Star Wars: From the Clone Wars to Starfaring Heroes

Chapter 161, Section 163 - Heavy Burden!

Ryan's thoughts raced in shock, the first name that popped into his head being General Grievous.

That cold-blooded cyborg monster seemed to be the only being in Rein's knowledge who had the ability and the motivation to attack Coruscant.

But this idea immediately raised more questions.

First, Raine's memory of how Grievous arrived at Coruscant in Revenge of the Sith is very vague.

That battle took place towards the end of the war, with the front lines seemingly approaching the core world.

Moreover, Renn vaguely remembered that the separatists were already at their last gasp at that time.

However, these fragments of memory were not enough for him to make a clear judgment.

In any case, the whole affair was permeated with the unique and sinister aura of the Sith Lord.

Ryan felt a wave of frustration; he had never imagined that the other party would resort to such extreme measures.

Looking back now, that naive optimism was simply foolish.

The Republic's sudden display of a desire for 'peace' was entirely unexpected.

The significant impact of the Battle of Kolmogoks on the Republic's war-weariness was an unexpected surprise, which once brought great comfort to Renn.

Ryan originally believed that unless he directly attacked the initiators of the peace initiative, it would be difficult to reverse public opinion on the war.

But now it seems that launching a devastating attack on the republic's capital would achieve the same effect.

"Can't you just let me catch my breath?" Renn cried out silently in his heart, feeling as if he had just escaped one quagmire only to immediately fall into an even deeper vortex.

Perhaps this is the inevitable price to pay for defying that vast and chaotic cosmic force—the Force.

At this moment, Rennes is in deep trouble.

He stood in a room crowded with terrified congressmen and delegates, surrounded by a unit of combat robots he had managed to bring in by threatening the dean of the Ouf Taraba Academy.

In everyone's eyes, his image was no different from that of a villain.

To make matters worse, he had just attacked a Jedi Knight, attempting to seize his lightsaber.

Looking back now, it was a really reckless decision.

Anakin Skywalker's record in handling these kinds of conflicts is anything but mild.

What worries Renn even more is not the four lightsabers that are currently pointing at him, because the wielders of the swords seem to be quite rational.

But...

"—The homeland defense fleet has been destroyed, Speaker!"

In the holographic projection, a Jedi Knight in a long robe stepped into the scene, shouting, "Admiral Horner has lost contact! They are destroying all our communications satellites!"

The speaker's image shook violently as he mumbled incoherent words before being forcibly dragged off the screen by a pale-faced, bald aide.

Anakin frowned and rapidly accelerated the playback, causing the image and sound to distort and warp before finally focusing on Master Adi Gallia.

"...Skywalker? Is that you? Thank the Force, we've finally made contact! Our satellites are under attack, and Coruscant's external communications are about to be completely cut off. It seems the attack we've been fearing has happened, but the attack point isn't the front line we predicted; it's Coruscant! You must evacuate the delegation members safely immediately...!"

The recording was abruptly cut off by a piercing buzz and a blinding blue light.

Anakin Skywalker raised his head, his gaze sweeping across the room, his thick eyebrows slightly raised, silently but powerfully conveying the meaning of "See, I told you so."

Just as Bell Organa was about to speak, he was abruptly silenced by the sudden buzzing of blaster guns charging and cocking around him.

Padme Amidala, however, was not intimidated.

"So?" Her voice tried to remain calm, but it couldn't completely hide the deep sense of frustration within it. "Now, what should we do?"

One thing is beyond doubt.

The political careers of everyone in this room, regardless of which side they belonged to, have been devastated.

They poured all their influence, resources, and effort into promoting the peace initiative, only to end up with nothing.

No, the situation is worse than getting nothing at all.

They took a difficult step toward peace, but the Sith dragged them all back into the abyss with a decisive blow.

“First…” Renn flicked his wrist, neatly sheathing the black Besca alloy saber back into its sheath, the metal scraping together producing a faint hiss. “Everyone, put away your weapons. Then, we need to assess the current situation immediately.”

He raised his fist and clenched it tightly.

The surrounding combat robot forces reacted immediately, their weapons lowered, their movements perfectly synchronized, demonstrating an absolute obedience that only machines could achieve.

The Jedi Knights clearly did not want to provoke a conflict at this moment, and almost simultaneously sheathed the blazing blades of their lightsabers.

Ryan took out his holographic projector and dialed the emergency line directly to General Severn Tann.

The communication was established almost instantly.

General Tann's signature, disciplined, almost rigid image appeared on the projection. Since being promoted to Supreme Commander, her expression seemed even more stern: "What is it, Major General?"

"The situation here is a bit complicated; quite a few people have gathered here."

"...Understood. Do you have any specific reports to submit?"

Raine's gaze swept quickly across the Jedi Knights present.

Every bone in his body was screaming silently, urging him to leave this dangerous place immediately while the robot army was still providing cover.

But he stood firm.

“An unidentified separatist fleet attacked Coruscant,” Raine reported directly. “Do you or the Supreme Command have any intelligence on this?” A suffocating silence fell over the projection screen.

General Tann's figure immediately disappeared from the screen.

Obi-Wan Kenobi raised one eyebrow meaningfully. "Even General Tann... if I remember correctly, she's now the Supreme Commander of the Confederation, and she knows nothing about this? Frankly, I now seriously doubt whether this so-called 'Separatist fleet' even belongs to the Confederation."

“I hope not,” Mina Bontri’s voice was filled with suppressed anger as she growled, “otherwise the consequences would be unimaginable.”

“Master Gallia did not explicitly identify the attackers in his communications,” Obi-Wan stroked his beard, maintaining the composure characteristic of Jedi. “It would be a mistake to hastily conclude that it was the work of separatists, and recalling the delegation may simply be a necessary precaution.”

"Excuse my bluntness, Master," the young Togruta apprentice, Ahsoka, interjected nervously, "but... besides the Confederation, who else could muster such a massive force to attack Coruscant or even destroy the home fleet? The Core World simply doesn't have pirates of that scale. And the powerful pirates in the Outer Rings... as far as we know, most of them are employed by the Confederation."

Mina snorted heavily, leaned back in her chair, and pressed her temples hard with her knuckles.

She is as adept as ever at setting the mood.

Tawny Ames and the other peace-loving officials immediately understood her intention, relaxing their tense bodies and effectively pulling everyone's emotions back from the brink of fighting or fleeing.

“How could we possibly send a fleet right under Coruscant’s nose?” Mina questioned, her voice filled with incomprehension and a hint of offended anger. “Unless we’re insane, or we’ve discovered a core world defense vulnerability that even the Republic itself is unaware of.”

The answer didn't keep them waiting long; when Severn Tann's image reappeared, Ryan's arm holding the projector was already starting to feel sore and numb.

“I just had a consultation with Major General Trilm,” the Supreme Commander’s voice remained calm, but with a hint of gravity. “There is indeed an armed force controlled by separatists in the Core World, and I myself… am completely unaware of it.”

Before Ryan could process the news of Carly Trilm's promotion to major general, his attention, like everyone else in the hall, was firmly gripped by the second half of Tann's sentence.

“It really exists!?” Mina Bont shouted, slamming her hands on the hard stone table, making a loud noise.

Although Tann couldn't see her, he must have heard the question. She crossed her arms and said, "During the separatist crisis, Count Dooku secretly dispatched Admiral Dua Ningo to the Technical Alliance shipyard in Forros."

Its stated mission is to build a new fleet in Coruscant's surveillance blind spot.

Unfortunately, the outbreak of the Battle of Geonosis directly triggered the war, and the fleet was not yet completed.

Since then, we have completely lost contact with Admiral Ningo.

Due to the extreme secrecy surrounding his mission, no one except a very few people within Count Dooku's inner circle knew of its existence.

Even I had always thought... that Admiral Ninggo had gone missing due to some other operation.

"Count Dooku never reported this to the Supreme Command?" Senator Tereker Bremark's voice was filled with disbelief.

“No,” General Tann’s gaze sharpened on Raine in the hologram, “I learned it from… one of his former subordinates.”

This……

Renn frowned inwardly.

This kind of statement does not inspire confidence in the legitimacy and control of the command system.

But that's just Severn Tann's style.

He was straightforward, lacked political savvy, and had absolutely no knack for manipulating power.

Fortunately, Carly Trilm is now acting as her informal political advisor.

Ryan had to admit that there was no one more suitable than her.

In any case, the words have already been spoken.

Judging from the angry expressions on the faces of several separatist lawmakers, a severe parliamentary inquiry was inevitable.

“Wait a minute,” Scout raised his hand like a student in class, “Isn’t Forrost only about two hundred seconds away from Coruscant? So a hyperspace jump would only take about five hours at most.”

“More importantly,” Prokhor added in a deep voice, “given the importance and resources of the Forrost shipyard, this fleet was likely already built long ago… or even a long time ago.”

“We know nothing about this,” Bell Organa shook his head, glancing at his Republican colleagues for confirmation. “We certainly know Frost, but we have absolutely no intelligence about the secret construction of the fleet. We have deployed a blockade fleet there, so why hasn’t any information about the peace initiative been passed on to Admiral Ningo?”

“This question probably cannot be answered here,” MP Bana Brim calmly pointed out.

“So… that’s it?” Padme Amidala’s voice was filled with despair. She raised her hand, her fingers digging deep into her hair, as if trying to grasp something for support. “The cause we’ve given everything for… has been completely destroyed by pure, unpredictable misfortune? A runaway fleet whose existence is unknown and which no one can contact launched an attack at the very moment when we were about to achieve peace?”

Ok……

Renn's doubts deepened.

General Tann cast that meaningful glance again...

This does indeed make the situation...very reasonable.

The Supreme Commander cleared his throat, breaking the heavy silence: "In the coming days, chaos and finger-pointing will fill the galaxy, but I assure the esteemed Republic delegation that the actions of the Frost Fleet were not authorized by my office. The Confederate Armed Forces will remain fully transparent with any formal inquiries from the Republic delegation."

Furthermore, if you could assist in establishing a secure communication line to the Republic's military forces near Admiral Ningo, I might be able to attempt direct communication with him.

“That’s simply impossible,” Senator Dasana scoffed. “To connect the communications line of the separatist military’s supreme commander to a suspected separatist fleet that is attacking the Republic’s capital? That’s more fanciful than asking the Senate to lower the tax rate on the core hyperspace route.”

“I’m afraid our personal opinions are no longer relevant,” Senator Dasana continued, looking dejected and with his shoulders slumped slightly. “The HoloNet is about to unleash a massive wave, and our hard-earned position in the Senate… will be utterly destroyed.”

If Dasana's situation was bad, then Padme Amidala's situation was a disaster, a fact that everyone present knew perfectly well.

The political careers of other members of parliament will be severely damaged, but they may still be able to survive.

However, Padmé is a central figure in this peace movement, a focus of attention on the HoloNet, and the woman who delivered the hopeful speech that defined her political career after the Battle of Kolumex.

Raine was unaware of Nab's specific electoral system, but if Padme Amidala was forced to resign, or even be urgently recalled from the homeworld and replaced...

He was not surprised at all.

The weight of failure was pressing heavily on her shoulders all by herself.

(End of this chapter)