The Enemy

Admiral Kebod

Admiral Jhared Kebod was getting annoyed at all the screaming.

It wasn’t a noise one usually heard aboard the Devastator. His crew was the best there was, and they took a justified pride in their ship’s unique legacy. And right now, that pride couldn’t be greater. After months of raiding rebel commerce, the ship was rejoining Vader and his fleet at Endor. The final battle of the war might be in the offing, and that meant that there really wasn’t time for distractions. So when the Devastator happened to capture some suspected smugglers on the way into the system, Kebod’s orders were as simple as they were harsh.

Which meant there was a lot of screaming.

Kebod regarded the four shackled men with his single gray eye. He’d heard enough of their desperate protests about how they weren’t rebel spies. Certainly there was the faint possibility that they might be telling the truth about being traders, but ultimately it made no difference. Jhared had found over his many years of command that it was best to keep a crew focused on their mission. That was one of the many lessons he had learned back in the days when the Devastator served as Darth Vader’s personal flagship. A focused crew was a crew less likely to make mistakes, and the Admiral believed in dealing with failures swiftly and definitively.

So an opportunity to demonstrate the penalty for transgressions was always welcome.

He gave the stormtroopers a curt nod; they slammed the airlock door, cutting off the screams. One of the smugglers began banging on the window, but Kebod didn’t bother to look. He hoped if his day ever came, he’d meet it with more dignity than the men he was dispatching. The stormtroopers cycled the airlock and the banging stopped. The sergeant stepped forward.

“What should we do with their ship, Admiral?”

“Set it adrift and let the gun crews use it for target practice. Score the drill and let me know if any gun crew fails to achieve one hundred percent.” Without waiting for a response, Kebod turned on his heels and headed back toward the command deck. He took the long way there, of course. He always walked the decks before a big operation; he liked to let the officers and crew know that he was watching their every move. That was one more thing Lord Vader had taught him. Truth to tell, he didn’t expect much in the way of action in the upcoming operation; there was no way the surprised rebels would be able to withstand the awesome display of power the Emperor had amassed to put an end to their seditious nonsense once and for all. Even so, his analytical mind had gone over the mission details time and time again, and he intended to carry them out to the letter.

Jhared Kebod arrived on the bridge to find Commander X’radd wearing his immaculate flight suit. There was no question that X’radd was one of the best TIE fighter pilots in the whole fleet, but the Admiral found his ostentatious nature to be a continual source of annoyance. He cleared his throat.

“Commander, I want you to take your interceptors out and take up position aft of the ship.”

X’radd cocked an eyebrow and ran a finger over his pencil-thin mustache. “I thought we were going to support the battle station’s operations, Admiral.”

“You are, only now you will be doing it closer to this vessel when we move to engage the rebel fleet.”

“Sir, may I suggest-”

“You may not. Considering that even the smallest of their attack craft have hyperdrives, I don’t want to be taken by surprise by any snubfighter attacks, and I want to be free to maneuver against their capital ships as soon as we have the go ahead.”

X’radd bowed slightly and gave the Admiral a crooked smile. “A sensible alteration to plan, Sir. Allow me to compliment�"”

“Spare me, commander. After the battle is won I am sure there will be time enough for appropriate congratulations. Dismissed.” The fighter ace headed toward the bridge exit. Somehow his ego wasn’t too large for him to get through the door, but in his wake Jhared was quietly seething. No one would have dared question Vader’s orders when he was running this ship. Kebod could testify personally to that, having seen Vader choke more than one hapless Imperial officer in front of his own eyes. Kebod had lived in daily fear of that deadly grip when he was subordinate to Vader on board the Devastator�"and had, though he would never have admitted it to himself, been more than a little relieved when Vader transferred his flag to the Executor. Not that Vader needed to be on the same ship to exact punishment. And anyway, the Executor was visible on the screens right now�"an impossibly vast vessel, the Star Destroyers arrayed it like minnows to a shark. Looking at the new flagship, Kebod half-wished that Vader had taken him as an officer to serve on the Executor’s bridge. But he knew such thoughts were foolish. Jhared Kebod was caretaker of a vital legacy-a sacred trust. The Devastator had witnessed historic battles�"it had served on the blockade at Hoth, and it had even once captured the Princess Leia Organa. Who knows, maybe it would have another chance against her in the coming battle. The ship had been refitted dozens of times with the latest systems and weapons, keeping her more than competitive with the newer capital ships now operational. The Devastator thus remained one of the most prestigious commands in the fleet. Kebod would have been the first to say that he was lucky to be where he was, but it was well known to all who served under him that the Admiral firmly believed there was no such animal as luck. He looked up from his reverie to see an excited bridge officer gesturing at a tactical display.

“Admiral, the rebel fleet just emerged from hyperspace.”