Hearing on the Battle of Ando Prime

[Malon]

Weeks had past since the new Supreme Chancellor of the Republic had been inaugurated. In those weeks, the Republic had received a crushing defeat on and over the Dark Jedi world of Ando Prime by the combined forces of the Hutts, the Dark Jedi, and the Jade Enterprises. The Senate's Armed Services Committee immediately scrambled to put together a hearing on the matter.

Towering over the plaza in the Galactic Capital was the Senate building. An inside that building, at its center, was the Senate rotunda; the meeting room of thousands of beings from across the Republic. Today, however, the rotunda remained vacant for the most part. The only people in it were four senators and several other beings that had been summoned by the committee. The senators occupied a pod that hovered close to the Chancellor's central pod. Various datapads and disks lay out on their control panel; they were apparently first hand reports from the battle by the commanding officers.

Among the four senators of the committee were Senator Gabriel Djibril from Obroa-Skai, Orion Yar from Anaxes, Daniel Rosado of Coruscant, and the Committee Chair, Senator Korembeck of Kashyyyk. Orion in particular showed no signs of his true feelings to the matter. He had read the reports and could only shake his head. The Republic had suffered many great losses in the battle, and worse, had been beaten. The stories of Republic losses were becoming more and more common in their committee meetings and Orion didn't like it.

He massaged his temples and folded his hands in a calculating manner, swiftly looking at his colleges, who seemed to share his grim feelings for the matter. As he awaited the Chair to officially begin the hearing, he couldn't help feeling anticipation for what he was about to learn. Many powerful and high ranked people were being called on to testify. He could only hope they'd provide the answers the committee needed.
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OOC thread for OOC discussions

 

[Dmitri]

With five minutes until the hearing officially started and the first witness would be called, Gabriel Djibril tinkered with the pocketwatch he held. It was an antique. The golden watch still used gears and hands.

Gabriel found it ironic that he was still on the committee. Only weeks ago had he tried to secede from the Republic. That would have happened had a Hutt named Takka the Hutt not tried to assassinate him. With the assistance of Jedi ambassadors that had been meeting with him at the time, Rehni and Haven, he might not have survived the attempt. Afterwards, Gabriel found himself returning to the Republic.

Gabriel turned to Orion. "Well, Senator Yar, let's hopefully get this done with. The Battle of Ando Prime ruined the 15th Fleet, along with ruining morale in many systems. I heard a few systems were considering secession but after the attempt on my life, it looks like they've changed their minds since no one has seceded yet."

Gabriel checked his datapad to see who was first on the long list of witnesses.

 

[Malon]

Yar knew what his colleague had said was true. Systems were now thinking of secession from the Republic. Morale was low in virtually every sector of the Republic. These things were not good for a government trying to fight an Empire as vile as the Hutts. Djibril himself had once tried to leave the Republic, but after a failed assassination attempt on his life by the very Empire he was leaving to join, he returned to the Republic's fold.

Senator Yar leaned over to Djibril so that he could hear his whisper as he spoke, "I agree. The Republic is morally at an all time low. We need a decisive victory, something the troops, the people, hell even the Jedi can rally behind. Hopefully this hearing will provide us with the mistakes that were made so that we can correct them in future conflicts with the Hutts." he whispered, turning his attention back to the Chair.

 

[Tsar Fire]

Adara sat stiffly in the waiting room outside the chambers. She was the first witness to arrive, if not necessarily the first to be called on.

The dress uniform was uncomfortable, and snugged tightly in certain places to... emphasize certain traits. It had probably been designed by a man.

She disliked it, just like she disliked the piles of paperwork she'd been forced to wade through, the confessions the admiralty board had tried to weasel out of her, and the pointed accusations she'd had to put up with from different senior fleet commanders. While she still "technically" outranked them, her position was tenuous at best, and it would be foolish for her to reprimand them when her bars could be in the dustbin by the end of the day.

The waiting room was large, with benches lining the walls, and collections of chairs scattered about. Obviously, the designers had wanted to keep witnesses as isolated as possible.

Adara sighed, and glanced up at the clock. Only a few minutes before the hearing started. She hoped that the Commitee, unlike the Admiralty board, would be amenable to reason, but she wasn't holding her breath.

The problem with being the prodigy upstart who shot up the ranks was that it painted a target on your back, and at this point, a lot of people wanted to bring her down. God, they were petty.

Pulling a strand of hair back out of her face and tucking it behind her ear, Adara glanced around the room again. Still, nobody else had arrived. She was glad of the solitude.

She'd done her best to pull the fleet together after they got away from Ando, but... there hadn't been much left. That... was the worst. Her best friends, and most trusted officers, had been a part of that fleet. Most of them hadn't made it.

She clenched her fists against her knees, and glared at the far wall.

Even now, she couldn't help but wonder what she might have done differently. Even now, she cursed all the errors that led the fleet to that fate, betrayals by those she thought she could trust.

Under her breath she hissed, quietly, "Jedi."

 

[Ru the Boatswain]

Second was the Major. Out of the battle she'd come a hero, leading her troops out of certain doom and escaping from behind enemy lines. Being a soldier she'd been reluctant to speak at all about it and had kept herself out of the media's eye. She could not however deny the Senate her presence, so she had pulled her dress uniform for a second time. Now she sat next to the Supreme Commander, who seemed doomed from her experienced. Public opinion was not in her favour, and few of high command ever turned it around.

 

[Count Sam]

Finally, it seemed that the senate were going to have a meeting to discuss the huge battle that occurred on Ando prime. Which was sadly a huge failure for the Republic and it resulted in a huge amount of death for the Republic troops. It was indeed a sad thing watching the families of these soldiers as they mourned the death of their beloved ones, but well the Republic had no time to mourn the dead now. Yeah, they had to swallow everything up and keep on fighting to make sure that those sacrifices were not lost in vein.

Of course like a lot of other Republic personals and citizens these were the kind of thoughts that filled the mind of the middle aged senator of Coruscant who was the last one to walk into the Senate rotunda along with two of his assistances. He quickly took his place as he waited for the hearing session to start.

 

[Raif]

Korembeck entered the Hearing chamber and busied himself with making ready the various briefing documents he had while his fellow Senators got settled. His lip rose in what could have been a Wookiee-smile when he glanced over at Djibril, the Senator of Obroa-skai, who was speaking quietly with the Senator of Anaxes.

It was, in fact, not a smile at all but a sneer of contempt. Traitor, Korembeck thought to himself, and wondered how in the worlds a Senator who had threatened sedition a mere handful of weeks ago was still allowed access to sensitive hearings like this. Shrugging his big shaggy shoulders at the workings of bureaucracy, the Kashyyyk Senator expunged those distracting thoughts from his mind and cleared his voice loudly to gain the attention of his colleagues.

[Well, gentlemen, let's get this show on the rrrroad, shall we? If no one objects, I prrrropose we speak with this Suprrreme Commanderrr Kalai firrrst. Might as well starrrt with the top, right?]

Barring any objections from the other members of the ad-hoc committee, Korembeck would signal to the guards to allow Adara to enter. Korembeck was having to work extra hard to remain neutral in this setting. A former military man himself (though only an 'irregular' during the Alsakan crisis) he found it deeply troubling the way the Supreme Commander was being hit with so much negative attention. However, she was in charge of an operation which went belly-up, and in such situations someone always had to carry the blame.

Korembeck let out a deep Wookiee sigh and waited for their guest to enter. He had a feeling that this Hearing would not be a fun experience by any means.

 

[Malon]

Senator Yar nodded to his Wookiee colleague, recognizing the look of contempt on his face for the Senator of Obroa-Skai. This might be interesting, he thought. The Senator of Anaxes then turned his attention to the incoming witness. This might be interesting indeed...

 

[Dmitri]

Gabriel Djibril was not surprised with the dissatisfaction from Senator Koremback. In fact, most Senators were unhappy with him. Why not? He did try to secede. Had Takka the Hutt not tried to kill him, he would still be with the Hutts.

However, despite any wrongdoing a few weeks ago, he was still a war hero in the Obroa system and a member of this Senate committee.

Koremback called out Adara. Djibril felt a little sympathy for her. The supreme commander was becoming a scapegoat for her superiors who had sent her on that stupid and suicidal mission. Personally, he felt it was lucky that anyone made it out alive.

 

[Count Sam]

Daniel was silent so far and the only thing that was obvious on his face was the look of boredom. After all, he had specific things in his mind that he wanted to say and this after all was the session he was waiting for to say those specific things he had in his mind. However Daniel had to be patient, and for the time being he only had to wait for the session to start and see how things would go.

 

[Tsar Fire]

Her comlink beeped, and Adara stood. She'd been called.

Entering the Hearing Room, she strode briskly to her stand, and then came to attention with a sharp salute. She wasn't going to be anything other than professional today.

The lights were uncomfortably warm, however, and the uniform was still gripping her uncomfortably tightly. Maybe it was the stress making her notice the small things.

Across the room, 4 senators sat, with a small cloud of aides and security personnel behind them. After the Hutt attack, the Senate was finally being acceptably cautious.

"Supreme Commander Adara Kalai reporting as requested. I have been told that all present are cleared for classified information; please confirm before I give testimony."

Glancing over at the senator from Obroa-Skai, Adara raised an eyebrow faintly. She'd certainly heard many rumors about the man, but without any facts, she wasn't about to pass judgement.

She fidgeted imperceptibly. By the force, these pants were uncomfortable. Hopefully she wouldn't have to stand here too long. The Admiralty board had already kept her on her feet for several hours earlier in the day.

"I am at the disposal of the commitee."

 

[Raif]

Korembeck nodded his shaggy head in greeting as Adara entered the chamber. He would have liked to have risen, or perhaps even saluted, but now was not the appropriate time. He raised his paw in a placating gesture as she raised the issue of classification.

"Rrrest assured, Supreme Commanderrr, we all have the prrroperr clearances. Considerrr the fact officially confirrrmed."

The elder Wookiee glanced down briefly at his notes before continuing.

"Now, Supreme Commanderrr, my colleagues and I have all been given copies of the official After Action Reports, but I would like to give you a chance to now describe, in your own words, the Battle above Ando Prime. Now would be the time to include anything which you believe we all need to know, that may not have made it into any official reports. When you finish, I'm sure we will have questions for you."

Korembeck settled back in his chair, eager to hear what this fire-cracker military leader had to say for herself and the battle as a whole.

 

[Dmitri]

"Very well," said Senator Djibril. He glanced at his datapad one last time. "Supreme Commander Adara Kalai, thank you for your time. Now, the Battle of Ando Prime was a devestating loss, both to our forces and to our morale." He tilted his head to stare at each Senator around him for a few seconds before moving to the next, finally returning his attention to Adara. "Forces are good and all but morale is what keeps us together. What unites us. It makes us feel good and safe. As you all know, when the 15th Fleet returned, morale plumeted. You may also know that for four days some weeks ago, Obroa-skai had seceded from the Republic. We must prevent others from walking the path I started to take myself.

"Supreme Commander Kalai, it has come to my attention that the Jedi and possibly the Navy too knew the location of the Bogan base on Ando Prime for some time. However, when the 15th Fleet arrived at Ando Prime, the Bogan forces had, for the most part, moved on to another location; from our intelligence reports, it seems that it was recently too. Tell me, why did it take such a long time for our forces to attack Ando Prime? Had we acted earlier, when we first learned the location of the Bogan base, we could have struck a heavy blow against the Bogan. However, by waiting, we ended up fighting only crumbs of what had been there. Not only that, but our fleet took devestating damage since the fleet had gone there with no backup or escape route established. It seems to have been one mistake after another. Please tell the committee, why did the fleet take so long to act and why was no escape plan or backup put into place?"

 

[Tsar Fire]

(HOLY WALL OF TEXT BATMAN!)

Adara listened as each senator spoke, and then nodded slightly.

"I am not able to fully answer your questions, Senator Djilbril. They would be better answered by the strategic planning aides of the previous administration. Perhaps, after I have finished my account, it will be more clear why."

She cleared her throat faintly, and then placed her hands on the podium. She gripped the sides, to give her hands something to do; she didn't want to fidget through her entire account.

"I was not privy to the planning phases of this operation. The first I had heard of it was when I was ordered to take part."

She gave a small, placating shrug.

"I, obviously, am eager to bring the fight back to our enemies, but I wasn't actually informed about many aspects of the mission. I was not informed that the orbital defenses would be so heavy, and that the Hutt military had stationed fleets so closely.

I was only told, upon my return from the successful evacuation of Rhommamool, that I would need to lead a fleet into enemy space for a hit and run mission against a dark jedi hideout. I suggested the 15th, a fleet designed to hunt down pirates and other fast moving foes. I anticipated having to secure orbital control and prevent dark jedi vessels leaving the planet.

That was, by and large, the briefing that I received. I entered the mission largely uninformed of the fragility of our position, the proximity of several hostile forces, the nature of the Jade Armada vessels... I didn't even know that the dark jedi would have a note-worthy defensive fleet of their own."

She frowned slightly. She wasn't being totally clear.

"I'll start from the beginning of my participation in this operation. I was ordered to lead an attack, and given little to no information on the nature of the enemy defenses or their ability to reinforce.

I was led to believe that these variables had already been considered, and I had my orders.

We arrived in hostile space quickly and established orbital control within the hour. The enemy, initially, did not provide any serious resistance. As was called for, I deployed the ground forces to the ground as quickly as possible, personally landing with the CNC lander, to ensure that the lines of communication between the two landing teams remained open.

Initial reports were optimistic, our forces were making swift progress, and resistance was light. Then, enemy reinforcements arrived.

The Hutt fleet moderately close to our escape vector, an unidentifed fleet arrived from another direction, and the Bogan fleet began to pull back together.

They had managed to keep a substantial portion of their forces hidden behind the shadow of the moon, and these vessels were not in my briefing.

At this point, I made the best decision I knew to make. I ordered a 2nd fleet to prepare to reinforce us, so that they could clear an escape route.

There were three forces confronting my fleet, each of them weaker individually than the 15th, but together, they would be at a substantial advantage.

Therefore, I ordered the 15th to engage. I chose the Hutt fleet as a target because I deemed it the strongest, and I wanted to eliminate it while the 15th was still comparably fresh. I knew full well that Hutt cruisers have dangerous long range weaponry, and I didn't want to have them targeting my forces while they fought one of the other fleets.

I chose to fight away from the planet because I didn't want the fleet to be caught by all three enemies in the gravity well. If it had, there would have been no survivors. I believed that I could draw the enemy away from the planet and defeat each one individually. The JA fleet was showing no signs of hostility, and I believed that if the Hutt's were routed, their commander would abandon the battle.

Unfortunately, the JA chose to do something that I couldn't have predicted, and chose to launch bomber squadrons towards their allies on the surface."

Adara grimaced. This was were the battle went awry.

"I chose this tactic because I believed that I would need to buy substantial amounts of time for the troops on the ground. Otherwise, I would have ordered an immediate withdrawal back to the fleet.

Unfortunately, as the fleet moved away from the surface, and the JA and dark jedi fleets began to close the distance separating them from the sphere of battle, I lost all contact with both the Jedi and SOLAG.

I was now fighting to defend an army that seemed to have vanished off the face of Ando Prime. I made the only decision I could. I would try to save the fleet, as the unexpectedly hostile and vile maneuvers of both JA and the Bogan were making any chance of saving the remaining forces on the ground nearly impossible.

If the fleet pulled back to pick us up, then it would enter the firing range of all three enemy fleets at once, and suffer heavy casualties. I continued to order the fleet forwards, intending that they should withdraw after routing the Hutt fleet and rendezvous with the reinforcements I had requested.

Instead, the fleet, almost clear of the battle zone, turned around and begin to try and escape through the JA forces. A path that would make it possible for the remaining ground forces to escape to the fleet. It would also take the fleet through substantial amounts of enemy fire that it could have avoided, and it would spare the Hutt fleet the beating that it deserved."

Adara paused to clear her throat again. She hoped that they couldn't see the faint beads of sweat on her brow. The lights really were getting uncomfortably hot. The uniform bound tightly across her chest, and slightly constricted her breathing.

It wasn't making things any easier.

"I took the opportunity to withdraw the ground forces, and rendezvoused with the fleet. At that point, trying to reverse our course again would have been suicidal, so I refrained from changing the battle plan any further.

Instead I coordinated firing and targeting to ensure that the fleet opened the widest hole possible in the enemy formation. After that, what was left of the 15th quickly pulled away and escaped into Hutt space.

Apparently the main CnC cruiser had been destroyed in battle, which would explain my loss of command, and the captain who took command of the fleet decided to reverse its course.

After leaving Ando, there were a small number of skirmishes, but they were escaped with very little attrition on the remainder of the 15th fleet due to the fleet's speed, and the strategy that I employed to foil the enemy's long range railguns.

I slaved the extra troop transports to the surviving command vessels' control systems and used them to form a cloud of "chaff" to prematurely detonate their mass driver rounds, enabling us to escape mostly unharmed.

This method is including in my report detailing recommendations in developing new armors to deal with the Hutt mass driver technology."

Adara's mouth was dry, and she wanted something to drink, but she was not finished. Not until the committee was satisfied.

"That is, in short, the battle. If you have any more questions, I would be happy to answer them."

 

[Dmitri]

"I see," said Djibril. He consulted the datapad. "So you know, Supreme Commander Talai, it was Abele Hallen of the Republic who contacted the Jade and ordered them to bomb Ando Prime."

Djibril placed the datapad down.

"Supreme Commander Talai, it appears as though you were ill prepared for this battle. From your comments, it sounds like you believe your superiors knew this but sent you ill prepared anyways. They have also been quite quick to send you to the wolves. In your personal opinion, do you believe that you have become the scapegoat for your superiors who sent you on this suicidal mission? Do you even believe they expected you to come back at all?"

Doubt. There was doubt all around of who was to blame, who should take responsibility. The higher-ups were teaming up to turn Talai into a scapegoat for their own failures and foolishness. Djibril was not going to tolerate scapegoats. Yes, Talai may have some blame to shoulder, but the Senator was not going to stand others place their own blame onto the supreme commander.

 

[Count Sam]

"I am sorry for interrupting Senator Djirbril but..." Senator Daniel interrupted quickly before the supreme commander could answer the second question that Djibril asked her.

"Not only were you sent unprepared but also you were sent after another battle directly...Well to be honest you should have been surely tired after the battle of Rhomamool, and obviously sending an officer into one battle after another is really a poor decision" Daniel then stopped to take his breath.

"So tell me commander Adara was it the ex supreme Chancellor who made the decision to send you directly after the battle above Rhomammol, and with this unprepared fleet?"

 

[Tsar Fire]

Adara frowned slightly. Bizarrely, these senators almost seemed to be on her side. She hoped it wasn't because of the cursed uniform.

"I wouldn't say that they intentionally set me up to fail. I'd like to think that nobody in the Republic would throw away the lives of an entire fleet so frivolously.

I have not had time to catch up on the Jedi and SOLAGs' reports. If she did, I find that distressing, but she should be able to explain it herself."

She glanced at the Republic logo overhead.

"From what I understand, and I'm still not entirely certain how the orders came to me, the Supreme Chancellor was supposed to assign a commander to the mission and did not. In order to get the mission underway on schedule, I was pulled in. I believe the order came from his staff, but I'm not entirely certain. I didn't have much time to make inquiries before the battle. Certainly, the Supreme Chancellor did have some part in my being assigned to the mission."

As to whether or not she was being made into a scapegoat? Well... that was obvious. She wasn't going to say that directly, however, because most of the Admirals would bring it against her later.

"I do believe that everyone is trying to find places to assign blame, and I'm not certain that they are doing so correctly. I believe that my record, and my performance in the battle, does not warrant a court martial Many of my peers in the navy, however, seem to believe that they do. If asked, personally, yes, I do believe I have been chosen to bear the blame for this defeat. I personally don't believe this to be reasonable or wise, but..."

She gave a minute shrug of her shoulders.

"That is a matter for the committee to decide."

 

[Count Sam]

"Indeed, commander Adara I believe that you were blamed too much for this battle, and I personally think that your decision was not something you should get punished for...after all you were trying to save the fleet, and well I believe that you did your best with the little force that was given to you." Daniel said. After all, he was not afraid to speak his mind out. Yeah, this was the reason why the galactic Republic was considered Democratic.

"I would like to request that the former supreme Chancellor is to be placed under surveillance and every member of his staff to brought for questioning and they are to be dealt with accordingly depending on how the investigation goes." Daniel added as he took a sip from the cup of water that was in front of him.

"Maybe commander Adara's decision was not the best, but still if she did not do that I am sure that the 15th fleet would have suffered more damage. Also we can not forget how valiantly she fought to protect Denon, and also we can not forget as well who gave the orders for our troops to retreat from Bothawui leaving our allies behind along with some of our soldiers to meet certain death under the hands of the Hutt Empire." Daniel said as he waited for everyone to digest what he was saying. He was obviously hinting about the former supreme Chancellor when he mentioned Bothawui.

"However for now if no one of my fellow Senators mind I would like major Abelle to tell us everything from her point of view....and please major do not leave any detail no matter how big or small it is."

 

[Raif]

Korembeck listened to Adara defend herself, and found himself nodding along with her as she spoke. He had taken copious notes, but the thing that stood out most on his datapad were two capitalized woreds:

INTELLIGENCE FAILURE

It seemed obvious that this mission was doomed from the start given the lack of comprehensive intelligence needed for proper mission planning. True, it was impossible to know everything about a battle before it was fought, but still; things that were missed should not have been, plain and simple.

Even ignoring the near-magical, practically intantaneous arrival of Hutt reinforcements, Republic Intelligence should have had a clearer picture of what the Bogan defensive fleet looked like. After all, the Ando system was apparently such a major center of activity that it caused JA to get its hackles up due to a 'black out;'if it was such a hub, then the presence of such a large force should have been noted.

That was neither here nor ther at this point, though, as Korembeck had it on good authority that this new administration would be making great efforts to fix the intel community.

He did, however, have a question or two for Adara and he held up his paw as Daniel spoke.

"If I may, Senator, I would ask that the SOLAG representative wait for just aa moment, as I have a question for the Supreme Commander. So, Supreme Commander Kalai, my question concerns your movement during the engagement. Why did you see it necessary to deploy with the ground troops? Between our next guest, Major Abelle, and the SOLAG CO...what's his name? Veln, or something? Anyway, it seems that the situation planetside was under control, and that your transferring back and forth from you vessel may have cost the fleet precious moments of decision time. What do you have to say to that suggestion?"

Korembeck wished he could have simply let Adara go with 'passing marks,' but he felt compelled to ask these tough and potentially damaging questions. He had a responsibility to find whatever errors had led to this failure and fix them, and he would fulfill that task to the best of his ability.

 

[Tsar Fire]

Adara flinched, almost imperceptibly. It was, after all, her biggest blunder in the entire battle. There was no point in denying it. The senator seemed to be a military man, and he'd pointed out the obvious truth.

"I was overconfident in my understanding of the situation. I wasn't thinking very clearly, I'll confess."

She sighed, and looked directly towards the senators, unflinching.

"I allowed myself to get too caught up in the pace of the operation and I made a few stupid assumptions. I assumed that the real resistance was going to be on the ground. I assumed that any tricks that the defenders would have had to disable communications would have been deployed from the ground, so I decided to deploy there so that I would be in position to keep the different groups coordinated.

There was a detachment of Army forces deployed as reserves, and my CnC was going to be responsible for deploying them.

That turned out to be entirely unnecessary, and many of those men died as their transports returned to the Republic fleet."

Adara grimaced, and finished her account.

"I should have trusted the leaders on the ground to keep themselves organized, but its been several years since I worked with Special Forces Personnel.

I can't say I didn't have reasons, but if I'd ever realized how rushed I was... if I'd ever realized how dangerous this mission was... I would have handled a lot of decisions better."

She straightened, carefully returning her expression to professional neutrality. She wasn't trying to invoke sympathy. As a woman, she didn't want to do that, for fear of using her womanhood as a crutch.

"I deployed because I believed it was the best way to ensure communication stayed active in the most heavily combated zone.

I didn't realize that I'd inadvertently removed myself from the main combat zone."

Adara ended her account with that. She wanted to say more; she wanted to explain and defend herself. To point out how she'd been in such a hurry, making decisions with hardly a moment to spare, trying to keep track of all the different variables, many of which she didn't even know.

It wouldn't do though, to beg like that. Either her behavior was worthy of command, or it wasn't. That was all. It just irked her, deeply, that she had made such small mistakes at such critical moments.