April 20.
Aboard the Admonitor, Iulius woke up on his bed, in the captain's quarters. Beside him lied Qathora, still asleep with her undersuit on and her arms clinging on his chest.
He looked at her for a moment. According to the intel she herself provided, today was gonna be the day of the rebel attack. That was what she overheard in a bar where the local resistance's agents usually hanged out, and they seemed to be waiting for today.
It made sense to him as well. The disappeared ore crawler was definitely stolen by the rebels, so they could bypass the jamming signal and contact their main base. Iulius was curious whether Darvos was down on Lothal at that moment or back at the rebel base. He was fairly sure, however, that Jaral Bridger was on the planet, and probably she was the only reason why the rebels took the trouble of stealing that crawler: since she was their new supreme commander, she needed to give the order to attack.
On one side, he felt much safer knowing that the Blue Nova wouldn't be flying with the rebel fighters, since last time she did, she almost managed to make a light cruiser fall against the Admonitor. That said, the person who had fled with that U-Wing a week before was Hera Syndulla, and she wasn't to be underestimated either.
He gently slipped out of her embrace, but the Togruta was a perceptive one and she groaned lightly as she woke up as well.
"Is it time?" she whispered.
Iulius sat at the edge of the bed. It was actually a single one, but it was large enough for them to sleep embraced and Iulius laid next the open side (the other one was facing the wall) in case he had to jump into the action.
"It's not like I can sleep any more." Iulius commented, passing a hand on his face to massage it.
Qathora drifted a bit on the hard mattress and went to caress his neck.
"What are you afraid of?" she asked softly.
"These rebels have already fooled me once when the odds were completely against them. I don't want that to repeat again, especially because Tarkin will be watching." he said, then he gently brushed a knuckle on her cheek before standing up and go to grab his jacket.
"Yeah, I heard the Gran Moff doesn't take lightly to failure of his subordinates."
"If I fail even this time, then it means I'll deserve such punishment." he said as he zipped the suit. "But I would smear the reputation of the Grand Admiral once again, and that's what scares me the most.
Qathora stood up from the bed as well and grabbed her chest armor. "You really care a lot about Thrawn." she observed.
"Everything I learned about true war, I learned it from him. For me, he's like a mentor. The worst thing I can imagine is to disappoint him."
"Hey, despite his lack of expressiveness, I'm pretty sure he has a high esteem of you as well." she reassured him. "And for a good reason. You can do this, Iulius."
As the Rear Admiral donned on his cap and took a look in the mirror, he sighed. "I hope so. It's not just my career at stake here. If I fail, the Federation will attack us. The Empire will be at risk."
Qathora huffed and took the rank plaque to go appoint it to her master's left pectoral.
"I can't say I care much about that part." she honestly said.
"Still, you're serving the Empire as a spy." Iulius commented.
"I'm not serving the Empire. I'm serving you. Wherever you put your loyalty is not my concern, but you already know my opinion about the Empire." then she turned her head toward the door for a brief moment before talking to the Rear Admiral again. "Though, I must say that your crew has treated me with enough respect, surprisingly."
Iulius chuckled. "Breaking an arm to the first crewman who called you out must have certainly given them quite the impression."
The Togruta shrugged. "I learned that the goons of the Empire respect strength over everything else, so I figured that I would make things clear right away."
"That you did." the Rear Admiral concluded before he stepped outside of the quarters, followed by his loyal servant. The man sighed. "I wish the Empire would let you live freely." he mumbled.
Qathora didn't answer. She didn't feel like bringing that argument up again, especially aboard an ISD.
As they walked down the corridor, one of the deck officers fast-paced toward them and stopped in front of Iulius.
"Rear Admiral, you got incoming transmission from Lothal."
"Thanks, Commander Bolo, I'll receive it in my office." Iulius replied.
The man made a nod and walked back toward the deck, while Iulius and Qathora had to make a turn to reach the office.
The Togruta entered as well, but stopped near the door, since she wasn't allowed to hear the conversation. Iulius passed the waiting room and entered his office. Compared to that of Thrawn, this was your standard imperial room: bare, gray, functional and standardized.
He walked behind his desk and waited for the communication to be available on his panel. He then pressed the button once that happened and the holograms of Grand Admiral Thrawn and Gran Moff Tarkin appeared on the two chairs in front of him.
"Grand Admiral, Governor." Iulius greeted in a formal tone.
"Rear Admiral." Tarkin said with the same tone. "It seems like the intel provided by your agent was correct. The Sector Fleet of Mon Cala has reported the passage of a group of rebel vessels through their zone of jurisdiction. They will probably reach Lothal by the end of the rotation."
"Do we have an estimate on the rebel forces?"
"It seems like a handful of starfighters, but they couldn't determine the exact amount. It seems like the rebels are using a particular algorithm to hide their communications...one that resembles yours, actually." Tarkin noted with his usual frown.
Iulius huffed in amusement. "Darvos...well, I wasn't expecting that algorithm to help us in the long run, not until my former brother stays with the Rebels."
"I understand. I will report this to the ISB. Anyway, that's not the point. I'll be observing your progresses in the upcoming battle, Rear Admiral. Considering your status of service, I must say I have some expectations. You better meet them."
"Your faith will be rewarded, Governor." Iulius said sternly. Then he turned toward the Chiss. "Grand Admiral, any sign of the rebels on the surface?"
"Not since they stole that crawler. However, we have confirmed the presence of Jordan Bridger." Thrawn reported.
"That means that his ship is in the system." Iulius concluded. "But we still lack the means to counter its cloaking device."
"It's just a frigate." Tarkin intervened. "Which is only serving as a radio. It will play no role in the upcoming attack. Just focus on the rebels, Rear Admiral, protect the factory."
"Yes, sir."
"Good, contact me when the rebels arrive." Tarkin concluded before his hologram disappeared.
Iulius took a breather and only then he noticed that Thrawn was still patiently waiting.
"Something wrong, sir?" Iulius asked with a bit of preoccupation.
"I would ask the same of you, Rear Admiral. You seem concerned."
"It's the first time I'm in command of a space battle, sir, despite earning my rank so quickly. I think it's legit for me to be nervous."
"Your plan is solid, I can testify that." Thrawn said in what sounded a bit like his version of reassuring someone. "Remember our discussions about warfare, Rear Admiral, I am confident you will meet success."
Iulius made a half-grin. "You really don't want to add any tips to my plan, sir?"
Thrawn made a grin as well. "Maybe I like to see my subordinates grow up as officers. Trust in your abilities, Iulius Tanis, they are all that you need to achieve victory."
The Rear Admiral's mind couldn't avoid noticing that the Chiss had just called him with his name, not just with his rank and surname. Iulius' heart felt like a jolt: the fact that Thrawn was using the personal name was proof that the Grand Admiral respected him.
Iulius steeled his resolve.
"I will not fail you, sir." he said with a firm tone.
Thrawn merely made a nod with the head, without wiping out his grin. "I'll be waiting for your signal to move."
"Yes, sir." Iulius concluded and closed the transmission.
He took a moment to collect his thoughts and reenter his state of mind as a dutiful officer: cold, calculating and set on obtaining the best victory he could achieve.
He left the office, followed dutifully by Qathora, who accompanied him all the way to the bridge.
"Commander Bolo, what's the status of the blockade?" he asked as soon as he entered the bridge and walked toward the viewport.
The man with dark skin walked on his left side, as Qathora occupied the other one.
"All the ships are still patrolling around the planet, sir." the officer reported
"Order them to gather in the orbit above Capitol City and assume defensive formation 17." Iulius calmly instructed.
"Yes, sir." Bolo replied before going back to the holotable in the previous room.
Iulius went to take a look outside of the viewport. The Admonitor, like all the other ships, was circling around Lothal and he could see the planet on his left. He could see the scars left by the intensive exploitation that the TIE Defender Project was inflicting on the planet.
A part of him mourned that: Lothal was still the planet he grew up. He was born on Anaxes, but the family left it when he was 1, so Lothal was actually the closest thing he considered home.
He knew that Darvos certainly considered the planet as his home. And so did the Bridgers, their adversaries.
He couldn't let this thoughts distract him, though. He shoved them in the furthest corner of his mind as he observed the fleet starting to move according to his instructions.
---------------------------------
At the rebel camp on Lothal, where the Bridgers and the rest of the gang had reconverted the crawler to a static platform for lodgings, communications and equipped it with a few machine gun turrets provided secretly by the TF Magellan, spirits were high. Jaral was consulting the maps of the imperial defenses, calling Darvos regularly so he could update her on the imperial communications and about the state of the attack force.
Hera was in travel, alright. The strike force of 24 fighters and bombers had to make on-the-clock movements in order to avoid imperial patrols and resupply with food for the pilots and fuel for the spacecrafts given by other rebel cells that had been contacted for the job.
This had been a logistical nightmare, and it was all the more reason why they would only have one shot at this: if the attack failed, Rebel Command would never allow Jaral to mobilize other forces to try again.
Besides, she was confined on the ground. All she could do was to plan the coordinated land strike that aimed at destroying the land-to-orbit turbolaser turrets around the capital. She would've liked to be on her X-Wing, to do the job herself and fly again with Raze and Hera, but Rebel Command had been adamant that she had to avoid to participate in major battles for her safety. Her death would have been a crushing blow for the rebellion, not only her family.
In fact, the rest of the group had even asked that she refrained from participating in the land strike and she had to begrudgingly accept.
So, while the squad was preparing the explosives and the bikes to reach the turrets, which were a total of three, around 5 km from the capitol, she was doing the brain work. From imperial chatter, it was clear that most of the forces had been amassed around the capital and in orbit, meaning that Ezra and the others should have had a relatively easy time placing those explosives.
Aside from all of that, though, she was already preparing herself for the worst case scenario.
Even if the air strike failed, it was imperative that she found a way to blow up the fuel depot at the very least. Without that, the factory would halt and still give time for the Federation to perform a successful invasion of the planet.
No matter what, the TIE Defender could not be allowed to enter full-scale production. One way or another, the factory had to be shut down.
Her thoughts were interrupted when a pair of hands landed on her shoulders, but instead of being scared she felt reassured. She turned around and saw the jovial face of her brother smiling widely at her.
"How's our glorious leader doing?" he joked as he sat right next to her in front of the radio.
"Save that for when we win." she said with a smirk and casually returned to stare at her omni-tool.
Ezra decided it wasn't worth to keep up a charade, so he spoke frankly.
"You know I can feel your emotions, right?"
"I know." she said without flinching.
"Then what are you afraid of? We came this far, and we are going to make it." Ezra tried to encourage her.
"Don't count your chickens, lil' bro. We thought we were ready back on Atollon, and you saw how it went." she simply replied.
Now Ezra assumed a deeper tone. "All right, what's going on?"
Jaral lightly shook her head. "I don't know. It's more of a...hunch...I think."
"Hey, hunches are my thing, remember?" he quipped.
"And then we understood that it was the Force talking to you. Except that now I deal with the Force as well." she stated.
"So it's something of a bad premonition, you're having?"
"Perhaps. Maybe I'm just a bit tired, but I can't shake off a certain bad feeling from my chest."
"Well, I don't think I saw you sleep in these last few days, so I lean toward the tiredness theory." Ezra said with a joking tone and used the arm around her shoulders to force her to lean on the side of his body and his tucked leg.
"You know, you're not exactly as comfy as you once were." she said with a chuckle.
"Well, when we'll have our own private palace here on the planet, you'll get the most comfortable bed in the galaxy, for now, you'll have to do with your clumsy, uncomfortable little brother."
"You forgot supporting, caring and always positive." she added in a tender tone as she pushed her head a bit against his upper arm.
"Oh, so there you go, again." he said while rolling his eyes playfully.
"Ezra, I'm serious." she replied. "I don't think I can stress enough how important you are to me. If I hadn't had you, all these years, I would've probably given up a long time ago."
"No, that's impossible." Ezra immediately countered. "You would've survived just to spit in the face of destiny."
"What does that mean?" she asked, amused by the attempt of the brother to sound all philosophical.
"It means that I saw you when we had to rescue Kanan. When none of us knew if it was possible, you took the challenge head-on. You're that person who is so cool, that once she gets into a rebel cell, she becomes their best fighter pilot and a commanding officer. I saw you pulling off a victory on Atollon, where we should've all perished.
"Even when all hope seemed lost, you always moved forward. That's what you are, Jari. You're my sister, and whatever happens today, I know that you will never stop fighting. And, as we promised, we will face it together. I will never give up on you, sis, that much you should know, by now."
Jaral absorbed those words, along with the positive feelings that Ezra was sending her down the bond. At that moment, she couldn't be more grateful to that weird link that the Force gave them. That strange link that always allowed her brother to know when she needed comfort, and of course, she was grateful to him.
"I love you." she whispered as she buried her face against his shoulder.
"I love you, too." he repeated.
Then they turned in front of them, staring at the view of the mountains on one side and the prairies of Lothal on the other, all bathed in the glowing red of the setting sun.
They were unaware of the fact that, not far from there, Jordan was observing them, together with Sabine. They had both come to announce that the squad was ready to roll, but they didn't have the strength to break the moment, instead they looked at them with wide smiles.
Then Sabine sighed lightly. "I'd really hate to barge in, now."
"I know." Jordan replied. "But war waits for no one." he said with a grin. After all, few things could put him in a better mood than see his children have such a good relationship.
He approached them. "Hey." he called them in a joyful tone.
The siblings scrambled to turn around and stand up as they were snapped out from that moment of quiet.
"Dad. Is everything ready?" Jaral asked.
"The team is ready and willing. We should move out if we want to strike together with the fighters." he reported.
"Good. Then go, and may the Force be with you." she decided.
----------------------------------------
The sensors started to chirp on the deck.
"Rear Admiral," the radar officer said loudly. "we detect several craft coming out of hyperspace."
Iulius stared out of the viewport. In the distance, he could see for a moment the blue rift caused by the spacecrafts leaving the blue tunnel.
"At last, they've come." he mumbled. "Give me a count of their forces, Lieutenant." he ordered at the same officer.
After a few seconds, the answer came. "24 vessels, sir. A mixture of fighters and bombers."
"Their primary target will be the imperial factory and fuel depot. Commander Bolo, alert all commands, deploy the fleet in defensive formation and launch fighters. Have Commander Skerris wait for my signal." he ordered, and while Bolo went to deliver the orders, Iulius turned on his right, toward Qathora.
"Inform the Grand Admiral."
The Togruta nodded and took out from one of her pouches a small droid with the shape of a sphere and the size of a small meiloorun, which then started to hover around Iulius, recording him with its eye. That droid was sending images down to the Imperial Dome, where Thrawn and Pryce were waiting in the latter's office, together with the hologram of Tarkin.
The X-Wings were the first to attack. As expected, they were trying to open a path for the bombers.
They were moving in groups of 2, a leader and a wing-man, and the better performances of their X-Wings were showing, as the TIE Fighters were starting to suffer significant losses. Yet, they seemed way too aware of the position of the imperial fighters. No doubt the Constantinople was keeping track of the smaller crafts for them.
But in the end, Iulius had no intention of wasting time and more pilots into a battle in open space, where the Rebels had much more maneuverability.
"Send Skerris." Iulius ordered after some 5 minutes of waiting. "And move the Admonitor 30° starboard."
The helmsman obeyed. Once the maneuver was over, Skerris took off with his TIE Defender prototype and two fighters covering his wings.
"Skerris, attack the two craft near Transport 8932, draw Syndulla out." he ordered.
"Copy that." the Commander replied.
Soon, Skerris brought himself behind the two fighters. As Iulius instructed, he quickly took out the wing-man, but waited a bit before shooting down the lead pilot, instead simply damaging her fighter.
Only when Hera was detected moving toward Skerris and his fighters, did Iulius gave the order to finish that rebel pilot.
Syndulla reacted by blasting Skerris' wing-men out of the skies with a single burst, but Skerris still managed to get on her tail.
A sudden call, interrupted his view of the battle. The holograms of the three officers appeared behind him, and Iulius turned around.
"Rear Admiral, my air defenses have been compromised." Pryce said angrily.
Iulius hummed. "They have showed a great coordination, but since their Grand Marshall is in command, it is not unexpected." he commented.
"The factory is vulnerable." Pryce remarked.
"Oh, on the contrary, Governor." Iulius replied with a tone that he had definitely caught by being around Thrawn. "Everything is going according to my prediction." then he turned again toward the viewport and saw something on the projectors.
"Look like Syndulla is headed here." Qathora reported in a tone that was a bit more of a caricature of military language.
Iulius put a finger on the channel with Skerris. "Commander, break off your pursuit."
"Negative, Command, I almost got her." Skerris replied eagerly.
Iulius sighed, then turned toward Bolo. "Open fire."
"But, sir, what about Skerris?" the officer asked.
"He's playing into Syndulla's hands. Now open fire." Iulius coldly replied.
A moment later, the turbolasers of the Admonitor opened fire against Hera's X-Wing, and while one bolt hit her, another one hit Skerris as well, leaving both of them with no shield, then Syndulla suddenly veered toward the bridge, but Iulius realized that she wasn't trying to shoot him, but she was aiming for the scanning array right on the rooftop.
The X-Wing passed over the bridge as Skerris still tried to land a hit on it. Iulius couldn't see exactly what happened, but less than 30 seconds later, Skerris' signal disappeared. The sensors signaled that his Defender crashed against the light cruiser Chronos, which was stationed on the current left of the Admonitor.
The light cruiser was hit in one of the forward magazines, the missile payload of the TIE Defender had only exaggerated the explosion and the Chronos was losing power.
"Order the Chronos to head for repairs."
"You sure, sir?" Bolo asked. "We'll leave a hole in our line."
"That's the point, Commander." Iulius replied coldly, still watching the battle unfolding outside of the viewport.
Pryce and Tarkin looked quite puzzled, but Thrawn was actually watching with a satisfied grin.
"Sir," Bolo reported a minute later. "the rebel ships are heading toward the surface!"
"Grand Admiral," Iulius said while slightly twisting his neck on his right. "launch the second wave, please."
"Of course." Thrawn replied and quickly relayed the order.
---------------------------------
After blowing up the land-to-orbit turrets, Ezra and the Specters headed right outside of the capitol to see Hera and the rest of the fighters come down to blow up the factory. At the rendezvous point they found Jordan, Ryder and Jai, who had gone to destroy another set of batteries.
"Found any problem?" Kanan asked to Jordan.
"Please, those idiots never knew what hit them." the Legionnaire replied confidently.
"All right, we should bee seeing them any moment, now." Ezra declared.
Sure enough, a moment later, Sabine looked at the sky and pointed a finger. "There, look." she said excitedly with her helmet still on.
A series of flares started to appear from the clouds.
"Hold it..." Jordan said, looking in that direction with his helmet's binoculars on.
Ezra did the same, Sabine too lowered her rangefinder, and the terrible reality hit them hard: those were rebel ships.
"Is that...?" Ezra could not finish it.
"The entire attack force..." Sabine concluded terrified as she removed her helmet.
They could only watch as the X-Wings and Y-Wings exploded in the air. Only a couple of them disappeared among the buildings of the capital, but it was hard to say who those were.
As the group struggled to think what to do, the voice of Jaral spoke from the comlinks.
"Specter team, do you copy?"
"Jari..."Ezra hesitated. "the attack..."
"I know." she said with pain, but retaining control. "But the Empire is sending out patrols, you have to retreat immediately."
"But, there might be survivors."
"That's what they're looking for. I know that one is Hera for sure, but you have no way to help her, now. Get back to the base, immediately."
"You heard her, everybody on the bikes." Jordan commanded as two gunships appeared on the horizon.
Kanan put his comlink in front of his mouth. "Hera? Hera, do you copy? Hera!"
Ezra went to put a hand on his Master's shoulder. "Kanan. We will find her, I promise."
Realizing that staying around would only put everybody else in danger, Kanan resigned himself and went back to his speeder-bike.
With morale gone and buried, the rebels drove away, toward the mountains that protected their refuge.
---------------------------------------
After the report stating that the rebel force had been completely destroyed, Thrawn sent Rukh to hunt for the rebel leaders, especially for Syndulla.
Pryce seemed quite eager to join the hunt as well, so she headed toward the hangar at the base of the dome, where a swarm of troopers and vehicles were heading into the city. She did, however, asked Thrawn to deliver her congratulations to Rear Admiral Tanis, once he contacted him and Tarkin, whose hologram was still waiting next to him.
"It look like your pupil has become a promising officer, Grand Admiral." Tarkin commented with his usual high-and-mighty tone, though the respect was genuine.
"Rear Admiral Tanis is a rare talent. I only made sure he had the chance to prove it."
Not long after, the hologram of the Rear Admiral reappeared in front of them, standing at ease.
"Rear Admiral, I extend my congratulations. I wish our officers had a tenth of your competence and loyalty." Tarkin said solemnly.
"I just did my duty, sir." Iulius replied firmly, though he sent a glimpse of a satisfied grin toward the Grand Admiral.
Thrawn felt something he hadn't felt in a long time. The sensation of a job well done in grooming someone else. Yes, he felt pride for the young officer projecting in front of him and returned the satisfied smirk.
"I will send my report to the Emperor." Tarkin went on. "If I were you, I would keep your ship ready, Rear Admiral...or should I just say Admiral, at this point."
"Am I allowed to have any intel about my next task, sir?" Iulius asked in a formal tone.
"I don't know much myself. If the Emperor will agree to choose you, he will brief you himself on Coruscant. You might receive a notification in a few hours, so stand ready."
"Yes, sir."
"Good. We will follow your career with great interest, Admiral Tanis." Tarkin concluded before disappearing, leaving the two admirals on their own.
"I must say, your tactic surprised me." Thrawn said.
"Wow, did I actually surprise you?" Iulius said with a half-grin.
"Letting the enemy pass your line of defense toward the objective you're supposed to protect, only to lure them into a trap. It's not as easy as it might sound: it requires precision, discipline and impeccable timing."
"Good thing you taught me that and many other things, sir." Iulius candidly said.
"Oh, I beg to disagree, Admiral." Thrawn said, almost having fun himself. "Those qualities you already possessed, I simply tried my best to help you refine them."
"And I am grateful for that, Grand Admiral." Iulius said.
They exchanged a respectful gaze for a few seconds.
"All right, I better make sure the ship is ready to leave, just in case." the now Admiral concluded.
"Iulius." Thrawn called him.
The young officer stopped from touching the button to close the call.
Thrawn stood at attention and made the salute with a neutral face.
Iulius was hesitant for a moment. Having your superior saluting you it's not something that happens every day, and it certainly never happened in the Imperial Navy. The subordinates were expected to revere the superiors, not the opposite.
Still, after realizing that it was really happening, Iulius straightened back and made a perfect salute.
"I consider myself lucky to have had a great officer like you under my command." Thrawn said with a solemn voice.
"It's been an honor to serve under you, sir. Good luck, for everything."
The two exchanged a last nod and the transmission closed.
Thrawn, however, had to quickly realize that he was being deprived of his best second. Which meant that he was back at relying on Pryce and her quite discouraging track record against the Specter cell. For now, he had to hope that Rukh would be able to capture Syndulla, but apparently, fate listened to his hopes, because no more than 10 minutes later, he received the report.
General Hera Syndulla had been captured by the Empire.