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Bakura

The situation center inside the Bakuran defense headquarters is a shallow bowl of ringed tiers with a massive holo-projection lighting the center of the room

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The situation center inside the Bakuran defense headquarters is a shallow bowl of ringed tiers with a massive holo-projection lighting the center of the room. It showed, in horrifying detail, the spread of some ovoid Ssi-ruuvi and blocky Nagai warships loyal to C.S.A.T. and not Sentress's Union to surround the planet and their continuous assault on the shield umbrellas raised to defend Bakura's key cities. Shado, trailing Storr, Recado, and Koregion, had arrived just in time to see the last of Bakura's orbital defensive cruisers burst after sustained attacks by swarming Ssi-ruuvi battle droids.

"They've never come at us like this before," Recado muttered as he looked at the holo.

"Their allies have made them confident," Koregion said.

"They don't seem to have brought Mandalorians with them," Storr observed. "That's something."

The general shook his head. "They have all the allies they need here on the ground."

Shado asked, "Has there been any word from the factories since the Ssi-ruuk showed in orbit?"

"None we can tell. The P'w'eck are sitting tight and waiting for their masters to come back."

"We don't know that. If they were plotting to help the Ssi-ruuk, why not take over the shield generator stations?"

"Because the shield generators are defended by the military. The factories weren't. Besides, those are what the Ssi-ruuk are after. I'm sure of it. The P'w'eck secured their primary targets in advance so they can attack us with impunity." Koregion spun on Recado. "Mister President, we have to deny them use of our industrial resources. It's our duty to hurt the enemy and we have to do it now."

Recado exhaled and bowed his head. Shado said, "What do you mean, deny? Destroy?"

"Doing that will cripple Bakura's economy for a generation," Storr said warily.

Koregion pressed, "The Ssi-ruuk are going to take this world. We can't defend against that kind of firepower. We have to hurt them the only way we can. Destroy the factories and destroy the P'w'eck."

"Which P'w'eck?" Shado snapped. "The ones in the factories, or all of them?"

The general's face twisted. "Your obsession with mercy put us in this mess, Eternal. If we had control over those factories we might be able to negotiate with the Ssi-Ruuk, or at least stall their attack. We should have struck first and hard and tipped the balance in our favor."

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