Admiral Kronara was speaking to Chancellor Lina Soh, who had called in via a high-priority relay from Coruscant. Her delicate, sweeping features were displayed on one of the bridge’s commwalls. She looked fragile—which she absolutely was not. Kronara, in contrast, had a face that looked like a hammer would break against it. He looked hard—which he absolutely was. He wore the uniform of the Republic Defense Coalition, light gray with blue accents, the cap tucked under his arm in respect for the chancellor’s office.

The resolution on the display was low, with sharp lines of static crossing Lina Soh’s face every few seconds—but that was to be expected. Coruscant was very far away.

“Thank the light your ship was close enough to Hetzal to respond, Admiral,” Chancellor Soh was saying. “We sent out aid ships as soon as we could, but even receiving the distress signal from Hetzal took time. You know how choppy the comm relays are from the Outer Rim.”

“I do, Chancellor,” Kronara responded. “We appreciate anything you can do. We’re making progress here, but there will definitely be a large number of wounded, and I am sure a variety of essential systems will need repair. I’ll relay word to Minister Ecka that you’re sending assistance. I’m sure he’ll appreciate it.”

“Of course, Admiral. We are all the Republic.”

Avar walked across the deck, passing Kronara as he ended the transmission to Coruscant. He glanced over at her, curious, as she stopped before the display screen showing the status of the disaster mitigation effort—all the ships, people, Jedi, Republic, locals. Red, green, blue, worlds, lives, hope, despair.

She tapped certain of the red anomalies on the screen with her fingertip. As she did, they were highlighted, each surrounded with a white circle. When she was done, about ten of the projectiles were indicated.

Avar moved back from the display, then turned to look at the bridge crew. They were confused, but polite, waiting for her to explain what she had done.

“I hate to say this, my friends,” she said, “but this just got a lot harder. We have a new objective.”

Admiral Kronara’s weathered features twisted into a scowl. Avar did not take it personally.

“Does it replace the existing mission parameters?” he said.

“That would be nice,” she said. “But no. We still have to do everything we came here to do—keep the fragments from destroying Hetzal—but now there’s something else.”

She gestured at the display, with its highlighted red dots, racing sunward.

“The anomalies I have indicated here contain living beings. This is no longer just about saving the worlds of this system.”

Realization dawned on Kronara’s face. His scowl deepened.

“So it’s a rescue mission, on top of everything else.”

“That’s right, Admiral,” Avar said.