Saga of the Bridgers-Year 4

Chapter 20: The Road to the Ocean

June 6

The time for the next campaign was approaching.

Lothal now had a new space station built in its orbit, mostly built with materials converted from the Imperial Dome, which now had been fully dismantled.

The ships that the allies had captured during the battle over Lothal had now been given to the newly formed militia of the planet, which was being trained by the Rebel Army. However, the Bellator required a lot of manpower to be operated efficiently, and while there were thousands of volunteers signing up for the militia, they still need training, especially for the defense fleet. So, for now, the dreadnought was sitting anchored at the space station.

Manpower was never an issue, because the hopes of Ryder and the heads of the Federation and the Alliance became true: every day, civilian ships loaded with refugees and people who was trying to escape from the Empire were finding their way toward Lothal, in the hopes of starting a new life outside of the imperial authority.

Many of these refugees also came to enlist in the Rebellion. The siblings were quite surprised to see how many admirers they had. Many or the newcomers had heard of the two Jedi siblings that were capable of defeating the Empire and many wanted to meet them and fight under their command.

The victory in the space battle had weakened the Empire in that region of the galaxy, so Jaral wanted to exploit the opening left to start the campaign to liberate Mon Calamari.

She had convened multiple times with Admiral Raddus and Vice-Admiral Ackbar about everything she needed to know about the planet and the sector. The officers had particularly stressed out how it was vital that they found and rescue their King: Lee-Char, who had been a hostage to the Empire for more than a decade, now.

The Federal fleet had been advancing in the last few days, not only securing its hold on Kamdon, but also conquering the orbit of the planet of Sanctuary, which sat at the intersection between the major lanes Rim Run and Tidal Circuit. Nimbus had informed the allied forces that the Moff of the Calamari Sector, Tan Hubi, was amassing his fleet over Mon Calamari, while also keeping a fortress on Pammant. This fortress was hosting hyper-velocity cannons, which could have damaged the allied fleet very much, so the planet had to be taken before proceeding with the main objective.

In Camp Garibaldi, Ezra and Sabine were heading toward the airfield, where they were supposed to meet with a team of rebel special forces, the Rangers, that Ezra had to command for the upcoming mission on Pammant.

"So, Commander," Sabine nudged him lightly as they walked toward the area they had been told. "your first time in charge of a real army. How do you feel?"

Ezra made a lopsided grin. "I just hope they won't look at the fact that I'm most likely younger than them."

"If they have any doubt, I'll kick their ass for you." she joked.

"Easy, my war goddess, besides if you do that, they'll respect you more than me, in that case."

"You'll do fine, Ezra. I mean, you led us to conquer the Imperial Dome."

Ezra feinted a bit of arrogance. "Yeah, I guess I am awesome."

Sabine playfully rolled her eyes as they kept going. Over their heads the rumble of two X-Wings flying in an exercise had them lift their gazes for a moment. Over the base there was a massive traffic of transports, fighters and small ships.

Camp Garibaldi was built right next to the ocean, which had been restored in record time thanks to the Guardians. The sentient ships had left Lothal, for now, though there were rumors that the Empress wanted to use them again in the future, to help the galaxy rebuild from the devastation of the war.