced. "Many of us know of ships that were taken when they were boarded by the Sith."

I nodded. "Yes, their ability to block the sight of sentient gunners gives them quite an advantage. I guess we should be glad that they cannot fire weapons when using that power. If they were able to do that, they would have taken the whole galaxy by now."

It was a power I had researched in the Holocron, and according to the information stored in there, this power had severe limitations. Two of those limitations being that it could only affect living beings, and they couldn't take offensive actions while cloaked in that fashion.

"I agree, sir." He thought for a moment. "We have a couple of squadrons covering the moon and it looks like the enemy starfighters have chosen to land there instead of surrendering."

"That is their choice. Wait ten minutes and then have a squadron of fighters blow up the craft you can find. I hate wasting the resources, but it's better than handing the enemy the scanner info. I also need you to send a couple of Aureks back to the fleet and have the rest of first squadron come here as soon as possible, the rest of the fighters need to cover the jump-point."

"Yes, sir." He grimaced. "One more thing. According to Lieutenant Maxwell the Supremacy-class fighters they were up against were equipped with shields. Not good ones but shields nonetheless."

I sighed inwardly. If the Imperial starfighters on that ship had shields, others had them as well, making them more dangerous, but the addition of a shield to the Supremacy-class wasn't that surprising. A relatively simple upgrade, it could be done without any major structural changes, and I wondered why they hadn't done it before, but with the numbers of Supremacy-class fighters the Empire used, it had to be a decision driven by economics. They must have lost more fighters than they had expected and used the truce to upgrade their existing fighters. On the positive side, they still hadn't equipped them with missiles, making them less of a threat for capital ships than the S-13 Sting.

"Well, we couldn't rely on them staying stupid forever." I told him. "But that being said, we'll need to examine those fighters. Wait with blowing them up and get those Aureks away, Wing Commander. We can collect the abandoned fighters when the rest arrives."

"Yes, sir."

Switching the channel off, I leaned back in the seat again, thinking the situation over. With the remote position of the Yrla system, there was virtually no chance that someone would find the system by accident. That left several possibilities, but by far the most likely ones were that Darth Arkol had run into the ship the Escors of Yrla had sent off once the Sublars had taken the bait that was Razor's Edge, or the Astra-class ships the Escors had sought to buy at the Terminus system. There was even a chance that the seller had tipped off Darth Arkol's people. Either out of beliefs or for a lot of credits.

Either way, Dark Arkol had found what I suspected he wanted the most: A system populated by almost four million humans he could recruit from. A thought struck me. To make things worse, there was a good chance that Dark Arkol now had Yrlan Wegweisers at his disposal, which to some degree would make up for some of the Sith he had lost. At least when it came to navigating The Chaos.

To make matters worse, it had been almost half a year since Razor's Edge and the rest had crashed into the Snare System, meaning that Darth Arkol potentially had had months to act on the information.

"Captain," I said in a low voice.

Iska walked over to me. "Yes, sir?"

"Move Majestic to a place where we can cover the jump point from Yrla and prepare to place mines there." I ordered. "And use a lot of them. I suspect Darth Arkol's main fleet is at Yrla and it's way too close for my liking."

"I'll send out some Kolareths to do that right away, sir. The rest are looking for survivors."

"Thank you." I said and went back to thinking.

With the people from Yrla, Darth Arkol would have the people to create an invasion army, not to mention slaves to sell and a system with an existing asteroid mining tradition, but what they didn't have were modern weapons, technology, and an infrastructure proficient enough to produce hyperspace capable ships. Making such an infrastructure would take years.

Those factors made Yrla unsuitable as a powerbase for Darth Arkol and I had no doubt that once he had the people, food, and everything else he needed, he would leave Yrla to search for a better place to settle or, if he had already found it, to conquer and take as his own.

Fortunately, training soldiers took time, so I doubted that Darth Arkol would emerge from Yrla anytime soon. There was a much greater chance that one or more of the battle groups would come towards Yrla from the rest of the galaxy instead, though right now the way was blocked by the rest of the Dragon Defence Force.

"Excuse me, sir." Said Lena Agusta in a voice so soft, that it was almost a whisper. "Do you have a moment?"

Looking at the astrogation station, I saw both Agusta and Munmaki looking over at me.

I nodded. "Yes, Astrogator Agusta?"

"May I ask, if we're going to take the fleet to Yrla, now that we know the enemy is there?" She asked, her eyes full of hope. "Once the Majestic is repaired, I mean."

"Not until I know what is there." I told her. "If there's just a small force guarding the system, then the answer is yes. However, if there're too many cruisers and dreadnoughts, the answer is no." Marie Munmaki looked like she was about to say something, so I held up a hand to stop her. "Before you say something, consider this: If Darth Arkol has a large fleet at Yrla and we go in there with a fleet to match his, he will know that the only reason for us to be there is to liberate the planet. That will enable him to hold the planet hostage, asking us to surrender before he unleashes the collected might of his fleet on the planet." I sighed a little. "Make no mistake, with the force he has at his disposal, that will turn Yrla into a wasteland, with every major city or production center destroyed, the forests burned and the oceans boiling... and there will be nothing we can do to prevent it."

"They can't be that evil!" Lena Agusta gasped, her voice trembling.

"Excuse me, sir." Said Lieutenant Mormill from the tactical section. "May I add to that?"

I nodded, causing her to continue. "The Commodore is right, Astrogator Agusta. The Sith did exactly that at both Telos IV and Taris."

They both paled.

"Astrogators," I said in a calm voice. "I would like to liberate your planet, but not at the cost of its destruction. No matter how bad the Sith might be, your people are better off under occupation than dead.... We might be forced into a temporary retreat, but as long as your people are still alive, there's a chance that we can come back later."

Taking a deep breath, they nodded just as another silent explosion lit up the viewscreens on the bridge, making them look towards the screen. Where the Terminus-class had been, there was a cloud of rapidly expanding debris.

"What was that?" Marie Munmaki asked into the air.

"Either they have installed a self-destruction mechanism, or someone overloaded the reactor." I answered calmly. "Most likely the reactor, considering the time."

She swallowed something. "Do you think the Delta will do the same, sir?"

"No." Iska said before I could answer. "We hit it hard enough to shut down the reactor, so there's no way anyone can overload it."

"Good point." I said and turned back to the screens, called Yaki and had her people stand ready to board and investigate the Delta. If it wasn't too damaged, we might be able to take it with us when we left the system.

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

There wasn't much I could do except wait for the various people to report in, so I looked at the data from the Hammerheads. Captain Jalmia Tarrick had been right. It really did look like the enemy fleet had been trying to lure the three Hammerheads closer, baiting them into attacking. Most likely a combination of having Sith in shuttles and the incoming Core ships.

Dissecting the combat took time, but I was glad I did it when it dawned on me that the action that triggered the attack wasn't the arrival of the Majestic. It started as soon as the Hammerheads opened their hangars and launched the fighters, making it possible for the boarding action to happen.

Out of curiosity, I ran a few scenarios and discovered that if Majestic haven't arrived, the Hammerheads would most likely have been boarded and taken when they launched their fighters. It also showed that the timing of Majestic's arrival mattered little.

I looked over at the helm. "Lieutenant Torik, can I have a moment of your time?"

"Yes, sir." Said the young human female, looking pale but collected.

"Please turn you attention towards screen three and four."

She nodded and I activated the simulator again, with the left side showing what had happened and the right side showing the estimate of what would have happened had we arrived at the same time as the Hammerheads.

"Before you beat yourself up about the delay, notice that those minutes didn't make any difference whatsoever in the overall picture." I told her as the simulations stopped. "The outcome is simply not dependent on the timing of our arrival."

For a moment it looked like she was about to protest, but military discipline kicked in. "Yes, sir."

"Forgetting to charge the hyperdrive was an error, and under other circumstances may cost us dearly, but not this time... if anything, it improved our situation. Learn from it and let it go."

There was a shadow of a smile on her face as she nodded and said "Yes, sir." once more, before she returned her focus to her job.

"Nice one, sir." Whispered Iska with a smile. "She needed to know."

I nodded but didn't reply as yet another call took Iska's focus.

This time, it was Betty Nagos, who reported that Majestic had lost four gunners and two spacehands, with an additional fifteen casualties being worked on in the infirmary, all of them gunners or spacehands.

That were more people than I had hoped and less than I had feared, which had to be due to the Dragon-class' double hull configuration. The Turbo lasers were placed between the outer hull with its armor belt, and the inner hull with its additional armor. It was a lot of armor for an enemy to breech and in any engagement, it would be the gunners that took the brunt of any beating we received.

While that wasn't good for the longevity of the gunners, I vastly preferred that to having shots penetrating further into the hull, killing passengers and children.

I would need to visit the wounded crew, but that would have to be later, when Shakka was done working on them or they were out of the healing tanks, and we had left this system.

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

It took almost an hour before Yaki called me to tell me that they had finished their sweep of the Delta-class, finding only a few crew members, who were now being detained.

"Can it be repaired?" I asked, causing her to smile.

"Yes, I think so. The primary power distribution node has taken some damage, which made most of the ship shut down, but according to the techs, we can replace it in an hour or so. After that, they'll have to run some tests to see if the hyperdrive has taken any damage, but they don't think so."

The nature of the damage was surprising. The primary power distribution node channelled power from the reactor to the ship's major systems and without which nothing worked. For that reason, it was usually located behind layers of armor and was so hard to hit, that the reactor itself was more likely to go before the node. "How did we manage to damage that without breaching the hull?"

"Pure luck and sloppy maintenance." said Yaki calmly. "According to the techs, the isolators were damaged, and when we hit the ship, one of them broke. What happened after that is pure speculation from what we found, but we think one of their engineers tried to repair it but while he was doing that, the ion cannons hit. Somehow the poor guy must have touched the isolators at the same time and functioned as a conductor, allowing the power from the ion strike to reach and damage the node. Needless to say, he died immediately."

I shook my head. It was the kind of thing that happened when ships weren't regularly maintained. "Alright. Anything else?"

"Not really. Without power, it's impossible to know more."

"I'll ask Captain Tarrick to send over a team of engineers from the Hammerheads."

"Yes, sir." She paused as someone else said something and then added. "The Techs want to know if you can send the Duchess over here. We need its reactor to jump start this one."

"Not a problem. I'll find a crew for it." Thinking for a moment, I added. "And some data techs to look at their database."

"Thank you, sir."

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

That led to more waiting, but almost an hour later the lights on the Delta-class carrier suddenly lit up as its reactor was restarted.

"Well, I'm glad we didn't jump blindly to Yrla," said Yaki a little while later when she called to give an update. "But I'll leave that part of the explanation to Data Tech Shul Eho."

I waved Iska over as the data tech took over.

Last time I had seen the young human data tech, she had been sweaty from training and dressed in a jumpsuit, a far cry from the cool looking young woman in armor that appeared on the screen. She immediately got to the point. "Hello, sirs. This is not a deep dive, but I did take a look at their sensor recording as they left the Yrla system, and this is what I found."

A list appeared on the screen:

3 Harrowers

6 BSX-5's

3 S-class cruisers

8 Terminus-class Destroyers

6 Delta-class carriers

4 Gage-class transports

12 Drake-class Frigates

14 Manta-class corvettes

"This is the fleet currently in the Yrla system." She said and paused to give us time to read it.

Skimming the list, I swallowed a sigh. While there in theory wasn't much difference between the fleet on the screen and the Dragon Defence Force, reality was another thing. Most of our ships were still being repaired, while Darth Arkol's ships as far as we knew were in perfect working order.

The number of warships in the Yrla system also puzzled me. A single Harrower with some Core ships for support and a Screen, was more than enough to take and hold Yrla, so there was really no reason for Darth Arkol to move most of his fleet there. At least not the Gage-class and the Deltas, since they couldn't hold that many recruits compared to the Core ships. Not unless the Gage were the same Planetary Assault version that we had, and I doubted that.

It would have made more sense to keep most of the main fleet here at Kwin-34, where they could ambush an enemy without fearing for the planet.

Of course, if Darth Arkol wanted to recruit people to act as soldiers or spacers, a show of his mighty fleet would help a lot. Not to mention that he couldn't persuade Yrla's leaders to support his cause and conduct a battle in the Kwin-34 system at the same time.

By now, he had to know that there was an unknown force roaming this part of the Chaos. The battlegroup we had encountered in the Qek-40 system had to have had time to return, while we spent weeks getting back to the fleet, after which we had been busy maintaining and repairing ships for even more weeks.

However, if they had gone to the Grinda system after the Qek-40 system, they would have seen the signs of a recent space battle, and the Imperials on the planet could tell them that Darth Arkol had lost a battlegroup and many other ships there, along with all the slaves and resources they had carried.

The knowledge of such a loss would make most military commanders rearrange their battle groups to create bigger units. Especially if Darth Arkol thought that we were another Imperial splinter group, based on the ships we were using.

In any event, the size of the fleet at Yrla made any attempt to liberate the planet next to impossible.

"That's a heavy fleet." Said Iska with a grimace.

"Yes." I agreed. "Darth Arkol doesn't want to risk losing Yrla. There's no way we can take out that fleet and ensure the safety of the planet at the same time. Data Tech Shul Eho, could you send us the scanner info?"

"Yes, sir."

A moment later, the scanner data showed up on the screen. Skimming the positions of the ships, I found no weaknesses and no obvious errors in their formation. This was a solid defensive formation that would have the advantage against any other force dropping into the system.

"Thank you, Tech Eho. Do you have control of the ship?"

"Mostly, but not completely." She admitted. "We have unlocked the flight controls, but the weapons and hangar bays are still locked down, along with the astrogation computer." She smiled a little. "That being said, we're able to enter hyperspace routes into the system, we just cannot calculate them ourselves... and we cannot activate the drive before the engineers are done with testing it."

"Thank you." I said with an approving nod. "I have two questions. First, can you see when they first entered the system? And second, was the force we just took out part of the count from the Yrla system?"

"They entered the system three weeks ago." She looked down for a second. "The two BSX-5 and the Delta are included in the scan. The force already in this system is not."

That still left a core of three Harrowers-class dreadnoughts, four BSX-5s and three S-class cruisers in the Yrla-system. Not exactly a fleet I wanted to charge into with the opponent holding all the advantages and a planet with millions of people on the line. Especially not with them having more star fighters than usual. There was no telling how many of the six Delta-class were transports and how many were star fighter carriers.

"Very well. Thank you for the update."

"You're welcome, sir." Tech Eho answered with a little smile and then the screen turned black again.

"Three weeks?" Commented Iska. "For some reason, I expected it to be longer."

"So did I." I admitted. "But it's the Delta-class that worries me. As far as I know, the Empire dropped making them when this experimental battlegroup didn't return, but it seems like I was wrong."

"Unless they have rebuilt a Delta-class to carry starfighters for some reason." Said Iska thoughtfully.

"Yes." I looked over at Resa. "How easy would such a rebuild be?"

The female android thought for a moment, the blue LED blinking as usual when she was communicating with the database. "Pretty straight forward for the most part. The exact time will depend on the available resources, droids and engineers, but it should be doable in less than four months... three months under optimal conditions."

"Doing that will only make sense if you have a surplus of star fighters." I said slowly, thinking as I spoke. "So, either they had a bunch of fighters in a freighter, one of their Harrowers broke down beyond their ability to repair it and they wanted to use the fighters, or they have found a place that can make star fighters for them."

"The last one is the scary option, sir." Said Iska with a sigh and looked at Resa. "The Kzii you were talking about. Can they make star fighters?"

Resa nodded. "Since they can make droid fighters, I would have to say yes to that. The question is if they would build other people's design and I doubt that, but it is possible."

"We'll have to pay them a visit at some point." I told them. "We need to know about this."

"This might be a stupid question, sir." Said Read, "but what're you going to do if the Kzii make fighters for Darth Arkol?"

"The problem with getting other people to build material for you, is that you have to pick it up at some point." I chuckled. "I'm going to find a way to ambush his fleet when he comes to collect them."

Iska nodded just as Tavune called, "Mass alert behind us. Numbers match First Squadron."

I nodded. That fit perfectly with the travel time for the Aureks.

Since I rarely had the chance to see it, I stood and took a few steps forward to get closer to the view screens.

The void looked deceptively peaceful. A vast, indifferent sprawl of black, pricked by starlight and distant stars, but a moment later First Squadron began to arrive.

Falcon arrived first. The Wyvern-class cruiser dropped cleanly from hyperspace, her drives transitioning to sublight with effortless smoothness. Her sister ships, Eagle and Vulture, followed within seconds. The spacing was tight, a statement as much as a maneuver. They were showing off, even as they arrived in a battle formation, ready for anything.

The same with the three Drakes and four Manta's that arrived a moment later in perfect formation, spreading out in an early warning pattern.

Then came the Terminus-class destroyers Malklok, Convor, Rokko, and Uvak, each emerging at exactly the right position, forming a protective arc formation as Screen often do.

A moment later, the Interdictor-class cruiser Osprey arrived along with Keller's Epsilon-class Repair Vessel Kraken, slotting perfectly into the open space behind the screen.

A heartbeat later, the Fafnirs arrived. Buzzard, Owl, and Merlin emerged in coordinated sequence, spreading wide across our right flank. They were followed by the Delta-class carrier Stingray, as it dropped into exactly the right position behind the Fafnirs. The two Delta-class transports Lanner and Kestrel dropped in a moment later, covering the ventral and dorsal side of the carrier against any possible threats.

Stingray's fighters were launched immediately. S-13 scouts veering into wide-ranging pickets, Dragonclaws and Aureks settling into interlaced routes, ready to intercept any threat.

Glancing at the main plot, I smiled to myself. The perfection of the formations was the result of both experience and hours upon hours of simulator training, and it was a pleasure to watch.

"Captain Tlath is calling from the Eagle." Called Tavune.

"On screen."

Tlath looked relieved, when his face showed on the screen. "Hello, Commodore, good to see that their main fleet didn't arrive while we were under way." He paused. "May I ask the status of Majestic's hyperdrive?"

"According to the engineers, it'll be online within half an hour." I told him. "But I have to say that I'm glad to see you... According to the latest information, Darth Arkol has a large fleet at Yrla and staying within one jump of an enemy fleet without a hyperdrive isn't my idea of rest and relaxation."

He nodded slightly. "Especially not with the news I have for you."

"Do tell, Captain Tlath." I said calmly. With the First Squadron here and undamaged, it couldn't be that bad.

"Half an hour after you had taken off, three Drakes, two Manta's and three Astra-class ships dropped into the system... Practically right on top of us." He shrugged lightly. "Osprey caught them in an interdictor field, so they couldn't escape and for once, most of them actually surrendered instead of killing themselves."

"Let me guess... there were no Sith around." I said drily.

The observation made him smile. "Partly correct, sir. There were no Sith around and the Astra-class ships were crewed by Escors from Yrla, with a squad of Imperial Marines supported by an Imperial pilot to keep them from going elsewhere."

There was a half-swallowed gasp from Lena Agusta at that.

Ignoring it, I asked, "Do you know the story about that?"

"Yes, sir." Answered Tlath and explained that according to the crew of the captured ships, the Escor ship The Dagger had made it all the way to Terminus, where they had bought the three Astra-class ships and crewed them with the people they had bought along. However, knowing that the crew needed time to train with the new ships, the Dagger took off from Terminus, heading back home to Yrla to help protect the orbital mines there from Sublar attacks. After a few months of training, the crew had taken the Astra-classes into space, going back towards Yrla. They never made it, as they were met halfway by three Drakes and two Mantas, seemingly under the command of an Escor named Duke Nicolas, the commander of the Dagger. He persuaded them into letting a shuttle on board each ship and once inside, the Imperial Marines quickly took over and the group set course for Yrla.

"One moment, Captain." I said and muted the channel, before looking at Lena Agusta.

"Astrogator Augusta, do you know of a Duke Nicolas?"

She nodded hesitantly. "Yes. He's the father of Baron Jay Knack and a powerful man."

I felt my eyebrows rise a little. The Baron was not high on my list of likeable people, and I doubted the father was much better. "How would you describe Duke Nicolas as a person?"

"He's a good leader, but a hard man." Her pretty face contracted in a grimace and she glanced at Munmaki for a second before continuing. "He's one of those Nobles that keep pushing for a war against the Sublars, arguing that if we don't get the upper hand, they will."

"Would he side with the Empire, if that gives him the upper hand?"

With some hesitation, she nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid he would. For some reason he hates the Sublars with every fibre of his being."

"Is that rumour or fact?" Iska wanted to know.

"Fact." Lena Agusta said firmly, adding. "He's my uncle and I know him."

Interesting as that was, it was not the time or place to delve deeper into that, I just said "Thank you, Astrogator." And turned my attention back to Captain Tlath, unmuting the channel. "Sorry about that, Captain. You were saying?"

"Well, the freed Escors are still being interviewed on the Glorious, but take a look at this."

He nodded to someone, and another list appeared on the screen.

2 Harrowers

6 BSX-5's

6 Terminus-class Destroyers,

4 Delta-class carriers,

2 Gage-class transports

8 Drake-class Frigates

8 Manta-class corvettes

While not as impressive as the fleet in the Yrla system, it was still a strong fleet, capable of delivering a lot of damage.

"According to the databases on the Drakes," said Tlath, gesturing to the list, "that is Lord Moragth's fleet. Unfortunately, nobody has any information about what it has been doing, where it is now or why Lord Moragth isn't commanding it himself." He thought for a moment. "They will most likely have more information for us when we return."

I nodded in agreement. "Do we know who commands this fleet?"

"Yes. Lord Moragth's apprentice. A Sith warrior named Vekharis."

Still looking at the fleet listed on the screen, I asked. "Any details on this Vekharis?"

Tlath shook his head. "Not much. He's older than most acolytes and it's rumoured that he originally was an infantry commander, but nothing beyond that." He thought for a moment. "As I said, it's likely that Second Squadron knows more by now, but that was all the info I had time to collect, before we had to jump here."

"We'll look at it later." I promised. "But for now, we need to get out of here as soon as possible in case Darth Arkol senses that something is wrong and comes to this system with his fleet." I shot a quick glance at the status monitor. "Send a group to help Captain Tarrick and the Hammerheads but be ready to jump in an hour."

"Yes, sir."

The screen went black, and I was about to take a deep breath, when Tavune called. "Sir? Permission to do a deep scan of the system. Darth Arkol's people might have placed a sensor platform here."

I smiled as I looked over at the Scan section. "Good thinking, Mister Tavune. Make it happen."

"Yes, sir."

"Thank you. Comm, open a channel to the senior captains."

"Yes, sir."

I quickly briefed the senior captains on the situation, including the list of ships present in the Yrla system. A prize crew from Singray was ordered to take control of the captured Delta-class carrier, assisted by people from the Majestic, and ships were ordered to guard the jump-point, while Captain Barlee took Vulture to the habitable moon to collect the improved star fighters so we could investigate them.

"One last thing, people." I said when that was done. "I watched your arrival here and it was, in lack of better words, a vision of beauty. Well done."

That brought smiles from the listening captains.

"Now let's set up so we can protect ourselves until we can get out of here."

"Yes, sir."

Briefing done, I looked over at Lieutenant Mormill. "Pack your things, Lieutenant. You're going to be the tactical officer on the Delta-class carrier."

"Yes!" Mormill exclaimed in excitement, adding a belated. "...sir. Permission to leave the bridge?"

"Granted." I said and looked over at the monitor showing Wing Commander Sollan. "Commander Sollan?"

The Zabrak had been looking at something, but as I said his name, he looked over. "Yes, sir?"

"I'm making you the prize captain of the Delta-class." I informed him, smiling slightly as he widened his eyes in surprise. "That'll make you pull double duty as both captain and Wing Commander of the Delta, but I cannot think of anyone else that can do that job better than you. If it comes to combat, leave the ship handling and tactics to the pilot, gunner and Tactical Officer Mormill."

"Yes, sir." He said with a smile and hurried off to pack.

I returned to my seat. Commander Sollan was a good leader and a gifted starfighter tactician, while Mormill's leadership might be lacking, but her sense for capital ship combat was really good. All in all, they should complement each other perfectly.

More to the point, between Iska, me, and the rest of the officers on Majestic, we really didn't need a tactical officer or a Wing Commander on Majestic. Granted, the Wing Commander lessened the workload for me a lot, but it wasn't strictly needed right now.

Everything was set up, so all we could do now was to wait for the engineers while hoping that Darth Arkol's fleet didn't suddenly show up.

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

Ten minutes went by. Then fifteen. Then thirty.

The tension on the bridge was thick and a few of the newer officers nearly jumped in their seats when Tavune called out. "Commodore, there's a sensor array in sector 3 point minus 2. Shall I have it destroyed?"

Looking over at the map of the sector, I shook my head. "Call Captain Bucbro. The Eagle is a lot closer and can use a tractor beam to get it into the hangar before we leave."

The young Chiss smiled widely. "Yes, sir."

As I turned back, I suddenly realized that the red warning light had turned green and a moment later, Senior Engineer Janson's youthful face showed on the screen, reporting to Iska that the primary hyperdrive was back online.

A few moments later, I got a similar call from the engineers on the Delta-class, confirming that the Delta-class' hyperdrive was ready as well.

I was smiling as I ordered the fleet to get ready to depart the system, knowing that it would take a while before all the fighters were back in their ships.

One after one, the ships reported in as they were ready, with Stingray being the last.

"Check-up." Ordered Iska. "Tell me that the rest of the fleet have gotten the route."

"Checking." Said Tavune and went to work. It only took a moment before he looked up. "All ships ready to jump."

Hitting the all-ship channel, Iska said. "Go!"

Since Majestic was under repair, we weren't the last to leave for once and on the viewscreens the stars elongated and then we were in hyperspace.

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

A change of plans

Dreadnought Majestic, Hyperspace and Jenth-32

"Well, that was disappointing, sir." Iska remarked a little while later. "I had been looking forward to seeing Yrla."

"Agreed," I said with a sigh. "But as the saying goes, there are hyperspace jumps which must not be taken, fleets which must not be attacked and territory which must not be contested, and Yrla was all three of those. Any attack we could make would likely have ended in disaster for both the Yrlan people and us."

"I know." She thought for a moment, her purple lekku swaying as she turned to look at me. "So, do we go to the Kzii's planet?" She thought for a moment. "Otri or Kziiz, depending on which map we use."

"Not quite." I called up the star map on the bridge's hologram and took a closer look at it, looking for routes.

Outside the Chaos, people could use the HoloNet to send messages from and to almost everywhere, including ships. That, however, was due to an extensive network of hyperwave transmitters that had been built over hundreds, if not thousands, of years, and such a network simply didn't exist here, making that form of communication impossible.

So, if Darth Arkol had placed an order on eight Star Wanders and only received four of them so far, the rest had to travel to him... provided they knew where he was, which again demanded that someone or something told them where to go.

"First we need to go there." I highlighted the Quamire system. "Not only did Darth Arkol use an extraordinarily long time in that system, but if he moved his fleet to Yrla three weeks ago, the second batch of Star Wanderer-class ships he ordered will not know that, thus they'll come looking for him there. So, I expect there's either a small fleet or some kind of automated beacon there, telling his people where to go."

I zoomed in on the Quamire System. The holomap brightened, stars flickering into clarity as the Quamire sun swelled at the center of the display. It looked ordinary. One sun, a scattering of planets, the kind of place thousands of systems could mimic, with a planet, called Quamire Prime, placed in the perfect distance from the sun to develop life. We already knew from the defected former Imperials, that the system had both water and edible animals, which was why Darth Arkol had used it as a base after he had split up his fleet after visiting the Ajax system. We had even found data on the animals and plants on Quamire Prime, including information on which were safe to use as food and which were not.

Tempting as it was, I didn't intend to linger in the system. A few days at most. The risk of Darth Arkol showing up was simply too great. Considering the size of his fleet, the mines we had placed at the jump point would irritate him at most, forcing him to pause to repair some of the smaller ships before he moved on... or simply send them to Yrla to keep watch over the planet.

Iska walked closer.

"So, first we rendezvous with the rest of the fleet, then we clean out the Quamire System and go back to the plan?"

"More or less." I told her and turned towards the astrogator station. "Astrogator Agusta, the fleet needs a route from the Jenth-32 to the Quamire System, using the longest possible jumps the fleet can do, but without skirting obstacles."

"Yes, sir." She said with a little smile and went to work.

Still thinking, I stood from the chair and walked over to the starmap shown on the hologram. I knew it was a mental thing, because I could just as easily have ordered a zoom but doing it physically just felt better.

This part of The Chaos had long distances between systems and plenty of abnormalities, two factors limiting the number of routes that could be taken to reach any given place, and at the same time created systems that were choke points that ships had to go through before reaching Quamire or any other systems in this sector.

I traced the glowing lines with my eyes, letting patterns swirl through my thoughts. Something about them tugged at the edge of my mind. A piece missing... not quite there yet.

"Mister Tavune." I called toward the sensor station. "When you were looking for prison planets, what criteria did you use?"

"Ninety-five percent similarity to the Nodia system," he replied crisply, sending the filter to the display.

I looked at it. "And you applied it on both Imperial and local maps?"

"Yes, sir. Selecting those systems that're not on the Imperial maps."

I nodded. Due to security measures, none of the prison camps we had found so far existed on the imperial maps, but the act of trying to hide them had enabled us to compare the Imperial maps with the local maps we had retrieved from the ships in the Snare system, and single out those systems that weren't on the imperial maps.

It had worked in Nodia, because we knew it was close to the Epsilon Eta system, but it most likely was too broad a search criteria for the entire sector, as there were plenty of systems the Empire have never visited.

The hologram turned slowly as I studied it. "Good idea, but let's work a little more on that. Reset the search criteria and let's start over."

"Yes, sir." Tavune answered.

"First, remove those systems that can be accessed with jumps from more than two points." I ordered. "Mark the suspected prison planets on the map and show their statistics on the second screen... unless the algorithm has removed them."

Systems blinked out of existence and the suspected prison systems were highlighted on the map and their stats shown on the screen. Two were missing as Nelvath and Xylo didn't make the cut.

"On second thought, remove those systems with more than one route leading into them." I said, still looking at the hologram. "Qek-40 only had one and the Imperials didn't know about the second jump point in Nodia."

Even more systems disappeared, but it still left more than we could scout in a reasonable time.

"Excuse me, sir." First Officer Janik said. "May I make a suggestion?"

"Always."

"Imperial star maps update automatically, so even if the prison planets have been removed from the maps, the route leading close to it should still be visible." The former Imperial officer as he walked closer and looked over at Tavune. "Please remove any planets not within two jumps of a known system or route."

"Yes, sir." Tavune answered with a smile and a moment later the map dimmed as a lot of systems disappeared.

"They can't have started the camps before the start of the war," I said. "Remove all systems where the route on the Imperial maps hasn't been updated in thirty years."

Iska tilted her head. "What about removing systems without a habitable planet?"

"Good idea, but I would prefer to do that last." I told her. "In theory, the Empire could place a space station just about everywhere, and a prison could just as easily be a deep-space station as a planet."

"True, but that would demand regular deliveries of provisions." She replied. "Not something I would do out here."

"Good point." I admitted. "Tavune. Save this and remove systems without a habitable planet but include those marginally so... like the Nodia Prime was."

He hesitated. "I'm not sure how to formulate that, sir. Nodia Prime was not deemed habitable by the database. It was only due to its proximity to Epsilon Eta that we found it."

"Include those that are up to five percent too hot or cold for humanoid civilization." Suggested Iska with a slight smile.

He nodded, thought for a moment and applied the filter. Most of the systems disappeared from the map, leaving only about a hundred.

It was still too many to search and for a moment we all stood there, looking at the hologram, while thinking about how to limit the number of planets.

"One moment, sirs." Tavune said and did something that made the map shimmer for a moment. Then he grimaced. "Sorry, sirs. I tried to load the survey data for these planets, but that simply does not exist."

"Good thinking." I told him. "But you'll need older maps. Get hold of Captain Mivito. The Osprey may hold some old, outdated maps that haven't been uploaded to Majestic due to their age."

A few minutes later, Tavune was smiling widely, as he applied the three hundred years old survey data to the maps and added a few more criteria.

As an added bonus, it enabled us to see which planets had been removed from the maps in the last updates.

The map shimmered as system after system disappeared, leaving only five systems, three of the suspected prison planets among them.

"Here you go, sir." He said proudly. "I took your limitations and merged it with the known location of minerals that the Empire is looking for, like the duranium and doonium they mined at Nodia, the trimantium, quadranium and chromium mined at Qek-40, and a few of the rare metals used in ship building."

"Good thinking, Tavune." I told him. So far, the prison camps had been mining camps, which required something to mine. "Contact the Chief Engineer and check if there're some materials we have forgotten."

"Yes, sir."

I waited patiently as he made the call and a few minutes later another planet showed up, as Tavune said. "The Chief Engineer said ytterbium for turbolasers and neutronium for armor."

"Very well." I said as I turned to look at the hologram. While the planets didn't seem to be that far apart on the hologram, reality was another thing. "What do the local and old maps say about those planets? The old maps, I mean."

"Not much, sir." Tavune admitted. "Myrrhial is well known according to the local maps, but the wildlife is so dangerous that nobody has attempted to colonize it. There's a mention of old ruins on the planet, but they're estimated to be around three hundred years old, which lands them squarely in the Jedi Civil War era."

Two planets appeared side by side on the screen. "Ilex and Pire, or Wesk-72 and Herf-37 as they're known on the old Imperial maps, are poorly described, despite having been visited recently. The geological survey shows moderate levels of neutronium on both." A third planet appeared. "Ajax, or Osk-14, was visited by Darth Arkol and like Myrrhial it is known for dangerous animals. It had duranium but has never been mined."

"We're going to Ajax after Quamire." I said thoughtfully. "If there ever was a prison camp there, it almost has to be empty by now, but I want to know what Darth Arkol was doing there. What about the last two?"

"This is the Sari, or Usk-67, system." Tavune said as a system appeared on the screen. "There's only one planet and that is a gas giant. On the positive side, there are plenty of asteroid belts in the system. Eight to be exact, and they hold a lot of different materials."

I arched an eyebrow. "Let me guess... One of the moons of that gas giant is habitable."

"Yes, sir." Smiled Tavune. "Exactly like Centauri 21."

"From the Dragon Quest?" Asked First Officer Janik, surprise in his voice. "The one that looked like an old imperial base?"

Iska nodded. "It was an old Imperial Reclamation Service base, though we never discovered why it was there in the first place."

Tavune nodded. "I can't remember if it was mentioned in Dragon Quest, but the asteroid belts in Centauri held a lot of Ultrachrome. If the Sari system does the same, there's a possibility that a mining operation has been placed there."

I clasped my hands behind my back. The Imperial Reclamation Service, called IRS, was a division within the Sith Empire that was responsible for archaeological expeditions to recover both alien and ancient Sith artifacts. Lord Mahaw had been working for them, so there was a good possibility that Darth Arkol as Lord Mahaw's superior was either also connected with the IRS or was part of that faction as well.

Another thing to consider, was that Darth Arkol had tasked Lord Mahaw with finding Ancient Super Weapons using any means possible. Mostly because Darth Arkol would need such a weapon if he was to win an engagement with Darth Malgus' superior fleet.

"That is a possibility we have to look into." I agreed. "What about the last planet?"

"The Legio, or Dorn-4 system," said Tavune as the last planet showed up on the screen. "Brutal climate due to the planets extreme axial tilt, which I guess is one of the reasons why the planets ytterbium reserves haven't been mined."

"Right," I said. "Add it to the list. When we've reached Quamire, I want a route to those systems, so we can investigate them on our way to Debra along with the Kzii homesystem."

"Yes, sir."

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

The fleet arrived in the Jenth-32 without any problems, but as it was only a short jump away from the Kwin-34 system, I ordered the fleet to leave the system as soon as possible, going towards the Quamire System.

Not that it was going to happen immediately with a fleet as large as the Dragon Defence Force had become.

As always, the slower support ships took off first, so the faster warships could overtake them in hyperspace and arrive with time to spare for clearing the target system.

That left us with some waiting time and after having heard a lot about the Astra-class, I had looked forward to seeing them in person. I wasn't disappointed.

At 150 meters in length, 92 meters wide and 45 meters tall, it was a substantial ship with a three-pronged design, as the slim yacht-like center hull was flanked by two smaller prongs, all tapering towards the front.

A low bridge was centered on the top of the hull, slightly elevated, with panoramic viewports that suggested comfort as much as practicality.

"Oh my." Exclaimed Resa, interrupting my thinking. "That is a beautiful ship... though it doesn't really look like a Rendili."

"Majestic, run the stats of the Astra-class again." I ordered and looked as one of the screens lit up to display the stats, raising my eyebrows as the manufacture was indeed listed as Rendili StarDrive.

"Majestic, don't we have a picture of it?" Asked Iska curious.

"I'm afraid not, Captain." Said the computer. "The database is focused on warships and the Astra-class does not qualify as such."

With a chuckle, I looked to the comm section. "Give me Chief engineer Keller."

"Yes, sir."

A moment later, Keller showed up with a grin on his face. "Hello, sir. I have a feeling I know why you called."

"Yes. I thought I was looking at a Rendili StarDrive Astra-class... but that ship doesn't look like it was made by Rendili."

He nodded. "You're right, sir, and there's a story to that."

That made me chuckle. "Do tell."

"Long story short, Rendili won a contract from the Navigator Guild to produce some Exploration Vessels, but due to their senior designers dying in a shuttle accident before they were even halfway finished with the design, they were unable to fulfil the contract." He explained. "However, since breaking the contract would cost a huge amount of money, they used a sub-contractor to build the ships for them instead."

"Kuat Drive Yards?" Guessed Resa.

"You would think so, but no." Keller told her with a grin. "The Astra-class was built by Alderaan Royal Engineers, who basically took one of the large yachts they're so famous for and made it larger, better armed and a whole lot more durable, before they sent them to Rendili, who in turn sold them to the Navigator Guild." He paused for a moment before he continued. "The Navigator Guild was more than happy for their new ships and ordered some more, so Alderaan Royal Engineers and Rendili entered a partnership and produced more... though the second version was less yacht-like than the first."

He typed something. "Here're the stats for the two versions."

Two sets of numbers appeared side by side on the screen and I skimmed them over. While mostly identical, the second version had a slightly higher shield and armor rating and carried more point defence weapons.

"Chief Engineer," I said slowly as I noticed something. "Am I wrong in thinking that these armor and shield stats are similar to the ones from the Hammerhead-class?"

"No, sir." He chuckled. "Rendili needed the ship done in time and supplied the Royal Engineers with the same kind of Cortosis infused armor used on their Hammerhead, and the second version continued that at the insistence of the Navigator Guild. It's an extremely good armor."

Remembering the beating the Hammerheads had brushed off in the Kwin system, I nodded. "I'll have to agree with that."

I looked at the ship again. Now we had come closer, I was able to see subtler details betraying the ship's true origins. The hull plating was smoother, almost elegant, with fine inlays and sensor arrays embedded flush along the surface. Another feature that reminded me of a yacht more than a corvette.

"She's beautiful," Resa murmured, her vocal modulator almost wistful.

"More yacht than corvette," Iska commented, unknowingly echoing my thoughts as she watched the ship.

"Engineer Keller, if this is a civilian ship, how come it's equipped with concealed light turbo lasers?" I asked. "I thought that was forbidden in the Republic."

Keller nodded. "It is and I wondered about it too, so I asked some of the former Republic people. The Astra-class is classified as a semi-civilian vessel, which basically means that it belongs to an organization which has obtained permission to arm their ship a little heavier than anybody else. In this case the organization is the Navigator's Guild and as these ships are supposed to go into deep space, they were given a special permission." Keller smirked. "Which is also the reason for the rest. Cortosis-alloy armor, shield capacitors modified to withstand solar flares, and an exceptional good Alderaanian reactor and hyperdrive. And yes, there are even luxury quarters onboard."

I glanced at the ship again. "Looks like we're dealing with an exploration ship disguised as a noble's pleasure barge... like the Duchess."

Keller chuckled. "That's exactly what the Guild wanted. A ship that could scout the unknowns without screaming 'military asset' the moment it dropped out of hyperspace." The chuckle turned into a smile. "In my opinion, the Astra-class rivals the Duchess in sheer beauty and practicality."

"I will have to agree." I said with a nod, as I noticed a small personal message, suggesting that I took the rest of the call in my office. "Well, thanks for the information, Chief Engineer. I hope you'll give me a tour one of these days."

"I'll be happy to, sir."

After Keller signed off, I stood from the chair. "Captain, Resa. I have something we need to talk about."

"Yes, sir." Iska said and stood as well. "You have the bridge, Janik."

"Yes, sir." Janik stepped up smoothly, already moving toward the captain's chair, his posture crisp as ever.

As soon as the door hissed shut behind us, I turned toward the interface.

"Majestic, get Chief Engineer Keller on the screen."

"Yes, sir."

A moment later Keller was on the screen again, and this time he was in his office instead of the bridge. "Sorry for the deception, sir, but I found some more when we looked into the ships' databases."

"Ah." Said Iska and walked closer to me, so Keller could see her. "That sounds interesting."

"The Dagger was loaded with valuables worth nearly seventy million credits." Keller told us. "The ships cost a little more than two million apiece, everything included. Added to that, they bought several millions worth of mining equipment and fabricators, three thousand second-hand blaster rifles, with additional ammo packs, and three thousand light armors. They even placed an order on five XS Light freighters. However, that still only added up to a little over thirty million, so I had the techs look through everything to see if they could discover where the rest had gone."

"Did they find it?" Asked Resa, as Keller made a dramatic little pause.

"Yes, indeed." He nodded and a moment later his face disappeared from the screen, having been replaced by blueprints. "This is what the rest of the money went to: They bought blueprints, schematics and production equipment off the black market, so they eventually would be able to build their own ships and improve their current weapons."

"Smart move." I commented. "Their leaders are planning for the future."

A detail on the blueprint caught my eye. As an exploration vessel, the Astra had a lot of equipment slots where scanners and the like could be mounted, but with the size of the reactor and the redundancy of the powerlines, they could mount more energy intensive equipment like weapons as well.

"Resa, calculate the number of additional turbo lasers the reactor could power, if the Astra was equipped with sensors like the Drake." I ordered in a low voice. "Light turbo's first."

The droid looked surprised but then the LED started to flash. "Twelve additional light turbo lasers, sir." A faint smile played on her lips. "Or two double turbo lasers in the prongs, eight light turbos and four missile tubes."

Keller had clearly heard our exchange, because as the feed of him returned, he was smiling widely. "Well spotted, sir. In regard to weapons, the Astra is almost as modular and customizable as a Corellian ship, and it won't take much to bring the weapons up to the level of a real corvette."

"Can they make those upgrades themselves?"

"Yes, it's not that difficult." Answered Keller. "Building the ships themselves is vastly more complicated. Aside from the technology, they'll also need raw materials and some of those materials are rarely found in the same system, so they'll need another star system or two for all the different raw materials they'll need. I estimate it would take them about ten years before they're ready to build their own."

There was silence for a moment as we digested the information.

"That would require that the Escors conquer the Sublars." Iska said slowly. "Otherwise, they'll have trouble expanding to other systems."

"With three Astra-class against whatever the Sublars have left, that shouldn't be a problem." I said with a shrug "They'll have total control of the space around Yrla in a week and can force them to surrender or get blown away. This was a part of a larger plan and until Darth Arkol got in the way of it, it was quite successful."

"Well, they did run into one small problem." Said Keller, amusement in his voice. "Blueprints to armed ships and hyperdrives are illegal and not something you can walk into a shop and buy. So, in order to get them, they had to deal with crime cartels and those negotiations took longer than the Commander of the Dagger was willing to wait. So, he took off after having loaded all the armor and blasters into the ship, leaving the rest to be carried in the Astra's cargo holds and memory banks."

"Wait a minute, Chief." I said as something suddenly dawned on me. "Are you telling me that we not only have three Astra-class Explorer Frigates, which, despite the name, can be upgraded to a very good corvette, but we even have the schematics and blueprints to build more, if we had a shipyard?"

This time he laughed out loud. "Yes, sir. I did tell you that you're the luckiest commander I've ever worked with.... Well, except for the fact that we don't have all the materials needed and no shipyard to build them in."

"Way to ruin the mood, Chief." Laughed Iska. "But it's a solid point."

I nodded. Having the schematics was nice, but without a place to build the ships, it was about as useful as finding a Centurion-class Battleship. In theory it was a good thing, but we didn't have the thirty thousand people needed to crew it.

However, unlike a Centurion-class, we could and would take the plans along with us in case we found a time and place to put them to use.

"Back to reality for a moment." I chuckled. "Have you talked with Commander Samko about staffing them?"

Keller nodded. "Yes, and they all have a crew of thirty by now." He smiled again. "There was no lack of people wanting to staff that mix of luxury yacht and explorer frigate... but sir, you really need to stop capturing enemy ships. We're running out of people to crew them."

That made me chuckle. "To be honest, I would rather ditch the S-class Cruiser and use the crew to staff more Drakes, Mantas and Astras... and if it comes to that, I will do exactly that. We have more use for twenty-five smaller ships than one oversized hulk."

"Except that one huge ship requires a lot less officers than twenty-five smaller ships." Countered Keller. "And there's simply a limit on how fast we can educate the people we got to a level sufficient of expertise as officers."

I nodded with a sigh. "I know and I will bear that in mind."

"Glad to hear it, sir." Chief Keller gave a short nod and hesitated for a moment, before saying. "Before you go, Captain Sul and I have a thing we want to talk with you about."

"Yes?"

He waved and a moment later he was joined by Fama Sul, and where Keller was smiling widely, she looked like she had done something terrible. "Hello, sir."

"Captain Sul," I greeted. "What can I do for you?"

The beautiful Pantoran sighed. "I'm sorry, sir, but you'll have to find a new captain for the Kraken within a month."

That took me by surprise, as I couldn't find a reason for that. Captain Sul had proven to be extremely competent during our journey.

"I imagine that there's a surprising reason for that," I told them, "because I can't think of any reason why you shouldn't captain the Kraken."

"I'm four months pregnant, sir." She said in a low voice. "And the medic onboard the Kraken told me to take maternity leave as soon as possible to avoid unnecessary stress."

That explained both the need for a new captain and the wide smile on Keller's face.

"Congratulations!" I said with a smile. "May I ask how long until you give birth?"

"Thank you, sir, and there's another five months left." Smiled Fama Sul. "However, according to the medic, Human -- Pantoran pregnancies are not the easiest, which is why she's worried." She shrugged lightly. "She'd prefer if I spent the rest of the pregnancy on the Majestic, where Doctor Shakka can keep an eye on me and the babies."

"Babies? As in more than one."

"Twins, sir," Keller said proudly. "A boy and a girl."

"Double congratulations, then." I said, not really knowing what else to say.

Sul smiled, though a touch of weariness still lingered in her eyes. "Thank you, sir. The medic assures me everything looks fine for now. But she doesn't want to take chances."

"Smart medic," I said. "And a wise captain for listening." I paused for a moment. "You're going to be transferred to the Majestic at our next stop. Is First officer Tovas capable of being a full-time captain?"

Fama Sul shook her head. "Unfortunately, not. She's very good but needs to mature before she takes command. Not to mention, that she's educated as a civilian captain and needs a lot of training in tactics."

"I'll find another captain." I promised. "Chief Engineer, I'm going to assume that you would like to be near your partner in this, so unless you have any objections, I do a switch. You're going back to the Majestic and Senior Engineer Janson is taking over your place on the Kraken."

If possible, his smile widened. "I would like that very much, sir."

"Excellent... Just a warning. Since this is a temporary assignment, you're not getting your old cabin back."

"I can live with that." He answered.

"Good." I chuckled. "Now, I'll go find a new captain."

"Thank you, sir." Fama Sul looked down briefly, then met my gaze again. "I know this comes at a bad time."

"Captain Sul," I said, voice firm, "there is no bad time for life. Not here at least. Go pack the stuff you want to bring, and we'll talk later."

"Yes, sir."

I gave them a nod and the screen winked out.

Leaning back in the seat, I looked over at Resa, "As far as I remember, most of the VIP quarters on Level C are still unoccupied. Let's give them one of the biggest ones."

"Agreed, sir." The droid said with a smile. "I'll arrange it now."

Iska chuckled. "I must confess that I didn't see that coming, sir. The pregnancy, I mean."

"Neither did I." I admitted. "But then again, I usually only see the captain's upper body, so even if it has been blatantly obvious for a month or so, I wouldn't have noticed."

Resa shook her head at that. "Sorry, sir, but Pantorans are not obviously pregnant before relatively late in the pregnancy... and many Pantorans doesn't even realise they're pregnant before they're four or five months into it." She smiled. "I think they just discovered it themselves."

"Well, at least they both looked happy." I said with a smile.

Resa nodded. "The Chief Engineer more than Captain Sul, but yes, they were happy."

Iska chuckled. "Well, he doesn't have to carry and give birth to the kids, so he can keep working, while Captain Sul will have to go on leave."

"Good point."

I thought for a moment and then sighed. "We need more captains and officers."

Iska nodded. "Yes, we do, sir, but what makes you say that?"

"Because with the size this fleet has grown into, we need a command staff, and the people I need are spread out all over the fleet, doing double duty with no one to take their place."

"Oh, I totally agree, sir." Iska replied. "At the very least we need Elise Samko back in charge of placing the new people. The XO's are good, but Samko is a genius when it comes to that." She smiled. "But it'll be good to get the Chief Engineer back on Majestic."

"Yes... and if the medics allow it, I'll ask Captain Sul to be one of the teachers in capital ship handling." I told her. "If we don't give her something to do, she'll be bored to tears." I looked over Resa. "Who do we have that can take over the Vellathi if Elise Samko comes back to Majestic?"

The blue LED blinked. "Marsky Klaudia and Collen Lesmi. Both have captained large freighters."

Two pictures appeared on the screen, each showing a human female. Both were middle-aged and had captained a Tusk-class Heavy freighter. Before I had the chance to ask, the stats on the Tusk-class freighter appeared under the pictures. At two kilometres in length and a cargo capacity of 3 million tons, the Tusk-class was one of the largest freighters I had seen and with a crew of almost three hundred, it also had the highest crew requirement. Like most large freighters, including the Tork-Class, it was slow with little manoeuvrability in real-space.

"That's the largest freighter I've ever seen." I commented as I read the stats.

"I saw a few in the Kintal sector." Iska said with a chuckle. "They're gigantic and fly like an asteroid... just like the Tork."

"Right... if you should pick one of them to captain the Vellathi, which one would it be?"

"Marsky Klaudia." The purple Twi'Lek answered without hesitation. "Collen Lesmi has experience with warships before she became a freighter captain, and I would prefer to use her somewhere else." She hesitated. "And I trust Captain Klaudia more."

I looked over at her. "Anything concrete or just a feeling?"

"A feeling." She admitted.

"I trust your feelings." I told her with a smile. "Let's go with Captain Klaudia then... And Resa... remind me, that we need to talk with Captain Lesmi in person before assigning her to a ship."

"Yes, sir."

"However, we still need a new captain for Kraken." I chuckled. "Can you find a few candidates for a new captain on the Kraken?"

"Yes, sir," smiled the droid and a list appeared on the screen.

"Thank you... However, we have time, so please send the list to Commander Samko and have her pick a captain." I thought for a moment. "One that has been with us a while."

Despite not being a dedicated warship, the Kraken was one of the most important ships in the fleet, and I wanted Elise Samko's touch for picking the right people for the right job on this.

"Well," said Iska slowly, "Since we have time, do you want me to explain to Agusta and Munmaki why going to Yrla was suicidal? I don't think they have the tactical knowledge to really understand it and I would like them to." She flashed me a smile. "And you're too nice."

"Really?"

"Yes." Iska said firmly. "You will show them simulations and explain it. I'm going to show them the consequences of space battles, starting with visiting Shakka in the infirmary."

"That is actually a brilliant idea." Glancing at the countdown clock, I discovered that we still had more than an hour before it was our turn to enter hyperspace. "Alright, I'll be on the bridge then."

We shared a smile and walked out again.

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

When Iska, Marie Munmaki and Lena Agusta came back nearly an hour later, the two Yrlans looked a little pale, but collected and they both gave me a nod as they took their places at the astrogation station.

I waited patiently until Iska walked up to me, grimacing slightly.

"That was sad, sir." She told me in a low voice. "It's never pleasant to see where crew members have died, but I think they got the message. They realised that even a ship as big as the Majestic can be damaged and the crew take losses... and why we simply couldn't go to Yrla."

"Good... and thank you for doing that."

"Part of the job, sir."

"Yes, but not a fun part." I said and changed the subject. "By the way, I contacted Meistrin to hear if they had gotten more information from the Escor and while there was nothing new from that end, the techs found an entry in the database that indicates that Lord Moragth's fleet, under command of Vekharis, split from the rest of Darth Arkol's fleet after they visited Ajax."

"That was early."

I nodded. "Yes, but they weren't the only ones. Ajax is also the system where Lord Agotov split to go towards the Outer Rim to sell slaves and resources, so they could replenish the Tork and thus the fleet."

"Hmm... Do you think they took all the prisoners, sir?" She asked after a moment.

"I doubt it." I told her with a shake of the head. "But we'll find out sooner or later."

She nodded with a chuckle and looked at the countdown clock, before raising her voice. "Alright, people. Five minutes to hyperspace. Check everything is ready and then do it again."

"Yes, sir!"

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

On route to Quamire

Dreadnought Majestic, Hyperspace and Quamire system

"When you take risks, you learn that there will be times when you succeed, and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important."

Vice Admiral Zedais, CEDF

Getting from Jenth-32 to the Quamire system took four hyperspace jumps and two weeks, giving me ample time to do other things than sitting on the bridge, watching people do their jobs.

First, I recruited Counsellor Norken to help the Force sensitive people handle their emotions and when that was done, I walked down to the F deck to visit the Thyrsians and arrange for a trainer for Marie Munmaki, which proved easier than I had thought, as a Black Dragon named Nira Norr offered to do that almost immediately. She was also ranked as Master with both the Energy Pike and as an instructor, so I happily accepted.

During the first jump, Elise Samko found another captain for the Kraken and as we waited for the second jump, Chief Engineer Keller and Captain Fama Sul were exchanged with Engineer Jansen and Captain Khan, while Elise Samko was replaced by Marsky Klaudia.

The two days had also given the wounded from Kwin-34 time to heal a little, so when we entered hyperspace again, I took the lift down to the infirmary, where I moved between the beds, checking in with the wounded. A few quiet conversations, some smiles, some small words of encouragement. Most injuries were minor. Burns, concussions, a fractured arm or two, but two crewmembers were so gravely wounded that they were still in the healing tanks, so I couldn't talk with them.

After a while, Shakka came by, and we retreated to her office where we could talk without people hearing us.

"You know," said Shakka with a smile when she was done explaining why the wounded crewmembers would be fine. "If Lena Agusta has the time, I could use her down here. She has a gift for talking with people in pain, making them relax."

"So, Astrogator and healer at the same time?"

She laughed softly, a low, musical sound. "No, not at the same time."

I smiled at that. "You know what I mean."

"Yes, I do, but I couldn't resist the chance to tease you." She said, her green eyes glinting with amusement.

"That's fair, I guess." I conceded and looked at the monitors covering the Infirmary, showing each bed and the status of the person in it.

My eyebrows rose as one of the monitors showed Tavune standing hand in hand with Data Tech Shul Eho, as the data tech was talking quietly with a middle-aged woman, I knew was Mechanic Eho, who had been wounded while dragging a gunner to safety. That she was related to Data Tech Shul Eho wasn't something I had considered, when I talked with her.

Shakka looked in the same direction as me and glanced at me. "Did you know that Tavune and Shul Eho were a couple?"

I shook my head with a sheepish grin. "No, but as we already have determined, I'm really not good at judging things like that. I knew Tavune is thought to be quite a catch by many of the single women, but that's all. Do you know anything about it?"

"A little." Chuckled the red Twi'Lek. "Droid Tech Gov Zedas and Tavune are good friends, and Gov Zedas had a huge crush on Data Tech Hudson."

I nodded. It fit with what Waydar had told me about the Droid Tech. "That part I knew."

Shakka glanced over at the couple. "In order to help his friend, Tavune arranged for the four of them to go on a picnic... which meant taking a shuttle to the Glorious and hanging out in the hangar Park there, visiting the shops and just relaxing. Typical stuff for young people and apparently Data Tech Hudson found it boring, but on the bright side Tavune and Shul Eho hit it off and they have been together since." She grinned softly. "It even became semi-official when they kissed in public at the party in Nodia."

I rubbed my forehead. "I simply have to ask what semi-official means. Yes, I know the words, but how does the younger crew use them?"

"As far as I understand it, it means that they're not quite a couple, but none of them are actively seeking out others, while they try to figure out if a relationship will work." Shakka explained with amusement in her voice. "I only know this because Tessa Kaedrin, one of the young aspiring medics told me. She managed to catch Gov Zedas' interests and is currently dating him, claiming that he's the sweetest guy in the world."

"Well, good on them... and as far as I know, Gov Zedas is an extremely good droid tech." I sent her a smile. "Should I kiss you in public at some point? Just to make it semi-official?"

Shakka looked stunned for a moment. Then she smiled widely. "Thank you for that thought, but I don't think that's a good idea."

"Oh." That comment surprised me. "Why not?"

Her smile turned a touch wry.

"Because," she said, stepping just a little closer, "you're not exactly low-profile. If I went semi-official with you, half the single women on this ship would suddenly forget they liked me."

"It can't be that bad." I protested.

"You have no idea," she said, and gave me a short, sweet kiss. "So, for now... let's keep it warm, quiet, and just between us." Her smile widened a bit. "And Iska, Resa, Elise and a few more."

"As you wish, Doctor." I chuckled. Shakka had told me a long time ago, that she didn't mind me having sex with others, but I discovered that it wasn't the whole story. The thought or sight of me with another woman turned her on, and from time to time she wanted to hear about 'my conquests' as she called them, treating listening to me telling her about them as a form of foreplay.

Much to her irritation, I usually didn't give her details about the women in the fleet. Mostly because I didn't feel it was fair for me to give out details they haven't agreed to share, with the exception of Resa who had laughingly told me that I could tell Shakka everything I wanted.

"Are you up for a visit to Reika's later?" Shakka asked, adding, "providing nothing comes in the way."

I nodded. There was always the chance that someone needed medical attention or that something urgent happened that demanded my attention. "Sure."

We kissed one last time and then I walked out of the office, nodded politely to Tavune and Shul as I passed them and left the Infirmary.

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

Once back in my quarters, I dimmed the lights and sat down on the floor to meditate and clear my head. As an afterthought, I took my lightsabers and held them without igniting them, the feeling of the hilts in my hands a grounding presence. Closing my eyes, I let out a long breath, seeking the calm at the center of the storm, as I let my thoughts drift as a chaotic current I merely observed.

The fleet was growing stronger than I could ever have imagined. It might be a tangle of salvaged hulls and repurposed systems, but it was ours and it was working. A fleet built not from tradition, but from a will to survive.

The biggest problem was the lack of educated officers. So many positions filled by those who had never trained for command, but one huge blessing had been the rank structure of the two large navies.

A lot of the specialists that made up the technical personnel, as gunners, flight crews, mechanics, engineers, sensor-, data- and power techs and many others, were Petty Officers. Non-commissioned officers (NCOs) that were technical specialists or supervisors for the enlisted crew, and as such they were not 'real' officers. A detail that had saved many of them from being killed by the Sith like the 'real' officers were.

It was also the group from which we had recruited the largest number of officers. Chief Petty Officers or Senior Chief Petty Officers with ten to fifteen years of experience often knew how to be a leader better than any newly educated lieutenant and those former NCOs had become the backbone of the Dragon Defence Force's officer group.

My thoughts lingered on another worry. The Force-sensitive people in the fleet. So far there were only three, but they were there, and I wasn't sure how to train them, not properly. But hopefully, I could protect them and help them stand as protectors and healers.

For some reason, my thoughts jumped to when I had searched for the Sith in the Kwin-34 system. Those three bright presences on the bridge could only be Iska, Agusta and Munmaki.

However, that I had been able to feel them at all, also meant that I ought to be able to feel other force-sensitive people among the crew. Not here in Hyperspace, but when we entered real-space again, it was something I had to try. Not that I expected to find more than one or two, as the Sith would surely have found and recruited or killed those prisoners that were obviously Force-Sensitive.

That left only the Force-Sensitive children and according to Yaki's findings, most of those have been taken away by the Sith.

Unfortunately, it didn't really add up.

According to the Holocron, almost all Sith were recruited as either adults or at least young adults. Raven and Malak had been Jedi before going to the Dark Side. So were several of the legendary Sith from ages past. Freedon Nadd, Exar Kun and Ulic Qel-Droma were all well-known Sith and all had been Jedi.

There were a lot of other Sith, but a common theme was that their turn to the Dark Side happened later than childhood.

Considering that, it wasn't likely that those kids were going to be raised as Sith.

Thoughts flew rampant in my head as possibilities surged. Then they slowly connected. The Jedi took mostly young people in. Most of the powerful Sith were former Jedi. The Sith were trying to produce strong Force-sensitive kids but didn't have a tradition of educating young Force Sensitives.

The Jedi would discover any Dark Side users among them, but if the Sith had found a way to hide the Dark Side in the children, they could ship them off to the Jedi and have them raise and educate the Force-Sensitive children. Then, when they had become skilled enough or when the time was right, the Sith could use those now grown Dark Side-users to gain vital information, create chaos among the Jedi or any number of things no commander would want the enemy to be able to do.

Considering that the Jedi, as far as I knew, was the backbone of the Republic army and navy, that move could seriously cripple the Republic's forces in case the war broke out again... which it would. As I told Trejar Melbate, the Guardian in the Holocron, the Republic simply couldn't afford to leave so many planets in the hand of the Sith Empire, as that would allow them to rebuild their fleet and attack again.

Reeling in my thought, I went back to the Force-sensitive in the fleet. There were three already and a possibility of more, which meant that I needed to worry about their training, starting with self-control, discipline, and emotional control just as I did long ago. I wished I knew more about how the Jedi trained their young students, but the Holocron had surprisingly little information about the training and the only other source of information was the frozen Jedi.

With a sigh, I decided that we really needed to thaw him, despite my reluctance to do so. Mostly because my experiences with the Holocron told me that the Jedi tended to take their code a little too literal.

The Jedi preached that 'there're no emotions, there is peace', and while I was fairly certain that they had meant that a force user needed to control their emotions, it wasn't what their code said.

According to my teacher, it wasn't a failure to have feelings, but it was a failure if a force user let those feelings rule their actions. Worse was the fact that negative feelings could power the use of the Force, making an angry Force-user stronger than they normally would be, which would lead to the Dark Side, as negative emotions didn't work with the Force in general.

That meant that Martial training and self-discipline wasn't enough. I needed some kind of training that enabled Iska, Shakka, Agusta, Munmaki and any force sensitive children we found to handle their feelings in a safe manner.

Someone like Military Counsellor Mik Norken, Gunnery Sergeant Norken's wife, who's counselling had saved many of the prisoners from going insane or committing suicide while in the prison camps.

I didn't know how she was with children, but considering the warmth she emanated, I guessed that she would do fine and even if she didn't, I was sure that she knew someone who could do the job.

Breathing out, I finally opened my eyes again and discovered, that while I had been meditating, one of the Tiger droids had laid down in front of me, facing the door, while the other lay by my side, its artificial fur making it look like a real cat, as it rested its head on the front legs.

I smiled to myself. I've never had a pet, but these two lethal droids were starting to feel like it. The Tiger droids weren't just guards. Like pets, they were loyal, perceptive, and protective, and I was starting to understand how the Mandalorians could form a bond with their battle droids.

"Majestic, ask Resa to set up a meeting with Counsellor Mik Norken about the rescued children."

"Yes, sir." The computer answered. "Any preferred time or place for the meeting? "

"No. Just somewhere in Counsellor Norken's on-duty time."

"Yes, sir"

"Thank you." I said and reached out to pet the Tiger droid a few times, before standing to walk over to my desk. I needed to write my thoughts down before I forgot them.

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

I was almost done, when the door to the private lift opened to let Elise Samko inside. I could feel her amusement as she looked at me, so I looked up from my notes and sent her a smile. "Yes?"

"You were not at Reika's, so I decided to find you instead." She declared, as she walked closer. She was in civilian clothing, making it clear that she was off duty. A green dress hugged her curves perfectly, highlighting the swell of her large breasts and the narrowing of her waist before flowing down over her hips, going knee length on her long legs. The emerald fabric caught the light as she moved, complementing her fiery red hair that cascaded in soft waves over her shoulders.

There was absolutely nothing indecent about the dress, but the way she moved in it made it extremely sexy.

Pointing at the Tiger droid laying at the table, she added. "Are you sure they're good guards? They don't look that dangerous to me."

I glanced over at the Tiger droid, who was rolled up, so it looked like a big stuffed animal. "That is because you have been coded into their system as one of the people who can visit me at all times."

"Ohh... Nice to know in case I feel like visiting you in the middle of the night." She chuckled as she walked over to me and bent down to give me a hug. "Thank you for being in the hangar welcoming me, Fama Sul, and Keller back."

"No problem." I said and retuned the hug after a moment of hesitation.

She pulled back just enough to be able to look me in the eyes. "May I ask why you were there? I know you don't go to welcome everybody back."

"Well," I said slowly. "I do appreciate all the members of the crew, but I must confess, that the ones that have been here from the start have a special meaning for me. Especially you." I smiled a little. "After all, you were the first non-Chiss I had ever been attracted to. Xenophobia runs deep in my race."

A little smile started to show on her face. "Are you telling me, that I was your first non-Chis you had ever been to bed with?"

"Yes." I said simply.

She thought about that for a moment. "Wait a moment... was I the first non-Chiss woman you had seen?"

"No. I commanded a patrol vessel for some years. We did stop ships with human crew from time to time, but I never saw anything like you." I smiled. "Not only were you strikingly beautiful, but you were also the first redhead I had ever seen."

That made her smile widen. "And you didn't find it weird?"

"I found it fascinating and sexy." I admitted. "Still do."

Still smiling, she leaned closer and gave me a kiss. A long, passionate kiss, that sent shivers down my spine and caused my dick to grow hard. It got even better as she pulled away to whisper. "Tell me those droids don't have recording ability, because the only sex I've had since Grinda has been with DD5 and while that is good, I need your big blue dick inside me."

While she had been whispering, a hand had travelled down my uniform front to rest at my stiff dick, fondling it through the clothes. Then she leaned forward and kissed me softly, flicking her tongue between my lips playfully.

Reaching up, I placed one hand behind her neck and pulled her a little closer, while the other hand travelled to her impressive breasts, caressing them through the green, smooth material, gently teasing her.

She moaned into my mouth as the kiss got even more passionate and the hand on my dick opened my pants, then dived into my underwear. I groaned at the feeling of a cool hand caressing the head.

Elise's tongue danced against mine, but then it disappeared as she drew back enough to mumble. "Lift up."

Knowing what she meant, I lifted my hips from the seat and without hesitation Elise yanked my pants out of the way, followed a moment later by my underwear, freeing my dick.

I breathed a sigh of relief as it was freed from its prison and relaxed again, feeling the cool material settle under my now naked ass.

Elise took full advantage of me relaxing and sank to her knees in front of the chair, taking the head of my dick into her wet, warm mouth, while her hands returned to the shaft, teasing it with her fingers, even as her lips and tongue were doing wonders. I moaned as she pressed down on my cock, driving her mouth down as far onto me as she could, my head slipping into her throat before she pulled back again, her hand following her hot wet mouth. She pulled all the way off, her hand closing over my saliva coated head. Her hand twisted back and forth while she took another breath and then pushed her mouth down over my cock again, letting her lips and tongue do most of the job, while her saliva ran down my cock only to be spread out by her hands as she stroked the shaft.

One hand drifted towards my balls but stopped as my legs were too close together. With a grunt, I tapped the controls and the armrests moved down before disappearing under the seat, giving me room to spread my legs.

However, instead of fondling my balls, Elise did something to her dress and stood, leaving the dress on the floor.

As always, the sight of her naked body sent a shiver of desire down my spine. I've never considered myself a boob-man, but as she placed a leg on each side of the chair and leaned forward, so her big tits were right in front of my eyes, I felt my mouth water.

Sliding my hands up her body, I cupped them, squeezing them gently as I dragged her closer, within reach of my mouth. I softly kissed around one, working my soft wet kisses closer and closer to her nipple until I opened my mouth and engulfed both her pink nipple and puckered areola.

"Ohhhhhhh yessssss," Elisa hissed softly as I teased my tongue around her hard nipple, the tip of my tongue teasing the pink puckered areola. Her stance shifted a bit and I felt her hand on my cock again, as she rubbed the head between her wet lips. Then she lowered herself on me, her pussy slowly engulfing the head and then the shaft as she let herself down, stopping when her ass cheeks rested on my thighs.

"Ohhh fuck." She groaned, resting her head on mine for a moment.

Letting go of her breasts, I began caressing the skin on her back, as I teased her nipple with my lips and tongue. Little gasps and moans slipping from her lips as I caught her hard nipple between my teeth and let my tongue flick over it.

Elise placed her arms around my head, pressing my mouth against her breasts, as she gently rocked back and forth on my dick. Not much, just enough to tease both of us as we sat there.

I released the breast and tilted my head back so we could kiss, and Elise got the hint immediately, kissing me hungrily as I grabbed her ass and fondled it.

With a groan, Elise slowly lifted herself, careful not to break the kiss as she lifted her pussy up my shaft, stopping with only my head inside her. She dropped more quickly this time, letting her pussy engulf me as she dropped down, a soft slap of her ass on my thighs as audible as the squish of her juices as she plunged down my shaft, followed by groans and moans from both of us.

Up and down she went, lifting and dropping herself, her pace gradually quickening as she came nearer a climax. Breaking the kiss, she leaned back to change the angle and gasped in pleasure as she sat down again, her huge tits bouncing right in front of my face.

Giving in to temptation, I removed my hands from her ass and took hold of her tits instead, lifting them to my mouth and licked the nipples.

The pleasure caused her pussy to shiver as it tightened around my cock. Grounding my feet on the deck, I began thrusting upwards in time to meet her hips, driving my cock hard up into her as she dropped on me.

"So good," she moaned over and over as she slapped her ass on my thighs, my cock plunging up into her with the combination of our motions. At first it was just a soft shudder in her body. A shudder that quickly grew to a tremble and then the feel of her pussy convulsing and squeezing my cock as she sat on me.

With an intensity bordering on the desperate, she kissed me, howling her orgasm into my mouth as she shook all over. As always, having a naked woman against me, shaking in orgasm while pressing her curvy body against me was a magnificent feeling, even half dressed as I was.

Still holding my head, she started showering me with kisses, as she clenched her pussy around my dick repeatedly, shivering each time she did so. After a few minutes, she leaned back again, sending me a brilliant smile. "That was fantastic, but now I want the price."

Before I could ask, she stood, pulling herself off my hard cock, turned around and leaned over the desk resting on her elbows and forearms, her legs slightly spread, her back bending so her ass was lifted and exposed her dripping pussy to me.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what she wanted, so I pushed myself off the chair, took one step forward and plunged my cock back into her.

"Frak!" She growled. "So good. Now fuck me!"

"Patience, my dear." I chuckled and stood still long enough to remove the rest of the uniform, groaning as Elise started to fuck herself on my dick, even as I undressed.

With a grin, I dropped the uniform top on the chair, took hold of her generous hips and

started pumping my cock in and out of her, my hips slapping loudly against her bare ass.

Not only did it feel heavenly, her moans and grunts of pleasure made me fuck her harder, slamming into her again and again. Each impact causing a groan and even from my position, I could see the sides of her big tits as they swung below her with each impact.

Getting an idea, I leaned forward a little, so I could reach down between her legs, and caressed her clitoris.

"I'M COMING!" She screamed and exploded in another orgasm that made her collapse on the table as pleasure ran through her body.

I lowered the speed. "Majestic, lock the door and give me this view on the wall screen. Direct feed, no recording."

"The door is already locked, sir" The ship replied as the huge wall screen blinked on, showing the action from both the side and directly from the front.

Satisfied, I reached over, took hold of her long red hair and pulled, causing her to raise her head just as I slammed into her again.

"Shit!" She moaned, followed by a "What?"

"Oh, I thought you should see yourself getting fucked." I grinned, and started ramming her again, enjoying the sight of the expression of pleasure on her face, the curve of her body as it was leaned over the desk and the way her big tits were swinging back and forth with each stroke now that she had gotten up on her forearms and elbows again.

Elise must have found it just as exiting to see, because her pussy got even more wet, to the point where I could see her juices drip from her on the screen.

It was exiting in a way I hadn't tried before, and I could feel the tingle of impending orgasm racing through my body. My dick swelled a little and got that extra hardness it usually did just before orgasm.

"Yes!" groaned Elise, obviously feeling the same. "Fill me!"

Letting go of her hair, I took hold of her hips again and increased the tempo, sliding in and out of her clenching, quivering pussy.

With the amount of sensory impressions assaulting my mind, it didn't take long before I passed the point of no return, as I just had time to groan. "I'm coming!" before I emptied myself in her, sending stream after stream into her hot pussy.

Feeling me come set her off again, slamming a hand into the table as she screamed out her orgasm, the contractions of her pussy milking me.

I commanded the ship to stop the cameras and then stood still after that, caressing her back and ass as she came down from her climax.

"Frak!" She mumbled after a while. "You always manage to blow my mind. I came so hard the room started spinning." Lifting her head, she looked at me over her shoulder. "I don't know how you got the idea to show us fucking on the screen, but that was a huge turn-on."

"Oh yeah." I agreed. "You looked incredible sexy."

Reaching out, I gently pulled her upper body up so I could give her another hug. "And now, we need a bath."

"True." She laughed. "But you'll have to wait a moment. My legs aren't working right now."

"That's an easy fix." I said, lifted her into my arms and walked towards the bathroom, the door opening automatically as we came near.

"You know this will lead to more sex, right?" She asked with a grin as I placed her on the table beside the sink.

I sent her a smile. "That's the plan. I'm off-duty the next day or so."

"Oh."

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

True to her word, Elise did her best to tease me in the shower, just as I did my best to tease her, and we were both pretty turned on, when the chime announced that there was someone at the door.

"Majestic, who's that?"

"Resa. According to her, it's important." the ship answered.

"Right." I said with a sigh and walked out of the shower and took a bathrobe. "Open the door."

"Yes, sir"

I looked over at the delicious looking redhead. "As they say... to be continued."

She grinned and nodded.

Resa was standing in the suite when I left the bathroom, smiling slightly. "Hello, sir. Sorry to disturb you."

"No problem."

I sat down in the chair and looked at her, noticing that there was something different about her. It took a moment to realise what it was, but then I discovered that she was wearing earrings, which I had never seen her do before. It even looked good on her, as the blue stones matched the LED. "Beautiful earrings, by the way. Blue suits you."

That made her smile widen. "Thank you, sir."

"You're welcome, but I doubt that you came in here to show me your earrings, so what's up?"

She flashed a smile and gestured at the wall screen that switched on in the same moment, showing a message.

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

IMPERIAL NOTICE -- PRIORITY RED

The Forge is ready for immediate transfer to its new location.

Awaiting escort authorization and transit clearance.

-Vekharis

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

"This..." said Resa and gestured at the screen, "... is a message the techs found in the captured Delta-class carrier when we searched for Vekharis. Unfortunately, it's the only one that survived the purge of the computer's memory core, so we don't know what that Forge is. We asked the prisoners, but they didn't know much except that Lord Vekharis is guarding something important in a system known only to the Sith."

I thought for a moment. "And we don't even really know what that 'Forge' is."

"From the name I guess that it's some form of fabricator, but it could be almost everything." Admitted Resa. "Even a shipborne superweapon that they had to move to another system to install."

"Except that doing so wouldn't make sense." I said slowly as I thought it over. "If it's shipborne, moving a ship to it would be easier than the other way around... at least in principle. It sounds more like a space station they had to take apart for transport like the two space stations from Nodia... hmm... Have you shown this to Keller yet?"

"Not yet, sir. We're still looking through the databases of the fighters for more clues. We should be ready with all of it in a few days, but I thought that this was important enough to bring it to you right away."

Considering that Darth Arkol had taken Yrla and thus most likely had the manpower, the thought of him acquiring some sort of special fabricator was basically the stuff of nightmares. With a good fabricator he could make weapons and armor for those new troops and that like the Majestic, that was something every Harrower could do. A special fabricator was something else indeed, and I couldn't imagine sending a Priority Red message about a normal fabricator, which made it special.

The question was in what way it was special. The logical guess would be a fabricator capable of making something Darth Arkol needed and could easily get elsewhere. Fuel or ammunition were extremely valuable for a fleet, so might be it. The worst-case scenario was a mobile shipyard. Keller had mentioned that the Empire had a couple of those and if Darth Arkol had gotten his hands on one of those, he could not only repair his ships but eventually build new ones. On the other hand, we didn't have enough information to be sure of anything.

"Good thinking, Resa." I said thoughtfully. "But we need more information than this."

She nodded. "Yes, sir. The techs are going through the remainder of the database as we speak. Like I said, we will know more in a few days." Her eyes darted to a place beyond me. "Oh... hello, Commander Samko."

Glancing over, I discovered that Elise had left the bathroom and was walking towards the bed... totally naked.

"Sorry for walking in like that." Elise said sweetly. "But it sounded like you were finished talking."

"We mostly were." I confirmed.

"Good." The red head looked at Resa. "As far as I remember, you're not on duty now, are you Resa?"

The droid shook her head. "No. This was just interesting."

Elise looked pleadingly at me, and I could feel the lust emanating from her. With a slight smile, I nodded.

"Resa, can the team manage themselves?" She asked, leaning back on the bed.

Resa smiled proudly. "Oh yes, they're extremely skilled."

"Then why don't you undress and join us here in the bed?" Asked Elise with a wicked smile. "It's been a while since we did something like that."

"Are you fine with that, sir?" Resa asked me.

"I would love it."

"Nice!" Resa said with a wide smile. "And you're right, Elise. It's been way too long."

She walked towards the bed, taking off her clothes as she walked, revealing her tempting body. I knew it was artificial, but it really did look like she was made to fuck and be fucked... which was exactly what I was in the mood for.

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

We were on the last jump, when Keller came to visit me in my office, looking worried. "Do you have a moment, sir?"

"Always, Chief Engineer." I said and gestured towards the chair in front of me. "Is Fama Sul doing well?"

"Oh yes, sir." He replied with a quick smile. "And thanks for the quarters. They're a lot better than my old ones."

"More suitable for a couple at least." I chuckled. "Not to mention children."

We had given Keller and Sul one of the larger VIP suites, which featured an additional room for the two babies once they arrived.

He nodded but then hesitated, his smile fading. "Sir, do you remember the talk we had in the Snare system about how impossibly similar the Interdictors were?"

"Yes. You said they felt mass produced by a giant fabricator."

"Exactly." He leaned forward. "I've spent the last two days going through two of the MK VI Supremacy we picked up in Yrla and they are not only mass produced... they're identical." He turned slightly. "Majestic, show the two new pictures of the MK VI I've saved."

"Yes, Chief." The ship answered and a moment later, the large screen on the wall blinked to life, two pictures displayed side by side. Both showing the engine of a MKVII.

"Thank you." Keller looked at me. "These two engines are from two different fighters and they're identical. Right down to the stamped parts and weld marks. Serial numbers match across the board." He sighed and leaned back in the chair. "Darth Arkol's new fighters are not just mass produced, they're printed as whole crafts and I think that the Forge that was mentioned in the message Resa found is responsible for that."

A chill ran through me. When Resa had told me about the message of a Forge that needed to be moved, I had thought it was some sort of mobile yard... much like the Tork-class, but equipped to make star fighters instead of repairing larger ships. What Keller was talking about was on a whole other level.

"Printed? Entire starfighters?"

He nodded grimly. "Once I noticed that the serial numbers on the two we have here on Majestic were identical, I contacted the engineers on the other ships and every single one of the shielded MK VIs have the same serial numbers on engines and hull." He thought for a moment. "I'm not completely sure about the details of this fabricator. They might 'just' print the hull, engines and wings and connect them manually, but that will still enable them to produce a lot of fighters very fast."

"Well, the fact that they can produce fighters at all is worrisome enough." I sighed.

"It's worse than that." Keller's tone dropped. "No technology I know of can straight up print a star fighter, but as we talked about in the Snare system it is possible that the Empire has found some ancient technology that can do exactly that." He shrugged. "The shipyard in the Rakata system was most likely destroyed at the end of the last war, but it might have happened more than once, just with smaller ships this time." A faint smile showed on his lips. "If the Empire had access to automated shipyards that can 'print' Harrower-class dreadnoughts, Darth Arkol's fleet would have switched their S-Class cruisers out by now."

"True." I said slowly and leaned back in the seat. "Well, at least this explains why they have converted a Delta-class to a starfighter carrier. They need ships to carry their newly produced starfighters and I don't think that Delta is the only one." I thought for a moment. "Why a Delta by the way? Why not convert a Gage-class?"

Keller shrugged lightly. "The Gage-class and thus the Terminus-class, have an internal structure that doesn't lend itself well for carrying starfighters, so converting a Delta-class is much faster and easier."

"I see." Thinking for a moment, I said. "Majestic, please ask the Engineers on all the Mantas and Drakes in the fleet to send us the serial number on their crafts' hull, drive and hyper drive to us. I want to know if any of those numbers are identical."

"Yes, sir." The ship answered immediately. "Should I mark it as a priority?"

"Yes, please."

Turning towards Keller, I said. "Darth Arkol's fleet has a lot more frigates and corvettes than any other Imperial fleet I've ever read about, and nobody can agree on how many Drakes and Mantas they really have, and the reason might be that more are added to the fleet regularly."

Keller looked thoughtful and nodded after a while. "You might be right, though I have to confess that I've lost count on the precise number."

"We have seventeen Drakes and twenty-two Mantas." I said calmly. "And those are just the ones that have survived. As I said, Darth Arkol's fleet has a lot of picket ships and if his commanding officers knew how to use them, they could be a problem."

Each Drake had three heavy turbo lasers, while each Manta was equipped with two heavy Turbo lasers, enabling them to take on larger ships if there were enough of them. Fortunately, the Battle Groups we have met so far, had used them as a sort of light screen ships, which they didn't have the armor or shielding for. With the Manta's speed and agility, they were better thought of as huge starfighters, while the Drake should focus on hunting damaged enemy ships. At least once the battle had started.

Keller's expression darkened. "That's a lot more than normal. The Empire usually has one or two Screen ships and one Picket ship for each Core ship. Mostly because the Core ships are both battleships and carriers, and they have more large ships than the republic." He thought for a moment. "The ratio between Core and Screen is normal, but there're a lot more Picket ships than I would expect."

I thought for a moment and shook my head. "We'll have to find that Forge and stop it."

Keller nodded with a grim expression. "Yes. A Sith with access to a large fleet is not a good idea if we want to live in peace in this part of the Galaxy... especially not after Darth Arkol has taken the Yrla system. It's not only infantry he can get there."

"Oh, I agree. With a crew of just one hundred on each ship, he can crew a lot of Drakes and Mantas with just ten thousand people and there're at least four million on Yrla."

That made Keller frown. "At least? I thought that number was well documented."

I grimaced. "Yes, but neither the Sublars nor Escors have any idea about how many Islanders there are on what they call the Outback. Munmaki and Agusta guessed at a few hundred thousand, but I think that there're more than that."

Keller was silent for a moment and then slowly said. "If Darth Arkol can promise the Islanders protection, he can recruit a lot of able-bodied soldiers from them to use in the infantry, while the more advanced civilizations can add to his fleet."

"Exactly." I said grimly. "Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do about it at Yrla. At least not without risking the lives of four to five million people. So, the mission will be to find that shipyard and make sure that Darth Arkol doesn't have the ships for his new crew."

Keller nodded, already switching gears. "Resa is having the techs look through the nav data of all the ships. There has to be navigational data somewhere."

"I doubt it, but it's worth a try."

Before either of us could say more, Majestic's voice broke in, soft and precise. "Excuse me, sirs."

"Continue." I ordered.

"The majority of the Drake-class share a single serial number." The ships computer said. "The same is the case for the Manta-class."

We sat in silence for a moment.

"No offence, Chief." I finally said. "But shouldn't the Engineers have discovered that a long time ago?"

Keller shook his head. "No, sir, I can't remember the last time I examined a serial number." Then he suddenly looked like he remembered something. "Frak! I should have looked at the Interdictors' serial numbers while we were repairing them!"

That made me chuckle. "Well, that would only have satisfied your own curiosity... oh and mine as well, but beside that, it won't help us in the current situation."

Keller let out a slow breath, nodding. "True enough... hmm." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "So, let's say Arkol really does have access to some ancient machine powerful enough to crank out starfighters, frigates and corvettes. Where would he keep it?"

I leaned back in my chair, fingers steepled in front of me. "Let's turn the question around: what would a machine like that need to actually work?"

Keller gave a short laugh. "I honestly have no idea, sir, but we can make some estimates. Either it transmutes raw materials into whatever it needs, or it has to be supplied with a lot of different materials."

"If it can transmute," I said slowly, "then all it needs is a system rich in mass, which is pretty much all of them. One asteroid field and it's got fuel for a year."

"Exactly," Keller agreed, nodding. "Stick it in the middle of a dead system with a few chunky rocks, and boom. Instant shipyard."

"But..." I tapped the armrest of my chair, frowning. "There has to be a catch. If it was that easy, Darth Arkol could just have 'printed' twenty thousand tons of platinum, sold it off in the Outer Rim, and bought a proper fleet the old-fashioned way."

"Assuming someone would sell him capital ships in bulk," Keller added. "Which they probably wouldn't. What he's doing now is cleaner and quieter. No middlemen, no shipping manifests, no paper trail. Just ships, ready for war."

"Well, let's assume that the machine, for one reason or another, can only make other machines." I said thoughtfully. "Does it need a blueprint for that, or can it scan something and replicate it?"

"Or both for that matter." Added Keller with a smile and thought about it. "My guess is that it's able to scan something and replicate it. The Manta is a recent ship and the blueprints are not available for most people... not even Sith Lords." He thought for a moment. "On the positive side, I don't think that it can create fluids, gasses or programs inside a computer... Mostly because I can't wrap my head around it." He hesitated but then added. "There also have to be materials it can't replicate... Especially the energy absorbing kind like Cortosis, Beskar and Phrik. Making these would simply draw too much power for anything less than a giant installation and if they could make that, they could make Harrowers."

I thought about the implications of what he had said. "So, we assume it can create any machine it can scan, as long the machine created is not too large. In addition to that, you'll have to load the finished product with Tibanna gas for the lasers, fuel for the engines and the programs for the controls and targeting systems."

"Exactly." Keller nodded and then leaned forward slightly, curiosity lighting up his face. "If you had that kind of machine, sir, what would you print?"

The question caught me by surprise, but after thinking about it for a moment, I said, "I'll assume that the limitation is one of physical size, so Hammerhead-class for frigates." I paused for a moment. "Unless you're right about the Cortosis part in which case it can't replicate the Hammerhead since it had Cortosis in the armor."

"Good point, sir." Laughed Keller. "But let's disregard that for now. Hmm... What about the Astra-class?

I shook my head. "It's a beautiful ship and uniquely suited for the Chaos, but we already have the Manta-class, which are more efficient as warships."

"But," said Keller. "The Astra have a hydroponic garden and thus an organic carbon scrubber, making it the only picket ship that can take risky jumps along with the capital ships."

"Good point, so let's say Astra class for Corvettes and Dragonfang Interceptors for starfighters. Reliable, efficient, and already integrated into the fleet."

He nodded with a chuckle. "Good choices."

"What would you make?" I asked.

He returned the smile. "Free choice?"

"Yes."

Keller's grin widened. "Back in the Snare system, we talked about the MX-series warships, and if I had the choice, I would pick the MX-3 for the frigate. Two hundred and ninety meters long, tougher than a Hammerhead and just as well-armed. It's a fantastic ship... but since we don't have the plans or a ship, I'll go with the Hammerhead for a frigate and the Astra for the corvette. "

"Fair call," I said with a laugh. "And for fighters?"

Keller hesitated. "Can I go another route than you, sir?"

"Sure... if you explain why."

He nodded. "The fighters we have are awesome, but they're also the product of available resources. We can only make as many Dragonfang as we have Aureks, because the Dragonfang is built on that craft, and we can only make as many Dragonclaws as we have wings from the Sith Interceptor."

He leaned back slightly. "If we had access to an automated shipyard, I'd want to design a completely new starfighter. No more cobbling together hybrids from two different centuries of tech." He thought for a moment. "However, we have a challenge with spare parts. Unless we planned on taking the time to print those as well, I would say that the real- and hyperspace drives had to come from one of the ships already in the fleet."

I nodded. A starfighter that couldn't be repaired or maintained was not a starfighter for long. "That would make the drive of the Aurek the most logical choice. It's faster than the one on the Nightsinger."

"Yes, but the reactor on the Nightsinger is bigger." Keller said as he thought it over. "So, what kind of weapon loadout did you envision?"

"Two different types of lasers. One against fighters, the other against larger ships." I said immediately. "Ion-cannons in case they need to stop a craft without destroying it and if they can add a missile launcher as well, that would be nice."

Keller nodded. "Like the Dragonfang, then."

"More or less," I agreed. "But this time I want full compatibility with the top-mounted racks, so we can finally phase out the MK VIs." I shrugged. "The ones we have left in the fleet don't have shielding."

He nodded. "Sounds good... and to be honest, we could always just copy one of the existing fighters." He paused to think for a moment and then said. "Sir, if we're to design a new fighter, may I suggest that we do as we did with the civil engineers and have several teams make their suggestions?"

"Good idea." I agreed. "Resa is awesome at designing fighters, but I have a feeling that she'll be even better working with others. She has spoken about Architect Lira, the Panathan engineer who made the prototype village. Apparently, Architect Lira is also into making ships, so it could be fun to see what the two of them will come up with."

Keller nodded. "I'll get the designers and engineers to work on suggestions." He chuckled. "But you still haven't told me how we're going to find that Forge."

"That's because I don't know if it even exists yet," I told him calmly. "Right now, we're going on a thought experiment, and nothing is certain. However, if a search of the nav data doesn't yield anything, we'll have to backtrack Darth Arkol's moves. We know that he spent a lot of time in the Ajax and Quamire systems, so we're going to visit them first, looking for clues to what he was doing in those systems." I shrugged lightly. "And if my calculations are right, the second batch of Star Wanderer-class passenger liners should arrive in Quamire within a week." I thought for a moment and added. "At least if they were delivered in time, have taken the direct route and Darth Arkol has not sent a ship off to warn them that he has moved his base of operation to Yrla for now."

Keller stood. "Let's hope for the best, sir." He hesitated for a second, then added more quietly, "And... for what it's worth, it's good to be back aboard Majestic. I've missed these talks."

I met his gaze and smiled. "Likewise, Chief. It's good to have you back."

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

Quamire

Dreadnought Majestic, Hyperspace and Quamire system

"The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands,

but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself."

From the Holy Book of War

As an extra measurement, we dropped out of hyperspace a good five hours before we reached the system and then approached carefully just in case Lord Moragth's fleet was waiting there. That proved to be unnecessary as the scouts reported that the system was empty.

I still ordered them to do a sweep and had Second squadron scan the entire system, looking for an automated beacon of sorts, while First Squadron focussed on the planet.

Unfortunately, there was nothing to be found there, or at least nothing we could find, as solar systems by their nature were huge and we were looking for a very small item. Not to mention that there was the chance that I had been wrong, and the rendezvous point was in another system.

"What do you think, sir?" Asked Iska as we stood side by side and looked at the tactical hologram.

"Well, the asteroid belts don't hide any ships and as far as we can see, neither do the planets," I replied with a slight shrug. "Are the scouts done with the Quamire Prime?"

"Not yet, sir. They're working on it."

"Then we wait," I told her. "We have ten hours before the support squadron arrives, so there's no rush. Have Second Squadron guard the jumppoint along with Osprey and the Fafnirs, and let's do this right."

"Yes, sir." She chuckled and started to give orders, while I shifted my focus to the planet.

Due to both the databases from the captured ships and knowledge from the defected officers, we knew exactly where on the planet Darth Arkol had placed his ground bases and these were the first areas the scouts had scanned, finding nothing of interest. The scans and vid the scouts had sent back showing that Darth Arkol's forces had left nothing behind, except for three large clearings with impressions on the ground from the typical Imperial field base, complete with power fences and weapon emplacements to protect the base against infantry or, as in this case, the local wildlife.

Not that there was anything special with that. According to both Waydar and Titlow, it was standard procedure when setting up a secure temporary base in both the Republic and Imperial armies.

However, what the databases haven't shown was the location of the prison camp that was hinted at in a few log entries. Unfortunately, it was just that: Hints.

Any and all nav data had been deleted from the computer and databases of the returning ships we had taken in the Grinda system. Even the hyperspace data had disappeared, as those had been sent to the various ships from Lord Agotov's Harrower, and that ship had been blown up.

What it boiled down to was that there had been a prison on the planet and there still might be. We 'just' needed to find where it was located. Unfortunately, planets are large, and it wouldn't take much to hide a relatively small prison camp.

"Tavune, we have the survey maps for this planet, do we not?"

"Yes, sir." The planetary map shimmered as the survey maps were overlapped.

"Mark areas on the planet with rare metals or minerals like duranium, doonium, quadranium and the like." I ordered.

Two small areas were highlighted. One marked duranium with the other being neutronium.

"Here you go, sir."

"Well, that certainly narrowed down the search areas." Said Iska and looked at the monitor that usually showed the Wing Commander only to find it empty. Then she ordered the scouts to avoid the two areas until further notice and looked at me with a chuckle and a slight shake of the head. "I forgot that Wing Commander Sollan is on Shadowray."

I smiled back, nodding. Shadowray was the chosen name for the Delta-class carrier we had taken in the Kwin-34 system.

"Tavune," Iska ordered. "Get some probe droids to examine those two areas."

"Yes, sir."

Four hours later I sighed as I looked at the monitors. I had suspected that one of the mineral rich areas harboured a prison camp, but as it turned out, both of them did.

Considering the planet, it even made sense, as the planet was rarely visited by anyone and with the wildlife being extremely dangerous, there was very little chance of people escaping.

Both camps had the same general layout, with the mining, refinery and storage being hidden away in well protected fortresses. The prison camps were outside the main facility in a large, enclosed area, designed as much for keeping the wildlife out as the prisoners in. It even had a large dome over it, a proof that the planet's flying predators were just as deadly as the non-flying ones.

Defensive towers dotted the wall of the enclosure, fast firing lasers ready to eliminate any creature stupid enough to venture too close to the enclosure, while security droids patrolled both the inside and outside of the perimeter wall.

Next to the domed area was a greater, non-domed area with another perimeter wall. At almost five hundred meters in length, it was large enough to accommodate a large freighter or a small cruiser.

"Well, at least it's easy to see what they think is valuable." Commented Iska as we looked at the monitor. "Not to mention that prisoner uprising is easily beaten by simply opening the dome and disengaging the perimeter lasers."

"Add some bait, and the native creatures will do the rest." I agreed and pointed at a spot halfway between the perimeter and the jungle. "Zoom in here."

A moment later the monitor showed a low pole with a set of red-stained chains attached to it. The ground around the pole looked even more fertile than the rest.

"Execution spot." Iska said darkly. "Tie them up and have the creatures eat them while the rest watch."

Resa shook her head. "Not directly. They might show it on screens, but the prisoners cannot see the ground outside."

Iska shrugged. "Same principles."

"Tavune." I called. "Are the five turbo lasers powered up?"

"No, sir, but it looks like the missile towers are."

Missile towers demanded a lot less power than turbo lasers and if anyone wanted to stay hidden, using missile towers instead of turbo lasers was a good choice.

"Passive scanners?" I guessed.

"Yes, sir. The camps don't emit anything that can be detected by long range scanners."

"Clever." Mumbled Iska.

I only partly agreed. Using passive scanners only was a gamble. If nobody knew or suspected you were there, it was a good strategy, but if your location was known, using passive scanners only made you largely blind to your surroundings.

With no orbital sensors or scanners, there was a good chance that they hadn't detected our presence, since we had dropped from hyperspace too far from the system for any scanner to pick up.

The rest of the fleet would do the same, so until we chose to reveal ourselves the two garrisons wouldn't have a clue that we were there. At least not as long as we didn't do anything stupid.

"First Officer Janik," I said. "Do you by any chance know about the authorization codes for these camps?"

"No, sir." He replied with a shake of the head. "None of the former Imperial officers was with that part of Darth Arkol's fleet." He thought for a moment. "Though there's a chance that the ones we picked up in the Kwin-34 might have been here."

"No, we already asked them." Betty Nagos said. "The few that were with the fleet here weren't bridge crew. We have a few former Imperials that were on the hunting parties and they swear that they'd rather face a Sith than go into the jungle. Apparently, it's a layered deathtrap."

"Hmm how did they hunt then?" I asked curiously.

Betty Nagos chuckled. "By landing an Imperial field base while being protected by fighters and Manka-class walkers. Set it up, including a perimeter fence with automatic lasers, and activate a subsonic loudspeaker. That irritates some of the local creatures so much that they'll attack anything making the sound, so they'll get taken out by the automatic lasers."

While interesting, it didn't really help the situation. We needed to find a way to neutralize the garrison and the droids in order to get the prisoners out safely, and that there were two of them made it a lot more complicated. Since the camps were most likely in communication with each other, any trick used to gain entrance had to be used at both camps at the same time.

The deadly wildlife also made going through the jungle impossible. Especially the Tukar, which was essentially a fifteen meter long and four-meter-tall reptile, with teeth and claws that could rip even the strongest armor apart. Tukar were also extremely stealthy and according to the logs, they could jump at least twice their length and height.

"Does the camp have a hangar like the Qek-40?"

"Yes." Said Tavune as the picture on the monitor shifted to show an opening in the cliff. "But we don't know what kind of craft there are or how many."

I nodded silently as I studied the camp. Attacking them head on would pose a huge threat to the prisoners, but the ruse that had worked against the pirates on Centauri-21 most likely wouldn't work on Imperial troopers.

"Tavune, contact Commander Yaki and her people. I want a meeting in fifteen minutes."

"Yes, sir."

"Good. First Officer Janik, you better come along as well." I looked over at the former Imperial with a slight smile. "You know how the Imperial garrison will react better than anyone."

Janik's sharp features split in a smile as he got up from his seat and followed me out.

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

"I know the droids are not finished with a total scan." I told Yaki, Titlow and Janik twenty minutes later when we were sitting in the comfortable chairs around the table in the conference room. "But I would like to hear your thoughts on how we can liberate the prisoners."

Yaki nodded. "Just for reference, we've only seen detailed vids from the duranium camp. The neutronium camp is still at the planet's night side and as such we only have limited visuals from that one." She gestured at the wall screens showing the visuals of both camps, including infrared pictures of them both. "The neutronium camp holds more prisoners, nearly twelve thousand, than the duranium camp, which holds eight thousand."

"On the other hand," continued Titlow. "Those prison barracks are standard Imperial, and both camps have enough room for fifteen thousand prisoners each. We assume that the fleet we met in Grinda transported those 'missing' ten thousand people to the Outer Rim and delivered them to the Zygerrians as slaves."

I slowly nodded, but before I had a chance to comment on it, a call from Tavune showed up.

"Accept." I told the computer and a moment later Tavune appeared. "Sir, you need to see this."

A picture of some prisoners showed up on the screen, clearly haven been taken from a distance, but the quality was still good enough for me to see two blue-skinned and dark-haired prisoners, one male and one female, talking with a female Zabrak in the courtyard.

"Those are Chiss!" breathed Yaki in surprise.

"Or dark-haired Pantorans." I added. "Tavune, what does the computer say?"

"85 per cent chance that they're Chiss." He replied immediately.

Yaki and I exchanged glances. With the Chiss Ascendency being allied with the Empire, there shouldn't be any Chiss prisoners in an Imperial prison camp. Even if they had broken the law in some way, they should have been handed to the Ascendency for trial and punishment.

On the other hand, it was rather funny. We were planning to liberate thousands of Imperial prisoners, which is clearly a violation of the agreement between the Chiss Ascendancy and the Empire, and yet we were surprised that someone within the Empire had made a minor transgression and placed a few Chiss in a prison camp.

The most important part was actually who had the camps. If they, as I would argue, were under the direct command of Darth Arkol, they wouldn't be part of the Empire and thus I was required to liberate any Chiss there. On the other hand, if higher-ranking officers later decided that the camps still belonged to the Empire, I would be breaking the law by attacking the camps, even if there were Chiss there.

"Sorry, sir." Said Yaki softly. "This is one of the reasons I'm glad I'm not the boss."

"I didn't get that comment." Said Titlow with a confused look on his face. "What do you mean?"

"That it's an impossible situation." I said and explained the part where I was both required to liberate the Chiss prisoners and not attack the camp at the same time.

"Oh, shit, sir." Mumbled the former Republic Marine. "Sorry to hear that."

"Don't be." I told him. "I knew there was a risk of that the moment I decided to take the Imperial Battlegroup in the Snare system, and every engagement since has increased that risk. I could argue that the camps were under Darth Arkol's control and thus not the official Empire, which is completely true, but I doubt they'll buy that argument."

Turning towards Tavune, I said. "If you discover more Chiss or reach a hundred percent confirmation, please let us know."

"Yes, sir."

Turning back to the others at the table, I sent them a little smile. "Let's hear some options on how to take those camps."

"By the way, sir. I doubt that we'll have to take them both at the same time." Said Titlow and explained that it was highly unlikely that a physical cable had been laid in the more than ten thousand kilometers of hostile terrain that separated them. Thus, we should be able to simply jam their communication systems.

I considered it for a moment and then shook my head. "I think you're right, but it's not a chance I'm willing to take with the lives of so many people on the line... hmm... Let's try to work out a plan for taking both at the same time. Failing that, we can try the other option."

They all nodded, and we started.

It took some time hammering out a workable attack plan, but in the end, they agreed that the best course of action was taking out the shield generators, missile- and turbolaser towers, blow the hangar doors and land the dropships either inside the hangar or directly in front of the hangar doors.

While they debated how to execute the various parts of the plan, I leaned back in the seat and looked at the monitors showing pictures from the camps.

I could feel my brain speed up as the various options and plans we had debated ran through my head. Possibilities bloomed, were discarded, twisted into something new, and while some corner of my mind acknowledged that Yaki had stopped talking and signalled the others to be silent as well, I didn't pay it any attention.

We needed to get into the camp, so we could free the prisoners. The camps were Imperial. The Sith ruled the Empire. We had Imperial ships.

A plan based by deception started to form in my head. It only involved one camp at a time, it was risky, even daring, but it might just work... and if it didn't, we hadn't lost anything.

"Yaki," I said slowly, my mind now a few steps ahead. "We're going to need a thousand marines in Imperial armor, an Imperial Group Captain uniform for First Officer Janik and an outfit similar to Darth Atroxa's."

Surprise and confusion spread on the faces of Janik and Titlow, but Yaki's face split in a wide, wolfish grin. "You have a plan."

"Yes, though it's really an extra layer to the excellent plan you've already made and unfortunately, it means taking the camps one at a time." I said with a little smile. "This is what we're going to do..."

As I explained, the tension shifted. Janik's brow furrowed in thought, then slowly relaxed. Titlow gave a low whistle. And by the time I reached the end, they were both nodding, smiling.

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

Getting ready took some preparation, but as nighttime gave way to early morning, ten VT-22 Light Troop Transport, each carrying forty troopers in full Imperial armor, touched down on the camp's landing pad. The troopers, me included, quickly filed out of the shuttles, creating a mix between a protective circle and an honour guard, as a Fury-class Interceptor touched down inside the circle. Exactly as would be expected if a high ranking Sith came to visit.

Behind them, the assault shuttles took off again, leaving room for Walrus to land, protected by an entire wing of fighters, and as soon as the landing gear touched the ground, more troopers in Imperial armor marched out.

Around the wall of Imperial troopers, prison guards moved with increasing nervousness, the blasters ready to shoot, but not raised, as they glanced at the sky from time to time.

That was most likely due to the ships floating imposingly in the air above us. Clearly visible in the early sunlight, two BXS-5 Heavy Cruisers, six Terminus-class Destroyers, four Delta-class transports, a couple of Gage-classes, ten Drake-class Frigates and ten Manta-class Corvettes hung in the air over the camp, while S-13s and the new Supremacies flew patrols.

I knew that First Officer Janik, dressed as an Imperial Group Captain, had told the commander of the prison camp, one Senior Lieutenant Valdren, that the Sith commanding the fleet above the prison was coming to visit whether he liked it or not. In addition, the destroyers had their jamming systems running at full power, eliminating any chance that the two camps could contact each other.

The ramp to the Fury lowered, revealing Shakka as she descended the ramp of the shuttle with slow, deliberate steps, each one echoing across the concrete. With perfect timing, sunlight broke over the distant ridge and caught her silhouette.

Most Sith armor I had seen so far had been somewhat heavy, but Shakka's armor had been created from the descriptions of Darth Atroxa and it was very different from those armors.

Black synth-leather with dark red etching clung to her curves like it had been poured on. The chest piece was sculpted over her generous breasts to draw the eye, her long legs framed by tall boots that made her movements unnaturally fluid. Her long cloak of black silk caught the morning breeze, flaring just enough to show the hilt of her lightsaber, hanging by her side like an unspoken threat.

At the same time the door to the prison opened and Senior Lieutenant Valdren came out, flanked by four guards and a junior officer who looked like he had no idea whether to salute or faint.

"Darth Atroxa," Valdren said with a bow so deep it bordered on desperate. "We weren't informed of your arrival. Your presence is... unexpected."

Shakka didn't respond at first. She let the silence stretch just long enough for discomfort to bloom. Then she took another step forward, stopping half a meter from Valdren and tilted her head slightly, just enough for her eyes to lock with his.

"That is because it wasn't meant to be expected, Commander." Said Shakka finally, her voice soft.

Valdren straightened awkwardly. "Of course, my lord. It's just that protocol usually requires..."

Shakka cut him off. "Do I look like someone who follows army protocol?"

Valdren opened his mouth, then closed it. His eyes flicked to the warships overhead.

"I am here," she said, "for the Chiss prisoners. All of them... And some of the others for a special operation." Her smile wasn't the pleasant, dazzling one I was used to. It was the expression of a predator that was just waiting for an excuse to jump the prey. "So now you're going to show my troopers the prisoners. They know what to look for."

Senior Lieutenant Valdren paled. "Yes, my Lord."

The aide suddenly looked even more frightened and drew his sidearm. The hum of a lightsabre pierced the air as Shakka moved with lightning speed, drawing her weapon in time to parry the blaster shot, with the subsequent attack taking the aide's hand off, causing him to fall screaming to the ground.

I was impressed. Shakka had learned the lightsabre quickly, but after she had attuned to her new lightsabre, the one that had chosen her as much as she had chosen it, she had become even better. The only reason for me being here had been to assist in case some kind of proof for the use of the Force was needed, but after that little demonstration, I doubted anyone dared question her.

Ignoring the screams, Shakka turned to look at Commander Valdren. "You see? That was me being merciful."

Valdren stared at the bleeding man on the concrete, his face pale, lips pressed tight in terror. Around us, the other prison guards froze. One twitched his hand, but a dozen of our 'Imperial' troopers immediately turned toward him in perfect sync. He wisely stayed still.

Shakka deactivated the lightsaber with a snap-hiss and returned it to her hip with elegant precision. Her eyes turned back to Valdren.

"I do not tolerate hesitation," she said. "Or treason."

Valdren's shoulders twitched.

"I...I understand, my Lord," he stammered. "Please forgive the lapse. He is... young. Undisciplined."

"I'm not here to train your staff, Commander," Shakka said, voice cold. "I'm here for results."

Without waiting for a reply, she turned slightly, lifting a single, gloved finger to point at the command building. "You will unlock every gate, open every file, and give my troopers free run of the prison. Any resistance will be taken as further treason."

Valdren swallowed and nodded quickly. "Of course, my Lord. Right away."

He gestured to his remaining guards. "Escort the... Sith troopers through Compound C, D, and E. All Chiss prisoners are in E-block. I'll personally open the central registry for your officers."

Shakka didn't reply. She simply turned away, letting her cloak sweep behind her like a curtain falling on a failed act. The commander's words tumbled out as he tried to salvage some shred of composure, but it was clear: she'd broken him.

Our four hundred troopers marched forward as ordered, moving into the prison camp with boots thudding in sync, rifles angled high in professional posture. Every move rehearsed and every soldier drilled to perfection. First by the Empire or the Republic and then by Yaki and her team.

I waited patiently, until I got the ready signal from the various units and then pressed a switch. At first nothing happened, but then the jungle came alive, as several huge creatures came charging through the vegetation.

Alarms vent off, sirens blaring as the auto-turrets sprang into life, spitting bolt after bolt at the charging creatures. Guards hurried to their positions to fire at the creatures as well.

Most of the blaster bolts bounced harmlessly off the creatures' tough hides, though a few seemed to harm it, making them even more angry.

Shakka made a sweeping gesture with her hand and at the same time, I used the Force to pick up the nearest creature and throw it back into the forest, as I pressed the switch again. The subsonic speakers the assault shuttles had dropped went silent again, the creatures stopped attacking and then ran back into the forest as fast as they could, leaving a few dead ones on the open ground between the jungle and the prison.

"Commander." Shakka said in an icy voice. "I think you forgot to open the central registry."

"Sorry, my Lord." The commander said, pulling out a standard imperial communicator and proceeded to do as he had promised.

Shakka nodded, looking like a queen from the holovid show who had just granted an underling the right to live despite failing a task.

"Communication secured, sir" Tavune reported, followed a moment later by Data Tech Eho saying "Prison database secured, sir.".

It didn't take long before the last and most important message came, as Resa said. "Security Droid and defensive systems deactivated, sir."

"Thank you." I told them and switched to the main channel for the squad leaders. "Execute the plan."

Nothing was visibly detectable, but I knew that inside the walls of the prison, the guards were being taken prisoners one squad at a time as they returned from their positions on the wall and with us controlling the communication center, they couldn't even warn each other.

One of our squads walked up to Commander Valdren and quietly took both him and his four guards prisoners.

Shakka turned and walked back to the Fury-class Interceptor where I was standing, looking like I was guarding the entrance.

Once there, she turned to look around, allowing me to say. "I knew you would be good, but you nailed it!"

"Thank you." She said under her breath. "But I feel bad for cutting that guy's arm off... and yes, I know he was trying to shoot me and that it was self-defence, but I still feel bad about it."

"He'll get medical attention." I told her. "Then we'll find out why he suddenly decided to attack you."

"Thank you."

"We have the camp, sir." Titlow reported over the com. "Every guard and worker are accounted for and under guard.

"Good work, Lieutenant." I answered. "Stand by to be relieved. Reinforcement is coming. Then you can go change your armor."

"Thank you, sir."

Using the Imperial Trooper armor had been a ruse that allowed us to take control of the camp. For the actual liberation I wanted Marines in Dragon Defence Force armor to be there. They had done the work, so they might as well get the credit, and it was for that reason that the Walrus held both reinforcement and the trooper's Dragon Defence Force armor.

"Sorry about that." I told Shakka. "Reinforcement is coming, and when they have taken over, Titlow and the rest need to go to the Walrus and change into their own armor."

"Can I also go change now, sir?" Shakka said with a little smile when I returned my attention to her again. "I'll need to examine some of the prisoners and I don't want to look like a Sith while doing that."

"Well, personally I think you look extremely sexy," I told her. "But you have a good point."

"Thank you and do I need to remind that you that you need to change as well?" She chuckled. "You can't really go into the camp looking like an Imperial trooper."

"True. Let's go change." I chuckled and walked into the Fury, almost stumbling when she looked back over her shoulder and gave me a wink. "Oh, and don't worry... I can wear it again later tonight."

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

After having worn the heavy Sith Trooper armor, it was good to get back in my own, much lighter, armor and I felt better as I walked down the ramp of the Fury again.

Getting the marines in place took longer than a simple change of armor, leaving me time to respond to the various reports coming in. Like that there were fifteen prisoners in the infirmary due to a mining accident the day before and that the mining operation was shut down because of it. Another squad reported that there were two Vurel-Class Imperial Troop Transports in the hangar, along with four Kolereth-class shuttles and twelve Supremacy-class fighters.

That left me wondering what they had been using the Vurel-class Troop Transport for. At a little over a hundred meters in length, the Vurel-class ships could transport two Companies (around 450 troopers) and more than a thousand tons of supplies. It was also heavily armoured and shielded, had decent weapons for defence, a complement of six Supremacy-class and a Rank 2 Hyperdrive.

It was a type of ship that I had read about a hundred times, but never seen in person, for the simple reason that they were mostly used for quick invasions, delivering troops, walkers and tanks to a planet's surface, so they could establish a safe zone for the shuttles to land their troops. All of which made them very rare in space battles.

What two troop transports were doing here was a mystery, so I asked the marines to look into it, before I called Iska on the Majestic and had her arrange for some pilots and crew to come down and take care of the ships.

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

Next, I walked to the central registry to take a look at the files, so I would know the official story before talking with the liberated prisoners.

I spent some time looking through the files with the help of Data Tech Shul Eho, while Tavune ran an algorithm looking for unusual things in the files and Resa controlled the droids and security measures.

As it turned out, there were almost two thousand Chiss at the prison and all of them had been there since their ship, the cruiser Tasu'cara, had been forced to surrender during the Battle of Oricon's Reach ten years ago.

However, the Sith had won that battle, and as with so many other surrendered ships, the officers were executed, while the best looking and most skilled being sent off to prison camps.

That made me raise my eyebrows, as the story about Tasu'cara was well known in the CEDF as a cautionary tale.

Once one of House Vosar's finest ships, Tasu'cara's path to infamy started with an extremely ill-advised move by House Vosar. In a territorial dispute with House Arith, a minor family sponsored by House Chaf, Vosar deployed three frigates and a cruiser to blockade the planet Elytis. That was due to a Nyix mine rumoured to be on the planet. House Vosar claimed the mine had been found by their teams some forty years earlier, while House Arith claimed that since the planet belonged to them, so did the mine.

Despite pressure from Chaf and Nuruodo mediators to settle the matter through arbitration, Vosar pre-emptively seized orbital control, with Tasu'cara attacking and subsequently destroying a cruiser belonging to House Arith. They also disabled Arith's colony transports and deployed a marine force to take the planetary command center.

However, that act violated the Ascendancy's Internal Security Doctrine in the most severe way and the retribution against House Vosar was immediate and severe, as they were publicly denounced, and its name expunged from future service appointments. A few weeks later their fleet assets were nationalized, and all naval officers stripped of rank.

The captain of Tasu'cara had foreseen this and defected to the Imperial Navy, using an option in the agreement with the Sith that allowed volunteers to join the Sith no-matter their legal status. They also exploited a loophole in the law that allowed them to 'attach their ship to an allied fleet, if they couldn't get legal orders from their superiors'.

The timing of this was critical and they managed to contact the Empire and defect to them, after their house was denounced, but before House Vosar's fleet was transferred to the CEDF.

In other words, there was nothing the Ascendency could do, and it would forever be a cautionary tale of what can happen if a warship follows illegal orders, which the order to attack House Arith certainly was.

I sighed, causing Tavune to look at me. "Anything wrong, sir?"

"The Chiss prisoners are the crew of the Tasu'cara."

He thought for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't think I have heard of that ship, sir."

"It's not often talked about outside the Naval Academy, so you wouldn't." I told him and explained about the infamous cruiser.

"I'm not familiar with your laws." Said Data Tech Eho thoughtfully when I was done. "So where does that leave the crew? Legally, I mean."

"Nowhere." I told her with a sigh. "The Sith have convicted them to be slaves and in the eyes of the CEDF, they're traitors and cannot come back to the Chiss Ascendency."

"Poor souls." She mumbled, making Tavune nod.

I opened my mouth to say something but closed it again as I realised that what I was going to say was a kneejerk reaction from my training. Eho had, probably without knowing it, an excellent point.

This was most likely a ship whose crew had been caught in politics and whose captain and bridge crew hadn't had the guts to disobey the illegal order and had ended up attacking another Chiss ship.

"Tavune, what is the average age of the official prisoners here and how long have these prisoners been here?" I asked, hoping for a lower number than from the other camps.

Turning back to the console, he inserted a command and waited for a few seconds. "The Chiss here have an average age of 34, while the other prisoners have an average age of 41." He paused and then added. "The little more than a thousand kids that are here, are not included in the average, sir."

He pulled a chart up on the monitor. "As you can see here, sixty Chiss have died in the time they have been here, while two-hundred and twelve have been born."

Data Tech Eho frowned as she looked at the charts. "Why're the average age of all the kids only five? I mean, most of the prisoners have been here for ten to fifteen years, so shouldn't those kids be older?"

"That is strange." I said, looking at the screen. "What is the age of the oldest kid?"

"Seven years, sir."

"Right." I thought for a moment. "So, what happened eight years ago?"

The Data Tech searched the files and sighed. "Lieutenant Valdren was assigned as the commander and discontinued the previous commander's policy of adding anti-fertility drugs in the prisoners' food."

"Does it say why?" Asked Tavune.

Eho nodded and grimaced at the same time. "According to this file, it's to keep the prison population stable, so the kids could replace the ones that were lost due to mining accidents." She sighed. "On the bright side, the kids were treated fairly well here."

I nodded slowly. To the Sith, the prisoners were not people, they were cattle. Beasts of burden, whose only two tasks were to work until they died, hopefully reproducing before they did so.

"How many prisoners are really here?"

"Twelve thousand two-hundred and sixty-one, sir." Tavune told me.

"Very well. Please list the prisoner's professions by numbers... Just the general fields." I ordered and watched as the chart formed.

As always, there were a lot of people doing the many different jobs required to keep a ship in fighting condition. "Well, that looks mostly as I expected." A detail caught my eye. "Wait... Why did so many arrive at the same time?"

Tavune nodded. "That is because most of the people here are from one battle, sir."

A large battle fifteen or sixteen years ago.

"The Battle of Hoth?" I guessed with a little smile.

"Yes, sir." Tavune said with a nod, while Shul Eho raises her eyebrows. "May I ask how you knew, sir?"

I shrugged lightly. "It was the biggest battle in that period. The Imperial Navy ambushed a Republic Navy filled with experimental ships... like the five-kilometer-long super dreadnaught called the Star of Coruscant." That made Eho look even more surprised, but before she could ask any questions, I continued. "The Battle of Hoth was so big and involved so many ships that it took days and more than seventy-five ships crashed on the planet, while countless others blew up. In the end, the Imperial Navy were victorious, but to be honest they took so many losses that I would consider it a loss for both sides."

Tavune nodded. "But as the Republic managed to escape with at least some of their ships, the Empire could pick up all the escape pods and disabled ships... and considering that both sides lost hundreds of ships, that's a lot." He gestured at the monitor showing the professions of the crew. "A lot more than is even here."

"All right...so where're the rest?"

Tavune shrugged and looked over at me. "Do you know, sir?"

I shook my head. "I'm afraid not... But you're right that there were a lot more than could be here, and I guess that the other camp holds a lot as well."

It was also yet another reason to liberate the prisoners from the other camp. I had studied the Battle of Hoth in depth at the Naval Academy and there had been a lot of prototype or usual warships at that battle. Like the Mon Calamari cruiser Dauntless Star I had remembered when we encountered the Cal-class battleship on our way to Grinda.

However, even experimental ships had to have someone doing maintenance and repairs and the majority of those technicians and engineers would have a lot of knowledge about the technologies used. Knowledge that we hopefully could benefit from.

As far as I remembered, there had also been several 'superweapons' present on the Republic ships, but considering that the Republic Navy had lost the battle, I didn't put much value in those.

However, experimental weapons and ships meant that there had to be experts present on the ships as well. People with knowledge beyond that of the technicians and engineers.

"Tavune, did you find any scientists among the prisoners?"

"Yes, sir." He nodded. "Five of them to be exact."

"Do tell."

"Well, there's an old human professor of Astrophysics, named Jenvan Takk. Then there's a female human professor in Radiation physics, who is Jenvan Takk's daughter. There's a female Twi'Lek cybernetics specialist, a female Akadian specialist in Archaeophysics and finally we have a female Togruta specialist in Biochemistry." Listed Tavune, reminding me that I knew very little about the races in the Republic, since I didn't know what an Akadian or a Togruta was.

"That sounds interesting and yes, it's certainly different from the rest." I thought for a moment. "Note that these... Was it five?" Tavune nodded, so I continued. "That these five people go to the Majestic."

"Yes, sir."

"Twelve thousand is a lot of people." I said after thinking for a moment. "And people tend to organize themselves. So, any mention of a leader of the prisoners in the files?"

"Yes, sir. Former Chief Petty Officer Garin Holt. Male human from Corellia. 52 years old." Tavune said and glanced at a screen. "Along with Petty Officer First Class Vosar'enc'iflar or Renci. As can be assumed from the name, she's a female Chiss, 34 years old."

"Right. Find their locations and send them to me and Commander Yaki." I stood and donned the helmet. "Can you make it so I can use the prison's loudspeakers without being recorded?"

"Yes, sir." He smiled. "I'll turn it off right now... and I'll make sure that whatever you say cannot be heard by the captured guards."

"Thank you."

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

As I walked out of the control room, the two tiger droids and four Black Dragon fell in beside me. I quietly accepted it, even if I thought that Yaki was slightly paranoid for insisting on guards, when there were a thousand marines present on the ground and a fleet in the air over us.

The sunlight hit me the moment we cleared the building's threshold. It was low and golden, casting long shadows across the worn concrete. I glanced up, drawn instinctively by the thought of the fleet.

The BXS-5s was gone, having been replaced by Majestic and the two Wyvern-class, Falcon and Eagle. In addition, the three Fafnir-class cruisers were slowly circling the prison, while Dragonclaws and Dragonfangs had taken over the patrol duty. All meant to show the prisoners that we weren't an Imperial force.

The same did the Marines that were lining up on the concrete outside in the Nyix armors Yaki and Waydar had designed.

Midnight blue plating wrapped the body in segmented layers, thick where it needed to be, articulated where it had to move. The surface was etched with subtle dragon-scale motifs, almost invisible at a distance, but up close they gave the impression the soldier had been forged, not outfitted.

The helmet was full-face, expressionless, and brutal, with a blacked-out visor and streaked with reinforced ridges. A stylized dragon crest was embossed across the brow, low and proud.

I had seen them many times before, both during training and in various combat situations, but seeing the Marines standing here in the light of the rising sun, it struck me how ancient they looked. As if they didn't belong to this century at all but had stepped out of some long-lost legend.

Someone must had given an order over the comm, because as I walked past them, every single Marine saluted me. I returned the salute as I kept walking.

Then came the four elite companies. The Grey Wolves with their grey armors and wolf-head shaped helmets. The Golden Klions with the Klion-shaped helmets, complete with a flowing, dark-gold mane that shimmered in the light like flame over metal. The Flaming Phoenixes with flame coloured metal feathers from the side of the helmet and shoulder armor.

Last were the Black Dragons in their jet-black, but highly ornate armors with sweeping dragon motifs on the chest and shoulder armor. As with the others, the helmet was designed to resemble a dragon's head and I had to admit that it was a masterpiece of menace. High, flanged ridges sweeping back like horns, sharp enough to look functional and an actual horn curved from either side, obsidian black with the faint texture of scaled plating.

Yaki had explained that the horn wasn't just for looks. They contained sensors and antennas, giving the Black Dragons more battlefield awareness and communication range than any other unit.

As usual, Yaki was standing in front of the Marines, and I could imagine her grin under the helmet as she saluted. "The marines are ready, sir."

"Very well, Commander Yaki." I replied, as I returned the salute. "Let's get this show on the road."

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

According to the files, prisoners were fed every morning before going to work in the mines, but due to us taking the camp, that hadn't happened this day and because of that, many of the prisoners had lined up near the gates, wondering what was happening.

Yaki punched a code into the lock and the gate groaned open on worn servos, metal teeth grinding as the lock disengaged and the heavy frame swung inward.

No one rushed forward. The prisoners stayed where they were. Ragged shapes standing in the pale morning light. Their eyes moved over me and the marines, widening slightly at the sight of the unfamiliar armors.

The air was thick with silence. There were no shouts, no cheering, just the rhythmic sound of armoured boots on concrete and the distant scream of ion engines in the sky.

There were children among the prisoners, clinging to their parents. A few tried to edge forward, only to be caught by a firm hand on the shoulder or an arm across the chest.

I keyed the Public Address system.

"This facility is no longer under Imperial control and you're no longer prisoners. You are under the protection of the Dragon Defence Force. We will begin evacuation as soon as possible. Food, clothes and medical care will be provided once you are aboard our ships."

The words from the speakers rolled over the facility, causing a ripple to pass through the crowd. Heads turned as they looked at each other with disbelief written on their faces.

"To do this as fast and efficient as possible, I need to talk with your senior representatives." I continued, my voice carrying through the loudspeakers. "Step forward."

The prisoners parted slowly, and two figures emerged from the center of the mass.

The first was a tall, broad-shouldered man with the bearing of someone who'd once worn a uniform with pride. His hair was silver at the temples, his posture straight despite the weight loss and the dirt on his face.

Beside him walked a younger, blue-skinned woman who moved with a certain elegance, despite the unmistakable curve of her stomach signalling a pregnancy.

"Tavune." I called over the comm. "Identification."

"That is Holt and Vosar'enc'iflar." Came the immediate reply. "Though the file doesn't state Renci's pregnancy."

The pair stopped two paces in front of me.

"Good morning." I said calmly. "I'm Commodore Thalen of the Dragon Defence Force. Are you Holt and Vosar'enc'iflar?"

Holt nodded once. "We are. We've done what we could to keep things organized here. Tell us what you need."

I lowered the volume of my helmet as I said, "First of all, if there are any collaborators, or informers here, I want their names. Quietly. We'll take them into separate custody."

Holt's eyes hardened slightly. "We know who they are."

Renci's tone was cooler. "We'll point them out as we move the columns. No disruption."

"Good," I said. "Keep it that way." I gestured at the people. "Get those organized. I want

columns of fifty. Injured and sick up front. Children and their families with them. Marines will escort each group to the ships."

They exchanged a quick glance, then turned back toward the crowd with Holt moving to the left flank and Renci to the right, already setting the lines in motion with the practiced efficiency of people who'd been keeping order in impossible conditions for far too long.

"This is going to take a while, sir" Commented Yaki over the comm, her tone dry "Twelve thousand prisoners are a lot of people."

"I know." I answered her. "Have one of the medical transports fetch the patients from the infirmary."

"Yes, sir" She replied.

"Mass alert!" I suddenly heard Bibboris say over the emergency channel. "Three Core, four Screen and eight Pickets dropping into the system!"

I immediately shifted the readout in my helmet to the tactical screen, trying to get a clear picture of what was happening.

The picture had just formed up when three S-Class cruisers, four Star Wanderer, four Drakes and four Mantas dropped into real-space and right into our defensive ambush.

They didn't have a chance.

Meistrin's surrender hail went unanswered and seconds later, the S-Class cruisers opened fire on Glorious and our BSX-5s. A mistake on their part. Those ships carried the heaviest armor and shields in the fleet.

Meistrin organized the return fire, focussing the fire from the Core- and Screen ships on the S-Class cruisers, while the picket ships went for the enemy picket ships and the Star Wanderers were left alone.

It made sense, as the Star Wanderers were civilian ships and it wouldn't take much to stop them... assuming that they didn't surrender.

The tactical display lit up as twenty capital ships unleashed everything they had on the four enemy cruisers, while our lighter ships tore into their pickets.

It was as swift as it was brutal and there wasn't a single thing I could do about it. Unlike Grinda, where I was closer to the ships and there wasn't an atmosphere in the way, any signal I tried to send from here would be delayed by at least twenty seconds. Long enough to make any orders I could give obsolete by the time Meistrin got them.

It also wasn't needed. Meistrin was a brilliant tactician that had set up an almost perfect ambush and executed it just as well.

By the time the Star Wanderers tried to escape, it was already too late. Osprey had caught them in an interdiction field from which they could not escape, the picket ships had been taken out and three of the cruisers blown up and the last was drifting in space, a victim of Glorious' and Hawk's Ion cannons.

With a little smile, I activated the all-ship channel. "Well done, people. It's good to see all that training paying off."

Switching the read-out in my helmet back to normal, I looked around.

The column Holt and Renci had organized while I had been looking at the space battle began to move, the injured at the head, children and their parents close behind. The rest of the liberated prisoners seemed to hold its breath as they passed through the gate.

Two lines of Marines stood on either side of the path, their dark-blue armor gleaming in the morning light. As the prisoners walked between the two lines, each Marine snapped to attention, bringing a gauntleted hand smartly to their helmet in salute.

It was a gesture I'd seen countless times before, but here, in this place, it meant something entirely different. These weren't just soldiers saluting fellow warriors, they were acknowledging fellow survivors.

The effect rippled down the line. A man with a limp straightened his back. A Twi'Lek woman carrying a child shifted her grip, holding the little one higher. Even the smallest children noticed, peeking out from behind their parents to see the towering, silent figures in armor honouring their passage.

Some of the prisoners managed faint nods in return. Others simply walked on, eyes fixed ahead, unwilling to trust what they were seeing.

The line of saluting Marines never wavered. And as the second column stepped past them, I realized it wasn't just for the prisoners' sake, it was for our own.

The Black Dragons were the only ones that had been there from the beginning which meant that every Marine in those lines had once walked out of a place like this and the salute was a silent promise that these people would never have to take that walk again, if the marines had anything to say about it.

By the second column, something began to change. A Chiss at the front of the line paused just long enough to return the salute, and the Marine opposite him inclined the head ever so slightly in acknowledgment. In the middle ranks, a human teenager whispered something to her mother, then stood taller as they passed between the lines.

By the third column, more were looking up. Faces that had been tight with suspicion now carried the faintest traces of recognition. An understanding that this might be real.

Above us, the Star Wanderers Seal and Manatee descended toward the concrete, ready to take over once Walrus had taken it's share. As always, they were guarded by a squadron of Dragonclaws, making some of the prisoners whisper to each other at the sight of a starfighter they had never seen before.

By the time the fourth column reached the saluting lines, the air felt different. The prisoners were still thin, tired, and wary, but the walk had shifted from something done under orders to something they seemed to claim as their own.

An incoming call from Meistrin made me shift focus again. "Yes, Senior Captain Meistrin?"

"Sorry to disturb you, Commodore, but I thought you would like a situation report." Meistrin said in a light voice.

"Just a summery, please." I told her. "I think I saw most of it."

"Yes, sir." She chuckled. "Three of the four S-class cruisers are totally gone, but the last one is still operational, once we get the reactor up and running again. The enemy picket line is mostly a total loss. Only one of the Mantas survived and that one had its engine damaged and its hyperdrive destroyed. The four Star Wanderers surrendered and are being taken over as we speak."

"Very good. So, did we suffer any losses?"

"The Ringtail took a few direct hits that destroyed a turbo laser, but nobody died." Meistrin said. "But aside from that it went perfectly and to be honest, it was a lot better than I expected."

"Well, that is often the case when you outnumber the enemy seven-to-one." I chuckled. "But honestly, Senior Commander, it was a well-planned defensive formation and perfectly executed."

"Thank you, sir. But we still have a problem." She sighed. "Unless their passive scanners are a lot worse than I think they are, the second camp has to know that a sizable force entered the system. It's not easy to hide the entry of four old cruisers in a system."

Being here in the prison camp, I had totally forgotten about that, but Meistrin was completely right. Even old passive scanners would pick up on both that and the destruction of several ships, making the ruse we had used here worthless.

I sighed as I looked at the defences surrounding the prison. The thick walls designed to keep the local wildlife out. The automatic missile, lasers and turbo lasers. The huge doors to the hangar and production facilities that were almost impossible to breach without killing the prisoners.

"I agree," I said finally. "The advantage of surprise is gone. They'll be expecting us... or at least that something will happen."

I glanced back to the gate. The fifth column was just passing between the Marines now, the salutes as sharp as they'd been for the first group. A child on the right broke away from her mother just far enough to try and mimic the gesture, her small hand pressed to her forehead before she was gently pulled back. One of the Marines shifted his stance slightly, just enough to nod to her as she passed, getting a wide smile in return.

For some reason, that little scene in the middle of ordered chaos gave me an idea.

"That last Manta-class you were talking about... How damaged is it?"

"That depends on how you look at it." Said Meistrin thoughtfully. "It was hit as it tried to run away, so the damage is worse around the aft section with the engines, but in general, it's pretty beat up. Why do you ask, sir?"

"Because I might have a plan." I told her. "To save time while I'm thinking, have a skeleton crew and a marine attack group with as much support as possible on board the Drake. I'll get back to you."

"Yes, sir."

Next to call was Keller. "I need a quick answer, Chief Engineer."

"I'll do my best, sir." The Engineer said in a voice full of curiosity.

"You have seen the camps and the fortifications." I said calmly. "Now, what would happen if we faked an accident and rammed the hangar door with a Manta?"

"What!?"

His shocked voice made me chuckle. "Just give me an answer. I need to know three things. Will the Manta blow up, will it get through the hangar doors, and will the people inside survive?" I thought for a moment. "Oh, and I don't care if the Manta can fly afterwards."

"One moment, sir."

I muted the channel and looked over at Yaki. "Load the elite squads into the Vurel-class transport. We have a situation."

"Yes, sir." She just said and a moment later, I saw a squad of Grey Wolves head towards the hangar. "As far as I remember, the Vurel has six Manka-class walkers as standard complement. Will they be needed?"

More of the plan fell into place as I nodded. "Yes. I'll explain more in a moment."

"Yes, sir. I'll have them crewed."

"Thank you." I said as there was an incoming call from Keller.

"Yes, Chief Engineer?"

"It's going to be tricky, sir," he said right away. "The Manta will have to hit the doors at speed 200 to break through, but speed 210 will kill any unarmoured being inside, and at speeds higher than 260 there's a chance that the entire ship crumbles. Go above 350 and the reactor is likely to explode." He paused but then added. "A single salvo from the turbo's will reduce the speed needed to 150. Two Salvo and it's at 100, but I doubt the defence will give the Manta time for that."

"Thank you, Chief Engineer." I said and switched channel. "Bibboris, I need a channel with Commander Yaki and Senior Captain Meistrin."

"There you go, sir. Channel four."

"Thank you."

Looking over at Yaki, I said. "Leave the rest of this to Lieutenants Seze and Titlow, and come with me. We're going to crash the other camp."

I started to walk towards the hangar containing the Vurel-class as I explained the plan to Meistrin and Yaki, overriding their protests that it was too risky for me personally.

"I hear your concerns, and I respect them. But if there's a Sith in that camp, I'm the only one that can handle it." I told them. "We hit them hard, we break their defences, and if there's a Sith waiting for us... they'll be dealing with me. If there's not, I'll stay in the background. Now, make the preparations and brief our people. We're going."

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

The second camp

Quamire system

"We train for years, yet whether we win or lose is decided in a single moment."

From the Holy Book of War

Since atmospheric flight was notably slower than space flight, we took off as soon as possible and went straight to orbit, giving both us and our escort time to reach a position above the other camp just as the damaged Manta-class flew past us, going straight towards the other camp.

That gave me a good view of the aft section and I was surprised that the Manta could still fly. Most of the engines were damaged and the rest was a tangled mess, but it managed to fly.

"Switch off the engines and the reactor." I ordered. "We're going to run silent until they're almost there."

"Yes, sir." said the pilot and a moment later we were drifting in space with the few remining systems operational on batteries.

"Make or break time." Remarked Yaki in a low voice. "I hope the code works."

I nodded. We had gotten the latest authorization codes from one of the defected Imperials, but there was no way of knowing if the prison camp would accept them.

"Who's the pilot, by the way?" I asked.

"Pilot Matthew Ranton." She answered. "I don't know if you remember him?"

"The name does sound familiar." I said slowly, thinking. "Wasn't he the one from Grinda system that Squadron Leader Kerwil wanted to save?"

"Yes. Not the greatest fighter pilot, but he proved to be extremely good when it came to piloting Mantas and Drakes." Yaki explained. "And like everybody else on this mission, he volunteered."

I was about to answer when the comm activated as Ranton called the prison camp. "Camp Quamire 2, this is Imperial frigate R-447, heavily damaged, multiple drive and repulsor failures. Request immediate priority landing. Starboard grid is red, port grid at twelve percent. Transmitting Imperial Emergency Docking Authorization: Code Aurek--Nine--Vornak--Six--Seven--Tresh."

I nodded to myself. Matthew Ranton sounded exactly right. Tense due to the situation but collected. Even his accent was right, sounding a lot like Keller's and First Officer Janik.

There was silence for a moment and then our comm officer said. "They're gone to active scans, focussing on the Manta."

That part didn't worry me. Even to the weakest of scanners, it was clear that the Drake was one seriously damaged vessel.

There were a few tense moments, but then the camp answered. "Copy, R-447. Code confirmed against today's table. You are cleared to set down on Pad Three outside Hangar Alpha. Emergency crews are standing by."

"Understood. We're coming in hot. No lift for a gentle set-down.

Everybody in the cockpit of the Vurel let out a sigh of relief. Including me. The mission was dangerous enough as it were. Doing a combat drop against a fortified position with light turbo lasers and missiles would have made it even harder.

My eyes drifted over to our own passive scanners. The Manta's flightpath wasn't a straight line but drifted one way or the other. I didn't know of it was on purpose to convince the camp that the ship was in trouble or not, but in any event it looked dangerous.

Less than thirty seconds later, the camp's controller called back.

"You're coming in fast, R-447. Recommend early flare. The landing pads have limited space."

Seconds past by before Ranton answered in a strained voice. "Negative, Control. If I flare early, the repulsors will die and we'll crater. I'll cut speed right over the pad."

"Damn, he's good." Mumbled Yaki. "If that Manta isn't in serious trouble, he missed a glorious career as an actor."

"Agreed." I chuckled and glanced at the clock. "Power up. We have a minute to impact."

This far from the surface, it was unlikely that the camp's sensors would discover anything, but as soon as we went into the atmosphere, they were certain to notice. At that time, it wouldn't matter.

"Our escorts have arrived." The sensor operator said. "Just on time."

Glancing out of the Vurel's transparisteel windows, I shook my head with a chuckle as I recognized the painting on the Dragonfang that had showed up to escort us. The front of the middle hull had a snarling black dragon's head painted on it, with the paint job continuing the rest of the craft with black dragon scales outlined with red. The wings were painted as dragon wings with the tips being a large claw, almost concealing the barrel of the heavy laser beneath it.

As per the rules, no two squadrons could have the same paintjob, and this one belonged to squadron 101, or Majestic's first squadron, otherwise known as The Void Dragons. Being under command of Lieutenant Maxwell, it was also one of the best squadrons in the entire fleet, besides being the oldest.

The comm activated again. "R-447, adjust three degrees starboard. You're drifting toward the hangar face."

Again, it took some seconds before Ranton answered and I realised that if he was doing it on purpose, it was genius. Each second brought him closer to the target without them activating the defences. Or at least without them shooting at him.

"Port thrusters are gone." Renton said in a voice that was just as tense as before. "Fighting her all the way. Might need tugs as soon as we're down."

Another ten seconds passed. Then the Camp Controller came back, this time sounding worried. "R-447, you're drifting further off-course. Correct now or wave off for another pass."

A few seconds passed.

"Negative, Control. No power for another pass. I'm holding her as steady as I can. Just keep the pad clear.

There was no doubt in my mind that the Controller in the camp was starting to suspect something was very wrong.

"R-447, you are aimed directly at Hangar Alpha! Adjust immediately!"

"Copy that. Answered Ranton in the same tense voice as before. " Repulsor grid fluctuating. Dumping excess power before total failure. Sorry, guys."

I lifted my eyebrows as the sensors showed weapons fire... and not just the Manta's heavy turbos. It looked like Ranton's skeletal crew had fired every available gun on the Manta directly at the hangar door, which meant that it had just been hit by two heavy turbo lasers and as many light and medium turbo lasers as was still working.

"Commencing combat drop." Reported the Vurel's pilot. "We're going in."

The viewports of the cockpit had been showing the horizon, but now it changed so the planet filled the viewports completely as the pilot pointed the vessel's front down and went to full speed.

"R-447, what the fuck are you doing!" Shouted the controller.

Ranton didn't answer, but our sensors told us that the light turbo lasers were firing as fast as possible all the way, punctuated by one more salvo from the three medium lasers. Then we all heard a loud crash through the comm as the Manta torpedoed the hangar doors, sensors.

Then came a call directly to us from Ranton, who in a remarkably calm voice said. "We're in. No casualties. Unloading cargo now."

"Well done, Pilot Ranton." I replied immediately. "Now keep your head down while the marines do their job."

Without waiting for a response, I switched to an open channel. "Camp Quamire 2, This is Commodore Thalen of the Dragon Defence Force. Your outer defences are breached. My people are inside your perimeter, and your heavy weapons will be taken within minutes. If you fight, you will be overrun. If you surrender now, you live to see another sunrise." I paused for a moment to give it a chance to sink in and then continued. "I will say this once: drop your weapons, power down your systems, and signal surrender. You will be treated under the laws of war, and the wounded will receive medical care. The choice is yours but think fast. You only have three minutes to surrender."

I switched channels, getting hold of the Void Dragons. "First Squadron, get in behind the Vurel. We got the shields to protect us until we're closer."

"Yes, sir." Lieutenant Maxwell replied and the Dragonfang disappeared from view.

"They're not going to surrender." Said Yaki with calm certainty. "Not when they can't see the rest of the fleet."

"I know, but we can't make a sneak attack and have a fleet over our heads. It's ..."

I wanted to say more, but at that time the pilot hit the accelerator as the repulsor drive kicked in. The Vurel lunged downward, and the deck seemed to grab at my boots as we were slammed back into our seats. The inertial compensators strained, whining faintly in the background, but even so the g-forces clawed at my chest and made every breath a fight.

I glanced over at the readouts. If we were pulling g-forces even with the inertial compensators working, we were going seriously fast. Then I blinked a few times as I saw it read 17g and 44 kilometers per second, which basically meant that we were going at deep-space speed in an atmosphere.

Outside, the shields burned bright and white-hot from the thermal load of entering the atmosphere at this speed and I was sure that this was the fastest drop I had ever been involved in. It also meant that for anyone on the ground looking up, we looked like a shooting star.

As per standard operational procedure, the speed slowed as we came nearer the surface and the Vurel's steep descent flattened out. That also made the shields shine less.

The g-forces started to lessen, disappearing completely as the readout said 11. We were still going fast, but the low altitude would prevent the sensors in the camp from discovering us until we were a lot closer.

Through the cockpit glass, I caught the Dragonfang squadron streaking past, their black-and-red paint flashing in the sunlight as they dove ahead to shred the prison's defences.

"Initiating landing protocol!" the pilot barked. Servos hummed as the officer seats in the cockpit dropped down to align with the troop deck just as the missile batteries in the camp started to blow up as the Dragonfangs flew over them.

Suddenly command channel on the comm in our helmets came to life. "Sirs. Sergeant Halden here." The sound of blaster fire drowned out the voice for a moment. Somewhere in the background, someone screamed shortly, before another voice yelled for a medic.

"Go ahead, Sergeant." Said Yaki calmly.

"There're Sith here! Two confirmed, with a third..." The sound of stun grenades going off followed by the harsh rattle of a repeating blaster interrupted the sergeant, but a moment later she came back. "Make that two confirmed, one dead, sir."

"Understood, Sergeant." Said Yaki, urgency in her voice. "Pull your people back. Do not engage unless they're on top of you. Hold whatever ground you can until we get there."

"Yes, sir. We... FUCK... They're here!" Halden's shout was cut by the unmistakable snap-hiss of a lightsaber igniting. "Everybody out!"

The line flared with white noise and then went dead.

"Frak!" Cursed Yaki, just as the 'Thirty seconds to landing' came through.

"Agreed." I muttered, already moving to the nearest infantry hatch while thoughts spun in my head. Three Sith in one prison camp was a lot, but on the bright side there was a limit to how powerful they could be. Any truly powerful Sith wouldn't be on a remote planet in the middle of nowhere. He or she would be in space, controlling one of Darth Arkol's fleets.

So, it was likely a midlevel Sith with two apprentices, which was better but still dangerous.

I grabbed the overhead rail, feeling the deck tremble beneath my boots. A heartbeat later, the Vurel's engines shifted pitch, as the ship turned sharply and then sat down.

The huge doors further back flew open, and three Manka-class walkers moved out, their laser cannons and ball-mounted blasters providing covering fire, as their weapons targeted anti-infantry turrets and blew them apart. A moment later the Vurel's fast shooting point-defence lasers went into action, strafing anything that moved and wasn't part of the DDF.

I waited patiently as the walkers did their job, knowing that the exact same scenario was playing out on the other side of the Vurel, while I used the time to study the tactical read-out in my helmet.

The targeting- and sensor data from every DDF trooper, vehicle and spacecraft was collected by the tactical computer, cleaned up and sent to both Yaki and I, enabling us to make quick tactical decisions.

Leaving the infantry tactics to Yaki, I focused on the Sith, finding them immediately as the computer had marked them in red. One was inside the hangar, methodically cleaning it out, while the other was in the control building, doing the same there.

Fortunately, many of our troopers were veterans from the Republic Army, who had dealt with a lot of Sith during the war and they had reacted by pulling back according to Yaki's order, doing it fireteam by fireteam. One four-person fireteam moved back, while the two others provided suppressing fire, forcing the Sith to parry incoming fire constantly, thus preventing sabre-throws and any other ranged attacks.

They weren't winning the fight, but they were surviving and getting out of the buildings at the same time.

The hatch flew open, and I hurried down the ramp, followed by the two tiger-droids.

As with all ground battles I stepped into ordered chaos and without thinking, I dived into the Force for protection against random shots, while I ran over to a Manta class walker. The huge metal beast was too tall to provide any meaningful cover, but that was beside the point. With two blasters mounted on the head and a ball-mounted twin cannon on each side it could deliver some serious firepower and there was very little chance that someone would shoot at me when the metal beast was thundering towards them.

Unfortunately, that also made the walker a prime target for any Sith out there. Take out a walker and their position would instantly become better.

A strange buzzing sound reached my ears and a moment later the tactical computer marked an Imperial Trooper in a faint outline as being especially dangerous. Looking over I saw a line of fire leaving the trooper as the buzzing sound returned. The Manka the trooper was aiming at froze mid-step as sparks ran over the armoured hull. Then a rocket flew from the roof of a building and slammed into the side of the Manka.

Under normal circumstances the Manka's heavy armor and shield would have brushed off the attack, but the first attack had to have taken out its shields, because this one tore into the hull, taking the Manka out of the fight as it collapsed just as a hail of blaster bolts hit the Imperial Trooper, penetrated the armor and threw him backwards like a smashed doll.

My hair tried to stand inside my helmet as I felt the Dark Side of the Force being used. A moment later one of our troopers flew through the air and hit the side of the collapsed Manka. Then a dark robed figure left the hangar so fast that it looked like a blur in the air, before leaping impossibly high into the air and disappeared from my sight. It didn't, however, disappear from the tactical computer, which clearly showed a figure standing on top of the Manka I was following.

With a sigh, I reached into the Force and jumped to the top of the Manka as well, drawing my lightsabre as I did so.

The Sith had lit two lightsabres and was poised to strike at the armored neck of the Manka, but the second I landed, the Sith whirled towards me, throwing the left sabre in a practiced move that seemed to be so natural that it almost had to be an instinctive action and not a planned move. Then he became a blur as he moved towards me with incredible speed.

Dodging to the side, I used the Force to snatch the flying lightsabre from the air, yanking it out of his control as I redirected it into his path.

The result was rather spectacular, as he hit the blade at full speed, cutting himself in half by the chest, so that his head and shoulders continued forward, while the rest of the body, including both lower arms tumbled away. Too many Sith let out a wave of dying anger, but that demanded an intact mind, so I cleaved the head as it flew past me and returned my focus to the battle around me.

The Manka walked on, turrets spitting bolts of energy on every enemy trooper. Ion engines screamed in the air as Dragonfangs passed overhead, blowing up security installations and weapon embankments alike. Black Dragons and Klions were laying down suppressing fire as the Phoenixes were withdrawing from the building with the control room, falling back in an orderly fashion. Coordinated, calm and smooth, without any sign of panic.

Someone was shooting in my direction without coming even close, but it still made me jump down from the Manka, landing behind it where I wasn't as exposed.

For all intents and purposes, this battle was over. I knew it, the troops knew it and the Sith in the control room had to know it as well, as most of their helmets had the same readouts as ours. So why was he or she still fighting? Not that I expected a Sith to surrender, but I did expect them to know when a battle was lost, and escape was the better option.

Bloodthirst was one thing, but this was stupidity and while the rank-and-file Sith weren't exactly beacons of intellect, they weren't that dumb either.

Then the speakers of the prison came alive, and a low warning sound echoed through the prison and the courtyard we were in.

"ATTENTION. ATTENTION."

"SELF-DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE INITIATED!"

"EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY."

There was a slight pause, then the warning sound came back, followed by a

"TIME TO CORE BREACH: THIRTY MINUTES."

"THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

Activating the comm, I made a call. "Tavune, estimate the effect of a reactor overload or self-destruction in the second prison. Now."

"Yes, sir." Came the response a few seconds later. There was a new pause and then he came back with a map showing the extent of the blast radius, which was orders of magnitudes smaller than I had assumed, barely covering the main area. Looking at the numbers, I discovered that the reactor output was no bigger than a small corvette. Enough to power the prison with its defence, shields, and production facilities, but not much more.

"As you can see, sir." Tavune said. "The reactor is not only small, but it's also underground and extremely well protected, so if it self-destructs, it'll certainly take out the base and the eastern part of the prison, but most of the explosion will be directed upwards and not outwards."

"Thank you, Tavune."

Switching the comm to the command channel, I started handing out orders.

"Commander Yaki, you heard the warning." I sent her the map. "Pull your people back to the south side of the prison. Grid 2 and 4."

"Yes, sir."

"Lieutenant Maxwell. I want half your squadron to hit every data and powerline you can see. The other half needs to clear the forest area in grid 2 and 4. Kill everything that moves... and destroy the prison wall in that area."

Again, there were no questions, just a 'Yes, sir'.

I managed to give a few more orders, before Tavune called. "Sir, we have a problem."

"What is it, Tavune?"

"The Manta that smashed the door, sir." Tavune said hurriedly. "If the camp reactor goes, there's a seventy-five percent chance it will set off the reactor in the Manta, if that one isn't shut down... and since it's on the surface, that will affect everything within a two-kilometre radius."

I looked at the Control building. According to the tactical computer the Sith was still there, but the colour had changed to indicate that it was a probability, not a certainty, meaning that the troops had lost sight of the target.

Another problem was that as with most control buildings, it was built for defence and security, with only two entrances, and corridors built for defence.

Without warning, the tactical readout shifted, and the icon of the Sith was suddenly shown close to the exit... along with a few of our troopers. A fire team lead by a sergeant.

I sprinted in that direction even as I could feel the use of the Dark Side. Two marines came flying out of the door like small dolls thrown by an adult. One of the signals indicating another trooper blinked out. That was followed by the sergeant backing out of the door, while using a songsteel sword to parry a lightsaber. At least I assumed it was songsteel, because it didn't crumble or disintegrate as it met the blazing redness of the Sith lightsaber.

The trooper used the free hand to take something from the belt and throw it. Not directly at the Sith, but at the ground where it bounced once before disappearing through the opening. The bright flash of a stun grenade followed, causing the trooper to tumble backwards ending up flat on the ground. The effect on the Sith was more dramatic, as the power of the grenade sent him stumbling through the door and into the open.

A barrage of shots met him, as the marines covering the entrance fired, but the Sith simply raised a Wall of Dark Force between him and the shooters, causing the shots to waste themselves harmlessly against it, as he walked menacingly towards the downed marine, lightsaber glowing angrily.

Then the marine was lifted into the air, hanging helplessly as the Sith lifted his lightsabre.

In the perfect world, that was when I would step in between them, saying a cool line as I parried the strike. Unfortunately, I was still too far away, so I snatched my sidearm as I said, "Shoot him" and fired at the Sith, followed a second later by bolts from the tiger droids.

With the Wall of Dark Force being angled towards the marines, both the tigers and I had a clear shot, but the Sith simply parried the bolts, showing that he was skilled enough to not only parry a maser bolt, but also doing so without losing his grip on the lightsaber. On the bright side, it got his attention. Especially when I lit my own lightsaber, the blade extending like liquid flame.

Letting the marine fall to the ground, he emitted a stream of purple lightning. The same kind of lightning I normally used on locks and droids. It was short, precise, and hit the two droids, making them fall to the ground, their mechanical limbs twisting from overload.

Ignoring the tigers, I parried the lightsaber attack he executed as soon as I came within close combat range and counterattacked, only to have that blocked.

The Sith sneered wordlessly and went back on the attack. It didn't take me more than a few parries to determine that he was just as fast, strong, and skilled as I had expected, and I immersed myself into the Force as we exchanged attacks. It was a totally different experience than last time I faced a Sith. There was no doubt, no fear, just the feeling of the Force moving through me, guiding me, making my movements fast and fluid.

The Force added Telekinetic power to my attacks, causing him to dodge for his life, as I struck right through a weak parry, narrowly missing his shoulder.

His quick move had created some space between us for a second and suddenly he

extended a hand and sent a stream of blue lightning towards me. Pouring the Force into the blade, I parried the lightning with my lightsaber, feeling it flare as the energy struck and skidded along its length.

However, unlike Lord Xhal, this Sith didn't stop, and I could feel his hate and anger through the Dark Force as it slammed against the Force I had poured into the blade, searching for a feeling or emotion to attack. A weakness in my mental armor.

It was something I had given a lot of thought since the combat with Lord Xhal. The first time he had hit me it had hurt a lot, but the second time haven't been that bad and I had realised that, like most Dark side Powers, Sith Lightning depended a lot on resonance. A similar feeling of fear, doubt or hate that could ground it and feed it, and by the time Lord Xhal had tried a second time, I had gotten my emotions under control.

Like now.

Calmly, I accepted the lightning as the energy it was, letting the current slide along the blade instead of fighting it, as I angled the blade a fraction lower, letting it bleed off in crackling arcs that scorched the ground next to me. The lightsaber shuddered in my grip, the vibration crawling up my arm, but not more than I could handle.

Still, he continued.

I became a channel, a conduit between him and the ground instead of a target, and as all conduits, I didn't try to turn the flow or to counter it. I simply endured as he poured his strength, hatred, frustration, and anger into the attempt to kill me.

It clearly didn't work the way he had envisioned it, and I could feel his frustration as he pushed harder, trying to force a result that would not come. That was followed by the sharp edge of panic, as he realised that it wasn't going to work no matter how hard he tried.

The stream of Lightning changed as his control slipped and some of the current never left his hand, crawling up his arm as an Ion cannon discharged on a ship hull. With a howl of pain, he lost control and lightning shattered into wild arcs, lashing the ground between us before collapsing in a spray of sparks, instead of hitting my lightsaber.

With another howl, he slashed at me with his lightsaber, but it was a slow and clumsy attach, executed by muscles that were obviously still stiff and hurting from the current.

Not wanting to give him another chance, I side-stepped the attack and counter-attacked, cutting through his helmet and head in a single motion.

He fell to the ground in a heap.

Looking around, I discovered that while grounding the Sith Lightning had felt like a small eternity, no more than ten or twenty seconds had passed in reality.

Next to me, the tiger droids were slowly starting to stand again. I did a quick examination of them, while keying the comm. "Commander, status report."

"It's bad, sir," Yaki answered immediately. "According to the sensors, energy levels in the reactor are rising. We have twenty-eight minutes to get out of here."

I nodded to myself. Both at what Yaki had said, and because the tigers seemed to be okay. Apparently, the purple lightning had only knocked them out for a short while.

"Yaki, get the prisoners out through the hole in the wall and guard them against the creatures of the jungle. Use the Mankas. Lieutenant Maxwell will cover you from the air."

"Yes, sir."

I stood as a squad of marines emerged from behind a large crate to help the sergeant on the ground as well as the two marines the Sith had thrown.

Twenty-eight minutes gave us time to clear out, so I got hold of the Vorel. As most landing ships it had powerful external speakers, so I had them use those speakers to advise the remaining garrison to surrender and the prisoners to go through the destroyed wall or get blown up when the reactor self-destructed.

That would get them out of the radius of the reactor explosion, but only if we could remove the Manta from the equation. There was no way we could safely move more than eight thousand people more than two kilometers through an extremely hostile terrain filled with hungry beasts that were so large that they were basically immune to blaster fire. At least not without losing half of them.

That meant that we needed to remove the Manta somehow. The obvious way was a tractor beam, but they couldn't grab a ship inside a hangar, and since the hangar was built into the mountainside, we couldn't destroy the roof either.

I started to run towards the hangar, vaguely aware that the two tiger droids followed me.

"Captain Iska, how fast can you have a ship here with a tractor beam powerful enough to move a Manta?"

"Eleven minutes, sir."

"Send it." I ordered.

"Yes, sir."

Like the hanger where we had found the Vurel-class transport, the prison's main hanger was gigantic, but as I looked inside, I was reminded that while the Manta-class corvette might be the smallest capitol ship in the fleet, it was still a capital ship and not a shuttle.

The Kolereth-class was a good size for an armed shuttle and transport, being a little more than 20 meters long, but the Manta was 150 meters long and 80 meters wide and since that was almost the size of the hangar doors, I could only admire the precision of Pilot Ranton's flying.

He had managed to hit the blast doors without touching the sides of the hangar and as a result, the whole Manta had torpedoed its way into the hangar, smashing several fighters and shuttles on the way, leaving a mess of destroyed craft and smashed blast-doors.

Short of a miracle or three months with Chief Engineer Keller and his crew, there was no way the Manta was ever going to fly anywhere again. Unfortunately, the sensors in my helmet told me the reactor was still running.

"Get Pilot Ranton on the comm and ask him if we can shut down the reactor."

It only took a few seconds before someone answered. "Negative, sir. The crash destroyed the control panels and doing it manually takes at least too long."

"Thank you." I said and switched the channel off again, looking at the Manta. Small and well armored, it was heavier than I could lift with telekinesis, at least in gravity, but it was also so well-build that the reactor would survive anything except for a direct hit.

It was also scared and broken from both the space battle and the following crash, but it still held together, if barely so. One of the engines was dangling, as the power from the crash had ripped it halfway off and several of the weapon mounts were smashed as well.

That gave me an idea.

A movement out of the corner of my vision caught my attention until I realized it was half a squad of Marines, calmly looking around for any threat, the muzzles of their weapons following their gaze, covering the buildings in the area.

That gave me peace to work, so I turned my attention back to the ship.

Reaching into the Force, I seized the damaged engine with telekinesis and pulled. It tore free with a shriek of stressed metal, slamming into the concrete hard enough to send a tremor through the hangar and making the tiger droids growl in dissatisfaction.

The Manta shifted as the load changed, its frame settling with a deep groan.

I reached out again, this time to examine the structure. My Force senses traced the fractured seams, bent struts, and sheared mounts, finding the places where the ship was already failing and mapping them in my mind.

Then I began stripping the ship, ripping parts off it with the Force.

A weapon mount tore loose as I twisted it free, the bolts shearing almost casually before the entire assembly dropped beside the engine. Another followed, then a third as I picked each part with care, reducing the Manta's mass and shifting the balance toward something I could move.

Loose armor panels came away next. Some slid free along buckled seams, others resisted until I applied a fraction more force and let gravity finish the work. They hit the concrete in overlapping crashes, exposing scorched framework, ruptured conduits, and the Manta's battered internal skeleton.

I glanced at the clock in my helmet. Five minutes until the ship with the tractor beam arrived, twenty minutes until the prison reactor blew.

I needed to speed up.

Twin medium weapon mounts tore free in quick succession, ripped loose along lines the crash had already weakened as I threw them further into the hangar to get them away from the Manta. They hit the deck hard, bouncing once before coming to rest. Armor plates followed in rapid succession, some tearing free in whole sections, others breaking apart as I twisted them loose. Exposed framework buckled and snapped under its own weight, conduits spilling coolant and vapor that hissed against the concrete, as I kept removing parts and armor.

"Three minutes, sir," Captain Iska's voice came over the comm.

"Understood." I grunted and sent out my senses again. The front was one of the most damaged areas on the ship, so I centered myself, took hold of the front and pulled. Hard.

With a scream of protesting metal, the whole front end of the Manta tore free. Cables snapping, welds breaking. Sweat broke across my brow and with a final pull, I ripped the front section off, dumping it the moment I was certain it had fully separated.

Taking hold of what remained, aft hull, reactor housing and core frame, I took a deep breath and lifted. The ruined Manta rose a meter off the floor, metal shrieking as twisted supports finally gave way. It resisted, but it did rise.

Slowly, carefully, I began to move the wreck toward the hangar opening, every meter bought with focus and control. I ignored the burn creeping behind my eyes and the faint metallic taste in my mouth, just as I ignored Iska's countdowns and the Black Dragon squad, who scrambled to get out of the way.

"Thirty seconds, sir." I heard her say as the wreck cleared the hangar threshold, just as a shadow coming over us indicated the arrival of a large ship.

"Catch it." I said through clenched teeth.

"Yes, sir," replied a male voice that I recognized as belonging to Siman, the Chiss Captain of the Terminus-class destroyer Malklok.

I felt a tug through the Force as the tractor beam connected and had to adjust my control to avoid pushing it upwards. "You got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good." With a sigh of relief, I let my hold go. "Get it the frak out of here, Captain. The prison reactor blows in fifteen minutes."

"Yes, sir." He hesitated but then added. "May I suggest that you get out of here as well, sir?"

"On my way." I said and did a quick search with my force senses to see if there was any danger lurking around, but except for the droids and the half squad of marines, the area near this part of the prison was clear.

Tuning my attention and my Force senses to the main building, I got a surprise. The enemy troopers had cleared out while I was busy with the Manta, but deep inside the main building I detected the minds of intelligent beings. While that might be an accident, it might also be the reason why there were three Sith here and none in the other camp.

I cursed silently and glanced at the clock. Fourteen minutes left.

Five minutes in. Five minutes out. Three to four minutes to clear the area. It was doable, if barely, and only because the enemy troopers had pulled out.

Deciding not to waste more time, I started running towards the door. "Yaki, there're people inside the building. I'm going in after them. Have a shuttle ready."

"Yes, sir." She said with a slight sigh. "Don't get your bodyguards killed."

I suddenly became aware that both the Tiger droids and the half squad of marines were following me. It was a sneaky move from Yaki, I determined as I ran through the open door where a security droid was waiting, but I parried the blaster-shot and cut it in half as I ran past it. Yaki knew that with the five marines following me, I would get back out of the building with time to spare, instead of cutting it close.

Inside the warning signal was louder and red warning lights were blinking, reflecting of the wall and doors.

It was a labyrinth, but I followed the guidance of the Force and stormed off to the left, the sound of heavy boots behind me telling me that the bodyguards were still following me.

Several of the three-legged combat droids occupied the corridor in front of me, blocking the way to the stairs. Purple lightning left my fingers even as I parried their attacks, jumping from droid to droid, making them overload and stop functioning.

One collapsed mid-stride, its legs locking as the ionic surge burned through its control core. Another staggered, servos screaming, before pitching sideways into the wall hard enough to break off its weapon. The third tried to bring its blaster to bear, but my blade took the joint cleanly, severing the weapon arm as the overload finished cooking what was left of its central processor.

I hit the stairs at a dead run and then dodged just as a large combat droid unloaded a blaster at where I had been a moment before. I parried the next two shots with the lightsaber and was about to go on the attack, when a marine came down the stairs behind me, firing their blaster rifle at the droid. It hit right in the arm and as it was acquiring the new target, I reached out with telekinesis and pulled it closer, within range of my lightsabers. A single thrust penetrated its armor, but I must have missed the processor, because it swung its gauntlet-like hand at me, forcing me to dodge again.

"One minute warning." My suit informed me.

Picking the droid up with the Force, I squeezed it with the same amount of Force that I had used to lift the aft end of a Manta and like the Manta, it was a machine without any connection to the Force that could resist its use.

Armor plates buckled first, folding inward with sharp metallic pops as stress fractures raced along weld seams. Internal bracing failed next with one spar snapping, then another until each failure cascading into the next like a collapsing truss bridge. Hydraulic fluid vented in violent jets, hissing as it atomized against overheated components.

I squeezed harder.

The torso imploded with a sound like a thunderclap muffled in water. The central housing collapsed inward, crushing the processor core and power cell together in a compact, lethal embrace.

I hurled it against the door at the end of the room, tearing the door off its hinges. Both door and the compressed piece of metal that was once a droid fell to the floor of the next room, revealing a corridor with cells on both sides, energy fields flickering under strain as the facility's power grid began shedding load.

Another purple lightning short circuited the power, making the fields disappear just as the marines ran past me, weapons at the ready.

"Get them out," I ordered, adding "And be fast. We got nine minutes to get out of range."

The squad spread out and a speaker clicked on as one of the marines said. "Move! You're being rescued, but we need to move as fast as you can!"

They stepped out into the corridor with the quiet caution of people who had learned that sudden movements invited consequences. Most of them were eying me with extreme caution and I realized that in my dark armor, a cloak over my shoulder and a flaming reddish lightsaber in my hand, I looked too much like a Sith for them to believe me.

They moved anyway, so I ordered the Tiger droids to move ahead of them and clear the way. A moment later, the two large cats were running back up the stairs.

One man waited until the others were clear before stepping forward, moving with grace despite the white hair on his head.

Not having to deal with panicked people was nice, but this was not going fast enough.

Nine prisoners and only five, four men and a woman, looked to be able to run.

"You five, run!" I ordered at the five persons that looked like they were able to actually do it and then turned towards an elderly woman, bowing slightly. "Excuse me, my lady, but either we carry you or you're all gonna die."

She studied me for a heartbeat longer than strictly necessary and then gave a single, precise nod.

"Then carry me," she said in a calm voice.

I stepped in, deactivated my lightsabers, and lifted her into my arms. She was light as a feather.

The marines followed suit and a moment later we were walking up the stairs. A single unencumbered marine as point, weapon at the ready. We were not moving in a run, but at least a lot faster than they would have been able to do on their own.

The corridor shook as something deep below failed, the vibration running up through the soles of my boots and into my teeth. Dust drifted from the ceiling in lazy spirals.

The speakers howled again, repeating their message.

"ALL PERSONNEL MUST EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY."

"TIME TO CORE BREACH: SIX MINUTES."

"THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

As soon as we had cleared the stairs, I ordered the marines to run, which they did. Granted, it wasn't pretty, and I was sure several of the freed prisoners would have marks and bruises from it tomorrow, but it was still better than dying today.

"Your lift is ready, Commodore." I heard over the comm as we turned a corner and almost collided with one of the marines, who had stumbled over one of the smashed droids losing his balance for a moment, but he managed to regain it just as fast and continued down the hall towards the door leading out.

"ALL PERSONNEL MUST EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY."

"TIME TO CORE BREACH: FIVE MINUTES."

"THIS IS NOT A DRILL."

"Oh... shut ... up." I heard someone pant over the comm.

For some reason, that made me chuckle. "Agreed... it's... annoying."

The corridor was longer than I remembered it from running the other way, but we reached it just as the speakers announced that there were four minutes left.

One of the five persons I had sent ahead was holding the door open for us, so we didn't even have to slow down as we left the building.

Ten meters from us was a Kolereth-Class transport with the ramp down and two marines were standing ready to help, while the Tiger droids were guarding it.

As soon as everybody was inside, including the one who had held the door open for us, the ramp slammed shut at emergency speed and I just had time to take hold of a handrail before the Kolereth took off.

I gave it a moment more and then placed the lady I was carrying on a bench.

"Hold on to something."

She did and I shifted my attention to the outside, as I tapped into the Kolereth's external cameras, enabling me to watch as the prison was destroyed.

I had expected a bright explosion, followed by a mushroom cloud and a rain of debris.

This was nothing like that.

The central complex collapsed inward as the reactor core catastrophically failed containment and consumed itself. Structures folded rather than shattered, towers slumping into their own foundations as if the ground beneath them had simply been erased. Walls bowed, then vanished into a descending cloud of dust and superheated vapor into a depression in the ground. A depression that was filled by a bright light for a few seconds, consuming most of material before disappearing again, sending a rolling wall of dust and ash spread across the surrounding terrain, slow and dense, swallowing outer buildings and fences in silence before it lost momentum and was sucked back into the depression.

I let out a low whistle. I didn't know what kind of safety features the complex had built into it, but they had worked perfectly. The explosion had been contained without the violent fragmentation that would have turned masonry into shrapnel, killing numerous of the unarmored free prisoners as it was propelled outwards.

Granted, there was still debris, but a lot less than I had feared.

"Commander Yaki, how's the situation on the ground?"

"Well, considering that we just had a huge explosion next to us, we're good." Yaki replied immediately. "We got everybody out, but it wasn't pretty. Some thought it was a trick and had to be forced out." She chuckled drily. "I think they have changed their minds now." Then her tone of voice changed abruptly. "Gotta go."

On the external cameras, I could see the trees starting to move as some of the huge predators I had seen by the other prison came running out, only to be met by a wall of blaster fire from both the marines and the Manka walkers.

Most of the bolts from the marines didn't seem to penetrate the beast's thick hide and for a moment it looked like the beasts would break through, but then the Void Dragon squadron returned from safe distance and did a strafing run, their heavy lasers tearing up the attackers. That was followed by a squadron of Dragonclaws, who took out even more creatures and made the rest turn and run.

However, judging from the way the trees were moving, more creatures were on their way, so I switched channels and got hold of Siman. "Captain, please do a flyover at the area south of grid 2 and 4. Start nearest to the grids and make your way into the forest. I want every point defence laser on Malklok to clear that area, so Commander Yaki and the marines can see those beasts coming."

"On our way, sir." Came the cheerful response. "One forest clearing coming up."

"Thank you." I switched back to Yaki and quickly explained that a Terminus-class destroyer would join the defence shortly.

Even as I was speaking, the area with the marines, Mankas, and freed prisoners darkened as Malklock took station over them.

The point-defence grid came alive, and the sky over Grid 2 and 4 turned into a lattice of coherent light. Not the heavy, slow-beating pulse of capital-grade turbolasers, but the rapid, disciplined flicker of PD cannons and laser clusters. Leaves and branches vanished in brief, white flashes. Trunks split and burst, throwing splinters and steam outward as the energy punched through sap and fiber alike.

Beasts came out of the dense forest with bared teeth, pushing through shattered brush and falling timber. The PD cannons adjusted instantly, bursts stitching across the leading mass. Hide scorched, then ruptured. One creature stumbled forward a few more steps before collapsing, its bulk skidding across churned soil. Another was hit mid-stride, the upper torso tearing open under repeated impacts, momentum carrying it down into the dirt.

That was when the five Mankas opened up.

The walkers had been holding fire, their massive frames planted between the prisoners and the treeline like a line of armored bulwarks. Now their heads rotated in smooth, practiced arcs and the twin blaster cannons mounted there began to hammer. Thick bolts of energy punched into the clearing, striking low and center-mass, ripping into anything that somehow escaped the destroyer's fire.

On either side of each walker, the ball-mounted twin cannons swung outward, port and starboard tracking independently. They spat overlapping streams of blasterfire into the edges of the clearing, stitching the ground, raking the broken brush, and cutting down anything that broke from the smoke at an angle. The fire was continuous, methodical, the kind of coverage meant to deny space rather than chase targets.

Creatures that made it through the falling trees and orbital fire met a second wall on the ground. Blaster bolts slammed into thick hide, burning deep and driving bodies sideways or straight down. Impacts kicked up soil and fragments of shattered armor-hard skin. Some collapsed where they stood; others were driven back a step before the next volley hit and finished the job.

Some large flying creatures tried to join the fray, but the Dragonclaws and Dragonfang fighters cut them down before they came close enough to pose a threat to the people on the ground.

The assault also made it clear why this planet hadn't been colonized beyond the two prison camps. Keeping settlements safe would require spending way too many resources.

I cut the feed and looked around in the hold of the Kolereth and discovered that everybody was looking at a screen on the far wall, where the same scene was playing. As I looked, the Malklock dropped lower and started to move forward as its point defence lay waste to the forest beneath and slightly in front of it, killing the attacking creatures and creating a clear field of fire for the marines and the Mankas.

The elderly woman I had carried into the hold saw me moving and turned to look at me, whispering. "You people are not Republic or Imperials. Who are you?"

"The Dragon Defence Force." I stated calmly. "May I ask who you are and why you were kept apart from the other prisoners at the facility?"

"I am High Queen Elayne IV of Velcaris." She replied quietly but dignified. "My presence here, as well as that of Crown Prince Alric, ensures the cooperation from my people."

"And the rest?"

The Queen grimaced slightly and explained that four of them were Clean Leaders from the planet of Druunfall, while the last three were the Lord-Primarch of Kharvos, his heir and his daughter.

"One moment, my lady." I said and activated the comm. "Tavune, do we have any data on the planets of Velcaris, Druunfall and Kharvos? And if you can't find any info in the prison's database, have Lieutenant Bibboris search for the same on Majestic."

"One moment, sir."

It didn't long before I received a call from Lieutenant Bibboris. "Hello, sir. There isn't much about these planets in the database, but there is some information from the navigation data we got from the ships that were returning from the Terminus system."

"Go on."

"Yes, sir. All three planets are located in the area captured by the Sith but handed back to the Republic as part of the Treaty of Coruscant. However, Valcaris has only recovered slowly and there's a mention that they have no clear leadership." She sighed. "Druunfall is even worse. Since the Empire handed the planet back, the whole planet has been engulfed in a civil war. There's a warning in the navigation files about going there due to that war." She paused but then continued. "Kharvos is stranger. There's nothing in the files, except a mention that the planet is in decline. Trade agreements have been dissolved and apparently the spaceport has become unstable."

"Thank you, Lieutenant." I said and turned my attention back to Queen Elayne. "My Lady, I have no idea what the Sith have told you and now is not the time to go into that. I will however say that according to our latest information, it seems like all three planets have been liberated as part of a peace treaty."

"We know." She said with a sigh. "The Sith told us... and in the same breath informed us that it didn't change a thing. We were still prisoners until the Empire needed our presence."

"Sounds like a typical Sith." I said dryly as my thoughts spun in my head.

While there was very little doubt in my mind that the conditions on those planets would improve once their leaders were back, the problem was actually getting them there. We couldn't escort them there, as such a trip would take months, and we still needed to free the Chiss held by Sharon the Red.

That limited the choices to one, which was the same as we had done in Nodia: Crew the surviving S-Class cruiser with freed slaves and send them in the direction of the Outer Rim, hoping that they wouldn't run into the Sith on the way.

Considering that the fleet that Captain Meistrin had beaten had come directly from the Outer Rim, it even had to have updated star maps, though those would only be good for five or six weeks, before the unpredictability of the Chaos would render them unusable again.

The more I thought about it, the more I liked the solution. Mostly because it also gave us the opportunity to send off those of the freed prisoners who didn't want to join us, in addition to some of the freed prisoners from the Qek-40 system, who had never been given the chance, due to the logistics of it all.

"Yes, indeed." The Queen said, bringing my thought back to the present situation. "Could you tell us where we are? Are we near our planets?"

"Not by a long shot, my Lady. We're far into the Unknown Regions." I told her calmly as the view on the screen changed as the Kolereth turned away and started climbing towards space, most likely going straight towards Majestic.

I didn't protest. Yaki had command of the operation, and I had told both her and Iska that I was there to take care of any possible Sith. That part of the job was hopefully done now, so I had no argument to stay planet-side.

"We will talk about how to get you home later, my Lady. For now, just enjoy your freedom and look forward to a bath, a change of clothes and some relaxation. I have a feeling that you could use it."

"Thank you." She said with a tired smile.

"You're welcome."

She leaned back against the bulkhead, and I got hold of Lieutenant Titlow to hear what was happening in the other camp and was told that it all went according to plan. The freed prisoners were still being loaded into the ships, the sick or wounded were getting medical attention, and the garrison was being locked up.

"What is that!?" I heard the Queen ask in surprise and smiled slightly to myself as I saw Majestic on the viewscreen, becoming bigger and bigger as we came closer.

"Home, my Lady." I told her quietly.

------------- To be continued ---------------

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