The blue-white swirling haze behind the viewport was utterly mesmerizing, almost hypnotic. Lieutenant Toren Vahl heard many stories of "hyperspace madness", people falling insane from staring too long into the void. But he took a strange liking to the swirling coils of another dimension and unlike other crewmen of the Persistent gazed into the abyss for hours.

The door hissed behind him - he did not turn.
"We are thirty minutes away from the Kuat Security Perimeter," Captain Lira Kade reported. "Sensor scans nominal. Pursuit signatures are gone."
Vahl nodded once. "The Commandant is on his way?"
"Yes, sir, he left his quarters."
A pause. Kade quietly walked up to the viewport. "Permission to speak freely, sir?"
Vahl turned slightly - "Always."
"This hull we're collecting... It's not listed on any rosters, not even with our clearance."
Vahl remained expressionless - "It was never meant to be listed."
Kade hesitated - "And if Kuat Control asks questions?"
"They will not. After Yavin, every Imperial system is an utter mess, Kuat least of all an exception. And they will not dare challenge orders of the Grand Admiral."
The captain exhaled. "Understood."
Footsteps sounded across the corridor - measured, resolute.

Commandant Varn Kellis stepped onto the bridge.
He stepped to the viewport, Kade and Vahl shifting aside.
"Status?"
"All systems nominal, sir, 20 minutes to Kuat."
"Good. We have not covered half the path. We have barely begun it.
Overconfidence is the luxury of men, who believes the galaxy owes them victory - a luxury we cannot afford."
"Understood, sir" - the two subordinates answered almost in unison.
"I will remind you that, while our fleet may appear substantial, it is nothing but a speck of dust compared to anything we will encounter. We are not in a position to dictate engagements. We are not even in a position to enter said engagements. Flight remains our only viable path."
The bridge fell silent. No one spoke again for the remaining twenty minutes.

Then the scene behind the viewport changed, revealing the monstrous, almost monumental Kuat Drive Yards - a sprawling array of orbital rings, stations, and maglev lines, with freighters and tugs scurrying all around them like worker bees.
"Position matches Kuat outer marker", the navigations officer said, - "No hostile signatures detected."
Captain Kade nodded briskly from her command chair - "Secure from hyperspace. All ships report status."
A chorus of clipped affirmatives chimed in. 7 other Arquitens cruisers ready. 4 Carracks in full combat readiness. 2 Ton-Falks on full alert, fighters in minute readiness. Two massive Altor-class replenishment ships - the largest in the whole fleet - ready to dock. Several dozen freighters checked in by groups. Routine. Almost too routine.