Star Wars: Darth Nyx (Book 1)

Ch23: Weyland

Admiral Thrawn's POV:

I  suppose I shouldn't be surprised that I was given command of this operation. Grand Admiral Avril rarely leaves the Empress' side and the admirals under her command are all currently tasked with protecting the regions apart of our empire. In truth, I am the logical choice and yet to be handed a mission of such cruciality...

Ren: Admiral, sir, the rest of the fleet has arrived.

Me: Good. 

I don't know how the Empress does it but she always manages to find the most capable people to serve her. Take Lieutenant Ren, for example. He's an officer from the Empress' main feet that was personally recommended to me by her and yet he's proved himself far above those of equal ranking. Then there is the planet of Lianna and the Santhe Corporation which has somehow managed the impossible in repairing the other ships of my fleet on short notice. Sure, they were relatively undamaged but to get the disabled hyperdrives up and running this quickly?

Na Ge: Admiral...I have established a connection with our contact. She's confirmed that both our people and our equipment are still located on the planet.

Me: Defenses?

Na Ge: There aren't many ships in orbit save for a single Star Destroyer. They don't wish to draw too much attention.

Me: What about defence on the ground?

Na Ge: Save for the security forces at the base there are little to no defences. A few small outposts here and there but nothing major.

Me: Excellent. 

Turning to my officers, I give the general order for our fleet to depart from orbit surrounding Mandalore after the Mandalorians we have onboard pay their respects. Once they do, all ships depart. 

As per my plan, the Venator arrives first and immediately deploys its airwing. The Star Destroyer quickly responds, attempting to close the distance while fending off attacks from the Venator's airwing but just before it gets in range the rest of my fleet arrives. Three Imperial II Star Destroyers, each flanking both sides of the sole defending ship, open fire using preprogrammed coordinates via information provided by the Venator. It quickly falls to the combined firepower.

Even while the attack is underway, all three Star Destroyers launch their respective airwings along with shuttles carrying troops. These are special forces under Bo-Katan who's been reassigned to my command temporarily for this undertaking. 

A few fighters are launched from the not-so-secret facility built into the mountain-side but they are easily gunned down by our overwhelming air detachment which also takes out the outposts surrounding the base thus allowing our main ground force to assault the complex through the front while Bo-Katan's commandos breach the base through its ventilation system.

Na Ge's contact shuts down the ventilation temporarily allowing our special forces to sneak into the complex. Once on the inside, they quickly work their way to the frontlines where they sabotage the enemy's forces from the rear causing mass panic and allowing our main lines to break through. During the attack, the Acclamator arrives and lands a short distance away from the base. To further protect it, the Venator enters the atmosphere and provides overwatch as our forces continue pushing deeper into the complex but with their main defences overrun the rest of the facility quickly.

To my delight, and that of Na Ge, we capture not only all the equipment but all the scientists we'd come for are unharmed. There are Imperial scientists here as well and though Na Ge initially protests, I take them as prisoners figuring they could prove useful after undergoing the usual mandatory "Rehabilitation" course on Korriban. I don't know what methods they use but I have personally seen its effectiveness as the woman currently assigned to my protection once served the Galactic Empire faithfully and yet was converted into a "True Believer" in only a month's worth of "Rehab". I believe they said she was an inquisitor. Well, whatever she was before she's now simply known as Atlas. 

The men on the ground are busy transferring all the important technology, documents and personnel from the base to the Acclamator when Na Ge returns to the bridge with a companion.

Na Ge: Admiral Thrawn, allow me to introduce to you the brightest mind of our society, Chief Medical Scientist Nala Se.

Nala Se: Thank you, Admiral Thrawn, for rescuing me and my people. Na Ge has spoken at length about what you and your Empress have done for our people. I look forward to thanking her in person.

Me: Well met. As long as your work lives up to expectations, I believe that will be thanks enough.

She nods, clearly appreciating my directness though it was not my intention to impress.

Me: I was told the Prime Minister of your people was being held captive on Coruscant. Is that still true?

Nala Se: I am not certain.

Me: Hmmm. In that case, it'd be too risky to launch an operation to-

Ren: Forgive the instruction Admiral but we're receiving a transmission from Grand Admiral Avril.

Me: Put her through.

Avril: [Admiral Thrawn, has your operation proved successful?]

Me: Yes, Grand Admiral. We are still in the process of loading the equipment onboard but have already secured the base.

Avril: Excellent news. A shuttle will be arriving in the system shortly. It is carrying the Kaminoan Prime Minister. You are to receive him and the bounty hunters carrying him. We'll have further jobs for them and have already arranged to have them remain in our employ for the foreseeable future.

Me: Understood.

The minute the transmission ends, I order Atlas who's been watching from the side of the room to gather a group of Sith Warriors from our assault force and prepare to greet our guests in the hangar bay. 

True to the Grand Admiral's word, a shuttle soon arrives and is escorted in by fighters from the Venator's airwing. As they land in the hangar bay of my capital ship, Atlas confirms she's in a position to receive them. I remind both her and the Sith with her that they aren't to attack our guests before beginning preparations on the bridge to receive them. Both Na Ge and Nala Se have gone to meet their Prime Minister so I'm free to speak with my crew openly and as such prepare them for every potential possibility.

It doesn't take long for them to arrive, the bounty hunters also in tow and after greeting the Prime Minister and introducing myself, I turn to face the people responsible for his successful prisonbreak.

????: I was told you aren't Imperials. For non-imperials, you sure have a lot of their ships.

Me: I suppose. You are?

????: Cad Bane...bounty hunter.

Without responding, I turn to face his companion and she immediately picks up on my intentions.

????: Fennec Shand...mercenary.

Me: I see. I am Admiral Thrawn. By succeeding in rescuing Prime Minister Lama Su, you've done us a great service. I look forward to seeing further successes.

With my piece said, I return my focus to the view outside the bridge of the operation still proceeding on the ground but I am soon interrupted by Lieutenant Ren who informs me that the ground operation is complete. It happens none too soon as we detect a fleet leaving hyperspace on the edge of the system. 

Seeing the immediacy of the situation, I order all ships to jump back to Mandalore the minute they clear the gravity well of the planet. My ship is the last to leave as I wait on the Acclamator to jump to safety thus also giving me time to observe the enemy formation. It is a mixture of Imperial Star Destroyers and another ship I don't recognise. However, I don't stick around to find out what they are capable of as we complete our jump.

Despite managing to get away, I know we're not safe as yet and so the minute all ships can again use their hyperdrives I order another jump. This time, our destination is Korriban. It'll take us a while to get there but in the meantime, it'll give me time to familiarise myself with these bounty hunters. Perhaps they'll prove useful tools.