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As the Corevette exploded into so much space debris, Vender relaxed back in 
his command chair as Ewok swooped in to finish off the last remaining 
fighters.  It had been a splendid piece of tactical work on his part, 
especially given the lack of time to formulate it.  Now, despite the 
extensive damage to the Prometheus, he had led two Imperial Star Destroyers, 
a Strike Cruiser, an Interdictor, a Medical Frigate and a Corvette against a 
disabled dreadnaught, a repair corvette and a Carrack Cruiser and decisively 
defeated them with some help from the local forces.  Yes, he truly was a 
great tactician.

Down from the pit Lieutenant To'Yan called out, "General, we have a 
transmission coming in from Haven's Landing."

"Thank you Lieutenant, I'll take it here."

A few moments passed, then a hologram appeared a few meters in front of the 
command chair, and a deep, thoughtful voice came out, "Ah, General Fene, I 
would like to thank you for your minor assistance and support against the 
illegal attacks on our trade route traffic."

Vender pushed back an obsenity.  MINOR assistantance?  SUPPORT!?!  They had 
only won due to his great tactical mind.  Still, this was a neutral system, 
and if he wanted that to change to his favor, he would need to play their 
game.  "It was nothing at all Governor...Governor."  Damn, he had just read 
over the report on Haven's Landing too, what was his name?

"General, during the battle, our forces detected that your ship has severe 
battle damage.  Is everything all right?"

"Nothing we can't handle Governor.  We're enroute to Aecreas now."

"I see.  Would you be willing to stay a few hours and let our techs have a 
quick look at your ship, as repayment for your help."

"Really Governor, we appreciate it, but we really should get going."

"If I may intrude General," Captain Vedik cut in then leaned in and 
whispered quietly enough for the Governor to hear, "why not simply stay 
awhile and let the rest of the fleet head on to Aecreas.  It's not like 
anyone is going to mess with us with those platforms around us."

This was true of course, and unless they got in close, the best any sensor 
sweep could pick up was that it was an Imperial Star Destroyer, not all the 
battle damage it contained.  Turning back to the hologram, Vender replied, 
"Well Governor, our deployment has just changed slightly, and so I believe 
we can accommidate you.  Please understand though that we can't stay for 
long."

"That is quite understood General, we await your arrival."

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"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE LEFT FOR ERIDANI!?!"

"That's correct General," General Corran Horn Jr replied, "We got here and 
the only ships that were here were the Lockness, the Fang, the Collapser, 
the Cybrus, the Empyrean, and a few corvettes, both ours and local ones.  
Apparantely he took off for Eridani just after we left for Vivianas."

"Did he leave a reason why?"

"Something about deploying farther into the sector to protect the rear trade 
lines more effectively while countering a possible attack against Eridan.  
I'm not quite sure how he came up with all that, but that's what they told 
me when I got here."

Vender sat back and thought it over.  Bethan certainly knew this sector 
better than Vender himself did.  After all, he'd been deployed here for 
several months prior to Vender's arrival, and most likely understood the 
trade lines and system relations better.  Turning over to his left, he said, 
"Get me a map of Eridani and where we are in contrast."  Moments later a map 
of the Osiris Sector appeared next to Corran's image with two blinking dots 
indicating where both systems were.  "Well then, he's not too far out there 
I suppose.  It's fine then Corran, don't worry about it.  Just get your 
taskforce ready to move to New Trask.  I want to be ready to go within a few 
days.  I'll meet you on the planet though for the tour of the Aecreas 
Command Complex that Colonel Taverson has so gratiously offered."

"Sure Ven, I'll see you shortly."

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Vender moved down the corridors of the Aecreas Command Complex nodding to 
himself as Colonel Taverson went on and on about each room and what it was 
designed for.  The place really was impressive, and used far more 
transparisteel than was usually deployed for a command base.  What this did 
do however is create a wonderful view of the plateau outside the base, as 
well as the sky above.  The main dome was a total work of art aesthetically, 
and it's operations were even moreso.  The main Operations Center had 
tracking and communications with every ship in the system, with special 
centers for all three of the command ships.

A transparisteel wall seperated it from the Phoenix Command Center, which 
kep up tabs and kept in touch with the the Phoenix Command Platform and its 
four orbital brothers.  Together, a single person could coordinate an entire 
large-scale battle from this complex far better than he could on the bridge 
of a ship.  The underground Operations center was almost completed as well, 
which would protect those running the battle should the base come under 
attack.  The shield generator was also almost in place.

The outer domes were set up for smaller operations, such as fighter 
squadrons and wing taskforces.  Bethan had already set up one of the domes 
to coordinate and track his prized Wraith Squadron, and another acted as a 
backup databank and processing unit.  Intel also had a domed structure, and 
that place was sealed up more tightly than even the main dome itself.  
Colonel Taverson was certainly proud of the base he ran, and Vender could 
see why.

The finishing of the fifth platform was somewhat of a relief, but Vender was 
more pleased by the work that had been done on the Prometheus at Vivianas.  
It turns out that one of their salvage teams had obtained a working KDY 
Destroyer Ion Engine, and so now the Prometheus was running on one main 
engine and one that was badly damaged, yet working along with its backups.  
There hadn't been time to get the shields up to full power, but they had 
replaced two turbolasers as well.  The vessel still wasn't truly combat 
ready, but at least it could run faster now.

Word on Bethan had yet to arrive, since some strange interference was coming 
up between the two systems at the moment.  Apparantely it was a natural 
phenominon that occured when the twin stars at Curionis Maconis  came into 
an allignment with Quixe and two of its large gas giants.  Something about 
the ionic interaction with the gravity wells creating interference for a few 
days.  From what Taverson had said, it occured about every three years or 
so, give or take a month.  While Vender understood that such things 
happened, and that communications would open back up within a few days, most 
likely by the time that they returned from escorting Sentinel to Tricea, he 
just had this bad gut feeling that Bethan was going to pull something in 
those few days.

At least Bethan had been kind enough to leave a detailed report on why he 
had moved to Eridani at the Command Complex.  After review, Vender agreed 
with Bethan's assessment completely.  All the trade lines were pointing 
right at Eridani, and if they didn't set up a block there quickly, it was 
possible that with the remaining Imperial forces entering the sector from 
Dia Pas that they could launch a counter-offensive that could cut off the 
main trade lines and leave the R2F dependant on a single line through 
Vivianas.  Well he could worry about it later, the tour was just about over 
now, and that meant catching about five hours of sleep, then a meeting the 
next morning to plan out how to best seize the sector.

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Tricea was a rather nice, quiet system Vender thought to himself looking out 
the bridge window.  Filled with an extensive asteroid belt and a small 
refueling station, the place quietly went about its business while traders 
from Aecreas moved down to New Trask, as this was the shortest route.  A few 
mining vessels moved in and out of the belt from time to time, and while 
Aecreas had plans to begin tapping these resources, it had yet to do so, 
leaving the sereneness of the place intact for now.

Sentinel Wing floated off to the starboard side of the Prometheus and its 
escorts, while a few bombers and fighters buzzed by on routine drills.  They 
might as well get a little practice in for the newer pilots before real 
combat arrived.  "Well Corran, enjoy yourself at New Trask, and may the 
Force be with you."

"You too Vender, you too.  Horn out."

With that the Liberator and its escorts shot off into hyperspace, enroute 
for New Trask.  "All right Captain, once we get our fighters aboard, set 
course back to Aecreas.  I'd like to be back in time to watch the Spoorof 
Open.  Five hundred credits says that the Hyperdrives beat the Crusaders."

"I'll take some of...General, we have incoming!  One, no two Victory-Class 
Star Destroyers with escorts.  Checking IDs... Shaavit, they're Imperial!"

"Can we get in touch with Sentinel?"

"No sir."

"Thought so.  Oh well, looks like we're on our own.  Launch fighters, and 
hold onto your butts everyone, we have some Imps to kill."


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