[img]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/1ec60d74-7ea1-4a88-b0e0-23e53f0165ed/d91e8p4-0dcfa04b-8e1f-40c5-a217-020933d55379.png/v1/fill/w_1024,h_578,q_80,strp/endor_landscape_daytime_2013_by_darthvenal_d91e8p4-fullview.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjphcHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3siaGVpZ2h0IjoiPD01NzgiLCJwYXRoIjoiXC9mXC8xZWM2MGQ3NC03ZWExLTRhODgtYjBlMC0yM2U1M2YwMTY1ZWRcL2Q5MWU4cDQtMGRjZmEwNGItOGUxZi00MGM1LWEyMTctMDIwOTMzZDU1Mzc5LnBuZyIsIndpZHRoIjoiPD0xMDI0In1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmltYWdlLm9wZXJhdGlvbnMiXX0.I3Vp7I9alq_ZhfSuaoIFWGXEtVZQPfiWXNwyhJebmak[/img] [u][i][b]Prelude[/b][/i][/u]: [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rkrPljo-8M]The winds presage a maelstrom.[/url] It had been a good month, after Endor, when Gial Akbar determined the Alliance navy needed to be reorganized into a proper stellar armada for a proper Republic. It had been an honor for Admiral Nantz to receive command of the prestigious First fleet, the Home fleet. The fact that his fleet was ordered to reinforce General Solo at Endor and hold position there as though Endor was still the Republic Capital had been even better. Nantz hated, the Yavin system, the idea of running homeworld defense when Yavin was a proper capital filled with commerce, traffic and the relentless, city politics that were all too common amongst spacers that spent too much time patrolling a proper capital was not something he ever, ever would have enjoyed. But guarding the red herring? The symbolic capital? That wasn’t too bad, Endor was far outside Imperial reach, or at least it was believed and while he was close to Consortium territory and about two dozen warlords Nantz was still in command of a vacation fleet and the relative silence meant it gave him time to think. Time to plan, plan an event that was still several years away but an event Admiral Firmus Nantz knew in his bones he would command. The liberation of the core. It helped that General Solo was happy to spend 90% of his time drunk, lazing about the bungalows and tree houses. He was getting some much needed alone time, after he and Princess Leia spent the three weeks immediately following the battle of Endor jumping each other like dueling Krayt Dragons dying of thirst. That left him a lot of time to plan his great invasion and go hunting with Chewbacca and Kazak, he rather liked that and to his shock (and pleasant surprise) Chewbacca was a capable strategist who had some rather apt insight into how to properly invade the core. It turned out a century ago, he studied Republic fleet doctrine before deciding to go do something else with his long life. But what schooling he did possess seemed to remain and it was interesting to gain insight from a bygone era. All in all, it was a nice month. And then the idiot militia princess, Amalyn Holdo, she of the many lectures, she of the world of tea guzzling, scarf wearing, sobbing, poets. The people he once heard General Dodanna refer to as “The only exception Screed and I ever considered making in regards to firing on a world after it surrenders”. Showed up, not only did her “Eminence” her “Virtuous, bought her commission, minor aristocratic posterior”(and a few things he dare not translate from Wookie), appear. But somehow she managed to violate all known laws of hyperspace travel for she managed to pull a chunk of a nebula with her, dumping an electromagnetic storm right into upper orbit where it all fell directly on top of his fleet, his defense systems and the command sat for the early warning system. How she managed to do that, would be debated by hyperspace physicists for millennia to come, but Chewie postulated the most plausible theory. The arrogant teenager was simply so stupid, her idiocy altered the very fabric of reality. -This is nonsense- he thought, his eyes burning with hatred as he made his way to the command bridge of his MC80 Liberty, the “Imperial Pyre”. His comms officer, a particularly nervous Twi’lik bit his lip (A disgusting habit) and all but withered under his Admirals gaze. “Get me Solo” “Sir, Vice Admiral Holdo-” “Can hang herself with her own scarf for all I care. She can wait her blasted turn. Get me Solo” Beside him, the immense Wookie who looked as hung over as Dugg in a Corellian bordello let out a series of pained roars lamenting the fact that his RnR was interrupted by this...child. “So wait...the little furballs here are having a Wedding and they want us to show, and they want you to preside over it?” “Yes sir, they attribute much significance to my presence at Wicket's Wedding with Princess Kneesaa, despite their Shaman Logray’s dismissal they still put much significance in my presence.” “They are still on that God stuff about you Goldenrod?” He still couldn't believe how easily fooled the woks were by Lukes levitation trick. “I have conflicting information about it I seem to bear a resemblance to one of their gods, it may be related to an incident in my databanks-” “Yeah yeah look I still have stuff to do so just get me the date it’s on and write it down, I’m a busy man and all.” Han couldn't be bothered with the Droids blathering he still wanted to get a good look at the terran, who knows maybe there was something actually useful on this mudball, or something terrible. Han remembered all the unusual stuff that lurked on Yavin in the early years, that Night Beast thing came to mind, that green freakshow almost drove the Rebels off the temple before the Empire could; Q-7N a droid constructed by the long dead Malagarrians, a race that had unintentionally committed suicide by turning their planet into a giant reactor was the second oddity. Endor was no less unusual, some of the trees the Ewoks had gave off a strange feeling like they were glowing to start with. The “Golden God” told Han the Ewoks earliest encounter with the Empire was against this Imperial Scientist named Raygar. He apparently coveted this artifact, some big shiny rock called the Sunstar, which conveniently got destroyed in a fight with some monster the Empire unleashed when it began building the Shield Generator Bunker. Han of course thought this was just another fairy tail from a bunch of easily impressed backwaters but they insisted this was no legend. But again this is a species that believes his Girlfriends Protocol Droid is a god, whoever this Raygar guy or whatever was he must have been on one hell of a wild bantha chase. Unfortunately the smuggler couldn't utterly dismiss the possibility of something supernatural or just plain unpleasant on this planet from sheer past experience, Alliance/Republic bases tended to house the most unusual things in general. Hoth? The kid crashes there and the first thing he meets are Human Replica droids, then afterwards Raskar the Last Pirate of Iridum takes him and Luke to a cave with a Dragon slug and a Kriff ton of Lumi Spice. Abra the planet of the Hoojibs? Chewie tells him this...thing calling itself the Darker mind controlled him and damn near made him kill Plif and 3PO. Han didn't want to take it upon himself to look around, he really didn't want to waste his time but he was respectable now. A General no less he had to lead a military outfit now so he had to set an example, much to the dismay of a certain prune faced bothan ass kisser. So Han took a patrol and decided if there were Goraxes lurking or some of those shapeshifting witches the Ewoks spun stories about. It would have been relaxing if he didn't need the Droid to talk to his guides here. Nearby the Smuggler turned General was the thundering of an Imperial Walker, thankfully he knew it was no enemy. Chewie had taken a liking to his war trophy from the Battle of Endor. After the Rebels stole it in the fight it was primarily used for cleanup with Renegade Squadron post Endor under Col Serra before Serra and the whole unit scattered back into the underworld. After that it went back to Chewie, his old friend insisted on keeping it around to tinker with if the two of them were just going to remain stranded planetside. Now he had some extra firepower in case a Gorax showed up, or a patrol of those Marauders. Han had to be sure to scout out any hazards in case the Imps tried to pull something on the ground if they struck again. “General Solo! General Solo! Begging your pardon sir!” The panicky tone came from a burgundy colored C series protocol droid which damn near tripped over the legs of a Republic soldier, who was seated outside the main entrance to the main installation constructed on Endor. A bottle of some fermented substance in one hand and the other resting on a raised knee. “Oh..forgive me, forgive me” The Droid with the female voice hurriedly muttered as she skirted towards the eternally bored General and her eternally vexed colleague. “Forgive me General Solo” The droid wisely called out, she had learned long ago, unlike the faulty (A problem with protocol droids who’d been memory wiped too often) and eccentric Threepio. The E-3PO had long ago learned that General Solo had little patience for being overburdened with information and preferred the straight truth. Female personalities were rare and she was content not to be blasted into a trillion pieces by the irate drug runner turned Republic war hero. Around them the trees swayed in an ominous breeze as if the powers sleeping at Endor sensed something immense coming.. “Admiral Naantz requests your presence on a shuttle..Evidently communications are down and holocall will be unavailable..you are needed on the Imperial Pyre” Above them the skies darkened slightly before they began to fill with a myriad of colors as clouds of gas and a powerful EM storm raged in orbit. “Oh..that..would be why” she blinked. Han’s face slowly shifted into dismay as he looked up. “Well, you look at that.” He uttered the words sounding greatly irritated. It was going to be a long day “Y’know, I didn’t even know such a thing was possible and then I spoke with Chewie and General Solo both of whom have far more experience with oddities than I do and they assure me, that they too believed this was impossible” Nantz began, the moment Han had arrived the duo moved into a separate room for some conversation, specifically to figure how the kriff this happened and to discuss how long it would take to get the defensive systems back online. What bothered him the most was that they didn’t even detect Holdo’s fleet until it was in orbit and most of those vessels lost communications when they passed through, whatever the hell that was that happened. At least, the repair crews assured them the ion storm had passed and their systems were now safe to work on, the down side was that they’d only have communications restored, that the defensive systems and interdictor tech wasn’t going to be online for another twenty hours. Holdo didn’t even have the decency to look ashamed, she just gawked up at them both with indignant eyes. As though she’d done nothing wrong, something he found absolutely disgusting. “Chew wants to have you shot for dereliction of duty and Han thinks we should impanel a court martial…” “Sir! I!” “I’m not done” Naantz hissed, turning on the awkwardly tall seventeen year old, who’d bought her commission and was only still alive because that damn Bothan considered her a valued asset for some pathetic reason. “Sir! It’s improper to talk down to a fellow Admiral...And a female, we aren’t the Empire sir! It’s five ABY and you” Nantz slammed his hand on the table starting the Vice Admiral. “”Listen to me you incompetent little idiot...Borsk may have his hooves all over your ascent but if you think that Moose and your damned Aquilin notions of social justice are going to carry more weight than my reputation and a dereliction of duty and mutiny charge you’re mistaken” “Mutiny?!” she barked a mix of indignation and shock, this wasn’t supposed to happen! She wasn’t supposed to be treated like this, didn’t he understand? She was the future not him! She was the youngest Admiral in the Republic Navy! She was the one bringing much needed reform and he was just in the way! Why couldn’t they see that “Yes M-U-T-I-N-Y” he sneered out the word, slowly abusing enunciation to hammer home his fury. “Or do you think that, seeing as you allowed a Sith asset and a clone trooper both who admitted ties to the old Emperor escape..then somehow dropped a kriffing ion storm onto the former Capital that I couldn’t have you up on charges of mutiny and collaboration if I wanted?” “You’re Coresplaining” she responded falling back on script. Chewie let out a series of noises, that Nantz wasn’t sure were some of the obscene words in the Wookie Language, or if he’d merely had a brain seizure at the volley of sheer idiocy that was unleashed upon them with those two words. “Child, I will space you” Nantz hissed. “I should space you..instead...I’m placing you in line command” Holdo blinked “sir?” “Well, you are a vice Admiral. Go up there, get in the front line, if any of our enemies decide to blindside us while we’re down..you’ll be first to meet them” Nantz had a cruel smile on his face that made the girl almost pout. “I’m not…..But without orbital defenses..the fleet would be fighting alone..what if…Zsinj sends Rua and a fleet? Or Jerec decides to make his move? Or the Remnant” “As I said..you’ll have the honor of being the first to meet them in battle Vice Admiral” “That is of course, unless General Solo has some objections?” “Good luck kid! Break a leg.” Han responded condescendingly. Chewbacca roared. Holdo, who’d previously sat tall, taking full advantage of her heart and held her head high, chest puffed up to stand up to the elitist men who were going to do what they always did and condescend to her, suddenly found herself deflating. All the scenarios she played out in her head, where she listened to their stereotypical ranting, waited until they gassed themselves out and then she would have explained to them why they were merely internalizing their own bigotry and spewing their own ignorance. Once, she’d properly triumphed over them in the field of rhetoric, they’d be seated humiliated and poor Chewbacca who was relegated to a token would cheer for her and even the droids would cast off their dull, soulless gazes and pronounce her liberator of the cosmos. Instead, she found herself faced with the real possibility of leading her fleet and the Endor defense fleet into battle with their backs to a defenseless planet. This wasn’t how it was supposed to be! This wasn’t fair! Slowly, she moved her head, her rainbow colored hair falling from her brow as she looked up at the three men before her. A resigned Yessir left her lips in a voice she could scarce recognize as her own. Choking back a sob she departed, as gracefully as she could. It was all so problematic….