The public announcement of the New Republic followed a couple of days later. Chief of State Cal Omas gave a press conference.
"The New Republic is recognizing the Northern Territories under the rule of Queen Ahsoka as an independent region. Together, the New Republic and the Northern Territories, will fight against the Yuuzhan Vong." A bit short, but it contained all the important parts.
The meeting of the generals was not on Dac, it was on a star destroyer in that system. Outside of the meeting room, before the actual gathering a Mon Calamari in white Uniform approached Ahsoka and bowed his head: "Your Majesty! - - - Do you remember me? We have meet in the battle of Naboo some decades ago. Back then you were a very young padawan. My congratulations by the way. You have come far."
Ahsoka responded: "Yes, you are Gail Ackbar, I remember. It is an honor to meet you Sir. You are Admiral now, as I can see?"
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gial_Ackbar
Ackbar: "Indeed, I'm Admiral now. Your Highness even remembers my full name."
Ahsoka: "Well, you have made yourself a name. – And congratulations from my side, too. Last time we met, you were the representative of the Mon Calamari. You have come far as well in the last 3 decades."
Admiral Ackbar: "Thank you, Your Highness." After a short pause, he continued: "Queen Ahsoka, would you mind following me into my private quarters? I want to show you something. A Jedi artefact."
Ahsoka was suspicious, the invitation sounded fishy. Why show her a Jedi artifact? Show it to her in his private quarters? She was Ahsoka a Jedaii master and could defend herself well, a normal woman should have been rather scared. Still something was odd.
His private quarters, were small, maybe 20m². For a Star Destroyer cabin however it was huge. Besides a private bathroom and a bed, there was a wardrobe, a shelf with books, some pictures on the wall a desk and a tactics board. Ackbar picked 2 foldable chairs out of the wardrobe, set them up and gestured Ahsoka into one: "I hope you don't mind the lack of comfort Your Highness, but I believe, you know that in military vessels things are tailored for usefulness, not for comfort."
Ahsoka had spent many horrible nights in Star Destroyers, between the bunk beds of the clones, her backpack shoved under one of the beds and troopers jumping over her when they wanted to get in and out of their beds. Back then, a foldable chair would have been the extravagant luxury, however her VT-49 was a military vessel, too, and provided decent comfort. In any case, she wanted to know why she was here and not bitch about more comfortable seating: "It is fine, they are comfortable enough, Admiral."
The admiral came straight to the point now: "You might wonder, why I asked you here? I have a Jedi artifact, which I can show you if you want, but the main reason is:" He paused: "I wanted to have a private conversation with you in a safe environment, where nobody can eavesdrop. That is the main reason why you are here."
Ahsoka: "OK, then tell me! You can show me the artifact later."
Ackbar: "We had to painfully realize, that the Vong have infiltrated our government and military. They have ooglith masquers, a jelly kind of jumpsuit, which makes them appear as humans. We have identified one, which we feed with information we want the Vong to have, but we are sure, there is another one who has access to classified documents, whom we have not uncovered yet. We plan our battle as a trap for the Vong, but it can happen, that they will know, that it is a trap. As such, I have to set up a second trap around the first one and that is what I need you for."
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Cloaker
Ahsoka: "Hmm, not sure what you need from me, Admiral?"
The admiral: "Your Majesty, my problem is, I need a lot more battle ships and fighter crafts. If the Vong realize the trap we set up for them and come with a midsize fleet, we are hitting our limits. If they come with an Armada, then we are done. I am in hope, that you might help us in regards. Thus, may I ask you how many battle ships you have and how many fighters?"
Ahsoka: "I only have one capital ship."
Ackbar lost his features: "Only one. I hoped you had at least 10. That is really unfortunate."
Ahsoka: "And I have some 20,000 fighter crafts."
Ackbar's jaw dropped open: "S-o-m-e 20,000 fighter crafts. Woah. I guess we are in business then! How do you transport the fighters, when you just have one capital ship?"
The Northern Territory had more than 70,000 fighter craft and a good 20,000 search drones, several hundred thousand shield generators and a few hundred thousand ion cannons, but Ahsoka did not have to reveal everything. It was better to not let outsiders know all her capabilities.
Ahsoka: "They all have hyperdrive."
The admiral: "Great. And weapons?"
Ahsoka: "Extra powerful laser cannons."
The Shrike had kyber cannons, which were way more powerful than laser cannons, but again, why disclose their full fighting power.
The admiral: "Even better. I understand now, how you managed to keep the Vong out of your territory. OK, so here is the thing. In the meeting we will have in half an hour, I would want you to say, you have 2,000 fighter craft. You can say, old X-wing and Tie fighters. If the Vong fall for our first trap, they will come with a lot of ground troops, but with no more than 500 Coralskippers. If they get wind of the first trap, they will come with 2,000, maybe 3,000 Coralskippers. In this case, they will run in my second trap, which only you and I know and that is, they will run into 20,000 of your fighter crafts."
Ahsoka: "OK, understood, in the meeting I will only disclose 2,000 old X-wing and Tie-fighter craft."
Ackbar: "Yes, Your Highness." He went to his wardrobe and picked something wrapped in a piece of cloths from it, then placed it on the table and unwrapped it. Out came a very old looking wooden light saber. Not only a wooden handle, no, it was entirely made from wood.
Ahsoka looked at it and said: "Nice piece, may I take it?"
Ackbar: "Yes, please."
Ahsoka took it and without even turning it on, she knew: "It's not working. The crystal is not swinging, it's not getting excited."
Ackbar: "Unfortunately, that is so. I have replaced the energy cell in it, but it still does not work."
Ahsoka: "My I take it apart?"
Ackbar: "Sure."
Using the force, Ahsoka disassembled the light saber hilt. The admiral watched in awe seeing the various bits and pieces hovering in front of him. "See, this wooden piece here is cracked," pointing to one wooden tube, "you need to have it made anew or have it glued together again, then the exciter will be pressed to the crystal correctly and it should work again.
The admiral's eyes lighted up: "I will tell one guy from the maintenance group to fix it. Would you mind putting it together for me again after the meeting?"
Ahsoka: "Not at all. It will be my pleasure."
Ackbar finshed: "Let's go, we need to be at the meeting soon." On the way, he called the maintenance guy with his com link and instructed him to come to the meeting room. The other participants were all waiting in the conference room already when Ahsoka and Ackbar walked in. While Ahsoka took a seat, a trooper with blue maintenance uniform came in and Ackbar shortly explained to him what he had to do.
After the introduction round, Admiral Ackbar presented his principle battle plan: "There is a fortress on Ebaq 9. We want the Yuuzhan Vong bring major troops there, then eliminate them on the ground and in space. We have B-wing and E-wing squadrons which we will bring there and hide them. We want the Vong to believe, that this is a relatively easy mission for them, that they not only have the advantage of surprise, but also the advantage of more forces. Once they dropped their ground troops, they will face their doom."
General Bel Iblis asked: "How do you want to make the Vong come to Ebaq?"
Ackbar: "First there will be raids on a number of nearby Vong outposts. Second there is a Vong spy, we have identified, working in the administration of the government. This spy will receive information that something the Vong really want is on Ebaq 9."
General Farlander asked: "You have B-wings and E-wings distributed to several outposts of the Vong. Then they shall withstand a major fleet of the Vong at the same time look like they are few. How is that gonna work?"
Ackbar: "The B- and E-wings on Ebaq 9 will in fact only be relatively few. Enough to make it interesting for the Vong, few enough to make them believe it'll be an easy game for them. Queen Ahsoka will bring massive support for our fighter crafts. The Vong will be fully overpowered."
Farlander: "Queen Ahsoka! How many fighter crafts do you contribute?"
Ahsoka: "About 2000."
Farlander: "That indeed is quite a number. How do you want to hide them?"
Ahsoka did not want to reveal the full capability of the Shrike and lied: "We will hide them in a cloaked star destroyer."
Farlander: "Smart. What ships do you have?"
Ahsoka lied again: "X-wing and many Tie-fighters."
Farlander: "You believe, you can stand against Coralskippers with these rather old ships?"
Ahsoka: "I believe the number will even their weaknesses. We believe 2 to 3 Ties against one Coralskipper should work well."
Farlander: "Fine, you have to keep the Coralskippers off our necks, then we will deal with the ground forces."
Ahsoka: "I fully understand, Coralskippers above you will most likely mean your doom, not the Vong's"
Farlander: "Exactly, and I have little intention to lead my Jedi into doom."
Ahsoka: "Sure, count on me."
Ackbar: "OK, then I guess we are done already. I will have meeting minutes and a more detailed battle plan sent to you."
People in the meeting room started to leave, when another woman came in, looking questioningly at the admiral. Ackbar instructed her: "Shiela, will you prepare the executive summary of the meeting from the recordings, please? Queen Ahsoka and I will quickly fix my old light saber, I told you about, then I will be with you to fine tune the battle plan."
Ever since the torture she received from Sidious, she was force sensitive enough, to sense the resonance of the force in all living beings in close proximity. Some beings had almost no resonance, while force wielders had a strong one. There was one species though, which had no resonance at all. No resonance at all, because the source had abandoned them - the Vong. A Vong was like a void in the force and this woman was like a void in the force. Ahsoka secretively pulled her ear with the force to be sure. If the woman was a Vong, the force would not affect her. The ear did not move and the woman did not touch her ear either.
Next the maintenance trooper came in and presented the mended wooden tube. Ahsoka snatched it from him, looked at it and commented: "Well done, that should work."
Back in the private quarters of the admiral, she assembled the light saber back together and handed it over to him. The admiral switched it on and a light red beam was emanated together with a rhythmic hum. With excitement, the admiral burst out: "Great, thank you."
Ahsoka: "Interesting, it has a red beam, it probably belonged to a Sith."
The admiral: "I have no idea, who had it before me. I bought it a while ago on a market. I collect old weapons, you know."
Ahsoka: "I guess the light saber is thousands of years old. This light saber is made from wood almost entirely. Nowadays, if a wielder would want a wooden handle, then a wooden tube would be made and pushed over the metal hilt. I would guess, this saber is one of the first ones ever made, way back when metal work was not as sophisticated yet. A C14 analysis will tell you more about its age."
Ackbar, the Mon Calamari, smiled from ear to ear - the dark skin with the protruding eyes on the side and the grin on his face - it looked kind of funny: "That would mean, the piece is priceless?"
Ahsoka: "Very likely." The admiral still admired the light saber and its magical beam and Ahsoka continued: "That woman, Shiela, you know her?"
Ackbar turned the light saber off and faced Ahsoka again: "Yes, she is our team assistant. My long time team assistant got sick and since two months, Shiela is working for me, why?"
Ahsoka: "She might be a Vong."
Ackbar lost all facial features: "What?"
Ahsoka: "She just feels to me like a Vong. Sorry, I cannot explain it better."
Ackbar: "That would be a disaster. The Vong would know all about our military operations."
Ahsoka: "Then keep the second trap a secret just between the two of us and the Vong will step right into it."