[h2][b]Vael ‘Virisusai - Aboard the Assimilator[/b][/h2]

[hr]

Vael gave a nod. “I agree. We should avoid disrupting the feed. Perhaps even move some communications equipment to a dropship so we can continue it while we make use of this ship. If we do not allow our enemy to know that something has gone wrong, then they will not interfere with us. We may use the broadcast for our own ends once we have completed our task.”

[hr]

Any casualties were returned to their ships as soon as possible, while the rest set to work on getting the ship ready for use. After multiple, thorough sensor sweeps from the [i]Daedalus[/i] to ensure the rest of the ship was devoid of life, they restored life-support and gave the Assimilator a skeleton crew to make it operational as an evacuation vessel. Just as Vael had recommended, they moved enough communications equipment to a dropship to keep the broadcast going while they appropriated the Assimilator for their own use.

Within hours, the rest of the fleet had arrived, though they were far from the first. By giving his announcement of Alderaan’s impending destruction, Anubis himself had essentially given the call for aid to any who intended to help the Alderaanian people. Ships from Chandrila started arriving even before the Assimilator was completely occupied to assist in the evacuation, which had now began in earnest. Bail Organa and Queen Breha Organa led and coordinated the evacuation from the ground for hours, until the worsening storms forced them to move into orbit aboard Bail’s ship, the Tantive IV, to avoid disruptions to their communications. It was a task that was beyond monumental, but the Organa family had no shortage of willing volunteers to assist. Both the Jedi Anakin Skywalker and Master Yoda joined Bail on the Tantive IV, and the respective leaders of most of the fleet’s ships either joined themselves, or sent representatives to assist with the effort. 

The scale of this disaster, the destruction of an [i]entire[/I] planet, was staggering, but so too was the scale of the response. Planetary governments, philanthropic organizations, and even just individuals with a ship and a conscious, showed up to evacuate as many as they could. There was nearly an incident when vessels of Separatist make arrived from Muunilist, but given the desperate nature of the situation, and Falul’s assurances, Bail was convinced to allow them to help. The skies of Alderaan hosted a constant stream of ships of all classes and many allegiances, and there was hardly a moment when ships were not entering or dropping out of hyperspace in orbit above the planet. The destination for their evacuation was a planet called Mantor VII, which was only a system away. In hyperspace, it hardly took more than a few minutes to make the trip, so the process of boarding and disembarking often took longer than the trip itself. As such, most of the ships they had could make many trips in the day they had been given.

Under normal circumstances, no amount of volunteers would have been able to do much for the administrative nightmare of coordinating such an enormous multitude of ships with any reasonable amount of efficiency. However, the AI, Isaac, proved to be an invaluable asset. The UNSC AI had the capacity to track and send instructions to [i]every[/i] single ship involved in the evacuation simultaneously, which allowed the rest of them to focus on high-level decision making, rather than micromanagement. Between the number of ships they had available and the surprising efficiency with which they were able to utilize them, they started out at a remarkable pace in getting people off-world. In fact, if they could have kept up their efforts at that same pace in the day they had, they could have likely evacuated every single soul off of the planet. Unfortunately, that was not what fate had in store for them. 

The worsening state of Alderaan itself eventually became a substantial hindrance to their efforts. The storms had been harsh from the beginning, but they eventually engulfed every part of the planet’s surface, and they became strong enough to be hazardous to many of the ships that had come to help them. Only more resilient, usually military vessels could still brave the storms. The rest had no choice but to wait in orbit while the dropships that could still land brought people up from the surface. The [i]Daedalus’[/i] beaming technology also allowed them to fill the ships in orbit, but they could only teleport so many at once. Some ships did ignore the warnings and attempted to land regardless, and not all returned. As one day moved into the next, their pace had slowed to a crawl compared to when they started, but they carried on regardless. The arrival of Mon Calamari ships did reinvigorate their efforts for a time, as they were among the few, sizable ships remaining that could still weather the atmosphere. It was unfortunate that the sheer distance between Alderaan and Mon Cala meant that they could not have been there from the start.

[hr]

[h3][b]Falul ‘Taham - Aboard the [i]Tantive IV[/i][/b][/h3]

[hr]

The bridge of the [i]Tantive IV[/i] was currently, and had been for most of the past day, packed with more people than it was really meant to comfortably accommodate. Every member of their ragtag fleet had sent at least one representative to assist. Falul himself had decided to leave his ship in command of his second and instead help directly with the evacuation. He could not claim to have direct experience in coordinating an evacuation, but at least some of the skills involved in coordinating an invasion were still relevant. He did, for a time, have Vael take his place so he could rest. Although some of those present had not slept at all since the start of the evacuation, most notably Bail and Queen Breha themselves. 

There were others from other factions outside the fleet that Bail had allowed into their makeshift command center as well. Currently Bail was standing around a holo-map displaying the planet alongside a Human woman who had identified herself as a “senator” from Chandrila. Falul did not recognize the title, and he had been far too preoccupied with the evacuation to remember the names of most of the people he had met today. 

It had been three hours since the last evacuation center had been rendered entirely unlivable. Still, there had been isolated areas on the planet that sensors determined could still potentially support Human life, so the [i]Daedalus[/i] had spent those hours scanning them for life signs. They did find small pockets of survivors that they were easily able to beam up to the [i]Aegis[/i] but only a handful of times, and only in small numbers. The largest of the groups numbered only about fifty. For all intents and purposes, the evacuation was over. Just slightly less than half of the planet’s population of two billion was able to make it to safety. 

Falul approached the holo-map, just across from Bail. They were looking at sensor scans that had been sent from the [i]Daedalus[/i]. It was the third scan in a row that had returned no signs of life on the planet below. “I believe it is time for us to deal with the matter we discussed before. We still have access to Anubis’ broadcast. We can give your galaxy any message we want them to hear.”