The Liberator/Part 9

26 Days Before the Liberation of Milagro

Mali studied Elata Cazar's holo, trying not to let the dread twisting his stomach creep into his voice. "Master, is there any—"

"No," she cut him off. Her mouth was twisted, though whether she was angry at him, the High Council, or both he couldn't tell. "This is the best you're going to get, and I called in a lot of favors to get you even this much."

"Only three hundred…"

"Three hundred warships," she pointed out. "Exactly as much as Corellia's willing to commit."

"Corellia's one system! The Republic is thousands!"

"You also have your ground troops, your fighter support, Jedi…" She gave him a stern look. "Don't let your desires blind you to what you've gained, Mali."

"Six hundred still isn't enough, Master."

"If you need more, you'll need to find them elsewhere. There's truly nothing more I can do for you, Mali.  I'm sorry."

He sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, thank you, Master.  Really."

She nodded. "May the Force be with you."

When her holo had faded, Mali looked at Aldayr. His Padawan had sat on the edge of Mali's bed, silent and observant, through the entire exchange. Now, though, he shook his head. "I had the droids run some more scenarios since we got back. We weren't far off the mark with seven hundred; the droids say anything fewer than six hundred and eighty-four and the odds of either losing straight out or getting evicted within a month go up fast."

"Has Jendaya called?"

It was a mark of the gravity of the situation that Aldayr didn't tease him about her. "No. Nothing direct from Duro, either."

Mali sighed. "Know anybody else who might be willing to pitch in a fleet?"

To his surprise, Aldayr frowned in thought, then moved to sit in front of Mali's tactical map of the galaxy. He scrolled in south of the Deep Core, shifted over to the Corellian sector, and thought for a moment. "Actually…maybe, yeah."

Mali sat forward. "I'm all ears."

He heard Aldayr out, weighing the proposal before nodding. "Not a bad idea. I don't have an in, though."

"Already ahead of you, Master," Aldayr said with a smirk. "Narasi and Tirien do."

Mali pulled out his transceiver beacon, typing in a quick message and sending it off. Then there was nothing to do but wait, and each minute felt like an hour as Mali pictured Vedya Gasald sitting on a throne in the Allanteen shipyards, watching an armada of undreamt-of scale coming together. He was on the border of suggesting he and Aldayr spar to burn off the nervous energy afflicting them both when his beacon transceiver buzzed.

"Give me the room, would you?" he asked Aldayr.

His Padawan rolled his eyes. "You let me sit in on Corellian Council and north campaign meetings."

"Yeah, but this is different. I'm calling a favor from a friend; you don't do that with an audience."

Aldayr grimaced. "Yeah, well…pass on my best to Narasi, would you? And Tirien."

"Sure," Mali said, and though his apprentice's curious tone intrigued him, now wasn't the time for searching inquiries. Plugging his beacon into his imagecaster as soon as Aldayr had gone, he tapped the controls, and after a few seconds the holoprojector pieced together a blue, ghostly image of Tirien Kal-Di.

"Are you receiving me, Mali?"

"Yeah. How's the Crescentia?"

"It's good to be back; Slejux sends his regards. We're about to depart again, though; we're gearing up for a mission.  What can I do for you?"

Under ordinary circumstances, Mali might have joked with his friend for a smooth transition in—or simply to see a grudging, vexed smirk on that ever-serious face. Today, though, time was short—apparently for both of them—and he didn't waste it. "Remember a couple months ago, when I swooped in and saved you from a gruesome death-by-Sithspawn, then agreed to help you get some smugglers past CorSec?"

Tirien raised an eyebrow, and his tone was arid as he said, "Vividly."

"Yeah. I need to call in that favor."

"I figured you'd hang on to that for years."

"Under other circumstances I might have, but I'm putting together a campaign, and I need your help."

"Against Aresh? Wait…"  He narrowed his eyes, and even across space Mali thought he could see the processor working. "This is about Allanteen, isn't it?"

"I've told you I hate it when you do that, right?"

"Twelve times, including this one."

Mali nodded. "Anyway, I'm putting together a fleet. A joint operation with the Republic and Corellian fleets.  Maybe Duro too, if I can swing it."

Tirien's eyes widened. "To challenge Gasald?"

"Not directly," Mali admitted, though more and more he wished he could assemble such an armada to charge down the Run to Allanteen and end it once and for all.

"Not directly," Tirien repeated, and his eyes became distant again. "Which means—"

"Milagro," Mali headed him off. "We're assaulting Milagro."

"I would've gotten there."

"I know you would've, I just hate that look of accomplishment you get when you do."

Tirien rolled his eyes, but his expression stayed serious. "Milagro…I'm sorry, Mali, but we can't go. I wish we could, but this thing on Darkknell is going to be months.  We may be off the grid for most of it."

Mali nodded; it was a blow, but one he had expected, so he absorbed its impact without a wince. "We'll miss you, brother; I'll get Karzded for you. But that's not the favor I wanted." Tirien cocked his head, and Mali said, "I haven't been able to get the forces I need from the Republic and Corellia alone, so I need to beef up my fleet before I go. I need you to connect me with the Kaivalts."

"Raven and Raina?" Mali experienced the unusual sight of Tirien caught completely by surprise. "I only served with Raven once, at that was at Anaxes, so it's not a pleasant memory. And I only met Raina once, I don't really know her at all."

"Well, I don't know either of them, so you're a step up on me."

Surprise was fading fast from Tirien's expression, that shrewd look returning. Restraining himself, Mali let his friend go for it, and it didn't take long before Tirien said, "Two Jedi aren't going to make that kind of difference. This isn't about the Kaivalts themselves; you want the Tapani sector's ships."

"I do," Mali admitted.

"I don't know Raven nearly well enough to get you that. And they aren't even knighted—Tapani knighted, I mean.  The Jedi Lords running that sector still operate within Tapani noble culture."

"I don't need you to get me the fleet yourself," Mali assured him. "Just get us in touch. If Corellia falls, the Tapani sector won't survive long with Gasald on the rampage.  Besides, they're already in danger; the Shipwrights' Trace is a back way from Allanteen straight to Fondor without even going through Corellia.  It's in their interests to pitch in now while Corellia's still a shield between her and them, and that's exactly what I'm going to tell Raven and Raina, and the Jedi Lords too.  I just need the in."

Tirien took his time in replying, but finally nodded. "I'll send you Raven's information, and I'll talk to him for you."

"Thank you." Mali paused. "Do you think the Kaivalts will come?"

"They might. They serve the Order, not just the Tapani sector, but they value their homeworld too." He raised a brow. "Sound familiar?"

"Ha ha. Well, the High Council's trying to find me Jedi, so maybe I can put the bug in Master Cazars's ear.  I've heard good things about them."

"Raven's a very skillful swordsman."

"As good as you?"

Tirien hesitated, but when Mali gave him a look, he sighed and admitted, "No. But good."

"Well, I'll take it. Every lightsaber helps." Tirien said nothing, and Mali found tension creeping in. "What is it?"

"What kind of fleet are you looking at here?"

"Eight hundred capital ships, plus complements."

"You're commanding the operation?"

"Of course." Mali tried not to sound offended—Tirien wasn't the Corellian Council—but he couldn't see where his friend was going. "Why?"

"You've already got the High Council, Corellia, and potentially Duro involved. Now you're talking about the Tapani sector too.  These are Jedi Masters, Core Founders, nobility—they're all groups that are used to leading, and this campaign will involve hundreds of thousands of beings.  You're the only thing linking them together, Mali.  The center has to hold."

Understanding replaced annoyance, bringing embarrassment along with it—he should have known better. "Yeah. Yeah, I know."

"Once Milagro's liberated, Gasald can't be allowed to retake it. It won't be enough to just win the battle for it."

"I know."

"I'm just saying, plan this one carefully."

"I will. Thanks, Tirien.  Give Narasi my best.  Oh, and Aldayr's too."

"I will."

"And good luck on Darkknell."

Tirien rolled his eyes, but he smiled at last. "May the Force be with you."