Dauntless - Chapter 3: Calm before the Storm

39:03:10 GrS (4 ABY)
Realspace near Lotho Minor, Lotho Minor System, Wazta Sector, Outer Rim Territories, Galactic Coordinates I-17

The gentle thrumming of machinery greeted me as the admiral’s lift opened its door. Two Phase II dark troopers saluted me when I passed. The assault cannons in their hands indicated they were different from the previous two that had saluted me on the way out. A set of blast doors ushered me into the  holoterminal room. A female Togruta dressed in an Rebel officer’s uniform was speaking at the holoterminal, absolute joy painted all over her face. Gloat all you want, Rebel. This war is far from over and I will make you regret every word you speak.

"The Alliance to Restore the Republic has scored a major victory at  Endor! The Second Death Star has been destroyed and the Empire has  fallen! Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader fell to Commander Luke  Skywalker aboard the Death Star and their reign of terror is over!” Lt.  Cmdr Mauer stood at the holoterminal wearing a grim expression. In spite  of the situation, she straightened herself and stood to attention.

“Turn it off, Mauer. The insurgents will be peddling this nerfshit for months to come.” She closed the transmission immediately.

“Sir, if what this transmission says is true . . . Who rules the Empire now?” I sighed and shook my head. There’s gonna be a battle royale over the rotten corpse of this Empire and millions are going to die.  

“That is a question for which I have no answer. Regardless of what has  transpired at Endor, we have our orders.” I grabbed a datapad attached  my belt and entered my personal access codes before selecting a file; an AT3 Directive that Darth Vader had given me to facilitate the planned coup following  Palpatine’s assassination, after the Rebellion’s final defeat at Endor. I  handed the datapad to Lt. Cmdr Mauer and she took it and read the  contents, her eyes growing wider with each passing word.

“An AT3? Isn’t this for Intel or ISB?” I chuckled in response, adjusting the electrum coated buttons on my cuffs.

“Usually, yes. But we live in strange times and Lord Vader was wise  enough to recognize the need for strange measures to ensure the survival  of the Empire. Now, where is that AAR?” She handed me back my datapad.

“I’ve already sent it to your datapad, sir. Priority message.” I opened  the priority message box and began to read Lt. Cmdr Mauer’s AAR.

“ . . . five Phantoms damaged, one severely. All damaged starfighters  recovered with no damage to any of our capitals. Is that all in terms of  the damage report?”

“Yes sir.” I kept reading, with nothing but the humming of machinery in  the background. The declaration of a Rebel victory at Endor and the  deaths of Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader had shaken the bridge crew  to the core. Now only their training, their faith, and their oaths hold them back from the edge of chaos.

“It says here that you sent out boarding parties to scan the wreckage.  Did you find any survivors?” Lt. Cmdr Mauer’s face grew tense.

“B-But sir, you gave the order for there to be no survivors when we departed Tofen Station, sir.” She was nervous beyond measure and I could  see that I’d gone too far with my joke. I chuckled, hoping to break the  tension.

“Relax. I was just testing to see if you were listening when we left.” I  paused. “And you passed. Now, was there anything of value to the Empire  amid that wreckage?” Lieutenant Commander Rayla Mauer visibly relaxed, though I could see a drop of sweat roll down the right side of her head.

“There was one damaged X-Wing still worth repairing, five lightly  damaged R2 units from one of their cruisers, and this─” She reached into  her pocket, took out a large data disk, and handed it to me.

“One of the Zero-G assault stormtroopers somehow recovered a relatively undamaged computer unit from the bridge of the Recusant class cruiser. Upon careful examination by our technicians, some information was still recoverable from the datacore.” I turned the disk around in my hand, examining the shiny metal circle.

“Any ideas on what the data meant?” Mauer smiled and tapped a few buttons controlling the holoterminal. A galactic star map appeared, with 3 red dots in different places.

“Hyperspace coordinates, Vice Admiral. We were able to decrypt some of  the data in this time and it gave 3 sets of hyperspace coordinates. I reckon these were the last few jump destinations of the ship before it arrived at Lotho Minor. And there is still more data that has yet to be  decrypted, sir.” She pressed another button and the map zoomed into the  northeastern corner of the map, where there was a red dot.

“I believe this location is a Rebel dockyard or refueling station. The  Recusant stayed there the longest, almost 20 hours. This corresponds  with the amount of time required to refuel and rearm a ship of its  size.” I tapped a few buttons on my end of the holoterminal and a bit of  information popped up beside the red dot, with a line connecting the  infobox and the dot.

“Hast system, Wild Space region, galactic coordinates U-6.  The literal middle of nowhere. But rather close to the planet of Dac,  homeworld of the Mon Calamari.” I read over the infobox once more.  “Which makes it possible that this is a secret Rebel shipyard of some  size. Very good work, Lieutenant Commander.”

“Thank you, sir.”

I took a few more moments to finish reading the rest of the AAR, though  there was little else that I considered noteworthy. Knowing what was to  come next, I put away my datapad and pressed my comlink. Endor, the beginning of the end.  

“Lieutenant Pyle, have Raiders A11044, A71667, A41345, and B81843 fan  out to secure our flank and stern. Keep the other two parallel beside  Ravager, one on each side, but make sure they keep some distance.  Afterwards, engage our cloaking and order the TRIEN Phantoms escorting us to do the same.”

“Yes sir!”

“Mauer.”

“Sir?” She came to attention.

“If any Rebel fleet units appear, order the Ravager to grab them. Drop the cloak and annihilate them with the EMMDCs. If any Imperial  fleet units appear, keep the cloak on and the Ravager will do the talking for us. If any pirates, slavers, or salvagers show up, keep the cloak on and let the Ravager and her two escorts crumple them. Oh, and do remember to leave a signal beacon here. If what we've recovered is any indication, there's  probably a wealth of valuable wreckage out there. Any questions?”

“No sir!”

“Good. The bridge is yours. I have an emergency conference to host.” She  saluted and I returned the gesture. The walk to the conference gave me  enough time to contemplate the situation. Stupid dinosaurs are going to be raiding Bakura right around now, Lumiya and her Nagai friends should be invading soon, followed by some fat green oafs. Nagai astrogation and navigational tech would be boon if I could get my hand on it. What else?  

That's when the realization hit me.

Grand Admiral Oswald Teshik, my old mentor, was still fighting at Endor. 

Fuck.