Star Wars: Rebellion and Betrayal

Chapter 8

The room was buzzing with excitement, each team ready to share the intel they had gathered. Abie Edge had fostered a competitive environment within Cloud Squadron. Each member strived to impress her. Those who did were rewarded with authority, responsibility, or sometimes even money. Missing out on potential reward was normally enough to punish those who had underperformed.

Nina was in the center of the room, attempting to get things organized. She assigned seats, making each team sit together which left Twitch and McCart with sour looks on their faces. Every team was early to the meeting, no one wanting to draw Abie's ire.

Right when the clock struck 1900, the door to the bridge slid open and Abie strolled into the room. The command center fell instantly silent as everyone watched her walk to the center of the room. "Alright everyone, I trust that each and every team learned something that will aid in our cause. We will begin with the groups that returned from their missions first. To no surprise, Oster and Piik were first back so we will hear from them first."

Oster attempted to let Piik talk but was met with an annoyed eye roll. The Bothan reluctantly rose to his feet to share his intel. "During our mission we visited the North side of the city which comprised the poorest citizens of Carannia. It was there that we were able to figure out the Empire's interest in the planet. A couple years back, a sizable sacanium ore vein was detected beneath the planet's surface in the Aparian Wastes. When refined, that sacanium is tougher than durasteel. If the Empire successfully extracted it all, it would produce enough metal to build a small fleet. Luckily, the Empire is in the early stages of production. Even worse yet, the Empire has been forcing people into working in the sacanium mine by order of the Governor herself. I will let another team share the next bit. Don't want to take all the juicy information."

Abie nodded to Oster as he took a seat. "Davant, you are next?" Abie asked, looking at the next group.

The man from the next group got up to share. "Yes, Lady Edge. The Empire has also got a refinery located near the city of Fiyaro. The refinery was built over a volcano and harnesses the thermal power to refine the ore. It looks like they too are receiving workers by order of the Governor. We learned that her name is Kasdeya Kerrim. She operates out of the Imperial complex in the center of Carannia. Other than that, the locals know little about her since she was recently appointed by Moff Tarkin, governor of the outer rim territories."

The man finished his statement, yielding the floor to the next group. The next few groups reported similar findings often including minor details left out by prior groups.

Finally, the line of teams ended with Twitch and McCart. "Better have found out something new," Twitch muttered as McCart got up. He shot Twitch a glare before beginning.

"I, McCart Henning, bring to you more than just simple observations. I bring you our next objective." McCart produced a small disk from his pocket and showed it to the room. Twitch just rolled his eyes, clearly unamused with McCart's grandstanding. He was, however, curious to see what McCart discovered since he refused to reveal it to anyone but Abie.

McCart tossed the disk he was holding to Nina who slid it into the holoprojector. The manifest of an Imperial convoy came up on the projector.

"It's just a list of names," Nina said in a bored tone.

"Get to the point, McCart," Abie snapped.

"This is the manifest for an Imperial prisoner transfer," McCart began. "Each and every name on that list has been arrested for treason against the Empire. More specifically, they are all Separatist holdouts who continued fighting even after the Clone War had ended. I believe that they will be sympathetic to our cause since we are fighting the former Galactic Republic turned Galactic Empire. I reckon it's worth a shot."