The Lead

(Important announcement. To provide some clarity, I added a few chapters in Volume 0 to help you guys understand and keep track of things. If you don't care, skip pages until you see a time, date, and place. That is when the chapter starts.)

(The first item is the guild structure. It will list the member classifications, their responsibilities, and the sub-ranks within those overall ranks. The second item will be the Guild Directives that are passed, including the description of the DEFCON levels. This will constantly change as I release chapters so keep me honest if I forget to update it. The third item will be special positions in the guild such as intelligence director. Each position will be described briefly, and the current holder of each position will be defined. This will be cut off at director level positions since it would just become too much to keep track of.)

(Moving away from guild stuff, the fourth and fifth items will be the generic structure of military rankings I will be using throughout the story. There will be two chapters; one for army and one for navy. There are some things that I'm too lazy to rewrite this note to mention so just look at Volume 0 if you actually care.)

(For the record, I spent 3 hours formatting it all so that it might be readable but then Webnovel didn't care and fucked it all up in their writing software, so I hope it makes sense. Before any of you ask, no, I will not be providing more information such as a quest log or status page. There are no stats, and the quests are part of the storyline that I don't want to spoil. Cope. Anyways, enjoy the chapter!)

-11:02 PM, July 4th, 2054-

-ANV Base Camp, Kessel, Outer Rim-

"GET ME SIGURD!"

Everyone in the command center stopped what they were doing and looked at me as I simmered in rage. Their confusion pissed me off even further.

"NOW!"

A head suddenly popped out from behind a datapad that appeared to be floating behind the hologram table in the center of the room. If he hadn't move, I most likely wouldn't have noticed him. If he was placed next to an empty bowl, I'd be more likely to look at the bowl. That was how tiny his presence was.

Looking at the head, I found it to be the bastard I was looking for. "Soryn, I'm right here. No need to yell."

Sigurd tilted his head to the left, appearing to look around me. "Who's that?"

I glanced behind me, causing Sirius to jump slightly. Was I that unsightly when angry? "This is my padawan from Make A Wish, Sirius. Sirius, this is Sigurd, our Intelligence Director. Got it? Good. Now what the FUCK happened?"

The blond Norsk began tapping on his datapad. A hologram of the base so far popped up on the table. "At 10:23 PM, my analysts intercepted a poorly encrypted communique that passed through the wideband receivers on the cruisers. Since there are no communications arrays in the system, all communications must pass through our cruisers."

"The message was vague and wasn't long enough for us to trace its origin or follow it to its destination. However, since it pinged the cruisers within the maelstrom, we knew it was headed here and not to Little Kessel."

I shook my head, frustrated at the lack of relevancy. "I don't care about all of that. What did it say?"

Sigurd nodded. "I'm getting to that. We didn't get much from the message because, as I already mentioned, it was vague. All it said was to begin. Begin what? We had no idea. So, we thought. What could they be targeting? There aren't many high value targets here yet since we have barely started."

"However, that's when it hit us. They wanted to prevent us from making progress. The only way for them to do that would be to take out our engineers."

He pinched his fingers on his datapad and the hologram zoomed into an outdoor area next to the labs. "This is where the largest concentration of engineers were at the time. Rather than beef up their security, we just watched and waited. Just 20 minutes later, this man tried to kill a group of 10 engineers of varying disciplines. He only succeeded in injuring one."

He tapped on his datapad again, swapping the hologram of the base out for a hologram of a while male with no notable characteristics. The man was impressively generic. "This is Robert Waltz. He is 37 years old and has no known current or past addresses at this time. Due to this, combined with us being unable to find him in any databases, we believe that this is an alias. The only thing we know right now is that we don't know who is targeting us."

I focused on the hologram, trying my hardest to recall if I've ever seen this man's face before. Expectedly, I came up blank. "What language was the message in?"

Sigurd shook his head. "That's a dead end too. It was in Galactic Standard, or English. Believe it or not, the only different between the two is the written version. After an accent analysis, we determined that the sender is most likely from Chicago so we can rule out our Eastern adversaries."

I raised my brow. Intrigue was painted all over my face but I was more concerned than anything. It wasn't only this situation and all the unknowns that were concerning. I just had a bad feeling. "So, a new player?"

Sigurd shrugged. "It could be. It could also be one of the known. There's no way to tell at this time."

My feeling was growing stronger. Something was gnawing at me. It felt dangerous and imminent, but not fatal. I'd compare it more to a foot flying towards my ass rather than a bullet aimed at my skull. "We're missing something. What's the status of our cruisers?"

As I said cruisers, something seemed to click. That was the missing piece.

Sigurd tilted his head at me in confusion. "Our cruisers? I don't see how that's relevant but last I checked; everything was nominal. Do you know something?"

I shook my head as I walked up to the table and pressed a few buttons on the control panel. "Whoever they are, they're here."

The hologram swapped to show the visual representation of the scanners outside of the maelstrom. Mere seconds after I swapped the view, three unidentified cruisers appeared.

I sighed, glancing at Sigurd. "Sigurd, this is a major intelligence failure."

The man tossed his datapad on the table and waved his hands in the air with great frustration while scoffing. "Ughh! How can it even be considered a failure if we barely even have our network set up?"

I rolled my eyes. "Nenenene, stop whining. Do better next time. That's all I have to say about that. We have three priorities: the engineers, the equipment, and control of the planet. Have both cruisers move into a defensive formation near The Tunnel. Both cruisers should prep their entire complement to be scrambled at any time. I also need a secure location for the engineers and equipment yesterday. Now, get to work."

I looked around and didn't see anyone moving. "I SAID GET TO WORK!"

Everyone in the command center quickly went back to their tasks and incorporated the new ones into them.

Before I left, I glared at Sigurd. "Sigurd, round up every single member on your list. No more fucking games."

Sigurd nodded sheepishly as nervous sweat glistened on his forehead. "Yes, sir."

I turned around and looked at Sirius as I left the command center. "Come with me. I need to go change back into my Jedi robes."

As we walked, I could feel the confusion rolling off his body. He was absolutely lost on what to do in this situation and he probably had even more questions about me.

Then, he broke the silence as we approached the building that was two doors down. "Wait, I've been meaning to ask, but who are you exactly?"

I chuckled, walking up to the door of my temporary lodging. "Hahaha, I am one of the owners of this guild."

Sirius thought for a moment before his expression completely flipped. "WHAT?!"

I waved my hand both dismissively and causing the door to open. "There is a time and place for everything, but not now. I have a task for you, my padawan. Go find the idiot in charge of security for this base."

Sirius quickly collected himself and nodded. "Yes, master."

-11:22 PM-

I slammed open the door to the barracks and stood there for a moment. Everyone inside stared at me with great irritation. "Sirius, where is he?"

I heard my padawan call back to me. "Master, over here."

I quickly walked towards the source of the voice. A few seconds later, I found Sirius standing over a woman. She was hunched over the table studying a large hologram.

I smiled. "Ahh, it's a she. What are you doing?"

She glanced up at me with contempt before looking back at the hologram. "If you weren't a Jedi, I'd have kicked you out already. Please, let me do my work."

I frowned, a bit confused but mostly annoyed. "Are there other Jedi in this guild?"

She grumbled and then turned to me again, looking very irritated. "Yes, there are 3 total. What can I do to make you go away?"

I sighed, realizing that this was my fault. No one knew who I was and that made things inconvenient. This would require a bit more of a forceful touch.

My eyes narrowed as I let loose any control I was holding over the force flowing through me. With my intense focus on her, she was swallowed by my torrent of energy. She shivered in obvious fear as she struggled to maintain eye contact. "YOU can start by telling the owner of YOUR guild how YOU'RE cleaning up this mess."

She all but froze. Her eyes were darting all over the place. From my face, to my twin lightsabers, to my signature blaster pistol.

It was my signature because I was the only one that could afford it. The WESTAR-35 was a blaster pistol that was only available on the black market since it was exclusively manufactured and used by Mandalorians. Acquiring a functioning one was even more difficult and expensive. It was such a perfect weapon that there would be little to no changes to it over the next 3600 years before the Clone Wars.

She seemed to defrost a bit as her mouth trembled a bit. She then shot out of her seat and saluted me. "GUILD OWNER!"

Those two words sent silence across the entire barracks as everyone stopped what they were doing and stood at attention. "GUILD OWNER!!"

I waved my hand. "At ease."

She relaxed a bit and started shaking her head. "I-I'm so sorry, I d-didn't realize who-"

*Snap*

I snapped my fingers in front of her face. "Spare me the bullshit. We don't have the time. Brief me on your activities, now."

She started breathing quickly, evidently in a bit of a panic. "W-well we s-stopped an a-attempt-"

I cut her off as I waved my hands angrily. "T-t-t-t-t-t-today junior. Get your shit together, man. Tell me how YOU are responding. I already know what happened. Oh, and identify yourself."

She took a deep breath, quickly calming herself. I withdrew the pressure I was applying on her as soon as I saw the clarity in her eyes. "I am Captain Rachel Kane, GSF (Guild Security Forces) 3rd Division. Just a few minutes ago, we recalled all guild personnel registered with this base. As per SOP-115 (Standard Operating Procedure), we are supposed to gather our forces and remain on standby as we await further orders from command."

(To make sure everyone understands the ranking system, I'm going to explain each time a rank comes up over the next few instances. In this case, Rachel is a Captain. This means that she is a Guild Officer which sits between Core and Elder.)

I shook my head, not caring about the standard operating bullshit. I pointed at her and spoke firmly. "I'm not asking what WE are doing, I'm not asking what THEY are doing, I'm asking what YOU are doing."

She wore the most confused expression on her face. Rachel was absolutely lost.

I started to get frustrated and gestured towards the desk. "YOU are the leader here! How are you personally responding? What is that?"

Rachel quickly looked at the desk and then back at me with the expression of someone who had just figured out the meaning of life. "Oh! That? I was evaluating the surrounding terrain so we can be prepared to improvise when things go wrong."

I smiled and nodded. "Good, that's the type of thing I want to hear. Rules and regulations are set for subordinates to be able to act independently. A good leader should always be ready to paint outside the lines when a situation calls for it. What have you found?"

She nodded. "Thank you, sir. I'll keep that advice in mind." She then turned and started manipulating the hologram. "This base is currently a stationary target. AA (anti-aircraft) emplacements are still WIP (work in progress) and we don't have enough interceptors to fend off a large-scale assault. This doesn't even consider an orbital bombardment."

I shook my head, scoffing. "I can only hope that whoever is attacking us isn't stupid enough to glass us. How long until AA is operational?"

Rachel continued manipulating the hologram. "Latest SITREP stated 110 minutes and that was 20 minutes ago. So, 90 minutes until we are defended."

I waved my hand dismissively, not accepting that amount of time. "Have them get something operational within the hour. Even if we are only at 50%, that'll be enough. What else?"

She looked at one of her subordinates and nodded. He nodded back and rushed towards the exit of the barracks while mumbling into a communicator. She turned back to me. "I expect that our orders will be to move all critical personnel and equipment away from this base and hide it somewhere."

I chuckled. "I already gave that order. Do you have a spot in mind?"

Rachel grinned and nodded, zooming in on the mountains in the hologram. "The forest is too open, so the mountains are the best choice. The scouting missions have revealed a lot of large and empty cave systems. In terms of strategic benefit, those caves are the key."

I nodded, smirking. "Alright, let's do it."