On the run! After a daring raid on Scarif, the Rebel Alliance has managed to acquire the plans for the Death Star, but Darth Vader is on the chase. When the ship carrying them gets attacked, Ezra and Jaral must find a way to get back home and delive...
As the image of Alderaan being blown up flashed once again in front of his eyes, Iulius dropped the datapad with the latest report from the fleet and massaged his face with his hands and leaned back on the chair in his office.
He still couldn't wrap his head around it. It was a stupid decision, under every possible point of view. Yet, if it was only the strategic part that bothered him, why was his heart so troubled as well?
It had been barely two hours since he ordered the Admonitor to depart and fly back to Columex, hoping that resuming his work on the frontline might help him feel better.
Yet he was having a hard time focusing.
There was something far too wrong in all of this. Beyond the military level.
Something about this whole ordeal was wrong on a sentient level. Deeply wrong! Now he started to understand.
The Empire had been created in order to replace the weaknesses of the old Republic, by giving a strong government and the military might to protect the galaxy from the risk of another divisive conflict like the Clone Wars and protect it from possible threats lurking in uncharted space, like Iulius himself had already experienced.
At least, that was what he used to believe. Now, it was clear that those ideals had been betrayed entirely by the imperial leadership.
Yes, the Empire wasn't the problem...the people in command were.
Those thoughts were interrupted when his desk terminal beeped, signaling that someone was ringing the bell at his door.
"Come in." he coldly replied.
The door opened, letting Qathora in. Much like him, she didn't look happy at all.
"There is a transmission from Carunoia for you, Grand Admiral." she said, coldly underlining. his rank.
Iulius didn't feel like starting a fight with the stubborn Togruta, so he simply stood up and walked past the door, followed by her.
They passed a few corridors and the crewmen, who saluted the Grand Admiral, but Iulius could clearly see that the atmosphere aboard had completely changed. His men usually held an unusual higher morale than the rest of the fleet, and that's how he wanted them to be, because high morale usually led to better performances.
After what everybody saw happening to Alderaan, though, the corridors were much more quiet and all those Iulius came across were trying to process what they just saw, just like he was doing.
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And all the time, he could feel Qathora's glare pointing at his neck, and he couldn't blame her in the slightest. She might've been loyal to him, but she already detested the Empire. She surely wasn't happy that he was still serving a state that had proven to be so...needlessly brutal.
As if all of this wasn't enough, the Grand Admiral eventually stumbled into the last person he wanted to see at that moment.
"Grand Admiral." Nash said quite dutifully, making the salute.
