Operation Zitadelle ( Lash preperations )

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As lash returned to The termagant after the meeting he went to his quarters. he had been there for 7 hours meditating.he had many preparations to think of . Fleet reassignments, promotions, battle plans. His mind was constantly planing but this had it overwhelmed with ideas and plans. He depressed the com power button to activate it.

" Communications officer , I need to send a message."

" Yes Commodore Lash . How can I assist you? "

" I need to send a message to Major Virin on Bespin. He is On a secret mission and may be hard to find. Have Bespin send this message out over a wide band frequency that will transmit over the whole planet. Message reads:

From : Commodore Lash
To : Major Virin

...Situation green. Resume operations. Report green . Area five. Assume hazardous. Make right. Rank Commander. Lash out.... "

Lash drank some water from the glass on his desk .

" Will that be all Commodore? "

" No Ensign get Commander Beret on the com . "

" Yes Sir. "

With that The communications officer connected Lash and Beret .

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Commander Beret sat at the desk of his quarters on the Lictor. He had been laced there as Commander of the outbound defensive group. he heard the alert of the com panel and depressed the receive button.

" Commander Beret here. "

" Yes Commander ,sorry to bother you. I have a transmission for you from Commodore Lash. "

" Thank you Lieutenant, put it through. "

Beret sat as a image Of Commodore Lash appeared on the panel.

" Commander Beret. Good to see you again . "

" As it is you commodore. What do I owe the pleasure of this contact. It isn't like you to make a call unless it is of the urgent type. "

" You know me too well my old friend. We have a situation. "

A puzzled look came to the face of the chiss Commander.

" A Situation? How so? "

" Situation green . Resume operations. Report red. area three.Defense . Rank Captain. "

With the word he had just heard from Commodore Lash the puzzled look on Commander berets face turned to one of shock.

" So soon Commodore. This is excellent. I will report to Bespin at once. "

" Very good Captain Beret. You know how to reach me . "

The image of Lash disappeared and beret turned the panel off. He pressed the button to talk to communications .

" Lieutenant. Please inform all chiss crew to prepare for departure. Situation green. they will know what to do. "

" yes sir. Right away. "

Beret Sat back in his chair . He stood and began preparing for his departure.He thought to himself.

The time has come

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Lash sat at his desk. He had just talked to his friend Captain Beret. He knew the man would not fail him . he had one more very special message to send. one he wanted few people to know of. he pressed the button linking his com panel to the communications officer on the bridge.

" Ensign. Set up a message transmission for me. I need it to be encrypted with the highest security level tag. it will be sent to the following location and have no name of sender or recipient and I want it untraceable. "

" I would have to bypass some regulations to do such a thing Commodore. "

" Bypass them you have my permission. "

" Yes sir but I will have to enter this into my log Sir. "

" No Ensign you will not. This is to be totally untraceable . not even by myself. "

" Yes sir I will make sure of it. "

Lash smiled at the ensign.

" Very good thank you Lieutenant "

A look of shock came over the ensigns face.

" Lieutenant sir? "

" Yes Lieutenant you have a problem with your rank? "

" No sir . thank you sir. "

" Very good . Send the message as follows.

... Situation green . Omega one. ..."

" Is that all sir? "

" Yes lieutenant Thank you. "

Lash turned the power to his com panel of and sat back to meditate once again. Now he had to put all the pieces in place and make all the cogs work as one. One unified empire.

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Lash walked onto the command deck of the Termagant.
He had made all arrangements for His Attack fleets departure. The Victory III star Destroyer had left to set up a forward defensive operations area in the Unknown Regions two days ago . Now the rest of his Destroyer Group had formed up and was ready for departure.

He walked to the forward view port Where Captain Jeffers stood. Jeffers had recently been promoted by lash for his excellent service to him in his time so far with the empire. Jeffers turned to Lash and smiled as the Chiss man approached him. Jeffers had doubts when he first meet the Chiss officer. But
in the past few months he had come To respect him. Lash had the ability to control any situation. Jeffers admired This. Lash was afraid of nothing or no one yet still had concern for the people under him. He never raised his voice and he never appeared rushed in any decision he made.

He was not like Thrawn. He was differant.Not as secretive or introverted as Thrawn. He didn't spend countless hours staring at art.Lash was more
interested in the life of his subordinates. He often meet with them on a one on one setting.Jeffers had not seen this even in Imperial officers.

"Good evening Commodore. How was your meeting? "

Lash had meet with the commanders of his ground forces to finalize all plans
for the attack on Bakura.

" Yes Captain it is a nice night isn't it. My meeting went well thank
you . Is the fleet ready for departure? "

" Yes Commodore. we are ready to leave on your command. "

" Very well . We will leave in one hour. I need to inform
Grand Admiral Desaria we are departing. "

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Lash Informed the Grand Admiral of his departure then returned to the bridge. The Group went to hyper space and began the first leg of its jump . After 5 days in hyper space they had reached the location of the rondeaux point and joined the Victory Star Destroyer Lash had sent ahead .
Lash had Taken a small guard and one of the Chiss shuttles and returned home. First he went to Csilla and spoke with the Chiss Command and informed them of the status in the empire. They were happy to see the empire once again on its feet. The Chiss had suffered great losses to the Vong and needed a strong ally in the time to come. After his meeting was completed on Csilla He returned home to Freyr. He had some business there to see to. After his business had been finished on Freyr he returned to his shuttle and once again left his home. He did not know when of if he would ever return.
He set in a set of co-ordinates which seemed to lead no where. The shuttle reverted into real space to what seemed like nothingness. As the shuttle moved forward a small object appeared. As it grew larger it was plan to see by all aboard the shuttle it was an asteroid. Lash opened a com channel and entered a set of numbers then closed the channel . He flew the shuttle around to the far side of the asteroid and into a cave. as he flew down the cave the walls became metal and a large hanger situated on the wall of the cave light up . Lash landed the shuttle and told all aboard to stay put. He walked down the ramp of the shuttle and closed it behind him. There was an erie quiet . Nothing made a sound no machines nothing. One of his guards watched from the forward view port as Lash through a door into the asteroid. He did not like The Commodore going in by himself but orders were orders.

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Lash emerged from the door after being gone for 45 minutes. He approached the shuttle and opened the hatch.

" I need three men to fallow me. Which which 2 of you are the pilots?"

Two Security troopers stepped forward. He pointed to one of them

" I need you to pilot this shuttle out of here and wait for us to join you. "

" Yes sir. "

Lash motioned for the other pilot and the two troopers he selected and they all disappeared into the asteroid. The Pilot who had been told by Lash to fly the shuttle out of the asteroid and wait for them began his flight check , powered up the shuttle and began turning it to fly out of the hanger. he had concerns about what Lash had meant by he will join them .
As he moved the Shuttle out of the hanger he could make out another hanger below which now was visible with its lights on. he pointed the shuttle up and flew out into space and stopped a good ways away from the cave entrance. It was 15 minutes then two strange craft shot out of the cave. He had never seen anything like them . long claw like sweep forward wing. and they had to be close to a hundred meters long. The two craft came up beside the shuttle and Lashes voice could be heard over the Com channel.

" Ok I'm sending co-ordinates now. enter them in and we will be on out way. "

The three craft speed off and entered hyper space on there trip from the asteroid to where the fleet was waiting. It was 36 hours before the Shuttle and the two strange craft reached the fleet. Lash's voice once again came over the Com system .

" Shuttle, land aboard the termagant we will have to use docking claws to crab the raiders they are too big for the hanger."

The shuttle landed and the guards on board walked to the edge of the hanger and watched as the two strange craft were brought up with the docking claws.
Lash entered the bridge and walked to Captain Jeffers side.

" Commodore lash ,We were surprised to see you coming back with new craft. Where did you find such exotic vessels?"

Lash smiled and walked to the view port.

"They are a special surprise for anyone who get in the way. "

Jeffers returned the smile and walked to look out the view port .

" Shall we leave now Commodore? "

"Yes . Send the Recon corvette to monitor Bakuraian space and set us in a position out side the system where we wont be noticed. "

"Very well Commodore. "

Captain Jeffers walked away into the command pit and to the Com officer station . Lash watched the stars. In 2 days he would be at war. he only hoped there were no unforeseen surprises.

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The recon Corvette had monitored bakirian space for two days and now returned to join the rest of the fleet. Lash had sat in his quarters most the time meditating and planning for the upcoming battle.in fact he had only emerged from his chambers once to tale a walk along the decks of the Termagant. He now stood at the head of the bridge for the first time in almost 3 days.

"Captain do we have to report on Bakura Traffic?"

"Yes Commodore. It just arrived. "

Captain Jeffers handed Lash a Data pad. Lash looked over it and smiled .

"Excellent. set a course for the Bakurian system Captain Jeffers."

"Yes Commodore."

Jeffers gave the orders and the giant vessels began moving into position for hyperspace. Five minutes later the fleet was on its way through hyperspace. In one hour the war will have begun.