A/N said:
fuck final editing passes, it's late and I'm tired so we're going this live
Chaos IV
51 Hours after the Battle of Endor
Chandrila System, Bormea Sector
-
"-today is no different.
"I ask all of you to support me and I will support you. We will get through this crisis and establish a safe and secure society.
The Navy endures, the Empire endures, and the Galaxy's People will endure."
Admiral Shara Vaere steps back from the communications and claps her hands together harshly to hide the sudden shaking of what was clearly stress leaving the body and starts forcing herself to begin breathing like a normal human being again.
"Well, that's done." she says, looking over at Captain Lessam, and settling into a suddenly empty chain on
Indefatigable's communications deck that had been hastily vacated by a junior officer moments before, "A cup of tea to settle the nerves if you would kindly, Captain."
As Lessam departs to wherever tea is found on this deck, a Midshipman nervously approaches Vaere with a datapad in one hand and snaps a salute with his free hand, "Ma'am, more communications from Imperial Center."
"Thank you Midshipman," says Vaere with a nod, holding out her hand, palm up, willing it steady.
The man snaps another salute, "Ma'am."
Vaere carefully holds her face in a position of mild curiosity, "Midshipman?"
"Ma'am" he says, snapping another salute off, then suddenly going red in the face and handing her the datapad and snapping another salute.
Vaere struggles to keep the corner of her mouth from quirking upwards, "Dismissed Midshipman."
"Yes Ma'am."
The Midshipman starts to turn to leave but Vaere, still waiting for Captain Lessam to return, holds up a hand to stop him, "Midshipman."
"Yes, Ma'am" he says and starts to salute again.
"You don't need to keep saluting me-" Vaere takes a breath and chuckles, causing the poor young man, boy really, to go even more red, "Right, at ease Midshipman…?" She raises an eyebrow with a politely commanding curiosity, forehead shifting to accommodate an emotion that isn't strictly necessary to being a senior officer in the Imperial Navy, but one she'd had drilled into her by decades of Naval service.
"Rexam, Ma'am, Carth Rexam." he says, setting himself at ease in the rigidly terrified manner possible.
"Well Mr. Rexam, something certainly seems to be bothering you, you can speak freely," says Vaere, setting the datapad on the panel next to her with a quiet clack.
"Ma'am, the Emperor is dead. That will take some time to process."
"Well Mr. Rexam, I was also quite… disturbed by the news of the Emperor's death." she catches movement in the corner of her vision and turns slightly to see Lessam returning with a cup in hand, "But as I've said, the Navy has been through worse situations. Be calm and be strong. If you want inspiration, I would look up…" she trails off and follows a very well work path in her brain, "the aftermath of the Great Galactic War, how the Navy bounced back from defeats that led to Coruscant's doorstep itself. ."
"Don't lose hope Mr. Rexam, it is in the Navy's nature to bounce back from even the most devastating defeats. Dismissed." she says, turning to accept a steaming hot cup of tea from Captain Lessam.
"Thank you Captain."
The Admiral holds her cup in front of her face, "Look, steady as a rock." she mutters.
"Pardon, Admiral?"
"I'm fine, let's take a look at our options, that Force commander briefing's soon." She looks at the pad and reads it with increasing surprise and frustration and then tosses it back onto the panel next to her, with a deep sigh, "Got a lot on our plate. Though I'm already fairly set on -
[ ] [Vaere] -personally touring the fleet and conducting inspections.
In these times of crisis the fleet needs to see that the Admiral is on their side and taking their concerns seriously, and Admiral Vaere needs to know that they're on her side.
While it's mainly a morale thing, Vaere also wants to ensure that none of her squadron or force commanders are questioning her judgment or are planning to get squirrely on her. It would also be an opportunity to take stock of the fleet's material position in a personal manner and force underperforming units to at least pretend to be functional.
It will likely take several weeks to complete this tour of the fleet.
[ ] [Vaere] -that meeting with Governor Weizel.
Governor Weizel is Chandrila's civilian ruler, appointed several years ago. He has a reputation for effectiveness, including having once managed to bloodlessly roll up the Barma sector's branch of the Justice Action Network Terrorist group.
During Vaere's absence, Weizel quietly reached out to Vice Admiral Seles to discuss a joint Civilian-Navy solution to General Thiromer's de facto Army coup on Chandrila's surface in the wake of the Battle of Endor.
Ironically, the General's attempt to maintain order via shear bloody minded brutality has caused more chaos than doing nothing would have, and is increasingly worrying both Vaere and Weizel. The General's state of emergency keeps drawing in more resources and his requests for Naval support are getting increasingly pointed with Vaere constantly having to remind the man that he cannot just give orders to Chandrila's Naval detachments without her permission.
As an Imperial Navy officer Vaere is willing to put up with a lot, but not when the Army is doing it.
It will likely take several weeks for Vaere and Weizel to find a solution to the Army problem.
[ ] [Vaere] -getting to the bottom of these orders from Imperial Center.
Just moments ago Vaere received orders from Imperial Center to transfer several squadrons of her command to Shadow Hand Command in the deep core. Which would be unusual enough at the best of times...
But while the orders have been fully authenticated, no name has been attached.
Vaere honestly isn't actually certain that these orders aren't automated gibberish transmitted by mistake. But if they aren't she could draw the baleful eyes of the powerful for ignoring them.
On the other hand she isn't just going to shrink her command without a fight, and Vaere is a veteran of Naval politics and very good
at operating inside the Navy's bureaucracy. Whether she's going to follow the orders she should at the very least get to the bottom of then.
It's likely going to take several weeks of dedicated effort to figure out what is up with these orders.
[ ] [Fleet] -running a fleet exercise.
It has been years since all of the 1st Bormea Superiority Fleet has been stationed in one place with free time.
Vaere would like to take a few weeks to actually see what her people are capable of so that when the fighting finally begins there will be no surprises and her people know what she expects of them.
The fleet might not have an enemy close to hand, but that is no excuse for idleness.
It will take several weeks for the exercises to complete
[ ] [Fleet] -securing the weapons prototypes that Admiral Verso requested.
Admiral Garrik Versio has contacted the 1st Bormea Supremacy Squadron asking that we secure a number of prototype weapons platforms that were supposed to be shipped via Brentaal IV but have been stranded along with a great deal of other ISB-earmarked equipment due to the post-Endor panic.
The Admiral has been having difficulty finding someone willing to detach units to deliver the material to him, and the Versio has requested that we detache a squadron of ships to secure the weapons and hand them off to Dauntless
at Fedalle. As an incentive, due to Versio's apparent haste, he is willing to let whoever delivers the equipment take possession of the rest of the material trapped at Brentaal IV. Material which appears to be large amounts of specialist infantry and commando equipment of the sort usually set aside for special operations forces, including a dozen wings worth of TIE-Hunters and the spare parts to maintain them.
It will likely take several weeks to complete the hand off and retrieve the material.
[ ] [Fleet] -transferring those squadrons to Shadow Hand Command
Just moments ago Vaere received orders from Imperial Center to transfer several squadrons of her command to Shadow Hand Command in the deep core. Which would be unusual enough at the best of times...
But despite the strangeness of the orders seemingly issued with a giver, they are authenticated, and orders are orders.
It'll hurt but it's only a few squadrons, and will take several weeks to complete.
(Please vote for one [Vaere] option and one [Fleet] option)
