Chapter 11 - War efforts

speech:"like this"

though:'like this'

telepathy:<like this>

comms:=like this.=

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Smaller Chapter today, hope you all have a great week.

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┍ Main Cast ┑

Cadmus

Samus

Lala

┕ ┙

┍ Returning Cast ┑

Satele

Darach

┕ ┙

///3RD POV///

Now back to Samus's ship, Darach and Satele were being escorted to the Rima Trade Route.

Rima Trade Route is a hyperlane route connecting the Core worlds all the way beyond the Outer Rims, it takes 2 weeks to complete the full passage and is the major commercial transport lane in the galaxy.

(If you're wondering why, Hyperspace travel can't be maintained for long, mainly because of the celestial bodies in the way, and even if it shortens travel it doesn't make it an instant thing.

I didn't explain it properly in the earlier chapters, but it took days from Korriban, where they first escaped, to reach Courusant.

That's why Master Ngani was impressed that even though Cadmus and his group started their activities, for a little less than a month, they already have some fame.)

(Image)

And it has been sieged by the Empire.

Cadmus and his troup already give information to the Republic, through Satele, about the Sith blockage.

Now they are escorting the Jedi on a scouting mission.

Samus's ship has high-end cloaking technology, of course, the Republic nor the Jedi know about it but they know that they are able to navigate the Outer Rim without being harassed by the Empire.

So they are taking advantage of this fact.

And of course, Darach already discussed with Cadmus about his sub-mission of discovering how they manage to do that.

It seems that since Cadmus avoided his fated death, the Zabrach was more than willing to trust in him completely.

Cadmus did ask him why he is trusted so much and after a few seconds of deep thought the only answer the Zabrach could come up with was.

Darach:"Instinct."

Cadmus theorized it was because of him being the father of all existence, now that he was free of the influence of the "story" his very being may have recognized what Cadmus was on a subconscious level.

Not that he said it out loud of course.

But with that, they decided that the speed of the ship and the fact that its shield could hide its energy signature for a while was the reason why they could go virtually unnoticed.

Half-lies, half-truths

Taking almost an entire week to return to the Outer Rim(a week has 5 days) from there they proceeded to the section where the Sith blockage was in place.

Although the Route passes through the Outer Rim it doesn't make an official stop in any planets in there.

(AN: From here I will be explaining a little about kyber crystal and the choosing ceremony, it will be only lightly touched and 100% cannon.

If you are interested in more here is the link.

https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Kyber_crystal?so=search)

Darach:"And this is a Kyber crystal, the focal point of our lightsabers, it absorbs and amplifies the energy given to it."

Master Darach used the Froce to completely dismantle his lightsaber in the air, as he taught the trio about how they make their lightsaber.

Darach:"This crystal is a mix of organic and inorganic matter and can be found on different planets across the galaxy."

Touching briefly on the nature of the crystal, the person with greater interest in the lessons was Lala.

Her genius mind was already running at full throttle on what she could do with it.

Lala:"How hard it is to acquire?"

To her question Darach stopped for a few seconds looking at her, he already saw that look on other people, people that wanted to dissect the crystal to retrieve its mysteries.

Darach:"It is rare, this crystal is normally formed in the core of certain planets, attuned to the light side of the Force and as I said, it is alive, it can 'flee'."

To this revelation, Lala made a dismayed face.

Cad:"Don't worry Lala, you will be able to study it but you will treat it as any living being so be careful with it."

To Cadmus's assurance, Lala looked at him with shining eyes and vigorously nodded in agreement, Darach just shrugged and continued with his explanation.

Darach:"As I said, these crystals are attuned to the light side of the Force, and that is why Sith crystals are always red, they have to bend and break the will of the crystal for them to use it by a process called bleed."

Samus:"Does that mean that the crystal refuses to work with someone from the Dark side?"

Darach:"Precisely, it doesn't work for them otherwise, in fact, it has been reported that when people that the crystal doesn't wish to be around force that contact, the people will be mentally attacked by it, some even losing their minds."

At his response Samus frowned, it would be a lie if she said that she didn't want to ask Lala to make the crystal part of her arsenal.

From what the Jedi master was talking about it amplifies any energy given to it essentially powering it up, which would do wonders for her base cannon.

Now hearing the adverse effect of making the crystal work for you, Samus was at a loss.

She looked at Cadmus.

Cad:"You guys are too eager, we have to find the crystals first."

Satele:"*giggle*"

He softly sighed while shaking his head helplessly with a wryly smile on his face, making Satele giggle.

Darach:"Right, although the Jedi mainly get their crystals at the planet of Illun, it is not us that chose the crystal but the other way around, once our trial begins we explore its cavers to hear the 'song' of the crystal that fits us."

Lala:"So you can be rejected or not find the crystal?"

Darach:Huh….I never heard of something like that, truth be told, the Force is what guides us to our crystal, every time a youngling is searching for his own they have to go through a trial and learn something from it."

The master put on a thoughtful face as he mused/explained the choosing process.

Darach:"There are those that fail their test, although extremely rare, but can repeat sometime later."

At his conclusion, the trio had something to think about.

More Lala and Samus than Cadmus.

To say that the two were fascinated about the cristal would be an understatement.

After learning all the things that the plasma from a lightsaber can do, and that it is all attributed to energy being focused through this tiny crystal filled their head with ideas.

Samus wanted this technology to improve her weaponry, who knows what things she will face after she part ways with Cadmus and Lala?

That made her get a little depressed but she soon recomposed herself.

Lala on the other hand, just wanted to invent.

Like any other genius person with a creative mind, ideas just keep buzzing in her brain and she wanted to explore and invent in this new avenue.

Cad:"You said earlier that you have to attune to the crystal."

Darach:"Yes, after we get our crystal we have to attune to it, making a connection through the Force, the crystal responds to us and is forever bound to the first wielder and that is also when it gains its color, as before that it doesn't have any."

Responded the master, although not going too deeply into the ritual they have to do to achieve this attunement he still gave them enough information about the process for them to understand.

*bip* *bip* *bip*

Their lesson was interrupted by the arriving signal of the ship, and they have reached their destination.

Cad:"Let's end this some other time, we have a job to do."

Cadmus was the first to stand up and got to the front of the ship, opening the shutters of the front window to see the space outside.

Right in front of them, at a distance, they can see a fleet of Sith dreadnoughts in an ambush-like formation.

They are clearly although not an ambush per se, it is forcing the ship that uses this path to be stopped by the dreadnoughts and be searched.

The place where they choose to make their formation was a hyperlane stop and turn location, so they didn't have to worry about other ships running through them.

Samus's ship had both sonar and visual cloak allowing them to get closer, but how much close it is still to be tested.

As a matter of fact, now, with Lala upgrades and Cadmus runes, Samus is more than eager to test out everything the ship has to offer in space combat, but alas, she has a mission to do.

So for now she has to contend with testing the stealth system.

Initially, they had only given the information about the blockage, now it's their first time seeing it.

Darach was looking at their formation reeling everything he is seeing on a recorder while Satele was with Lala taking any information that Samus scanners could get.

Cad:"What do you think?"

Cadmus approached Samus to ask her opinion, something that Samus came to appreciate more in the last few days.

They still didn't sit to talk about their past like Samus wanted, not for lack of time but Samus is still scared to share, something that Cadmus had no problem and waited patiently.

Cadmus had no intention of getting out of this dimension before resolving things with Satele, being sure that she is going to be alright.

Sure he could do these things at the same time with his omnipresence, but he prefers to use it for emergencies or spend quality time with people her cares for, he is already here so high as well continue on the path right?

There is also the fact that if he just uses it all the time things could get boring fast, most stories about overpowered being always says how boring is to be able to just do everything and how they can't enjoy life.

Well.

Why don't you try to enjoy the little things then?

So Cadmus prefers to use his power to assure the safety of the people he cares about but other than that he just wants to enjoy every moment of his adventure.

Anyway, back to Samus wanting to share her past topic.

There will be plenty of time for them to sit and talk before the end of the trip, so he has no rush and Samus is thankful for that.

Truth be told Cadmus and Lala are the first thing that Samus is having akin to friendship so she doesn't know what to do and panics a lot.

Samus also didn't have much chance to give her opinions on matters in her home dimension, professional or otherwise, so she is really glad that Cadmus and Lala ask her what she thinks of the missions they partake.

Catching herself from smiling, she taps on the screen in her pilot seat, bringing up the loca start chart, and turns to Cadmus.

Samus:"If the Republic wants to liberate this trafe route they will have to waste quite a lot of resources, I don't believe that these are the only ships ready for combat."

Pausing briefly she points at the closes planets and celestial bodies.

Samus:"These are great places for forward bases for replenishing these ships, and there is a possibility that other ships may be waiting in there to back up in case of need."

To emphasize what she is saying the expands the map and turns into a birds-eye view of the celestial bodies in proximity and draws a circle where they are and there is a line crossing it.

Samus:"Considering how this place has to be reached through the trade route, anything would be flanked with the risk of being completely surrounded, the route we took was too roundabout and we had to make more stops to not collide with anything."

Making clear that the first line, that crosses right in the middle of the blockage, was the trade route, she draw other lines on the map.

Samus:"These are the safest routes already charted, unfortunately, they don't only take more time to reach here but also make it so the Republic fleet is exposed enough the be discovered early so they can rearrange accordingly."

She finishes what he was saying and looks at the people that are now looking at her, with her detailed insights, showing her military background, Darach, Lala, and Satele had stopped what they were doing to listen.

Satele:"So other than a full frontal assault with heavy losses there is no hope?"

Asked Satele with a deep frown on her face, she didn't like that strategy one bit.

Lala:"Unless the Republic has enough ships to attack at all fronts I don't see other possibilities."

At Lala's comment, Samus was about to open her mouth to answer but Satele, who is being taught by us, beat her to it.

Satele:"Unless sabotage is in place right?"

Samus and Cadmus smile satisfied with Satele developing strategic mind, making the young woman get embarrassed at their proud look and Darach chuckles amusedly.

Lala's eyes shined a dangerous light.

Lala:"Oh I like where this is going."

Lala long had stopped hiding her Devilukean destructive nature and now enjoys the call for battle.

Darach:"There is a good plan, although we would have to get back to the Republic and relay the information we now have and prepare the flee, unfortunately, and think we could only do it in close to half a year at the earliest estimate."

That is true, although their ship took less than a week to arrive, using the roundabout way, that is a testament to Samus's ship speed, not the normal time of the trip.

Considering that the fleet would be composed of cruisers and dreadnoughts or ships of similar class, they would be bigger and slower.

Not forgetting the need to coordinate all of them, there is no way to communicate mid-hyperdrive, so they would have to come out of the hyperdrive to communicate their action and strategize their approach.

Lala:"*groan*"

Satele:"That would also mean that it has a great chance that even if we manage to infiltrate them right now, by the time we come back, things would have changed, even more with we are to be noticed."

Cad:"Yeah, although I can guarantee our escape, one way or another, things would definitely change and not only that, almost anything that we plant in there could be discovered."

Cadmus wasn't certain that the runes could pass unnoticed by a powerful Force user.

Until now it wasn't something that he had the opportunity to test.

….Maybe in a friendly match against Darach.

The reason that he was hesitating with this is that the Force is essentially magic, there is virtually no limit to what could be accomplished with the power of the Force.

From draining the life force of an entire planet drying it completely of all life it could have, to controlling space storms and teleporting, anything could happen with the Force.

(AN: Although some of these things are now considered Legends, in this novel it's considered cannon, and all of these things happened at some point in the canon.)

Satele:"So I suppose we have to get back now."

Lala:"Huuh, could we just investigate the closest planets to see if they already made or are making forward bases?"

At Satele's comment, Lala asked tilting her head.

Darach:"Sounds like a plan, we just have to be careful to not get too close."

Lala:"Right, the 'feel you through the force' thingy."

Darach nodded in approval but reminded Lala about the complication they could have.

Cad:"Samus, take us to the places where you think would be the best strategic points, we best not stay here for long, even if we a completely cloaked there is no guarantee that someone oversensitive couldn't feel our presence."

Samus:"On it."

Darach:"Satele, you and Lala be ready at the scanner please, I will take as many images as I can."

Satele:"Certantly master."

Lala:"On it."

Soon everyone went to their places, Cadmus stayed with Samus as she piloted, he used his senses and the radar to make sure that no one noticed them.

Soon they manage to visit the celestial bodies and managed to confirm that some of them did have something but didn't get too close and soon made their way back to Coruscant.

Although they did use the comms the more important information they decided to deliver in face.

Considering that the Republic was already betrayed by some planets in the Outer Rim it was better to be safe than sorry.

The mission lasted about three days before they managed to get back to Courusand, which was another 3 and a half days trip.

The mission was well concluded and this time it wasn't Jace that was their liaison in the Republic military as the information was to important for as simple corporal to handle.

They weren't worried that the information was going to be lost as the Jedi temple would not only receive a copy at the same time as the military but there would be hearings with Satele and Darach about it.

So with their payment, Cadmus's group decided to spend some time in Coususant and a mini vacation before returning to the Outer Rim.

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