Hirotek watched the battle over the world, and smiled. SO far, they had managed to destrpy one replicator, and cause serious damage to another. With minimal losses to their own forces. That was something to be proud of. But as he watched the sensors, he knew that soon the Repora would soon be ready to begin landing ground troops. Which meant that he needed to get moving. He had to head to Kuat, to see if they had any ships for him. Then, it would be back to Dresnak, to begin his operations against the Reporan re-inforcements. he turned to walk out of the battle center, and saw Athien standing there behind him. By the look on her face, she realised the same thing. "Well, it seems the battle is now underway. Which means it is time to get going. I dont feel like running a massive blockade in an assualt shuttle. And we have some troop movements to interupt." he said, and Athien nodded. "Yes, it is time to go. My father left us a shuttle to use. It is fast, and well armed. It should be able to get us through the blockade. " she said, but Hirotek could tell that somethign else was on her mind. And he knew what it was. She didnt want to leave. "You would rather be here, wouldnt you?" he said, as they both began to walk towards the turbolift. Athien was silent for a moment, and then nodded. "Yes. I feel that we would both be more usefull here, at least for now. They will need all the best military minds here to help with the battle." she said, and Hirotek silently agreed. He too wanted to stay, but without ships of his own to command, all he could do was offer advice. And with Eveha, Ioor, Oreton, and Thrawn all in command of the defences, he had no thoughts that his advice would really be needed here. "While I do agree with you, we have other things to attend to. We have to prevent Reporan re-inforcements from leaving the unknown regions. And we cant do that from here." he said, and Athien sighed. "Yes, I know. But still, I feel like I am abandoning our allies in a time of need." she said, and Hirotek winced. He knew the pain of that, having been forced to do it during the war against the vong. "Trust me Athien, our forces in orbit are led by some of the best in the galaxy. And they know why we must go. And if we dont leave now, there is no garauntee that we will be able to get off the planet at all." he said, and they both enetered the turbolift. Athien thought about it for a moment, and then sighed. Hirtek was right, and she knew it. They had to leave. So now it was time to discuss strategy. "So have you had any new thoughts on how we will be doing this? We dont have much in the way of firepower. That, and finding the Reporan convoys will nto be easy." she said, and Hirotek nodded. he had thought about that already, and had been running several ideas through his head. Sadl;y, he had been forced to decide on a rather by the book plan. "Unfortunetly, our lack of available resources is going to make finding those convoys difficult at best. We will need recon units to be running almost constantly, mostly near Adumar. But i dont want to try ambushing ships to close to Adumar, the chances of re-enforcements arriving are to great. Luckily, we still have some Reporan mines to use, whcih will make things a little easier." he said, and Athien nodded. "We also still have sabre squadron. I think they would make effective scout vessels. Their lack of pilots will make them hard for the repora to find using the force." she said, and Hrotek nodded. he had htought about theta already, but had decided an a different use for those ships. "Yes, but I have other plans for Sabre squadron. I have a squadron of recon fighters that we can modify to be flown by astromechs. Hopefully, they will be just as effective." he said, and Athien looked over at him. "What are you going to do with them? Keep them for combat? The repora have already proven that they cannot be used for that to much. The droid brains arent capable of keeping up with live pilots." Athine said, and HIrotek smiled. "I know. But hopefully, I will be fixing that situation soon. But that will have to wait until after Ord Mantell has either fallen, or the battle here is won." he said, and the turbolift finally came to a halt. The doors opened, and they both exited. They walked down thehall quickly, hurrying to the hanger bays. "How so? Placing live pilots in the ships will make it easier for the Repora to defeat them, not harder. And better droid brains will only go so far." she said, and Hirotek nodded. "I know. But live pilots are really our only option to make them truelly combat capable fighters." he sai,d and Athien nodded. "Do you plan on asking the Jedi to pilot them? I know they havesome very capable pilots." she asked, and Hirotek shook his head. "No, having jedi in the cockpits will only make the Repora gun for the fighters even more. That, and the jedi will be more usefull in ground battles." he said, and Athien nodded. He was right on both accounts, but she still didnt see how he was going to make the fighters more dangerous in combat. She was missing somethign important in his plans. And she had a feelign that once she figured it out, it would make her want to hit herself. "You will find out soon enough. But for now, lets got off this planet." he said, and they stepped into the hanger bay where thier shuttle was located. The began to walk across the hanger bay, and a ensign ran up to them. "Admiral Hirotek, Commodore Athien. Your shuttle is ready for launch, but we have to wait for clearence to be given by Supreme Commander Thrawn. He apperntly has a distraction ready to help you get out of the system." he said, and they both nodded. They walked over to their shuttle, and boarded it. Once inside, Athien closed the hatch, and Hirotek walked up to the cockpit. Athien followed closely behind him, and they began to pre-flight check. "Well, all we can do now is wait." Athien said, and Hirotek nodded. He just hoped that they could get off the planet, and out of the system inone piece. If not, he had a feeling that it was going to ba a long time before they could make it back to Dresnak.
