56 Interlude: Uncertain future

Relay station Sigma 061-T1

Dark space

Unknown regions

A rough sphere with diameter of two kilometers floated in the void. It's surface was made by a hundred meter thick armor belt that was covered by pockmarks left by stray asteroids and one particularly unlucky lost comet.

The all but forgotten installation had laid dormant for almost three thousand and seven hundred years, when a certain distress signal reached it. The encrypted FTL message washed over meticulously maintained holo-comm station's receivers, went through a series of anti-viral scans and finally, two point three seconds later, the data was decrypted. A not too bright computer that had been awake for millennia scanned the message and noted it's importance.

It was the main reason for the station's presence in the region.

The ancient computer followed up its directives, booted up slumbering generators and finally, a few hours later sent an encrypted data-burst to similar station a floating a few light year from Dromund Kaas, before going into stand by mode, while awaiting an answer.

=RK=

GNN Shenanigans

"Good Afternoon, Coruscant! I'm Brosk Tonfa and this is Galactic Politics!"

"Good Afternoon! I'm Victoria Halcyon and today we'll be discussing the latest crisis raging through the Senate!"

"Professor Nindo Morati and former Chancellor Finnis Valorum!" Brosk smiled to the cameras.

"It's good to be here!" Professor Morati grinned and waved at the audience. He was a quite charismatic Dug, who was teaching political science in one of Coruscant's premier universities.

"I find it refreshing being back on Coruscant. Thank you for this invitation, Victoria, Brosk." Valorum smiled and nodded at his hosts. He was wearing simple black robe and looked much older than his last public appearance on the capital world of the Republic.

"You're welcome, Chancellor. As most of our viewers probably know by now, what was once seen as minor troubles on Mandalore, has grown into a large problem that resonates strongly even here, on Coruscant." Halcyon nodded to the cameras.

"Various Senators called for emergency session tomorrow to discus the Mandalorian crisis." Tonfa continued. "This happens amidst a lot of questions and accusations."

"Indeed, Brosk. A large diplomatic mission, led by Senator Bail Organa was supposed to leave for Mandalore a week ago with General Veil attached as adviser and commander of their military escort."

"That by itself was source of some controversy, but little did we all know – it was just a sign of things to come. First, Senator Organa was delayed – his presence was needed in the Senate when questions were raised about Alderaan's support of the war that made his presence here necessary."

"However, that was not the end. The diplomatic team that was supposed to go to Mandalore was broken up and reassigned to deal with other issues, leaving only General Veil as the sole Republic representative to negotiate with the Mandalorian government."

"Then, we learned about something even more irregular!" Brosk exclaimed. "The Republic ambassador to Mandalore had been recalled and in fact left Mandalore mere hours before General Veil arrived, leaving him as the sole person responsible for negotiating with Duchess Satine's government." Victoria stated.

"That lead to a lot of accusations within the Senate, rumors of a set up and even conspiracy theories!" Brosk nodded vigorously.

"What do you think about this strange situation? What's your analysis?" Victoria turned her attention to her guests. "You have more hands on experience with the inner working of the Senate, so lets start with your opinion, Chancellor."

"Well, Victoria, this is a thorny issue. As you noted, the sequence of events that led to the situation on Mandalore is highly irregular. While negotiations in the name of the Republic aren't necessary carried by the Diplomatic Corps - we've used Jedi in the past as ambassadors with great success, it has been a long, long time since a serving general of the Republic military has held such a position. Given the Mandalorian culture, outside the New Mandalorian faction, sending a decorated military officer as a part of the diplomatic team makes sense. I can even see how some people might think that letting General Veil be in charge of the negotiations could be beneficial in this case."

"True enough. We're talking about Mandalorians here. They respect only power." Professor Morati grumbled. "What about the rest? That was the most obviously underhanded set up I've seen."

Valorum sighed and nodded. "Certain partied within the Senate and the Diplomatic Corps need to answer some very pointed questions."

"Do you really think that's enough? Valorum, you're singing the same tune you did when you were the Chancellor and we saw how that ended – the Senate did nothing, Naboo remained occupied until the locals managed to kick out the Trade Federation and you lost your position. Do you really believe that the Senate would actually solve this problem? It's clear to anyone with a pair of braincells to rub together that this whole Mandalorian crisis was engineered to tarnish the reputation of a Republic general. It is obviously an attempt for political assassination that might yet succeed and I don't really see the Senate doing anything to stop it."

"What do you want to happen? Do you really want to see the Republic throw away its democratic principles? The rule of law? All in the name of expediency? While the Senate is less efficient than we all want it to be, it's still much better than the alternatives. The Confederacy and what they do should be proof enough for that."

"If the Senate was actually a functioning institution, you might be right, Chancellor. As we've seen again and again, that's really not the case. While there are good people in there – like Chancellor Palpatine, Bail Organa and Padme Amidala, they're a drop in the ocean and can't really do much against the bureaucratic nightmare that's supposed to look after our best interests!"

"That's simply not fair to anyone who works in the various Republic institutions or the Senate itself!" Valorum exclaimed.

"Really? The same Senate that doesn't know what it wants? My sources tell me that about half the Senators want to see Mandalore burn for things that Mandalorians did hundreds or even thousands of years ago. The rest are ready to crucify General Veil unless he delivers the Mandalorians as staunch allies against the Separatists. No matter what the man does, there would be thousands of Senators after his head, when he's saddled with a job he shouldn't be doing in the first place. Once again, the Senate proves for all to see that it's a viper nest more interested in small minded power struggles than the good of the Republic!"

"Perhaps we should take a short break so we can all cool down a bit?" Victoria smiled. "Here's a short message from our sponsors!"

=RK=

Interlude: The Confederacy strikes back V

Strike Force "Delta"

Hyperspace

It was almost time. In mere minutes, TK-51's forces would leave hyperspace and engage superior enemy. The Tactical droid, went over his plan one last time, making minor re-adjustments in a futile strive for perfection.

The plan was rather simple, though actually executing it successfully was going to be anything but. According to TK's programming, the whole idea was a glitch induced madness that shouldn't, couldn't work. Well, at least that was the case before the latest software patch widened his horizons.

The Tactical droid gave out an electronic sigh. He had a plan – one that might even work. However, he couldn't help but wonder which part of his programing was right – the good old tactical protocols he had been using ever since coming off from the assembly line or the new possibilities which were now unlocked.

There was only one way to be certain – putting his new ideas to the test.

For the first time since he came online, TK-51 felt apprehensive. Almost confused. The world used to be simple, the tactical problems with obvious solution, though up until not he always had enough troops under his command to get the job done. Unfortunately this wasn't the case and TK-51 found he hated improvising.

The Droid checked his internal clock and send the last plan adjustments to the rest of the battle group. Just a few minutes and they would leave hyperspace. Then he would become a glorified observer with very little to do.

TK-51 found the very idea disturbing, even if he had been in the same position multiple times without issue. He needed to have his programing examined, the Droid decided. The latest patch was to blame for these strange feelings he was experienced. TK was sure of it.

=RK=

TK-51's small fleet dropped from hyperspace ten light seconds from the estimated position of the enemy picket. It took the sensors precious seconds to scan the surrounding area and pinpoint the location of the enemy.

Two Venator cruisers and four frigates were slowly flying through the void mere four light seconds from the Separatist forces. The enemy was on the right flank, moving at an approach vector at forty five degrees. The Separatist fleet quickly reformed, putting a phalanx formation at the vanguard, consisting of six Munificents with skeleton crew and two of the bulk transports converted into carriers. They were already accelerating towards the Republic ships as fast as their engines could carry them, by the time the enemy shifted formation to meet them.

The Republic cruisers launched their compliment of fighters and bombers, which took defensive positions around their mother ships, while TK-51's Vultures remained on the hulls or in the hangars of his ships – seeking a bit of safety from the active Guardian systems of the enemy. While the battle groups were hurling at each other, the navigational computers of the Separatists force were busy crunching coordinates for various hyperspace jumps. The first calculations were done mere moments before the two fleets entered extreme energy weapon range from each other. A moment later, the CIS vanguard jumped, disappearing from real space for an instant just to reappear mere twenty thousand kilometers in front of the Republic ships. The two groups of space craft had mere moments to react – something TK-51's forces were already doing the moment they exited hyperspace.

There was time enough for a single salvo, which slammed into the Venator's shields, before both cruisers slammed into a modified cargo hauler each.

The massive, yet much more flimsy built transport disintegrated on impact with the armored prowls of the capital ships, before their reactors breached and blew up. For a few seconds, the cruisers were engulfed by an expanding field of plasma and debris, before they managed to plow through. What emerged was a far cry from the two proud Venators that were ready to blow up the Separatist forces daring to engage them.

While the heavy armor of the cruisers held, and kept the ships largely intact, the same couldn't be said for the multitude of weapon emplacements and sensors that were all simply shredded by the debris of the two transports.

Within moments, the very good odds for the Republic force turned into a suicidal charge into the guns of ten Munificents. Only one of the frigate captains could react in time – a single escort broke away, and tried to flee, while the remaining three ships flew into predictable vectors and ran straight into concentrated turbo-laser barrages that burned through their shields in moments, before boiling armor and melting through multiple decks.

"Execute stage two and someone take out that frigate." A mightily pleased TK-51 ordered.

A moment later, the rearguard, containing four Munificents and a single carrier chock full with droids accelerated towards the crippled cruisers. The Tactical droid had no intention of destroying the Venators. Instead, he planned to capture the ships and do his best to have them repaired. With a bit of luck, command would let him keep his prizes.

TK-51 would have smiled if he could as swarms of Vultures launched from his ships and went after the remaining enemy small craft.