Rhommamool's Open Orbit

In the Rhommamool system with the lit crescent of the planet barely a light year away, the flagship of the Outer Sector High Admiral of the Republic Fleet sat with its two escorting corvettes of the CR90 class. The flagship itself was an absolute behemoth: a Praetor Mark II-class Battlecruiser totaling just under 5,000 meters in length. The fighter compliment of said craft, however, came in at just six squadrons, mirroring the average carrying ability of an Imperial I-class Star Destroyer. The battle group had recently left the halfway point between the western and eastern theaters of the current battle against the Sith Empire's Outer Rim sieges based on a bit of intelligence picked up by the Republic strike force sent to the Sith homeworld of Korriban to dispatch the Sith forces rumored to be there. The two Outer Rim theaters of the war were no longer the focal point of the entire war, according to this intelligence, hence the High Admiral's moving of her flagship battle group Coreward in anticipation of making a further jump to the new location.

High Admiral Rosina, a Falleen female, was now on the bridge of the flagship watching a single T-6 Shuttle with the transponder name Daring approach from hyperspace. The craft carried only seven beings according to the lifeform scanners that the nearest CR90 corvette, Baron, was training on the vehicle. The High Admiral was not phased by the information which was all checking out according to what Admiral Stirk had told her beforehand would be coming. The Admiral was one of the shuttle's occupants, as was the remaining capital ship captains from the Republic strike force sent to Korriban. The final two beings were the Shistavanen Jedi General Keth Agrav and the human Jedi Commander Zak Caranthyr, who had been in charge of the same strike force in anticipation of a Sith Lord being present with the Korriban defenses. Separated from their fleet because the entire retinue of ships were undergoing immediate repairs at the nearby Bilbringi shipyards while they met with the High Admiral, the beings aboard that shuttle were moving with haste due to the intelligence they had gathered from the battle they had endured over Korriban.

Ten minutes passed from the shuttle's arrival in the system to when the High Admiral, now sitting in a conference room on the same deck as her Praetor battlecruiser's bridge, watched the door open and admit both Jedi and the Admiral into the room. The other four Captains were being debriefed by her lieutenant captain in a separate location. Rosina watched with interest as Stirk filed in calmly at the head, not inhibited in any way, taking a seat at the circular table dominating the conference room. Following was the average-looking Zak Caranthyr, wearing a small bandage around his neck and sporting a few faded scars picked up from the various engagements he had participated in during the course of the war. Other than that he walked in and sat at the opposite third of the table from either of the naval officers already seated. The final member in limped along without betraying any discomfort in his lupine face. Keth Agrav held his left arm close in to his body, along with the limp in his left leg, to match the now-unbandaged stump of his left ear. His breathing was somewhat labored for a being out-of-combat, but Rosina could not detect any noticeable discomfort no matter what his body language betrayed. He sat to Zak's left, closer to Admiral Stirk than she. This put him nearly directly across from Rosina.

Not wasting any time on formalities, Rosina began.

"A pleasure to see you all here. I trust the assault on Korriban was a success?"

Keth leaned back with relief into his padded chair and tapped his right paw on the tabletop as he spoke.

"We did defeat the Sith flotilla that was waiting for us, High Admiral. I would not call the attack a success, however: the Sith are no longer using Korriban as a base of operations."

This matched the very urgent message Rosina had received that prompted her to move the Corusca and her escorts Coreward. Now, she wanted details.

"Please explain, General Agrav."

The Jedi nodded carefully. While a short time in a bacta tank and brief bouts of Jedi healing trances had lessened the damage to his body from dueling Sith Lord Deixar, his obvious limp and tender wrist and entire left side betrayed he had not had enough time to recover just yet.

"I dueled the Sith Lord left in charge of the flotilla. He was obviously a high-ranking member of the Sith hierarchy as evidenced by his mastery and by my near-escape from death at his hands which leads me to trust the information he passed on to me. I was led to believe that the Sith wanted us to attack Korriban and hopefully fail so that we would not realize the bulk of the Sith fleet was elsewhere in the galaxy, preparing to strike on Fondor and use that as a staging point into the Core."

Not one to hold back her natural pheromone reactions, Rosina let her doubt waft out from her as her skin turned slightly blue.

"Why would a Sith Lord give you any information regarding their plans?"

Keth looked straight into her eyes. His sensitive canine nose twitched but he did not seem to radiate the same doubt she felt. Usually skilled Jedi did not allow Falleen pheromones to influence them as they counter-acted them with the Force.

"He fully expected to have me take the information to my grave. As you may be able to tell I was badly wounded in the duel. For a time it was entirely possible that he could kill me. Also, while most Sith are experts at lying without detection, I could tell he was telling the full truth to me because it fit his strategy of attempting to undermine my confidence. While his strategy failed, I was certain that his Force aura contained nothing but conviction and truth."

This actually led to Rosina adding a twinge of unease to her feelings. She knew from experience in this war that confident Sith rarely meant good things happened for the Republic.

"I believe you, Jedi Agrav. The evidence supplied by only a modest Sith flotilla being at Korriban also lends credence to what you learned. There is one problem however."

Pausing to collect her thoughts allowed Admiral Stirk to finish her thought for her.

"We don't have any idea where the Sith are staging from to hit Fondor. There aren't many planets from that side of the Core from which to stage such a force and all of the ones we've had contact with have no reports of Sith activity or an attack."

Rosina was not put-off by the interjection. Stirk was absolutely correct after all.

"Yes, Admiral. That is the exact concern. It means we have absolutely no way to preempt the Sith attack. And only reacting will possibly cause us many casualties and the potential loss of Fondor regardless."

Zak leaned forward on both elbows, interlacing his fingers under his chin.

"Are you suggesting we sacrifice Fondor just so that we know where the Sith are?"

The High Admiral well registered the accusation in his tone, and she accepted it in stride. It was a very morally questionable strategy.

"Yes, Commander Caranthyr. While we risk sacrificing the population of Fondor to the Sith for a time, it is numerically superior to sacrificing a good portion of naval force as well as the population of Fondor."

Keth asked the level-headed question.

"What do you plan on, High Admiral?"

Rosina swept her gaze across the three men watching her. She maintained her very confident composure.

"We allow the Sith to attack. I have already dispatched a plausible defense fleet to Fondor so that the Sith do not become immediately suspicious of our intentions. I am almost certain that if the Sith plan on using Fondor as a staging point only, the force they will be bringing will vastly outnumber the defense fleet. I won't openly sacrifice those ships, but they must at least engage believably so that the Sith commit. From there, we jump in as many ships as I feel prudent from nearby Duro to begin the battle in earnest. It will be a retreating effort, however. We'll most likely have to concede the planet if the sheer numbers indeed reach what my tacticians have estimated would be necessary to effectively strike at Coruscant. The plan is to at least damage as many Sith ships as is prudent so that they don't get a completely fresh tip of the dagger to continue their assault."

She let the preliminary plan sink in with the men around the table. None of them seemed particularly happy with the plan, but they themselves had received the intelligence and knew the most likely outcome was less than preferable. Keth was the one to add.

"I presume we'll continue conceding planets as the Sith press, but with added resistance?"

Rosina nodded. She was now becoming aware of the exact merits that had landed this particular Jedi such a high rank.

"The idea here is to make each additional planet less attractive to take. While rather undesirable, we want to fight a war of attrition with the Sith. We want to make them weak enough to either fail to reach Coruscant or if the worst-case scenario happens, not have the strength to hold it. We assume the next assault point is Duro, which we also intend to concede with a good amount of tactical retreating battle. Naturally, that leaves Corellia as the next target on the list to Coruscant. We will plant our first major sticking point at Corellia. I have no intention to let the Sith have too many shipyards to replenish their assault force or else they will be able to force us to lose more ships than them.

"This is where I plan on stationing your strike force, Admiral Stirk. The current battle group you used at Korriban is being refurbished enough to make it Corellia to finish repairs where you shall be stationed as the commanding officer over all the forces that arrive from the Fondor and Duro theaters. General Agrav and Commander Caranthyr, I plan on having you there as well. We shall have various other Jedi officers at Duro and Fondor, but you two shall be the hierarchy leadership as granted by the Jedi Council. I have already had preliminary clearance meetings with both them and the High Command Council. They are in accordance with this strategy."

Zak was the first to ask a question after they all sat in silence considering the strategy.

"Fair enough, but I feel that since the members of the Sith High Council are definitely part of this assault fleet, we're going to need to add something other than open war. There is no doubt that they will be influencing their fleets with their Battle Meditation techniques. I'm aware we'll have Jedi performing the same role, but clearly the Siths' superior numbers will allow them to have the advantage with their shops performing at max efficiency."

This had not occurred to Rosina, even though it was an obvious asset to the current battles being waged in the Outer Rim theaters.

"What do you have in mind, Commander?"

Zak shared a brief glance of understanding with Keth before making his proposal.

"We have that captured Ardent frigate from Korriban. I hope we can use it to get a significant Jedi strike force aboard the Sith's flagship and therefore get at the Sith High Council members. If we manage that, we can not only disrupt their battle meditation but potentially end this war from behind. We already have all the necessary passcodes from the frigate's captain who was more than willing to volunteer us the information. And we can easily get us access deep into the Sith fleet."

Rosina did not respond for a while. She had already been formulating the battle plan before she had been made aware of the captured frigate, but Caranthyr made an excellent point about turning the ship to their advantage. According to every comm officer aboard that strike force, the Sith flotilla had not sent a single distress call out before being decimated. While a handful of starfighters had escaped, they could not possibly have known that one of the frigates had survived to be captured. If the craft returned in a plausible manner in the midst of the Sith fleet bearing news that it had survived the slaughter and had only been able to return due to the flight path required, that could potentially fast track "survivors" right to the Sith flagship for debriefing.

"I approve, Commander Caranthyr. But can you really sneak in enough Jedi under the Sith Council's noses?"

Keth took this question himself.

"It should be no problem for a skilled Jedi to mask his presence in the Force so that the Sith will not detect them. We can manage such an infiltration."

The High Admiral nodded. Keth proceeded.

"I want to make sure Commander Caranthyr and I are aboard that ship when we infiltrate."

This was surprising to Rosina. She immediately let alarm color her face orange and send pheromones out. Only Admiral Stirk fidgeted due to the influence.

"I am not sure that is wise, General. With your tactical knowledge and position, I am not sure risking you and Commander Caranthyr is within the Republic's best interests."

Keth shook his head and poked a claw into the table to emphasize what he said.

"Zak and I have experience with capital ship infiltration. We can most effectively lead a Jedi strike force into the ship almost more effectively than we can conduct activity of the entire fleet. Leave that to Admiral Stirk here, it is his level of expertise."

Rosina sighed and resigned herself to the logic of Keth's point.

"Very well. But that leaves the question of timing. At what point to do we approach the Sith flagship?"

Stirk supplied the answer.

"We run some calculations on a plausible route for the frigate to have taken leaving Korriban. We make sure that we factor in some time to effect enough repairs to the drive units of the frigate since they were damaged. We leave the turret structures as destroyed since they are not essential to escape. Then, I propose we wait until the Sith have taken Duro. That'll be the least suspicious since Duro is more accessible than Fondor. The Sith invasion will be well underway at that point, and they will probably feel comfortable in their seating to take some time with survivors from Korriban."

Keth also input.

"If we can get fortunate timing, we may be able to infiltrate as the Fleet is making its move towards Corellia. An attack on the Sith Council would cause excellent discord in the largest phase of battle. It may even turn the tide of the war for good."

Rosina was impressed with the addition to the strategy. She added some final information.

"Lastly, the Eastern theater fleets will be recalled to join the Corellian defense. Over the past year of this war, the Hapans have built up their defense fleet in anticipation of its being required. They shall be taking over the Eastern theater and given the freshness of their ships and the overall number, we hope that they crush the Sith fleets there fast enough to prevent word reaching the Sith council that we've recalled our fleets."

And so it was. The plan was set. Now, they needed to play a very dangerous gambling game with the greatest threat to the galaxy in recent memory. The stakes were the fate of the Republic and the chips on the table were billions of innocent Republic citizens caught in the crossfire of the invasion about to occur. Quietly, Keth hoped the will of the Force was on the side of the Jedi.

The large Tof Bulk Cruiser, Deadwood, exited hyperspace above the dusty desert world of Rhommamool. A second Tof Bulk Cruier exited hyperspace a few hundred meters off of the Deadwood's port flank. It was the Bloody Sun, the second ship within the Pirate fleet. There was no specific reason to be here, aside from the fact that the Tof Cruiser was a pirate ship. And the leader of this pirate group had caught wind of a derelict transport drifting somewhere between Rhommamool and Osarian. And naturally, the desire to pillage and plunder overcame any other desires at that point in time. The massive Tof, known as Supreme Wolfgang, sat in an oversized plush chair on the bridge of the Deadwood.

"Begin searching fer this lost ship. I want more treasure!"

The crew hooted and hollered at Wolfgang's mention of treasure. Within a matter of minutes, there was a ping on the ship's sensors. A rotund Tof made his way over to the Supreme's chair, slopping a tankard of ale in the process.

"Aye, sir. We've located the ship. Shouldn't be more 'n a few before we reach it."

Wolfgang nodded.

"Arr, that be what I like ta hear. Take us in an begin docking procedures"

The crewman raised his tankard high.

"Oh-aye. We'll have boardin' parties ready to blow the hatch."

And with that, Wolfgang plucked his tankard up off the chair's armrest with one massive hand and took a huge gulp of the amber liquid within.

"I smell new treasure be waitin' fer us!"

In truth, he was probably smelling the stench of the other deckhands, or the odor lingering up from his own cloth garb.The crew, however, hollered and hooted louder, drinking more ale as the ship moved closer to the drifting freighter.