Chapter 79
Wroona Orbit, Wroona System
Harrin Sector
Scout once thought that the Battle Hydra would be the most terrible enemy she ever had to face, that the Grand Army of the Republic would ever have to face. The Warlord of the Perlemian who crushed fleet after fleet and Jedi after Jedi in his relentless advances across the height and breadth of the galaxy, in whichever direction the Pantoran pointed him towards. An… insurmountable challenge, it had seemed, to any Jedi tasked with putting a stop to his rampage.
Scout was now reevaluating her erroneous preconceptions.
Because the Battle Hydra’s rampage had been put to a stop, by the combined efforts of Admiral Honor, Master Plo, and Master Kenobi, in the Rendili Star System. He was not… undefeatable.
But standing in the Battle Room of the battlecruiser Aurodia, the bloodthirsty crusade of the Tombmaker of Eriadu seemed utterly unstoppable. As Scout desperately hung on to every ticking, sweeping update across the innumerous holos and displays, that horrible sinking feeling only embedded itself deeper and deeper into her gut; Horn Ambigene did not know the definition of ‘defeat’.
“Commander A’din to Wroona Command, can you hear me!?” Scout was hunched over a comms station, headset pressed against one ear, “The Seps have launched another assault on Lohopa-Two. We’re requesting urgent reinforcements!”
Scout clenched her teeth. Eight times now, the Tombmaker had hurled his forces against Yag’Dhul, and eight times the Second Sector Army had thrown him back, each one more hard fought than the last. And yet here he was again, Horn Ambigene, pushing his relentless offensive up the Rimma Trade Route, unwilling to accept defeat, incapable of turning back.
There was a grim respect in Scout's thoughts for the man’s sheer tenacity, but the admiration was edged with wariness. Ambigene’s utter disdain for the notion of defeat did not just border on recklessness, but was madness in of itself; he seemed to care little for the staggering cost in soldiers and ships, so long as his goal lay in reach.