Saga of the Bridgers-Year 3

Chapter 12: Visions and Voices

In the end, there was no ambiguous problem about the siblings sleeping in the same bed, because it turned out that the sofa in Jordan's cabin could be extended to become a bed too. Instead, they argued over the fact that the other should take the bed, but in the end it was Ezra who managed to convince his sister to take the best spot citing the fact that she had a higher rank.

After a night of good sleep, the siblings woke up and went down for breakfast, enjoying a delicious mix of Milky Way's sweets and Andromeda's fruits. Then they reached Deck 2 to find out that Jordan and Undir had invited Nimbus and her two mercenaries aboard the ship. Since they didn't have a ship on the planet anyway (because the last delivery of supplies implied the three of them landing on the surface, meet the rebels and wait for a pickup) the Mirialan was introduced aboard.

Since she dealt in information and covert operations, Undir didn't waste any time into making her an ally of the MI6 in Andromeda. The Colonel even said that the Federation could provide asylum for her in the Milky Way, but Nimbus didn't like the idea of just running away from her problems. Hiding beneath the Empire's nose was acceptable, but flee into another galaxy was not her style.

Nonetheless, Nimbus spent the next two weeks aboard the ship, getting to know the various cultures of the Milky Way, about the Imperial Federation, the military organization of the Systems Alliance. In one instance she was even presented to the Empress, who negotiated the terms of their new cooperation. After all, Nimbus wanted the Empire gone and, despite working in a pretty shady environment, so far her organization held up some moral standards, so for the Federation it wouldn't be a big problem to let her operate independently.

The Constantinople, in the meantime, stood near Lothal to observe. After scanning the planet multiple times when the Imperial fleet was mostly away for another mission, the frigate simply waited and observed. The number of warships in the orbit, the orbital defenses, the TIE patrols' schedules, everything that could help a preemptive strike that the rebel leaders had agreed on after receiving the news about the TIE Defender, which could severely cut the chances of victory of the allied forces. Jaral and Dodonna had convened that, if the Federation couldn't help with the liberation of Lothal before the following year, then the rebels had to to take matters in their own hands, even going as far as to destroy the factory on their own.

All things considered, destroying the factory way before the invasion happened, might prove an advantage. Without the factory on the planet, the Empire might divert Thrawn's fleet somewhere else, leaving the planet barely defended and significantly make easier the task of liberating it.

After the mission was over, Nimbus and her men were left on a space station where she had some contacts, then the Constantinople proceeded to Atollon. As they disembarked, the Bridgers immediately went to the holotable and called the usual assembly, but this time included also Wedge (as leader of the growing Rogue Squadron) and the leader of the ground unit.

In that moment, the sky was obscured by an incoming tempest, with lightnings in the distance and the sky was covered by a green mist. Still, under the protection of the coral, the base was safe. It wasn't the first time they had experienced that weather condition on Atollon.

Jaral started the briefing.

"All right, thanks to the Constantinople we have a full account on the Empire's movements, estimated strength of the fleet...everything we need to carry out our strike, but we also know that Thrawn is in charge and has Iulius to assist him."

As his sister kept talking, Ezra felt a strange hiss.

"Ezra."

The creepy voice seemed oddly familiar. Ezra looked around, squinting his eyes to see if his suspects were true.