Despite the fact that the order seemed meaningless at first glance, the commander of the Nemesis was not about to ignore it.
"Confirmation received?" The officer lifted his gaze from the datapad, staring intently at the young lieutenant — the head of the ship's communications group. But the fact that the kid was barely over twenty didn't make him a greenhorn. On the contrary, standing before Captain Schneider was a rather competent officer. One who wouldn't be on the ship if the captain couldn't entrust him and his ilk with his life and his ship's combat readiness.
"Yes, sir," the subordinate answered clearly and quickly. "The codes match. The order came from the Chimaera. Encryption protocol seventeen."
So it was indeed sent by the Grand Admiral.
"Begin execution," the Star Destroyer commander ordered. "Immediately notify the formation ships of the change in plans. Combat starships only — the transports continue their course to the objective."
"It will be done, sir!" The head of communications literally vanished from the captain's sight. One blink, and that was it — the lieutenant was already at the external comm terminal, relaying Thrawn's order to the formation ships, also attaching the Nemesis's identifiers to make it clear that the formation commander had been notified of the order.
Did he teleport, or what?
A remarkable degree of diligence had appeared in the crew after that thorough thrashing they received following the battle with two Procurators in the Vjun system.
"Attention, crew," Von Schneider activated the ship's intercom. "Captain speaking. Everyone prepare for lightspeed exit. Ten-second readiness."
Ten seconds was more than enough for crew members — superbly trained, excellently prepared, who had passed through the crucible of countless battles and had long since shed the demeanor of civilian slackers — to orient themselves on the deck or in the compartment they were in and take measures to avoid injury in case of unforeseen circumstances.
Captain Schneider himself approached the central viewport, behind which swirled the surreal vortex of blue and white — the constant companion of any faster-than-light travel in the galaxy. I wonder if anyone has ever calculated how much of their lives a Star Destroyer's crew spends traveling faster than light?
Probably, if you added up every jump and its duration, a couple of years of life were definitely spent in endless travel.
Well, the "generation ships" that were used to colonize the galaxy at the dawn of civilization could only dream of such a thing.
At the end of the time designated by the ship's commander, the Nemesis emerged into realspace.
A gray triangle sliced through the vacuum, decelerating.
Schneider looked at the tactical display, watching as six Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, a dozen Corellian corvettes, and an Immobilizer 418-class interdictor cruiser emerged from hyperspace. But the six GR-75 medium transports, trophies from the Grand Admiral's early operations, did not appear as expected, continuing their journey to the fleet rendezvous point. They were currently stuffed to the brim with spare parts and necessary equipment. And because of the need to escort these tubs, they had to delay a day at Tangrene, not joining the current operation.
Annoying.
Isn't there an escort line? Why is a fleet formation handling cargo protection?
Still, Thrawn had promised that the Nemesis and its attached ships would participate in the operation. Whatever it was, the turbolasers would fire. Hopefully, not as a salute to those greeting them.
"The Black Asp is requesting instructions," the watch officer reported, situated near the "pits."
"Standard procedure," Von said. "Activate gravity well generators. Other ships — 'yellow alert.' Additionally, raise deflectors, assign fire sectors. Deploy into a blocking formation, prepare fighters and interceptors for launch. Corvettes, prepare for a rapid strike."
Hearing the watch officer loudly echoing the orders to subordinates behind him, Captain Schneider stood like a silent statue in the middle of the bridge's central platform.
Feet planted shoulder-width apart, back straight, arms folded across his chest...
The classic pose of an Imperial destroyer commander, waiting for his target in an ambush.
His gaze was like that of a bird of prey, soaring high in the sky, stalking prey that was not destined to return home that day. Or ever.
Well, even if ambushes and raids were starting to get tiresome, and his soul craved a full-scale campaign, an order was an order.
Whether you want it or not — you carry it out.
And Captain Schneider was carrying out the order.
He was waiting.
Only he didn't know yet for what exactly.
The Grand Admiral preferred not to discuss such "trifles" even via encrypted message.
* * *
Having watched Captain Makeno, who had been dismissed from the bridge, leave to have a dialogue with his subordinates about the benefits of serving the Dominion for one's own health, I rotated my chair so I could once again watch the familiar white-blue shimmer of hyperspace trembling before the Chimaera's main viewport.
"Report on the Chimaera's status, acting commander," I said without even looking toward Lieutenant Tschel, who was approaching me. The young officer nearly tripped on the smooth floor, then regained his composure and silently came to stand beside me.
What had thrown him off so much? The fact that I knew he was approaching even though my back was turned? Or that he was coming to me with a report he hadn't announced?
So what's so surprising about that?
First, he's clearly not a Noghri or Tierce to move silently. Second, the polarization of the transparisteel allows it to become highly reflective, so it's not that easy to see what's happening behind you in these conditions, but it's nothing supernatural either.
And third, he had just finished his rounds of the watch officers responsible for this or that ship group, received their reports on the status of damage repair, and was walking toward me with a datapad in his hand.
What else, I ask you, could the ship's senior officer be bringing me in such circumstances?
"We've lost sixteen pilots permanently, sir," he said. "Three main batteries are damaged, but at least one will be back in service within half an hour: we need to restore a power conduit damaged during the engagement with the Guardian. Otherwise, the ship is functional, combat-ready, and prepared to carry out its assigned tasks."
"Glad to hear it, Lieutenant," I admitted. "Make a note in your report for this battle to commend the most distinguished among the pilots, technicians, engine crew, and gunners."
"Already done, sir." Tschel's confident and firm words caught my attention. Taking the datapad from his hands, I glanced at the screen. "Page four of the report, sir. Appendix two. One hundred and fifteen names — those are the most distinguished. Appendix three lists two thousand seven hundred and thirty-three individuals who, in my opinion, deserve unscheduled evaluations for promotion to higher ranks and specialist designations."
Hmm... And why am I not surprised to see the officers Bren, Kreb, and Jainer on the list of the most effective pilots? The "Golden Three" of our Pilot Corps.
"Is your conclusion based solely on the last battle?" I clarified.
"No, sir," Tschel countered. "I've been keeping performance statistics for the entire crew. What happened at Soulex only confirmed my observations — some crew members deserve commendation from command, either for promotion or monetary reward."
And there it was, the striking change in Lieutenant Tschel. Once in relatively controlled conditions, he stopped panicking and getting flustered. Which only confirmed my recent observations — he would be a good officer.
But not just yet.
Pellaeon would be pleased to hear that I agreed with his rightness on this matter. It's not like we argued about it in that exact context...
"Have we received information on how many small enemy craft left the Soulex system?" I inquired.
"Yes, sir," Tschel answered. "Appendix seven of the report. The Imperials pulled twenty-one ARC-170s out of the system, and that's it. From the New Republic, aside from the Home One, small craft also left for hyperspace, with a total strength equivalent to six full squadrons."
"How many combat-ready ships do we have, along with the Steel Aurora and the Crusader?" I asked.
"We have four full squadrons, including bombers, ready for the mission." So, in total, we lost sixteen pilots and twenty-four ships. That's... a good result, considering the forces we were up against and the final outcome of the battle. "The Victories lost one squadron each. We're in a slight minority, sir."
"Don't jump to conclusions, Lieutenant," I advised the young officer.
For a while, I studied the preliminary loss summary, which was still being drafted, since the operation to clear the system of enemy ships was still ongoing. But certain indicators were already available, and they... weren't exactly encouraging, of course, but they were a far cry from the initial pilot loss numbers at the start of the Crimson Dawn campaign. A much, much better far cry.
"Your assessment of the Raider-class corvette's effectiveness, Lieutenant?" I said, inviting the young officer to shine with his erudition and the fruits of his observation.
"Higher than that of Corellian corvettes and gunboats, sir," he replied without hesitation. "By three and fifty-seven and a half percent, respectively."
So, Tschel hadn't been wasting time and had already tasked the central computer with the calculations. That's... commendable. He definitely has high diligence and, unlike many other young officers, initiative. Such qualities don't appear out of nowhere, and moreover, they are extremely important in combat conditions.
In peacetime, armed forces need one type of officer — die-hard staff officers who will fuss over paperwork, develop plans, carry out orders, and frankly — drill their subordinates, not letting them get bored.
In wartime, 'peacetime officers' are about as useful to the active army as a fifth wheel on a cart. In combat, efficiency, promptness, initiative, and tactical (or strategic, depending on the officer's position) acumen are what matter. Where in peacetime most of the 'war' happens on paper, surrounded by numbers, diagrams, and charts, under enemy fire it's important to understand a few simple things: what you're doing, why, how, and at what cost you're willing to achieve it. And the most important question facing you: what results will your actions ultimately lead to?
Not to mention that in the latter case, many 'peacetime' bureaucratic procedures lose their relevance.
Lieutenant Tschel, in his youthful years, is trying to play on both fronts at once. Back on Earth, he would have long since gotten into a conflict with his superiors, who would have kicked out such an unorthodox subordinate.
But here in a galaxy far, far away, where the situation is decided by, if not seconds, then the hours separating you from victory or defeat, Tschel seems to have found his niche.
"Are you recommending replacing the CR90 as escort corvettes?" I asked provocatively.
"That would be efficient, sir," Tschel said after a slight pause. "But we don't have enough ships of that class in the fleet. We can't equip all the Imperial-class destroyers with them."
We really do have quite the 'zoo' in terms of logistics. Mon Calamari ships, Imperial ships, Corellian ships, rebel creations, even some Mandalorian designs...
In fact, this creates huge logistical problems, and to supply the fleet with spare parts and necessary equipment, we would need to create a huge cluster of industrial complexes capable of producing everything required.
At the moment, we solve some of our problems using existing production facilities and shipyards in the sectors subjugated by the Dominion, but they aren't full-cycle technological lines.
And so — either we go down the path of equipment unification, choosing one type of technology and implementing it everywhere, getting rid of the rest, or we continue to buy the necessary equipment at triple the price on the black market. And wince when we discover something we're missing.
I'd like to puff myself up and say that with my current partners and resources within the Guardian, we could build the production facilities we lack and not worry about the problems, but that would only be partly true.
The motley nature of the fleet is primarily due to the fact that we simply don't have the capability to produce what I'd like to have in the Dominion fleet, namely ships of Imperial design. In a situation of extreme need for ships just to survive, you have to take whatever falls into your hands.
So, no matter how many opinions there are that Mon Calamari ships are uncomfortable to operate, weak in firepower, and their only advantage that prevents Imperial Star Destroyers from ripping them to shreds like a certain Bobik does to a hapless hot water bottle, the MC80s will be integrated into the Dominion fleet.
In fact, they're already doing that, participating in raiding operations, but a caveat must be made here.
These ships aren't as strong compared to their Republic counterparts.
For one simple reason — the SEAL system, responsible for rapidly recharging deflectors during battle, has been removed from them. Moved to the Star Destroyers, naturally. They need it more.
On the other hand, captured non-Imperial ships, even if partially demilitarized by cannibalizing some of their equipment for the regular fleet, don't necessarily have to be used for raiding.
Dominion territory is growing. MC80s are equipped with a class-one hyperdrive, which ensures their high speed in hyperspace. They have a decent weapons system, as well as power supplies that allow this class of starship to maintain its combat effectiveness even if some reactors are damaged. In fact, that's exactly why I brought the Dragon to the battle in the Fardon system — it's much easier to knock out an enemy with a couple of shots than to pound their constantly regenerating deflectors until the volume of fire from the ship's artillery reaches a critical point.
On the other hand, Tschel is right.
We only have six Raiders, including the ones we captured thanks to the skill of the Chimaera's ion cannon gunners. Six corvettes for nearly thirty Imperial-class or Interdictor-class Star Destroyers... Yes, we won't be able to equip them all with these ships. On the other hand, we could finally grow completely confident in our own invulnerability, take all the Sunburn project ships, the entire Katana fleet, all the destroyers, corvettes, cruisers, trophies, descend on Kuat, breach their defenses, and take from their slipways or snatch from under the nose of their own fleet everything I deem necessary...
What for, though?
Kuat, like any seasoned merchants, always keep their nose to the wind — wherever the big money flows, that's where they look. I'd gotten their attention enough when I attacked the planet Xa Fel and stole their hyperdrives. Lucky for me, the whole thing was quietly brushed under the rug.
But a direct attack? Even if it ended perfectly well for me, the Kuati would never forgive that. And they'd hold a grudge for a very, very long time — with feeling, with thoroughness, with a clear set of priorities.
All the delights of democracy and capitalism in a single bottle.
Right before my eyes, I have a "living example" of how you can hold so much in your hands, stand at the head of an entire empire, and yet wipe it all away with a single fruitless action.
Dominator Zsinj and his raid on Kuat, which ended with the capture of an unfinished Executor-class Super Star Destroyer. On the surface, a victory — but the ship was destroyed. That's one.
Two, the New Republic. Even months after the campaign against Zsinj, its economy still hasn't recovered. And yet it somehow easily and effortlessly put together an entire squadron and sent them hunting the Dominator.
And after his death, Kuat started treating the New Republic favorably…
Now it's practically part of it.
Coincidence?
I don't think so.
I'm more inclined to believe the rulers of Kuat sponsored the hunt for the Dominator in exchange for favorable pricing on Kuat Drive Yards' services.
But again, that's only marginally relevant to the matter at hand.
I'm definitely not going to attack the shipbuilders just for the Raider-class corvettes. Yes, they're excellent ships for raiding and sweeping remote systems and territories, and they performed well in fleet combat too.
But when you have nearly two dozen Mon Calamari Star Cruisers alone, why would you need some "pocket Star Destroyers" in the rear of your own forces?
Besides, you can easily crew them with conscripts and use this entire "patchwork fleet" stocked with trophies of Corellian, Republic, and Mon Calamari design — to maintain law and order inside the Dominion?
An interesting thought.
Especially if I reorient the MC80s already in service — after finishing operations against Santhe Technologies and the fake raids against Grand Moff Kaine's caravans — to patrol duties inside the Dominion and the systems loyal to it outside the sectors.
I'm talking about star systems like Karthakk, Tangrene, Chasin, Kelaba, Makem Te, Yalara, Columex…
Not all of them can be handed over to conscript oversight right now — Yalara, for example, is the future jewel of the Dominion's production capacity — but this thought is aimed primarily at the long term.
It's time to stop acting half-measure, with a "good enough" mentality.
It's time to thoroughly shake up the forces I have and redistribute them according to current realities.
Hmm… A more than interesting thought. And what's more — this outweighs the first argument — it's logically sound.
Imperial-design ships are good on the attack, and after the modifications by the shipbuilder Zion, they're good on defense too. So they'll keep performing their function of engaging enemies on the Dominion's borders and beyond.
But the "trophies" and a number of other ships — like the Strike-class medium cruisers… These can easily play "defense" when all they need is to hold off some stray pirate or smuggler. Plus, the MC80 Star Cruisers are largely automated, which reduces the need for full crews. And the boarding, assault, and inspection teams on those ships can also be crewed not by stormtroopers and clones, but by the same conscripts.
Not to mention that MC80s are supposed to carry freight shuttles for various cargo operations. Those can easily be replaced by smaller patrol ships. Say, our Star Cruiser arrives in a remote system for patrol duty, launches three or four escort squadrons — TIE fighters, for example — and supports them with something like IPV-I patrol and surveillance ships, which the Empire supplied to the Noghri for travel throughout the galaxy.
Small starships, decently armed for their assigned security and patrol tasks. And in their standard configuration, they don't come with hyperdrives, which means one simple thing — with a certain amount of skill and the right production lines, we can build them in large batches.
The IPV-1 patrol and surveillance ship.
Well. After returning to Tangrene, I should ask Moff Ferrus about the state of our economy and production capabilities, to see if we can start solving the Dominion's internal security problems.
And regarding the Raider-class corvettes — their small numbers and the significant advantage they have over my existing CR90s — I've had an interesting little thought. One directly related to the Guard.
"Fresh operational reports, Grand Admiral," Lieutenant Tschel interrupted my thoughts, handing me an information chip.
"Thank you," I said. The moment the data carrier was in my hand, the acting commander of the Star Destroyer returned to his direct duties.
I plugged the device into my personal deck.
I scrolled through the root directory, scanning the file names of the reports.
A significant portion of them belonged to Intelligence or related operations.
Captain Stormaer reported the completion of the operation to capture the Star Destroyer. At the moment, they had left the borders of the Tion Hegemony to reprogram the droid contingent aboard the trophy and use them as a loyal crew to deliver the Destroyer to Tangrene.
Excellent news… But the note that no jewels, no money, and no precious metals — at least in large quantities — were found on the Destroyer is concerning. Agent Bravo-One captured several crew members and is interrogating them. Most likely intends to get comprehensive information from them.
What's curious is another report — from Torin Inek himself. The sentients aboard the captured Star Destroyer are not members of the Sa'Nalaor's crew. They are, for the most part, mercenaries and drifters from local gangs. Who have never even heard of any Separatist frigates loaded with fabulous riches.
Interesting… Well, let's see what Bravo-One gets from the "potentially informed sentient" whose life he saved.
The encrypted message from Isard made me wary.
Iceheart, hiding behind a false name, sent me a short note through her security detail, claiming that her successes would please me. And how am I supposed to take that? Did she find Himron? Uncover a conspiracy against me? Did she become kinder? Find a way to destroy Palpatine?
Of course, even with a good encryption level, you can't be sure the message won't be intercepted by hostiles. But the empty intrigue itself is frankly alarming and even a bit irritating.
What else is it but an attempt to manipulate me? She's certainly planning to bargain for certain privileges in exchange for her achievements. If it turns out otherwise, I'll be very surprised.
Moff Ferrus… He pleased me.
"A preliminary agreement has been reached regarding the future policy of Axila. Successful operations have been conducted by allied forces against pirate gangs entrenched on Edusa and Vandyne. A meeting is required to plan further steps."
Reading this in the context of his last report — about his intention to use Lieutenant Anilex from the Axilian "Kavil's Corsairs" group against the other two gangs based on Edusa and Vandyne — I understood it as follows: the aforementioned corsair had agreed to Ferrus's terms. The transformation of "Kavil's Corsairs" into auxiliary troops, their participation in raids against the New Republic, the transfer of all their illegal business on Axila to them in exchange for eliminating the current government and placing Axila under the Dominion's control. If that's the case, then we gain a fortress planet, giving us every chance to secure the only actively used hyperspace route to the sector capital of Morshdine. And consequently, we gain a potential fortified region.
One that will need to be equipped with ground forces and have its defenses set up. Yes, this will largely allow us to utilize our warehouses, overflowing with equipment from the Clone Wars era. Hmm… Speaking of which. Why was I planning to equip those MC80s with TIE fighters? That's Imperial technology, which means it should remain exclusively in the hands of the regular army. The auxiliary forces will be equipped with Grand Army of the Republic weaponry — there's plenty of that.
Oh, right… The tibanna issue.
The army is growing, the fleet is growing, and expenses are growing too.
You can be as happy as a child that I have billions, but what's the point if most of it has to be spent on third-party purchases on the black market?
Again, a question for Moff Ferrus. On the territories already controlled by the Dominion, there are gas giants. Do they have tibanna? If so, what do we need for its exploration and extraction? Because buying tibanna, fuel, and some other critical resources on the black market, or acquiring them through raids, is not a cure-all. It's a temporary solution.
You don't need vast, top-secret knowledge — passed down from teacher to student in academies of governance — to understand a simple and fundamental truth: if your militaristic state depends on imports of vital resources and raw materials, then the history student should open the section "World War II" and study the sad end of Japanese militaristic ideas in 1945.
A state's sovereignty depends, first and foremost, on how strong its army is — in every sense. Because if a state fails to develop new weapons, supply them to its troops, train its soldiers and officers, fill its warehouses with mobilization reserves, and so on down the list, that state will soon be feeding another army and government.
You can't threaten galactic states if you're dependent on external supplies. Starting a "cruiser war" is easier than it seems. I demonstrated that to the whole galaxy so clearly that some still can't accept their defeats and stubbornly keep sending warships against me. Not that I mind, it's just…
It all feels like a "clever plan to exhaust the enemy's resources." Like, "We'll give him so many ships and equipment that he'll run out of fuel if he ever tries to use it all at once."
Clever plan…
But the second dispatch from Moff Ferrus didn't just fail to please me — it alarmed me so much that even the ysalamiri got agitated.
Commander Akrey Dobramu, who was commanding a medium cruiser in the Chasin system, arrived at Ciutric IV at the head of a convoy of two dozen starships carrying tanks of bacta.
When I first read it, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. Or maybe my brain was finally getting tired. Because the dispatch made no sense.
Dobramu was assigned to the Chasin system not because I had nowhere else to put a medium cruiser. No, I actually do have places for it — use it as a station ship, since it's not suited for active combat, only for raids, patrols, and insignificant skirmishes.
Besides, this Dobramu, who failed to complete a simple task, effectively taking significant losses — I wanted him as far away from my plans and operations as possible. And it wasn't so much punishment for failure as a desire not to include die-hard supporters of the New Order — assembled from almost the entire fleet and sent there — in my plans. I have no trust in such personnel, especially considering the "deep-seated xenophobia" of almost every crew member.
And this raises a huge pile of questions.
By what right did he abandon his post? I barely managed to convince the military command of Chasin to transfer the "Torpedo Sphere" to me in exchange for stationing my only "lethal" anti-space defense weapon on the planet — based on the RZ7–6118–23 unit — and significant expenditures on setting up its defenses.
That medium cruiser was precisely the force that could have long discouraged any enemy with only light forces in that region from testing Chasin's defenses. And the Tartan-class patrol cruiser left there… That thing wouldn't even scare pirates, and against any Mon Calamari Star Cruiser, it's not even a threat.
Not to mention that, besides leaving his post without authorization, this sentient somehow managed to capture a bacta convoy. And from my experience with raiding operations, I can say that strategically important convoys like that are guarded by a huge number of escort starships. Including more than one New Republic Star Cruiser, not to mention escort vessels.
Even with a couple of escort ships of those classes, a single medium cruiser couldn't have handled it. It's simply impossible.
Bacta is a substance so vitally important that tibanna and fuel, if they suddenly became scarce, would be minor problems in comparison. Simply because tibanna is mined across a good dozen — if not more — gas giants in the galaxy, while bacta is produced exclusively on Thyferra and nowhere else. Control of Thyferra is, first and foremost, control over the life and death of trillions of sentients.
That's exactly why Iceheart, on the advice of Mitth'raw'nuruodo, took control of Thyferra after she was driven from Coruscant. Holding that strategically vital world for the entire galaxy, and having a larger fleet than just a single Lusankya and a couple of Destroyers, Isard could have dictated her will to all nations.
Consequently, extremely unpleasant suspicions arise: either Dobramu happened to be in exactly the right place where, for some reason, ships with bacta were waiting, and he somehow mysteriously gained control over them; or someone helped him get rid of the convoy's escort.
But then why give the bacta to the Dominion?
Either it's an attempt at a "Trojan horse" tactic, and the bacta is spoiled or poisoned so that using it as a healing agent would lead to the death of patients.
Or Dobramu received assistance from someone.
And here, as always, there are options.
The first, and least viable, is that Dobramu himself recruited some pirates, privateers, or simple bandits to his side, and they did most of the work.
The second is roughly the same as the first, but the prospects are even grimmer.
Dobramu was indeed helped.
But by pro-Imperial warlords, of which there are simply countless in the sectors of the southern part of the galaxy.
Moff Delurin settled right in that part of the galaxy, and there are plenty of other warlords there, hiding their libido behind "faith in the New Order"…
So there were plenty of warlord candidates who could have rendered "brotherly assistance" to Commander Dobramu, even without considering the probability that the Imperial attack on Polis Massa coinciding with Luke Skywalker's presence there is just too strange a coincidence.
And I was the one who sent him there.
And the "beacon" inside his astromech was still functioning.
Does that mean the "leak" came from our side? Yes, it very much looks that way. And I could agree with that suspicion, if not for one "but."
After his return to Coruscant, Skywalker almost immediately left for Dagobah. Fortunately, thanks to his droid's memory imprint, we know exactly which system and which planet he's on.
What's more — our scout droid is there too. It's not that I desperately want to know what's happening in that remote and unappealing system, but I can't deny myself the small pleasure of being informed about who visits Yoda's final resting place.
Information is as much a weapon as a turbolaser.
So this same information indicates that for all of the past few weeks, Luke Skywalker has remained in complete safety, and no one is trying to destroy or capture him. Meanwhile, his location is known to a number of my officers — the same ones who monitored his presence on Polis Massa. The only thing they don't know about is the scout droid in the Dagobah system. Because it was sent by the Noghri, on my orders — those who certainly and guaranteed will not betray or fail me.
Consequently, if the data on the beacon in Luke Skywalker's droid were "leaking" from the surveillance department for scout droids and buzz droids of Project Morrt, there would already be Imperial forces hunting the young Jedi Knight in the Dagobah system.
But that's not happening.
From the above points, we draw a simple and clear conclusion: the discovery of Luke Skywalker on Polis Massa was not due to betrayal on our part. Palpatine's operatives learned of it on their own. "How did they manage that?" is a different question.
And, apparently, we'll answer it after the battle.
"We'll be at the rendezvous point shortly, sir," Lieutenant Tschel replied. "The Chimaera and our escort are at full combat readiness."
"Keep it up, Lieutenant," I praised the prudent officer. Indeed, being on "yellow alert" in a situation like this would be completely foolish. I'm glad he figured it out. It's just that…
"Judging by your expression, you have something to ask, Lieutenant Tschel," I said, handing the datapad with the operation reports to Tierce. The guardsman didn't flinch as our eyes met. Yes, he understood immediately that he should stop ignoring his duties. The operational reports are delivered to me by either Pellaeon or him.
They've set up some kind of hazing here, sending the "junior" running errands, and he's only too happy to oblige.
"Yes, sir," Tschel confirmed. "This isn't within my duties" when someone starts a sentence by acknowledging they've committed a breach of protocol, it means they already know the punishment is harsher — "but before the jump, I requested information from our minesweepers and Interdictors about the status of their gravity well generators…"
"Allow me to interrupt you, Lieutenant," I said. Naturally, he didn't object. "You're probably wondering about the point of my order to cancel the interference generation, as well as to deactivate the deployment vectors for the gravity trawls, which allowed our enemies not only to contact each other but also to leave the system?"
"Yes, sir," the young officer nodded in agreement. "The order would have been obvious if the artificial gravity vectors at the battlefield's boundaries had also been removed."
"It is obvious even in the current circumstances, Lieutenant," I said, pressing a few buttons to summon a pre-prepared three-dimensional model of the recent battle from the central computer's depths. "Time stamp two point seven. Play."
The hologram, on which miniature ship icons began to move, seemed to absorb all of Tschel's attention. It showed the battle's details from the very moment the Home One was hit by ion charges. It was while reviewing the current moment during the "live feed" from the scout droids that I noticed the Mon Calamari trick. Well, I'll have to give my thanks to Mr. Ghent for managing to turn the process of processing holographic images and other data from the scouts into an automated, real-time flow. Now I don't have to worry about missing something with my own eyes or on the tactical monitor. In effect, once a battle is over, we get a ready-made holorecording of it, which previously took days — or at least hours — to produce.
Now, you could send it straight to training centers after a battle, so the young officers can get acquainted with the "beautiful."
When the holovid ended, I asked Tschel:
"Notice anything unusual, Lieutenant?"
"The Home One shut down all systems a few seconds before it was hit by the ion shot," Tschel said. Hmm, well done, observant. "So, that cruiser wasn't actually damaged by the Dragon's salvo?"
"It was damaged," I countered. "But not to the extent we had hoped. That's what allowed them to get the ship back online relatively quickly. Admiral Ackbar is quite a clever sentient. Did you notice that he ordered the hangar bay sealed with blast doors beforehand?"
"He was being cautious in case of an ion cannon hit and the loss of the magnetic field in the hangar," Tschel's eyes lit up. It seemed a great truth had just dawned on him. "You're right, Grand Admiral. The enemy is quite intelligent. Launching their starfighter wing early, then sealing all the hatches to avoid decompression. And no one has ever used blast doors to protect their own hangars before…"
Well, well… So no one at all understood the reason I demanded the return of heavy blast doors to protect the Star Destroyer's main hangar from accidental — and more often, quite intentional — hits and potential decompression.
"It became clear that Ackbar was planning to lie low. And surely he wasn't the only one. Given the size of the fleet we intended to capture, even the most optimistic estimates for a cleanup operation were measured in hours. And that would be utterly unethical toward our pilots and watch crews, who had already spent an enormous amount of time simply doing their duty. It could have led to further casualties among our glorious pilots. So I made the simplest and most effective decision—I deactivated the jamming field so he could contact the survivors. During that time, our fleet communications specialists were able to triangulate those who responded—that's how we learned the number of battle survivors, which you had reported to me earlier. Then, knowing their numbers and location, I made it appear as though our gravity well generators were overheating from prolonged use. That kind of thing can happen earlier than the figures listed in Imperial manuals if the generators aren't operating in pairs but as a single cluster. So first one vector was shut down, then another, and after we received data on the location of every single rescued Republican, we also deactivated the vectors that blocked the center of the formation."
"I understand, sir, but... what about the Imperials?"
"They decided to flee on their own initiative," I admitted. No need to mention that you'd completely forgotten about Devian's remnants and their jump into hyperspace had taken you completely by surprise—but not a problem. "One way or another, we're in pursuit and we'll do what was originally intended."
"I remember, sir," Lieutenant Tschel nodded. "You said we would capture the New Republic ships, except for Home One. So I take it the buzz droids from the Morrt project will track its position and lead us to the system where we can destroy it?"
"I'm afraid you misunderstood me, Lieutenant," I declared. "I let the remnants leave the debris-strewn system so we wouldn't waste precious time searching for and eliminating them. I released them from the trap at Soulex only because I don't have time to chase them down. I know exactly where they'll be in the near future and why not all our enemies will escape from there. Only Home One will get away. After that, it will be destroyed. But we need time for everything to work as planned, and the blow from today's rout of Admiral Ackbar will reach the very heart of the New Republic."
"To be honest, sir, I thought we needed the Victories precisely to destroy Home One," Tschel said, sounding almost pitiful and bewildered.
"That will be our backup option, Lieutenant," I assured him.
I need Ackbar alive. That creature is studying me—his actions at the start of the battle made that clear. If the Eternal Wrath hadn't jammed all communications except ours, I don't know what he might have achieved.
As it was, we essentially deprived the enemy of the ability to communicate with each other, then with swift and brazen strikes split the fleet into pieces, after which we used our numerical superiority and conducted a containment operation—until the Dragon gave Ackbar a chance to admire it and confirm that such a "superweapon" existed only in a single copy.
The Mon Calamari must have picked up all the necessary thoughts about me.
The stage was set, the scenery for the final act of Operation Crimson Dawn was almost complete. Only a few intermediate but important diversionary campaigns remained, and then we would storm Sluis Van. After Han Solo's audit, the Sluissi had already become incensed at how they were being treated and what was happening in general. As it happened, this people was honest by nature and favored clear—albeit slow, but in their view, mandatory—protocols.
Yes, they understood perfectly well what an audit and a counterintelligence check meant.
And the unspoken accusation that some of the New Republic's armaments had leaked to the other side because of their complicated bureaucratic procedures.
Unfortunately, Han Solo might be a good general, but as a diplomat... He was too blunt, and the Sluissi didn't like that.
Even the fact that the New Republic continued to use their systems as a transport-logistics hub—the Sluissi weren't exactly thrilled with the role of simple movers, if you could put it that way.
Meanwhile, Coruscant, trying to compensate for abandoning Kuat Drive Yards due to excessive cost, latched onto Rendili, Brentaal IV, and several other pro-Imperial planets, while the Sluissi and their neighbors, the Sullustans, remained a mere transport hub. Remove armaments, install armaments, unload containers from one ship, load onto another.
And one had to understand that in such a situation, the Sullustans and Sluissi were losing billions in maintenance of warships that they could have performed if the fleet bases had been closer to them instead of Rendili and Brentaal IV.
Discontent was growing, and soon it would overflow.
And then...
* * *
"Admiral," the commander of his starship approached the Mon Calamari. "Repair work is underway, but..."
"We won't see our communications systems again, like we won't see the back of our own heads, will we?" the admiral asked sadly.
"Not only that, sir," the officer replied with a sigh. "Scanners are damaged. Deflector generators destroyed. The SEAL system, of course, wasn't hit, but the fact remains—our protection now depends entirely on it and the integrity of our projectors."
"Not much," the admiral conceded. He checked the data on the surviving pilots... which saddened him even more. Another rout.
People in such situations sometimes laughed through tears, saying that now they too had become part of that system...
In this case, Gial now also had a painful defeat at the hands of a Grand Admiral on his record. Well, it was valuable experience from which a number of conclusions could be drawn that would be useful in the future.
First and foremost: Thrawn had a favorite tactic. An ambush using a small but valuable bait. And he wasn't above using himself as that bait.
Second: he had a Star Destroyer equipped with a rapid-fire ion cannon. And that was a big problem, because it was precisely this "trump card" that allowed the Grand Admiral to play a game of sabbacc and emerge victorious.
Third: the Dominion now had an Executor-class Super Star Destroyer.
Ackbar grew gloomy when he learned that the sensor data, as well as the central computer itself, had indeed fallen victim to the ion cannon's strike and were lost. Specialists were working on recovery, because the deactivated transponder indicated that the enemy had clearly intended to conceal the ship's true identity. Moreover, if the data the admiral had managed to see in the initial phase of the battle were correct, the Super Star Destroyer was damaged, as if it had gone through a terrible battle. The jagged edges of its hull only confirmed this.
And the admiral was more than certain that before them was the Reaper, which had likely been stolen by Thrawn from Kaine and survived a battle before arriving at the rendezvous point.
Because even outwardly, the starship did not resemble the Lusankya. But that wasn't the key point, actually. The main thing was that if Thrawn had attacked Rendili to recapture the Lusankya, the admiral would have learned about it the same day. Estimating the time needed for the operation and the transit from Rendili to Soulex, the admiral realized that news of the attack on the Rendili and the theft of the Lusankya would have reached him a day or two before he set out on his campaign.
So that meant it was the Reaper.
There simply couldn't be any other option—even though Kuat Drive Yards, unlike Fondor, had not provided the New Republic with information on how many ships of this class they had built and for whom, all the known "Executors" in the galaxy had been destroyed. Only two remained: the Reaper and the Lusankya.
Of course, the admiral could have recalled the monstrous super-dreadnought Eclipse, which had nearly fallen into the hands of the Zann Consortium and then mysteriously vanished, but one would have to try very hard not to notice the difference between these ship types.
But on the other hand...
The admiral thought.
Could the disappearance of Imperial weapons and equipment, the money Thrawn had obtained after capturing Princess Leia, and the appearance of an unidentified Super Star Destroyer be somehow connected? And then there was that data from Fey'lya about Kuat Drive Yards having spare parts that they could have sold to the New Republic, thereby putting the Lusankya in service within the current month. But according to the Bothan, Isard had told him that the Kuati were selling those parts "on the side."
That is, could it be that during all the time Thrawn had secretly held power over the Imperial Armed Forces, he had begun construction of another Executor, and after receiving the money, he had made the final purchases and the ship had left the slipway?
After all, if it was damaged, it meant it had fought either a comparable opponent or an entire fleet...
Or was it not damaged?
Ackbar thought. Sensor data right now could have significantly helped him resolve his distrust of his own attentiveness. Could it be that Thrawn simply had an unfinished Executor that he used during the battle?
Then that would explain why he was in such a remote system!
The slipway for the Executor was here! That was precisely why Thrawn and his Chimaera stood between the hyperspace exit vector and the planet itself! Preventing both Imperial and Republican forces from moving beyond the gravitational anomalies and seeing what was actually on the far side of Soulex!
The Mon Calamari stirred, realizing he might have uncovered the Grand Admiral's greatest secret. Now he needed to get to Coruscant as quickly as possible, because entrusting such information—even to secure communication channels—meant allowing the enemy to learn that his plans had been discovered.
Given that the sources of the enemy's awareness of New Republic affairs had not yet been identified, the risk wasn't worth acting that way. This was information that only Mon Mothma, Admiral Drayson, and General Madine should hear.
Because an exceptional decision needed to be made regarding when and with what force to strike the enemy's positions. Not to mention that they should in principle raise the question of the feasibility of a repeat raid. Until Thrawn's fourth trait—his ability to block New Republic ships' ability to communicate with each other using jamming—was neutralized, any attack might be doomed to failure.
Because he could easily repeat his trick with the trap. Another snare for the New Republic fleet and its prestige would be not just humiliation but a full-scale ideological defeat.
So, if they were to present the Provisional Council with a proposal for a punitive operation, they should first conduct successful reconnaissance, find out what kind of shipyard was there, and whether the enemy had taken measures to withdraw it from its current positions. But the key success of the operation would depend solely on whether the New Republic could either pull the Dominion fleet out of the sectors where they currently were, or tie them up in one or more campaigns.
And for that, again, reconnaissance would be needed.
Drayson claimed it was quite difficult to penetrate the Dominion's borders, because it somehow detected the intrusion. Could it be that Thrawn's spy and informant was actually within the intelligence department itself? People who had access—legally or not—to all the offices and circles of power in the New Republic. And that was becoming dangerous...
Thrawn had been ready for the strike—that was why he had brought forces that overwhelmed the New Republic's.
In other words, either operations against the Grand Admiral must be planned without involving other specialists, solely by fleet forces, or they must find and eliminate the source of the Dominion ruler's intelligence.
Because this couldn't continue.
Spies allowed Thrawn to stay one step ahead, as he himself suppressed enemy reconnaissance while actively receiving intelligence straight from the capital.
The Mon Calamari tried to push aside the thought voiced by the Alderaanian princess that the Grand Admiral's informant was Councilor Fey'lya. The information the Bothan had spoken about and virtually foisted on Mon Mothma—about the Grand Admiral's location—had turned out to be another trap. And the fact that Fey'lya had managed to escape captivity, supposedly with the help of Ysanne Isard, did not satisfy Admiral Ackbar. And frankly, it wasn't just him...
All these behind-the-scenes political games were alien and uninteresting to Gial, but at the same time he understood their necessity. He himself had fallen victim to Fey'lya's political maneuvering, so in the current situation, when any sensible creature would have perfectly valid questions for the Bothan, he decided to stay out of it, limiting himself to preparing information and a report on everything he had learned during the battle.
If Mon Mothma decided to investigate Fey'lya and see whether he could have become a "sleeper agent" for Iceheart, then let her handle it herself. He was a soldier, and his duty was not to stir up trouble in the internal affairs of the state, but to protect the state from external enemies.
So the only thing he wanted now, standing on the bridge of Home One, was to return to Coruscant and begin a detailed analysis of Thrawn's tactics.
It was bitter to realize that he still hadn't been able to outthink the enemy, but defeats were meant to learn from and then conclude the campaign with a crushing victory.
The New Republic had more than once begun campaigns against supposedly invincible opponents with defeats that later turned into confident victories from which the state emerged triumphant...
Suddenly, Home One emerged from hyperspace.
Reality smeared with the darkness of space and the fire of distant stars, several nebulae barely visible to the naked eye.
And...
"Battle stations!" Admiral Ackbar's voice boomed, jolting the watch crew from their stupor.
After a time, when the radiation had subsided from the starship's hull and communications officers had established contact with the fighters—which turned out to be just as trapped by the artificially created gravity zone—a hologram appeared on the bridge of an officer in Imperial uniform with a cold gaze.
On his sleeve was a chevron—an "Imperial cog" surrounded by diverging rings.
But from the hologram's words, it clearly did not belong to the Imperials.
"This is Captain Von Schneider aboard the Star Destroyer Nemesis, Dominion Armed Forces," the commander of the enemy formation introduced himself in a calm tone. "Lower your shields immediately and prepare to surrender. Otherwise, for attacking the Dominion fleet, I have orders to destroy you."
"Turn that off," the admiral ordered, studying the enemy formation. A standard blockade "cup"an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer in the center, three heavy cruisers as "pincers," an interdictor cruiser in the rear, and a dozen Corellian corvettes for screening. "I underestimated you, Grand Admiral. A trap within a trap."
"Admiral, what do you mean?" the ship's commander inquired.
"Full speed ahead," Gial Ackbar said firmly. "We'll destroy that destroyer before Thrawn closes the trap from the rear."
The Fardron operation was approaching its second, final act.
But none of its participants even suspected that this performance would end quite differently from what they imagined.