Asajj Ventress felt her right eye twitch.
Then her left eye.
Then her right eye again.
This isn't even funny, the thought flashed through her mind.
She shot a suspicious glance at Rear Admiral Shohashi.
But the commander of the Red Star remained in a state of perfect calm, unshakable even by a supernova.
"Is this some kind of joke?" Ventress finally asked, breaking eye contact with the boy standing before her.
"Not in the slightest," Shohashi replied calmly.
"This is…" The Dathomirian witch struggled to find the right words. "Some kind of nonsense."
"On the contrary," Shohashi stated calmly, picking up a cup of caf from the coffee table and taking an appreciative sip. "You came to me for help and advice. I did everything to get you what you wanted."
"How, exactly?" Ventress felt herself boiling from the inside.
"As far as I know, you want something from Grand Admiral Thrawn," Shohashi said, demonstrating his awareness. "And you asked me how to get it. The answer is simple — do Thrawn a favor in return."
"What does this brat have to do with anything?" Ventress jabbed a finger at the young man standing before her.
Dark-haired, lean, with sharp features.
Head lowered, he glared at her from under his brow, and inside him, anger was building — she could feel the rivers of Force flowing from him.
Yes, decent potential, but nothing more.
A diamond in the rough, one she would have to cut.
Her!
"I don't need students," she declared. "I'll talk to Thrawn."
"All fleets are in radio silence," Shohashi stated. "The Chimaera included. We're on general combat alert, in case you've forgotten."
"I haven't forgotten," Ventress hissed through her teeth, looking at the boy in front of her again. "Who the hell is he, anyway?"
"My name is Kyp Durron," the youth answered, before Shohashi could. "There's no need to talk about me like I'm on the other side of the galaxy. I'm right here, and I can hear you, by the way."
"Aren't you special," Ventress snorted, stepping closer to him, grabbing him by the chin, and lifting his head so he had to look her in the eye.
Right now, the boy was nearly a head shorter than her, and he looked about seventeen — in eight years, when his body reached its peak, he'd be almost as tall as she was.
Her nails mercilessly scratched the skin of his face, but the boy didn't even flinch, showing no reaction to her contemptuous expression and the features twisted into a sneer.
"So I'm supposed to train you so I can join the strike force that kills Palpatine," she said, examining the boy as critically as she had when selecting Savage Opress from the Nightbrothers. "Well, then, kid, consider yourself my apprentice — if you survive the process, of course. Since I have no other choice, we'll dance to whatever tune the Grand Admiral calls."
Durron grabbed her wrist in a swift, strong motion and pulled her hand away from his face.
In an instant, the witch found herself looking into the face of a small wild animal.
One that could grow into a decent rancor — with the right motivation.
The fact that he'd grabbed her hand (Ventress hadn't reacted, wanting to see how things would develop) was enough: she could feel that, for his build, the boy was strong enough.
He was probably tougher than he looked.
"I don't find you trustworthy or respectable either, Lady," he said. "I'm here to learn something greater — something combat-oriented, lethal, not the philosophical musings the Jensaarai defenders taught me. I owe the Grand Admiral — he saved my brother. And I will learn from you, since that's his will. And I'll follow the course he wants from me. Got it?"
"Young maximalism and budding ambition," Ventress snorted. "So our dear Grand Admiral has you on his hook too?"
"He helped me," Durron stated. "Pulled me out of the Kessel mines. Saved my brother. You want to kill Palpatine — so do I."
"And why's that?"
"Because his Empire killed my family, put me on Kessel, and my brother on Carida," Kip explained. "If it weren't for the Dominion, I'd be rotting there for years."
"You'll be bathing in blood for just as long during training," Ventress admitted. "It won't be easy."
"I already know a few things," the boy declared. "I've been trained — on Kessel, and in the Dominion. Teach me to fight, Lady Ventress. I want to be in that strike force too, the same as you."
"Is that so," the woman snorted.
For a moment, she thought about explaining to the boy who they'd be fighting.
And that, at best, most of those who took on Palpatine would be dead by the end of the battle.
Then she thought about something else.
The kid wasn't bad — the Force ran strong in him.
He had talent.
Of course, Thrawn wasn't saying exactly when he planned to attack Palpatine (if it even happened), but they had some time to train the boy.
You couldn't make a good fighter and Force user out of him in a couple of months — that took years of practice and training.
The Jensaarai Thrawn was raising in his Dominion probably wouldn't survive a clash with Palpatine's Dark Side Elite, let alone Darth Sidious himself.
But a passable adept — like she herself had been during the Clone Wars — could be made out of Durron.
Why not?
Someone like that could always be thrown into an attack from another flank, or used to distract Palpatine while she struck…
Selfish?
Yes.
Did she feel any remorse?
Not a bit.
She was an adept of the Dark Side of the Force, no matter how much she'd tried to adopt other knowledge from the Jedi or studied their philosophy.
The path of the Dark Side was betrayal.
"Remember this, kid," she said. "No one's going to go easy on you. If you don't want to die in the first few battles, absorb every lesson I teach you with the speed of Tatooine sand soaking up moisture. Got me?"
"I know my goal, and I'm pursuing it," Durron replied. "You won't have to repeat yourself with me, teacher."
"Call me that again, and I'll break your spine," Ventress promised. "Me passing on some knowledge doesn't make me your teacher. You haven't earned the right for me to see you as worthy of all my knowledge."
"I will," Durron said confidently. "Just make sure you have enough knowledge to satisfy my thirst for power."
"Mr. Durron has backbone," Shohashi commented, finishing his caf. "I like it."
I'd like to snap both your necks, Ventress thought.
"Well then, let's move on to the second part of our plan," the Rear Admiral announced, gesturing for those present to take seats on the sofas flanking his own. "Have a seat. Mr. Durron, I'd like to see the data chip you delivered for me."
The boy, along with the witch, took the seats indicated.
Then Kip handed over the storage device.
Shohashi connected it to the portable holographic projector sitting in the middle of the coffee table.
A map of the galaxy appeared before everyone present.
More precisely — its northern reaches, starting at the Bosph sector and ending at an area marked as the Chiloon Rift.
Along this route were barely noticeable dotted lines, and thick blue lines connecting bright, whitish dots.
When each dot was magnified, images of constellations visible from that particular angle appeared.
"As if someone was looking out a cockpit at the surrounding space," Ventress commented.
"Exactly," Shohashi replied. "These are the memories of a man who made this journey several years ago. As you can see," he pointed to the dotted lines, which made up the majority of the marked route, "ninety-eight percent of the route is uncalculated — merely hypothetical, based on computer projections. Your task," he looked at Durron and Ventress, "is to chart a course for the Red Star."
"Based on another person's memories?" Ventress asked, raising her eyebrows in surprise.
"Is that a problem for such powerful beings?" Shohashi asked. "Or is the Force incapable of performing such a feat?"
"I've never done anything like that before," Durron admitted.
"The calculation isn't on you, kid," Ventress declared, looking at Shohashi. "Did Thrawn decide to turn us into Jedi explorers, the kind who used the Force to chart courses for starships in deep space back in the Old Republic?"
"Grand Admiral Thrawn doesn't share his plans," Shohashi replied calmly. "This is part of our shared combat objective, General Ventress. And I believe only the two of you can handle it."
"I take it there are no other Jensaarai nearby," Ventress said with a strained smile.
"Not in the Bosph sector, that's for sure," the commander of the Red Star squadron replied.
Ventress looked at her newly acquired apprentice, silently applauding Thrawn.
She'd wanted the right to take part in killing Palpatine.
He'd saddled her with a boy he wanted her to train.
And assigned them the task of charting a hyperspace route along the galaxy's rim, where gravitational distortions, anomalies, black holes, radiation, all kinds of emissions, and simply impassable regions could cripple the equipment of any exploration vessel.
"I hope this assignment will count as my advance payment for participating in Palpatine's death," she said.
"Why else would they have given it to you, Lady Ventress?" Durron suggested. "We're being tested. We have to pass this test."
Well, who doubted that, Ventress thought irritably.
"Fine," she said. "Prepare a ship for me. We'll leave as soon as we're ready."
"Don't be in a hurry," Shohashi advised. "I'll need you both in the near future."
"For what purpose?" Durron asked curiously.
"The observation station at our base on Jandolhun has detected an enemy fleet approaching," Shohashi explained, looking at Ventress. "I hope you have no desire to miss a bloody battle, General? There's a chance the Master who got away from you will be there."
Ventress smiled predatorily.
"You certainly know how to pay a lady attention, Rear Admiral," she said in an oily tone. "You're not even hiding ysalamiri in your quarters anymore whenever we meet."
"I prefer to consider you a loyal comrade and subordinate, General," Shohashi replied dryly. "I hope we've moved past the 'uncontrollable ally' phase."
Ventress thought it was time to make one thing clear to the Rear Admiral: she knew perfectly well that he was enabling Thrawn to use her.
He shouldn't get cocky and think he could box her into the same constraints as his other soldiers.
"You don't know Dathomirian witches very well, Rear Admiral," she said with the same smile she wore when facing Jedi in combat. "We're uncontrollable weapons. Besides, we're women — you always have to be on your guard with us."
"That contingency has already been calculated," Shohashi nodded, gesturing toward the MagnaGuards standing in the shadows. "Just give me a reason to get rid of you — I'll do it without hesitation."
Ventress looked him in the eye with a good-natured smile.
Yes, he was no slouch either — he kept his finger on the pulse.
That was good.
Working alongside a slug that had let its guard down didn't appeal to her either; on the contrary, it would only make her want to get rid of such a 'commander.'
Shohashi was doing well — holding his own.
"Don't be careless, Rear Admiral," she advised. "A witch can't be tamed."
"Follow orders, General," Shohashi reminded her. "And there won't be any more problems."
"We'll see how it goes," Ventress said, openly enjoying the exchange.
"Can I go now?" Durron asked. "I'm literally sick of all this barracks-style flirting…"
Shohashi's face instantly turned to stone.
Ventress didn't even bother looking at her apprentice.
She simply hit him with a Force Lightning blast, throwing him off the sofa and toward the exit of the quarters.
"Lesson one, kid," she said. "Keep your mouth shut until you're spoken to."
Durron, who had struggled to his feet, was filled with rage, trembling with the anger surging through him.
Combined with the muscle spasms from the tiny electrical flashes still coursing over him, he looked almost comical.
"I'll remember this, Lady Ventress," he promised.
Murder and vengeance for the sheer insult blazed in his eyes.
Asajj broke into a smile and hit him with another Force Lightning.
She was starting to enjoy the teaching process.
The boy was overestimating his ability to absorb the material.
Why had he opened his mouth when she hadn't asked him anything?
* * *
Even across thousands of light-years, despite interference and signal quality, Jade could take satisfaction in the fact that emotion had broken through the Grand Admiral's usually impassive face.
Yes, it was an expression that could be described with the phrase: "What, again?"
But it was still emotion.
From the Grand Admiral.
Well, it was nice to know that she could stir even the one considered the benchmark of Imperial stiffness and composure.
"I'm listening," the Grand Admiral said in a voice that could freeze Tatooine to its core.
"Etti IV, along with other planets in the Corporate Sector, has declared the highest level of combat readiness," Mara reported, glancing over her shoulder at the space behind her. "The 'boys in brown' are everywhere. Zann's residence is cordoned off by three perimeters — you'd have to be invisible to get through."
"So I take it you don't have such talents in your arsenal?" Thrawn clarified.
Joker, Mara thought.
"Funny joke," she smiled, so unnaturally that the Grand Admiral would understand her attitude…
"It was a direct question," he clarified.
"Oh," Mara faltered. "No, I wasn't trained in that. I'm afraid infiltrating the beast's lair won't be possible after all."
"Is the security that impenetrable?" Thrawn asked.
"Yes, someone gave them a good shake," Mara nodded. "My fake documents failed at the first checkpoint. The enemy changed the access parameters. Everything we knew about them — it's all useless now. I don't know how, but they managed to keep a backup password and countersign system secret. That's what they're using now."
"Is that so," Thrawn narrowed his eyes. "Is the security local?"
"Here's the interesting part," Mara looked at the corpses of local security force soldiers lying at her feet. "The 'boys in brown' are mostly human. But now the patrols are all in closed heavy and medium armor. A few came to my backup safe house."
"Did you interrogate them?" Thrawn asked.
"That's why I said it's a small problem," Mara reminded him. "They're Zann Consortium militants. Outright thugs tasked with guarding all spaceports during the departure of transport shuttles from the Etti IV warehouses. All space surveillance is under enemy control. Any transport flights, except cargo ships, are prohibited. They shoot them down without even trying to land them. Something's happening in orbit — and they don't want the locals to see it."
"What are the transports carrying?" Thrawn asked.
That threw her off a little.
"Ammunition, food, military equipment," she strained her memory. "Separate shipments of militants — the 'boys in brown' are practically bursting with excitement at the prospect of battle."
"Enlightening," Thrawn snorted. "What measures is the enemy taking to ensure the secrecy of their operations in orbit?"
"For that, they're conducting blanket searches of everyone who arrived on the planet in the last few days. Not to mention that all starships in the spaceports, all flyers and airspeeders in parking lots and at civilian homes, have been deactivated with chips."
"So, after the commander of the Patrol Fleet returned to Etti IV from the Bosph sector," Thrawn understood.
"Exactly, sir," Mara agreed. "I'm afraid they figured out that our buzz droid hitched a ride on her ship. And they put two and two together."
"Yes, the increased security measures speak for themselves," Thrawn agreed. "I assume the operation to eliminate Tyber Zann has failed."
"Actually, I don't think so," Mara said. "I only reported this information so you'd know the enemy is massing troops. From what I saw when I was approaching Etti IV, there are about twenty Victory-I-class Star Destroyers in orbit. According to information on the shadow channels of the HoloNet, this situation is consistent throughout the Corporate Sector."
"They're mobilizing their defense forces," Thrawn understood. "They're attacking, but preparing to withstand a counterstrike at the same time."
"I could change a few addresses and identities, try to infiltrate the residence another way," Mara suggested.
"That won't be necessary," Thrawn cut her off. "We've learned that Palpatine's spies may have infiltrated the Zann Consortium. We've already eliminated at least one in the Bosph sector. But his instructor — the operation commander — got away. Given the heightened security, your capture is a matter of time. I'm certain Palpatine's agents know exactly what the Emperor's Hand looks like."
Mara shivered.
So the old psychopath wasn't as much of a psychopath as people thought.
"In that case, I should lay low," Mara said.
"You should withdraw," Thrawn ordered. "Leave the planet and the sector."
"My ship is under enemy guard," Mara reminded him. "Extracting it could cause a lot of noise. And breaking through the destroyers in the Flame would be…"
The young woman fell silent, meeting Grand Admiral Thrawn's gaze.
"Understood," she said, her mouth suddenly dry as the Tatooine Dune Sea. "The Flame stays on the surface of Etti IV."
Her throat tightened.
She'd have to abandon her ship?!
Why did this always happen?!
As soon as she got attached to something — bam! She had to say goodbye to a beloved starship and the lifestyle that came with it?
"I'm sorry, Mara, but the Flame's value is less than the value of your life," Thrawn continued. "You will get your ship back once the Zann Consortium is destroyed. For now, you need to leave the planet. Use the cargo shuttles — they'll take you to the ships preparing to attack the Dominion."
"Uh…" Jade frowned. "You think Zann will throw the Victories into the attack? Even half a thousand would be too few against our defenses. Probably," she added.
"There's no point in fully loading the Victories," Thrawn enlightened her. "The ships in orbit are second-wave invasion vessels — transports and support ships that will follow the breakthrough forces already massed at our borders. The Victories in orbit are a decoy, cover to mislead the eye."
"Understood," Mara inhaled noisily through her nose.
Well, she'd tried her best.
Decapitate the criminal organization in the middle of their illegal dealings — demoralize them.
It would make them easier to destroy.
Now, with the news of increased security and the imposition of martial law on the planets of the sector, with the emergence of Force-users in Zann's service, and with Palpatine's agents, the operation had become an order of magnitude more complicated.
But still, Mara didn't consider it impossible.
However, Thrawn wanted her to infiltrate the supply ships.
Second-line starships...
She wondered why.
"What will my assignment be?" she asked.
"I want to know the location of their operational base," Thrawn explained. "Find it for me."
"Consider it done, sir," Jade assured him.
When the hologram of the Grand Admiral dissolved, and she had shattered the communicator into a myriad of fragments with the Force, she looked toward the rented house on the outskirts of the capital.
From here to the first cordon was about fifty kilometers.
Patrols, both on foot and on speeder bikes, surveillance droids, combat droids, signal traps...
She could break through them.
She could reach the residence.
She could kill Zann and decapitate his faction.
But she could also get caught.
With the new variables, the danger level increased exponentially.
Well, this wasn't a failure.
It was an unfortunate oversight.
One that the local Dominion agents would fix when the time came.
For now, she would have to change her objective.
And leave the Flame here.
Eventually, the enemy would realize this ship belonged to an intelligence agent.
They would dig through her starship's systems.
Tear it apart.
Possibly (and most obviously) leave several dozen unpleasant "surprises."
You could say her ship would be "violated."
And knowing how Thrawn loved to leave plenty of extra devices on captured ships, using the Flame would simply be dangerous.
Mara stepped over the corpse of one of the enemy fighters, whose neck, like the others, she had snapped without using a lightsaber — to avoid being even partially identified by such a weapon.
She grabbed a small backpack with the things she truly needed for the mission — the rest of the luggage delivered to the rented house was nothing more than a decoy.
Then, with a heavy heart, she plotted her escape route from the dwelling.
And she even figured out how she would get aboard the necessary ship.
After all, the transports were loading in the same spaceport where her Flame was docked.
Her ship, her home, her property that she could no longer trust as before.
Just as she couldn't take it with her — the ship was stealthy, but only on sensors.
Visual contact would be enough to destroy the Flame.
The ship was lost to her regardless.
And no matter what Thrawn said, there was no point in saving the starship.
And to be honest, it wasn't built for her, but for Palpatine's assassin.
It had plenty of hidden functions you wouldn't know about unless you looked deep under the decorative panels.
For instance — a "decoy" function and remote control of the starship.
Or several gadgets to ensure the ship never fell into enemy hands and was never studied by anyone.
All of this would be useful to escape the planet.
As for the ship...
If she survived, there would be plenty of other ships ahead of her.
Should she bill Thrawn for it?
Mara shook her head negatively.
No, thanks, she didn't need any bad ideas.
She had enough of her own.
The last thing she needed was for the Chiss to offer her a Super Star Destroyer again, like last time.
So he'd filled entire sectors with starships and now didn't know who to pawn off that headache on.
No, thank you, Grand Admiral Thrawn, we don't need your handouts.
Let you have the headache.
Mara would find herself another starship.
Better than the Flame.
She would build it for herself.
And she would never abandon it.
* * *
His name was Jerid Sykes-12, and he was the twelfth clone of the original commander of the Zann Consortium's battle wing.
Like the other clones of this man, he was utterly devoted to the organization and at that moment was relishing the thought of the upcoming operation, leading his fleet into battle.
The victories won by the Zann Consortium in the past had been glorious, but what would happen today would eclipse most of them.
After the operation against the Dominion was complete, much would change in the galaxy.
Nothing would be the same.
There would be new enemies, open confrontation with whom would bring many new battles.
And with each new battle, the previous ones would become but a pale shadow compared to what the Zann Consortium intended to do to its opponents in the future.
As always, the attacks would be swift, crushing, leaving no strength for resistance.
First the Dominion, then Imperial Space, then the Pentastar Alignment, the smaller Imperial Remnants...
Agents would emerge from the shadows and lay their destabilized regions at the organization's feet.
While the Empire was bogged down in the war in the east, their worlds were weakened.
That meant it was a reason for much stronger opponents to descend upon them, to avenge the humiliation the Zann Consortium had suffered in the past at the hands of the Empire and the Rebel Alliance.
Sykes-12 himself had not participated in the battles before the Consortium's collapse several years earlier.
He was created, like his other clone brothers, later, about a year ago, when the Empire's trend toward strengthening became clear.
The return of Grand Admiral Thrawn two years ago from that galactic hole he was in had forced the Zann Consortium to act more vigorously, to build up its armed potential faster...
This led to yet another crisis that nearly cost the organization its existence again, but problems only make you stronger.
Soon, everything would return to normal, and the Zann Consortium would control the galaxy.
For the first time, all worlds would be united under the rule of not democrats, nor tyrants, nor kings or Sith, but a powerful criminal organization.
The attack tactic was incredibly simple.
Sykes-12's squadron of ships, like the other strike groups, would use the routes scouted for them, leading into the very heart of the Dominion's home territory.
Like surgeons, they would isolate one sector after another, then establish control over the supply lines.
The second wave of reinforcements would deliver their infantry units to the planets — both the generally useless Corporate Sector Security Force units and the assault squads packed with second-model Droidekas, like those produced on Hypori.
As always before a Zann Consortium attack, a crushing force would descend upon the unsuspecting and nearly defenseless core worlds of the Dominion.
The plan was elegant in its simplicity.
Every sector would be struck.
Shipyards, production facilities, ship berths would be attacked and captured; ground bases and troop concentrations would be bombarded from orbit.
Ships from the Defense Forces could only surrender while the ships of the Dominion's regular fleet enthusiastically attacked pirate groups in the distant Karthakk sector in the galaxy's east.
Of course, they would have to fight multiple opponents — including the Red Star squadron, which had destroyed Picket Fleet formations in the Bosph sector.
Sykes-12 felt the adrenaline of the coming battle literally boiling inside him.
The Dominion wasn't the only one that knew how to use scout droids.
And the Alliance wasn't the only one that knew how to set traps.
Right now, the "Butcher of Atoa" was completely confident that his battered squadron was perfectly safe, licking its wounds after the military insult dealt to the Zann Consortium.
And they would all be annihilated in a single blow by the syndicate's main forces.
Sykes-12 had enough strength to disable the infamous fast dreadnought Crimson Dawn, already renowned as a fleet-killer.
Once it came under the Zann Consortium's control, things would become very difficult for those who opposed the organization.
Sykes-12 had long been observing Eric Shohashi's actions, analyzing his opponent.
A ruthless and educated commander, the terror of the Outer Rim, mercilessly destroying everything in his path.
A veteran of the kind rarely encountered in the galactic Outer Rim — for the galaxy's fringes had long been little more than a place of exile for those who had somehow displeased the Empire.
Well, today he would have an excellent opportunity to test his abilities against a powerful opponent.
"Admiral, ten minutes to the planet Jandolhun," reported the navigator from the other side of the bridge.
Despite the fact that the Merciless — an Aggressor-class Star Destroyer, Tyber Zann's flagship — had been destroyed in the last battle of the former Consortium, Sykes-12 had done his utmost to ensure his flagship looked exactly the same.
Just like the other clones of Admiral Sykes.
A tribute to the power of the Zann Consortium, which they had once lost but would undoubtedly regain.
Sykes-12's Aggressor-class Star Destroyer.
"Prepare to open the main communication channel," Sykes-12 commanded, impatiently waiting for the moment the fleet would emerge from hyperspace so he could begin issuing his orders.
Orders that would wash away the shame of the defeat that the Picket Fleet had suffered in the Bosph sector.
"Understood, Admiral."
A smile flickered across Sykes-12's thin, cracked lips.
He felt the familiar vibration of deceleration beginning, and the image in the viewing window outside the battle bridge transformed from the whitish haze of hyperspace into the real darkness of space.
They had arrived at the outer reaches of the Jandolhun system, where the captured starships of the Picket Fleet unit were located.
This region had minimal stellar gravity interference, but was only a few light-minutes from the world itself.
Here, obviously, the enemy had set up their sector's operational base, and besides combat spacecraft, there must be plenty of transports with valuable property.
Since the Zann Consortium's warships were fundamentally built from old Imperial projects — designed but rejected by the foolish Imperial war machine — the unification of Imperial technologies was more than justified.
The Zann Consortium was building the largest military fleet, comparable to what the Empire had at the zenith of its glory.
Yes, it would take decades, perhaps even years, but controlling an entire galaxy and destroying all Imperials, Rebels, Republicans, Neutrals, Hutts, and Renegades would require massive forces.
Another portion of armed forces would be handed over by puppet regimes along with their territories.
However, the situation in orbit of Jandolhun seemed outrageous to Sykes-12.
Instead of seeing the planet of the same name with trophy starships and Dominion ships undergoing repairs, helpless and at his mercy, Sykes-12 found the Crimson Dawn squadron before him.
The Dominion fleet, formed up around his starships, prepared for battle.
He thought: "This is impossible!"
Then he shouted at the top of his lungs:
"Shields to full power!" but the enemy had already opened fire.
* * *
The battle hadn't even begun yet, but Counter-Admiral Shohashi was already fixated on the tactical screens on the Crimson Dawn's bridge.
Jandolhun's early warning system, taken from the New Republic, and the last order from Grand Admiral Thrawn warned that the enemy had advanced to the borders of the Dominion's home territory.
And the commanders of the operational groups had long since prepared defensive positions to meet the enemy.
The squadron that attacked the Red Star's operational base included ten Aggressor-class Star Destroyers and three dozen Vengeance-class frigates.
They were supported by four dozen Interceptor IV-class frigates, functioning as military transport starships armed with missiles and energy weapons.
Given the size of the Action IV transports' holds, from which the latter frigates were created, it was unsurprising they were here.
They undoubtedly carried troops and equipment for initial planetary operations, as well as for capturing enemy starships.
More than a substantial force to subdue a little-known remote sector and deal with the Red Star forces.
Especially considering the fact that the Aggressors were equipped with ion-plasma cannons, which would play their role in neutralizing the squadron's starships.
On the Dominion's side, Eric had committed all available warships in the sector: the Crimson Dawn and nine Imperial-I-class destroyers: the Imperious, Black Star, Adjudicator, Tyrant, Tyranny, Titan, Killer, Thunder.
They were divided into groups of three destroyers, commanded by the "Twos": the Liquidator, Red Dragon, and Eviscerator.
And now these three battle groups held the enemy's flanks and rear in a semicircle, leaving the Crimson Dawn on the front, accompanied by the Victory-class Star Destroyer once known as the Will of the Emperor.
Currently known as the Mercy, this ship — the sole "Three" of the entire squadron — was poised for battle beneath the flagship's keel, having launched missiles at the enemy.
Spinning in place like a top, the Victory, like the Crimson Dawn itself, hurled dozens of anti-ship missiles toward the enemy ships, which, having felt the full weight of the initial missile and torpedo strike from all sides, faltered, breaking their formation.
The enemy, scattering in all directions and launching their paltry starfighters, also ran into two dozen CR90 Corellian corvettes.
A pair of such ships protected the lower hemispheres of the Imperial-class destroyers and reinforced their anti-starfighter defenses.
Normally, Crusader II-class corvettes should have been in their place, and the CR90s should have been transferred to the local Defense Forces for patrol duty, but the former hadn't arrived from their assignment along with the military transport starships, so Shohashi had requisitioned the latter.
At this point, he needed to withstand the enemy's initial strike and destroy the group to prevent the capture of the recently liberated sector.
He also needed to buy time for the military transports to lay minefields along other routes farther from the Corporate Sector and to complete the organization of observation posts along the entire perimeter of the Dominion's borders.
The enemy starships clearly intended to capture his trophies from the previous battle, but a small "surprise" awaited them there as well.
Yes, Eric had left those starships in orbit of his operational base as bait, perfectly aware that the Zann Consortium's strategists learned well from others' mistakes and successful tactics.
The use of tracking devices on starships had been employed by the New Republic before the Battle of Sluis Van.
The same tactic was and is used by the Dominion itself.
And before them, the Empire.
Thrawn had confirmed that the starships captured from the Consortium at Smarck had tracking devices.
Which was not the case on the ships he had boarded following the battle at Hypori.
There was an explanation for everything, and it had been communicated to the squadron commanders by the Grand Admiral.
Now that the trap had finally sprung here, it would clearly spring in other places as well.
Much had been done to finally make the Zann Consortium stick its head into that laser guillotine that would sever this particular limb.
Eric had let this fleet into the Bosph sector.
He knew perfectly well the route — the shortest known to smugglers — that the criminals would use to attack his base, where he had gathered the trophy starships.
And now, one of the support ship groups was closing that breach behind the enemy, mining the hyperspace route they had used to get there and beyond.
Eric wasn't particularly concerned about battles in other parts of the Dominion.
He was fighting to ensure the Bosph sector — destined to become a staging ground for operations against the Corporate Sector — held out with maximum effectiveness for the Dominion.
Not a single enemy starship would leave here.
Two Interdictor-class Star Destroyers and three Immobilizer 418-class cruiser-minesweepers, operating behind the combat groups, would see to that, completely blocking the possibility of escape into hyperspace.
Eric had known the course the Zann Consortium fighters would take to reach the sector for the swift destruction of his operational base.
Just as he had prepared the battlefield.
Most likely, the Zann men hadn't even noticed that they emerged from hyperspace several hundred thousand kilometers earlier than their navigators had calculated — the hyperspace trawl trap had worked.
And now, the enemy starships were milling about with their full mass over the minefield prepared for them, seeded with buzz droids.
And five Venator-class Star Destroyers were firing their main-caliber ion cannons, burning through the masking fields of the Aggressors and Vengeances, no matter how hard they tried to use them.
Active maneuvering in the minefield, even if it meant a ship wasn't blown up by the obstacles, would inevitably lead to a buzz droid latching onto its hull, which would transmit telemetry and the ship's position to the squadron command — and the Venators would fire without missing.
The Imperial-class destroyers and CR90s, with massive waves of laser, ion, and turbolaser fire, were taking out the Interceptor IVs, while the Mercy, Crimson Dawn, and the Dragons were engaging the Aggressors and Vengeances that were still trying to mask themselves.
The plan was good, but the enemy was also prepared.
"Sir, the Tyranny and the Eviscerator have serious damage," the watch officer reported.
Eric could see that for himself.
When the enemy realized they had been lured into a trap, they managed to land strikes before the Dominion forces turned the fight into a slaughter.
Two destroyers had taken dual ion-plasma hits from the Aggressors, and now, deprived of shields, partial power, and with damaged hulls, they were frankly non-combat effective.
The commanders were not to blame for failing to shield their starships from the not-so-fast-firing main battery of the Aggressors.
The ships that had fired on them had gotten close enough to their targets to have that advantage.
Unfortunately, losses in war, even with the best plans, happen, and quite often.
Both destroyers would require extensive repairs, so the best option now was to preserve them.
"Use tractor beams to tow the starships to the rear of the battle groups," Eric ordered. "Compensate for the gaps in the battle line through maneuver of the other destroyers. Inform the launcher operators and gunners that we still have a huge number of targets, so..."
His words were cut off by a brilliant flash that appeared where the Killer Star Destroyer had been.
"Report!" Eric barked, squeezing the head of his cane so tightly that the diamond's facets dug into the skin of his palm until it bled.
"The Killer was destroyed by three Vengeance-class frigates," the watch officer reported. "The main reactor is running away, the superstructure is destroyed, the engines are disabled. The executive officer ordered the reactor to be jettisoned to save the ship and attempt to withdraw it on maneuvering thrusters."
"Were we tracking those ships?" Shohashi asked.
"Negative, sir. Apparently, they managed to avoid contact with our buzz droids."
Bad.
"Maintain a full count of detected enemy targets!" Eric ordered. "How many Aggressors remain intact?"
"Eight have been destroyed, either by artillery fire or by detonation after being immobilized," the watch officer reported.
"They're exploding after being hit by the Dragon's ion cannons?" Eric couldn't believe his ears.
"Yes, sir," the watch officer confirmed. "It appears there is a backup self-destruct system."
Well...
That was unpleasant, but it had to be acknowledged that the same thing was happening here as in the Karthakk sector, according to Captain Vivant's report.
The enemy was using every means and opportunity to destroy their ships and prevent their capture.
Which was quite logical — in the past, the Aggressors couldn't mass-produce masking systems.
Only, according to rumors, Zann's flagship — the Merciless — had a cloaking device among starships of that type.
But it seemed the enemy had upgraded even that.
Which was hardly surprising, given how much stygium they had obtained from Maramere in the past.
On the tactical screen, markers for Zann Consortium ships beginning to decloak started flashing.
They had chosen as their targets the damaged starships belonging to the two nearest battle groups.
On Shohashi's order, the remaining starships opened a barrage on the enemy, which led to an increase in the number of destroyed enemy starships.
But the statistics were moving too slowly.
Now nine out of ten enemy Star Destroyers were destroyed — and he could now see with his own eyes that two shots from the Dragon's main gun were not a panacea for the subsequent capture of an Aggressor-class Star Destroyer.
Only one ship of this type remained — the obvious flagship, styled after the Merciless, destroyed by the Empire.
"The nearest Dragon is to continuously bombard the enemy flagship with its ion cannon," Shohashi ordered, looking at the tactical display reflecting the battle's progress.
Of the forty-eight Interceptor IVs, only half were still combat-effective.
The others had either mine damage or ion-turbolaser damage and had stopped moving, firing back from their positions as best they could.
It seemed their crews had already realized they weren't going to be destroyed and were trying to use this dubious advantage for their own purposes.
Since the Dominion's Star Destroyers and their ion cannons were busy engaging the Vengeances — which, though stripped of shields, had heavy armor — they couldn't silence the Interceptors.
"Redirect our starfighters and corvettes to suppress the Consortium's Interceptor fire points," Eric ordered. "The destroyers are to continue eliminating the Vengeance-class frigates."
The latter, like the Aggressors, had not only cloaking fields but also self-destruct systems, which they were eager to use to maximum advantage.
Of the thirty enemy ships, two-thirds had already been destroyed, and Eric could clearly see that the remaining vessels, maintaining a tight formation while firing at the interceptors to clear a path for themselves, were moving toward the Crimson Dawn.
He hesitated to give the order, seeing that three of the enemy's trailing starships had been disabled by ion salvos from the four Dragons.
Yes, there had been one miss, but it didn't affect the overall situation.
"Dragons, switch your fire to the disabled Vengeance-class ships," he ordered. "Destroyers, open fire for effect on the active enemy vessels."
The remaining Interceptor IVs didn't particularly concern him — they were weak ships, capable of opposing only corvettes, and even then, the corvettes outnumbered them at the moment of attack.
The Vengeance-class ships were a different matter.
In open battle against a fast dreadnought, they couldn't hold out — even now, he could see their hulls were shredded into ribbons, their remaining armor covered in soot and grime, and air gushing from the breaches.
The enemy, unable to report their dire situation to other units of the Zann Consortium due to the long-range communications jamming system, were going for self-destruction, hoping to either blow up the Crimson Dawn or at least heavily damage it, taking it out of action for an extended period.
This plan by the Zann Consortium commanders ran counter to Shohashi's own intentions, so he ordered their destruction.
If they were lucky, and the constant ion bombardment from the Dragons prevented the enemy from detonating the immobilized Aggressor and three Vengeance-class ships, he would have trophies. Studying them, the Dominion's engineers could learn about and gain an understanding of the level of modernization of the Zann Consortium's starships.
The rest, however...
"Destroy the enemy," Eric repeated the order.
Several direct salvos from the Vengeance-class ships' turbolasers and mass driver cannons hit the Crimson Dawn, but they had no effect on the star dreadnought's overall combat readiness.
The first hadn't penetrated the deflector shield, and the second lacked sufficient power to deal noticeable damage to the armor.
The gunners and missile operators of the Crimson Dawn were pasting the enemy into the dirt.
One of the enemy frigates exploded when a lucky salvo of anti-ship missiles from the Mercy pierced its hull and blasted the active zone of the hyperdrive's nuclear reactor to pieces, but the other frigates bearing down on the Crimson Dawn managed to avoid significant damage.
Until now.
The fast star dreadnought's turbolasers concentrated their fire on the forward hemisphere.
Anti-ship torpedoes left their launch tubes, and even the laser cannons opened fire on the enemy.
One by one, like overripe fruit, the Vengeance-class ships detonated as the dreadnought's combined firepower crashed down upon them.
Five explosions — and of the half-dozen starships, only one remained.
It was drifting on inertia, signaling at full power that it intended to surrender and requested a prize crew be sent aboard.
"I am the frigate's commander and am ready to surrender personally to Rear Admiral Shohashi," the unknown captain of the Vengeance-class ship said, his voice strained. "I will be a valuable prisoner and can reveal a considerable number of secrets about the Corporate Sector and my direct employers! Please, send a team quickly, because militants are trying to seize the bridge!"
Eric calmly listened to the unknown man's tearful account, then looked at the senior gunner.
His order was short and perfectly clear.
"Destroy it."
Like the other commanders, he was familiar with Captain Vivant's report regarding the trap that Zann Consortium ship crews set up as a last resort.
There are no prisoners from this organization who genuinely surrender.
But you can capture them when they haven't yet planned to take those who board their ship to the grave with them.
A salvo from the forward turbolasers and anti-ship missiles reduced the starship to ruins, which detonated in a final blast.
Eric turned his attention to the tactical monitor.
The corvettes and Star Destroyers had shifted their focus to destroying or capturing the remaining Interceptor IVs.
The Dragons were steadily firing on the disabled vessels, not allowing their crews even a hypothetical chance to power up any electronics.
Four Star Destroyers were seriously damaged and needed at least medium repairs.
Half the corvettes were lost or drifting without control.
"Prepare the landing shuttles," he ordered. "Equip them with assault droids to capture the active zones on the ships. After that, deploy the stormtroopers. General Ventress will handle the capture of the enemy flagship. Disable the minefields in the system. Gather any remaining intact or inactive buzz droids and send repair crews to the damaged destroyers."
He had suffered significant losses, and the Red Star would be unable to operate at full strength for some time.
However, the mission was accomplished.
Eric Shohashi had taken the first blow from the Zann Consortium and emerged victorious from this confrontation.
Now it was up to the Dominion's other commanders.