Star Wars: Duel of the Fates

Chapter 34

"Thank you for coming so quickly," Caluan said to Poe, Finn and Commander D'Arcy as they came to stand with the various members of Resistance High Command in the control room.

Five of them were stood around a large hexagonal table: Caluan, Taslin Brance, Connix and Cypress were there in person, a holographic projection of Resdox stood to one side.

"We've made a number of decisions given our change in circumstances," Cypress said, "Following all of your considerable efforts we have agreed to your promotions to General," he nodded his head towards Poe, "and Colonels," looking at Finn and D'Arcy.

They exchanged glances.

"Thank you," Poe said.

"All three of you acted admirably," Resdox said, his voice a little distorted.

"Everyone played their part," Colonel D'Arcy said.

Caluan smiled, "We know that it was a group effort, but each of you demonstrated strong leadership."

"Rose's team did a lot of the heavy lifting," Finn said.

"And the children that you rescued," Resdox said, "they assisted in the repairs."

"A group of them did, yeah."

"You inspired them," Caluan said.

"I wouldn't say that-" Finn said, but Poe interrupted him.

"He made a speech."

Finn looked at him in surprise.

"I hear things," Poe shrugged.

"They seem to have settled well on the base," Colonel D'Arcy said.

"Even so, we've decided to double the number of guards monitoring them as a precaution," Cypress said before nodding to Connix, who pressed several buttons on the table and readouts appeared on the projector in the middle.

"What are these?" Finn asked, glad for the change of subject.

"The transmission we received from the probe droid," Taslin said, "and it reveals that your disrupter did more than knock their systems out for a few minutes: they were down for over an hour."

"An hour?" Poe whistled, "We could cause a lot of damage in that time."

"Between the disrupter shockwave and our fighters attack, their dreadnought and one of the Star Destroyers were almost disabled...the second was destroyed."

"We need to strike now," Poe said.

"We agree," Caluan said, resting his hand on his chin, "We can't allow them time to recover."

"What are you proposing?" Colonel D'Arcy asked.

"Our informant in the First Order has sent us word of a small fleet of Star Destroyers moving into the Lasan system," Resdox said, "We want to send our cruiser there to make an attack using the disrupter."

"Like a practice run?" Finn asked.

He nodded.

Colonel D'Arcy was studying the projection, "What about local planets? We don't want to knock out their planetary systems as well as the First Order ships."

"All of them were abandoned during the reign of the Galactic Empire," Connix replied.

"When are you planning on doing this?" Poe asked.

"As soon as the repairs to the cruiser are complete," Caluan replied.

"I want to lead the attack," Poe said.

"We expected nothing less."

"If it's successful we can start targeting every First Order base and ship that we can locate," Cypress said.

"This could turn the tide," Caluan said hopefully.

Poe was practically grinning, "We could actually win."

"Make your preparations," Caluan said.

"We will," Poe said.

This could be it: the end of the war.

"What about the boy who tried to destroy the cruiser?" Finn asked, dousing any previous elation.

Resdox sighed, "With everything else happening, we don't have time to decide the consequences of his actions. We'll keep him imprisoned and then...afterwards he can have a trial and that can determine his punishment."