The Arrival - 56 The Storm

Jack was concerned, he had been for the past few weeks. The Wedding and honeymoon had come and gone, but right after his good times there had been a lingering feeling of helplessness that had been plaguing Jack for a couple of weeks. With the knowledge that the Dathomir witches had joined the side of his enemies. Jack knew he had wasted a chance to gain a powerful ally.

With the looming feeling only grow worse by the day Jack knew what he had to do. Hitting his holo terminal he sent a call to the Chancellor and with in seconds the man appeared. ” Mandalor to what do I owe the pleasure of your call this fine evening.” Jack was not in the mood to play with the man so he got straight to the point,” I want to being the war in the 48 hours and I want the first planet we attack to be Geonosis, and before you say anything I know we had a plan that we put in place for when we would attack before.

I feel that the longer we wait to begin this war the stronger our opponents will become. We need the first strike to rally the people behind.” The Chancellor was silent in his thoughts but before long he looked at Jack, ” What do you have in mind.” Jack smiled and then began telling him the invasion plan for Geonosis in great detail. By the time he had finished It was mid night on New Mandalor and Dawn on Coruscant.

“So to conclude, Mandalorian forces will blockade the system stopping any ships from leaving and stopping any reinforcements from arriving to help the defenders. We will land troops only after the space fight is finished to ensure air supremacy, and if our losses begin to rise above 10% we pull all ground forces off planet and glass it. That sound about right Mand’lor,” Chancellor Valorum said as clearly as he could so no misunderstanding could occur.

Jack nodded, ” That is correct Chancellor, also at most we should commit 2 attack fleets to this and 6 battalions. We don’t want to over play our hand. I can provide 3 of the six battalions in the next 24 hours and my fleet can be in Coruscant by tomorrow. How soo will your sides battalions be ready?”

Valorum smiled,” My boy I have been sending messages since the moment we began our discussion my men will be ready in 12 hours tops. Have your fleet only send its frigates down for transport. I am still not done rooting out the corrupt senators on the planet so we dont need anyone knowing the fleets strength just yet.”

And seeing how this is the very first battle of this war I will see to it that we do not fail.” Valorum sighed, “Very well see to it that you do not die we can not afford to have our General fall in the first fight. I will leave to prepare the people for war and make the announcement. Good Hunting Mand’lor.”

” To you as well Chancellor…For the glory of the Republic.” Valorum faded for the call as Jack was left in silence in his office. The war was on and he had much to do. 24 hour is short in the grand scheme of things and it was shorter still when a major event was about to take place. Jack was now sitting in the command chair of his flag ship the “Silence” a modified Infinity Battle Star class.

The loading for all troops was finishing up. Jack had recalled all of the Demon Dogs and Blue team for this operation. He was going to make a statement for this mission don’t fuck with Mandalor. As the last drop ship loaded Jack had his fleet jump just outside of Coruscants sensor range to meet up with the Republic standing armies. With in a few minutes frigates from the fleet began making their way to the planet to pick up the Republic troopers.

It would take a few hours for all forces to make to the ships so Jack took this moment to reflect on everything that had brought him to this point. In his moment of meditation he sensed the arrival of Master Windu. The Master was brought to the command deck where he spotted the Mandalorian leader meditating. He could feel the force gathered around the man.

It seemed to enter every person on all the ships in the vicinity. The jedi Master was awe inspired at the sight for this use of the force was similar to the old technique of battle meditation talked about in the jedi archives. The technique had been lost to the ages, but here it was once again.

The Jedi took this chance to walk up and sit next to the Mandalorian, “Tell me honestly Mand’lor…how bad will this war be on the people of the Republic, and on the jedi order as a whole.” Jack answer while not looking at the man,”Best case hunders of star system will be damaged beyond repair, and the societies there will have to start from scratch to rebuild. Millions will die in the fighting and the Republic will be wounded from the war and placed in a vulnerable state.

That’s the best case worst case we lose and you and everyone you know and care about will be killed or enslaved for whatever remains of their lives.” Windu looked disheartened, ” Is there truly no other option other than war.Is this the only path that is left for us…” Jack didn’t answer for this question was not directed at him but more towards the force its self.

He knew what Windu was struggling with but it was a struggle that all who hold power have to struggle with. The justification for sending your people in to battle where death was all but guaranteed for them. There is no right or wrong when it comes to this struggle. So Jack had no way of helping him through it. All they could do was wait, and so wait they did. Soon all troops were loaded and ready to go to War.

Jack gave all crew 24 hours to finish all preparation before battle. He then left the command deck and headed to his personal quarters to make one last call to his family. As Qui-Gon and Anakin had been forced to stay with Shmi, and with ShaakTi pregnant there was no way Jack would risk her and their child life by having her here.

So for the first strike he would be without any members of his direct family. He still had Triss and Keith but having his Wife or his Stepfather with him would make feel a bit better. His master Reaven had joined him for this mission but that would not be until the battle in space was already raging. Jack was relieved none the lest with his Master present for the attack it was guaranteed that the mission would be successful.