Starwars: The Terran Republic

Chapter 4

Zeridian

Weeks had passed since the incident on Coruscant and ever since then, the defenses around Zeridian only seemed to multiply.

Frigates, destroyers, and Carriers of different classes orbited around the planet. Many had defensive positions around the planet while others were patrolling around the system. Everyone was on edge and it only seemed to grow.

Ever since the attack on Coruscant the military build up on Zeridian was increasing daily and many were suspecting something bad was about to happen. In their eyes everyone was considered a potential enemy. In the eyes of the republic and those who knew about them with the little knowledge they had, it looked as if they were isolating themselves.

Down on the planet admiral Jackson had a sinking feeling that this was only the start to something worse. He was in his office looking over the massive military outpost on the planet. Multiple small ships could be seen arriving and leaving making it look like a crowded airport. There were even a few capital ships above the cities moving at a slow speed as numerous small vessels flew around them.

The conversation he had with one of the captains kept replaying in his head over and over again. Was the Galactic Republic to be trusted? He couldn't help thinking about this. Instead of taking small steps like he had thought, they instead gambled and paid the price for it.

Admiring the view a little longer he went to his desk before opening a drawer to retrieve a sixty year old bottle of a scotch that was given to him as a gift. Pouring a few centimeters in a small glass cup he sipped a small amount before putting the glass back down on his desk going back into a stiffened posture. He then went back to the window looking as if he was admiring the view but in truth he was nervous.

They were digging deeper and deeper into something they knew nothing about. What was the history between the republic and separatist? Was their economic and military power comparable to theirs? And what exactly were these Jedi? There were so many questions in such a short period of time it made him feel as if they were unprepared for this.

He wanted to know how they think and how they react to situations. But he knew he had to leave that in the hands of the spooks in ONI. Even though their methods were sometimes... questionable. They always got the job done.

Before his thoughts could linger on there was a gentle knock on his door.

"Come in."

The door slowly opened to reveal a middle aged man. He was the commander of the UNSC wolf. One of the latest ships of the warrior class destroyers.

"Sir!" Quickly standing to attention he saluted Jackson who did a salute of his own.

"At ease. Have a seat son. I'm sure you want to know why I called you here." Jackson sat down in his own chair drinking the last of his drink before leaning forward.

"I'll cut to the chase but I have a mission for you. It will be extremely dangerous as you and the ships under your command will be going into the unknown."

"Ships?" The commander was confused as he was only in command of a single ship.

"Yes. You will be given two additional ships as they will be joining you."

"What exactly is the mission if I'm being handed two ships?"

"You will be going on a deep exploration mission. Mostly on mapping out the systems in this galaxy. The Galactic Republic has sent us some of the systems but it's not enough like we expected. That's why we will start off small and slowly expand our influence around this system."

"Won't this in some way alarm them if they see us expanding? They might think we are warmongering."

"They may see it that way but if it's an unexplored system or not claimed it is within our rights. Besides, they have no business telling us what we can or cannot claim."