Chapter 10 — Subtotals

yep. another translation. have a good reading.

It took the stormtroopers stationed on the Chimera and the Death's Head two hours to clear the rebel base on Ord Pardrone.

Nothing saved them —not even two regiments of infantry fighting like lions. Not several commando groups that inflicted significant losses to our troops. Not even the presence of a large number of heavy weapons by the enemy.

The stormtroopers walked through the rebels' possessions like a steamroller, trampling into the mud everything that was not dressed in the uniform of the Empire and tried to resist.

Now we had to calculate our «income».

—The object has been cleared, Grand Admiral,— said General Freja Covell, who met me at the Lambda ramp, with a slight grin on his lips. After the ground forces have done a great job, it's not a sin to go down to the surface of Ord Pardon to see for yourself what happened here.

General Freja Covell.

Despite the movements of his lips, the general himself remained as calm, cold and calculating as always. It was quite interesting to study his personal file. In the distant past, he came under the influence of such a well-known imperial person as Maximilian Veers, the guardian of the tactics of using AT-AT and AT-ST type walkers. And it should be noted that Covell learned a lot of useful things from his senior comrade, and was already considered a model for teaching tactics. It is doubly interesting that Covell, a student of Veers, remained loyal to the Empire, but Maximilian himself is wandering somewhere in the galaxy, who knows what, expecting to see on the ruins of a once flourishing, but rotting from the inside, state. And this opened up some prospects.

But at the moment I was interested in something else. Namely, trophies. Who doesn't love them? Especially when an entire sectoral fleet base is plundered.

— Have the technicians arrived yet? —I clarified.

—Yes, sir,— the general will say. — Eighteen teams from the Chimera and a similar number from the Stormhawk. My men escorted them to every part of the base. The equipment is already being dismantled.

— Sappers? —I asked a new question.

—Scheduled to arrive in fifteen minutes,— Covell said. —By that time we will have already begun removing the rebels' property. And the Death's Head will soon deliver asteroids.

—Speed ​​up, General,— I ordered. —We must leave the Dafilvean sector in three hours. The base must be destroyed so thoroughly that the rebels who arrived after us will experience the bitterness of defeat once again.

—I remember the order you gave, sir,— Covell said seriously. and he has already ordered the involvement of stormtroopers in any possible places to speed up the process. We searched the base and compiled a small inventory of what was in the warehouses, downloading data from computers.

The general handed us the deck. Pellaeon accepted the device, after which Covell saluted and disappeared out of sight.

and he still believes that the officers of the Imperial Navy are doing nonsense, while the army and only the army is waging real battles,— the commander of the Chimera said with a wince, looking after the departing general.

— Did he tell you this personally? —I clarified.

—In a way,— Pellaeon admitted.

— Before or after you promoted him from a simple colonel to a major general? — the new question seemed to take Gilad by surprise.

after, sir,— he admitted. —But, before you awarded him the rank of full general.

—The next time you hear bravado from a general about the superiority of the army over the fleet, ask how quickly his walkers can get to Coruscant without the help of our starships,— I advised. A smile appeared on the Chimera commander's face.

—Of course, sir,— Pellaeon assured me.

—Let's take a walk, captain,— I suggested, making sure that Rukh continued to follow us. —I see you can't wait to see how big the values ​​we have captured are.

—I'm sure there are not many of them,— Pellaeon said, reading the lines. —This is an ordinary sectoral base. Moreover, it is very remote. The rebels have only just begun its thorough construction—the defensive systems are no more than twenty percent complete.

—That's why I chose this planet as the site of the main attack,— I said. — Weakened stationary defense systems, not the largest garrison, remoteness from the main hyperspace routes. In addition, the enemy recalled most of his battleships from here. The tactic of luring out enemy forces proportionate to repel the attack fully justified itself.

—But we never destroyed the Mon Calamari star cruiser,— Pellaeon noted.

—Learn to find the positive sides in this,— I advised. — From the very beginning of the mission, it was assumed that there might be shortcomings somewhere. But at the same time, all three main goals of the operation were achieved.

—Sir, may I ask what they were like? asked Pellaeon.

—First of all, testing the limits of the competence and abilities of our friend the master,— I said. —Now we know for sure that he is not able to control ships beyond the borders of one sector. At least not yet, at least.

— The attack on the medical triage station in the Crondre system and the base on Ord Pardon —the second target? — the commander of the Chimera clarified.

—That's right,— we slowly moved towards the rectangular warehouse boxes located away from the complex of ground base buildings. —We need medicine ourselves, but we won't get any special help from the Imperial Ruling Council —the possibilities are no longer the same. The main supplier of bacta, the planet Thyferra, is under the control of the rebels. The Empire is forced to buy bacta on the black market at enormous prices, which cannot but increase the shortage of our already limited financial resources. Destroying the Ord Pardon base would signal to the rebels that they must take care of their allies if they want to continue to assert their dominance. In addition, the destruction of the base, the destruction and capture of part of their sectoral fleet is not only a blow to prestige, but also to reputation. No longer can any planetary governor be assured that he is under rebel protection. Our adversaries will be forced to expend enormous resources to assure their supporters that they and only they can ensure the security of systems. However, now, with our attack, we hinted to them that the choice made earlier —to disarm the ships and turn them into bulk carriers —will cost them dearly.

—But the rebels can return to arming their ships again,— Pellaeon noted.

—Of course,— I agreed. —In some sectors they will do just that. But they will not be able to abandon this concept completely —their economy requires time to recover. And they need ships. They are faced with a choice —to return everything as it was, or to recall some of the disarmed starships in order to strengthen their formations. In the first case, they will allow us to continue to strike sectors with weakened covering forces, in the second, they will increase the time it takes to restore and establish their economy. In any of the options, we are in a winning position.

—I wouldn't say,— Pellaeon admitted. at the end of this operation, we will have to return to the shipyard to carry out a full repair. The Aurek and Besh groups have hull damage and turbolaser installations lost in battle. I'm not even talking about losses among crew members and the pilot corps.

—We have sixteen thousand operational Spaarti cloning cylinders on our side,— I noted. —Perhaps we can increase their number to twenty when our technicians figure out the technology. But one way or another, during the repair of the ships we will recover our losses. Something else is much more important. The third reason for the large-scale attack on the Dafilvean sector.

— Freighters? —Pellaeon clarified. —We destroyed most of them. The cargo, of course, in most cases, became our prey...

—We won't need many obsolete freighters for subsequent operations,— I explained. —The ones we captured are definitely enough. Don't you find some irony in everything that's happening, captain?

—Sir?

at first, the Empire was the hegemon of the galaxy and was forced to spend energy and resources searching for rebels who could strike in any sector of the galaxy,— I explained. —Now the New Republic, as they call themselves, is doing the same thing. We managed to contain the Rebellion due to the large number of our fleet, which was in perfect technical condition. The rebels do not have such an opportunity —their ships are built more slowly, and those that exist require repair and modernization. Huge amounts of money are spent on the maintenance and upkeep of combat starships. And the enemy doesn't have that many of them. The additional spending will require them to further accelerate efforts to restore their economies. I wouldn't be surprised if the damaged Mon Calamari star cruiser that escaped from the Crondre system would be used in this operation. But by attacking the convoys, we are demonstrating to the enemy that you should take care of escorting your freighters. Whether they work for you or are civilian contractors, none of them are safe anymore. Consequently, the rebels will be forced to spend effort and money to protect their transportation. We use a network of spies to find out where the cargo we need will pass through and use our knowledge, as well as the interdictor cruisers, to further harm the enemies of the Empire.

—Unless they try to trap us with false convoys,— Pellaeon noted.

—They will no doubt try to do this,— I agreed. —It's too obvious to ignore this scenario. That is why we need experienced and highly qualified spies. And we have them. Thanks to this victory, we will stir up imperial society and more and more people will follow our flags. And perhaps non-humans, which will add spice to the situation.

—Perhaps Imperial Space will place more ships under your command,— Pellaeon said dreamily. after all, they are building an Imperial-class Star Destroyer at the Bilbringi shipyards, which they intend to hand over to you.

—This will be a wonderful addition to our fleet,— I agreed. —But we should also think about this. The previous concept of linear combat was that star destroyers were ordinary ships of the fleet. Because there were always plenty of them. By destroying the Imperial fragments one by one, the rebels were able to capture some of the ships and destroy others. The total number of Star Destroyers in the galaxy has decreased, allowing the Rebels to believe that we have military parity in strength. But we know that there are a huge number of warships scattered throughout the galaxy, which one way or another can become ours —we just need to be inventive. It is necessary to carefully analyze the locations of the rebel star destroyers, identify those that we can capture and do so. While the rebels are playing with logistics, we must build up our fleet.

—By capturing the Dalfivean sector, we actually became a thorn in their side,— said Pellaeon. —From here we can deliver crushing blows to the nearest sectors...

—We don't need the Dalfivean sector, captain,— I said, which caused misunderstanding among the Chimera commander. —There is nothing here that we can use for our defense. Even the base on Ord Pardon requires colossal cash injections into itself. Otherwise, the rebels will take it away as quickly as we took it. No, captain. At the moment, we do not need an increase in territory —we simply cannot defend it with the forces that we have.

—That's why you ordered to capture as many enemy ships as possible?! —Pellaeon exhaled.

—Yes,— I confirmed. —If we have enough Star Destroyers to fight the forces of the enemy's sectoral fleet, perhaps even two, given their reduced current formation, then there are big problems with light forces. Our Star Destroyers have very limited anti-aircraft coverage —especially Imperial Star Destroyers like the Chimera. Therefore, we need additional support. Nebulon-B class escort frigates are perfect for this. As well as the captured "karakka". Yes, and "tartans". And the Corellian frigate should fit in the main hangar.

—Hmm... Pellaeon said meaningfully. —Only if in limbo, of course. But, yes, it is possible.

—How surprised the rebels will be when they encounter a pair of our Imperial-class Star Destroyers in battle, and in addition also light ships that they have not previously spotted,— I said. —Given the rebels' passion for operating in fighter squadrons, adequate resistance will be new to them. In addition, I would like Chimera technicians to examine the remains of the MC30c frigate. Its deflector field pumping generators are located under the armor. Which on Star Destroyers is much thicker than on this ship. Solar ionization reactors allow us to have more energy than we need. An additional deflector generator wouldn't hurt.

—It will not be as powerful as the ones we have,— Pellaeon noted.

—We don't need something like that,— I said. —The third generator is a last resort that will provide protection when the main deflectors have fallen. At a time when we do not have a quantitative superiority over the enemy's linear forces, we will have to improve the quality of our ships.

—Sir,— we stopped at the gate of the first warehouse. When they saw us, the stormtroopers immediately began to unlock the huge doors. —If we had more time, we could tow the damaged but not destroyed Golan II station from orbit of the planet Crondre. This is a very valuable defensive line that could strengthen the defense of any of our planets. If you give a little time a day or two, then tugs will arrive in the system and...

—We'll take the station with us,— I said. —But towing it across half the galaxy is a thankless task. We will have to wait for months until it is delivered anywhere. Or escort it with the entire fleet, since anyone who survived on Crondre knows that we suppressed the station's defenses with our ion cannons. And it won't cost the enemy anything to chase us and finish off the damaged ships. Considering that their neighboring sector base is located only fifteen hours' flight from Ord Pardron, they will be here very soon. No, we will act differently.

—Sir, how then? —Pellaeon was surprised. — We don't have bulk carrier ships to disassemble it and transport it by parts...

—But we have the remains of the MC30s frigate,— I said, looking at the half-empty warehouses. Oh, I dreamed that they were filled to the brim with equipment or other types of resources. —Order your technicians to remove some parts from it... Yes, you will need to brief the commanders of the Aurek and Besh groups —they have a special role in everything that is happening.

***

Han looked into the room, looking at his wife, silently looking at the deck. Looking, but not seeing the text.

Leia stared at the device screen with an almost unblinking gaze, stroking her stomach. There was more tension in her posture than usual when she came from the meetings of the Provisional Council.

—Did something happen, sweetie? —Han clarified. Leia woke up as if she had just woken up from sleep. -You look tense.

—Yes,— she tried to smile reassuringly. —I'm a bit tired.

—You know that you can't deceive me with your aristocratic tricks,— Han sighed, approaching her and sitting down next to her. He imposingly pulled the deck out of her hands to put it aside and hug the woman, but his eyes involuntarily glanced at the text...

—This is true? — he looked at the woman madly. — Has the sectoral fleet been destroyed?

—Not all of it,— Leia became sad again. — One Mon Calamari star cruiser managed to escape into hyperspace, and most of the battle forces on Sluis Van have long been converted into container ships. The Imperials took advantage of the moment and attacked.

— Eight systems at a time? —Han had already ignored the secrecy stamp on the upper right side of the document and was reading the report.

—Nine,— Leia clarified. —When the fleet arrived from Christophsis, they sent ships to all known systems. It turned out that in the F'Dann system, two Imperial Star Destroyers were not chasing merchants, but were catching asteroids.

—How is this known? —Han frowned.

—From a merchant who waited for them to appear in the asteroid belt,— she explained. —He reported everything that happened to General Cracken from intelligence.

— A simple merchant who can recruit our chief intelligence officer? — Solo doubted the girl's words.

—He's not a simple merchant,— Leia sighed. — He is a smuggler and information broker named...

—Don't talk,— Han said with his signature grin. —I'll guess. Talon Karrde?

—Yes,— the Alderaanian princess nodded slowly. —Do you know him?

— Do you remember when I flew to negotiate with smugglers? —Han reminded. —That's where his name came out. He's supposedly the one who took over the reins after you tightened the chain tie around Jabba's neck.

—Please don't remind me,— the girl begged. —I'm going to be sick.

—Well, I don't know,— Han continued to tease his wife. —You looked absolutely wonderful in that suit...

—We actually have problems here on a sectoral scale, and you're back with your jokes,— Leia sighed, but still smiled. —I'm being sent to Filwe and other damaged planets. They will even assign Rogue Squadron as an escort. We will trade faces, like the heroes of the Rebellion, to assure local governments that we will not allow this to happen in the future.

—We won't allow it? — clarified Han, who only last year took off his general's shoulder straps and said goodbye to military service in the New Republic. The price of the promises of the Provisional Government was well known to him.

—I don't know,— Leia admitted. — Most of the sectoral fleet was destroyed, some ships are missing. The base on Ord Pardon was destroyed apparently, the Imperials didn't even bother landing on the planet for an assault. Investigators believe that they fired at the base from orbit with turolasers, and then dropped several asteroids on it. Instead of a base there is a pit the size of Lusankya and a bunch of fragments of space rocks. They used the same tactics after our star cruiser escaped in the Krondl system. Only this time they also dropped a Golan II-type defensive station from orbit. Our medical base has been destroyed, as have all the supplies on it. It goes without saying that there are no survivors at least not yet discovered. But they found a huge amount of debris from the station and pieces of asteroids —it seems the Imperials decided not to risk suppressing the station and simply knocked it out of orbit so that it fell in the vicinity of the base on Crondre, destroying it with a shock wave.

—It's a bit of a stupid idea,— Han complained. — How many destroyers took part in the attack on Crondre?

—Four,— Leia answered. —Two began the attack, and two more sprang the trap when reinforcements arrived.

and on Ord Pardon?

—I don't know —there are no survivors or survivors —neither infantrymen nor naval ones. But I think three or four destroyers definitely visited there.

—There are ground units stationed on each star destroyer,— Han recalled his years of study at the imperial academy. —It's not wise to destroy bases. Especially medical —there are valuable resources there. And I'm sure that on Ord Pardon there was something to profit from in the warehouses.

ackbar is sure that the operation in the Dafilvean sector was aimed at intimidating local governments,— the princess explained. —They essentially conquered the sector and could easily take it for themselves. Mon Mothma spent several hours assuring the planetary governors that secession from the New Republic was dangerous. I'm not sure they believed us, of course. But the fact remains —the fleet was destroyed, there is information about the capture of at least one ship a light cruiser of the Carakka type from the Filve self-defense forces. The Imperials caused irreparable damage to logistics in the Dafilvean sector by attacking transports. Fey'lya insists that we recall all disarmed ships and organize a raid on Imperial territory. Ackbar might have agreed with him, but you know the Mon Calamari —he is cold-blooded and clumsy. And he's definitely not happy that this idea comes from bothans. Therefore, he stood up and reluctantly announced that from now on the escort of supply convoys would be strengthened. Mon Mothma resists, saying that this way we will only dISDupt our plan to restore interstellar trade. Fey'lya calmed down only after he was promised that six battleships would be sent to Bothan Space so that they could sleep better.

— Since when did Mon Mothma follow the bothans' lead? —Han was surprised.

—She made this decision after the meeting,— Leia admitted. — Fey'lya almost threw a tantrum in the garden in the Senate building, saying that the bothan territories would be next, and since we decided to hide our defeat for a while, so as not to lose face, Mothma agreed to send reinforcements there for a while —several shocks frigates and a star destroyer.

—Oh, how we could use your Rebel Dream destroyer,— Han said thoughtfully. —But a year has passed since he was captured at the Battle of Storinal.

—Yes,— Leia agreed, remembering the Star Destroyer that had served in Darth Vader's Death Squadron for a long time. Under a different name, of course. The rebels captured him at a gas station, but he served under the rebel flag for less than two years and was recaptured. The entire crew became prisoners of the Imperials. It's good that Leia herself was on Coruscant at that moment. ackbar even offered to buy his "Errant Venture" from Booster Terrik.

—Yes, a Star Destroyer deuce would not be out of place,— Han agreed. —But I can bet that old Terrik did not heed the pleas for help.

—He asked two prices for it,— Leia explained.

— Booster has gone crazy, or what? —Han blinked his eyes. —Why do we need a Star Destroyer if for that kind of money we can build two, or even three Mon Calamari cruisers?

—What difference does it make if there is no money anyway? — Organa Solo sighed sadly. —Of course, Mon hinted that I should fly to the Hapes Consortium and ask for help from them...

—The last time you did that, you almost got married to a Hapes prince,— Han noted, whose voice immediately became tense. This story did not please him at all. After all, then he almost lost his beloved.

—But I was offered to become the queen mother in a state of sixty-three developed worlds,— the princess egged her husband on. and from their wedding gifts it was possible to build an entire fleet... Twelve Star Destroyers were included.

—You did it on purpose, right? —Han smiled. — When I remember the words of Mon Mothma: —It will be better for the entire Republic if Leia agrees to marry Prince Isolder,— my cheekbones are cramping and I can't eat.

—I don't regret my choice,— the princess kissed him. —The Millennium Falcon is the only ship on which I feel protected.

—I tried my best to make you feel comfortable there,— Han smiled. Looking at the quiet princess, he asked:

— Should I prepare the Falcon to take you to the Dafilvean sector?

—Do you know why I traded the leadership of the Hapess Consortium and my own fleet for you and will never doubt that it was the right thing? — Leia looked into his eyes.

—Well, I don't know,— Solo balked. —I wouldn't mind a dozen Star Destroyers... Well, you know, of course.

—Of course,— Leia smiled. —No amount of wealth in the world or even three dozen Star Destroyers is worth the fact that we understand each other without words.

—I agree,— Han hugged the woman to himself. —but what about four?

Having received an elbow in the side from his wife, he did not ask questions. Why, if happiness is what it is? Take as much as you want.

But the words of his former colleague in the trade could not get out of the former smuggler's head.

The Empire has another Grand Admiral.

We need to meet with this Karrde and talk about everything.

***

—Dispatched from outpost NL-1,— said Pellaeon. — The commandant reports that Yazuo Wayne arrived on time.

—Unexpectedly on his part —I'm really surprised. and what does our esteemed pirate say?

—He asks me to return his people,— Pellaeon said, watching me move away from the computer. —He delivered twelve Tartans.

—State? —I asked.

—They have just begun to be examined,— the captain admitted. —It will take a week or so to make sure there are no surprises or defects hidden on the ships.

—Yes,— I agreed. —We wouldn't really like to find a bomb anywhere near the reactor. Well, now we know for sure that Mr. Vayne's settling tank is located no further than two or three days' journey from our outpost. And also that in his gang there are at least one hundred and twenty reasonable ones —the minimum crew for ferrying each of the ships.

—Oh,— was all Pellaeon said. -Are you planning to attack him?

—For what? —I was surprised.

—He's selling us ships that were stolen from us,— Pellaeon reminded. — You said that such actions would be punished.

—Of course,— I agreed. —That is why our medium cruiser is heading there and will soon arrive —it will ensure the safety of the seizure of the Empire's property. And also it will persuade Mr. Vayne to proceed to the Tangrene shipyard, where we are heading. We will have another order for him. Depending on how well the condition of the ships that his group offers us meets our needs and requests, we will even pay Yazuo Vayne a certain amount. To motivate you to continue working with us. By the way, contact our base on Lainuri —let them send one of the minelayer cruisers with prisoners to Tangrene. Tell Nemesis the same coordinates for the meeting. Yes, give the same information to the captain of the Brandei and the commanders of the three cruisers sent to the Sluissi sector. Preparations for our next step will take place here.

—Yes, sir,— Pellaeon said. Pausing for a moment, he said:

admiral, have you ever moved an orbital station through hyperspace in the past?

—No,— I admitted. and you, captain?

—No one moved,— the Chimera commander told me. —I... am not sure that all this handicraft with the installation of a navigation computer, a backup hyperdrive, as well as propulsion, maneuvering and braking engines from the MC30s will justify the time spent on such preparation.

—The absence of a result is also a result,— I had to show off the wisdom gleaned from the pulp reading of my native universe. —We just have to make sure it didn't work. If it doesn't work, of course.

—Sir, I'm not sure that the rebels will buy that trick with the asteroids thrown out of orbit and the debris of the stolen orbital station scattered across the surface.

—Not stolen, but captured, captain,— I corrected. —Feel the difference between a crime and spoils of war. The last thing we should care about is whether they believe in this little show or not —the main thing is to keep secret the fact that the Besh group caught more asteroids than were dropped on the planet. And then we won't have to rework the next part of my plan.

Judging by the expression on Pellaeon's face, he wanted to ask: —What's the plan? But I will not tell its true meaning. Let him believe that all actions are aimed only at weakening the New Republic. Exactly how it should not concern him.

—Sir,— Pellaeon continued to waste my time. — Should the commander of the Strike from the Filve system be reprimanded?

—For what reason? —I clarified.

—He violated the order and instead of sending the carrack to Bilbringi, he flew to the Ord-Pardron system. With incomplete crews on two damaged ships!

and thereby helped us capture another escort frigate,— I noted. —Such initiatives should not be punished; on the contrary, this nice young man should be rewarded. Praise him, express gratitude on my behalf and... transfer him to command the captured "karakka".

— Decommission the commander of a medium cruiser and transfer him to a light cruiser? —Pellaeon was surprised. —Wouldn't that be a punishment, sir?

—Not if it's done with official encouragement,— I said. —Those of our officers who are sufficiently developed will understand the subtext of this action. Who's stupid... well, at this rate they won't live long. By the way, is there any news from Lieutenant Colonel Astarion?

—No, sir,— Gilad shook his head. —They're still on their way. Arrival is scheduled for tomorrow.

But exactly.

—Inform the Bilbringi shipyard to begin repairing the captured transports as soon as they arrive,— I ordered. — At the Tangrene shipyards we have to repair six of our Strikes, one light cruiser of the carracktype, two escort frigates of the Nebulon-B type and one assault frigate of the Mark I type... A good addition to our fleet, don't you think, captain?

—Given the eleven Tartans we received and the Corellian frigate DP-20, we actually have our own fleet of light forces,— Pellaeon noted. —But we are confined to the shipyards for at least a week to troubleshoot all systems on all ships.

—I know, captain,— I said. —That's why we are moving our raid to the planet Hypori. However, this is only for the benefit of our operation. Contact the Noghri, give them the order: —Go to Hypori, discover the assembly lines for the production of battle droids and send a detailed report on everything that is happening on the planet. This will keep them busy while our fleet is being repaired. And the very fact that you conveyed my order will make them understand that their mistake is still appreciated by me. And yes, about the mistakes. How is our dear master feeling?

—He's in his cabin,— Pellaeon answered. — Recovering after surgery.

—So you can't count on him for some time,— the captain's last phrase should be regarded as such. And also C'baoth won't get in my way for a while. But you shouldn't delay with his «wants» either.

—Inform the Ubiqtorate command that I would like to meet with them,— in fact, in many ways, it is the presence of an intelligence base on this planet that determines the fact that the fleet is sent there for repairs. —That's all, captain. You are free.

Saluting, Pellaeon left my cabin, leaving me alone as before.

Tangrene is a rocky, inhospitable planet in the Morschdain sector of the Outer Rim. The military coordinate grid places it in quadrant O-4.

But this is not the main thing.

Shortly before Thrawn was given the full rights of the Supreme Commander, a Corellian «partisan» named Garm Bel Iblis, who was once a senator in the Old Republic, and at first in the Empire, paid a visit to this system. He destroyed one of the Ubiqtorate bases on the surface, which greatly angered Imperial Intelligence, which really does not like to suffer casualties outside of operations. What made the Imperials doubly angry was that at that time the planet was guarded by three Imperial-class Star Destroyers. But they could do nothing to prevent the attack or punish the offenders in any way. I was hoping to take advantage of this fact. Naturally —for your own purposes.

But first I had to understand who exactly I want to go to war with.

The former senator was well liked among the Corellians. He stood at the head of the Corellian cell of the Rebellion and was one of the ideological inspirers of the rebels. Palpatine tried to kill him, but it all ended with the death of only the family of Bel Iblis, and therefore he went into the shadows and began an armed struggle against the Empire. At the moment he has a small army and navy, which, in fact, offended our intelligence officers. As far as I remember, he now has a base on some distant planet and he acts on his own —because he quarreled with Mon Mothma, the formal head of the New Republic, deciding that he would try to seize power, like Palpatine in his time.

The actions of Bel Iblis led to the fact that the fortress planet Tangrene, which already has, in addition to three star destroyers, also a dozen garrisons on the planet and seemingly impregnable fortifications, drew additional fleet forces to its defense. And now ten star destroyers of various classes, and from ten to fifty warships of other classes were burning fuel there.

Yes, this is justified —Tangrene also has an orbital shipyard where ships can be repaired, and if there were resources, they would have built a couple. But there are neither resources nor money for this... And the local inhabitants, the indigenous population of the planet, were exterminated by the imperial moff in order to avoid an uprising. So no one will definitely work for free.

The Ubiqtorate actually controls everything that is available on Tangrene. Including the covering fleet. It is quite possible to interest them in revenge on Garm Bel Iblis —but on the condition that I be given additional ships from their fleet. In any case, in the events known to me, Tangrene fell after Thrawn's death. And these starships will be destroyed by the New Republic —not without the participation of Garm Bel Iblis himself, by the way.

And the hunt for the former senator will serve several purposes at once.

Firstly, it will build bridges between me and the command of the imperial intelligence organizations —because I can help them take revenge and restore their face. Formally, I have at my disposal any resources of the Empire, but even here the dog has rummaged. Just as "formally" I can turn for help, or even an order, to any part of the imperial bureaucratic-military machine, so "formally" they will answer me. It has already been verified —the request for agents of Imperial Intelligence ended with a reference from the Ubiqtorate with the dispatch of an ISB officer. I wasn't particularly impressed by this response. One could, of course, give an order, but one must understand that in a society where every more or less significant officer or civil official is almost his own master, such actions will not work for the good of the cause. It is necessary to negotiate with each individual separately. And the best way to "build bridges" is the principle —I will do something useful to you, and you will do something useful to me. Mutual responsibility allows you to act effectively —when each party receives a certain benefit.

I don't need a counterintelligence officer to work in the field. And an analyst from the ISB specialist is like a battleship from the Acclamator. That is, not the worst, but it could have been better. Of course, there are always ideas for something useful to do for a person in such a large galaxy, especially a specialist in fighting personnel. Our own security service is certainly needed and the task Lieutenant Colonel Astarion received from me will serve as one of the tests to understand whether he and I can work in unison, or whether his transfer to my disposal will be burdensome for both of us.

More than ever, now I still need additional personnel. Especially field profile agents of Imperial Intelligence and their analysts. The naval intelligence at my disposal is certainly not bad —the guys should be given their due: they coped with the collection of information on Nklonn very quickly. Not without my hint of where exactly to look, of course, but these measures were taken to reduce the search time. And so a lot of precious time was wasted. While I was «going with the flow» trying to come to terms with my fate or figure out how I could wriggle out of the clutches of the genre's laws, a lot of water had flown under the bridge. We have to make up for lost time. And first of all, to set off several chains of events necessary to implement each part of my survival plan.

Friendship with the command of Imperial Intelligence, for example, can come back to haunt me both in the present for the implementation of short-term tasks, and in the future for strategic victories. The only question is whether they will make contact at all. The Ubiqtorate is the thinking center of the organization, the task setter. They never even sign their names, and field agents don't even know them by sight. Why, there are very few people who can boast that they are so lucky in life. But they cannot refuse the Grand Admiral, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Empire, a meeting. At least they shouldn't. Moreover, as a gesture of goodwill and a call for closer cooperation, perhaps I will give them the Golan II, unless, of course, the station falls apart on the way in hyperspace or flies at least in more or less one piece.

Secondly, the fleet of Bel Iblis. At the moment it consists of three Dreadnought-class heavy cruisers. Or is it already six? I don't remember for sure, unfortunately. But this is not particularly important —the main thing is that he has them. Yes, not some serial dreadnought ships produced by Rendili Starships, from which the Rebel Alliance fashions makeshift assault frigates of the Mark II type. No, these starships are much more valuable. After all, they are part of the "Katana fleet" a long-lost collection of ships built fifty years ago as an attempt to rebuild the fleet of the Old Republic. The epidemic killed the crew of the flagship, who went crazy and ordered the entire fleet to jump into hyperspace. Considering that the fleet had increased automation and instead of almost twenty thousand crew members, only two were required a significant help. The former senator himself does not know where these ships are only two people in the galaxy have this data: Talon Karrde and the man under whom he served before Captain Hoffner. The latter actually sold Iblis a total of six dreadnoughts and, according to my recollections, was now squandering the money in some casino. On some oceanic planet. If I knew for sure which one, there would be much fewer problems. But we have what we have.

Yes, there was a danger that Karrde, who had no known memory problems, might sell ships to the New Republic, but he would not do so without profit for himself as long as he continued to deceive himself that he was neutral in galactic conflict. Noble altruists do not become smugglers. And if they do, they very quickly find themselves princesses from dying planets and lose the romance of their former life to the harsh everyday life of family life. But there is a second option, in which Karrde will give the ships to the New Republic if he is pressed hard enough. That's exactly what he did when, in the events known to me, he began the hunt for the Claw. As a result, some of the dreadnoughts—several dozen—fell into enemy hands. As do the dreadnoughts of Bel Iblis. Therefore, I had no intention of doing the latter—hunting the king of smugglers. For the time being. My impromptu attitude towards Mara Jade does not threaten his organization enough to cause me to flare up in righteous anger and hand over the ships to my enemies, losing my own interest. Karrde will also not sell ships left and right, understanding that this will attract attention to him from the intelligence of the Empire and the New Republic one or the other side will knock the necessary information out of him and fabulous profits will flow past his fingers. He is not a fool and will not miss what he wants as long as he has a chance to get it. Therefore, my approach will be very pragmatic first we will find Captain Hoffner, then we will receive from him the coordinates of the location of the "Katana Fleet", we will appropriate almost two hundred dreadnoughts (albeit not comparable to star destroyers, but still dangerous for medium and some large warships ), we'll deal with the Corellian senator's fleet, and only then the active phase of destroying the reputation of Karrde and his organization will begin.

Third, Bel Iblis will play a large role in the New Republic's future conflicts with its enemies. Thanks to him, the rebels will celebrate many victories and that is why he is dangerous for me. I don't need talented opponents. Yes, his death will cause the New Republic to weaken. But how much? Don't think. When some leave, others come to take their place. Well, the rebels have no problems with commanders any brave man is given the title of «general» and a miracle is expected from him. That is why the future fate of the former Republican and Imperial senator will depend on how well we can come to an agreement with the Ubiqtorate. If only the defeat of Iblis is enough for them, that's good. If his head is needed, that's not good. But these are no longer my problems.

One of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance is Garm Bel Iblis.

Fourth: the already mentioned former commander of the ship on which Karrde. Looking for it on your own takes quite a long time. Let more competent and intelligent people do this. I am sure that he will agree to cooperate, even if it costs me a lot. I need distribution channels for goods captured in the Crondre and Ord-Pardron systems. Those that are not useful for yourself. The «catch» is rich, of course weapons, medicine, even food. Light equipment, like several dozen speeders. Uniform sets. Computers, holoprojectors, consumables, ground-based gun emplacements, generators, building materials even service droids and astromechs, from whose memories you can extract a lot of interesting things. Maybe. Some of this will sell well on the black market, adding to my cash reserves. Because I don't know whether I will be provided with any other feasible financial assistance from the Imperial Remnants, or «saving drowning people is the work of the drowning people themselves».

Not to mention the fact that the Imperials' greed for supplies is practically the talk of the town. I'm not going to beg someone for anything, beg like a homeless person trying to collect a penny for a bottle of vodka. The situation is not right, and it's disgusting. You need to present your desires in a different form otherwise the interlocutor will understand my weakness. And he will not fail to use his knowledge against me. And then it will be sad. Very.

Therefore, I need my own third-party supplier of goods, who will distance himself from me for some time. I think that pretty soon the spirit of the renegades, Niles Ferrier and Yazuo Vayne, will be able to be associated with a separate Imperial fleet operating against the New Republic. And then they may be hunted by Karrde, for example, when his turn comes. And she will definitely come. But this will need to be done so subtly as to avoid mistakes and get away with it. In addition to official resources, there should also be unofficial ones —the more, the better. For where some doors close, others will certainly open.

Perhaps Captain Hoffner is not such a valuable resource as I would like to imagine him in my thoughts, but it is better than having nothing at all. However, this reasonable thing has a price if only there was money. And for sure big ones. And with finances... not very tight. If we consider solvency within the limits of maintaining the fleet, of course. Anyway. But I also need new sources of funding. Moreover, they are big. The option of "trading trophies" may help at first, but in the long run it can become dangerous and even disastrous.

Despite all the risks of a hypothetical disclosure, they should have at least tried to get the Ubiqtorate to cooperate more closely. I was not satisfied with the formalities no offense to Lieutenant Colonel Astarion when I say this. But, I need their resources. Moreover, I have something to offer and achieving these goals will contribute to my own plan. If I want to do what I need, I need professional spies and saboteurs. Naval special forces and intelligence officers will not fit here in the events of the Thrawn Trilogy that I know, they... were embarrassed.

It is difficult to demand from the military skills that they should not have. And I also don't want to step on the same mistakes as in the events known to me. Noghri could be suitable here, but there is no way to use them without caution unless I want to get a knife in the back.

I need extra strength and I will get it. And at the same time, I will understand which of the officers of the Imperial Space can become a worthy comrade-in-arms, and who is better to get rid of on the shore. While there is time, before everything has turned out properly, you need to increase your own power.

However, there was also the possibility that the Ubiqtorate would be «too» busy to help me. And then we should look for allies in other parts of the imperial military machine.

Or, as in the situation with General Maximilian Veers, for example, to return «to the fold» those who despaired of seeing in Imperial Space something even remotely reminiscent of the former Empire. Look, Mara Jade is probably returning to the Empire camp of course, her motives should also be checked. As is her loyalty not to Imperial Space, not to Imperial Remnants, but to me personally. Resources that are not true to my aspirations and plans are a short-term and unreliable resource. Which should be treated very, very carefully.

In general, there are options. And they should be worked out not one after another, but all without exception simultaneously.

This requires people.

The circle is closed.

I leaned back in my chair and sat in complete silence for several minutes. Closing his eyes, he tried to push aside any thoughts. Need to rest. All I could do at the moment was done. It's the enemy's turn now.

Perhaps more time and attention should have been paid to the defense of the planet Lainuri after all, it's my base of operations. However, at the moment there were no means of planetary defense available no planetary shield generators, no anti-space weapons, no space mines nothing at all. Only a few ships guarding the orbit, ground squadrons, a garrison of army units and attack aircraft, a reflective screen that prevents shelling of the base from the surface, and that's all, strictly speaking... That's the entire defense system. Unless the installation of the V-150 Planet Defender ion cannon captured in the Crondre system will somehow dilute the already established swamp of typical imperial planetary bases. But it will be some time before base personnel can use this gun for our purposes.

Hmm... Secrecy is our weapon. While no one knows about the base, it is under reliable protection. After all, there are enough planets in the galaxy that are little studied, forgotten, or accidentally/specially removed from the registers. There is something in this that makes me similar to the previously mentioned Garm Bel Iblis after all, his base is also protected from a large-scale attack by nothing more than the secret of its location. At least this is all I remember... And my memories do not exclude the fact that the Corellian could have taken proper care of his own safety. Fortunately, he has more resources than I do. I wish I knew where he gets them from...

Hmm again... What if the former commander of the ship on which Talon Karrde served resold not only dreadnoughts from the "Katana Fleet"? Perhaps for Bel Iblis he is the same supplier of military goods as in my plans for me? If so, then they must have an established communication channel.

However, even if this dreadnought dealer sold only dreadnoughts to the Corellian, there must be a connection between them somehow, buyers and sellers must inform each other about the availability and desire to purchase the goods. I hadn't thought about it that way, but it's a pretty good way to lure Bel Iblis out of his hole.

In the events known to me, after the attack on the Ubiqtorate base on Tangrene, he holed up on his unknown planet, negotiating with the Bothans, hoping to gain as much power as possible in the New Republic by returning the Corellian to the reformed Rebel Alliance. Considering the reputation of Bel Iblis, the fact of his support for the Bothans could play a decisive role in the struggle for the position of head of the young state. The removal of Mon Mothma from the leadership position in the New Republic will shake the lobby of the Skywalker family and their friends. Which in turn will entail a problem with the restoration of the Republican Jedi Order.

And the fewer trained Jedi my enemies have... The easier it will be in the future. After all, the Jedi in a galaxy far, far away are the ultimate, almost omnipotent weapon. If I had five or six C'baots, how well I could turn around.

The only problem is that even one psychotic master is already a problem. It is not known when his roof will leak, but it will definitely leak. Therefore, cloning it is dangerous. We will somehow cope with one thing especially since at the moment he does not know exactly how his abilities were blocked. However, I wouldn't be surprised that he guesses. He could be a clone. Maybe a maniac. He may be a crazy maniac, but you can't deny him reason especially when he touches his medallion. I wonder what kind of thing it is that allows him to concentrate. Is this a piece of the real C'baoth?

However, all this is poetry.

I returned my attention to the monitor.

As I already said, the imperial archives are simply a treasure trove of information. Kindly structured for study by any reasonable person with the appropriate level of clearance to state secrets.

Although, I would not say that information about the technologies of the separatist army and navy is such a big secret. Those who have personally encountered them in one way or another are still alive. Captain Pellaeon, for example.

However, the inhabitants of a galaxy far, far away have a certain inertia of thinking. For example, the creators of the TIE-series aircraft «spied» the idea of ​​hanging their SFUs from the hangar ceiling, instead of neatly arranging the vehicles on the flight decks, from the same separatists. It's very convenient, in fact it takes up less space on the «ground», and the SFU launch time, on the contrary, is unusually high. After all, there is no crowd in the hangars.

But it will still be a mystery to me why the Galactic Empire abandoned the idea of ​​a droid army. It is clear why they abandoned the clones of Jango Fett a few years after the end of the Clone Wars, an uprising broke out on Kamino, the planet that produces clones. Which was suppressed quite cruelly and bloodily. And it's expensive to produce clones on Kamino my eyes started to twitch when I saw in old reports the amount of one hundred and fifty thousand credits for one clone. This is the price of a good fighter, or even a luxury yacht. But not a human clone. Yes, albeit trained in war, grown in vitro, trained, provided with weapons, equipment and the will to fight for his master. However... one hundred and fifty thousand is one hundred and fifty thousand. Not to mention the ten years it takes to produce a batch of clones. Or it's easier and cheaper to train a stormtrooper yesterday's farmer from the outback, trained in six months to fight no worse, and in some places even better, than a clone. However, there is some interest. There is no money and time.

Let's get back to the droids. The official conclusion of imperial experts indicates that a droid army is unprofitable due to the large expenses required to create it. The amounts are written with so many zeros that I'm starting to feel like I'm looking at a piece of code in which someone forgot to put the ones. Disadvantages include the possibility of reprogramming and the small amount of energy in the batteries. The high cost of droid projects that have their own reactor and so on... However, I am sure that after one look at the planned expenses, the high imperial command decided that training people to be stormtroopers is much cheaper that's why there is no place for droid fighters, live pilots fly simple ships that can be destroyed with a couple of hits. The price of the issue is put at the forefront.

However, there are many abandoned projects that can be used.

For example, buzz droid.

Buzz droid.

Four kilograms of pure rage and the desire to harm anything that does not look like separatist types of equipment, or is designated as a hostile target. In its basic state, it looks like a metal sphere a quarter of a meter in diameter, equipped with everything necessary to open the casing and dIsrupt communication and other systems. They do an excellent job of disabling enemy fighters.

What's curious is that the Empire rejected this technology and tried to forget about it after the Clone Wars. Another thing is the criminal world.

The Zann Consortium deployed its buzz droids to counter enemy SFUs - Hutts, Imperials, and rebels. And they did it very skillfully. There are hundreds, if not thousands of reports of how much damage one such droid, or even a small group, can cause. But still, the Empire didn't care about potentially useful technology.

And it is undoubtedly useful. Because it counteracts enemy fighters. And it doesn't really matter which one the main thing is to provide the ship diagrams to these little techno-fascists. They will do their job as needed. Dismantling attacking enemy ships is cheap and cheerful.

Considering how much the New Republic relies on its X-wings and other SFUs, in my opinion this is a truly excellent means of leveling enemy leadership.

The only problem is that they were produced only on the planet Colla IV a company called «Colicoid Creation Nes» —the subtleties of translation from the Colicoid language are not so important, the main thing is the idea is clear and understandable.

As far as is known, this race is not currently part of the Empire. The New Republic also cannot boast of information that these insectoids are "friends" with them. The reason for this cooling is simple colicoids eat everything organic and meaty. On their home planet they have little choice of diet, but they love to eat. Several diplomatic missions from both powers have already been received. As a result, they decided to simply not touch them. It's interesting that the Empire didn't even try to destroy them with orbital bombardment. Most likely there were reasons for this.

However... there's a dilemma.

Buzz droids are a very attractive piece of technology. But on the black market they are very expensive about fifty thousand credits for one copy. And no one gives guarantees that the droid is in working condition. But it's intriguing... We need to get at least a few samples for study and conduct field tests. If they are truly a worthwhile resource, and my fantasy does not diverge from reality, then broad prospects open up.

Another interesting layer of the post-Endor part of the history of the Galactic Empire is the data on the activities of the military leader Zsinj, restored piece by piece. Some of the territories previously under his control, after the death of a rebel officer in orbit of the planet Dathomir, became the property of Imperial Space. And a considerable part of the ships, as well as their crews, one way or another, now serve the Empire. The security service has done a tremendous amount of work to obtain as much information as possible about the activities of this officer and his subordinates.

Genetic experiments on non-humans unfortunately, no laboratory data, just a description of the fact itself. But it's also promising.

Programming nonhumans from the Twi'lek race to execute code signals. And again not the slightest detail. There is only some fragmentary information that in a similar way Zsinj almost cleared out the top command of the New Republic. Interesting.

Hmm... less than I would like to see. But Zsinj is a very capable organizer. If you just look at the list of high-ranking officers who served him, it becomes clear that this guy managed to create a state in which neither duty nor oath meant anything. He had an excellent resource and monetary base at a time when Imperial Space was in a fever, and they were eating up almost the last rotten Bantha from the ditch. Figuratively speaking, of course. That is why a temporary alliance was concluded with the New Republic to defeat Zsinj and lay paws on its worlds. It didn't turn out very well a significant part of the territories as a result of the campaign was crushed by the New Republic, but again not in such a way that this turned out to be a plus for them. A significant part of the planets that were in the power of Zsinj declared their neutrality. Only the poorest, who have nothing to offer themselves, are drawn to the New Republic, but they are drawing resources. Not to mention the dual situation, such as on Garos IV, when the same planet pledges loyalty to both Imperial Space and the New Republic. Circus, and that's all.

Zsinj built a system that, on the one hand, is effective protection in exchange for taxes and products. This helped his fleet and his forces to be in combat-ready condition. On the other hand, such barter became the cause of envy on the part of the imperials. And Zsinj's irrepressible desire to get as many territories and forces at his disposal as possible, to prove to everyone around him that he was the smartest and most authoritative, forced the Republicans to aggression, whose territories Zsinj did not skimp on attacking. Exorbitant ambitions, coupled with conceit and complete dIrespect for the enemy. Not a justified risk, namely dIrespect. What is unacceptable is that as long as you consider your enemies idiots, in fact you are an idiot.

Considering the victories of the Rebel Alliance, they at least deserve respect. The same tactic may work with them once, maybe twice, three times. But they are learning. They are developing their military-industrial complex and tactical skills. And with a long-term strategy, even at the risk of the existence of the entire state, everything is generally fine with them.

Actually, what am I talking about?

Zsinj and his military leaders managed to reveal the location of several rebel units and bases, and after that, strike at them, destroying the material and resources of the rebels. And, as far as I remember the books in the X-wing series, he did this not only thanks to the work of scouts and spies. Zsinj did not hesitate to use various «dirty» tricks.

I don't see anything wrong with using someone else's positive experience if it leads to the result I want. After all, the hit-and-run tactics developed by the rebels for fighters and bombers are just as effective when used by fleet battleships. Considering that I shamelessly use the tactics of the original Thrawn known to me, no one will be against using others that do not belong to the glorious Grand Admiral.

You just need to make sure that the enemy does not understand that they are playing the same trick on him. And therefore, it is necessary to clothe them in a different form. And presented with a different sauce.

In the meantime, you need to read what is so interesting about Imperial Intelligence in the field of parasitic droids. It's time for the Morrt project to find a second life.