Quoted By:
You can’t be sure whether the Trade Federation leaving it in place or General Tann drawing attention to it was the greater blunder. The listening post is also contacting your fleet, its tone markedly more desperate and its priority higher, likely having mayday protocols unlocked thanks to the assault it finds itself under.
“This is Commander Plure Barron of Trade Federation Mining Outpost O-BKA-053!” A panicked Neimoidian, female by the higher, nasallier tone of her voice, stumbles through, “we are a simple listening post guarded only by basic battle droids, and cannot maintain our defenses against this Republic assault!” The room she’s in shakes violently enough for it to be audible, though it helps that the Neimoidian is scared into silence, if only momentarily, “this is a mayday to all Separatist ships in the sys- in the sector!” A cynical part of you notes that those are one in the same, she’s just trying to make it look like the transmission is a general call for assistance, rather than directed towards <span class="mu-i">Longest Haul</span> alone. “I repeat, mayday! We require immediate evacuation!”
One of the bridge techs takes the message on their own console while another lets General Tann’s play. It’s not actually General Tann, you’ve heard her voice, deep and confident, before, but some technician who’s been left in charge of the communiqué. “This is the Krant Research Station,” the technician is a male, human or close enough, and young, “we can begin evacuation protocols immediately, though we require some time before we can extract the assets. General Tann suggests arraying the fleet above the Research Station to provide cover. Any transports capable of landing being sent to the surface would greatly expedite the extraction. Krant Research Station out.”
It appears you have a dilemma before you, either evacuate the foolhardy Trade Federation personnel who chose to remain on Aereen even after General Tann led the Republic to their doorstep, or move to secure the mission objective and exfiltrate the Chiss general and the mysterious weapon she stole from the Republic before they can move in on your fleet. You could attempt to do both at once, but splitting your fleet would leave either half dangerously outnumbered by the Republic’s massed forces.
>(2/3)
