[Legacy Of The Force] - 08(119)

-Admiral Makin to Admiral Niathal

GA WARSHIP ANAKIN SOLO, OFF FONDOR

So she thought she could play that game, did she?

“Sir, we’ve got no countermeasures for whatever that is.” Commander Inondrar darted from sensor screen to sensor screen, checking the data scanned from stricken ships. “My guess is that it’s a phase shifter.”

Caedus stood at the main bridge holochart, meshing what he could physically see with what he could sense. Daala’s fleet seemed to be everywhere like a cloud of insects, but if they all had phase shifters then they weren’t using them. He could sense something else, too: Jedi, but not close, not in the battle, not coming after him.

But I didn’t sense Luke before, did I?

“Identify which of Daala’s ships has it and concentrate fire on them, “Caedus said. “Break off the attack on Fon-dor. Throw everything we’ve got at Daala. And I mean everything. Even ships responding to distress calls.”

“Sir, we’ve got a lot of damaged ships and even X-wings out there that we need to respond to…”

One of the sensor team looked up from her screen. “Sir, the Loyal Defender has issued an order to abandon ship-they can’t maintain hull integrity. Compass Star is going to her aid.”

And that was his other dilemma: badly damaged ships tied up other assets in rescue operations.

I could leave them…

No, he couldn’t. Nobody would fight on if they thought there’d be no attempt to rescue them. Morale was critical, and not even Caedus could shape the minds of an entire fleet to feel positive about abandoning their comrades.

“This might be a prudent point for a tactical withdrawal to regroup, “said Inondrar. “Reassess the situation.”

Caedus usually heard retreat when someone said withdrawal, but he was now outnumbered, and the addition of Daala’s unorthodox weapons probably amounted to being outgunned, too. Pulling back and gaining some breathing space was suddenly an attractive idea; but he wondered if he was reacting to exhaustion, and maybe an aggressive push now would turn the battle in his favor.

“What shape are we in?”

“Half the fleet has taken some damage, and we’ve lost more than thirty vessels, sir.”

Caedus was losing. If he delayed, he could lose most of the fleet. It was humiliating to run, but it was one battle of many, not the whole war.

It still stuck in his throat. “Commander, identify an assembly area, and order ships that can jump and that aren’t responding to emergency signals to do so. Loyal commanders only, for the time being.” He was now fighting a battle on three fronts-not only the ad hoc coalition ranged against him, but a weapon he wasn’t yet equipped to resist, and a traitor urging his ships to mutiny. “And we’ll see who’s the legitimate voice of the Galactic Alliance…” Two could play that game. If Niathal had any sense, she’d be as reluctant as he was to slug it out over Coruscant. “All ships-this is Colonel Solo. Admiral Niathal is acting illegally, and I call on you to remain loyal to the Galactic Alliance. Signal your intentions and stand by for orders.”

“What are you going to do, sir?” Inondrar asked.

“If they’re loyal, give them a second RV point to jump to, “Caedus said. “Then we’ll see what Niathal’s got left. If we retain fewer than we hoped-it’ll be a good time to withdraw. If we get more-we pull back to Coruscant, and Niathal’s left high and dry. We lose Fondor, but we can still fight that another day.”

“Ships can’t jump until they’ve cleared the orbit of Thanut.”

“Then tell them to move.” “Yes, sir.”

“And stand by a rescue runner for me.” “All the Anakin’s are deployed.” Caedus was about to demand that one be turned back, but he had an alternative that might make extracting Tahiri a little easier. “Get me a med sprinter, then.”

“We’ve got more calls on med evacs than we can…” “Lieutenant Veila is trapped in Bloodfin, and I won’t leave her. Nobody will fire on a med sprinter. Get me a med sprinter and a corpsman’s uniform.”

Inondrar looked as if he was about to ask how Caedus planned to get on board Bloodfin, but he just mumbled, “Very good, sir, “and commed the hangar deck.

Caedus would work out the details when he reached Bloodfin. There would be an opportunity to remove the wounded, or he would create one.

“Comms how are we doing on responses?” he asked. “How many loyal commanders do we have?” “About two-thirds now of all GA ships.” “Good. Send them the RV coordinates.” Caedus could sense Tahiri now: she was in trouble. “Bloodfin. What’s happening there?”