01.11 : The Light Begins to Dim

[22 BBY]

[Groundside Republic Military Base, Tallaan, Tallaan System]

Yulan, son of Yurah, currently unnamed, no-clan affiliation, followed along behind his General through the carousing troops in this part of the base. Only a few short years and he'd gone from assistant aboard that small freighter with Daron, and Shmi the Slave, all the way to de-facto Captain of the Stormcrow and now Aide-de-Camp to an actual General of the Republic. Now that was weird, certainly enough to earn himself a name, but since the Boss hadn't claimed a second name yet....it didn't really feel right, to go off and claim one yet for himself.

It was possible Daron had simply forgot to do so after all; the Boss seemed driven yet distant, acting like a nightmare was going to happen if he didn't keep going. Still, they were able to relax momentarily now; not much, it was a change of pace from the hard fighting, and mountains of files and contracts he'd found himself forced into doing since being promoted. Walking amongst the troopers, chatting and sharing a drink then was a very nice distraction from all that, even if likely all too short before work called again. He resisted sighing; he'd always wanted to rise up and do something important, and that he was doing now so it was silly to complain overly much about it.

"....damned good fighting out there Sergeant, saw the footage and you tore those tin-man apart. You certainly deserve the r and r, so relax and do so" Daron was telling the Clone, Captain CT-1242, or Crunch apparently, who Yulan could only tell apart from the other clones due to the identification on his suit and colour stripe on the white armour. Yulan didn't trust them...sure good fighters, but it was very Hutt-like the Jedi were acting in growing and training their own slave-clone army. It was far too much like Clan politics; just why had the Defenders of the Republic being doing such thing in secret?

"Ah, sorry General...it's just strange is all..." the clone replied looking uncomfortable, to the amusement of his identical fellows "...feel like should be training Sir"

"Now, getting familiar with your fellow soldiers and unwinding after a hard fought victory is also important, to me as your commander as much as the rank and file. We're not the droids the Seps use after all, we fight hard, we live free"

"Yes Sir! Definitely no clankers here!" the clone replied saluting, as the General gave a regretful motion that he had to continue through the shared mess hall. Well, mostly shared mess hall, as the arrogan lot in Ailon Nova Guard forces largely refused to share their celebrations of the successful attacks on Yag'Dhul's and Kinyen's shipyards. Not with the 'Vat Babies' or 'Jedi ass-lickers' according to them, as they really only interacted with the former ESS, now Aegis Guard, personnel for celebrating their costly victories, and that was only tolerance of a sort. Arrogant bunch who only respect strength as best Yulan could tell.

"I think they forget we use droids too"

General Daron gave an amused snort as they walked along through the noisy mass of the off-duty troopers from parts of three Legions "Maybe, but their surprisingly good sorts all things considered"

Yulan kept his voice low so only the he and the General could hear as they passed two table where a fellow Solemite was arm wrestling one of the humans under the Jedi General Kota "I'll be honest Sir, still somewhat..."

His General nodded, taking a sip from his cheap cup of beer, before shaking his head "Hate the Sin, not the Sinner, in this regard Yulan. I have concerns of my own....but they're on our side, in our army, and we make it work and build comradeship. Other matters...can wait for another day..."

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[Four Days Prior]

[Urban Area, Groundside, Yag'Dhul System]

...they were salvaging. Loot, then burn, as the Boss sometimes called it humorously enough. Though, right now, the fires were already blazing in the city and shipyards around them as the various forces of the Republic Grand Army retreated, mission accomplished. Injured fighters were being recovered along with damaged weapons, their own and the enemies, as the cargo hauliers landed and took off now the planetary defences were sufficiently reduced.

Stormcrow had landed having deployed the TIE's under-slung under its wings, and cargo was being loaded as he brought one of the ship's squads forward with the feed cut. Always a sign that was when Daron ordered the feed cut on a job; it usually meant something quasi or totally illegal, very valuable, or just one of those magic Jedi things the Boss wanted. Jedi stuff could be both awesome and unnerving, and only the most trusted members of the crews and combat teams were trusted with knowing about the Boss's powers, and the signs of them being used subtly.

Here and now though the newly minted General Daron and his personal squad of troopers, droids, and assassin droids were loading salvage from down gunships unto a flatbed hover truck. One of local manufacture it looked like as Yulan brought the smaller loader from the Stormcrow alongside, hopping off as Daron motioned at him and two others to come over and pointed at a sealed cargo container.

"Get it loaded, no mention of this gentle beings, we're dark on this"

"Understood Sir" Yulan answered back before getting two of the reworked B-1/SD's to load the human-sized oval container into the hidden 'side' compartment before it hissed closed and the seams vanished. Coming alongside his Boss he remained silent as orders were given and they went back to 'normal' operations once again. It made more sense when they were safely secure and the Boss explained to him the need for answers, and from that getting the package to private medical droids for analysis of the body...

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"Of course Sir"

"Relax Yulan, we're off duty for the moment you know?"

Yulan barely managed to avoid chuckling loudly at that "Hardly Boss, your still scheming, and thinking about logistics and paperwork"

"No....not entirely, the first maybe, but the second is maybe enjoying my shitty beer and playing a few rounds of sabacc..."

"Against new prey who don't know you I imagine"

The General gave him an annoyed look "Hey, I'm not that bad. I never play that way with you lot, my ever loyal crew and soldiers....it's for fun and relaxation, and *professional* play is for outsiders and situations like that"

"Some would call that cheating Sir"

"Well I call it professional card play and utilising natural abilities"

Yulan rolled his eyes as they walked "There's a reason many places don't let known Jedi play I hear"

"Hmph, so it's lucky I'm not a Jedi then isn't it?" Daron chuckled "....and, well, most of the robes brigade shouldn't be playing for such material things...maybe, in-theory...anyway, let's go join old Jurdan and Braika for a game..."

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[22 BBY]

[Republic Aegis Guard Combat Freighter Stormcrow, 20th Sector Army, Tallaan System]

General Geen had been recalled to Coruscant to 'answer the questions of the Senate' for the terrible problem we'd given them of actually winning a battle. It was idiocy in my humble opinion, and was going to delay our operations just when we'd earned ourselves a breather, time to get our fleet in order. But that was the Republic Senate when the secret Sith wasn't watching it; complaining about one of the few legitimate victories it's scratch military had won at the moment because how *how* it had won it.

It was if they didn't quite grasp they were in the middle of galactic war – I blamed the Force in part, but also Anakin's 'lovely' lady Senator Amidala as her name was on this recall order along with a dozen other 'pro-peace' Senators. I wasn't angered by it, but it was an irritant as I watched the repair and retrofit work on several of our ships in the distant Tallaan shipyards. Just as my own Stormcrow had seen our defences upgraded to top of the line Republic military grade deflector shields and upgrades to the weapons systems based on my engineers recommendations.

'At least the Majestic wasn't recalled, we'd be in trouble without some level of capital ship to support operations in the Sector' I admitted turning away from the view of space from the bridge and striding back down the hallway to the 'Command Room' of sorts within. Again the problems of the ad-hoc nature of the Republic military was on full display with Geen's absence; he was still nominally in charge, but not here, and the three Generals in system were equal status. Two of which, one of them me, didn't want the Jedi third in charge over them.

'So....nobody's officially in charge, and I get to play middle-man not-official senior in-system General because I'm the second least disliked of the other two. Bloody moronic'

Really, that was my main thought on the matter as I checked the time and saw I was still early as I entered the former cargo area turned command and control. Still I had the technicians on their stations inform the other two that I was ready to begin, and a few minutes later the holographic avatars of General Kota and General Yanthis appeared side by side in front of me. Thankfully they weren't glaring at each other this time, and not attempting to play 'Im the old experience one!' with me either, so all was positive.

"Generals" I greeted and after the 'polite' response of General as well I continued speaking after transmitting data provided by scouts over the past hours "We've had a number of small clusters of Confederate Navy units spotted near the Wroona and Epica systems, and a skirmish in Mechis with what looks like a patrol, or probing force, out of Thyferra. General Kota?"

"Thank you, it was Munificent class with Scarab droid-fighters. I brought in a force of ten fighters and six bombers, and then inflicted significant damage before it escaped into hyperspace, we wiped out the droid-fighters at the cost of four on our side; two Y-wings, two headhunters. The enemy had twice the normal complement of fighters, half flying escort when we hit"

"They're trying to find out where we are I'd suspect..." Yanthis's image voiced not looking at Rahm Kota's image to respond "...or find out what we're planning when we didn't follow up the attacks on the Kinyen and Yag'Dhul systems"

I nodded; I agreed with that by and large "Most likely, though I think we're going to have to stretch out patrols a bit more to make them think we're in different locations. With some sensor spoofing we can make one or two of the bulk freighters we're converting look like an Acclamator, or a Venator maybe, at distance. I'd like us to push up some forces to Mechis or one of the other systems nearby...just outside those systems, and making it look like we're about to go on the offensive"

"Our orders from the Senate to hold in place and fight a defensive campaign"

"Yes, and we will be fighting a defensive campaign, just....an aggressive one, where we make them think we're going on the offensive" I replied to Rahm Kota, who sighed, muttering something under his breath as Yanthis nodded.

"I agree, and it's the Senate rather than the Supreme Chancellor or GAR Headquarters that issued those orders, so they do not have ultimate force behind those commands. We have the Seps off balance, and we need to keep that up till our fleet elements are fully worked up or we get reinforced. THEN we can return to the offensive and crush them"

'Of course you'd think that' popped into my head at the aggressive and bloodthirsty Ailon human General "Of course, so my proposal is to deploy a number of the working up, but experienced, crewed combat freighters to these three systems....here, here, and here...along with long range star-fighters and an escort. From there we can...scout in force along the hyperlane routes into Thyferra and Kinyen, blood our fresh squadrons on patrols and raids"

"That will cost lives General, inexperienced crews like that...."

I nodded in agreement but made a cutting gesture with my hand "Yes, it will. But that's how you turn green units into veteran ones unfortunately.....we just don't have time to take the slow and steady approach. At least if we keep the engagements on our terms we should be able to keep losses down..."