Ten years, first month, and twentieth day after the Battle of Yavin...
Or the forty-fifth year, first month, and twentieth day after the Great Resynchronization.
(Eight months and fifth day since the arrival).
Having finished reading the report, I set the deck aside and looked at Colonel Astarion with such an attentive gaze that the head of the Dominion's counterintelligence preferred to avert his eyes.
There was no need to ask the usual question in such a situation about whether this information was accurate, verified multiple times, and whether the confirmation sources could be trusted.
I had no doubts about the competence of the colonel's subordinates.
And if the conclusions were exactly like that, then there was no reason to doubt their veracity even a little.
"Izbela Saarrj," I pronounced slowly, as if tasting the sound of the woman's name.
That was the name of the one who had become the donor for the women-"vultures" of the Zann Consortium.
"Yes, sir," the head of the Dominion Security Bureau echoed. "Cross-analysis with Imperial databases gave a full match on appearance, retinal patterns, ninety percent match on DNA. We ran comparisons across all known identification criteria and got a definitive answer. With one exception in the identification block, of course. Confirmation by fingerprints of hands and palms is absent, but that's primarily because clones' prints differ directly from those of the original."
The last fact was known to me.
It was used by our security agencies and special services to identify clones.
When more than half of your armed forces consist of people with identical appearances, you inevitably need to find a way to identify them.
Dactyloscopy, as it turned out, had no equal in this matter.
Fingerprints are a unique pattern of papillary ridges formed during a person's life cycle.
There are many comparability criteria for prints, but no people have ever been born with identical prints.
Even among clones, they are always different.
And the last fact is a strictly guarded secret of the Dominion, for the preservation of which counterintelligence would lay down its life rather than allow it to go beyond its department and a very narrow circle of those initiated into the secret.
At the current stage of scientific development in the galaxy, dactyloscopy has even receded into the background as a forensic tool and is used in such a small number of investigations that its use could be considered negligible.
Or, as physicists say, "a quantity that can be neglected."
But not in the Dominion.
Over the years of its existence, the Empire had accumulated tens of thousands of reports on methods of forging sentient identity identifiers, as well as other official documents, including starship identifiers.
The Dominion citizen identity card was developed and put into production taking into account all existing comments.
Identification criteria for a citizen include several hundred items, including biometric data, among which are papillary patterns of the fingers and palm prints.
The name of the "Vultures'" donor had been known for quite some time and was no longer a secret to us.
And at the same time, it sheds a little more light on Tyber Zann's personality than before.
"In that case, we can conclude about the attitude of the head of the Zann Consortium toward those of his opponents whom he considers dangerous," I concluded, voicing my thoughts regarding the data on the donor's identity.
"I'm sorry, sir, but I don't understand which one," Astarion admitted.
"Nearly ten years ago after the Battle of Yavin IV, Izbela Saarrj compiled an analytical note that became part of an objective report submitted to Palpatine for personal review," I tapped my finger on the deck's screen, as if showing the source of my knowledge. "In this note, the lieutenant of Imperial Judicial Intelligence described the Zann Consortium as one of the greatest dangers"—yes, such a thing existed in the Empire. In the Empire in general, there were about two dozen intelligence organizations. Which did more harm to each other and fought for power than cared for the well-being of the state. "And note, Colonel. Essentially everything that the lieutenant indicated as probable paths of evolution for the criminal organization has been realized."
"Yes," Colonel Astarion admitted reluctantly. "I studied the analytical note inside and out, since a copy is in the Ubiqtorate archives. After his defeat, Tyber Zann developed the Zann Consortium almost exactly as Lieutenant Saarrj had assumed nearly ten years ago. The girl clearly should have become a prophetess instead of toiling in judicial intelligence for twenty thousand credits a standard year."
I shook my head negatively.
"No, Colonel," the statement drew Astarion's attention. "We're not talking about predictions. And not even so much about Tyber Zann's genius. Izbela Saarrj made logical conclusions and assumptions, outlining variants of event development, forecasting probabilities of Tyber Zann's actions based on available data about him and his organization. And today we learned that she, genetically modified by Kaminoan scientists, became a donor for numerous 'vultures' who carry out all those myriad operations that allow the Zann Consortium to be what it is at the current moment."
Astarion looked at me, his brows furrowed over the bridge of his nose.
He was clearly conducting a solo brainstorming session, sorting out what was said and what wasn't voiced.
"At some point in time before or after his defeat, Tyber Zann captured Izbela Saarrj," I said. "Given his corrupt connections, I'll assume he learned about the report and Palpatine's reaction. And decided to acquire for personal use the one who had analyzed him so thoroughly and in detail. How he achieved her cooperation is not such an important question at the moment. The key point is different—Tyber Zann is not perfect in himself. Shadow control of the criminal world, use of shell companies to cover main activities, multidirectional actions of separate parts of the organization—all this was assumed by Saarrj in her analytical note. Tyber Zann merely uses ready-made solutions worked out for him by others. However, we won't deny the fact that he undoubtedly did something personally. I'll assume with a high degree of probability that upon subsequent study of Imperial archives related to operations against the Zann Consortium, your subordinates will discover that a number of Imperial designers who studied captured Zann ships or analyzed them in other ways, pointing out design flaws that have since disappeared, vanished. And the Zann Consortium's ships are now more combat-capable."
"This fits the concept of 'vultures' kidnapping Imperial equipment and weaponry," Astarion nodded. "So, the Empire itself helped Zann resurrect, doing the error correction work for him."
And also actively facilitated it by allowing Zann to penetrate the Eclipse and gain access to Palpatine's secrets.
Secret accounts, a multitude of luxury items that could well be realized (after all, unlike me, who knows for certain that Palpatine is alive, Zann is unlikely to possess such information and thus could have sold what Palpatine kept as trophies)...
All this provided Tyber Zann with the means to begin underground activities to conquer the galaxy.
As is known, a holy place is never empty.
And so the power crisis in the Empire that arose after Palpatine's death, Zann used for his own purposes.
It's unlikely he predicted the Emperor's death under such conditions.
Most likely, cloning of moffs and other Imperials was done even before Endor, and Palpatine's death merely simplified the substitution procedure.
And to this day, Zann has done nothing openly because he intends to weaken the Imperial Remnants like Imperial Space and the Pentastar Alignment as much as possible, so that his actions do not encounter serious resistance.
"Should my people continue work on studying Imperial developments regarding the Zann Consortium?" Colonel Astarion clarified.
"Yes," I replied. "I need the names of those who studied Tyber Zann's organization and especially—who evaluated its armed forces, economy, made constructive suggestions like Izbela Saarrj. Likely, they all disappeared under one circumstance or another and now work for the Zann Consortium. But their names and identities will allow us to understand exactly what in Zann's organization has been changed by Imperial forces."
This information will give me an understanding of how fragmented, or conversely, monolithic the organization is that I intend to destroy.
To eradicate cancer, it is necessary to get rid of all metastases—otherwise, no treatment is possible.
Thus, only a temporary respite, no more.
"Understood," Colonel Astarion replied, making a note on his deck. "One last thing I wanted to report, sir. Grand Moff Ferrus is ready to participate in Operation Speculation."
The first large-scale counteroffensive against the Zann Consortium since we even learned that this criminal organization had not been destroyed earlier.
"Excellent," I stated. "All pieces must be in place by the time the fleet reaches positions and is ready for action."
"My subordinates have been brought to combat readiness."
As have the auxiliary forces.
As has the regular fleet.
As has our stormtroopers, pilots, soldiers, and sailors throughout the Dominion.
"Good," I said. "As soon as our baits reach their designated positions and make themselves known to the enemy, you will receive further instructions."
"Yes, sir," Astarion, understanding that the rendezvous was ending, rose from his seat.
Saluting silently, he left my apartments.
I, rummaging through the data chips with reports, found the one that interested me more than the others.
*
During the Galactic Civil War, the Izen system in the D'Astan sector was undergoing birth pangs—with a still-forming star and an endless sea of rocks in orbit.
Imperial research teams designated four approximate orbits, assuming that planets would eventually form in those areas.
The gas giant nicknamed Izen was also only forming.
The system was constantly bathed in radiation from the new star, and asteroid debris complicated navigation.
For this reason, no one in their right mind would spend millions of credits to settle here or risk capital to prospect for possible mineral deposits.
And in the three asteroid fields named Kisen, Kossan, and Kossim, there were clearly rich deposits of minerals.
But at the same time, there were always desperate daredevils who used the dangerous system to save time and fuel in deliveries to clients.
For the most part, these were various kinds of smugglers, for whom the word "risk" was like a second name.
These factors made the system an ideal place for those who intended to stay far from the sector authorities' attention.
In the current realities, such adventurers were the pirate gang known as the Void Demons.
According to scout drone data, the pirates had equipped a hidden base on the planetesimal Izen IV, the fourth in orbit around the eponymous gas giant.
Due to the Void Demons' actions, Izen IV had become the last resting place for several wrecked starship hulls.
A monstrously small part of them belonged to House D'Asta's merchant fleet—they were also the pirates' first victims.
Baron Ragez D'Asta had conducted several punitive raids in his time but achieved no significant successes because the pirates' base was in an extremely remote location, and the direct route to the base was blocked by mine and radiation fields.
The pirates had their own fairway, by which they reached their base.
But they wisely kept silent about it.
When civil war broke out in the sector, the Void Demons activated, ventured beyond the Izen system, and began attacking convoys of the baroness's supporters.
Thereby demonstrating their bias in the current conflict and direct interest.
Their possession of several Interceptor-class frigates, built on the basis of the Action IV transport, allowed the pirates to pose a significant threat to virtually any transport convoy with a light escort.
And to protect their own transports from their actions, the baroness's supporters had to exert considerable effort.
But today they made their final mistake—they attacked Dominion transport ships piloted by droids.
Interceptor IV frigate.
And now Abyssal Fury had come following the beacon signals installed inside the starship hulls in such a way that the ship itself became a transmitter.
It's terrifying to imagine how much money went into such refits of simple freighters.
Fortunately, for these purposes, old starships captured by the Dominion in the past were used.
And they are used as "bait" because maintaining, let alone repairing them, is quite difficult due to the lack of specialized industry that could provide parts specifically for these starship types.
"'Raider' and 'Constrainer' report that exit vectors from the system are blocked," the watch officer reported to Captain Stormaer.
"Suppression of long-range communications?" the star destroyer commander clarified.
"'Constrainer' is jamming all long-range comm channels, and 'Raider'—system-wide negotiations," the lieutenant confirmed execution of another order.
"In that case—order to our 'Dragons': 'Begin blockade,'" Antonias ordered. "Destroyers to follow us and prepare for battle as well."
The tactic of luring the enemy with live bait had been used by the Dominion more than once, but in other regions of space.
Thanks to blockades of star systems, including communication links, and complete pirate sweeps, the spread of Dominion tactics does not occur.
Therefore, the Void Demons have no information about what they will face.
Two Interdictor-class star destroyers, setting traps at the system exit supported by six Crusader II-class corvettes and their own fighter wings, will stop anyone from attempting to flee.
Dragons One through Three, participating in the operation, brought several hundred TIE fighters to the battlefield, which are to engage the pirates' fighters.
And Abyssal Fury herself, as the flagship, will deliver the final blow to the enemy.
"And you're not rushing too much, Captain," came the voice of the Mandalorian approaching Antonias.
"Haste in securing all the trophies we're interested in is not the best way to end the operation with minimal losses," Stormaer replied sharply, glancing at the leader of the offworlders from Kol Atorn.
Indeed...
How many sentients in the galaxy know that Mandalorians inhabit not only their own sector?
Probably not that many, otherwise the news that in this operation Abyssal Fury would use Mandalorians as boarding forces instead of its own stormtroopers—and, by the way, they are also Dominion citizens—would not have caused such shock among the star destroyer's crew.
"Yes-yes-yes," Hedge Spar grimaced. "You all always dawdle. Instead of striking fast, so the enemy doesn't even have time to raise their ships and pull up their pants... What's the glory in such an operation if you give the enemy time to prepare for the attack, instead of dropping on their heads right in their own nest?"
That's the logic of Mandalorians.
What strategy?
What tactics?
Fly in, swoop down, strike, engage in battle—and to hell with the consequences.
The main thing is that everyone on the battlefield has a chance to prove themselves as a ruthless warrior.
Mandalorian losses don't interest them.
But regular fleet command does—very much.
Especially Grand Admiral Thrawn.
Spar doesn't know this, but the participation of his people in the attack on the Void Demons' base is a test of his troops' combat capabilities before they openly join battles on the baroness's side.
The Izen system is suitable for this like no other.
Blocked, remote, without a developed communication and surveillance network.
Whatever happens here will remain a secret among those who participated in this operation.
Whether the Void Demons support the rebellious aristocracy or decided to take advantage of the sector's disunity to expand their "hunting grounds"—counterintelligence will deal with that.
But they will get involved no earlier than all fighters of the pirate group are killed or captured.
And for that, it will be necessary not only to destroy their mosquito fleet but also to capture the base built inside the planetesimal.
Why capture and not destroy?
Because the Izen system is located in close proximity to a number of regional hyperspace routes.
By subjugating it and occupying the Void Demons' base, the baroness's allied forces will not only manage to eliminate losses in their own transport convoys but also reduce the strain on the number of escort ships forcibly used to protect convoys.
And the fewer starships participate in escorting cargo ships, the more can be directed to the front lines or raids into enemy rear areas.
Despite understanding the necessity and importance of double-dealing with the baroness's opponents and even allies, the fact remains.
The baroness lacked free forces and ships for a direct strike on the pirates' base.
The Dominion could not support her openly—otherwise, it would threaten escalation of problems with the Imperial Remnants.
Therefore, to be in the right, the Dominion fed the pirates its droid-controlled ships.
Their capture allowed a local military operation to destroy the pirates, and no one would ever dare to make claims against the Dominion regarding the protection of interests in a foreign sector.
Because only the authority in D'Astan—namely, Baroness D'Asta—could exercise such a right.
But Antonias assumed no serious remarks would follow from her side.
However, this operation clearly pursued other goals as well.
Antonias assumed that the pirates' destruction would directly or indirectly spur other forces involved in the sector's civil war.
Intelligence plainly stated that with the start of the civil war in D'Astan, too many parties interested in a specific conflict outcome had appeared.
Imperial Space informants operated on planets.
Rebellious aristocrats had settled on Serenno.
And on the planet Rentalas, according to Old Republic intelligence archives, there was once a Rebel Alliance base.
A listening post, thanks to which one could become involved in events without direct conflict and gather all necessary information.
And at the moment, there is no certainty that the New Republic or Alliance won't want to use the old base to grab a piece for themselves in the civil war.
"Those are the basics of tactics," Stormaer cut off. "Rushing in here without reconnaissance, not knowing where the pirates' base is and what capabilities it has, means having every chance of mission failure."
"That's why I'm here with my soldiers," Hedge Spar stated smugly. "Whatever mess you make here, we'll finish the job and capture that base for you. You'll thank us yet that it was us attacking the planetesimal, not your 'dolls.'"
The Mandalorian nodded toward the guard.
Stormtroopers in the familiar white armor across the galaxy stood frozen at their posts, not reacting to the Mandalorian's boasting.
But for Antonias, patience had run out.
"Frankly, I'm more inclined to the view that soldiers from Kol Atorn are fighting in the D'Astan sector so the regular fleet doesn't kick them off the planet that's part of the Dominion," he said in an even tone, looking directly into the Mandalorian's eyes without any fear. "And besides, Grand Admiral Thrawn gave you a battlecruiser not so you could leisurely fly around this sector on it. But to ensure your mobility in the interests of fulfilling the tasks set by the General."
Spar's helmet had no visor, so Antonias could see the Mandalorian's jaw muscles working.
This was something like a nonverbal threat meant to intimidate the commander of Abyssal Fury.
"So," Abyssal continued, "no empty rhetoric here, Hedge Spar. You and your people are just mercenaries. At least—for now. And it's not for you to lecture me on how to conduct battles. There's a huge difference between you and me. I got my ship as a reward for merits to the Dominion and as a result of recognizing my professionalism. And you and your people were given a battlecruiser as an advance."
The Mandalorian bared his teeth.
"A battlecruiser loaded to the brim with military gear and weapons," he clarified. "And yes, Captain, you're absolutely right. No need to equate us. I know by heart all the exploits and glorious deeds of every Mandalore. War is what I absorbed with my mother's milk. And I can equally excellently prove myself, whether commanding a ship—our glorious Rottaran—or in ground combat. And if you were put in command of your stormtroopers—you'd all be slaughtered like young nerfs at a slaughterhouse..."
Antonias opened his mouth to reply in a similarly venomous tone, but his eye caught the watch officer.
"Sir, the transmitters on the transport ships have activated. Scanners under the hulls have 'illuminated' the planetesimal and immediate surroundings."
"Have we received the movement fairway?" Stormaer clarified.
"Yes, sir," the watch officer nodded, pointing to the holoprojector. "I've routed the received information there."
"Come, Spar," the commander of Abyssal Fury suggested to the Mandalorian. "Now I'll explain to you the reason why we 'do everything so slowly.' I think you'll be interested in getting recon data before you and your soldiers head into the inferno."
As his hands ran over the device's keyboard and a volumetric image appeared over the projecting surface, the skepticism and mockery easily readable on the Mandalorian's face gave way to seriousness.
The location of the Void Demons' pirate base.
"Smartly done," Antonias said, examining the hologram from several sides. "The base entrance, as well as the main modules, is recessed into a canyon, providing natural protection during bombardment."
"Not only that," the Mandalorian said reluctantly, pointing to a massive ridge in the planetesimal's western hemisphere. "Izen IV has virtually no rotation, and therefore the shadow falling into the crater constantly hides the structures from visual detection. This also makes it easy to defend—I'm sure the base's outer modules can be jettisoned into space, and inside the planetesimal, there's a branched network of tunnels and hangars in case of escape."
"Complex mobile sensor systems are scattered throughout the system," Antonias continued. "The pirates collect data on meteorite and asteroid movements in the system."
"They're worried someone flying into the system will cut engines and pretend to be a rock to find them," the Mandalorian said. "The defenses are solid too. Twelve fighter launchers, a landing deck, eight laser cannons, and three turbolaser batteries. Yeah, anyone poking around here will have a rough time."
"All the more reason to act according to plan," Stormaer cut off.
"Sir, enemy ship signatures have appeared at points seven-three-one and nine-six-six," came from the pit.
"Identified?" Stormaer asked.
"Yes, sir! Interceptor IV frigates. We've detected six ships of this class supported by three fighter squadrons. Mostly 'headhunters.'"
So, Z-95s as their main fighters.
Not the most pleasant enemy.
"Modified armed bolt-buckets," Spar snorted. "Their destruction won't take much time."
Such bravado is starting to cause concern.
For a one-hundred-fifty-meter ship, third-class hyperdrive, sturdy deflector shields, two turbolaser batteries, and a launcher with anti-ship missiles—this is no "bolt-bucket."
The fourth Interceptor was an upgrade of the widely used pirate forces across the galaxy Interceptor-class frigate, which itself was a modified Action VI transport.
The latter were very popular freighters in service with smugglers and traders across the galaxy, boasting inordinately huge cargo holds.
And the "fours" were far from "targets for training gunners' skills."
The only vulnerability of this starship is its light hull armor.
But its armament, deflector shields on par with a heavy cruiser combined with powerful engines allowing it to achieve extremely high sublight speeds for a vessel of its size, made it a rather problematic opponent even for a star destroyer.
Not to mention that this ship type became the most common vessel in the Zann Consortium until they were smashed and went underground in the galaxy.
"Formation—battle stations," Antonias ordered.
"You're joking, right, Captain?" the Mandalorian was surprised. "One of your star destroyers alone would be enough to disassemble their fleet into spare parts and hand it over for scrap at the nearest metal recycler!"
"And it's enough for them to properly delay us, exposing their shields, to properly erase traces of these ships' origins," Stormaer parried. "If the Interceptors were supplied by the Zann Consortium—I want to know about it. And my command in the person of Grand Admiral Thrawn has exactly the same curiosity."
The Mandalorian deemed it best to remain silent.
"Then it'd be better to destroy them one by one," he said, seeing that Abyssal Fury had begun accelerating, rapidly closing with her pirate starship opponents.
"I'll take them all at once," Antonias cut off. "Query to 'Dragons': targets assigned?"
"Main guns ready to fire," confirmed from the comm post.
"Fire," Antonias ordered.
The trio of Venators simultaneously spat crimson fire.
The Clone Wars-era destroyers moving behind Abyssal Fury spewed droplets of ion shots from their main hangars, which in an instant took half the enemy fleet out of action.
With the next salvo, the three remaining Interceptor IVs followed their comrades and turned into dead shaped chunks of metal.
"Order to stormtroopers," Antonias activated his comlink. "Form boarding parties and capture enemy starships. Ship commanders, officers, data carriers—everything must be handed over to DSB personnel aboard Abyssal Fury."
"Planetary ion cannon on a Venator platform?" Hedge Spar looked at Abyssal Fury's commander anew. "Such a setup must require a huge power draw..."
"And they have it," Antonias replied calmly, for whom, like most regular fleet ship commanders, the effectiveness of the Sunburn project was no longer something supernatural. "Crew, maximum vigilance! Interceptors—maintain visual perimeter watch. Abyssal Fury and Dragon-One proceed to planetesimal Izen IV. Other ships—execute previous blockade order. All large ships—knock out with ion cannon and capture."
Fortunately, the Dragons and Interdictors also have stormtrooper detachments and support droids.
Turning to the Mandalorian, Abyssal inquired of Spar as if nothing had happened:
"Are you sure you shouldn't oversee loading your people onto the assault shuttles? As soon as we suppress the pirates' base defenses—land and conduct the sweep."
*
Up close, it wasn't all that simple.
In addition to the planetesimal itself, the Void Demons pirates had set up several outposts in the bowels of nearby asteroids, gutting them from inside and turning them into fortified firing points.
Void Demons' firing points near Izen IV.
Hedge Spar watched through the transparisteel viewport of the Sentinel-class assault shuttle as Dominion star destroyer guns, along with TIE bombers, repeatedly shattered kilometer-long asteroids with embedded turret departments of turbolaser firing points inside them into heaps of drifting rocks.
The battlefield was littered with numerous debris and husks of fighters from both sides of the conflict.
Though there weren't that many pirate Headhunters, liberally mixed with other starfighter types, compared to the armada of Dominion TIE fighters, the latter still suffered considerable losses.
On average, as the Mandalorian leader understood, the Dominion lost two of its TIE fighters for every one pirate Z-95.
Yes, exceptional losses, but in the long term, victory was inevitable for Captain Stormaer.
He had disabled the enemy fleet, smashed its aviation, ground its defensive lines to dust—and lost not a single star destroyer.
It was a sight to see how Venators, perceived in the galaxy for the past fifteen years as nothing but big tubs for transporting aviation or cargo, when properly refitted, became quite dangerous opponents.
They fired from eight eight-gun turbolaser towers, similar to those on the Dominion's Imperial-class star destroyers.
Powered by solar ionization reactors embedded in the Venators' undersides instead of the lower hangar, these ships had clearly found a second wind, acquiring such immense firepower that they could easily match the first versions of Imperials.
And if you consider that they also had planetary ion cannons...
Yes, Grand Admiral Thrawn and his Dominion knew how to surprise enemies on the battlefield.
Though Mandalorians a priori were not familiar with such a concept.
"'Dragon-One' has worked over the planetesimal's surface systems," the pilot reported to Hedge. "Landing will proceed calmly."
Spar grimaced, attaching an oxygen mask to his helmet.
"You say that like it's a good thing," he noted caustically. "Mandalorians do not fear return fire!"
Izen IV had gravity, albeit far from standard.
There was no atmosphere here, of course, so protective measures were necessary.
As soon as the assault ramp dropped, the soldiers rushed out, sweeping away the few guard droids clearly sent by the Void Demons from the base's lower levels with blaster fire. Hedge Spar was in the forefront of the attackers.
His heavy blaster rifle fired unerringly, hitting droids in their chassis and burning holes through them.
"They knew how to make things to last," Spar admired, looking fondly at his DC-15A.
This weapon, along with the entire DC-15 blaster series, had been created more than thirty years ago for the needs of the Old Republic's Grand Army of the Republic.
This weapon had brought victory in thousands of battles across the galaxy to numerous soldiers created from the genes of the Mandalorian bounty hunter Jango Fett.
And today it was again in the hands of the most experienced soldier with Mandalorian passion for battles in his blood.
Plan of the Void Demons' base on Izen IV.
The attack was launched from different sides, but the company personally led by Hedge went through the main entrance.
They broke through half a dozen outdated B-1s and several units of more modern guard droids.
Penetrating the security center was no great trouble at all—just prying apart the unpowered and uncontrolled main entrance doors.
Here, several fighters in heavy battlesuits with heavy repeating rifles in hands awaited them.
The first losses appeared among the Mandalorians.
The wounded were evacuated, and nothing could help the dead anymore.
But this only spurred the Mandalorian warriors.
Using every opportunity for cover, Spar's fighters pressed the enemy with fire and numbers.
No mercy—for them, simple pirates without commanders or officers who needed to be captured alive.
Only killing—simple and clear.
That for which Grand Admiral Thrawn had called them all under his banner.
Called, provided everything necessary, including sufficient force so that thousands of Mandalorian warriors from Kol Atorn fought on his side.
Among Spar's people, there were many hypotheses about the reasons for such an action on the part of the Dominion's ruler.
Some said Thrawn lacked ground troops he could "dress up" as mercenaries and send to fight in the neighboring D'Astan sector.
Others assumed Thrawn was the only one farsighted enough to give gamer Mandalorians what they wanted most—the chance to leave their planet and fight—in order to avoid the need to conquer the Mandalorians.
After all, Thrawn seemed a not-stupid sentient and must understand that his talk of exterminating Mandalorians on Kal Atorn was just bravado: he couldn't have carried out the plan without huge losses.
In fact, that had already been discussed at the meeting.
Listening to stories about this non-human leading former Imperials, Hedge was inclined to agree with the second option.
Thrawn was cunning and powerful enough to give the Mandalorians a Keldabe II as an advance for their future service, which wasn't far off from an Imperial in power.
Well, it could be said he clearly didn't miscalculate with the choice he made.
None of them did.
The Mandalorians got what they wanted.
Thrawn got what he wanted.
Everyone was satisfied with the deal.
Except the pirates. As soon as the fighters from Kar Atorn reached the base's living sections, the fierce resistance began to wane.
Reports from commanders, one more successful than the last, indicated that the locals' desire to wage war against the Mandalorians lasted exactly until the warriors from Kal Atorn occupied all key positions.
The enemy was left with only the dark nooks and crannies of their own base, from which cleanup teams would soon drag them out.
The four-hour battle for Izen IV came to its logical conclusion.
The enemy destroyed, the facility and information-holding pirates captured by the valiant warriors of Kol Atorn passed into Dominion hands.