Chapter 2: Inspection

The communications relay on the Garrison crackled to life and the Garrison Commander's Hunch was true, it was a surprise inspection and by the tone of the voice he was speaking to it was going to be a hard one, Probably one of those Core world Officers making a name for himself, he was too old to be harassed by this fledglings. Other officers always had the courtesy of sending a message a day ahead but this one took him by surprise and he was determined not the give a single hint of satisfaction to the fledgling.

"Give me a run-up on that ship, we'll see who we will be dealing with." ordered the Garrison Commander to his second in command.

"It's the Ars Moriendi sir, one of the first Victory Class Star Destroyers, the data is still incomplete, it seems that the crew of this ship has recently been reshuffled and the ship is officially listed Operational under Outer rim high Command." his second in command reported. "The ship's schedule does not reflect its current position sir, it says here she should be in Kuat undergoing refit."

"So the ship isn't supposed to be here?" He said in a nervous tone. It was never a good sign in the Imperial Navy to have a ship not where it was supposed to be. A shiver ran down his spine, it's always a harbinger of trouble. Meddling with Imperial Intelligence is always a bad idea regardless of rank.

"Officially she is not supposed to be in our system but her clearance checks out," His second in command said. "Sir I think we should pretend we didn't know this."

"Yes, let's get on with this inspection, the sooner they leave the better," he said. " that explains the sudden appearance."

"They are sending two shuttles down sir, it appears one is headed right for us the other is heading opposite." his communications officer reported.

This visit is different he thought, normally they would send a small army down and their entire complement of TIE fighters as a show of force, but this one was the complete opposite, and this was highly irregular than a simple troop inspection.

"Prepare the troops for inspection" he shouted to his second in command.

There was a shuffle of boots and creaking of armor as the Planetary Garrison slowly arranged themselves for inspection. The Garrison Commander noticed that some of his AT-ST (All Terrain- Scout Transport) were showing signs of neglect and dereliction. The Armour of his stormtroopers showed a hint of patina, in short, if he were the one inspecting they would miserably fail, it's already too late, and the inspection was too sudden.

He sent the best-looking TIE fighters he had to escort the lone shuttle to the Garrison's landing bay and pretended he was not able to detect the second shuttle, he had half a mind to send a small squadron to shadow the 2nd shuttle but he was worried that the Victory Class Star Destroyer would detect it and he didn't want any additional exposure to his otherwise peaceful career to retirement.

The small speck became larger and larger as the Lambda shuttle approached the Garrison's Landing bay, flanked by his TIE fighters it slowly folded its wings and slowly touched down the clearly marked landing pad. As the ship's ramp began to open, the Garrison Commander General Kolin Korhal approached the shuttle to greet the Ars Moriendi inspection team.

General Korhal stopped short of the ramp and waited for the inspection team to disembark. He grimly stood in attention and despite having done this protocol a hundred times and observed it a thousand times, this was the first in a long time that he felt genuinely nervous. Most Naval commanders would just visit out of formality and left on their way but this visit was different, it had a cloak and dagger feel.

A squad of Marines marched down the ship's ramp followed by two junior officers, A captain, and a Lieutenant. The two junior officers approached him and saluted, he had half a mind to ignore them as his gaze was still fixated on the ramp waiting for that flashy naval officer who had the gall to conduct a surprise inspection.

"General, Sir." Saluted Kristoff. "I am the Communications officer of the Ars Moriendi, Captain Kirstoff Sol Sir."

After a couple of tense moments, General Korhal realized that no one else was coming down the ramp. Imagine that, he thought, The flashy Naval commander just sent me a pup to deal with,

"Hello Captain, I assume you had good reason not to send word ahead of your arrival." Sniggered General Korhal, "We could have made your arrival more welcoming, I believe your commander should have the decency to show himself first before we start the inspection?"

"My commander is currently preoccupied with more pressing matters General" Kristoff curtly replied, he always liked locking horns with officers higher up, and having a confrontation with an insignificant outer rim General fueled his pride. "His presence is not required for a unit as small as you have General."

A step behind Captain Kristof Sol was Lieutenant Toff Tormund and he wished he had the ability to melt on the spot. The tension in the air between the two more senior officers was palpable. He wanted to elbow Kristoff out of the way, he was making this inspection twice harder than it was, to begin with. Crossing swords with a General minutes after landing on the planet is asking for unwanted trouble. He wished he was back at his cabin at the Ars Moriendi.

General Korhal was fuming, this was a direct challenge to his command and pride demands him to strike the arrogant junior officer down, he could feel his men were laughing at his back. He had to keep his emotions in check, the second shuttle still remained a mystery and he dare not provoke faith, so he downplayed the arrogant remarks and pass the junior officers to his own second in command as cold as he can and retire to his office.

"Very well Captain Kirstoff, I shall leave you to my second in command, Colonel Kent Donalds" General Korhal said as he was leaving. "You would do well to remember that he still outranks you."

As the General was leaving, Captain Sol and Lieutenant Turmund saluted. 

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i went ahead and published the second chapter anyway, i felt leaving only one chapter up was too lacking

enjoy the read