Saga of the Bridgers-Year 5

Chapter 14: Celebrations and Fireworks

"Greetings, Mister Sauchii." the Jedi replied in a cordial tone, then turned his head toward the two human soldiers. "And I suppose you two are from the rebel expedition on Ryloth."

The two made the salute with their right hand while still holding their rifles and the woman on Ezra's left replied. "Yes, sir. Corporal Emsia and Private Alser. 80th Infantry Company."

Ezra made a quick nod, then turned toward the Twi'lek. "Are you with General Syndulla?"

"Like everybody else on Ryloth, Master Jedi." the alien replied in a quipping tone. "And he's waiting for you."

From there, the Twi'leks led the group back toward their hidden base inside one of the mountains, where there was still room for the Gauntlet. Eventually, Ezra was led once again in front of Cham, who greeted him fondly with a handshake.

"Ezra Bridger, it's always a pleasure to meet you, even though it's always because of the Empire." the man quipped.

Ezra had his helmet dematerialized and returned the smile. "I'm glad to see the Empire still hasn't figured out how to catch you. I'm sorry I couldn't bring your daughter along, this time."

"Yes, Hera has contacted me a few days ago." Cham said with no weight on his heart. "But in all honesty, I prefer to know that she is taking care of my grandson."

Ezra chuckled. "Sounds like we share the same worries."

Cham chuckled back. "Well, all the more reason to win this war. I want to meet little Jacen as soon as possible."

"Then how about you give me a Sit-Rep?"

"Sure." Cham concluded, showing the holo-table around which were also two other acquaintances: Numa and Gobi. Ezra greeted them with a quick gesture of the hand while he gathered around the table and his two squad leaders joined the briefing.

A large hologram appeared, showing a series of imperial strongholds and key points that the resistance had in its sight. Those were the main objectives that they needed to take at first when the uprising would start: the main spaceport of the capital, Lessu, without which the imperials wouldn't be able to bring in enough supplies for their garrison. The imperial headquarters, situated in the Tann Province ever since Thrawn had taken it from Cham, meaning that this goal had also a personal relevance to him. Finally, the imperial fortress in the Masdar Region, which was the main surface strategic base. Destroying it would severely cripple the ability of the Empire to gather its forces for large scale counter-offensives.

"How's the status of your forces?" Ezra asked at the end of the briefing.

"We have many fighters living in the major cities, waiting for an order to take up arms, but they will need our support to make any significant damage, or to defend themselves against any imperial reprisal." Cham explained.

Ezra leaned on the table and stared at the statistics of the three objectives. It soon became clear to him that, if the Twi'leks needed help to take all of those objectives, then he could only afford to take one of them. Those places were too well-defended, and even the two battalions aboard the Amerigo would have to focus their efforts on a single one. He voiced this issue.

"We can only afford one target at a time. General, what do you think it would be best?"

Cham grunted in thought and replied. "My heart honestly would like to kill as many imperials as we can, thus the fortress. However, all three targets are equally important."

"I beg to disagree." Thorsten intervened. "The capital and the spaceport should clearly be our priority. Not only we would isolate the imperial forces on the planet, but the liberation of the capital would certainly inspire the rest of the population to rise up."