99

A Young Girl’s War Between the Stars

99

Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to systems outside the Core is in dispute—just one factor contributing to the secession of many worlds in the Mid- and Outer Rim and the formation of the Confederation of Independent Systems.

Aiming to pressure the Republic into capitulating to their demands, the Trade Federation has stopped trade to Naboo with a blockade of battleships.

The Republic Senate, frightened and still recovering from a deadly terrorist bombing in the Senate chambers that saw more than half their number killed and recently replaced, endlessly debate and the Supreme Chancellor urges patience to resolve the issue through the proper legal procedures. The Jedi Order, suffering from their own internal Schism, have left the matter in the hands of the Senate for now while they attempt to recover from their own losses.

Left with no other choice, the newly elected Queen Padme Amidala has sought an alternative solution to break the blockade…

Naboo. 33 BBY/967 GSC. 1300 local time. Aboard the Redoubt.

I sat in the captain’s chair, Capt. Keen standing beside me with her hands clasped behind her back as I studied the fishbowl tactical display, eyeing the enemy movement tracks through the battlespace. Right now, they were holding position relative to the planet—no, relative to the capital, Theed.

“Eighteen ships in the battlespace. Six Lucrehulk-class battleships, twelve Munificent-class frigates. Twenty wings of five Vulture droid starfighters running CAP around the planet to cover their blind spots and prevent approach from the planet’s shadow,” our sensor officer reported. “And they see us. We’ve got multiple targeting locks.”

“Let’s return the favor. Lock targeting on the center Lucrehulk,” Capt. Keen ordered.

“Aye, ma’am,” our weapons officer confirmed. “Target locked.”

“Nav, decelerate and bring us to a stop relative to the fleet.”

“Aye, cap’n.”

“Launch fighters and establish our own CAP. Keep them close. We don’t want it to look like an attack.”

“Fighters launching.”

Our fighters began circling our ship like angry bees circling a nest, their sensor tracks lighting up the fishbowl. A moment later, one of the enemy ships lit up, showing they were trying to contact us.

Our comms officer reported, “One of the enemy ships is hailing us. Embedded identifier labels it as the Saak’ak.”

Grinning, I stood and grabbed my helmet. “Excellent. Ignore them. Let them sweat.”

“Incoming tightbeam. Our team captured the hyperspace comms relay.”

I nodded. “Shut it down. I’m heading down to the planet solo. Captain, you have the bridge.”

“Yes, Mandalore,” Capt. Keen saluted as I moved past her, before settling into her seat. “Prepare the main guns. Ready missiles and interceptor missiles. I want us ready when the shooting starts.”

“Aye aye, captain!”

Leaving the bridge, I made my way to our deck and followed my senses to my Padawans. I found Allaya and Asajj sitting in their armor in the rec room, watching a recorded holonet program. They looked up as I entered and I nodded.

“Master!” Allaya jumped to her feet.

“Is it starting?” Asajj asked, not yet committing to moving from her seat.

“Not yet. I’m heading down to the planet to speak with Padme and get everything signed and in writing. Once I’m back aboard, then we’ll begin. This will probably take a couple of hours. In the meantime, do your weapons checks and make sure you’re ready to go.”

““Yes, Master,”” both girls agreed, standing and hurrying out of the room.

I left and made my way down to the flight deck. Pulling on my helmet, I checked my own weapons before throwing on an optical camouflage formula. Stepping through the shield and outside, I oriented myself on the planet and began flying.

If I sent a ship down without breaking radio silence and trying to negotiate with the TradeFed ships blockading the planet first, they would likely open fire. But a single person, invisible, and with barely enough metal on their person to register as an unpowered missile that they couldn’t get visual confirmation was even out there and on a track that wouldn’t hit any of their ships? I was counting on them writing it off as either debris or a sensor malfunction.

If they didn’t, well… things would get very interesting, very quickly.

Putting those thoughts to the side, I focused on the task before me and on my senses as I scanned for threats, preparing myself for high speed evasive maneuvers just in case.

1300 local time. Aboard the Saak’ak.

“Captain Dofine, sir! A ship has appeared on our sensors, sir!” the B-1 battle droid manning the sensor console reported.

“Put it on the screen,” the gray robed neimoidian captain ordered. One of the displays came to life, showing a somewhat blocky ship, longer than it was tall or wide. Frowning, Capt. Dofine said, “I don’t recognize it.”

The same battle droid tapped at its console for a moment before reading off what it saw. “The computer says it’s Mandalorian.”

“A Confederate ship, here?! Why?” Making a frustrated sound, he ordered, “Alert the Viceroy! And lock our weapons onto it! If it advances to within thirty thousand kilometers, open fire!”

“Roger, roger.”

A moment later, one of the droids called, “Captain, sir! Enemy vessel has targeted our ship! They are decelerating and appear to be holding position.”

“Not ideal,” Capt. Dofine murmured, “but at least they’ve stopped. Alert me if—”

“They’ve deployed fighters!”

“What?! Are they attacking?” the captain demanded.

There was a pause, then, “No. They appear to be flying a holding pattern around the enemy ship.”

Capt. Dofine reached up, stroking his chin, before nodding. “Just a response to the presence of our own fighters, then. Ignore them for now. We’ll wait for the Viceroy.”

Several minutes later, the doors at the back of the room opened and Viceroy Gunray stormed in, looking around the bridge in irritation. “Captain Dofine, why have you disturbed me?”

“We have a problem,” the other neimoidian said, gesturing towards the screen. “A Confederate ship has entered the system and deployed fighters.”

Frowning, the Viceroy asked, “Have they contacted us?”

“No, Viceroy.”

Viceroy Gunray huffed. “Well contact them and find out what they want! Then tell them to leave! If they do not, then engage them. It’s just one ship.”

“Viceroy, our scans show that one ship outguns two of our Lucrehulks by itself. Engaging it in battle would be… unwise.”

The other neimoidian frowned. “Then bluff. But I want them out of our system. We do not need the CIS getting involved!”

Capt. Dofine nodded. “Hail the other ship.”

They waited in silence for over a minute before the B-1 on comms reported, “Captain, the enemy vessel is ignoring our hails.”

An uneasy feeling settled in Capt. Dofine’s stomach at that. “Keep hailing them.”

Viceroy Gunray shook his head, before turning and making to leave the bridge. “Do not disturb me again unless it is to report your success. I am going to speak with our ambassador on the surface. Perhaps Queen Amidala has seen reason by now and is willing to agree to our terms.”

As the bridge doors closed behind the other neimoidian, Capt. Dofine made a frustrated sound and moved around the bridge to the main command chair. Waving the neimoidian occupying it to move, he sat down with a sigh and stared at the screen showing the potentially hostile ship.

“Captain, we’ve detected an object approaching the fleet,” a B-1 reported. “It seems to have originated from the Confederate ship.”

Not looking away from the screen, Capt. Dofine asked, “Is it a torpedo? A missile?”

“Negative. Sensors can’t identify it.”

Frowning, he asked, “Is it going to impact one of our ships?”

“Negative, captain.”

“Then ignore it. It’s likely space debris or trash,” he waved the droid off and turned back to studying the interloper.

“What are you up to?”

1450 local time. Theed Royal Palace.

“Leave my planet and do not return,” Queen Amidala demanded.

The Neimoidian ambassador for the Trade Federation clasped his hands and bowed. “As you wish, your highness.Then I imagine the next time we speak will be under very different circumstances.”

She didn’t bother to stand as the loathsome creature was escorted out by her guards. Frowning, she made to stand and leave the room via the other exit, only for movement across the table and the crunch of an apple to draw her attention—and that of her security team, as they drew their weapons and pointed them at the armored form that just materialized sitting in a chair. The white haired woman looked entirely unconcerned as she leaned back in her seat and took her time chewing.

“At ease,” Queen Amidala sighed.

“My Queen?” one of them asked her, but she waved their concern off.

“She is a guest.” Turning to Tanya, she asked, “How long have you been there?”

“I’ve been in the room since the ‘ambassador’ arrived,” Tanya admitted, after swallowing her current bite. “I slipped in behind him and stood in the corner.”

Putting that terrifying thought to the side for now, the queen put aside protocol and hurried around the table, opening her arms and hugging the older woman. “Thank you for coming,” she whispered as Tanya awkwardly patted her back.

“You’re welcome,” the Zeltron said, before letting go. Padme took the hint and let go herself, taking a step back. Looking around the table as the queen took the seat immediately beside her, Tanya dropped the apple core on the table and wiped her gloved fingers off on a cloth napkin. Reaching down to her side, she opened a bag and retrieved a pair of physical, paper scrolls. She handed one to the queen and set the other on the table before her. “Please read over this and then sign both.”

“Your highness?” one of the advisors asked—an older man with graying blond hair and a fading mustache and goatee. “What is this?”

“Forgive me, I’ve neglected my manners. Everyone this is my friend, Tanya Mereel. Jedi Knight and ruler of Mandalore, here as a representative of the Confederation of Independent Systems. Tanya, these are my Royal Advisory Council. Governor Sio Bibble, Governor of Naboo. Horace Vancil, Our Political and Economics advisor. Ruto Graven, Our Assistant Minister of Internal Affairs. Kyu Tane, Our Minister of Culture. And Captain Quarsh Panaka, Our Head of Security.”

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As soon as greetings were exchanged and one of her handmaidens came to pour them fresh drinks, Padme continued. Gesturing with the scroll, she explained, “This is a treaty I am going to sign, as soon as I’ve finished reading it over. Naboo will be seceding from the Republic and joining the Confederation.” Her advisors all tried to speak at once, but she spoke over them. “This agreement outlines our duties to the Confederation and their duties to Naboo. One of which being planetary defense. As soon as these are signed, Confederate forces will begin breaking up the illegal blockade.”

“Your highness, with all due respect, you can’t do that!” Min. Tane protested, leaning forward in his seat. “Naboo has been a staunch supporter of the Republic since it was settled!”

Looking around the room, Padme saw that while the others weren’t openly speaking out, it was clear they shared Min. Tane’s opinion. Nodding, she asked a single question. “And where are they now?”

Minister Tane opened his mouth, only to close it again with a resigned look. Padme shifted her gaze over the rest of her advisors, watching as, one by one, they fell in line—silently conceding the point. She stopped on Governor Bibble, who held her gaze and nodded once. Sweeping her gaze back over the group, she continued, “You know as well as I do that the Republic have done everything in their power to drag their feet on this matter. They hope to delay until either the issue goes away, or the Trade Federation tire of being stonewalled and either give up or openly attack us. They have abandoned us in our time of need. Left us to the mercy of the Trade Federation.I, for one, don’t want Our home to be turned into casus belli for the Republic to move against the Trade Federation, at Our expense. Nor do I want to see Our people starve when the food stockpile runs out. That is why I reached out to Tanya and the Confederation—and they answered. They came as quickly as they were physically able to gather the ships and move them through hyperspace.”

Looking to Tanya, she asked, “How many ships did you bring?”

The Zeltron woman shook her head. “Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to disclose key intelligence related to an ongoing operation. Suffice it to say, we brought enough.”

Minister Tane scoffed. “You want us to risk everything when you can’t even give us a number?”

“Your highness, of course they came. The CIS intend to take advantage of the situation to put Naboo under their thumb for our natural resources,” Advisor Vancil shook his head, his tone one Padme didn’t like. Condescending. As though he were explaining something obvious to a child. “Yes, the Senate are stonewalling, that much is obvious. And perhaps you’re right about wanting to use Naboo as an excuse to justify entering the war. But we know what sort of life we’ve had under Republic rule. They’ve been mostly hands off. They demand their taxes and so long as we pay them, they leave us alone to govern ourselves. How will that change under the Confederation? We won’t know until it’s too late to back out, and if we do try to back out, they will surely demand concessions while the Republic will demand reparations for leaving in the first place!”

Minister Graven nodded. “What good is there to throwing off the yoke of one master only to trade it for the yoke of another? Better the devil we know than the devil we don’t. The Republic will sort this out eventually. Certainly, there may be some… difficulties involved in the process, but they will eventually do right by us.”

Tanya flicked a finger at the center of the table and the room fell silent as a full color hologram sprang to life above it, showing a group of ships positioned above Naboo. Another flick of the finger and it was replaced with an image of one of the large, circular Lucrehulk ships.

Flick. The bridge of a Lucrehulk, a Neimoidian cowering in fear as it surrendered.

Flick. A cargo bay within a Lucrehulk, containing battle droids racked and stacked in containers awaiting loading onto a drop ship.

Flick. Line after line of battle droids, standing eerily still in formation.

Flick. A different kind of battle droid standing in formation. Taller and larger than the first.

Flick. What looked like a starfighter, beside some kind of four-legged insectile looking droid. It took Padme a moment to realize that the droids were starfighters.

Flick. Some sort of large hover tank.

On and on it went as Tanya went through a photographic tour of the inside of a Lucrehulk in complete silence. Padme occasionally glanced away from the images to look at her advisors and judge their reactions. They had gone pale nearly to a one.

Finally, the hologram disappeared and Tanya spoke, piercing eyes sweeping over the room. “As you can see, we have some experience dealing with the Trade Federation. Those Lucrehulks in orbit are not battleships in the traditional sense. They’re droid carriers. Command and Control ships for their droid army. They don’t just intend to blockade Naboo, they intend to land troops and capture it. If you wish to live under the boot heel of occupation by a corporatocracy, be my guest. However, I am in charge of the Confederate effort to break the blockade and liberate Naboo. This entire operation happens, or doesn’t, at my word. If you have made up your minds, then I suppose the question is…” Her eyes hardened and something changed, a shift in the air that set everyone in the room on edge. “Who rules Naboo? Does the queen hold actual power, or is she just a figurehead for a bunch of career politicians too craven to jeopardize said careers?”

Padme moved the scroll onto the table and skipped straight to the end. Finding the line she needed, she penned out her signature. As she did, Min. Tane protested, “Queen Amidala, this action requires a full vote!”

“Blockade or not, we cannot leave the Republic! This is treason!” Min. Graven added. “They’ll have our heads!”

Padme’s voice was quiet and calm as she rolled up the first scroll and took the second, moving straight to the signature line and penning her name. “The two of you are hereby relieved of your positions and duties. Captain, please place them under house arrest until the operation is concluded.”

The pair exchanged a look before Minister Graven pushed forward. “Captain, the queen is feeling unwell. You should escort her to her quarters, and then have our ‘guest’ escorted to her ship.”

“You understand what this means, don’t you, Panaka?” Min. Tane asked.

Advisor Vancil nodded. “When the Republic wins, they will come after everyone involved. Including us. It’s better to suffer the Trade Federation now than the Republic later.”

To Padme’s shock, Captain Panaka hesitated, hand on his sidearm. “Captain?”

“My queen… I only want what’s best for Naboo. We have to think of the future,” the man sighed. “Please don’t make this harder than it has to be.”

Quiet chuckling drew their attention to Tanya, slowly standing from her seat and pulling on her helmet. “I didn’t think I’d get to see a coup today.”

Reaching out, one of the scrolls zipped across the table and into her hand, before she slipped it into the pouch at her side. “Signed, witnessed, and recorded. Congratulations, Queen Amidala. On behalf of Suzerain Dooku, I welcome you to the Confederation of Independent Systems. With your membership come certain benefits. Protection of free trade routes. A system fleet to protect against pirates and unscrupulous corporations trying their hand at piracy. And, most pertinent at the moment, guaranteed protection from any attempted rebellions or coups that may threaten the reign of Naboo’s rightful ruler—in this case, you.”

Capt. Panaka drew his sidearm and aimed it at the armored woman, who simply stepped over and reached for the pistol. The man fired, three red bolts hitting the chest piece and splashing off before she took it from his hand, flipped it around, and bashed him in the face with it. Panaka went down, visibly dazed and clutching his broken and bleeding nose as he moaned in pain. The three ministers made to stand, but a shot over their heads from Panaka’s own sidearm froze them in place.

The doors to the room burst open and more royal guard poured in. Assessing the situation, Padme couldn’t blame them for their first instinct—that being, to draw and aim their weapons at the Mandalorian standing over her former Head of Security holding a weapon on her Royal Advisory Council.

I have to put a stop to this before it escalates further!

Padme stood, slamming her palms on the table hard enough to rattle the dishes on it and make those sitting at the table jump. “Enough! It’s done! Lower your weapons!” she ordered, and the guards did so, even if they looked unsure. “Mandalore Mereel is an official diplomat here on behalf of our new allies, the Confederacy. She acted in my defense and with my approval, pursuant to the treaty I’ve just signed.” Looking down at the man holding his nose, she steeled herself and gave the order she knew was needed. “Panaka, you’re relieved of duty. Guards, arrest Mr. Tane, Mr. Vancil, Mrs. Graven, and Capt. Panaka on the charge of treason.”

Unlike Panaka at least, her guards were loyal. They quickly dragged Tane, Vancil, and Graven out of their seats and put them in restraints, followed by Panaka, before escorting them from the room. Tanya dropped the blaster on the table and turned her helmeted head towards Padme. “For your safety, you need to come with me. You’ll be staying aboard the Redoubt until this blockade is removed.”

“I’ll need time to pack—”

Tanya shook her head. “No. You can’t bring any baggage either, as we won’t be taking a ship.”

“Huh?” Padme blinked, looking confused. “Then how…?”

“You’ll see. Now, we need somewhere you can change,” Tanya said, withdrawing a somewhat familiar bundle from her bag—what looked to Padme like a standard emergency vacsuit.

“Very well,” Padme agreed, standing. Looking over the remaining advisors, she focused on Governor Bibble. “Governor, you are in charge until I return or contact you. Ready our forces in case we need to defend ourselves.”

The Governor stood and bowed. “Your will be done, my Queen.”

With that, Padme left the room, Tanya following behind her. Sabe met her outside the room and followed them to her quarters, where the other handmaidens gathered and quickly got Padme stripped out of her entirely too complicated dress and her makeup removed. Then, she was being stuffed and sealed into a vacuum suit that clung down practically skin tight to her body the moment it was properly pressurized.

“Are you sure I can’t pack a small bag?” Padme asked, and Tanya shook her head.

“Bring your personal holocom. That’s it,” she instructed.

Padme nodded and slipped the device into one of the pockets built into the suit. “Now what?”

“Bucket on.”

“Now?”

“Now,” the Zeltron confirmed.

Unsure why she would need it now, Padme complied and secured it in place. As soon as it was on, Tanya moved over to a window overlooking a garden. Opening it up, she motioned Padme closer. The queen made her way over, only to yelp as Tanya grabbed her and picked her up. Then, they shot out the window, rising into the air as the world rippled around them for a moment.

Padme squealed and latched onto Tanya with a death grip. “You can fly?!”

“I can fly,” Tanya answered, her voice so nonchalant that Padme was forced to come to the realization that for her, this was likely just another tool in her toolbox. Something almost mundane.

“Why didn’t you bring a ship?!”

The older girl’s voice was amused as she answered, “Because I didn’t want them to see a ship coming down and respond by launching their invasion early. I believe I can either avoid a ground war or at least delay it if we play our cards right. Now, we’re going radio silent. No more talking.”

Padme nodded. Looking away from Tanya, she turned her gaze out over Naboo. They had ascended high enough to see the curve of the planet and the city of Theed lay far below them. It was beautiful. So tranquil here, this high above it all.

If I could fly like this, I don’t think I’d ever come down.

1700 local time. Aboard the Redoubt.

I set us down in the hangar and dropped the optical camo formula over us. Padme reached up and cautiously removed her helmet as I pulled my own off, putting it on the mag clamp on my hip. Flight crew saluted as I led the brunette out of the hangar. “We’ll stop by my quarters and you can borrow one of my robes for now. Later, we’ll get someone to get you a uniform.”

“That’s fine,” Padme nodded as she looked around, taking everything in with interest. This wasn’t the first time she’d been aboard my ship, but I suppose the novelty still hadn’t worn off. “What’s your next step?”

“We’ll get you changed, then head to the bridge. Then I’ll contact the lead enemy ship and attempt to negotiate. If they agree to let me board,” I trailed off, smiling at the thought. “We have a surprise for them, if they’re stupid enough to fall for it. I very much hope they are. I’d like to add another Lucrehulk to my collection.”

“That’s what happened to the one you showed us?” Padme asked, and I nodded as I led her up the stairs to our deck and down to my quarters.

Soon enough, she had thrown one of my plain spare robes on over her vacsuit. It was a little big on her, but a robe was a robe, so a little extra material wouldn’t matter much. Once she was dressed, I took her to the bridge.

“Mandalore on deck!”

Returning the salutes from those who weren’t occupied, I moved over to the captain’s chair as Capt. Keen stood and offered it. Padme stepped into the holographic fishbowl and blinked, looking around at the display. Looking to Aylin, I asked, “Any change in status?”

“They’ve been hailing us since you left. Not long ago, a shuttle came up from the surface and they attempted to place a call out—our team connected to the relay say it would have tried to direct it to Coruscant.”

“I see,” I murmured. Glancing at Padme, I instructed, “If you’ll look on the floor, you’ll see a yellow dashed circle. That’s the video pickup radius. Step outside of it, please.” As soon as Padme was out of the circle, I pulled on my helmet then looked towards our comms officer. “Hail them.”

“Aye, ma’am.”

It only took a moment for the Saak’ak to pick up. Standing on the enemy bridge was a neimoidian in gray and black robes and a tall hat. He looked us over for just a moment before speaking. “I am Captain Dofine of the Trade Federation vessel Saak’ak. The Naboo system is under a perfectly legal blockade. For what reason have you entered this system?”

“Captain Aylin Keen of the Redoubt,” Aylin answered. “We’re here on behalf of the Confederation of Independent Systems. The ambassador for Suzerain Dooku wishes to board and begin negotiations on behalf of Naboo.”

The neimoidian blinked, tilting his head a few degrees to the side in apparent confusion. After a moment, Capt. Dofine said, “Excuse me a moment. I am not authorized to negotiate on behalf of the Trade Federation and must summon the one who has that authority.”

“Very well,” Capt. Keen nodded.

The video went to a signal holding pattern and we settled in to wait. While we waited, I asked, “Are we ready?”

The woman at my side grinned. “Marine detail is on standby.”

“Good.”

A few minutes later, the display from the other ship came back and Capt. Dofine had been joined by another neimoidian, this one in red robes. They all looked alike to me, so it wasn’t until this particular neimoidian spoke that I recognized him.

“I am Viceroy Gunray. My captain said you wish to negotiate?”

I was thankful that my helmet hid the grin that spread across my lips as he introduced himself. Well, well. We meet again, Viceroy.

“That’s correct, Viceroy. We’ll be sending an ambassador over, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all,” the man smirked, his tone turning oily. “This is an excellent opportunity for the Confederacy and the Trade Federation to come to an understanding. Perhaps we can find a common ground and work together against our mutual enemy. After all, have we not all suffered under the heel of the Republic?”

“Thank you. Our ambassador will be over shortly. Redoubt out.”

Our comms officer cut the feed and I stood. As I did, Padme asked, “You’re not actually considering his offer, are you?”

“I would be, if I had spoken to the Viceroy first, if I hadn’t met him and wasn’t aware of his character, or if I didn’t know he was a puppet for the Sith. As it stands, you signed the contract and we will honor it in good faith. You can observe things from here as long as you stay out of the way. But if the ship goes to battle stations, you will follow Capt. Keen’s orders. Do you understand?”

The younger woman nodded and I sent Aylin a nod. “Have the marine detachment meet me in the hangar.”

With that, I left to collect my Padawans. Hurrying through the corridors to where I felt them, they looked up as I entered the room. I didn’t need to say anything for both of them to drop what they were doing, grab their helmets, pull them on, and follow.

Soon enough, we were standing in the hangar, in front of one of our two Kom’rk-class fighter/transport ships and a group of twenty Mando marines, armed to the teeth and raring to go.

“Listen up!” I called as Asajj and Allaya fell into line with the marines. “Our target is the Saak’ak—a Lucrehulk-class battleship. We’ve done this before, but things are a little different this time. For one, this ship is battle ready and prepared for a land invasion, so you should assume the droids inside are battle ready as well and expect heavy resistance if we’re forced to actually fight. I’m hoping to avoid that, however.

“The plan is to fly over and, once we get inside their shield envelope and too close for their sensors to properly track, for you to deploy and move into position as three teams. You all know the ship’s layout now and where you need to breach to take the engine room and droid control center simultaneously. Allaya you’re with the droid control room team, Asajj with the engine room team. You’ll breach as soon as I reach the enemy bridge and give the signal. The breach team for the bridge will wait in place and with any luck, I’ll be able to take them myself and won’t need the backup—you’re just there as a contingency measure.

“We have two HVTs for this mission: the ship’s captain, who is the lower priority, and Viceroy Nute Gunray. If we can capture the Viceroy, we’ll have the TradeFed by the balls, so I’d like to make that happen. Any questions?”

Looking around the group and seeing there were none, I nodded and gestured to the transport. “Load up!”