Star Wars: Rise of the Battlemage

When we arrived back at Omega station, I barely had time to see Ahsoka and everyone else off the ship before Tatnia pulled me away. I didn't mind leaving the Jedi, both the new and old friends, in the care of Ahsoka, since I could trust her to keep everyone together and guide them around. I was a little upset that I missed everyone making their sabers, however.

Still, I knew that I was needed elsewhere, so I didn't complain. As Tatnia practically dragged me through the station, heading for the large blocks of sleeping quarters, she gave me a brief overview of what the team had been up to while I was gone.

As planned, their first trip from the station to seek out new recruits was focused on repair and engineering staff. They cleared out most of the Chariot's cargo so they could set up temporary beds and sleeping quarters before heading off into the Mid and Outer Rim. There, they were decently successful, securing thirteen new recruits, all of them with at least some experience working on starships.

They had even gotten lucky and found a more experienced repair specialist, a Sullustan woman by the name of Orbor Fakkiv. She had previously worked as a lead manager in a repair yard, where she was replaced by a human when one of the higher-ups started to lean into more Imperial ideas. Miru happily handed the more experienced adult her control of the repair staff, keeping her position as lead engineer but letting her manage the actual repair process.

The new workers, as well as a new batch of fifteen repair droids, descended on the Whale Shark and the Nautilus, the newly named CR70 Corvette. First, they went over both ships with a toothcomb, repairing and cleaning it out. While that was happening, Miru spent six hundred and eighty thousand credits on upgrades and enhancements for both ships, focused on getting both of them up to our standards. The Whale Shark now had significantly improved shields and several more point-defense weapons, as well as an improved energy system.

It also had its computer systems significantly upgraded, cutting its crew size down from around a hundred, all the way down to thirty, with a minimum of fifteen. That didn't include the pilots for its two squadrons of V-Wing starfighters and two gunship variations of the LAAT/i. They were in the final stages of installing the computer systems when we landed.

The upgrades to the Nautilus were still ongoing, as it was getting a significant overhaul. Apparently, there existed a prepackaged upgrade for the CR70, called the c20 retrofit, and while it was designed to bring the CR70 up to the specs of a CR90, Miru was not satisfied with just that. She managed to wrangle the majority of a c20 retrofit, as well as an even larger upgrade to its shields and power cores. To make up for the high cost, she sold a good chunk of the old parts to the Rebellion, who happily snatched them up.

The Nautilus also received some computer upgrades, reducing its crew size to a manageable fifteen.

While all this was going on, Tatnia left once again to pick up more crew, this time returning with pilots for our starfighters. Again, they didn't find the best of the best, but apparently, the clone pilots were already working them into shape, getting them into the acceptable or even skilled range. I definitely wanted to work on getting them some dexterity-enhancing enchantments to really bump them up.

While Miru and her new crew of workers got busy with the ships, and later, the clones began training their new recruits, Tatnia and Nal once again headed out, this time in search of a crew for our new ships. This time, they got incredibly lucky, managing to find a whole crew and their captain. Apparently, a security group on a nearby system was downsizing, selling a ship, and letting go all of the crew. Tatnia was too late to snag the ship, but just in time to hire the entire crew from it, returning to Omega Station with forty-seven people, almost all of them from the same crew.

The captain, a Corellian by the name of Pella Irsee, was an older man with nearly thirty years of experience captaining ships of various sizes. Just him alone would have been an incredible addition to the team, but the fact that he came with an experienced crew was fantastic. His second in command would be stationed on the Whale Shark, as would a chunk of his crew, while the remainder would be on board the Nautilus. We now had both ships fully staffed with an experienced crew and talented Captains.

In total, there were now just over a hundred and twenty members of the Skyforged Vanguard, with around forty of them being clones. And now it was my responsibility to make sure none of them were going to betray us.

The process of interviewing each and every one of them started at the quarters, knocking on doors and interviewing each of them while they were under the effects of Calm. When that was done, we moved around to the various hangar bays and other locations, Tatnia keeping track of who we had gotten to with a datapad. Even with the Calm spell to simplify the process, it still took the rest of the day. We finally finished in time to get some dinner and head to bed.

The next day, I spent more time meeting with the new team members, getting to know them, answering a lot of questions about magic, and discussing the new developments with the Jedi. Thankfully, both Tatnia and Nal saw the value in having an uncharted and relatively safe planet in our pockets, as well as the value of having Jedi, or at least Force-sensitives, on our side. By the first morning, we had already sent the Staggered Bantha out with a list of supplies and equipment to purchase and bring back to the station. We also discussed where we could get our hands on an appropriate starship to leave on the island.

I was also happy to see what the Ahsoka and the crew had whipped up with Professor Huyangs's help, as well as Miru's help with the parts. Luke and Ezra both constructed singular lightsabers, green and orange, respectively. Luke's was simple, with a body that looked like his father's but had the same flared emitter nozzle that Obi-wan's final lightsaber had. Ezra's looked simple as well, and his Emitter nozzle was somehow connected to his sadly passed master, General Syndulla's husband. Felia's saber was by far the most interesting, as the young woman basically followed my recommendation exactly. She created a dual-saber that could split across the middle to become two single-blade weapons. Both Ahsoka and Huyang had recommended she go with a normal blade like Luke and Ezra, but she had stuck true and finally convinced them to help by promising to learn the single blade first before starting to learn a dual saber style.

The next few days after that was spent getting everyone settled, continuing to meet and integrate my new crew, and still explaining the whole magic thing. Knight Amescoll and his Padawans left on the Staggered Bantha, first to a Mid Rim planet to pick up a newly purchased transport ship, a Maka-Eekai L4000 light transport. It was a bit old, but the previous owner updated it to keep up with the times. Plus, it was modified with more passenger space, better engines, and improved shields, which was basically exactly what we were looking for.

Once they had the ship, they would return to that station for an inspection before leaving to visit Alpha Base. I was very much not looking forward to that meeting, so I was happy to find Knight Amescoll was fine with making the trip by himself. I knew that quite a few people in the Rebellion would react quite poorly to a new group of Jedi not siding with them. With any luck, though, between that and what Amescoll had to say, it would knock some sense into the ones who were a problem.

Meanwhile, the Intervention and the Loyal Hound returned from their most recent mercenary job, clearing out a gang on a Mid Rim planet. Between that and their first job, taking down a small-time warlord that threatened a minor settlement in the Outer Rim planet, they made a hundred thousand credits. That included the bounty and the weapons, food, and vehicles that were sold to the Rebellion afterward.

It was a bit low, but they were specifically taking it easy since they were down to only one ground team while everyone was split up.

Speaking of the Rebellion, Sheora had moved to the station as our permanent liaison. After a happy reuniting with Claron and Felia, she outlined her role and informed us that the Rebellion was getting close to finding us an appropriate precious metal heist, as well as more CIS targets. I had been nervous that we would have been dragged off to one or more of those immediately after arriving home, especially since I had already promised Ahsoka that our attention would focus on Grakkus the Hutt. Thankfully, we had some time.

In total, a full week passed before we finally began to discuss the concept of raiding the Jedi-obsessed Hutt. By then, Knight Amescoll and his padawans had left for Alpha Base, and Luke had rejoined Rogue Squadron. At that point, I could tell that Ahsoka was beginning to get antsy. The Intervention, Whale Shark, and Nautilus had all left to clear out a pirate nest bounty, leaving the Chariot and the Loyal Hound on duty to participate. The clone ground team was transferred over to the Intervention, while we planned on taking Commando and B2 battle droids as our back up.

Basically, we sent the heavy hitters out to work since they all needed more experience, and there was no way they were breaking into the Hutt-controlled moon with brute force. Sure, it was a Hutt planet rife with crime, but the Hutt Cartel had plenty of ships with which to defend itself. A brute force attack would have most certainly ended with us overwhelmed.

That meant it was time to sit everyone down and start planning our attack.

"Grakkus lives in a palace, heavily defended," Nal explained, having started researching the location when I mentioned it to him a few days after we returned. "Also controls Hutta Town, which surrounds his palace. The worst kind of city, filled with danger."

He turned on a rotating holoprojector of the palace, which showed a fair bit of the city as well.

"Also, no way to know where the potential vault is," He added with a frown.

"It would need to be deep and protected," I explained. "Not just from thieves, but from the environment. He wouldn't let the smog that Nar Shaddaa calls an atmosphere touch his precious stuff."

"So we have to break into a fortress palace, find the vault, load up on goods, and then escape with those goods, all before a Hutt can catch on and track us down?" Julus asked as he sat beside Tatnia. "That sounds a bit crazy, even for us..."

"It is," I agreed. "I don't think there is much in terms of ground forces they could throw at us that would take us down. We are too well-armored and skilled for that to happen. However, in his palace, we are at his mercy. They could slam the doors on us or set off traps that neutralize us. Plus, if he calls in the reinforcements, and that includes ships above a certain size, we are going to be stranded."

"Well...once you are inside, Racer can handle security," Miru assured us. "I may have upgraded his systems a bit more with some stuff I got from the Rebels. He can get you through, but…"

"We still need to get in and out," I finished. "with all of the artifacts we want to grab. Without getting stranded by whatever ships GRakkus can call in."

"I know how to get us in," Ahsoka said, looking at Nal. "How difficult would it be to tease him with Jedi artifacts?"

"I managed to locate his intermediaries," Nal responded. "They would purchase the artifacts, not Grakkus."

"What if it was something big?" I asked. "Something potentially fragile that could break if we shifted it around too much?"

"I… do not know," Nal admitted. "The intermediaries make no distinction for size."

"We would still need to present something real," Tatnia pointed out. "They would be able to sniff out a fake a mile away.

"Then it's a good thing we have a whole island filled with genuine Jedi artifacts," Ahsoka said with a smirk. "If we have enough, we might even be able to grab his attention and secure a meeting."

"There is a chance we would have to give up the artifacts, especially the smaller ones," Tatnia pointed out, looking at Ashoka with a raised eyebrow. "Are you okay with that?"

"Statues and random carvings… they don't mean anything to me," Ahsoka explained, shaking her head. "Especially not from the ancient Jedi. I'm more concerned… I'm more concerned about Holocrons and the remains, if there are any. A Holocron is… well, it's a combination of a diary, a last testament, and a biography, all wrapped into a semi-intelligent facsimile of the Jedi who constructed it. It is an incredibly personal thing, and to know that one Hutt is hoarding them away in a vault somewhere on Nar Shaddaa… it's disgusting. We also…"

She paused for a moment, letting out a deep breath before nodding.

"We also have another decent bargaining chip… Me," She said. I opened my mouth to respond, but she put her hand on my leg to stop me. "A live Jedi, especially one who made the newsreels like I did during the Clone Wars, would be a solid way to draw him into a trap. I'm not saying it has to be our first choice, but we should keep it in mind."

I frowned at the idea of using her as bait or as a bargaining chip, but a look from the Togruta got me to nod reluctantly. She was more than capable of taking care of herself, and I could still do plenty to keep us from being forced to resort to that sort of measure anyway.

"Okay, so let's say selling Gakkus Jedi artifacts is our in," I started. "That also means finding the vault will be easy since I can scan for those artifacts with Clairvoyance. We still need an out."

"If we are not forcing our way in, then forcing our way out would be much more simple," Vaz pointed out. "If we are invited in and Racer is capable of shutting down security, then the Loyal Hound blasting through the defenses will catch them off guard."

"Okay, it sounds like we have a general plan," I said. "Let's start trying to hash it out into something more clean. Nal, Vaz, go online and see what kind of footage you can find of Grakkus' palace. What we are really looking for is internal footage, but any angle could be valuable. Ahsoka, we need to contact Amescoll. I want him and his people fully caught up on this. I got the feeling he would agree with you when it comes to artifacts versus Holocrons, but we need to come to a full agreement first. If he says no, I might be able to find more, but it would take a lot longer."

The meeting quickly split apart as we settled into our various tasks, the team beginning to attack the problem to hammer out a more solid plan. We continued to work for several more hours, eventually breaking apart once we had a solid, workable plan.