**Chapter 767: The Debt Collector**
**Scene 1: Hyperspace – Subjugator-class Heavy Cruiser, Debt Collector**
One of the Muuns sitting in the operator's chair turned to Admiral Nien Tell and said, "All fleet ships have reached the specified coordinates. The jump was completed as planned. The fleet remains at combat readiness level three."
"Excellent. Begin preparations for further advancement. The target is Haverling," Tell replied calmly.
"It shall be done, Admiral." The frigate captain saluted and turned to his subordinates.
Tell himself glanced around good-naturedly. The other ships of his fleet slowly sailed around his flagship in formation. Sixty-three Munificent-class frigates were under his command. This was all that the Vice Chairman of the InterGalactic Banking Clan, the Honorable Chen Kerak of the Kerak clan — one of the five most influential Muun families: Damask, Kerak, Hill, Seoul, and Fess — had managed to muster.
No one was going to tolerate the aliens taking over the Pearl. However, the IGBC's obligations to the Confederacy remained, and the Muuns had no spare ships. Moreover, they had already suffered heavy losses. Muunilinst, the Muun homeworld, had been in Republic hands for 15 months. And Count Dooku's promises of aid were looking increasingly unconvincing. Yes, he had recently tried to feign some kind of support, but it had failed. Mygeeto could fall at any moment and something had to be done.
That was why the Honorable Kerak had assembled these ships — secretly, one by one — and entrusted them to him, Admiral Tell, from the Security Division. Besides the ships, he was given four hundred thousand IG-series battle droids, which he was to deliver to Mygeeto, fighting his way through the enemy squadron. At any cost, even his own death. But, as the Honorable Kerak said, it was possible to destroy the enemy, too. That was exactly what the admiral intended to do.
"Attention! The fleet is performing a hyperspace jump!" the captain announced.
"Begin preparations to determine the next jump route. We must ensure we don't encounter an enemy patrol."
"Yes, Admiral. Fortunately, we have several routes — for internal use by the Banking Clan — that are unknown to the Republic. True, we'll have to pass a couple of known planets — but they're all under CIS control, so our presence won't arouse suspicion…"
**Scene 2: Reinforcements in Transit**
Additionally, an honor fleet containing sixty-three Hapan Battle Dragons and 80 Nova-class battle cruisers under the respectable command of a new CIS admiral — a Hapan admiral — had joined them. Beggars can't be choosers, and in war every ship mattered. Sidious had also agreed to send a Mon Cala and Quarren group of 30 MC40a light cruisers and 8 brand new MC75 Star Cruisers.
The MC75, also referred to as the MC75 modified star cruiser or the MC75 Mon Calamari cruiser, was a Mon Calamari city-ship converted into a war cruiser by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. The enormous vessel stood at 1,204.44 meters in length and was powered by twelve Kuat Drive Yards Gemon-15 sublight ion drives repurposed to give the massive vessel a cruising speed to match starfighter escorts. These sublight drives were shrouded beneath the engineering plane of the heat-dissipating engineering structure.
The conversion process resulted in refits carried out at deep-space facilities, reinforced the city-ship's hull and further backed it with heavy armor, which afforded it battleship hulls and a weapon collar modification to hold primary weapons and shield generators, including superior shielding mounted on the fore and aft of the superstructure. The armored forward hull rendered the ship's concealed deflector shield generators redundant, though a deflector shield emitter array was fitted to the aft. The MC75 boasted twenty point-defense laser cannons, twelve broadside turbolasers, four heavy ion cannons, twelve proton torpedo launchers, and six tractor beam projectors concealed within a port forward of the weapon collar, allowing it to engage the larger warships of the Republic Navy.
An armored outrigger fin on the ventral hull held the command bridge pod and receiver array, opposite a dorsal communications transmission mast and sensor cluster. These blade-like fins, coupled with the vessel's tapered profile, were design choices intended to trigger primal fears of predatory fish among the aquatic Mon Calamari. Next to the rear of the ventral outrigger fin was an ordnance pod. The city-ship's former civic atrium was hollowed out and converted into a docking bay and starship service area, overseen by a hangar traffic control suite protected by overlapping shields and magnetic containment fields to keep oxygen and pressure regulated. The docking bay and service area was capable of accommodating ships up to corvette size.
Admiral Tell allowed himself a thin smile as the combined fleet streaked through hyperspace. Hapan pride, Mon Calamari engineering, and Muun determination. It was a desperate alliance, but a powerful one. Mygeeto would not fall without a fight.
**Scene 3: Mygeeto Orbit – Bridge of the Devastation**
Dagon stood motionless on the bridge, eyes closed as the Battle Meditation flowed through him. The reports from the surface were encouraging — Arsam had fallen, and the other footholds were secured. A hidden communication from one of the militia leaders corpse. A large fleet was coming.
*They're finally committing reinforcements,* he thought. *Good. Let them come.*
He opened his eyes and turned to Lee Noriega. "Prepare the fleet for intercept. The CIS is sending everything they have left. Hapan Battle Dragons, Mon Calamari cruisers… and more Banking Clan ships. This is the moment we've been waiting for."
The Dragon's trap was ready. The prey was walking straight into it.
Mygeeto would become the graveyard of the Confederacy's last hope.