STS. LOG-017. (Patreon)

LOG-017.Stepping onto the bridge of a Venator brought a heady feeling with it, for a number of reasons.Ignoring the sheer nostalgia that came with being aboard a vessel that, as a child, most of my fictional heroes had spent no small amount of time in, there was also the sheer irony of a CIS command droid assuming direct command of a Republic starship."All remaining systems are nominal, fleet commander, and engineering reports the transfer of Silent Guardian's droid brain to be 85% complete!"It was a gamble of sorts. There were plenty of warship class droid brains present on Bracca that could be inserted into the now empty hull of her former body as was needed, and I'd grown attached to Silent Guardian as a steady presence throughout my time aboard, enough that I was willing to entertain her transfer to the Venator's frame.Such a thing wasn't anywhere near simple, of course. A Venator was a fundamentally incompatible vessel for a CIS droid brain, and wasn't designed to be commanded by one. At present, the most we could do was hook it up to a mobile connective harness spliced into the vessel's systems, which allowed some nominal degree of influence over the star destroyer. Massive refits would need to be made for anything more, and that would take time.Still, it felt like the right decision. A Venator would serve better as a flagship in the long run until I found something better, and in the worst case scenario, I could always abandon it to assume command of a Munificent again later.Brushing the thoughts aside, I accepted the B1 droid's words with a silent nod, before turning back to the view in front of me.The sight of the Persecutor (a fitting name for the Victory-class, once we'd sliced through its databanks) sitting adrift in front of the fleet still hadn't lost its novelty just yet.Even now, I could see the countless transport vessels locked onto various parts of the capital ship, like leeches, though rather than sucking away blood, they were instead flooding the star destroyer with mechanical bodies, the countless machines spreading throughout the ship like an unrelenting tide of steel and plasma.It was a full scale war in there at the moment. Despite the bridge crew's partial defection (the survivors of which were quickly rounded up, loyalist and traitor alike) the rest of the Persecutor's crew very much weren't going down without a fight.Kalani was having the time of his life commanding the boarding operation, from what I understood. It was in effect a floating city that he was currently invading, and the chance to actually do something beyond give me advice seemed to have awakened something in him. Still, the no doubt brutal and overly complicated process of waging warfare inside an enemy capital ship wasn't my problem, it was his. Instead, I had the unique pleasure of sitting around and sorting out a bunch of little problems for once, rather than a singular big one."Fleet commander, the local populace have made another attempt at making contact. In addition, tactical droids Widow and Tarantulas seek to report their own successes."Turning to glance back at my newly designated second in command, I let out a soft hum."I will address the locals' concern in person, Huntsman. Please inform the fleet that a general holo meeting will begin soon, and to stand by."The tan tactical droid dipped his capped head at that, hands already moving to interact with the command table in front of him."By your command."—"This is fleet commander Spyder to all relevant parties, begin check-in now.""Dread pirate captain Tarantulas, checking in.""Resource acquisition specialist Widow, checking in.""General Kalani, checking in."I didn't bother calling for Huntsman's report, unnecessary when the droid in question was standing at my right shoulder, silent and motionless as a statue, save for the slight twitch in his wrist servos as he continued to monitor Silent Guardian's install progress."Good. Tarantulas, what is the current status of your patrols?"The red and black droid's head dipped up and down in a nod."Current patrol group consists of this vessel, two additional capital assets, and two hundred fifty-four starfighters of mixed classification." Then he paused, glancing at something before continuing in his usual flat tone."Perimeter is fully established. No vessels have exited the system. No vessels have entered the system. All non-fleet craft have been redirected to planetary holding positions. Resistance to redirection has been met with escalating force per case by case basis."I acknowledged him with a nod of my own, before turning to glance at the next in line."Continue holding the perimeter. Widow, report.""Salvage operations proceeding at maximum capacity." The tactical droid responded, her (for a given definition of her, anyway. None of our newly made tactical droids really seemed to care about something as organic as gender, but Widow sounded more effeminate than the others so far, so in my head she was a she) cadence exact."In addition, six Republic transports have been secured from the southern scrapping fields. Multiple warships appear to be viable for reawakening. Four functional but damaged Hyena bomber squadrons have been recovered from the northern yards. Ground salvage includes ten functioning shield generators, twelve portable shield units, and various light armour vehicles. Dormant droid units have been awakened and placed into service. While the local workforce initially refused directives, compliance was achieved through application of intimidation protocols." She paused."Exact time to complete recovery of all viable material is unknown, though estimated to take several years."I tilted my head."Very good. Have you made any progress on your secondary objective?"Widow shook her head slightly."No. There have been no sightings of the secondary target."I accepted that with yet another nod."Very well, maintain your schedule and be prepared to update me as needed. Kalani, how fares your battle?""Progress continues as projected." My counterpart declared, his voice slightly less emotionless than usual."Multiple compartments have been secured. Resistance remains, but is collapsing. With the assistance of several of the defectors captured during the bridge action, we have identified and successfully replicated the Persecutor's all-clear signal. It is now being broadcast on all relevant Imperial channels. No alarm has been raised as of yet."That last point was…satisfying. It meant we had time. Time to regroup. Time to properly salvage everything we could on Bracca. Hell, we could potentially even establish a semi-permanent presence on the planet, depending on how long it took the Empire to realise something was wrong here."Well done, general. Ensure no attempts to send out an alert succeed. If the enemy suspects nothing, we keep the advantage."Said aforementioned general bowed his head."I concur. Is this meeting now adjourned, fleet commander?"Turning away from the command table, I waved a mechanical hand."It is. All of you may return to your duties. Huntsman, prepare to open a channel to the Scrapper's Guild representative. I will deal with them next."My glorified assistant didn't audibly reply, but I did hear the holo call end, quickly replaced with a new channel coming online seconds later. Excellent, everything was coming together.Now I just needed to keep it all from imploding around me long enough to get out of here.