"I gave the order to supply you with Ernie; an order that seems to have been misinterpereted in the haste to organize this mission." Bosch looks at Arlee intently. "I do regret this occurance, R-LE-1, and your reaction is completely understandable. However, my job is to brief you on the situation and give you your orders, not to dwell on such things." He motions to everyone else in the room. "Now, if you would all give your fullest attention to the holo." Bosch enters a passcode into the room's central holoprojector, which hums to life, showing an stilled image of a Star Destroyer and supporting ships locked in battle with two Rebel Cruisers.
"This is a recording taken from the observation deck of the RCS Reliant, our command vessel in the Tapani Sector. The Star Destroyer here is the ICS Interdictor, one of the Empire's oldest and most prized capital ships. We had been close to taking up a permanent defensive postion in orbit around Thyferra when the Interdictor jumped into the system with a sizable supporting fleet and began their attack. Our ships had already been through heavy fighting, and were unprepared for another attack so soon."
Bosch tapped a button on the Holo's remote, and the image sprang to life. Turbolaser fire arced between the embattled ships, with small specks of starfighters zooming all about. From the looks of it, the battle was going in the Empire's favor. One by one the Rebel ships hyperspaced out, rather than face destruction at the hands of the Imperial battle fleet. There were increasingly numerous bursts of flame as Rebel transports and other supporting vessels were picked off, and it looked as if the second Rebel cap ship was nearing destruction.
"As you can see, the battle is all but won for the Empire." Bosch said as the holographic battle continued. "But watch the Interdictor here." He indicated the Star Destroyer.
With victory all but assured, the Interdictor's guns stopped firing. The Imperial fighters and support ships returned to their mother vessel. Imperial corvettes and other lesser ships hyperspaced out, shortly followed by the disappearance of the Interdictor. Bosch clicked a button, and the holo disappated.
"As you can plainly see, an Imperial battle fleet not long ago withdrew from battle, even though they were clearly the victors. A short while later, there were reports of similar occurrances in the Elrood and Juvex Sectors. An investigation into the Imperial ships involved showed that all were suspected of involvement in Imperial Covert Operations and Intelligence Gathering." Bosch cleared his throat for effect. "Of course, Rebel High Command was deeply concerned that the Empire had somehow drawn those embattled forces away merely as a diversion for a more destructive operation, and the whole Fleet went into a panic trying to locate the involved Imperial vessels."
The grizzled intelligence officer clicked the remote again, and a map of the galaxy shimmered into existence on the Holo, and zoomed in on the Outer Rim sector around Endor. "Four hours after the disappearance of the Interdictor, one of our forward observance vessels operating out of Endor picked up a distress signal from this point." Bosch clicked the remote, and a small dot highlighted a space the size of a small star system not far from Endor, but deep in wild space.
"Our closest science vessels immediately began a deep scan of the area surrounding the distress beacon, and found a previously undiscovered gravity well. The only explanation is that this beacon is in the vicinity of a new star system. What's more, an examination of the distress beacon's signal shows that it originated from an escape pod from a small corellian transport, the Dawnsprinter." Bosch sighed, and clicked the remote again. The holographic galaxy zoomed out, and a highlight appeared around Ord Mirrit, at the far end of the galaxy. "The Dawnsprinter is known to have blasted out of a starport on Ord Mirrit less than 48 hours ago. This caused us to think our identification of the vessel as erroneous, since for a ship to travel between these two points, it would have to have a Hyperdrive motor 800% more efficient than the most powerful known Hyperspace drive."
Bosch clicked off the Holoprojector and set down the remote. He faced those assembled, his expression grave. "Our data indicates that the Empire will soon have in its possession a new star system, and a new hyperspace drive more advanced than any in the galaxy. In short, we face the possibility that the Empire will soon have the capability for lightning strikes anywhere in the galaxy, faster than ever though possible."
