Ten years, two months, and twenty-seven days after the Battle of Yavin…
Or the forty-fifth year, second month, and twenty-seventh day after the Great Resynchronization.
(Nine months and twelve days since the Arrival.)
Even without looking at the chronometer, Juno guessed the moment the hyperspace jump ended.
It's a subtle, barely perceptible boundary you can only detect when you've watched this scene for many years.
Still a cadet, she used to stare at what was happening outside the starship, literally not tearing herself away from the viewports.
A lot of time had passed since then, but the habit of admiring the final stretch of a jump through light-years had remained.
Even more mesmerizing was watching the arrival of a starship tearing through the fabric of space.
A colossal mass of metal appearing as if from nothing.
And right now, the Imperials on their warships saw just that.
The Mon Calamari MC90 line cruiser named Calamari arrived exactly where planned — in orbit of the planet Loronar.
Directly at the home of Loronar Corporation, manufacturer of the well-known Strike-class medium cruisers.
Which had recently become the headquarters of Moff Getelles, from where he had been launching harassing attacks on the Alliance base.
"Transition complete," the watch officer reported. "All ships have arrived in full."
"Deploy into battle formation," Juno ordered.
Though there wasn't much to "deploy."
Just her Calamari and four Nebulon-B escort frigates of the second model.
That was the maximum she could afford to take into battle without leaving Koensayr defenseless.
But it would be enough to destroy the enemy once and for all.
Six Strike-class medium cruisers and a Dreadnaught-class heavy cruiser — Getelles's flagship.
Juno almost instantly sorted the visible starships by class and type, not ignoring the two dozen medium cruiser hulls visible in the corporation's orbital docks.
More deliveries for the moff from the corporation.
Intelligence suggested that the Loronarians had made a deal with the moff — he eliminates their competitors, the Koensayr Manufactories, and transfers their facilities to the Loronarians, who in turn supply him with the necessary number of ships.
Undoubtedly there were other secret arrangements — Imperials simply can't live without them.
And for Loronar Corporation, the deal's terms weren't attractive enough to agree so easily.
Ships cost money, and if there's one thing Getelles excelled at, it was losing ships in useless attacks.
He evidently fancied himself a tactical genius, but in reality — he used standard formations and textbook maneuvers.
Which Juno, herself a military graduate, easily saw through.
And even now, fully understanding that he couldn't win — a single Calamari would have been enough to destroy his flotilla — Getelles was forming his starships into a line of battle, hoping that way to organize a powerful barrage.
"Raise deflectors, launch fighters and bombers," Eclipse ordered.
X-wings — the Calamari was one of the few ships of its type whose air wing was still equipped with the old faithful T-65 modifications — emerged from the ship's hangars.
Of the seventy-two fighters based on her flagship, four squadrons were X-wings, and two were brand-new K-wing assault bombers, produced by none other than the aforementioned Koensayr Manufactories.
Unfortunately, all the A-wings, B-wings, and E-wings, due to their great rarity, had been assigned to General Bel Iblis, but Juno didn't particularly regret it.
She knew full well what the new bombers were like, and they'd already proven themselves on battlefields many times.
In particular — highly effective at destroying all types of TIE craft from respectable distances and giving even larger starships a good thrashing.
Similar craft — one squadron per escort frigate — were brought to the battlefield by the Nebulons as well.
Juno understood perfectly that the pilots, among whom were many Alliance recruits, needed experience and practice.
Not on simulators and trainers — but in real space battles with a real enemy.
Moff Getelles's not-so-capable pilots were just right for the role of not-too-dangerous but still real targets.
By the time the starships of the Antimeridian sector ruler opened fire, Juno's ships had formed a central layer, and the fighter and bomber pilots had positioned themselves around, covering almost the entire northern hemisphere of the planet.
The next moment, she heard something unexpected:
"Defensive platform detected in orbit!"
The scouts hadn't reported this, and soon she understood why.
Pushing its maneuvering drives to the limit, the Fire Star was racing toward Eclipse's fleet.
A morally obsolete orbital defense station, and moreover — wrapped in frameworks of metal structures that made it look more like a docking point than a guardian of orbital security.
Apparently, the scout pilots, when mapping the system, simply didn't realize that such a structure could simply be camouflage.
Well.
As she'd said earlier — the crew needs training.
The more, the better.
The black void came alive — the defensive platform's turbolasers and launchers spoke.
They were joined by the medium cruisers and the heavy cruiser, disgorging TIE fighters from their depths, whose appearance indicated they'd seen the living Raith Sienar in his younger years.
Salvo after salvo — torpedoes, missiles, laser charges.
The enemy sought to inflict maximum possible damage on her starships — this too was standard tactics.
The return fire from the Calamari's gunners spread helplessly across the orbital station's shields.
"The Fire Star is our priority target," Juno announced.
It alone was stronger than all of Moff Getelles's combat-ready starships, which, incidentally, had already engaged.
"Second and third bomber squadrons — approach the target from the left, along vector six," Eclipse continued.
Now, with the escort frigates enthusiastically exchanging fire with the superior force of medium cruisers, solving the problem of the enemy's heaviest and toughest, balanced defensive asset fell to the Calamari line cruiser.
The combined might of turbolasers, ion cannons, missiles, and proton torpedoes from Juno's flagship, unleashed upon the Fire Star, quickly told on the enemy's defensive capabilities.
The orbital station's port deflector shields failed, forcing the Fire Star's commander to focus all his attention exclusively on the Calamari.
That was enough for two K-wing squadrons from the line cruiser's air wing to approach the defense station virtually unnoticed from one direction.
Along a wide arc, at the edge of perception, they attacked at the moment Juno had precisely indicated.
And while the gunners and launcher operators on the Fire Star were thinking and wondering how to compensate for the massive missile-torpedo strike awaiting them, the Alliance's munitions cleanly and without fuss carried out their task.
Penetrating beneath the deflector shields, the kinetic warheads reached their targets, sweeping across the Fire Star's surface like a fiery tornado, crushing, along with the shockwave, the defensive structure's firing and launch points.
Damage to the shields had already been reported to Moff Getelles's ships, and the medium cruisers attempted to form something of a screen.
Eclipse just shook her head.
This tactic was used to cover a ship that had lost mobility but still had the ability to defend itself.
It seemed the moff had decided there was no difference between a low-mobility space station and a line ship that had lost way, based on some tactical manual.
Well, he was about to learn otherwise.
Juno's X-wings clashed in a deadly melee with the enemy's TIE fighters, turning the local patch of space into a deadly carousel of advanced aerobatics.
The Calamari and its escort frigates were hammering the enemy's screening ships, battering their deflectors again and again, and in places — their armor, salvo after salvo.
Periodic fire raids by the assault bombers only worsened the situation for the enemy.
Half an hour into the battle, the enemy had already lost two-thirds of the Fire Star's total weapons and launchers.
Four medium cruisers gaped with pierced hulls and drifted, abandoned or nearly abandoned by their crews.
Getelles's Dreadnaught cowered cowardly behind its allied ships' backs, clearly wanting to flee far from here.
And the sooner, the better.
Apparently, Moff Getelles had managed to foresee the battle's outcome without falling into the typical Imperial "victorious fatalism."
Now, six medium cruisers on one side and a line cruiser supported by the day's battered escort frigates on the other exchanged artillery fire and torpedoes — with equal fury and enthusiasm.
But with different results.
The enemy orbital defense station's deflector shields were cracking at the seams.
They held for a while, then solemnly expired their technical spirit.
There was neither time nor energy to restore them — the not-so-fast but well-armed K-wings struck the station again.
By then, only its own armored hull was protecting it.
And even then — the end wasn't far off.
At Juno's signal, the Calamari line cruiser turned its forward guns toward the planet, bringing its starboard side to the battered Fire Star.
Already shieldless, the space defense object couldn't withstand the salvo.
Its launchers were literally swept from the armor's framework, along with the remains of the camouflage.
Even greater damage was inflicted by the Calamari's precise and equally destructive ion cannons.
Bluish spiders of surface charge spread across the mangled hull.
And, seconds later, the station's hull had finally become a dead mass of metal, devoid of any flicker of energy or sign of functional systems.
Electronics and electrical systems had given out, burying hundreds of station crew members in impenetrable darkness.
Meanwhile, the escort frigates went around the Imperals.
They couldn't cause much harm to the medium cruisers that outnumbered them, but they drew attention.
While the Calamari was literally hammering salvo after salvo down each enemy ship's throat.
One cruiser exploded, then another…
The preliminary bomber raids on the station had produced a predictable result, which the K-wing pilots demonstrated on the Strikes as well.
Namely — they raided the ships' engines.
The slow Dreadnaught used this to finally break out of the engagement zone.
They could have chased it, but why?
There was no order to destroy the moff.
The assigned task had entirely different objectives, so chasing a lone heavy cruiser wasn't in Juno's plans.
So she calmly watched as the Dreadnaught, with all the grace of a brick, accelerated and jumped into hyperspace.
"We've received data from the commanders of the remaining ships," Galen reported, approaching Juno and handing her a datapad he'd taken while passing the watch officer.
Apparently, he'd simply beaten the latter to the report.
"Yes, and what do they say?" Eclipse asked.
"They're asking for a ceasefire and reporting their readiness to surrender to the victors' mercy," Galen said, handing her the datapad.
"Do they surrender unconditionally, or do they have any conditions?" Juno inquired, scanning the text on her datapad's screen.
"Who's going to listen to them?" Galen wondered.
Juno finished reading the report, smiled, and shook her head, returning the datapad to the approaching watch officer.
"Cease fire," she ordered. "Begin negotiations with the commander of each ship. Find out what each of them wants. If we can give it to them, do it."
"And if not?" Galen inquired.
"Then our gunners will remind them that we have more guns than their ships were ever fitted with," Juno said, pressing her lips together. "If they don't want to surrender, Galen, we'll board them."
"This part of the plan inspires me immensely," the clone smiled.
"And when it's over," she drew her beloved's attention, "I'll have another assignment for you."
"I'm listening, ma'am," he gave her a playful salute.
But Juno wasn't much in the mood for jokes right now.
She pointed downward, clearly meaning something other than the deck plating of the ship's combat bridge.
"Please find someone down there who will surrender this planet to me."
* * *
The Senior Command Staff meeting room at Dominion headquarters was unusually empty this time.
Vice Admiral Pellaeon looked at the vacant seat previously assigned to Vice Admiral I-Gor.
Now it sat empty.
As did the one belonging to Shohashi — though there, at least, was a hologram of the Red Star's commander.
It felt almost lonely…
Of the four senior officers of the Dominion's regular Armed Forces, one had died without lasting even six months in service.
"All attacks on the Dominion have been repelled, gentlemen," Grand Admiral Thrawn announced. "The Zann Consortium's offensive potential has been destroyed. Vice Admiral Pellaeon, how are things progressing with the mining operations in the designated sectors?"
"Proceeding in strict accordance with the plans," Pellaeon replied. "They'll finish the placements by the end of the month."
"Remind the task force commanders to get rid of the improvised mine-layers," Thrawn requested.
Gilad was about to point out again that in that case the Dominion would lose roughly five hundred small and medium transports.
Yes, these were old starships falling apart before their eyes, requiring serious repairs to continue operating.
Yes, for most of them, spare parts were barely obtainable even on the galactic black market.
But the Dominion had logistical needs!
"Yes, sir, I'll follow up on that," Gilad knew arguing with Thrawn was pointless.
"The battle for the Galaanus system netted us a large number of Action IV-class transports," the Grand Admiral reminded him. "There's no need to hoard a collection of mismatched starships. Especially ones that have been to the second moon of Tiraggi."
Pellaeon didn't argue much.
Yes, the Action IVs were a decent model, but nothing new, frankly speaking.
Well, except their cavernous holds — that was the main virtue of such a prize.
And spare parts for them could be found in nearly every major spaceport, piled into mountains of decent size.
"Now, let's move to more pressing matters," Thrawn declared. "Rear Admiral Shohashi," the Alderaanian fixed the Supreme Commander with a keen gaze. "You and the Red Star are tasked with holding the northeastern direction. Sectors Bosph, Corvo, Aparo, Happich, and Quimar are now your zone of responsibility. Additional forces will be transferred to reinforce the Red Star."
"Acknowledged, Grand Admiral."
"Has Lady Ventress already departed on her assignment?"
"She left a day ago. Immediately after I received confirmation that mining of the hyperspace route's jump point leading into the Chiloon Rift was complete."
"Is the barrier activated?"
"Yes, sir."
"Was it crossed without issues?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Pay particular attention to the ysalamiri — the security protocol must not be violated under any circumstances."
Gilad glanced at the cage standing near the table.
The creature was shamelessly asleep.
But it was doing its job, oddly enough.
"That's all," Thrawn stated.
Shohashi's hologram faded.
"You didn't tell him, sir," Pellaeon noted.
"Are you suggesting that I inform every single person that behind Tyber Zann stands one of Palpatine's underlings?" Thrawn clarified. "There is a security protocol — and it must be followed."
Pellaeon didn't know how Thrawn was so certain that Shadowspawn — also Lord Cronal, also the former head of the Ubiqtorate, also the former Lord Blackhole who had plagued the Rebel Alliance shortly after the Battle of Yavin and in whose name Sate Pestage had impersonated him — couldn't take action against crews of Star Destroyers not within the ysalamiri's "operating" zone.
Based on what Maris Brood had said — the torture of Moff Nivers before his death, demonstrated to the late DSB operative Steben — was Shadowspawn's preferred method of execution.
And only thanks to Steben's quick thinking in recording the data to a closed server had Dominion leadership been able to connect Maris Brood's account of Shadowspawn's executions with Nivers's death throes, piecing one to the other.
"Can Cronal act independently?" Pellaeon clarified. "Or is the scheming with the Zann Consortium ultimately Palpatine's project?"
"Neither option can be ruled out," Thrawn declared. "Nor a third one."
So we don't even have the traditional 'bad' and 'good' scenarios to pick from, Pellaeon thought gloomily.
Ever since the Clone Wars, he'd understood that getting involved with Jedi — or their antipodes, who couldn't control themselves at all — was extremely… unwise.
And unsafe for one's health.
And here they were apparently dealing with a being whose abilities — at least in controlling sentients — rivaled Palpatine's.
Which made him shudder.
"The first and most obvious option is that Cronal is acting on Palpatine's orders," the Grand Admiral announced. "That's logical — the Emperor was gathering all his forces after his return, and Cronal is a very valuable asset. From the late Kerr's accounts, we know that Palpatine intends to use some criminals to destroy others. And in that plan, it's more useful than ever to employ a powerful agent of influence over the leadership of one of the largest criminal organizations in the galaxy."
"Using one to eliminate another, while the war weakens the victor," Pellaeon agreed. "A very familiar tactic…"
"That's exactly what Tyber Zann wanted to use to pit the Dominion against his competitors," Thrawn prompted.
"Isn't it too simplistic to use the same tactic against completely different opponents?" Pellaeon inquired. "Especially since it's unclear — why set the Dominion on the eastern faction if, according to the plan, Zann was supposed to handle that?"
"An interesting question, Vice Admiral," the Supreme Commander agreed. "To me, this — using the Dominion against Rothana and Kamino — looks like a modernization of the original plan: to pit two criminal factions against each other."
"Plausibly," Pellaeon agreed uncertainly.
"And more than logical," Thrawn replied. "Tyber Zann and his forces had been growing stronger for quite some time — several years. They possess far greater forces and resources than I did before creating the Dominion. Moreover, our course was originally aimed at weakening the New Republic. Theirs — at destroying crime. Neutrality and a respite, let alone the creation of the Dominion and its acquisition of a massive number of ships — was not anticipated by Palpatine. Now he's decided that while the Imperial Remnants are tearing at the New Republic, he should resolve additional problems that arose due to my interference."
"The Dominion and the Systems Alliance."
"Precisely. For now, we can only guess who exactly is behind the plan to drag the Dominion into a war in the east, followed by the seizure of our territories and resources by the Zann Consortium: Palpatine himself, Cronal, or Tyber Zann. Without information from the primary source, the instigator cannot be determined. Any of them could have devised this plan against the Dominion and the eastern faction and set it in motion."
"Do you allow for the possibility that Zann may not be Cronal's puppet?" Pellaeon was surprised.
"I have no facts to disprove that," Thrawn declared. "We must continue to observe the situation. There are many working hypotheses, but that doesn't mean any one of them must be correct. Cronal is known for his progressive insanity. He could be playing on Palpatine's team, or pretending to help him while actually enacting his own plans. But some conclusions can still be drawn."
Pellaeon straightened, ready to hear Thrawn's reasoning.
Frankly, he missed these conversations — discussions of tactics intertwined with philosophizing and guidance from the Dominion's Grand Admiral.
"First, we must understand that Tyber Zann would never willingly become anyone's puppet," Thrawn reasoned. "He is an ambitious, vindictive, and pragmatic man. Nothing — not even a hypothetical offer from Palpatine or Cronal to hold a position akin to Prince Xizor, head of Black Sun in Imperial times — would satisfy him. Therefore, he is either a puppet controlled by Cronal, necessary for uniting criminals under the control of someone widely known in the underworld, or he is being skillfully manipulated to achieve someone else's goals."
"If they set the criminals against each other, Palpatine could easily destroy the remnants using his vast fleet," Pellaeon mused, running Thrawn's words through his mind. "While the Remnants finished off the New Republic, weakened by us."
"That's a rather ambitious plan, which tells us that Palpatine isn't quite as insane as he seems," Thrawn noted. "At least — at the time of creating and initiating the original plan."
"I shudder at the thought of facing a sane Palpatine in battle," Pellaeon admitted.
"The fact that the plan regarding the criminals was revised speaks in favor of that," the Grand Admiral continued. "Let's piece the picture together like a mosaic. What do we have at the moment? The Dominion was supposed to throw its forces at destroying the eastern faction. Considering that Zann had several hundred warships, I assume his potential opponents' defenses are commensurate. While we were fighting there, they would have seized our resources — the Zann Consortium wouldn't be weakened as significantly in the process. This contradicts the plan Palpatine is following."
"As does the stagnation on the front between the Empire and the New Republic," Pellaeon noted.
"While the Alliance was gaining strength," Thrawn said thoughtfully. "But now they've received a proposal to assist the Tion Hegemony. Given the realities — this is unequivocally a long, exhausting war. One that presupposes preventing the Alliance from growing stronger. The Imperial Remnants are weakening the New Republic as much as they can. But that's not victory."
"It turns into scattered interference," Pellaeon agreed, removing his uniform cap. It was getting a bit warm. "Palpatine gains nothing from this except the destruction of the Dominion."
"As well as the weakening of the New Republic — or at least keeping them away from the theater of war in the north and northeast of the galaxy," Thrawn said. "The Pentastar Alignment is acting against the New Republic… but their forces are insufficient for total defeat. Imperial Space cannot break through the Alliance's defenses — and now the Alliance will be forced to divert part of its forces to meet the Tion Hegemony's demands and territorial requests. The Dominion and two major criminal factions… And deploying Palpatine's fleet into the game now could change a lot. Tilt the balance and lead the Alignment and Imperial Space to victory. Yet that hasn't been done."
The Grand Admiral fell silent.
For several seconds he remained alone with his thoughts, then declared:
"This will be a war of attrition," he said.
"We've thought about this before," Pellaeon noted. "Palpatine intends to exhaust the Remnants, and Kaine in particular, then strike with his own forces to seize the Imperial Remnants, crush the Rebels, and reconsolidate most of the galaxy under his control."
"But it's not about the Imperial Ruling Council or Kaine," Thrawn countered. "Palpatine is exhausting everyone at once. Us. The Zann Consortium. The eastern faction. The Systems Alliance. The Pentastar Alignment. The Remnants."
"That's just an expanded version of what we assumed before," Pellaeon insisted. "Nothing has changed — just the details have come into focus."
"You're wrong, Vice Admiral," the Supreme Commander calmly stated. "Key aspects of Palpatine's plan to restore his control over the galaxy have undergone changes. We've already had several circumstances on the galactic front where Palpatine's appearance could have turned the tide. But he didn't. Why, if he has troops and ships?"
"He's waiting for the others to weaken without his intervention," the Chief of Staff suggested.
"Yes, but after three months of war, none of his opponents have suffered critical damage," Thrawn countered. "On the contrary — the Alliance and the New Republic are rearming. The eastern faction is only growing stronger — and its army will soon be ready. And the Emperor's other opponents have exactly the same capabilities. He undoubtedly understands that we'll reinforce our captured ships. At the very least, he suspects we have a cloning facility. Give us more time, and we'll gather enough strength that it will take him too long to deal with. So, we have the following postulates: the New Republic is actively defending. The Alliance has gone into passive defense. Both sides have enormous production capacity for state-of-the-art weaponry. So do we. So does the eastern faction. The Zann Consortium has staked on the mass quantity of its forces. No matter where you look, the Emperor's opponents are getting stronger. So why does he allow it?"
"Perhaps he's counting on his superweapon," Pellaeon suggested. "Building a third Death Star?"
"Among other things," Thrawn nodded. "Vice Admiral, why are we defeating the enemy without taking critical losses ourselves?"
Because we have you, Pellaeon almost blurted, but realized that was far from the truth.
"We know what they're going to do," he said after several minutes of reflection.
"I'm sure the New Republic and the Alliance are teeming with the Emperor's spies," Thrawn said. "His appointee — Cronal — and the Force-sensitive beings under him are operating within the Zann Consortium. Lady Brood has already conveyed to us that Cronal personally selects the gifted ones who cross paths with Tyber Zann and his underlings for an elite unit. He also assisted in programming the Zann Consortium's elite fighters. Given his connection to the Force and his work creating shadow stormtroopers who served only him and were exclusively loyal to Cronal himself, it's entirely possible that the army Zann is building doesn't even actually belong to Zann anymore. I have no doubt that the eastern faction also has Force-sensitive beings similar to Cronal, standing behind its leadership and offering consultative services."
"Effectively directing the organizations' actions," Pellaeon darkened, shuddering nervously.
"Changing the course of the New Republic and Alliance governments is a thankless task, since there is no strong centralization of power there," Thrawn noted. "They couldn't break the Dominion from within because we had purged all agents ahead of time."
"Only destroying us remains."
"Of course," Thrawn said as if it were a matter of course. "An uncontrollable force is dangerous. As I said — the approach to executing what was intended has changed. Or is changing right now, when it's become clear that the Zann Consortium's strike forces have been destroyed."
"But what does Palpatine intend to do now?" Pellaeon couldn't hold back. "If he's waiting, he'll wait until the New Republic grinds down the Pentastar Alignment, Imperial Space shatters against the Alliance's defenses while they pull forces from the front to subdue the sector governments in Indrexu, the Kronos Mandate, and so on… And as soon as they do that, the Tion Hegemony's position will be precarious. The Alliance will grow stronger and become a greater threat. That's not in his favor!"
"Nor in ours," Thrawn stated reasonably. "The Tion Hegemony is Cronal's project to divert part of the Alliance's forces from the front."
"But it's not in Palpatine's interest for the Alliance to unify those territories! We know — and Palpatine certainly does — that the Alliance intends to make the Tion Cluster sectors their allies, not hand them over to Lord Bonteri as agreed."
"Therefore, we will ensure that the Alliance doesn't have the strength to advance," Thrawn declared. "They can fight. The troops stationed in the Tion Cluster sectors aren't the best, and one would assume that the Alliance's fighters, with the right approach, could defeat them."
"You want to strike the Alliance?" Pellaeon clarified.
"Yes," Thrawn replied. "Before the eastern faction does."
"Wait," Pellaeon shook his head. "You said Palpatine changed his approach to the operation."
"Yes, Vice Admiral," Thrawn confirmed. "He has changed it, or will do so shortly. He will shift the priorities for each player once certain events occur."
"And what events?"
"As soon as the Pentastar Alignment's striking fist is broken and their offensive potential is exhausted, and the New Republic achieves its first major victory, the subjugation of Grand Moff Kaine's territories will begin," Thrawn said. "The Alliance's passive defense will knock Imperial Space out of active offensive operations, and their purge will commence. All this will happen within the next few months, not five months into the current year, as soon as he realizes that the Alliance won't spend its already meager forces to achieve goals of gaining allies among the Tion Cluster sectors, but will attempt it through diplomacy, intending to acquire their armed forces."
"But why do you believe the Alliance won't attack the Tion Cluster sectors?" Pellaeon was surprised. "They're right now finishing forming a strike force at Lantilles."
"Those twelve Star Destroyers will not achieve their objective," Thrawn countered. "Therefore, achieving goals through military means will not be optimal. The Alliance will slowly build up its strength, which will prod Palpatine to sic the ships and forces of the eastern faction on them."
"They already intend to attack and take Kessel from us," Pellaeon reminded, knowing full well that Thrawn hadn't forgotten anything.
But he wasn't going to just sit and nod like a bobblehead either — his status no longer warranted it.
"Of course they intend to," the Grand Admiral agreed. "And they'll do it soon. As will the eastern faction — they'll also strike at Kessel shortly."
"Do we have enough forces there to repel such an invasion — especially from two clearly sizeable fleets?" Vice Admiral Pellaeon asked skeptically.
"Absolutely not," Thrawn declared categorically. "But that doesn't prevent us from making the right decisions for victory at the right time."
And again — vague hints at decisions.
That one either had to guess at (but that, as far as Pellaeon knew the Grand Admiral, was the surest way to misunderstand him) or reason through logically, because in his speeches the Grand Admiral had a habit of providing all the necessary data for arriving at the correct answer.
"Will our tactics regarding the Zann Consortium remain unchanged?" the Vice Admiral clarified.
"Palpatine will surely think that we'll throw all our forces at Zann and his aides and bleed ourselves dry fighting them," Thrawn said thoughtfully. "And indeed, that's what we'll do. With the sole exception that it will happen on our terms."
Gilad fell silent.
He tried with all his might to analyze the Grand Admiral's words in terms of their application to current events, but couldn't find the connection between words and tactics.
Time and again he ran one phrase after another through his mind, until…
"And how will the New Republic achieve victory over the Pentastar Alignment's forces?" Pellaeon inquired.
"With the help of some of our captured Mon Calamari cruisers, of course," Thrawn explained.
So we've also handed over our trophies to Fey'lya.
"I see, sir." Now everything was falling into place. "You intend to smoke Palpatine out of his hole ahead of time by collapsing the front in the galaxy."
"Precisely, Vice Admiral," Thrawn agreed. "Shortly, Cronal will inform Palpatine that crushing the Dominion has failed. I suspect the Emperor bet on the Zann Consortium because it's easier to manipulate. Or because Cronal's position with Zann is stronger than the Empire's agents in the eastern faction. But now that the Zann Consortium has lost its striking power, it looks like a tempting target from all sides. And it can be eliminated — or at least maximally weakened — specifically through the Dominion, which, by all rules of war, should launch a counteroffensive to prevent the enemy from recovering its strength."
"I would do exactly that," Pellaeon admitted without batting an eye.
"As would any other commander responsible for their territory without regard for global politics," the Grand Admiral confirmed. "No offense intended, Vice Admiral. Palpatine measures military leaders solely by the criteria instilled during Imperial times — responsibility for a specific area of deployment. He's using the same approach now, dividing the axes of advance for Imperial Space and the Pentastar Alignment instead of using their combined might."
"He's afraid they might become allies," the Vice Admiral suggested, smoothing his graying mustache. "As far as I understand the gist, Palpatine decided not just to bleed the remaining Remnants dry, but to make them vulnerable to the Alliance and the New Republic."
"Most obviously," Thrawn agreed. "And then he would appear with all his forces. With a finished superweapon. And as Palpatine the liberator, he would protect the remnants of the Empire from the Republicans, then wipe them from the face of the galaxy. That's precisely why the main goal of our next step is to prevent the Alliance from getting drawn into a war that would weaken their position in the Tion Cluster, and instead force them to act through negotiations."
"And thereby deprive them of the opportunity to waste their potential in war," Pellaeon continued the thought.
"What would force Palpatine to spur an attack on the Alliance by the Eastern Faction, shifting the vector of their original offensive," Thrawn developed his thought, "and thereby reducing the impact on the New Republic's logistics."
"You believe the Eastern Faction was supposed to attack the New Republic specifically?"
"Striking from behind, having first exhausted the enemy on the front line — an excellent opportunity to make the New Republic's fleets collapse the front," Thrawn said.
"And instead of one concentrated strike that would have unequivocally exhausted the New Republic and prevented it from counterattacking the Pentastar Alignment, Palpatine will be forced to send his puppets in several directions," it finally dawned on Pellaeon. "The Tion Hegemony could significantly complicate the Alliance's life in the rear…"
"But it won't be able to do so effectively because of 'Moff Gronn' slipping out of control," Thrawn prompted. "Until they clarify the situation with the 'moff,' they won't dare commit the Tion Hegemony's large forces to conquering other territories or launching serious strikes against the Alliance. Just as the Alliance itself won't be able to do this, because it will lose strength in the confrontation with the Eastern Faction."
"Imperial Space's advance deeper into the galaxy is still possible," Pellaeon recalled the intelligence data.
"But not on the scale it was at the very beginning," Thrawn objected. "In the coming month, the most they can capture is Carida. But the result of that reunification won't please them."
"And in that case, the stretched formations of the Pentastar Alignment and Imperial Space will play into the hands of the Alliance and the New Republic," Pellaeon realized, nodding.
"To preserve the territories he has already conquered, Palpatine will be forced to start his campaign ahead of schedule," the Grand Admiral summarized, folding his hands on the table.
Pellaeon paused, running through what the Supreme Commander had said in his head once more.
"But, in that case, it turns out Palpatine will throw all his forces at unresolved threats," he remarked. "The Alliance, the New Republic…"
Gilad fell silent, looking into the half-lidded eyes of the Grand Admiral, who sat imperturbably at the head of the conference table.
"Sir," he said cautiously. "In that case, the Dominion — not crushed by the Zann Consortium — will become one of the priority targets of Palpatine's armada."
"As will the Alliance and the New Republic, which haven't been crushed either," the Grand Admiral reminded him.
"I don't think they'll have enough strength to destroy Palpatine's armada," Pellaeon shook his head.
"Of course they won't," Thrawn agreed. "But Palpatine won't be able to concentrate all his forces on destroying any one of them either. He'll have to split them up."
"I think he will have large enough forces to seriously harm all his enemies," Gilad stated.
"Of course he will," the Grand Admiral agreed. "The Empire had them ten years ago, too. And at Endor. But it didn't save them."
I feel like they're not telling me something, but I can't figure out what, Pellaeon thought.
"Sir," he looked Thrawn straight in the eye. "Do you already have a plan to defeat the armada Palpatine will throw at us?"
"Of course I do, Vice Admiral," Thrawn confirmed.
His confidence eased the tension a little.
"But for the plan to finally and irrevocably take shape, we need the New Republic, under Admiral Duplex's forces, to defeat Grand Moff Kaine at Balmorra," the Grand Admiral said.
How in the hutt's name is that even connected?! Vice Admiral Pellaeon nearly shouted.
But what he said aloud was quite different.
"Is that why you transferred our Mon Calamari star cruisers to them?" he clarified.
"That is why I transferred twenty of the thirty Mon Calamari star cruisers to the New Republic," Thrawn specified. "And I also arranged a business trip for Mr. Ghent, so he wouldn't interfere with Mr. Pent's mission… and many other things, including dividing the Zann Consortium's satellite sectors with minefields. But at the moment, I'm more interested in the reason Cronal is paying attention directly to the Tion Cluster. Most likely, parallel to Palpatine's plans, he is preparing a 'fallback base' for himself, where he can retreat. And for that purpose, he's using the resources of the Zann Consortium, the Alliance, and Palpatine himself. He probably knows something about Palpatine's future that goes far deeper than it seems."
"So the idea of restoring the Tion Hegemony to its original borders — that's Cronal's project?" Pellaeon was taken aback.
"By all outward appearances, yes," Thrawn replied impassively, looking at Gilad with an expression as if he himself was surprised that his deputy didn't understand the obvious. "In fact, I suspect Cronal has something in reserve capable of stopping Palpatine's fleet — or a significant part of it. That's precisely why he's seeking to pit the Alliance against the sectors of the Tion Cluster: when they are supposed to begin combat operations according to plan, he will stop them with the force of his own fleet, and then for the sectors of Indrexu, the Cronese Mandate, and the rest, he will no longer be an invader. Rather — a liberator."
"Just like Palpatine plans," Pellaeon squinted. "But regarding the Imperial Remnants."
A sly smile appeared on Thrawn's lips.
"Noticed another tactical parallel, Vice Admiral?" he clarified. "An interesting dilemma emerges."
"Of course," Pellaeon grumbled. "But I'm afraid we'll have to fight these psychopaths for the very existence of the Dominion!"
"Most likely," Thrawn agreed. "But by the time they realize the situation has slipped out of their control, we will possess everything necessary to oppose them openly. To oppose them — and to emerge victorious from that confrontation."
Pellaeon opened his mouth to ask the Grand Admiral how, exactly, he intended to do this — defeat all these schemers and powerful beings commanding multi-million (if not multi-billion) armies and countless fleets.
But he remained silent.
To the hutt with these questions, he decided. I'm tired of feeling like a junior school student being taught the basics of astronavigation with third-order equations! I just want to see it! Preferably in the front row, watching Thrawn spread them all in a thin layer from the north of the galaxy to the southern sectors!