At least it wasn't just him, Matthew was slightly late to the assembly, with Ailel trailing in after him a few moments later. “Bracknell is the key to this.” Roan maintained his assertion despite Matt’s misgivings on the matter. “Him and Soto. I know it's difficult to believe Matt, but we're fighting this war with THEM, not any of the others.” He explained as Aria and Yerbol slipped into the command center to join them.
“...no army can function without leaders.” Cheriss caught on to Roan’s chain of thought. 


______________


Aria's attention was immediately drawn to the galaxy map in the center of the room, a cluster of rapidly accelerating dots swarming towards the planet like angry hornets disturbed from their nest. That was a fleet and no mistaking it.  
“Illegal hyperdrive modifications, they have to be.” Cheriss responded to Matt’s query regarding the fleet's movement speed. “No ship can travel that fast without them.” 
Ailel sank her teeth into her lip as she studied the map, a group of the dots breaking away from the main fleet and approaching at a speed only fighter jets were capable of. 
“We aren't equipped for this…” she piped up in agreement with Matthew, “Noctis we don't have aerial defense towers, we don't even have a damn fleet!”
Cold claws of dread gripped at Aria's heart.
“We didn't lead them back here...did we?” Yerbol's question broke the eerie quiet that had taken hold of the entire room.
“We must have.” she choked out in a whisper, the realisation hitting her right between the eyes. “Th-The transport ship was empty except for the prisoners...karkin hell, Bol, it was a trap...the whole thing was a trap! We GAVE them our coordinates!”
“I don't CARE how many ships he's brought with him!” Roan spat, cutting off Aria's tyrade.  “It makes NO difference to any of this! They have the numbers and the ships but that doesn't mean they have the advantage. We know this planet better than they do. I can guarantee you Bracknell won't have that many Force users on his side,  we've picked off most of them. They certainly won't be aboard every ship, the mountains will pick off half the bombers and fighters before they even get within thirty thousand feet of ground level, it's why we chose Zinuthra in the first place. The troops that do make it to the ground can be dealt with, we can lay traps in the forest and on the plains...we don't have to rely on just our manpower. The Riika cats and the other beasts here are territorial, have some of our squads lure theirs into their home grounds,  let them do some of the work for us.” 


He turned to Jungze. “Jungze, Ailel and the younglings can stay on base,  do everything you can to throw off any bombers or fighters that do make it through the peaks, throw them towards the mountains if you have to.” He silenced Ailel’s protests with a vehement glare before they could begin. “Nobody said we had to fight fair, Ailel. Bracknell won't be, it's us or them. The rest of you need to space yourselves out with our forces between here and the forest camps, keep them as divided as possible and stall their advance on the base as much as you can. He might have Soto working their ground assault, if you see her and get the chance, KILL her as quickly as you can. We're going to need you to buy us time to get to Bracknell.  If the worst happens and they DO break through into the compound, it'll be your job to hold the line until whatever’s left of the wilderness squadrons can fight their way back through to you. No matter what happens, you CAN’T give in to them, do you understand? Our plan hitches on you keeping their armada busy so it leaves Bracknell exposed. Aria, Cheriss, the boy and the Tuk’ata will come with me, while he's busy watching their progress Abbeth can shuttle us aboard Bracknell's flagship and then get back down planetside as quick as he can. Once we kill Bracknell whatever’s left of their forces will have to surrender, Saresh is a politician not a General, she won't have the skills to keep the attack going. We'll steal a couple of the backup fighters from the flagship and make our way back through while you negotiate surrender with Saresh. Job done.” 


“Assuming it goes according to plan…” Ailel muttered. 
“Then we make adjustments as it happens, Ailel.” Cheriss asserted. “All us older Masters have fought wars before, we don't have a choice.”
Aria nodded slowly, inching a little closer to Yerbol and touching his arm lightly as the tangle of nerves sprang to life in her gut. They were going to have to fight a war. They’d talked about it often enough,  but now it was actually happening she wanted to bury her head in the ground till it was all over and the Council had dealt with it for them. It brought her some comfort that Roan was keeping the pair close to one another, and himself.
“So, this is it then.” she murmured. “We do this, or everyone up till now died for nothing.” Qanarr, Udike, Merak, Takree, who had gone down on an extraction of civilians and converted Alliance sympathisers two months before...this is what they had been fighting for. Their chance to kill Bracknell and Soto, and make it all worth their sacrifices.
“Battle stations, everyone.” Neta echoed, all the individuals in the room filtering out slowly to gear up and take up the positions Roan had suggested, or to make last minute adjustments to their strategies and discuss them with their squad mates. 


They paused on their way to the shuttle to let a squad of armoured soldiers rush past them, out towards Zinuthra's wilderness to scout out the Riika cats’ dens, as her father had ordered. Vano among them,  the Mirialan smiled bravely at the pair as she passed, muttering. “You give him hell, you two. Make Bracknell pay for what he's done.” Merak had been her brother,  and more than anything she wished she could accompany them to give her fallen sibling justice, but she knew the wilderness and had a good level head on her shoulders. Roan's training had made her a vital troop leader for their ground squads, so she had to stay and do what she could, the ground squads were counting on her, on Kira and the other Masters who would be leading similar teams at regular intervals throughout the wilderness.
“Roll Soto's head off her shoulders for us if you see her.” Aria retorted, clapping a hand to the Mirialan’s shoulder briefly. “We'll see you soon.” she hoped. 


The troops dismissed, the duo would continue to the hangar where they would wait for Abbeth, Cheriss and Roan to join them. Aria tried to fight down her own apprehension, clung to the reassurance that she and Yerbol would be together. That nothing bad would happen to him as long as she drew breath, or that if the worst happened they would go down together. Her hands balled into fists as she glanced sideways at her best friend, her heart aching at the mere thought that they may never get to talk out this confusing shift in relationship if one or both of them didn't make it to the end of this assault. She wished they had more time….there were things she had to tell him that she hadn't even found the words for, yet, damn it! You're the best friend I've ever had. We've not been together long, but I care about you more than I've ever cared about anyone. I'm so glad I got trapped in that tomb with you, that I didn't kill you that day. You are more special to me than you might ever know, and a life without you isn't one worth living.
“Yerbol….” the words stuck in her throat as she tried to speak, to voice SOME of them, but they wouldn't come out. Instead, she simply threw her arms around him again, holding him tightly for the last few moments before the others arrived and they would have to be ready to board the shuttle and put her father's plan into motion, mumbling: 
“One last hug. For luck. And just in case there won't be any more.” it pained her terribly to think of the last statement, let alone say it aloud, but she knew it was a very real possibility.  This was war, and the Alliance wanted to wipe them from existence. "Promise me you'll stay close to me, please." 


“Let's go.” Roan’s gruff voice broke them apart, Aria releasing her friend from her tight grasp and stepping back to nod her head firmly, her jaw clenching.
"Time to finish this."