Light of the Jedi(93)
But none of this blasted storm business. He was sick of it. Maybe something to do with…fire. That could work. Sparks on the bottom, then flames, blaze, inferno…yeah, that could work just fine. And him at the top, as the sun. Kassav, a big, powerful star around which all else revolved.
Perfect. It would work like a charm. There were always people looking for something to belong to, a way to get ahead—and the Republic was rich, fat—ready for plucking. The Jedi investigators Marchion was so scared of were looking for the Nihil, not him specifically. Yeah, maybe they knew his name, his ship, after Eriadu…but he could change both. If Marchion Ro and the other Tempest Runners loved the organization so much, let them take the heat and figure out how to deal with everyone who wanted the Nihil gone.
In fact, why the hell was he waiting around for those Republic ships with that stupid flight recorder? Better if they kept it, and used it to track down Marchion and the rest of the Nihil. It would solve two problems at once. He had his entire Tempest assembled right here. He could give the order to leave right now.
Kassav waved the medical droid back. He reached for the communications controls on his command chair, a little awkwardly with his bad hand, and began to key in the code for a fleet-wide transmission.
Goodbye storm, hello fire, he thought.
Dellex, over at the monitoring station, spoke.
“Ships dropping out of hyperspace, Kassav.”
He looked at her, his eyes narrowed.
“The Republic transports?”
She leaned forward, as if she couldn’t believe what the screens were telling her.
“It might be the Republic, but it’s not just a few ships,” she said, and looked back up at him, her organic eye gone wide.
“It’s…a battle fleet.”
* * *
Admiral Kronara stood on the bridge of the Third Horizon, analyzing the tactical display, focusing on the rapidly updating data about the enemy forces provided by his ship’s sensors. It looked like his coalition was about to face the full Nihil fleet—and this didn’t seem like a force of disorganized marauders, either. Dozens of ships of all sizes, from fighters all the way up to a central flagship, some kind of custom-built thing about the size of a standard corvette. Scans were already building a picture of its military capabilities, which seemed fairly significant. It was no pushover. None of the ships out there seemed to be, in fact. Every single one was armed, with everything from laser cannons to magnetic mines.
There was potential here for a battle the likes of which he, a ranking military commander in the Republic, hadn’t seen in decades. That was the problem with how good Chancellor Soh was at her job. The Hutts were quiet, the Mandalorians hadn’t kicked up any trouble since before he was born, and the largest engagement most of his people ever got to handle was on the level of a skirmish. There wasn’t even a standing Republic fleet—just the odd Emissary-class cruiser like the Third Horizon, and various smaller support and tactical ships.
By and large, sectors and planets handled their own security. On the rare occurrence of a more serious threat, the Republic Defense Coalition treaties could be activated. Prosperous worlds like Chandrila and Alderaan were called upon to supply ships and personnel under the command of Republic military officers, which were returned to their homeworlds once the crisis was complete. That’s what had happened here. On the chancellor’s orders, Kronara put out the call, and he’d managed to assemble a good-sized task force. Most of the treaty worlds had been more than happy to contribute matériel—all wanted a chance to strike back against these Nihil, the criminals that had crippled the galaxy.
Under his direct command, Kronara had the Third Horizon, with its Longbeams and a fairly robust complement of Incom Z-28 Skywings—in fact, his hangars comprised most of the small division of attack craft under direct Republic control. Beyond that, RDC member worlds had contributed five Pacifier-class sector patrol cruisers, each with a crew of a hundred, as well as their own Longbeam and Skywing squadrons. And…another group was on the way. Not a signatory to the RDC treaty, and not necessarily the people he would have invited along, but also not the sort of people you could easily refuse. Especially considering the tragedy visited upon them by the Emergences.
Another ship was visible on his display, outside his command authority but certainly an ally: the Ataraxia, the one large starship under direct control of the Jedi Order. It was a beautiful ship, designed to subtly evoke the Order’s symbol with its hull and sweeping, curved wings accented in white and gold. While the Ataraxia would be permanently stationed at the new Starlight Beacon station once it opened, today it had come to offer support to the RDC task force. The ship was lightly armed, but it could carry a large number of Vectors, and on this day its hangars were full. Before the ship arrived, Kronara hadn’t been certain the Jedi would participate at all, despite Chancellor Soh’s request. The Jedi were linked to the Republic in many ways, but they could and did go their own way whenever they thought it was appropriate. Whatever their reasoning, he was glad the Order was here. Jedi tended to come in handy.
Admiral Kronara would never wish for war, but he would take any opportunity he got to assemble a coalition task force and get real-time combat and coordination training. Even better, there was no moral ambiguity about the situation. These Nihil were clearly on the wrong side of history. A fully justified military action against a significant force? A chance to make the galaxy safer? Yes. He’d take it.