Leaving the hall, Rinaun and I quickly made our way to his office while Captain Ragnos rushed back to the Marat to supervise the loading of the fighters.
Opening the holomap, we began to coordinate our actions.
"How many ships do you have, Commander?"
"At the moment, six Acclamators, six Consular-class corvettes, and four Peltas. Although according to the list, there should be twelve Acclamators. The number of fighters stands at six hundred and ninety-six."
Now I understand why I was brought into this operation. That Ditmar guy must have the same problem with ships.
Rinaun projected the proposed route onto the screen.
"Ditmar is already en route to Togoria. Estimated time of arrival is five and a half hours. If we manage to depart within half an hour, we'll still be thirty minutes late."
"Yes, not an ideal situation. All right, Commander—let's not waste any time. I'm heading to the ship. We'll meet in orbit."
After saying goodbye, I headed for the speeder parking lot.
***
Thank the Force that we did not have time to fill all the holds —local dockworkers were professionals, but there was simply too much junk, and gathering it all had taken ages. I'd spent the entire day running around until evening. The fleet's supply officers were beasts; compared to them, even the Order's quartermaster—a Toydarian—seemed cute and cuddly. Where did they even get all this? Well, considering the local armies and fleets existed, there had to be supply officers, "ensigns," and the inevitable bureaucracy.
And even aside from that, I had reasons to be dissatisfied. Just imagine—they took half of my clones! And there's no arguing with that—the other Jedi generals were of the same rank, and I couldn't challenge their decisions without appealing to the Jedi Council. And by the time that bureaucracy finished... well, by then it wouldn't matter. In short, four regiments waved goodbye and departed for an unknown destination.
Still, it wasn't appropriate to complain. I'd have to make do with what I had, and the list of what I managed to scrape together from the supply officers was quite extensive.
First on the list were three full clone regiments—six thousand nine hundred and twelve troopers, probably still first-generation, barely eleven years old. We had time to load them first.
Then, for reasons unknown to me, several specialized clone units had been stranded on Lantilles: two detachments of clone commandos, a company of clone spacetroopers, a platoon of so-called "close-combat troopers" in powered battle armor, and two clone bomber squads. Naturally, I immediately requisitioned them for my own use. There wasn't much friction with the supply officers on that point—they hadn't the slightest idea what to do with them anyway.
I was particularly intrigued by those "close-combat" clones. An experimental type of trooper and not in high demand—after all, the main enemy of the GAR was droids—these two platoons had arrived for testing and trials. I don't know what kind of dark genius came up with this. A standard clone, encased in heavy armor weighing nearly twice as much as the usual, fitted with servomotors and armed with twin vibroblades built into the gauntlets. Naturally, I was impressed by such weaponry.
The Consular-class corvette allocated to me by the generous local supply officers felt almost like a joke. It didn't make much of an impression—though, yes, it was fast and maneuverable, perfect for drawing attention or acting as a decoy.
The main cargo consisted of fifteen thousand tons of various supplies: ammunition, uniforms, weapons of multiple systems, spare parts for vehicles, and countless other essentials without which the troops simply couldn't function. Some of it had to be loaded onto the corvette—mostly smaller containers—while the rest was packed into the Marat.
The equipment list included both familiar and new models: ten AT-TE tanks, three dozen AT-RT light walkers, twelve brand-new TTX-130 Saber-class fighter tank, three dozen AT-XT walkers, six LAATs, six Nu-class attack shuttles, one Kappa-class shuttle, and—drum roll—two Delta-7 Jedi starfighters. We managed to load most of it into the holds.
While the clones shoved the equipment into the far corners of the hangars, I reviewed the specifications of the new machines.
The TTX-130 Saber was a fast, highly maneuverable platform somewhat reminiscent of the AAT. Its armament consisted of two heavy laser cannons, one medium twin-laser turret, and two launchers with a total capacity of sixteen missiles. However, its armor left much to be desired, and the deflector-shield generator was frankly weak.
The AT-XT, however, pleased me. As an upgraded model of the AT-RT, it featured a fully enclosed cockpit and, in addition to a twin-barreled laser cannon, carried two grenade launchers with a total of eighteen proton grenades. That was... well, practically cheating. The machine even had a shield capable of withstanding hits from medium blasters—or even one from a heavy blaster—and still managing to move, albeit slowly. Such a vehicle could easily replace a couple of mortar crews (which, incidentally, I lacked—something to think about) and a few infantry squads. Though, strangely, I didn't remember ever hearing of such wonderful machines. I definitely would have remembered.
The Nu-class attack shuttles weren't exactly new—they had just taken their time reaching me. They were designed as a complement to the LAAT, meant to deliver cargo and troops directly to the battlefield. Their armament included four twin light laser cannons. With less firepower than the LAAT, the Nu made up for it with a strong deflector shield and slightly lighter armor, making it overall more survivable. In addition, each shuttle had magnetic clamps capable of carrying up to two tons of external cargo.
The Kappa-class shuttle, of which I had only one, was developed long before the war. It was a fairly large craft—about thirty-five meters long—capable of carrying up to forty infantrymen and two light walkers, plus as much as fifty tons of cargo. The shuttle was well-armed and could defend itself in flight, as well as "clear" the landing zone for the infantry by providing covering fire. During deployment, the walkers were the first to disembark via side ramps at the vessel's stern. The infantry followed through the main ramp located beneath the cockpit "neck" or through the ramps doors, following walkers.