In space combat, Nebulas represented something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they were an incredible source of cover for relatively small fleets of ships. As long as you kept your broadcasts at the lower end of power, you could still communicate between ships while the natural interference of the nebula obscured them from distant scans. The same interference blocked scans that would normally pick up a starship's presence, and with enough distance, it could visually obscure a fleet as well. It could even block thermal scans from thrusters if someone got desperate.

  The problem was that, not only did it protect you, it protected your enemies as well, making it impossible to see or hear your enemies, especially if you were in the thick of it, using the nebula to hide your presence.

  It was this scenario that the 2nd Group, plus the and the found themselves in. Luckily, when Deacon reached out for a conference among the captains and leaders of the Skyforged, they hadn't yet started to encroach on their targets, though stopping to communicate had slowed them down considerably.

  Still, the topic was by and far important enough to understand the need to discuss it with his people. Not to mention that their leader's inclination to indulge and consult the ideas and thoughts of their subordinates was something none of them wanted to take for granted. When it was done, then they could focus on their mission.

  Their target was at the center of a cobbled-together Hutt fleet, though most of the ships were more focused on repair work than fighting. Still, it was no small threat, with a pair of, a trio of off-brand, probably Hutt-made light cruisers, and a single scarred and singed, but still perfectly functional.

  Around these ships were the remains of a Clone Wars era space battle, with wrecked ships, both CIS and Republic. The real prize, however, was the almost intact. It was cobbled together from two other, much less intact Venators, floating in the void nearby.

  Around five days ago, a single slave laborer, stationed on the intact capital ship, managed to escape, piloting a repaired ARC-170. Rumors of what they had escaped quickly spread and eventually reached the ears of the Skyforged mission planners.

  After a bit of investigation, they managed to find the escaped slave, and in exchange for a decent chunk of credits, they happily sang like a canary, eagerly explaining it all to them.

  Just under a year ago, a small conclave of Hutts had come into contact with an information broker, claiming to know the location of an untouched Clone Wars battlespace, just ripe for salvage and looting. They purchased the information and immediately sent out a small group of salvage ships, expecting to come away with a few starfighters, some dated armor and weapons, and maybe some salvage parts. Instead, after running their scans, they found an incomplete puzzle. One of the Venators had a mostly intact superstructure, and while its engines and power generation were toast, the other two ships had parts to replace almost everything that was broken.

  Now, almost a year later, the ship was just about finished, stocked with everything worth salvaging or repairing from the rest of the battlespace. When it was finally complete, they planned on jumping it to the orbit of Nal Hutta, where it would join their navy. That was, of course, if it actually got there.

  Unfortunately, while the Hutts were many things, the conclave that was sponsoring the work was not stupid, which was why they had so much firepower floating around. It was considerably more than they would normally attempt to engage with what they had, even with the addition of the andThis was exactly what the captains were currently debating about, all of them connected together through holoprojectors.

  "We need to send word back to Nirn," Captain Vakim of the insisted. Out of everyone here, she, her husband, and her brother had been part of the Skyforged for the longest, which held a considerable amount of weight. "Admiral Deacon would only engage such unfavorable odds if he had some sort of trick or advantage. We have neither of those. Reinforcements are the obvious answer."

  "Except we would have to go sublight for nearly two days before their scanners would miss our hyperspace jump," Captain Pella Irsee, Captain of the countered. "It's just about the only thing this cloud hide. Between that and the travel time from Nirn, once they were notified, the Hutts could be finished. From what we've learned, they are getting very close."

  "And Admiral Deacon would say that he would rather us return home safely, even if it meant missing out on an opportunity," Vakim responded easily. "And let's not forget, we do not know what else is on board the Venator or how active the ship's weapons are. Even a partially active Venator, combined with the other forces, would overwhelm us."

  "From what I am hearing," Corvak said, his arms crossed. "This mission is a no-go unless we can figure out a plan. Something we can use to our advantage or skip over threats?"

  "Agreed," Captain Vakim responded, a few others nodding in agreement.

  "First off, we should send the away, out of the cloud and out of range," Captain Irsee said. "It is our smallest ship, and it can start the journey so it can contact reinforcements now, so in the worst-case scenario, they can come to rescue us within a few days."

  Several people nodded, though the captain of the seemed disappointed. So far, their ship had only been active in mock battles between their own fleets. While they weren't bloodthirsty, they were eager to prove themselves.

  "What if, hypothetically, we could get on board the destroyer and prevent them from using it against us…." Lieutenant Rider, leader of the clone ground team, asked. "How would our fleet engage theirs?"

  "If we attack directly, focus our fire, and put it between us and the other ships, we should be able to take out the Nebulon before taking too much damage," Captain Irsee responded, the other captains nodding in agreement. "With the element of surprise, we could manage it. We would have to tap into our missile reserves, but it could be done."

  Everyone winced at that, since the missiles were expensive and rare, and nobody liked using them. Their leader's distaste for the weapon system was slowly spreading through his people, though no one denied they were useful, just not dependable in a long-term sense.

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  "And the remaining ships? Or any starfighters?" Corvak asked. "How would you counter those?"

  "Our deployment of two A-wings squadrons can counter three squadrons of mixed starfighters easily," Toggle, leader of the starfighters on board the , pointed out. "Any more than that, and our casualties will start to increase."

  "The Nebulon could hold around two squadrons, but there is no way to know what is on the Venator," Captain Irsee pointed out. "It could be nothing, or it could be fifty Arc-170s, just waiting to be thrown in our face. Hell, it could even have a few dozen repaired and modified vulture droids."

  "Keeping any starships onboard the Venator from taking off would have to be a primary objective for the force on board the ship," Lieutenant Rider pointed out. "Right alongside capturing or temporarily disabling the heavy weapons system."

  "This whole discussion is moot until we actually find a way on the ship," Captain Vakim reminded the group. "Lieutenant Rider, was this hypothetical based on an idea, or were you simply skipping the most important part?"

  "I have a start of an idea… but it's kind of risky," the soldier admitted. "The battlespace is a relatively clear pocket on the lighter side of the nebula. Unless they spent thousands of hours manually scouting every inch around them, their scanners couldn't have pierced very deep. We know from the escaped slave that the Hutts didn't know what they would find here, just that something was here. So if another bit of salvage slowly drifted out of the deeper parts of the nebula, they wouldn't have any way to know if it was supposed to be here or not."

  The gathered holoprojections went silent for a moment, digesting what Rider had explained. After a long pause, Captain Irsee was the first to realize what he was implying.

  "You want to use the?" the older captain said, pulling at his beard as he thought. "I assume you would put the ground teams inside?"

  "Our suits can keep us safe in space for a few hours," Rider confirmed. "If we create cosmetic damage to the ship, pop some hull plattings off, and scrape off the paint, it would look like a ship that vented atmosphere and drifted into the nebula."

  "What exactly would be the goal after they see you?" Captain Vakim asked.

  "Well, they aren't going to shoot us, it's more salvage and another potential ship for them," He pointed out, everyone nodding. "They would need to inspect it, and unless they plan on dragging someone all the way out for a spacewalk…"

  "They would bring it to Venator to store in its hangar bay," Corvak finished. "?"

  "Absolutely… assuming there isn't anything taking up that space," the captain of the Nautilus responded.

  "This plan falls on several potential risks," Vakim pointed out. "There are multiple points of failure. What will you do if they do not place you inside the Venator? The Nebulon's hangar bar is more than big enough to hold you, after all."

  "The Nebulon hangar will likely be full. It's a functioning hangar, after all. If it isn't… then I guess our prize is a Nebulon," Rider responded with a shrug. "That said, the central section of the Venator should be kept clear if they have any sense at all. If they decide to try and investigate without bringing us in… we would need you guys to distract them as we restart the ship and make a short jump out of danger. With everyone focused on us, you could engage the Nebulon until we can make the jump."

  "Starting the up from complete shutdown would take three minutes," Vakim pointed out. "For two of those, every sensor in the clear area will know what you are doing."

  "Can you hold out for two minutes?" Corvak asked, looking around the table, then back to Vakim. "Because if you can, then this is a valid strategy."

  "If we can keep the Nebulon or other wrecks between us and the Venator, assuming it can even shoot… Then yes, I believe we can hold them off for two minutes."

  "Then my vote is for this plan," Corvak said, leaning back his chair, his projection flickering. "Everyone else?"

  The vote was quickly cast, with the plan passing by a solid majority. Once that was decided, it was time to get the plan going. First, the made its departure, heading for the other side of the nebula, where it could make a small jump just to be sure it was out of range. Then, it would use its hyperwave, without fear of being detected, to contact Nirn for reinforcements.

  Meanwhile, the was very carefully dragged on board the after the two LAAT gunships were piloted out to make more room. Even then, with the rows of stacked A-wings, as well as other equipment, it was an extremely tight fit. In fact, the back end of the ship still hung outside of the magcon field, since it was just a bit too wide and long to fit. Thankfully they had some robot workers who could work on that end, while the crew worked inside, stripping and then repainting with republic colors, removing paneling, and even cutting some of them up to give the illusion that they had been shot or busted.

  The process took several hours, pushing the repair and maintenance crew of the to their limit, before the cosmetic modifications were complete. Slowly but surely, they guided the back out of the carrier. The final result was not perfect, but considering the setting and what was going on, it looked enough like a wrecked ship to pass most inspections.

  Once it was free of the , the process of loading people on began, as the normal crew had already disembarked while "docked" with the . It went slowly, mostly due to the sensitivity of the couplings that were being used, but eventually, the clone, Mandalorian, and BX commando droid ground teams were on board the ship, which was just large enough to not be cramped with that many people on board.

  Finally, after everyone was settled and the ships were ready, they began to move. The was dragged along with tractor beams so that the engines remained cold as the entire fleet moved together, looking to get as close as possible to the Hutt operation before stopping to let the ground teams work their magic.

  Or get stuck in a precarious and dangerous position, requiring the rest of the fleet to put their lives on the line to rescue them. Either result was possible, a fact that stuck in everyone's mind as the point of no return quickly approached. As they approached the separation point, one more communication was linked between the and the .

  "The calculations are set, with this angle and speed, you are set to emerge from the dense obfuscation in a day and a half." Captain Irsee explained. "Eight hours before that, one of your R2 slicers will cut off the heat. An hour before contact, you will slowly vent all oxygen and several panels. This will drop the temperature even further and leave you with the air in your suits and the several bottles we included for emergencies. That should last you several hours, assuming you are relaxed. This is your last chance to back out. Once we release you on your projected route, you will quickly leave our communications range.

  "We are ready," Corvak said easily, despite his own rising nerves.

  "We are as well, Sir," Lieutenant Rider confirmed with a nod.

  "We have been prepared for this mission since we were constructed," Lefty said, both of the other ground team leaders turning to look at them.

  "The BX droids are developing a personality," Corvak said, shaking his head. "Wonderful."

  "Good luck, and let the Force be with you," The captain said, giving them a vague salute before the communication cut out.

  A moment later, the thrumb and vibration of the tractor beam suddenly cut off, and the drifted without power or anchor. Its course was set for the Hutt salvage operation, and nothing could stop them now.

  "Well… Buckle in. It's going to be a while," Lieutenant Rider said, glancing over at Corvak. "You guys know how to play Sabbac, or do you play some sort of special Mandalorian card game?

  "We play Sabbac," Crovak responded, already heading out of the bridge. "Not sure it's a good idea to gamble for credits while stuck together like this."

  "Sounds like the words of a man already looking forward to losing," Rider responded with a chuckle, Corvak only shaking his head in response.

  As they walked out, the ship started to shut down around them, major systems going dormant until only the life support and emergency lights remained. The two men continued to talk, only stopping when Corvak went to his temporary bunk to retrieve a deck of cards.