The Constantinople and the Ghost quickly reached the plain where the tower stood. When they landed, Ezra, Jaral, Mira and Darvos were already waiting at the ramp of the hangar to open, so they could finally reunite with their family again.
When the ramp finally finished lowering, the people aboard the Ghost was already waiting for them. Particularly, Sabine was at the very front, hands on her hips and an expression between furious and absolutely proud.
"Be prepared, lil bro." Jaral thought with a chuckle.
"Yup, my war goddess is angry." he thought back, rolling his eyes with a smile.
They descended the ramp, and when they touched the grass, Sabine stepped forward, with a grin that contrasted with her severe eyes.
She closed the distance with Ezra and raised a hand with her right hand twisted as if she wanted to scratch him, but eventually, she just grabbed his collar and kissed him with vigor, earning a chuckle from the spectators.
"I forgive you only because you came back." she said while hugging him.
"You're too generous, cyar'ika." Ezra replied while returning the hug.
Sabine took something from her belt.
"So generous that I kept this for you." and showed his lightsaber.
Ezra gently grabbed it and reattached it to his belt. Meanwhile, Jordan took out his daughter's saber as well and stepped forward to tend it to her.
While Jaral reentered in possession of her weapon, Ezra was reminded of one thing that had happened in the last few days that he still hadn't told his sister. He turned his head toward her with an alerted tone.
"Sis, we must get to Malachor, Ahsoka is still alive!" he said, leaving everyone wrong-footed.
"Hold it, what do you mean?!" Rex asked in surprise.
Thus, Ezra quickly recapped his experience into the World Between Worlds and the Jedi Temple on Lothal. With the preparations for that day's battle, he had decided to keep for himself what had happened there, because he himself still had to realize entirely whatever occurred.
The story left everybody speechless.
"But...if she went back to Malachor..." Jaral reasoned. "wouldn't she have been there for a year and a half, already? Will she even be alive?"
"Come on," Ezra replied with force. "why would I have undergone all of that just to let her die slowly on that cursed planet?! She must be there!"
"Or maybe, she found a way to leave." Nimbus suddenly spoke, drawing the siblings' gaze.
"What do you think?" Jaral asked calmly.
"Well, I left the planet with my own TIE, Maul stole a ship from my deceased colleagues, but there were two of them on Malachor that day. If she went back to that moment, perhaps she found the last TIE Advanced and left...or maybe," she said while stroking her chin. "maybe there was portal for this 'World' on Malachor. Now that she knew this, she probably found out how to use it and...left." she concluded.
The siblings looked at each other, then at the Mirialan again.
"So this means she might be anywhere, by now." Ezra understood.
"Who cares?" Rex intervened. "She's alive, that's all that matters." he added with a genuine relief knowing that his best friend was alive. "But still, we could use her help in the future."
"I agree." Hera added. "We need to find a way to contact her."
"You guys have a war to win, right now." Nimbus commented. "But I have a lot of time to spare. I will have my network look for her." she offered.
"Well, that saves us the problem, Nimbus, thank you." Jaral said. "But if you find anything..."
"Don't worry, I'll let you know. And I'll try to help her anyway I could. It's the least I can do after trying to kill her." the Mirialan said calmly.
"I guess that'll have to do." Ezra said.
"Come on, now." Hondo spoke. "We're all heroes, today! It's time to celebrate...*sniff*...and get paid, of course."
The siblings shook their heads, then Ryder spoke up.
"He is right, though." and stepped in front of the siblings. "You two have achieved what seemed impossible. Lothal will never thank you enough."
"It was a team effort, Ryder." Ezra tried to dismiss the compliments.
"Yeah, for a plan so crazy that only the two of you could ever hope to execute." Zeb added with a smirk.
Rex huffed amused. "None of us could ever hope to have that level of coordination. You did great, kids."
Jaral smirked to the old clone, then she realized something.
"Wait, where's Gregor?" she asked to Rex and Wolffe, though she could already guess.
The resigned gaze on the two clones' faces was all that she needed, even Ezra, who was unaware of that, felt dejected at the news.
"He died like he wanted." Rex stated solemnly. "Fighting for a cause he chose to believe in."
"Still, we're sorry for you." Ezra said with tact.
A moment of silence followed.
"We should head to the city, we better make sure our army has..." Jaral started, but suddenly the sun was obscured.
There wasn't a single cloud in the sky, so everyone looked up with curiosity, and everybody but Jaral was stunned.
Right above them was flying the INS Protector. It was at least 8.000 meters above the surface, and yet its size was so big that it could still obscure the sun. A few warships were flying around it as escort.
"What the..." Michalina asked. "have they brought the Sentinel?"
"No, that's the INS Protector." Jaral explained. "They have built it in preparation for the invasion."
"It's...enormous." Zeb commented with a hushed tone, humbled by the sheer dimensions of the ship.
"If it is as equipped as the Sentinel, it has enough firepower to obliterate an entire fleet." Jordan said.
"That's the point." Jaral explained. "I doubt the Empire will just stand down and let us occupy the planet. We're gonna need a lot of guns to repel their counter-attack."
"I see you've already thought of everything." Ezra quipped.
"That's kinda my job." his sister replied with a lopsided grin. "Before we came here, I ordered part of the invasion fleet to take control of Dornea's orbit. Without supplies on the ground, the imperial garrison will soon have to surrender to the local resistance. We'll also have to free the rest of the sector before we move on with the campaign..."
She stopped, realizing that this wasn't the right place to explain everything. "You know what? Let's get on the Ghost and reach the center of the capital. I'm sure Prince Claudio is already there."
The Legionnaires looked surprised. "The Prince is here?" Jordan asked.
"You will see by yourself." Jaral simply answered. "Hera, are we good?"
Hera nodded toward her ship. "Get aboard, ma'am."
---------------------------------
Preferring to not crowd the ship again, Jaral decided to be followed only by the Specters and Ryder, while the rest of the group got hosted by the Constantinople, which had to wait until its Marines returned.
The Ghost headed toward the capital. There seemed to be a lot of traffic of landing shuttles in front of the Dome. Apparently, the Systems Alliance troops were sweeping the structure clear of all the imperials who had surrendered, escorting them to the spaceport where there was room for two Athabasca-class transports to be brought down and load the prisoners.
The new Rebel Army had instead secured the main square in front of the Dome and was keeping away the crowd of civilians. A cordon of soldiers was keeping away both those who were there to celebrate the liberation, but also an angry mob who wanted revenge against the hated imperials, though they seemed to respect the rebel authority, for the moment.
The Ghost was hailed by the Prince himself and authorized to land at the spaceport, where an escort would pick them up to lead them into the square.
They were welcomed by a soldier of the Rebel Army who saluted her.
"Grand Marshall Bridger."
She saluted back. "Greetings, soldier..." she voluntarily suspended.
"Ma'am, Private Forque. 3rd Battalion of the 1st Division." he said with a discipline that clearly came from a formal military training.
Once they arrived at the square they found an impressive deployment of rebel troops and vehicles. Battle tanks on both repulsor technology or good old tracks. The Pelicans were unloading troops continuously, but in the middle of the square, Jaral spotted immediately the Prince, wearing a regular field officer armor of the Alliance, blue with a simple beret on his head and the rank of colonel painted on the shoulder pads. He was escorted by two soldiers with different models of armor, but still painted in black. Those were members of the Imperial Guard.
Besides him there was a Kel-Dor officer with the uniform of the Rebel Alliance and the plaque of General, though Jaral didn't recall ever see him.
She, followed by the rest of the group, materialized her armor and approached the two.
"Your Highness." she greeted.
"Grand Marshall. Now I'm sure that my Mother and the Admiral were even underestimating you." he said with a clear tone that made difficult to understand if he was joking or not, but then he concluded. "You truly did a remarkable work."
"Thank you, sir."
Then the prince indicated the Kel-Dor next to him.
"Meet General Siv Moot, one of the most talented officers that our advisors found for your Army."
The alien made a stern salute, that Jaral returned.
"Grand Marshall Bridger. It's an honor to finally meet you." he said.
"Likewise, General. Welcome to the Rebellion." she said before starting to present the crew behind her.
"This is my brother, Commander Ezra Bridger. There you have General Syndulla and my cooperators Sabine Wren, Garazeb Orellios and C1-10P 'Chopper'."
"The Ghost crew...your actions have resonated even in the Milky Way." the Kel-Dor commented.
That made Zeb chuckle. "Was about time someone told us we are famous."
"So, General," Jaral resumed. "are your men searching into the Dome, already?"
"We already grabbed the schematics of the structure. I sent a special operations team into the Governor's office looking for any valuable intel." the alien reported.
"Good. I would like to inspect any documents regarding the Imperial Weapons Division, as soon as you gathered everything."
"You're the boss, ma'am. I'll inform you as soon as we're ready. Ah...before you go..."
He rummaged into one big pouch on his belt and took out an item from it. An item that had the Specters to watch in disbelief.
"In the Governor's office, they found this in the first batch of materials. I think it might interest you."
Kanan's lightsaber! Jaral slowly reached for it and grabbed the saber into her right hand.
"It does, General. Thanks." she said.
She turned her head toward her brother. They barely had to think about who should keep it.
They both reached the group of Specters and Jaral tended the saber to Hera. The Twi'lek looked at it with a painful expression, then shook her head firmly.
"No. You guys should have it." she said.
"Hera, please." Ezra asked.
"I don't even know how to use it." she protested.
"We already have ours." Jaral replied. "And it's not about how to use it, it's about preserving Kanan's memory. You are the only one we can trust this with."
Zeb and Sabine looked at her with a somewhat hopeful gaze. It looked like the entire crew was on board with the idea, so Hera finally conceded and took the sword with both hands. For a moment, the bittersweet memory of Kanan came back and she instinctively looked toward the direction where just a few days before stood the fuel depot that had taken her Jedi away.
Hera took a breather and eventually attached the hilt to her belt, accepting the request of her favorite kids and pledging to herself that she would keep that sword for as long as she lived.
Jaral sighed softly and turned again, this time she dematerialized her helmet to look at the officers directly.
"Your Highness, what's the status of your fleet?"
"As you probably saw, the Protector has already taken position on the other side of the planet. If there is to be a counterattack, the Kamdon trajectory seems the most likely. Asides from that, the attack on Dornea has met total success and, as per the plan you devised, Admiral Edrix is already sending a squadron toward the planet of Garel, along with a division of the Federal Army."
"Any losses?"
"So far, only a few fighters. It's way less than what we had anticipated. As I said, your strategy is working like a charm, Grand Marshall."
Jaral nodded, then turned toward Moot. "General, I would like to inspect a squad of your choice and receive an overview about your equipment. If I have to command you, I need to know what weapons my men are using."
"Sure thing, ma'am. We can start with these vehicles, if you want." he said, pointing at a couple of tanks and a massive tracked vehicle that could only be described as a small mobile fortress.
"That would be great."
"I'm coming with, I'm curious as well." Ezra added.
"Me too." Sabine added, eager to find out about new weapons.
"Ah, before we go, Your Highness, what about Grand Admiral Thrawn?" the Marshall asked.
"I received news that he's being held in the brig of a cruiser which will bring him back to Earth." the Prince informed.
"The Earth?" Jaral asked a bit surprised.
"My Mother has expressed interest in talking with him. Aside from the fact that he will probably have a lot of valuable intel, that we will share with the Rebellion of course, by transferring him there he will be out of range of the Empire. There won't be the risk of it sending someone to try and break him free."
Hera heard that and had to object. "He just bombarded a city full of civilian, Your Highness, he must be put on trial here."
"I am aware, General," the Prince calmly replied. "but the Grand Admiral has surrendered to us, the Federation. As such it's our responsibility to detain him. Once the war is over, we will hand him to the Rebellion for the trial, but I think the point of keeping him as far away as possible from the Empire still stands."
The rebels had to concede that. Thrawn was an extremely dangerous foe, and if they kept him in this galaxy, where the allies only held a couple of planets, right now, there was the risk of the Empire liberating him. Even though he had surrendered, which was a sure way to lose your rank, along with your head, for an Imperial officer, it was better to keep him as far away from the battlefield as possible.
"I understand." Jaral approved with a neutral tone. "We will let him to your care."
"Thanks, Marshall."
"Ok, sorry to have you wait, General. We might proceed."
Moot showed her and her friends the way. They headed toward the vehicles. The rebels thus learned about the 'Scorpion' and the 'Elephant'. All named after Earth's animals, the former was a Main Battle Tank on tracks, yet the engine and said tracks were so powerful that it could easily move even on the roughest terrain, as long as there was room to maneuver it.
The latter was indeed a Mobile Command Center, armed with a dozen turrets, both blaster and missiles type, it could host two squads of troopers and a small park of light vehicles or two Scorpions at the lowest level. It was intended to enact long-range incursions into enemy territory, provided that the orbit of the planet was already under allied control.
Then it was time for Ryder to be presented to the Prince, and it became clear why a member of the Imperial Family was there: while Edrix commanded the fleet, Claudio was to be not just a leader of the ground forces, but the geopolitical player for the Federation there.
Thus, it didn't take long for Claudio to support Ryder into becoming the new Governor ad interim, something that the population of Lothal wasn't going to protest for, certainly, considering that Ryder had already made himself a name by fighting the Empire and he still remembered how to do his old job.
Later, reports came in, that in some isolated outposts there were groups of imperials (mainly fanatical stormtroopers and their officers) who refused to surrender. Still, these were small groups that easily got dealt with by the Rebel and Federal troops, even if there were some losses.
Aside from that, after completing the first inspection of one of the Army units, the siblings went back aboard the Ghost and went back to the tower, to enjoy a moment of very much deserved rest, finally able to understand the new reality.
Now they were free.
-------------------------
April 28.
Iulius still couldn't believe the report. Thrawn had been forced to surrender without a fight! Lothal and its entire sector had fallen to the extra-galactic invaders and it seemed like the Imperial High Command was struggling to decide what to do.
The answer should've been clear: counter-attack with all forces available, but knowing imperial politics, Admiral Tanis understood that the Moffs of the neighboring sectors would have tried any excuse to keep their resources to their own, even though they still called for the Empire to act cohesively.
Estimates of the ISB said that the Rebel Fleet had linked up with the Federation on Lothal. They said that, even combined, the enemy force wasn't above a thousand ships, but Iulius was sure that it couldn't be all. The Federation wouldn't have committed to an offensive war with a meager amount of ships, and if they did, they were sure their industrial complex could quickly close the gap.
They certainly inflicted a crushing blow to the Empire by taking its best strategist as a prisoner and securing Lothal before the planet could be glassed.
Iulius checked the galaxy map. Lothal was right next to Mon Cala, which was certainly going to be the next objective of the rebellion, since its native species had joined the Rebellion and the planet's shipyards would allow the Rebels to build their own fleet in just a few months.
Now he really wished he had stayed there with him, perhaps he could've prevented all of that from ever happening.
But there was no time to think about that. He had his own mission. The Emperor himself had given it to him. His new fleet of 4 Star Destroyers, 10 Arquitens, two Victory-class Destroyers and a pretty big supply of Gozanti transports was rallying at Ansion, perhaps the last bastion of civilization in the Mid Rim before meeting Wild Space.
As soon as the reinforcements had arrived and the local command gave him permission, he would've jumped to a certain set of coordinates, but not before an agent of the Emperor had arrived to guide the fleet toward the unstable environment of Wild Space and helped them map a safe route.
If that wasn't enough, there was still the problem that he didn't know exactly what he was gonna found. The Emperor told him that there was a threat in Wild Space and he wanted Iulius to create a buffer zone. He had spoken about a warmongering alien race called Grysks, which were actually known by Thrawn. A recent mission of the Grand Admiral right after Atollon had revealed that the Grysks were planning something in the Northern Fringe.
That said, the Grysks seemed to be a species lurking in the shadows. There were only vague reports about their appearance, since their favorite strategy was to enslave the will of other species and send them against the known galaxy, for what purpose, nobody knew except them.
One thing seemed clear: he had to be ready for anything when the fleet would jump into that forgotten sector on the I6 grid.
At least the Emperor had granted him full autonomy, which was kinda rare. Since communications with the rest of the Empire would have been pretty difficult, Iulius was free to accomplish his objective however he wanted, even if it meant ignoring some of the Empire's laws and rules of the Armed Forces.
If he had to take on an unknown enemy, he needed to be able to create his own rules and adapt his forces around the enemy.
He decided that he had reviewed the reports enough. After all, the only way to actually know what would happen once they arrived into Wild Space, was to wait.
He left his office and headed for the training section of the ship, where his faithful Qathora was, sharpening her combat abilities with the troopers.
As he entered the shooting range, he immediately spotted her, busy in what seemed like a marksmanship competition with two stormtroopers, testing their precision with E-11.
The spectating stormtroopers were not wearing their helmets, which should've been a violation of Imperial code, but Iulius had long dissented against such pervasive rules that, in his opinion, only made the troopers uncomfortable, miserable and overall just stressed, making them less effective in battle.
And now that he had the permission to do however he wanted, he had officially removed that obligation, as the one that imposed the stormtroopers to call each other with their serial number rather than with their real names.
It was kinda iconic that the troopers had immediately jumped at the opportunity and immediately dropped both habits. To Iulius, it was all he needed to be convinced that the Imperial Armed Forces were in need of a serious reform, and it was also a move that had gained him the favor of his troops.
Even if he had this fleet for barely a week, the small reforms he had made about discipline had been welcomed favorably by the rank and files. Only some staunch officers insisted that these concessions were only encouraging the loss of discipline and loyalty. In Iulius' opinion, if loyalty had to be imposed, then there was something terribly wrong in the entire system.
Besides, reality was clearly on his side: after giving them some room to breathe and relax, the stormtroopers had steadily increased their efficiency in the regular exercises and they had grown to finally accept Qathora and respect her skills, as this friendly competition was demonstrating.
He watched with interest, but one of the stormtroopers, who was laughing and betting with his comrades, spotted Iulius and he immediately stood at attention.
"Atten-tion!" he announced.
The troopers jumped to salute him in a military fashion. The two men who were participating in the competition presented their arms, while Qathora made a bow by reason of their formal relationship of master and servant.
"At ease, ladies and gentlemen." Iulius reassured them. "While I appreciate you honing your skills in a friendly way, I'm in need of my secretary." he said in a friendly tone.
"Yes, Admiral." Qathora diligently said, then deposed the E-11 on the table behind her and stepped toward Iulius, not without giving a friendly pat on one of the troopers in full armor and rifle in hand.
"Sorry, Mickey, I will humiliate you next time." she said with a smirk.
"Yeah, right. You're lucky the Admiral needs you now." the man replied in tone under his helmet.
With that said, Iulius and Qathora left the room.
"Come on, the Emperor's agent is arriving." he said.
"I must say I'm curious." she commented. "Navigating through hyperspace without any map is no easy feat. Especially into Wild Space. How is this person going to help us?"
"We'll learn it soon enough." Iulius simply concluded.
They headed toward the hangar, crossing various troopers, ensigns and junior officers who both saluted him and Qathora. The Togruta had definitely earned the respect of most of the crew. Only the most conservatives among the high-ranking officers still had a distaste for her alien nature, but couldn't do anything because they knew she was Iulius' "possession".
When they finally entered, they saw the technicians preparing a landing zone for a Lambda-class transport that was waiting to land.
They positioned themselves so that they would be waiting right in front of the shuttle's ramp when it finally touched down, which happened a couple of minutes later.
The ramp lowered and, surprisingly, the first person to come down was a Royal Guard. Iulius and Qathora exchanged a brief look and then saw the one who was supposed to be their guide.
A young woman descended from the ramp. She couldn't have been more than 17 years old, yet she was escorted by a Royal Guard. She had green emerald eyes and gorgeous red-gold hair. She was wearing a black suit on the upper body that left her arms bare, her hands covered by gloves. The lower body was covered by a pair of tight pants, black as the rest of the clothes.
Actually, not. The only piece of cloth she was wearing that was not black, but yellow, was a long cape.
"You must be the Emperor's envoy." Iulius saluted. "Admiral Tanis."
"Greetings, Admiral." the girl replied in an extremely neutral tone. "I'm the Emperor's Hand, but you can call me Mara Jade."