“We’ve lost the comm from the command center, sir, but they were on emergency power anyway.” “No, something’s happening.”
“No sign of enemy action against her. The Imperial forces seem to have abandoned her since they transferred the flag.”
Maybe the mutineers had taken the ship. There had to be casualties. There was no sign of an opposed boarding. Either way, he had to make his move.
“Commander, you have the ship, “he said to Inondrar. “I’ll notify you of my location when I’ve extracted Lieutenant Veila. Withdraw the fleet to Coruscant, and if Niathal attempts to return with her traitors-repel them.”
GA WARSHIP OCEAN, FONDORIAN SPACE
“Stang.”
Several heads turned, even in the middle of a battle. Niathal never cursed aloud-hardly ever, anyway-and for the crew it was an indicator of very bad news.
“My apologies, “she said, fuming inside. “Some of our comrades have decided to leave the party early.”
On the holochart, ships’ icons winked out of existence, and every sensor, tracking screen, and holocam view showed the fleets thinning out. Some vessels that had been under Jacen’s command were still there, along with rescue and med evac tenders. Daala’s fleet cruised among the dwindling number of ships like firaxa sharks let loose in a shoal of matshi, and the garbled comms that she was picking up showed that even the so-called Maw Irregulars were having trouble working out who was on Jacen’s side. The Imperial ships were eas-ier to identify and were taking much of the fire, some conventional ion cannon and turbolaser, some phase shifter.
If the phrase fog of war applied to any moment, then this was it.
“I think this might well be called a mixed blessing, “Niathal said. “But for the time being, I’ll concentrate on the fact that Daala’s saved our necks.”
Niathal was now in the bizarre position of having beaten back Jacen’s combined fleet, but losing her hold on power. She stared in dismay at the modest tally of ships loyal to her on the screen, with Makin leaning over her shoulder.
“I really thought that he’d bitten off more than he could chew this time, “she said. “How has he managed to hold so many ships?”
“Charisma, terror, and the natural tendency of beings in uniform to follow procedure.” Makin shook his head. “Asking crews to choose between two joint leaders is going to end in a split one way or another. Anyway, what are we going to do? Chase him? Fight him for control of Coruscant? Because we’d need Daala and some additional hulls to make that happen, and invading the capital with another planet’s forces would be a step too far politically, I think-even if we could pull it off militarily.”
Niathal berated herself for not thinking that through, but would it have made any difference? The moment Jacen refused to honor the surrender, NiathaPs course of action was decided for her. She couldn’t stand back and let that happen: if she’d followed him meekly, she’d have lost a lot more than a job.
“No, I’ll give him a headache instead, “she said at last. “We’ll withdraw to another base, and set up a GA government in exile. Provide a rallying point for his enemies, and we know he’s got a growing collection. That’ll split the GA, unfortunately, and perhaps we’ll end up with some un-appetizing bedfellows, but it beats playing Jacen’s game.”
There was still the Jedi Council, of course, but Niathal had to keep her distance. It was a case of mutual interests, but she couldn’t commit her forces to Luke Skywalker’s control, and she doubted if he’d give his Jedi pilots to her command.
And where were they? The StealthXs were around-Jacen’s undignified and narrow escape was proof of that-but working out what they were up to was another matter.
Jacen was pulling back. She’d risk opening comlinks and see if any Jedi answered.
“Ocean to any StealthX, please respond…”
She waited. Come on, Luke, I know you’re out there…
“StealthX Five-Five to Ocean.”
“Master Skywalker… you’re not in our way, so I won’t get in yours, but a heads-up would be appreciated.”
“Understood, Ocean. We were keeping Jacen’s ships off the backs of Fondorian emergency responders, but they seem to have somewhere more interesting to go now.”
“Mind if I ask if you had anything to do with the concealment of the Fondorian fleet?”
“We did our best to protect unarmed civilians working in the orbital yards.”
“That’s…. borderline when it comes to Jedi ethics, is it not?”
“Our objective is to stop Jacen with minimal loss of life.” Luke swallowed audibly, as if framing something he found difficult to say. “I very much regret what happened to the minelayer crews. I thought Fondor might tackle the threat differently.”