Terran Alliance: The Odyssey

Chapter 18- Decide the Future

Chapter 18- Decide the Future

(September 28, 2041)

On the mighty Hood, it is mostly silent. The crew is still trying to recover from the shock of what happened the previous day and the truth about the discovery of Exegol that was told to the entire crew as the battlecruiser hangs in space in orbit above a gas giant planet.

Thankfully, the Hood had escaped the encounter almost undamaged. Because her shields were up and the enemy had not been able to fire much at the ship, the only damage she sustained was some very minor surface damage on her port side and damage to two turbolaser batteries. The two batteries were quickly repaired and were already back in action. And on top of it all, there had been no casualties among the crew or the families aboard.

The ship had stopped in a star system about three quarters of a parsec away from Exegol. The crew hoped that the Sith Eternal would either not come after them or just not be able to find their exact location before they moved on from the system.

Most of the crew was still on alert, with the weapons crews under orders to remain at battlestations until ordered otherwise. The families were still under orders to remain in their designated safe areas. In the meantime, Pellaeon had called a meeting of the advisory council of the Hood. Moorhouse, Strickland, Shevchenko, Versio, and Ronen had all gathered in the admiral's quarters in the bowels of the ship.

In the admiral's quarters, the last members of the council have all arrived in Pellaeon's quarters. After taking a moment to pick from some drinks and a small tray of sandwiches, they all sit down to begin the discussion that Pellaeon has called for.

"Well, I think it is probably safe to say that all of us are still pretty shocked by what happened yesterday," Pellaeon starts the discussion with.

"That's an understatement," Moorhouse mutters.

"Now, Commander Versio, I think you had a theory as to what was the source of the fleet that we saw," Pellaeon says.

"Yes," Iden speaks up, "What really gave me the clue was both the numbers of ships we saw and the fact that some of them seemed a bit out of shape. As you all know, during the war, in the year between the Battle of Endor and the Battle of Jakku, thousands of Imperial warships disappeared from the galaxy without explanation, amounting to roughly a quarter of the fleet. Most of these were some of the best ships in the fleet, with the most loyal and efficient crews. The fleet we saw was a little smaller than that, and I think it's safe to say that maybe not all of the ships that disappeared met the same fate. I think that this fleet was squirreled away during that year after Endor here at Exegol. I'm not sure exactly why, though, or what it's doing now."

"Perhaps this Sith Eternal cult has taken control of the fleet. The prisoners from the Malevolence did say they'd been converted to Sith worship," Shevchenko says.

"Maybe. But how could they have converted an entire fleet? One that amounts to maybe 20 percent of the former Imperial fleet?" Moorhouse questions aloud.

Everyone is quiet for a moment before Pellaeon speaks up again. "Clearly, even if they were converted to Sith worship, they most likely weren't converted until coming here. So that begs the question of why they came here to begin with. Why were they sent here in the first place? We know that the Emperor had posthumous orders to destroy the Empire after his death. So that begs the question as to why he'd send such a fleet into hiding to be preserved. And why are they still here?"

The group again falls quiet for almost 20 seconds as they all think deeply about the question. Then, Shevchenko suddenly says, "Wait. You said most of the disappeared ships had some of the most loyal and efficient crews? Is there any chance...the Emperor may have had a secret successor? Or even....that he may not be dead like we thought?"