Chapitre 25: 01.20 : The Light Begins to Dim
[22 BBY][Two days after the Liberation of Ryloth]
[Republic Aegis Guard Combat Freighter Stormcrow, In Orbit Ryloth, Ryloth System]
I knelt, carefully drawing the power to me; then igniting it as the etched runes and sigils burned in ethereal flame and the small power generators surged to life. Then I was Empty, Clear, Not-Whole, as the Force vanished from around me and I released a careful breath as I slide into a comfortable meditative stance on the circular rug I sat upon. It was also a relief of sorts too, a strange remembrance of past times that I had never lived, as I sat within my 'Anti-Magic' field and began to plot on my next course of action.
To think upon my thoughts now my mind was free of any taint or unintentional 'guidance' of the Force; true power came from oneself and ones bonds, not upon total reliance upon a potentially mind altering energy field. Letting out a breath I picked up the first of the data-pad's and began to review my decisions and the other available options now I was truly freed of the invisible and unknowable chains of the Force. Another useful effect to this should be 'blinding' my time here from the Force in its entirety as I was not a part of it for a time, instead I simply reviewed and authorising the first order on the list.
Thankfully in this small room I no longer had to maintain the field, the draw from the crystals and ships energy maintaining it a time rather than through my Willpower alone. One could study things here, for a time, in relative safety as it neutralised the more memetic nature of certain objects and texts as well as ensuring a clear mind to plan with. Lessu was retaken, and with it Wat Tambor, so now Ryloth lay in the hands of forces....loyal...to the Galactic Republic. At least to ideals anyway in my own situation;- and to their contracts in the Ailon Nova Guard's case.
'Ryloth is....mostly secure, but the Republic is going to be on the back foot soon from the looks of it. Rodia, Geonosis, both fallen and Christophsis falling under-siege, so this could be our base of operations till a coherent strategy can be agreed upon' I mused studying the local galaxy and sector maps '...and that could be problem depending on what the CIS can throw at us'
The main hyperlane route back to the Core from Ryloth unfortunately ran through Christophsis, and the Arkanis and Tythe systems as well, so we'd have to fall back unto roundabout routes to Naboo, or less legal routes through the Hutts territory most likely. Jurdan Ironhill and Shesagora Venda had good plans done up from before we'd arrive at Ryloth, and best to do so since we'd be playing logistics for the 14th Sector Army for the immediate term. We could recruit amongst the Twi'leks while we did so, and try play upon the public relations campaign in the Core about the 'Liberation' to get some 'free' humanitarian aid donated to us.
"Well, the Jedi are busy after all, leaving us to handle the mess that's been left by the conflict..." I chuckled to myself looking at the recall orders and Windu's swift departure earlier today. Anakin had gone with Kenobi to free the two Senators from Rodia, successfully at that according to the excited yammering on the Holo-net vid an hour ago "...the joys of being in command it seems"
And now Windu had left with the excitable teenage padawan to rejoin the dynamic duo and their freed Senators; I'd say good riddance but they'd taken their Acclamators and the Clone Legions with them as well. Leaving me as groundside Grand Army Commanding General as General Geen took on Sector Command....and we made sure the friendly human supremacist General Yanthis and his Ailon Nova Guard were kept 'free' of dealing with the locals. Our only remaining Jedi, Rahm Kota, was playing watchdog over in the Arkanis system and scouting out Separatist positions towards Tatooine....
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[22 BBY][Sixteen days after the Liberation of Ryloth]
[Groundside, Republic Command Centre, City of Lessu, Ryloth, Ryloth System]
"...technically the whole planet is under martial law right now, but once the situation gets less dire there'll be little we can do to prevent your planet's good Senator from returning from his cushy offices on Coruscant I'm afraid"
General Syndulla waved my words off "That I unfortunately understand, it is an internal matter...if not for the wretches allies in the Senate"
I nodded in understanding as I rested the palms of my gloved hands upon the former Confederate Tactical Display map showing the planet, while the screens on the walls showed data on the overall Galactic Sector position "I can understand, my own homeworld had similar troubles, though they ended favourably I must admit and so far has avoided invasion. All I can do is offer recruitment and training for those who wish, and supply of arms in case the Separatists return"
"I am unhappy with the idea of repurposing the enemy droids"
"Understandable, but we are ripping out the control mechanism and installing our own..." I replied not bothering to look up as I made notes of the needed levels of supplies for various areas on the world "...and, in truth, they're part of our combat doctrine so salvage is a valuable method of keeping up numbers. There's also the fact of many settlements on your world being badly damaged and the disarmed B-1's serve as a decent workforce for clearing the worst affected, and still dangerous, areas"
Cham Syndulla nodded unhappily as Braika Chorn walked in past my guards "Hey Daron....greetings General Syndulla, got good news, first big shipment has entered the system and we'll be ready to unload within the hour, and even better we've gotten confirmation that two of your former Ryloth Defence Forces bases are back operational again"
I stood up, looking at her with a nod "Well, that is good news, ion cannons and shielding?"
"Operational at both, we'll have three of the salvaged Seppie batteries up and running within another five to six days"
Syndulla nodded "I'll want my fighters to begin training on the immediately"
"Only those that officially join the Republic's Aegis Guard General Syndulla, we're on thin enough ice as it is..." I replied politely but firmly "...or General Kota's militia either of course, he is actively recruiting as well I believe"
"Yes, I have noticed as such" the Twi'lek now dressed in the simply black and white of the Aegis Guard's version of the Republic military uniform "...and the situation will have to do till a more permanent solution can be created"
I shrugged "Use the funds from recruited soldiers, get those foundries up and running again, and help us build up your defence forces again. We're salvaging everything we can space side as well, and if you can draw upon whatever support you can from those loyal to Ryloth with starships....well, then our logistics capacity will increase more and...."
My attention was brought to the beeping from the command circuit, a button press bring up the image of General Rahm Kota in hologram form before us "Ah, General Kota, how may I help you?"
The ghostly blue colour figure shook his head, hands clasped behind his back "I bring bad news General, there has been a battle at Falleen and it has ended disastrously for the Republic forces there"
"How disastrously are we talking?"
"General Grievous brought a significant fleet and caught the battle group there by complete surprise, all four Venators and two Acclamators assigned to the system are reported destroyed. He then landed and slew eight Jedi and killed all the Clone forces upon the world"
I let out a breath I didn't even realise I had been holding in "Heavens above...they've cut the Corellian Run and blown open that whole Sector and..." I shook my head in disbelief "....Eight Jedi? In the one battle? Hells, what was the Council thinking putting so many....damn, no, doesn't matter. Are we seeing any other movements?"
The hologram shook his head "No, if anything Separatist forces in our Sector of space saw frigates and corvettes withdrawn to pull this off along with the offensive to Christophsis. The only other news is that the remnants of forces that were harassing Geonosis are falling back to Ryloth and will come under General Geen's operational control once they do"
"Eight...how?"
"Count Dooku was also supposedly present, with an apprentice by all accounts"
I nodded slowly back at the Jedi Master's hologram "Okay...yes, that would fit, we're already on full alert so there's little we can do in that regards, but if the main Confederate Fleets and leadership are here then they'll be targeting either Christophsis or Bothawui next"
"Maybe, or perhaps attempt to break towards Kamino..." Rahm Kota replied, his avatar turning and taking a pad or something from an aide "...even maybe towards the Mid-Rim. There are many, many, options now available to their leadership, especially since we know the Mon Calamari General Merai is mobilising his forces according to Republic Intelligence"
"Yeah....if their correct" I gave an irritated snort "...as their either very accurate, or completely off the wall, and one never knows if they aren't leaking like a sieve on what their telling us..." I glanced at the concerned looking Twi'lek "...it seems we're going to have to step up our efforts even more. We are going to be on a very short time limit once the Confederate offensive objectives become clearer....we need to call a full strategy meeting within the hour"
The Jedi General nodded "Agreed"
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone