News flash. I'll try to get to the second, much more sophisticated and better-written book as fast as possible.

Alexander  
"Beep! Beep!" Alexander opened the channel on his communicator. "General Bay here." 

"Alexander, this is the Admiral. Kindly report to the bridge ASAP. Wear your uniform." 

The call ended before he could even reply. With nothing better left to do he headed through the ship and then took the elevator up to the bridge were Alex spotted my brother and wife standing at Helm. Yela turned around as if she sensed him approaching.

She probably did. Yela had always been force sensitive but she had been way too old to join the Jedi so Alex had never brought it up.

Yela nudged Maxwell who also turned around, looking slightly exhausted.

 "Attention!" Nina yelled to his surprise. 

The clone officers jumped up from their consoles and climbed out of the two pits on either side of the center walkway. Then they formed two lines and stood at attention.

"What's going on dude?" Yela grimaced and gave him the throat cutting sign so he shut up. 

"Would you please come over here."

For once Alex did as he was told without a mildly amusing comment. He stopped in front of his brother.

"Over the last few days and weeks, General Alexander has proven to be a brave and reliable soldier. His service record is...." Perhaps it was only Alexander's imagination because when Max hesitated Yela nudged him discretely with her shoulder. By now he a good idea of what was going. 

"Ahm his service record tells the same tail that his reputation does, a tale of valor and honor. As a consequence of his actions over the last few days I have no other choice than to promote you."

Boss stepped out of the group if officers hiding a black case in his hands. Alex nearly didn't recognize him in his uniform, which he was wearing for the first time in living memory.

He presented the case to Maxwell who opened it and picked up two golden Star pins. "General, step forward." Alex did as he told me. "By the power given to me by the joint chiefs, the Chancler, Senate and the people of the Galactic Republic I here bye promote you to the rank of a two-star General."

He stepped closer and pinned the stars to his collar and then stepped back. "Congratulations General." 

Then he saluted Alex who returned the gesture. 

"Attention!" Max yelled and all the officers, most of which were clones saluted.

"At ease and disperse," he then ordered.

The bridge officers started returning to their station. "Nina, Steven, Boss, Jake, Yale, and Alexander. Follow me."

They did as he told them and followed him into the conference room behind the bridge. Infront of the door stood clones wearing the black armor of the special warfare unit Night ops or Alpha Team were standing in front of the door. 

"Sparkle, make sure we aren't disturbed."

"Yes sir," the commando replied with his deep, gruff voice.

Captain Sparkle stepped aside and let him enter the conference room. Then he closed the door behind them. The room was filled with a long table, lined with chairs and had a holoprojector in the middle.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Take your seats." Maxwell ordered with a deadly quiet voice and sat down at the head of the table. Yela, surprise her husband by sitting down right if him so Alexander claimed the remaining seat on his brothers left. The others also sat down.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. You are all aware of the attack that recently took place on this very ship, the Pride. The tactics used during this attack and the fact that the separatist's warships jumped in so close that we didn't have time to scramble alert fighters opens many questions so Agent Yela Bay and myself started an investigation." Alexander glanced at my wife. She was sitting tall and proud, her eyes cold.

"Agent Bay will take over the briefing from here. I would like to ask you to stay calm and let the Agent finish." Yela straightened her uniform, a gesture Alexander only knew from Maxwell. Then she sat up even straighter. "Thank you, Admiral."

Yela glanced at her date pad and started talking. She explained how the investigation started right after the battle, how she and Maxwell had analysed the tactics and then recovered one of the separatist computer cores and how they then found evidence that the Chancellor's office had transmitted the exact location of the Pride to the separatists over the diplomatic channels right after they had sent a status report.
The room was so silent that Alex could his blood rushing in his ears.

"What now?" Nina asked after a moment of silence. The question was phrased open but Alex could sense that she was asking Max and quickly realized that everyone was looking at his younger brother as well. "I'm open to suggestions. That's why we are here." 

Maxwell leaned back in his chair and met each of their gazes.

Alexander cleared his throat, "So, what does this mean? Did the Chancellor try to execute us?" 

Maxwell shrugged and Yela stayed silent. So they didn't know either.

"This is a total clusterfuck." 

Silence spread through the room again. When no one said anything Max broke the silence. "The way I see it we have a limited amount of options. There is no way we can get the Chancellor for treason. I already explored that option. That leaves us two choices. Either we pretend that this never happened or we defect and go A-wall."

The Admiral let that sink in. "This is a choice we all need to make together."

"Well, I for my part won't work for someone who solled all of us out. I suggest we make good speed for Hoth, stay there for a few months until we get a better picture. We should also consider commandiering the Grace when her maintenance cycle is complete."

Boss cleared his voice. "Well, I guess I'm in and I'm sure the rest of the team is in too. We should start planning the moment we are underway. Maybe the Admiral can drop us off a few days from Kuat."

Maxwell sat up, and nodded slowly. "Good, we will prepare to pull out. Bring Yela's diplomatic Cruiser on board and then let's get the heck out on dodge. You all know what to do, I call this meeting closed."

Winter Wolf & Lengendary95 over and out.