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Chapter 80
🕑 Added 2024-11-03 13:33:26 +0000 UTCWroona Orbit, Wroona System
Harrin Sector
“Commander…” Lieutenant Commander Fajinak’s voice stirred Scout awake, the young Jedi feeling the distinct coolness of polished metal on her cheek as she pulled herself upright, “We’ve got an urgent transmission from Jurzan.”
Scout rubbed her eyes, grit scraping against her lids as she forced them open again, blinking back the haze of fatigue. She had half the mind to be ashamed of so blatantly falling asleep in the Battle Room–and being woken by her XO, no less!–but she could tell Fajinak could hardly care. His words slowly registered in her mind as she captured enough of her wits to prevent her first words being slurred. The background hum of electronics and holotech settled into her bones, like a slow-burning simmer that brought life back to her body.
Just one more sector to review, she initially thought, just another set of troop movements to confirm probably.
But it was the name of the world that jolted her to full attention, like a pike through her skull.
Jurzan… that sounds familiar.
Commander Fajinak took her sudden alertness as his cue to continue; “The Hundred-Thirty-Eighth Armoured Corps is requesting an immediate extraction.”
“Do they lack the troopships?” Scout squinted, frowning at her console.
“They’ve been stranded for some time, sir,” Fajinak shifted uncomfortably, “We had ordered some blockade runners to relieve them with much needed medical supplies, but the frigates were urgently redeployed to Tregillis due to the higher priority of the sector.”
“Oh,” she replied dumbly, “There’s thirty-two Acclamators in the Hythrope System nearby. Can we redeploy them to Jurzan?”
“...Hythrope is being evacuated as well, sir. The order had been issued two days ago.”
“Oh.”
The air in the Battle Room felt thick, tinged with stale sweat and the sour stench of too many unwashed bodies forced to coexist in the same space for days on end. Scout was running on stimulants and sheer grit, her skin clammy under her too-tightly wrapped robes, her vision flickering at the edges from exhaustion. Around her, officers leaned over consoles, heads bowed, mumbling instructions in low, weary voices. Her staff was in no better condition than she was; hollow-eyed, backs hunched as they typed and swiped and relayed orders that seemed to vanish into the air. There was a sense of… not hopelessness… more like futility hanging like a shroud above them. As if their efforts were nothing more than feeble gestures of resistance against the vast shadow of the Separatist war machine.
No one had slept. Not really. Maybe they'd caught a few hours here or there, but even then, the vibrations from incoming transmissions kept everyone just on the edge of wakefulness, rattling their nerves with constant demands for reinforcements, reports of enemy movements, desperate pleas for relief. Each request bled into the next, an endless litany of needs they could barely meet, wearing away at the semblance of control they clung to.
Aurodia was a ghost ship, crewed by ghouls and spectres. The command nexus presiding over the Near-Rimma AO was a vast and complex structure, a living net of information spanning thousands of light-years, connecting battlefields with strategic command nodes, entangling local data points with the pulse of larger objectives. Aurodia was one of those nodes, overseeing the dozen other command vessels that drifted in her shadow in the Wroona System, each one tasked with supervising their assigned star systems.
It was Aurodia who translated their localised webs into something whole, pushing the flood of intelligence Coreward to the headquarters of the 20th Sector Army on Tallaan. Aurodia was the middle-management between the greater strategic impulses of the Sector Army and the local tactical practicalities of her satellite commands. Despite fully understanding the severity of her duties, she still wished she could be anywhere else–even on the battlefields of Vandelhelm!
“Well…” Scout pushed herself to her feet, the blue-scanned light of the holoprojection table burning into her retinas, “Are there any other nearby task forces we can send to relieve Jurzan?”
“Mikaster, Genisaria, and… here,” Fajinak pointed, briefly hesitating as a new icon blinked into view, red and ominous against the starfield projection, “Here as well, in the Pelonat System. But we’re seeing increased Separatist pressure across the entire eastern flank. It wouldn’t be safe to deprive these battlefields of their orbital support.”
As if prophesied by his words, a red alert blipped into existence on the starchart, flagged up by a satellite command vessel. A messenger materialised at the holotable within moments, bringing her the transcript from the comms bay.
“The Separatists have launched an all-out planetary assault on Lohopa-Two, sir,” the messenger passed her the transcript, “Boeus Command recommends withdrawing from the Jurzan and Hythrope salients to tighten the front.”
She stared at it, her tired mind scrambling to process, as a low murmur started rippling through the room.
“An isolated offensive on Lohopa doesn’t sound like the Tombmaker,” Commander Fajinak told her, “We must assume that this is it.”
Scout’s pulse quickened as more alerts began appearing, from a slow trickle to a mass, spreading across their eastern flank on the Harrin Trade Corridor like an infectious rash. The Battle Room buzzed with activity, as officers and staffers came alive from their fugue as anxiety and panic set in.
“Only the Harrin Corridor?” Scout’s voice was eerily calm, instilling a sense of stoic tension in the room and overpowered the rising panic, “Can we confirm with General Ry-Gaul and General Skywalker that they aren’t seeing any unusually large Separatist activity?”
“I’ll secure a line to Vandelhelm at once, Commander,” the messenger nearly tripped over his own feet in his haste to the comms bay.
Lieutenant Commander Fajinak was staring at her intensely, “Commander sir, if the offensive is only on the Harrin Corridor as you suspect–”
“Then it means even Horn Ambigene is feeling his losses,” Scout nodded, her fist clutching around that little glimmer of hope, “His callous disregard for losses has come to bite him back.”
And it means we made a mistake, Scout thought, that I made a mistake. I sent the vast majority of our available reserves to Vandelhelm and Wroona on the Rimma Trade Route, anticipating the main Separatist offensive to materialise there.
“We need to commit everything to the Harrin,” Fajinak said decisively, “Stop the Tombmaker in his tracks at Lohopa.”
Scout held down the intercom, “Operations, issue a withdrawal for all forces in the Hythrope and Jurzan salients. We are consolidating our front in the Lohopa System. Authorise all required task forces required to evacuate our armies.”
“Acknowledged, Commander–”
[ATHALLIA HQ] REQUESTING IMMEDIATE REINFORCEMENTS—ENEMY FORCES BREACHED PLANETARY DEFENCES; CIVILIAN EVACUATION INCOMPLETE.
An urgent transmission from Athallia caught her attention, with the news that reinforcements have already been authorised by the relevant station.
[ARMATH HQ] HEAVY CASUALTIES REPORTED; REMAINING FORCES ARE HOLDING PERIMETER BUT URGENTLY NEED SUPPORT TO PREVENT COLLAPSE.
But before she could even catch her breath, her console chimed yet again, somehow with increasing urgency. This time, there weren’t any available units on hand to redeploy, and the local command centre was seeking advice–
[MIKASTER HQ] SEPARATIST BOMBARDMENT ONGOING; POPULATION CENTERS AT RISK—REQUESTING EVACUATION CORRIDORS FOR NON-COMBATANTS.
[DERRA HQ] MULTIPLE ENEMY DIVISIONS CONVERGING; LAST LINE OF DEFENCE COLLAPSING—URGENT REINFORCEMENTS OR FULL EVAC NEEDED IMMEDIATELY.
She didn’t even have time to answer. Another transmission was forwarded to her station, then another, and another. A trifling number at first, but as if following in the wake of the alerts, soon pouring in with the wrath of a storm as hundreds of battlefields soon came under the fire of the Separatist offensive.
[ATRAKUS HQ] SUPPLIES RUNNING CRITICALLY LOW; WE CAN'T HOLD FOR MORE THAN THREE SYSTEM DAYS WITHOUT RESUPPLY OR EXTRACTION.
[PELOMAT HQ] GROUND FORCES OUTNUMBERED; NEED AERIAL SUPPORT AND ORDNANCE DROPS, OR WE RISK TOTAL LOSS OF DEFENCES.
[AVILES PRIME HQ] ARTILLERY UNITS OVERRUN; REQUESTING EXTRACTION AND REDEPLOYMENT TO SAFER SECTORS.
Frantic messages poured through the din, a steady stream of urgent updates that began to overlap, voices merging into a panicked cacophony. The compartment buzzed with the frantic pace of fresh alerts–and responses; each one detailing more deployments, more fleets, more worlds falling under the weight of invasion. She could feel the tension coiling tighter, escalating from the sluggish, dull exhaustion of days gone without sleep into something sharp, bristling and electric.
[GALLAPRAXIS HQ] SEPARATIST GROUND ASSAULT INTENSIFYING; CASUALTIES MOUNTING—NEED IMMEDIATE EVAC FOR INJURED AND VULNERABLE.
[HYTHROPE HQ] PERIMETER DEFENCES FALLING BACK; ADDITIONAL ARMOUR AND INFANTRY REQUESTED TO PREVENT ENEMY BREACH.
[OOLIDI HQ] RESOURCE SHORTAGES CRITICAL; FRONTLINE FORCES LOSING MORALE—REINFORCEMENTS REQUIRED TO STABILISE POSITIONS.
[GENISERIA HQ] ENEMY FLEETS MASSING ON SYSTEM OUTSKIRTS; NEED REINFORCEMENTS TO SECURE TRADE ROUTES AND PREVENT SIEGE.
[EDAN HQ] PLANETARY SHIELDS FAILING UNDER SUSTAINED FIRE; EVACUATION OF ESSENTIAL PERSONNEL REQUIRED IMMEDIATELY.
Lieutenant Commander Fajinak looked to her, face pale, and she knew they had nothing left to send. She swallowed down the acidic taste of helplessness down her throat, and showed none of it on her face.
“Lieutenant Commander,” Jedi Commander Esterhazy’s voice a frigid cold, her eyes reflecting hundreds of incoming reports, “Inform our troops on Jurzan that no help will be coming. Independent action has been authorised, and they are allowed to surrender or fight at their own discretion. We do not have the resources to spare.”
“...Very well, sir.”
How many lives of the 338th Armoured Corps and other units fighting on Jurzan had she just written off? She didn’t dwell on the thought, waving it farewell with the vague hope that the Separatist commander on the planet was more sympathetic than their General.
“General Skywalker’s on the comms, Commander!” a comms officer announced.
Commander Esterhazy’s fist immediately slammed down on the push– “General Skywalker, this is Wroona Command. I need a status report of your front on Vandelhelm!”
“Wroona Command,” Skywalker’s cadence was rock solid, “We are engaged in a stalemate with the Separatist forces on the planet. Little progress have been made on either side.”
Scout shared a look with her XO, “Acknowledged, General Skywalker. It appears the Confederate Fourth Fleet have launched their ninth all-out attack at Wroona. The central vector of their offensive is focused Coreward of the Harrin Trade Corridor. Over a dozen contested systems are threatened by the invasion. We must shorten the front.”
“...Is that your honest evaluation of the situation, Commander?” there was a ghastly wind howling in the background, punctuated by distant explosions.
Commander Esterhazy swallowed thickly, “It is. We need to liquidate any salients that endanger the structural integrity of the front. The Separatists are running out of resources too–that is why they are only attacking along the Harrin Corridor. They need us overextended to advance.”
“Then what will you have us, Commander?”
She breathed out, “The Five-Oh-First Legion will be redeployed to the Lohopa System one thousand parsecs east of Vandelhelm. This is where we must stop the Separatists.”
“Clone Commander A’din’s Seventh Legion holds Lohopa-Two,” General Skywalker recognised
“It is the only world fortified enough to halt the Separatist advance,” she explained.
“So you have decided to liquidate the Jurzan and Hythrope salients,” General Skywalker murmured, and Scout involuntarily tensed at her Master’s incoming judgement, “...Sounds good to me. I will inform General Ry-Gaul of the development. Demand more warships from General Grant and reinforce your position at Wroona; Lohopa-Two is no fortress world, and an invasion fleet or two slipping to Wroona is a foregone conclusion.”
“Understood, General.”
She could see it unfolding now, the slow-motion horror of a coordinated assault reaching across the map in blood-red tendrils. Her hands shook slightly as she leaned forward, bracing against the holotable to study the flashing icons, her mind in a race against the advancing Separatist warfleets. Commander Esterhazy has lived this life eight times before; each sector falling back leaving a void that seemed impossible to fill, each plea for aid was a reminder of the enemies bearing down upon her, tightening like a vice around Wroona.
“General Secura is also fighting on Derra-Four, maintaining the Mikaster salient,” he continued, “Have her withdraw her forces to Lohopa and rendezvous with me there.”
“Understood, General,” the Jedi Commander pressed her palms down on the edges of the holotable to anchor herself, looking towards her second. “Contact General Secura now!” she hissed.
“We can’t!” Fajinak hissed back, cajoling a nearby comms chief for an answer, “Derra Command isn’t responding!”
Scout felt her stomach twist. Derra IV is too far out, and the Mikaster salient is too overextended. The closest allied armies are at Armath and Atrakus, and both are already holding on a knife’s edge as it is.
“Can we directly contact General Secura’s forward base?” Commander Esterhazy demanded, “What about Marshal Commander Bly!?”
She felt the need to keep her hands moving even as she waited for a response. Requests to evacuate poured in from every sector, every channel buzzing with demands they couldn’t possibly meet, but her hands kept moving, issuing orders, redirecting what scant forces remained. Her team moved with her, but their voices were fractured, panicked, even in the crisp efficiency of military jargon.
“We managed to get a connection through to Commander Bly!” the comms chief suddenly shouted out, and her heart leapt, “Commander–!”
“–Is this Wroona Command?” despite sharing the same voice as every other clone trooper, Commander Bly’s voice was hardly recognisable, raw and scratchy through the comms.
“This is,” Scout answered hastily, “Marshal Commander Bly, this situation on Derra–”
“...Derra-Four has been lost,” the Marshal Commander’s words came down like a sledgehammer, “Reinforcements from the Sixteenth Sector Army never came.”
“General Secura–”
“–Sir,” Commander Fajinak whispered to her, “We’re getting a visual transmission from his end. Should we put it on the holo?”
Scout froze.
But ultimately decided; “Do it.”
Fajinak nodded cautiously, and forwarded the transmission into the holoprojection table. Upon reading it, the projection zoomed in on the Derra System, opening a new window with a holorecording captured within it. It was from the viewpoint of a warship escaping towards Derra IV’s hyperlane egress–an Acclamator-class assault ship from the transponder code. There were sixteen more Acclamators in the frame of the holo, along with a smattering of Venators and escorts, all escaping from the world.
But all eyes in the Battle Room were fixated on the sphere of Derra IV itself. The hologram projected distorted footage corrupted by internal damage and enemy jamming, but even then, they could clearly make out the Separatist warfleet hovering above key locations on Derra IV. There was a singular warship that caught her eye, its destroyed hull and armour plates large enough to cover entire houses, its scars massive as a ravine each due to its immense size.
She recognised it. How could she not?
Battleship Antecedent. The Hammer of the Rim.
And it was firing upon Derra IV. Spiralling clouds of superheated maelstroms churned over its vast oceans, visible from outer space. Across the planet’s atmosphere, skyscraper-sized turbolaser bolts punched through the stratosphere, sending ripples outward, no more than raindrops on an endless pond from the distance.
The Battle Room was deathly silent.
“That’s another world gone,” Fajinak murmured, as if crossing off a tally. He may as well be.
“...Be notified we’re withdrawing to Lohopa. General Secura–” Commander Bly breathed sharply, “General Aayla Secura has been killed in action on Derra-Four.”
⁂
Korphir Approach, Korphir System
Gordian Reach
The Gordian Reach was a mostly uninhabited patch of space nestled in between the Hydian Way and Near-Perlemian. The region formed one of the galaxy’s natural barriers, blocking easy fleet movement between the two super-hyperlanes. It was a chaotic labyrinth of stellar graveyards, empty voids, and dense nebulae–a natural fortress and maze sprawled just north of Phindar. And right in the heart of it was the Yavin System, where the future Rebel Alliance would erect their base of operations.
Yavin wasn’t our destination. Our destination was the Hydian Way, on the opposite side of the Gordian Reach. And that meant running the Korphir Trace, an incredibly tiny spacelane running between Korphir and Arkuda that was the only known route to cut through the otherwise impenetrable nebula known as the Roil. With time, maybe the Givin could calculate another path through the cosmic mountain range, but time wasn’t exactly a luxury we could afford.
And so the Roil laid before us, a great splash of gas and multi-coloured dust strewn across the void like celestial paint. The night sky view from Korphir and Arkuda must be incredible.
“Statement: the Dodecian is correct,” Augur’s deep, steely voice was bone-shaking, “Our scans are indicating unnatural gravity wells ahead of us. Assessment: the Korphir System is protected by an extensive hyperspace interdiction net.”
“Well, I am assuming it is not one of ours,” I murmured, appraising the scans.
“Caution: the Confederate Armed Forces possess no documented military installations in the Korphir System,” Augur answered.
“So there’s a Republic base here,” I surmised.
“Assessment: a probable hypothesis.”
“Long-range search-mode scanning,” I ordered, “Flush the system and find it, starting from the centre.”
“Affirmative.”
Augur wasted no time in getting to work, commanding the crew of battleship Conqueress with precision efficiency. The massive warship’s scanner suites immediately activated, flaring to life as they swept the star system ahead of us, its inner planets entirely within the cone of our bow. Bunt Dantor–the scientist who designed and engineered the weapon system–and his Techno Union technicians and researchers, practically buzzing in their pressure suits, eagerly monitored the results; testing, scrutinising, and logging every detail from the bespoke sensor arrays they had painstakingly developed for what they called the most advanced weapons system in the galaxy.
It struck me as somewhat like children testing out a new toy, if those children catalogued every scrap of data they could glean. After all, this was Conqueress's first deployment, and given the layers of secrecy surrounding her construction, it was also her maiden field test and voyage.
Nevertheless, I tried not to let it affect me. Not that it did matter; I ended up taking a nap because it took approximately ten hours before we found something.
“Observation: sensor contact, range six-billion klicks bearing oh-two-nine mark double-oh-eight,” Augur suddenly boomed, “Probable solar orbit.”
Six billion… what a mind-boggling number. That was the distance from Pluto to Mars.
“Switch to focus-mode and paint the target,” I slowly stood up, “I want an identification. Are the shells loaded?”
“Loading guns Number One and Number Two!” the weapons officer reported, “Set to anti-ship mode. Awaiting firing solution to begin targeting sequence!”
Clank-thud! The deck shuddered as the first round was locked into the firing chamber, a gargantuan tunqstoid kinetic kill vehicle about the size of a small apartment complex. The shell was so egregiously large that Conqueress could only carry eight of them–four for each gun–which made every shell worth their weight in gold. And that’s a lot of gold, because tunqstoid was notoriously dense. They made blast doors out of the stuff–hell, half the ship’s weight probably lied in the KKVs alone.
“Enemy fleet signature confirmed,” the sensor chief hollered next, “Identification: Grade-Three battlestations, thirty-one capital ships. Interdiction array nexus confirmed. Solar orbit.”
“Target the nexus,” I ordered, feeling my voice tremble just slightly as adrenaline pulsed through my veins. The murmur of excitement from the Techno Union technicians was contagious, “Augur, can we knock down enough of the interdiction net to make the jump?”
“Affirmative.”
I nodded, taking a moment to inhale and let my heart settle. His answer was simple and firm, as according to his programming, and his presence was unflinching. I trusted his assessment. Why else would you keep a two-metre tall super tactical droid on your bridge if not for making judgements like these?
“Very well,” I breathed out as the rangefinders clicked into alignment, “Inform Dodecian Illiet to calculate the jump to Arkuda.”
“Affirmative.”
“Intercept plan has been copied and sent!” the fire control officer called, his voice tense and sharp.
“Copy plan!” the weapons officer replied, “Awaiting approval!”
“Affirmative: approved as planned, all stations prepare for intercept,” Augur folded his metal arms behind his back, “Gun Number One is authorised to fire.”
“Copy; all hands amend power distribution, full power to Number One!” Gnifmak Dymurra, the Loronar Corporation officer and attaché commanded, “We’ll keep number two warmed up just in case!”
The bridge lights dimmed in a programmed sequence, the surrounding starlight beyond the transparisteel dome fading to black as the targeting array concentrated on the target six-billion klicks forward. Number 1, as we called it, was so vast that its barrel alone extended half the length of the ship. Inside, energy began to course, power surging and converging as Conqueress’ four tritium fusion generators directly fed into concentration, overlapping gravitational pulses herded along Number 1’s length.
“We have target acquisition!” the sensor officer announced, the low hum of systems spinning up creating a bass undercurrent to the crew’s chatter. The bridge began to feel a slight vibration at our feet, as if Conqueress herself was tensing up in anticipation.
“Plotting intercept course!”
“We have a firing solution!”
“Data sync complete!”
“Awaiting orders!”
“Fire!” the words left my lips before I knew it, as if I had been taken in stride a line of falling dominoes.
The command had barely left my lips before Conqueress discharged, and reality itself seemed to shudder. A blinding column of energy tore from the ship's superstructure, cascading forward in a beam so intense that it turned the view beyond the bridge into a single, searing wash of bleeding red. The bridge vibrated violently, thrumming like the body of a giant beast unleashing its roar, the unstoppable lance of molten light disappearing into the inky blackness of space, leaving behind a reddish backwash in its wake as the only proof of its existence.
For a split second, I felt weightless, as though the sheer force of the shot had displaced Conqueress itself, the shockwave rippling through the decks with a deep, bone-rattling shudder. The pressure in the air shifted, static prickling across my skin, like standing at the eye of a storm and watching it unfold in a massive exhale. All around me, the bridge crew stared in rapt attention, eyes wide, mouths slightly agape at the monitors and holodisplays.
And held it that way for three whole hours.
Until the contact disappeared from the screens, the tiny blip of light fading out of existence–replaced by a flare of searing energy expanding in a slow, silent bloom across the system map, like a star exploding in miniature.
The enemy probably got hit by the KKV before they even realised we were scanning them.
“Hit confirmed,” Gnifmak Dymurra squinted, “And the interdiction net has dropped. We are free to insert into hyperspace.”
“Dispatch engineers to Number One,” I immediately ordered, “I need to know how long before we can use it again.”
“Affirmative,” Augur’s response was swift, “Weapons, depower Number Two. Dispatch engineering squads. Request: provide detailed damage report in twenty-four standard hours.”
“Copy that, chief!”
“Scepter, Conqueress,” I spoke to Dodecian Illiet’s frigate, “Sync navicomputers for insertion.”
“Conqueress, Scepter,” the Givin officer replied, “Orders acknowledged. Syncing fleet hyperdrives for insertion.”
“–Wait!” Bunt Dantor protested, racing to the front of the captain’s chair, “We need to remain in the system a little longer; my researchers need to analyse–”
“We’re here on a military assignment, Dantor,” I interjected, “Not a field test. The weapon proved effective, and the interdiction net has collapsed. We will not wait around to see if any surviving enemy forces remain to intercept us.”
“Statement: we must focus our efforts on repairing gun Number One,” Augur said coldly.
“Besides, what is there to analyse?” Gnifmak Dymurra piped up, pointing at the holos with a heavy weight in his tone, “There’s nothing left but smoke.”
Comments
Voligne
I am assuming that eventually Rain and Dooku are going to fight. What needs to happen in this story is that Rain and Dooku need to have a dialogue wherein Rain deconstructs Dooku's character and his fall to the Dark Side. Dooku sacrificed everything to Sidious. Seeing the corruption and greed at the center of the Galaxy he becamed disillusioned with the Republic. Seeing the Jedi being unable or unwilling to act to stop it. Dooku became disillusioned with the Jedi. Somewhere around this time he met Darth Sidious who told him what needed to be done, that the galaxy needed to be torn down and built back up, and offered to Dooku his (Sidious) dream of Empire. Where all the wrongs can be righted and order can be restored to the Galaxy. Dooku killed Yaddle to keep this secret. Becoming a sith apprentice. And thus he was commanded to create the Confederacy of Independent Systems. But it was never his, and he never treated it as if it was his. Doing Sidious bidding all the while to keep it a threat but never actually let it off the leash, to take the fight to the Republic because the CIS wanted independence from the Republic. It never cared to overthrow or rule on its own. He had his empire, from which he could right the wrongs, at least in one part of the galaxy. But he threw it away, only for Severance Tann to pick it up and make it her own. He threw Assaj Ventress away, and Sevrance picked her up too. And now he is stuck in the northern territories with a rapidly dwindling list of friends and allies. All the while wondering when Sidious will finally decide to take his aging elderly apprentice behind the space barn. When Sidious will find a new model to trade up to. And just like every sith lord before him, he sacrificed everything. He sacrificed his principles, his friends, his authority and position, his dreams and aspirations, his students, his dignity, all for power. In the hopes that when he has what he want he can recover all of that. And yet, here he is. All his power and rage and ability with the force and his aspirations and dreams of a better tomorrow. All it will ever amount to now is hot air, noise, and a corpse on the floor. He has come so far, and yet never has he been further from the very thing that set him on this path in the first place. EDIT: There was a scene in the KOTOR games where you get to talk to sith apprentices on Korriban. There was a girl who was rescued from slavery but she had to leave her sister behind, and she became a Dark Side apprentice to gain power with the force so she could go back to free her sister, and to free all the slaves. To use the dark side to destroy slavery. But the Sith are a pit of vipers and crabs. Every day she is there with the power she needs to accomplish her goals dangled in front of her. Every day her dream of destroying slavery and freeing slaves grows farther and farther away. Power for the sake of power, never to be used to actually *do* anything. Until one day she meets someone stronger than her, and all her dreams, her goals, her ambitions becomes nothing but dust on the wind. Heat, noise, and another corpse on the academy valley floor.
Empty Shelf
I imagine they're simply stretched thin. The fact that a Padawan is in this position would indicate that everyone senior has already been deployed to the front lines to hold off the attack. And if they've been taking heavy casualties, they may be digging deep into their ranks to draft replacement officers with enough seniority.
Dragontaylor
Wouldn’t really matter? The Death Star would still take 2 decades to make. Handful of years if they barebones rush order it. They don’t have that long, even if they’d started at the beginning of the war
Dragontaylor
Sounds like incompetence on her part or her/her people’s role so large there so much going on they don’t have enough people cover shifts while keeping constant coverage of all of it. A lot did suddenly happen multiple planets.
SureRuseUser
I don't fully understand why Scout's crew is so overworked, do they not have different work shifts onboard their ships in Star Wars? Scout can make some sense being overworked as the Leader but otherwise it appears off to me. Edit Suggestion: “Then what will you have us, Commander?” “Then what will you have us do, Commander?”
Ordic
Pretty much this + other imported slaves were used in the building of it as well such as wookies since it was a very heavily comartmentalized project aka. ppl did not know they were building a component for the death star even after its reveal since they were being built all across the galaxy
Voligne
My understanding was they had the designs for the deathstar, and Dooku was going to hand them over to Sidious. The first one was built in orbit of Geonosis, but it was the Empire that built it using the Geonosians as slave labor before extermination whoever was left when it was finished.
Ника Ви
Thanks for the chapter!
PearsMan
Thank you I’ll look into it
Hawk
Don't worry, we still have Tann and you know that with how hardcore military she is that booty has got to be tight.
elsicava
also good point. i'll fix that
windoverwaves
However, they still shouldn't be waiting around three hours just staring at the holo. Surely in between that time someone should've ordered engineer squads to gun 1?
elsicava
ngl that slipped my mind. you're right about that.
BigBillyWilly
Ah I see thank you. I'm not too familiar with the lore beyond the films.
nugitoBambino
@Tsorov, I don't think that theory gained a lot of traction. Idk with Disney throwing out the old Star Wars legends, but traditionally, Thrawn was the individual trying to prep the galaxy for war with the Vong, and he's on record in his original trilogy calling the Death Star a huge waste of resources. I could be wrong, it's been years since I read the OG trilogy, but my take was that Palps made the Death Star as a flex rather than for any tactical purpose.
nugitoBambino
@Tsorov is that not rain's mission right now? to go to the planet in Count Dooku's territory to get an update so the ship can fire more quickly?
nugitoBambino
the projectile moving faster than light and reaching the target in 3 hours makes sense, but wouldn't it still take ~5 hours (the time it took to find the station in the first place) to get confirmation on the target's destruction? Or is this just them noticing that the gravity intercessor field is gone, which occurs faster than light last well?
Akel
Things keep getting worse for everyone. Love it.
Antic Master
Man, the amount of knowledge you have on both Star Wars and irl to write out an immersive scene like this that makes sense must be immense. Sidenote, I assume that Conqueress doesn’t have an energy-cannon/ion-cannon configuration like EaW’s Aggressor?
Bishop7053
Damn, best blue waifu is gone. Rip blue booty
Bishop7053
And a first shot that can wipe a small fleet. 31 ships down with one shot.
Notcreepycreeper
yeah, it becomes almost funny if you stop for a second to think about it. Shot goes off over a couple minutes, you spend a few more minutes staring at this insanely powerful energy bolt going into the distance...and keep staring......and staring......its been an hour, still staring.........................
Ordic
I think at this point the cis still has the skeleton of it so it probably wont take off without at least the barebones prototype like it did with one as a base in otl (it was said it was stolen from over geonosis btw)
Empty Shelf
Good stuff. My only criticism is that they apparently waited the entire 3 hours for the projectile to reach it's target before checking the weapon. It's suitably dramatic, but it doesn't make much sense.
Mad Max
Do we have a headcount of how many of the old council have cacked it? Ki adi's been Grievous'd, oppo rancis has been mass-driver'd, Ayla Secura has been pounded into the dirt. Anyone else I'm missing?
Marcin
Boom...
BigBillyWilly
I'm wondering if the news of this Confederate super weapon reaching Coruscant will prompt an early launch into the Death Star program? It's the equivalent of, "Our enemy has nukes, we need bigger nukes!" Great chapter by the way, it kind of shows how messed up the Jedis involvement with this war is. Scout's a teenager and she's already making decisions that potentially cost thousands of lives. I imagine if the Order comes out this war still alive, there's tragically going to be more than a few thousand yard stares from this generation of Padawans. RIP Secura.
KnightofTempest
I know they've thrown in with Rain, but every time the Techno Union gets mentioned, I can't help but remember the Techno Union Memes with DJ Wat Tambor. . .
Duke of Coffee
Horn is brutal, throwing everything to gain a foothold. Rain meanwhile is doing his best to sync up with his new Droid crew... it hurts to see no more Tuff...
D3ad0s
Oh, My bad. it has been a while since the Commoner chapter. Forgot that the shells are supposed to be FTL. Also, that is one hell of a terrifying weapon. If it can hit you before you register that there is an enemy fleet in the system. It just gives you a permanent first move advantage. In short: Damn.
elsicava
I assumed sensor is LIDAR (so lightspeed), some other Star Wars FTL scanner, or something close to it. Hailhound mentioned it would take ~5.5 lighthours to traverse 6b km, that's where the 10hour wait for sensor contact comes from (5 hours to reach target and 5 hours to return to sender)
Jan Ullrich
The key point I was looking at was, that sensors hadn’t registered a launch before impact. That doesn’t require the weapons to be ftl just faster than sensor data
Meat
I forget if was mentioned but what's the normal engagement range for ships? 300k kilometers? 3 million?
elsicava
Well, nearly correct. The projectile *is* FTL *by* folding space around it. Inside that folded space, the projectile is sublight. But since everyone is looking at the folded space from the *outside*, the whole 'package' so to speak is FTL. It's when the 'package' contacts another physical body, the warp space 'breaks' and the projectile inside impacts the target at sublight speeds (around 99.9% lightspeed). So the projectile isn't *actually* FTL (because its sublight inside the warped space), but its *practically* FTL (since the warped space is shortens the distance). It's the same principle as the real life Alcubierre Drive if you want to read up on it Hope that makes sense.
Meat
It was mentioned previously that the projectile itself isn't actually at ftl velocities and is just folding space around it to reach the target faster. It's still going at horrific sublight speeds though
elsicava
The shell is FTL. That's the point of the weapon, and it's been explained in the Commenor chapter among others. Conqueress' waveguns are Alcubierre Drives, and should they fire at full power, the KKV will be contained in a relativistic warp bubble that is *apparently* (in the actual sense of the word) FTL. Notice that the chapter states it took roughly 10 hours to find a contact? Assuming LIDAR or some other form of lightspeed scanning, it would take 5~ hours to reach contact and 5~ to return to sender. That's where the 10 hours come from. Lastly, Rain noted the backwash from the KKV was reddish in colour. That's the effect of redshift. (objects approaching at lightspeed will appear blue due to blueshift, and redshift is the opposite) The KKV taking 3 hours to reach target was a conscious decision
D3ad0s
Alright. A small nitpick. 3 Hours of waiting until the shell impacts? Seemed a bit suspect. So I did some back of a napkin calculus, and according to it, it would take about 5 and a half hours to impact at light speed (or, close to it). So you have a skyscraper made of solid, extra-dense metal traveling at FTL. Space fantasy and all that, yes, I get it. But can you please make it at least 6 hours instead? So it would be close to the FTL without breaking it? Also interested in the new crew dynamic and who is the new Super Tactical droid? What happened to Tuff, and was at least some of him salvageable? Also, Conqueress is a damn good name for his new ship in my opinion. And I can’t stop grinning when I imagine all the Teasing that Calli will inflict upon him when they reunite. After all, he named a ship in her honor! Even if he will never admit it to her face (maybe).
elsicava
I considered the whole post-Rendili interlude chapters the low tension part of the story (after the climax and blowout at Rendili), and Rain being reintroduced marks the restart of the rising tension cycle. As for filler (what you described on the original comment is filler) it will be interspersed throughout his POVs, so there aren't any blatantly filler chapters. I think this is roughly how the story has operated since the start, I try to avoid dumping all the exposition in a single chapter As for the person who named Antecedent, it was is one of the Sullust battle chapters. Antecedent was introduced when Ambigene glassed Eriadu, and the person commented below the chapter on it as well.
PearsMan
Oh dam! Which chp has comments for them? Also I may hv not explained it well: Are you going to keep the tension high since we’re moving from mission to mission or we allowed a breather to reflect n all? Because keeping tension high for a long while dosent usually last. This isn’t meant to be critical more me not understand your vision n not being u and just sharing my opinion. I’m enjoying the story regardless.
elsicava
Same age as Ahsoka, and you can't say Ahsoka didn't have massive responsibilities either in TCW. Such is the life of a Jedi Padawan at war. Anyway, that's why Scout has a seasoned officer with her at all times. They're both around the same rank (Jedi Commander and Lt. Commander) but he defers to her because she's Jedi. If she does something dumb, however, he's in his rights to veto it.
Dav
Yeah why didn't he just copy Tuff?
Dav
Why does Scout have such big responsibility? I thought she was very young?
SuperbOwl67
Wow! That whole process of firing the Conqueress’s main battery reminded me of the Galaxy Gun. Will there be a map soon show the progress of Ambigene and the new split in the CIS?
Tsorov
There is the Theorie that it was made to counter the Vongs ability terraform Planets into shipyards. Palpatine was made aware and saw that the Republic couldn't withstand an invasion and built the empire to counter the Vong. How effective the empire would have been is a different question, and I still can't see how a human superiority movement would have helped with that, so either way Palps had to die
Tsorov
Eight shots that can't be used in quick sucsession. The ammo could be carried by frighters, the problem is the projectile damages the "barrel" and so it can't be used that often. But ship could be made to take out big threads, like, say, a Jedi General or another Superweapon like the Malavolence. What I think is going to happen are two things. First: The seppies trie to improve on the design, making fiering it more efficient. The second is that there will be a seperate long term project that tries to invent shields capable of blocking shots from this weapon. Maybe MonCalamarie shields are gonna be developed way earlier, or they have to develop far better sensors to detect ships like the Conqueress sniping from out oflthe system
elsicava
A RR reader named the ship.
Straven
Wow that is one hell of a weapon, especially since they succeeded in creating an actual working prototype so quickly.
Hailhound
Related to the long hang time: is the projectile superluminal? At that distance it would take light 5.5 hours to get there, but it made it in 3. I know there’s space time bending shenanigans in the barrel so I guess it makes sense?
Voligne
The Death Star wasn't a battle station, it was a weapon of terror and always was. It's much more dramatic for a giant battle moon to show up and shatter a planet with a single laser blast, leaving naught but debris in its wake.
M0och
Completely agree. As you say, at least Plo Koon and Shaak Ti yet survive.
Jan Ullrich
Great chapter as always, just some advice on the tactics involved with such scenarios (long range space combat, where one has to wait for hours) the best analog we have is probably submarine warfare. So shout and scoot tactics might be a good approach. Considering it’s completely new approach to warfare in Star Wars it might take a while (battle and lives) to develop such tactics
Jarrik32
To be honest the Death Star was always an absurdity. A single Star destroyer was always capable of scouring an entire planet mostly clear of life within hours and glassing the surface entirely if needed and time was no object. What made it 'special' was that like the killing curse it was instantaneous and utterly unstoppable. What else could inspire such fear than something you cannot endure, only run from? It was a tool of pure terror. It never held any real military value.
Mrsean22
Man the Anakin vs Ambigene campaign is not looking good for the Republic. Are losing more ground but are keeping the damage to a minimum. Like Ambigene is running out of steam so the campaign might be more a CIS win but can't tell right now. Especially if Anakin and Scout can stop the CIS from moving once they group up. Rain with a new crew. Little sad to think about but hey it's war. Though got a lot of important people on his big ship. More to test the ship but it's important.....wait how much damage did this one shot just do? Though it does have a eight shot limit with them using one so seven shots left. If nothing else the thought of Rain with a ship like this will make people remember why they were afraid of Rain.
Viv15
It's effect on warships probably won't be as dramatic, with a three hour hangtime on that shot ships only need to engage in minor unpredictable maneuvers to dodge cross-system shots like that. Really this is the doom of stationary targets like battle stations, interdiction arrays (as Rain demonstrated), and -critically- planets. The CAF have already demonstrated a willingness to glass planets from orbit. They just demonstrated the ability to do so from *across a star system, beyond sensor range.* Anyone who doesn't want to risk loosing population centers and valuable naval infrastructure to this new weapon will need to radically rethink their naval doctrine.
Tsorov
Nice seeing the Seperatists new superweapon in practice. But won't the Republic be warned that the Seperatists have a new weapon if stations start to randomly disappear in goant explosions? And sad that Aayla Secura died already, I know she died in Order 66, but I like some Jedi more than others, and their deaths are always sad. At least Plo Koon and Shaak Ti are still alive
Man-O'-War
Wait is Augur based off an HK model?
PearsMan
Antecedent, Hammer of the Rim. Such a badassname and a reminder of how they existed first damn. I couldn’t find it via a quick search. Did u think of it? Rip to Aalyaa. Also damn no “I put the old tactical droid into the new one since we already in sync and I taught it stuff? Earlier chapters there was a buildup and everything slowly coming together, see stuff happen in the background. It seems now for Rain it’s just jumping from one mission to the next. But will we be getting the down time, thought process on his old crew gone and having a new crew less in sync and being more alone, and why his robot maid is such a jack of all trades?
Jose
Damn, so in this universe the Death Star would be considered both obsolete and a giant waste of resources. Since a capital ship can destroy a world just as easily, this new (It needs a scary name!) weapon has far better range than the death star, and it doesn't require nearly as many resources or logistics to build. This is going to force the Republic to spread out their fleets as concentrating too many forces leaves them vulnerable to this weapon, which is going to check the republic's number advantages.
Armo
Poor Scout. She’s trying really hard, but Ambigene is giving her no quarter. I wonder how many capital ships a KKV can obliterate just from collateral. Is this a sequel era hyperspace jump collision kind of situation? Or did they only hit the nexus and bypassed the others? Imagine if Rain’s going to make it into the Serenno Government territory, only to have to take over command of the Serenno government’s defence as the entire Republic Military crushes down on them.
syu
Damn, looks like the tomb maker is living up to his name. Both sides are depleted and this is probably the last offensive before a decisive win. On the other side if the galaxy, we have the galaxy's first field firing of a new superweapon. Can't wait to see it used on a major battlefield and the chaos it will no doubt sow.
Trailblazer
Conqueress. A fine name for a fine lady. And poor Scout, her first test as a CO is salvaging a losing campaign in possibly the most brutal front of the war.
