Star Wars Galaxy of War: Episode I (IC)

[Esselman]

It is a period of civil war. Rebel forces planning to strike at the Empire have grown increasingly bold, much to the chagrin of weapons director Orson Krennic. During the fray, factions rising up after the dissolution of the Imperial Senate have garnered power and varied interest in the efforts for and against the Empire.. While the Empire still has its focus on that of the Rebellion, the galaxy slowly begins to slip further into disorder, while power is quickly becoming the main currency of the galaxy....

---

The Galactic Empire
Coruscant, 0 BBY

"Sir, we have.. we've encountered resistance to the finalization of the super weapon," a voice said, as it trailed off towards the floor.

There was a noticeable silence, a hush fell over the senatorial office of Emperor Palpatine. In his line of sight, two imperial guards began to slowly walk forward in perfect unison, their breaths not even making a sound as they approached. The guard on the right drove his electrostatic pike directly into the back of the imperial officer before the Emperor. The officer winced with pain while yelling out for mercy to someone who would show none today.

With a slight smile and a cackle to match, the Emperor arose, causing the guards to take one step back as they stood perfectly at attention.

"There shall be no resistance, but I sense you only to be the messenger," said the Emperor, his hand reaching for the holo activator button on his desk.

"Give the Grand Moff full authorization over the testing of our weapon, Lord Vader will be on route shortly." confirmed the Emperor as he returned to the most present matter.

"I, I am the messenger, this was the fault of.. Krennic," the officer said as he grasp for air and remained on all fours.

"Director Krennic has had quite the forray with the Rebel Alliance my master," said the ominous yet recognizable voice of Darth Vader.

Entering in the room alone, the two guards took two steps away, clearing the way for one of the most feared beings in all the galaxy.

"Lord Vader, it is time, find your way to Scarif, I am to oversee a new operation in the Kuat system, hopefully their project shall prove worthy of our endeavors. We shall finally be the ultimate power in the galaxy, the Imperial Senate will officially be dissolved today. There will be nothing left to stop us," said the Emperor with a reassuring smile.

"I will deal with the head senatorial aides my master," said Darth Vader between his audible breaths.

As the Emperor left, the two imperial guards followed in perfect unison. This left the imperial officer only beginning to stand, he reached for the desk to regain his standing position, Vader jabbed his lightsaber through the heart of the officer.

"Krennic's message has certainly been delivered."

As the emperor boarded the shuttle that would take him to an Imperial Star Destroyer, the Empire's capital of Coruscant grew darker with the impending doom the Empire foresaw for the galaxy. In the Kuat System, the emperor was to see the final modifications to Lord Vader's personal star destroyer, fit to be in use within a day or less by now. Meanwhile on the planet of Jedha, the testing of the Death Star would leave an entire populace wiped from the face of the galaxy forever. In the Emperor's office, the senatorial aides entered, a few dignitaries, and the most notable Sly Moore and Grand Vizier Mas Amedda. As they expected an audience with the Emperor himself, they were unsettled to find Darth Vader standing beyond the corpse of an imperial officer.

"Lord Va-" began one dignitary whose sentence was cut short by the swift arrival of Vader's lightsaber. The flash of red was so quick none had time to run away, but merely endure death one by one. Mas Amedda backed away, towards the let side of the room, as others were struck down. Their cries of pain were only met with the hastening breaths of Vader. Sly Moore, one of the last to go was brought closer as she began to run, by the hand of Vader whose grip enlisted the force to choke her, raising her up from the ground. She dropped within seconds, and only the grand vizier remained.

"Congratulations Amedda, you are the first member of the Imperial Council. You are to be the head adviser to the emperor himself and will remain here for the dissolution of the senate," Vader began, as his lightsaber was sheathed away at his belt.

"A- An honor Lord Vader," he said with a gulp as the bodies lied strewn about before them both.

"Perhaps your first order will be to redecorate."

---

Transmission by the Imperial Ruling Council to all Imperial States:

Denizens of the Galactic Empire,

The Emperor has requested, beginning immediately, a sign of solidarity be issued by each of the states of the Imperial government that has ensured security for so long. There is news of a rebellion among leaders of independent worlds and systems, any such information on these hostile and warring factions will be rewarded. We ask that dignitaries, or representatives from each state come to Coruscant within the next few days for the inaugural Imperial Council meeting, and for the senatorial address by the Emperor himself.

Imperius Unitada ober Totallex

[G-Tech Corporation]

The Kuat Hegemony
Kuat Drive Yard Orbital Fabrication, Kuat, 0 BBY

With fastidious care the Hegemon pivoted in place, just as the pneumatic hiss of the shuttle ramp sounded. From the landed shuttle the creak of shifting metal came nearly imperceptibly, but Federov stood ramrod straight before the landing ramp nonetheless. As the gunmetal gray device swung down a rolling clamor occurred in the midnight black docking bay of the Main Control Facility, legions of glistening white Stormtroopers and deep gray uniformed Kuat Guardsmen coming to attention with precision that would be unmatched by a machine. Everything had to be perfect, of course, for it wasn't every planetary rotation that Kuat hosted a visit from the Emperor himself.

Down the ramp the black-hooded figure swept, flanked by the blood-red figures of his own guards. The Hegemon's hands clenched tight behind his back as he bowed stiffly at the waist to the wizened figure, the Grand Admiral at his side doing likewise. Neither Severan nor his friend were given to fear, so this was not an occasion fraught with danger even in the presence of so formidable a figure, but the importance of making a good impression on the ruler of the known galaxy could not be overstated.

"Emperor Palpatine. You honor us by your presence. May I offer you refreshments, or ought else? Whenever you wish, the Grand Admiral has prepared a tour of the Executor so you may see what the devotion of Kuat has produced."

Removing one black-gloved hand from behind his back, the Hegemon drew the Emperor's attention to a large viewing window set in the side of the hangar, out of which could be seen the immense bulk that was the latest Super Star Destroyer to be produced by Kuat Drive Yards. Even at this distance the sense of scale told it as massive, for Imperial-IIs and Is were visible in docks nearby and maneuvering about the busy orbital ring. Kuat supplied uncounted thousands of military formations and Moffs across the cosmos, and her shipyards never slept.

"Once you are at leisure again following the tour, I must crave the boon of your time anew I am afraid; our preparations to dispatch the Hegemony's fleet to pacify the restive Corellian elements which have undermined the rule of law there, and the formal disposition of the world following its return to peace is a matter which we have yet to receive word from the Senate about."

Some of those Star Destroyers in dock were already full of landing forces, legions of Guardsmen and armor, hosts of fighters and bombers fit to wage a campaign of planetary pacification. Indeed, the forerunners of the Executor, five heavy Mandator-II class Star Dreadnoughts, were also preparing for war. The Imperial blow against Corellia would be sudden, and irresistible.

[Spindle]

Director's Office
Ariana
Garos IV

D'antello was reading something from his PDA when the doors slid open to admit Caerys - not unusual for the Director. The man seemed to spend all of his spare time tapping through various reports, papers and literary works for work, amusement or perhaps inspiration. He'd never commented on the habit himself, although he had to be aware that it was the cause for much comment from his staff. He was a career politician, and one did not become a career politician by being simply oblivious to everything around you.

"Admiral. A pleasure." He smiled, putting the device down and gesturing to the seat on the other side of the skeletal desk between the two of them. His voice matched his appearance perfectly - both were small ad unassuming, the type to be easily lost in the barest crowd. He didn't look like the kind of person who would rule a planet. In a way, he didn't: it would be more accurate to say that he simply made sure the food shipments made their way out to the remote areas and that the spaceport ran effectively. The fact that he was in charge of the whole affair never seemed to occur to him.

Sitting down, Caerys glanced at the PDA and caught a glimpse of a roughly ovoid shape hanging against the velvet background of space, the stars sprinkled like so much dust against their backdrop. From the middle of the shape's underside - insofar as it had an underside, of course - was a slight notch. The result of almost a month's work and thrice that time spent planning, the notch was the first step in the endeavour which was the Possession. Already, the occasional glints of scrap floating around the workstation belied the enormous effort which had gone into it, and the sheer scale of engineering going on in Garos' orbit.

"It's quite beautiful, isn't it?" D'antello asked, catching her gaze, "It's odd that endeavours of...that nature so often are. As if the mind rebels against the idea, and hides the truth from itself behind a curtain of elegance."

"That's poetic." Caerys sighed, pulling out her PDA, "Is it why I'm here?"

D'antello seemed to snap out of a reverie, hands flashing to the PDA and deactivating it.

"No, no, of course not." He shook his head fervently, "No - not exactly. Possession will be ready in another three and a half months. I want to know what you plan to do with it."

Nodding to herself, Caerys tapped her own PDA and brought up a holo of the sector.

"We had six systems shortlisted - Botajef, Centares, Obroa-Skai, Phindar, Gromas and Beesh Gorgon." She began, ignoring the Director's raised eyebrow at the last entry, "We discounted Gorgon for obvious reasons, dropped Botajef and Centares because we couldn't get solid intel on them and Obroa-Skai and Phindar because of difficulties obtaining anything from the systems."

"So you're going with Gromas?" D'antello asked, "I was under the impression we wanted to gain infrastructure, not find ourselves forced to build more of it."

"We know." Caerys nodded, "But Gromas started another interesting chain of discussion."

Gesturing into the holo, a Bureau report appeared alongside the sector map and D'antello regarded it for a moment.

"This is the report we made for Blizzard force on logistics management." Caerys introduced it, "It's interesting because of this."

She tapped on the report, and it scrolled to a page detailing the costs of walker maintenance.

"Replacement parts for Blizzard Force AT-ATs wore out in nine months - three months more than expected." For a moment she paused, before continuing, "But the interior connectors wore out in two. When Kearr wrote this, she put it down to full-contact, but that can't be right. Haard's done dozens of papers on walkers, and none of them show interior connectors wearing out that much faster than the external components."

"And what does this have to do with Gromas?" D'antello asked, eyebrow arching slightly.

"Well." Caerys manipulated up a picture of an AT-AT, "We also know that Blizzard Force AT-ATs are specifically designed for cold-weather operations which would Quadanium to turn too brittle. And we know that they have an attrition rate down from the mean by two and a half standard deviations. That's insane."

"Well, Blizzard Force is commanded by Veers, isn't it?" D'antello pressed, "I know he's making headway in the political arena now - off of the back of a not inconsiderable string of victories. I imagine he's skilled enough to make those numbers himself."

"Have you heard of Davin Felth?" Caerys asked, before pressing on with her point, "He wrote a series of essays - which were works of genius, may I add - pointing out the flaws in contemporary walker design. Veers had him relocated and his work buried."

"And, of course the Bureau picked them up." D'antello tilted his head, "That still doesn't mean the numbers can't come from Veers' skill. Just because he's obstinate doesn't mean he's incompetent also."

"I agree." Caerys nodded, bringing up another paper in the holo, "But this does. It's the official report of the Vallt wargames. Note Veers' attrition rates now his AT-ATs are lumped with the regular ones, and compare it to the mean value. It's up by half a standard deviation."

"So it's possible he merely had a bad day." D'antello countered.

"Perhaps." Caerys agreed, "But he takes consistently above-mean attrition results throughout the wargame. He performed operations across three theatres, and only managed to satisfactorily complete thirty percent of them. He must have had a lot of bad days in a row for that."

"So how does this link us back to Gromas?" D'antello asked.

"Phrik." Caerys replied, "His AT-ATs have their exterior components laced with phrik. That's why their interior connectors wear away so quickly, but their exterior ones are fine."

"But there aren't any major imperial mining interests on Gromas." D'antello frowned, "We know that for sure - we've sent expeditions there to check the planet's magnetic fields."

"I agree." Caerys nodded, "So they've got a mining facility elsewhere. Probably a refinery and factory too: if they've kept it secret that long, they'd need to take all of the manufacturing steps on-site."

"And you believe you know where this facility is?" D'antello asked.

"I've got an idea, yes." Caerys grinned, "The records are heavily blotted, but they link into the port databases. We can cross-reference the port arrival databases with ship reference numbers to approximate the ship routes, with a hidden portion of our journey where our mystery planet is. But they've erased navicomputer and jump beacon records, so how do we find it?"

"Inventories?" D'antello suggested, "Check their inventories for any sudden surges in loaded cargo."

"We tried that." Caerys acknowledged, "We couldn't find any records sufficiently unblotted to get any accuracy on that. So we checked the maintenance records."

"Maintenance?" D'antello asked, "For what, exactly?"

"For hyperdrive stress." Caerys said simply, "Additional mass transitioned into hyperspace puts additional strain on the hyperdrive. We just looked for that and found the peak. Once we'd found that, we could calculate how much they'd taken aboard, how long it must have taken them to load it all up, add how long it should have taken them to get from A to B without touching our mystery planet and subtract their real travel time to find extra travel time to and from this planet. Input ship-specific hyperdrive class and you have a locus. And do you know how many planets are within that locus?"

"One?" D'antello asked.

"One." Caerys nodded, highlighting the planet in question, "Anteevy. And, unless there's been something super-secret we haven't got the clearance for going on over there, it's been abandoned for the past eight months. I'll have the fleet scout it out before the Possession is finished and make sure it really is abandoned, but I think we're onto a winner."

"And what is your plan of action should the planet turn out to not be abandoned?" D'antello inquired.

"We shift to plan B: Phindar." Caerys shrugged, "But I doubt we'll need to. I can't find any Imperial paper trail linking to Anteevy since it was abandoned - not even ghost deliveries which can be linked there. We'll be fine."

"I hope so." D'antello frowned, "Because the Empire always does things for a reason. So why did they leave Anteevy?"

"Budgetary considerations?" Caerys suggested, "Anteevy's off of the traditional hyperlanes: that's why it was kept secret for so long. I'd bet supplying that cost the Empire a mint."

"Perhaps." D'antello shrugged, "But Kearr's heading to Coruscant soon - I'll see if she can't probe a little there."

"She's heading to Coruscant?" Caerys asked suddenly, "What for?"

"Some meeting." D'antello sighed, "Straight from the top. That's why I sent her instead of Kerric."

"And what's it about?" Caerys pressed.

"I don't know." D'antello shrugged, "But it's an opportunity. I say we seize it."

[Ulls]

Mandalore's Palace,
Concordia,
0 BBY

The Mandalore himself was up this morning training. He did this everyday after the Warrior Clans and force the Imperials to retreat. Treais had started to become more of a warrior then he even thought he could. Still, in his spare time, he studies ancient Mandalorian history so that he can learn how to rule. After he was done with his training, he cleaned up and done on his armor.

The leader walked through the throne room and he saw his second in command. The Wookie towered over him but walked respectively as he gave him a datapad.

" The scouts have reported back on which planets that match what we need Mandalore." Treenar roared.

The human looked over the reports and gave a sigh.

" Dathomir, Ord Mantell, Anobis, and Ithor?" Mandalore raised an eyebrow," We're surrounded by agriworlds. Three have Imperial garrisons and some ships, and one is has hostile wildlife. As much as I would like to challenge my warriors on Dathomir, we need food and ore to try to get more Warrior Clans to fight for us and ships to be made."

He gave it a thought. By eliminating the remote planet. The rest were Imperial-controlled worlds with each a varying degree. It still will give the Mandalorians a fight, which is something that everyone wanted ever since they chased them off their world.

" Alright, we're taking Anobis. Shouldn't be that big of an Imperial garrison since they are a small agriworld. Should be a good warm up for the Clans and they'll never see it coming. Get the warriors, droids, and battlefleet ready. Were moving out."

[Gorbatov]

Galactic Empire
Sienar Corporate Union

Assertor, Assertor-Class Star Dreadnought, Tion Sector Fleet
Lianna, Tion Sector, 0 BBY

Lianna was a sparkling jewel of the Empire, as it had become one of the most important imperial planets in the Outer Rim, after the Clone Wars. To which Lianna prospered, as trade and business has never been higher, but also with the contribution of the Sienar Fleet's Systems' work with the Galactic Empire. A gigantic dagger shaped warship exits hyperspace, heading to one of the many orbital docks of Lianna. "Ah I feel great to be finally back. *Turns to a commanding figure, standing behind him* Moff Kaine, was it really necessary to be that direct with those pirates?", questioned Raith Sienar, Governor of the Sienar Corporate Union.

"Well Governor, those pirates have been wanted by the Imperial Office of Customs, for raiding Imperial trade routes to the Outer Rim.", replied Ardus Kaine, Moff of the Tion Sector.

A Imperial communications officer approaches the two, "Sir, here is the current report from Lianna."

"Ah good...*Looked the at the recent report* Governor, it seems that there was trouble in the production of the TIE Mauler, as their was trouble with it's self-destruct mechanism. But they were able to fix this problem, as they have produced around ~11,000 vehicles since our return, to which 1,000 tanks were allocated to our military, and the rest given to the Empire. Furthermore we have received reports from Demetrius Zaarin, Head of Sienar Advanced Projects Laboratory, that the TIE Defender project, and has shown potential in simulations, and during controlled environment test, and should be ready for a field test in a couple of days. I recommend we tell the Emperor the rapid progress of the TIE Defender project, as it would revolutionize the Imperial starfighter corps.", said Kaine.

"Furthermore, we have received a shipment of 50 AT-ACTs, 100 AT-ATs, 1,000 TX-225A Occupiers, 2,000 AT-STs, and also 3,500 AT-DPs; to which are all allocated to our military, and awaiting transport to the Assertor. Lastly, their is a request by the SFS to further expand Sienar operations in other planets, as Lianna wouldn't be able to supply the rapid growing Empire by itself", continued Kaine.

"To which I have already complied a dossier of several planets over the yeas, to which are purely based to how those planets will further aid the SFS and the Empire.", added Kaine.

Code: Select all

------------------------------------
Galactic Empire
Sienar Corprate Union
------------------------------------
TOP SECRET INFORMATION
------------------------------------
SCU Dossier of Outer Rim Planets Pt.1
Clearance Level: Moff+
------------------------------------
•Felucia(Jungle World; potential labor source; stable atmosphere, very fertile, perfect colonization world.)
•Rhen Var(Arctic World; Jedi Artifacts for Emperor Palpatine.)
•Lola Sayu(Desolate World; Potential site of Imperial prison facility, due to the abandoned 'Citadel' left from the Clone Wars; Potential factory planet)
•Raxus(Very Industrialized Planet; can potentially increase Imperial and Sienar influence in the economics of the Outer Rim; still hiding several ex-CIS senate members.)
•Jaminere(Very Industrial Planet; powerful manufacturing sector.)
•Troiken(Irregular World; potential labor source.)
•Quermia(Terrestrial World; subject to Imperial subjugation, due to rumors of large Jedi Quermian population.)
•Tion(Industrialized World; 3 industrialized moons; 1 acting as spaceport.)
•Beldrone(Industrialized Planet; potential factory planet.)
•Desevro(Industrialized Planet; populace hold values similar in the Empire; likely to join the Empire.)
•Chandaar(Industrialized Planet; large mining sector.)
•Nam Chorios(Unknown World; Supposedly led by a Hutt Jedi named, Beldorion(inquire more information from Coruscant) Home of the mysterious Tsil crystals; unknown, but likely to be an important resource.)
------------------------------------


Sienar looked at the dossier, and pondered for several seconds,"You can probably persuade the ones in the Tion Cluster to joining the Empire, with your fleet. But not Raxus, as they are reluctant to give up the ex-CIS senators to the Empire, to which you'll probably would need to force their hand.", stated Sienar.

"For the good of the Empire then." chuckled Kaine.

Another communications officer approaches the Governor and the Moff, "Also sir, we have received an urgent message from the Imperial Ruling Council, in Coruscant."

Ardus Kaine gives his datapad to Governor Sienar, "It seems that the Emperor is calling forth representatives. Hmm...I'll go to Coruscant then, you'll take over the position of Governor when I'm away."

"Very well, ensure that you inquire about Nam Chorios with Imperial Intelligence, and also update the Emperor on the rapid progress of the TIE Defender program.",stressed Kaine.

"I have to dismiss myself now, as I need to further inquire on Lianna's current situation of expansion of SFS factories.", said Sienar as he walked towards the nearest turbolift.

As the governor left, Kaine called over one of the ship's information officers,"Send me the current dossier of the status of my the fleet."

"Yes sir, will do.",replied the officer.

Code: Select all

------------------------------------
Galactic Empire
Sienar Corprate Union
------------------------------------
TOP SECRET INFORMATION
------------------------------------
Imperial Dossier of the Tion Sector Fleet
Clearance Level: Moff+
------------------------------------
•1x Assertor-Class Star Dreadnought
•2x Praetor II-Class Battlecruisers
•4x Imperial II-Class Star Destroyers
•5x Imperial I-Class Star Destroyers
•2x Interdictor-Class Star Destroyers
•8x Gladiator II-Class Star Destroyers
•15x Vindicator-Class Heavy Cruisers
•4x Interdictor-Class Heavy Cruisers
•18x Arquitens-Class Light Cruisers
•20x Tartan-Class Patrol Cruisers
•5x Ton-Falk-Class Escort Carriers
•2x Altor-Class Fleet Support Ships
------------------------------------
•1,078x TIE/LN Fighters
•772x TIE/IN Interceptors
•372x TIE/SA Bombers
•68x TIE/AG Aggressors
•64x TIE/IT Interdictors
•120x Alpha-class Xg-1 Assault Gunboats
•74x GAT-21 Skipray Blastboats
------------------------------------


"Send the order to replenish supplies immediately, as we will have to go into another operation once again.", ordered Kaine.

"Will do sir.", answered the officer.

[Spindle]

CIC
ASS Morgue
Anteevy Outer Orbit

With a flicker of Cronau radiation, a rapidly-disintegrating probe droid emerged from hyperspace before flaring into a neat, confined explosion. Moments later, psuedomotion and Cronau radiation flickered once more as the Morgue dropped out of hyperspace in front of the marble-shaped planet below. From the CIC, Caerys watched the holopit shift and meld from projected data to actual information as the ship's sensors began their sweep of the space surrounding them. After a heartbeat, a small tone rang and the atmosphere in the room relaxed a little: there were no detectable energy sources in orbit or on the planet below.

"Hyperspace transition complete, Ma'am." One of the Ensigns reported with a crisp salute, stopping just short of Caerys as she stood at the lip of the holopit, "System appears clear."

"Thank you." Caerys smiled to herself, "But you should be reporting to your Captain first. This is his mission: I'm just here to observe."

"Ah-yes, Ma'am!" The Ensign replied, stepping back and heading away for the well-cut figure of Vessarius Karlile, muttering mutedly to another Ensign. Glancing back into the holopit, she watched as the tiny symbols which represented TIEs detached away from the Vindicator and dropped away towards the planet below, steering their way around the still-expanding debris field which was the remains of the probe droid and fanning out in a search pattern. The Vindicator's sensors were impressive, but what they were looking for was at ambient temperature and lacked any form of power source. It was going to be faster to scan with the TIEs.

"What do you think?"

Caerys looked away from the holopit at the smooth voice to see Karlile standing next to her, a half-cocked smile on his face.

"I think the droid's cloaking system couldn't handle the wake rotation and let off a burst of gamma into the reactor." She shrugged, glancing back at the debris, "The adjustments definitely saved it on the transition in, because it only has to deal with first-stage rotation: that doesn’t excite it. But the second-stage rotation on the realspace entry? That excites the hibridium's nucleus and it's realignment gives us the bust of gamma which then sets the reactor off. And we see the result before us."

"I - ah - meant the planet." Karlile said after a moment.

"I see." Caerys nodded, pausing for a moment before continuing, "It's what I'd been expecting. Far enough out that it's near-constantly ice-locked, with no tidal heating from its moon. No obvious sources from below - that would make things too easy for us, I imagine. Three main landmasses underneath the ice sheets - or perhaps that's a fourth, I can't tell - with a generally-uniform topology. You can see the tectonics at play here, here and here - there are probably fold mountains underneath those there. Liquid water under the ice caps - less than I was expecting, but that's what I get for using second-hand data. And...wait..."

Reaching into the holo, she pinched out a portion of the planet, a grainy photo appearing alongside the planet itself. A few swift taps in the image brought up the light banding for the segment of planet compared to the rest of the planet. A small grin touched her face as her eyes darted between the two and she brought up a third spectrum, glancing back to Karlile and straightening up.

"Focus your search around here." She indicated the image, "The main facility should have linkages you can follow down."

"Of course." Karlile nodded, before frowning, "But how-"

"It's reflection banding matches imperial gunmetal's." Caerys said, indicating the third spectrum, "It's most likely a supply depot with that positioning, so we can follow the road back to the main complex."

"No, how did you find that?" Karlile asked, "How did you know it would be there?"

"Look." Caerys commanded, indicating a ring around the planet, "See it?"

For a moment, Karlile was silent, before frowning.

"No."

"It's a very faint ring of atmosphere." Caerys grinned, "It's where their space station used to be, the one they'd shuttle supplies down from. And the depot is going to be somewhere on the shortest transfer orbit from that ring, so you just scan along there until you find a darker spot."

"And you were willing to parcel out TIEs based on this?" Karlile asked after a moment, "I was hoping you'd have something more concrete than that."

"I do." Caerys inclined her head, "That's what the banding was for."

"Sir, Ma'am." The Ensign returned, "The TIEs have found the depot: they're backtracing the complex from there. Should we prepare a team to evaluate it once we've found it?"

"Go ahead." Karlile nodded, turning back to Caerys, "You'll be going with them?"

"Of course. Carys nodded, "I'm here to observe and evaluate everything, and that includes whatever we find downstairs."

"Will you require anything additional to the evaluation team?" Karlile asked.

"Get ready to evac - or support - us at the drop of a hat." Caerys shrugged, "We don't know what's down there and I'd much rather not be surprised by some war droids without serious backup."

"Understood, Ma'am." Karlie nodded, "When will you be leaving?"

Turning for her reply, he found that Caerys was already gone.

---

CIC
ASS Mausoleum
Coruscant Outer Orbit

The Mausoleum transitioned from hyperspace with a flash of Cronau radiation, the Vindicator appearing far beyond the edge of Coruscant's bustling skylanes. Standing awkwardly on the far side of the port command pit, Jerelia Kearr watched as the crew of the Mausoleum frittered too and fro, distributing information and keeping the ship ready for action at the drop of a hat. A slight over-exaggeration of the potential threat here, Kearr was sure: if there was any blood to be spilled, it would be hers and it would happen down on the planet below. Such was the nature of Imperial summons.

There must have been some flickers of communication between the ship and the planet below, because the view out of the CIC window suddenly shifted as the ship rotated, before beginning to enlarge before her eyes, revealing more and more of the features of the city-wide planet below. The main residential hubs, the vast transit lanes, and the constant, streaming swarms of traffic as the Cruiser took up position above Coruscant, the planet's Golan platforms some three miles below them. It was, Kearr suspected the normal orbit to put military traffic which was subordinated to the Coruscant Defence Fleet: from here, the Mausoleum could be vaporised before it even finished charging its shields.

Whether that would be an optimal attack was a matter of debate, of course.

“How long until the shuttle’s ready?” She asked no-one in particular. One of the passing Ensigns paused for a moment, tapping on his PDA, before replying:

“Fifteen minutes. It’ll be another five minutes after that before we can get clearance for the Palace District, too.”

The Ensign hurried away before Kearr could heave a sigh at that. Another twenty minutes stewing on the CIC before actually accepting the summons. It wasn’t exactly what she would consider optimal preparation for the task at hand, not least because of the nature of the summons and the subtext of its timing. Calling the assembly immediately after the dissolution of the Imperial Senate - if dissolution was really the word best applied to such wholesale slaughter - either meant that the Emperor had a point he needed to underscore in blood or else the fate of the Senate was merely the foreshadowing of a larger drama to be revealed.

For not the first time that day, Kearr cursed her position.

It made sense, of course. The Alignment was, in effect, a member state of the Galactic Empire, and there would need to be a channel of discourse were the two to cooperate effectively. And it also made sense for the channel of discourse to be personally maintained by someone other than the Director, if for no reason other than the demands already on the Director and the distinct lack of spare time he was finding himself with. But just because it made sense to do something didn't mean that she had to like the idea when it was about to throw her into the path of a lightsabre.

Turning away from the bridge, Kearr headed for the turbolift doors. Striding into the capsule, she raised an eyebrow as an Ensign stepped in alongside her.

“You’re babysitting me down there?”

“Keeping the shuttle warm.” The Ensign replied with a wry smile, “In case things don’t go smoothly down there. Varrian Oeres, by the way.”

“To keep me safe, or the shuttle?” Kearr asked.

“Both.” Oeres replied, producing a PDA as the turbolift’s doors opened and they stepped out into the Mausoleum’s ventral hangar bay, proffering it to her, “And to brief you on the extraction plan.”

“There’s an extraction plan?” Kear asked, eyebrows rising once more as she took the PDA.

“Of course.” Oeres smiled, “And I think you’ll like it.”

[Spindle]

Outer Perimeter
Ice Station Beta
Anteevy

The interior of the dropship shuddered gently, almost soothingly, as it punched a hole through the atmosphere and carried on through. Although she couldn't see them, Caerys was aware of the two others flanking her own: half a company of Stormtroopers total with a pair of Star Wings escorting the group down. Some would have called it paranoid. Others would have called it prudent, and Caerys was always willing to err on the side of prudence when she had nothing to lose for it.

The ship set itself down with a lurch and Caerys found herself snapped out of the half-sleep she'd been lulled into by the low thrumming of the dropship's engines and the slight swaying which she knew meant that it was probably overdue for inspection. As the doors hissed open, the cold slithered in and Caerys shuddered despite herself at the insistent howling of the wind, suddenly right next to her. Within moments, a thin layer of powdery snow had begun to creep over the lip of the floor as the cold bit and stung at her nose and ears.

Nearly indistinguishable from the thick flurry of white flecks outside, her escort filed out of the dropship and spread out into a rough semicircle around her as dozens of torch beams lanced out, failing to penetrate into the intangible wall of screaming snow surrounding them. After a moment, voices cracked back and forth through the commlink in her ear, barely heard over the wind, and a second group of stormtroopers marched into the slim ring of visibility and formed up with their companions. Moments later, a third group of stormtroopers joined up with them.

Pulling her PDA out with trembling fingers, Caerys squinted at the blue rectangle in front of her. For several seconds, she struggled to relate her surroundings with the map supplied to her before her ears pricked at something. Turning, she saw the dropship she'd arrived in still hovering there, the floor of its passenger compartment level with her own feet. For a moment Caerys' mind raced before, with a sudden rush of dizzying vertigo, she stepped back, away from the sudden, plunging drop and glanced back at the PDA. She knew where they were.

"Let's go." She called out to her escort, "It's this way!"

Pushing into the wind and snow which tried to pry them away with ethereal fingers, the group set off forwards. Gales tore past Caerys' ears, howling madly while fat flakes of snow whipped her face red. Each step seemed to take forever to complete, her feet suddenly ponderous as they pressed on through the insidious cold and the intangible weight of the snow holding her limbs back. It was an eternity of struggle before the wind suddenly died away, the snow dropping to reveal the facility laid out before them in all of its drab, grey glory. Easily twice the height of an AT-AT it towered over their group, set into a blunt, steel-grey cliff-face.

"Oh, Vader's teeth." Caerys sighed, adjusting her "There goes plan A. Karlile, can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear." Karlile's voice crackled back.

"We're going to need the Wight back if we're going to dig this out." Caerys said, "It's literally built into a cliff-side. A Vindicator just won't cut it. Put a request back through NavCom to get her out here before they want their infrastructure."

Glancing up at the edifice before her, Caerys added one last point before tapping on the entry pad and ducking into the shadows:

"And mag-clamps. It's going to be a bastard to get back."

As she plunged into the darkness of the station her helmet's twin torchlights switched on, throwing up distorted shadows as they struck objects not touched since the station was abandoned. Glancing around, Caerys noted the miniature stars flinking at her as her escort moved in behind and around her, kicking up sparkling clouds of dust as they moved deeper into the darkness of the facility. Behind them, the door hissed shut, the harsh glare of the snow outside being cut off abruptly.

Advancing through the narrow corridors, preceded by calls of "Clearing!" and "All clear!", Caerys felt her hand straying to her hip, the ice-cold grip of the blaster pistol burning her palm as she caressed it softly. All of her senses were heightened: her vision was throwing up monsters in the suddenly looming figures painted by the narrow cones of light projected by her torches, her hearing turning every slight scuff and breath into a potential threat skittering across the floor from behind her, breathing down her neck or merely watching and waiting.

Shaking herself, Caerys did her best to pull her thoughts into line. There wasn't anything down here which could be a threat to her - the planet had no indigenous lifeforms, and there weren't any energy readings down here. They were the only living things down here, other than the odd microbe. And the Morgue had a perfectly-equipped medbay: certainly enough to cure them if they came down with something from said odd microbe. There was nothing for her to worry about.

And yet, as the corridor around her filled with a resounding silence, her conversation with D'antello flashed, unbidden, into her mind. The Empire always did things for a reason. So why had it left Anteevy?

"The database." Caerys said softly, her words thunderclaps in the shattered silence. Wincing to herself, she hurried along, through another archway and onto the lip of an observation ledge perched on the edge of a cavernous bay which apparently served as the manufacturing centre - at least, if the gaunt rows of silent machinery were anything to go by. Forests of skeletal limbs stood at rigid attention in jagged rows across the floor, far below, and through the tiered trenches carved into the walls. Caerys gave a low whistle, regretting it as the noise echoed madly throughout the cavern, a thousand broken distortions layering over each other as they slowly faded away into that deadly silence once more.

Arching above the cavern was a spider's web of walkways leading to a single, central hub ensconced in a spindle which reached from floor to ceiling. Glancing back for a moment, Caerys mutely indicated to the central hub before setting off across the walkways towards the central hub. Her feet clicked against the walkway, echoing at her from every direction before her escorts began to follow after her and the cavern was suddenly filled with a cacophony of boot-clicks echoing madly as the clump of soldiers crossed across the gantry to the central spindle. Stopping at the door, they tapped at the entry pad once before spilling inside, blasters and torchlight sweeping across what had evidently been a control room. Deep in her gut, Caerys felt something tugging at her.

Stepping up to the central holopit, she wiped the dust away from the command panel and ran her fingers over it. In the sudden, blue light of the holo, the dust became sapphires floating through the air before they reached the edge of the softly shed light, where they disappeared into the shadows. Caerys didn't care about that. She reached out into the holo tentatively, the imperial flag rotating through the tips of her fingers before she flicked them and the facility began to hum. Taking a step back, Caerys watched in horror as the lights inside the room and throughout the cavern flickered on, illuminating the silent sentinels, the dusty floor, and the blackened and scorched walls.

Punching into the holo, Caerys curled a fist and the humming died away, the lights shutting off one by one. Reaching a hand up to her ear, she cut across Karlile's questions with one of her own:

"Karlile, how many power sources are you reading down here?"

For a moment, the other was quiet before the response came, slow and disbelieving:

"Seventy-nine."

"Sithspit." Caerys swore, before turning to her escorts, "Get ready for a fight. Now. We don't have much-"

The harsh bark of blasterfire cut off the rest of her sentence, followed by the first screams and a heavy thunk from behind her. Pivoting around her heel and pulling out her blaster, Caerys found herself staring into the cold, sapphire lenses of a combat droid, its insectile limbs clinging onto the window like some horrifically oversized spider. Releasing one hand, it pistoned the other effortlessly through the window, glass shattering and falling into the room as the droid followed through, spinning madly to lash out at Caerys with a blindingly fast kick. For a moment she was weightless, before something slammed into her back, winding her, and she slid down the wall.

Lifting her head, she managed to tilt it to the side in time for the combat droid to slam its fist into the wall next to her head, a sharp crack issuing from the wall. Forcing her reluctant body to move, she brought her right hand up and pulled the trigger of the blaster twice. At point-blank range, the shots slammed into the droid's main body and it shuddered once before going limp and falling heavily onto her. It was far heavier than its movements had belied and it took her precious time to push it away, standing up and surveying the scene playing out before her.

The remains of two of the droids were sprawled in the control room: she could see another five on the catwalks outside. Including the one she'd just shot, that made nine. How many power sources had Karlile detected? Seventy-nine, wasn't it? That meant there were seventy left - but fifty-four of those would have been her escorts. Fifty-five including herself. That meant that there had to be, what? Fifteen left over? Recalling the droid's original attack, Caerys shuddered.

Stepping cautiously out onto the gantry, Caerys picked her way past bodies wearing crumpled and cracked white armour and the skeletal remains of the combat droids, doing her best to head towards the madly echoing sounds of blasterfire and the occasional, wet crunch of armour giving way to the soft flesh underneath. Glancing down, she caught sight of a streak of blue on a lower catwalk and her blaster was spitting before her mind was fully aware of the danger. The droid leapt effortlessly upwards, landing in front of her with the poise of a cat before chittering at her and swiping with its claws. Backing up wildly, Caerys felt her heels leave the walkway and paused for a moment. The droid took its opportunity and lunged at her, connecting with her waist like a raging bull and sending them both tumbling down to the walkway below, blaster flashing away from her grip.

Growling mechanically at her, the droid grabbed Caerys by the throat and began to squeeze mercilessly. Scrabbling at the creature's metallic wrists, Caerys' fingers attempted to prise away the cold talons around her throat, but the droid simply ignored her and continued squeezing. Her fingers turned red, then white from effort, but before long there were spots growing in her vision, swimming throughout her peripherals and occasionally intruding into her main line of sight. Turning her head to escape the relentless pressure, she felt herself become light-headed-

There! No more than a foot away from her lay the body of a stormtrooper - whether dead or unconscious, she couldn't tell. Lunging towards it, her fingers fell around the grip of the E-11 and tightened, whipping the blaster around and pointing it into the cold, sapphire lenses of the droid. For a moment it warbled its confusion, before the blaster barked and its head disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Sparking, the remains of the droid fell onto Caerys for the second time in as many minutes, and the pressure around her throat disappeared. Convulsing, Caerys gulped down lungfulls of stale air, the burning in her throat and lungs subsiding.

Rolling onto her belly, Caerys raised her head in time to see the sparking remains of another combat droid clatter down from the walkway above to come to a rest next to the one she had killed. Glancing up, she her eyes made out the white-armoured form of a stormtrooper waving to her. Pushing herself up onto all fours, she slowly managed to pull herself upright and manage a weak wave back, heading towards the central spindle once more. The sounds of fighting seemed to have died down, the cavern back to its previous state of deathly silence, broken only by the occasional groan or scream.

"Karlile?" Caerys asked, reaching the spindle, "How many power sources?"

"Thirty-seven." Karlile answered, "What happened down there?"

"Some kind of droid." Caerys told him as she tapped on the entry pad, "They attacked us. From the looks of it, we beat them."

"Force eternal." Karlile whispered. Usually, Caerys would have reprimanded him for that. Now, it seemed appropriate.

"Get the Wight here ASAP." Caerys ordered, "And I want this facility swept completely before we switch anything else on. I want to know what we'll be activating next time."

"Understood." Karlile acknowledged, "I'll have the rest of our compliment sent down as soon as logistics allows."

"Good." Caerys sighed, "I'm not going to rest easy until I know there aren't any more of those...things."

---

Meeting Room
Ariana
Garos IV

"I'm glad you could make it, everyone."

The ten other figures at the table shifted their attention up to the head, where D'antello sat. As ever, the man looked distinctly out of place even in the eclectic mix of people represented at the table. Directly opposite him sat the cluster of ex-government officials who had survived the attacks which had first formed the Alignment, lead by Keress Italla. Sharply dressed, the officials served to form a gradient between the equally-numbered military officials to their right and the casual - almost slovenly - Board officials to their left. Not one of them looked like they would - or should, for that matter - bend to the little man sitting at the head of the table.

"First item on the agenda," D'antello continued, "Swapping notes. You've all received the preliminary data from the Anteevy mission, correct?"

A general murmur of assent went around the table.

"Good." D'antello nodded, "And I can assume you've all done preliminary analysis?"

Another murmur of assent swept across the table.

"So let us start." He said simply, glancing to the military officers, "High Admiral?"

"Of course." Malkon nodded, standing and tapping on his PDA to bring up Ice Station Beta, the facility diminished somewhat by the scale of the holo.

"This is, as you know, Ice Station Beta." Malkon began, "It is a mining, mass manufacturing and testing facility located on Anteevy, some three light-years distant from us. We deduced its location three weeks ago and inserted a Cruiser into orbit two hours ago, first detecting the station itself half an hour ago. Fleet Admiral Caerys deployed to the planet with three platoons of Stormtroopers, securing the facility against what appear to be rogue combat droids. From what we've seen of them, they aren't anything the Imperial Navy uses. Does the Board know anything about them?"

"Not about the exact model." Administrator Teller said, glancing up from her own PDA, "They look like they're based off of the old infiltrator droids, but that might just be because of shared heritage: they've definitely got their roots with the IG and B-X series of battle droid. Unsurprising, if you think about it, but it makes identification difficult. All we can say for sure is that they were Imperial in make."

"And you're sure about that?" Malkon asked, "This wasn't an attack?"

"I can't say that for sure." Teller sighed, spreading her hands helplessly, "The Rebellion is resourceful and it's possible that they reprogrammed the droids at some point. But we do know that they were built by the Empire in the first place - I'm sorry if that's not helpful enough."

"It's enough." D'antello interjected himself, "Malkon, what's your preliminary assessment of the base itself?"

"I don't think we can move it." Malkon said, gesturing to the holo, "It's far too large to be transported even by a Star Destroyer - if we had any free, that is - and unless we want to modify the Possession mid-construction, that will still be too small for the task."

"So we're leaving it?" Italla asked, leaning forwards a little, "I thought the aim of this exercise was to gain us infrastructure, not lose us stormtroopers."

"And we have." Malkon put in, "We just can't bring it here."

"So what use is it?" Italla asked, "Our mandate was to protect Imperial citizens, not to occupy a lifeless world in the middle of nowhere."

"It's a lifeless ball of ice and rock." Malkon sighed, "What's wrong with taking it? No-one's going to care."

"It's the precedent, isn't it?" D'antello asked.

"Yes." Italla sighed, spreading her hands out, "If we take the planet for ourselves, we take our first steps into a very dangerous area. We change our own mandate to rule. I could understand it if it was necessary - if we needed to prevent a war on the planet - but seizing it because it's there? That's beyond our remit."

"Our remit is to protect Imperial citizens!" Malkon exclaimed, "How do you expect us to do that without the capability to make our own weapons?"

"We already have that capability." Italla said wearily, "Is that not enough?"

"The ability to build the odd prototype is nothing." Malkon pressed, "What we need are assembly lines. That facility provides them!"

"A compromise, then." D'antello broke in, "We move personnel onto Anteevy and start up the facility there, registering our claim to that portion of land. We then leave the rest of the planet as it is, so that anyone else with a legitimate claim can take it. We even put a price on the installation, if whoever's claiming the planet wants to buy us out. Is that acceptable?"

A murmur of assent went around the table and D'antello smiled.

"Very good. Malkon, the timetabling on this falls to you."

Pausing for a moment, D'antello felt the atmosphere around the table settle before continuing.

"Second point. I have heard that there have been a number of altercations between the Board and portions of the military."

The pause which followed was heavy with foreboding.

"However much I might like to let this sort itself out, I'm not going to risk this growing any larger. Malkon. Explain."

"Of course."

For a moment Malkon composed himself, before breathing out and beginning:

"According to the Charter, the Board has the right to take military vessels for experimentation. Which would be fine with us, but they've taken all of our Arquitens, three of our Vindicators and the Wight since it was formally established. The Wight was procured while on standby for aiding the Anteevy mission. Our people were...upset by that, as well as the loss of a large portion of our screen."

D'antello's gaze shifted to Teller.

"That's basically it." The Administrator admitted, "I was just stamping and sending the requests. By the time I actually started to add the numbers together, the Wight was already being disassembled. I'm sorry."

"That doesn't make a difference now." Malkon said, heat beginning to creep into his voice, "A third of my Fleet is sat out there, taken apart by your people."

"And we've already put half of them back together." Teller returned, "The Mausoleum, for a start. And she's something the galaxy's never seen before."

"I've seen the reports." Malkon snapped, "I don't ever recall putting "can blind itself" on the list of tactical capabilities I wanted you to add to my ships."

"It's a capability which is easily exploited." Teller shrugged, "Especially once we finish the first batch of Spectres and Banshees."

"It still doesn't make up for my fleet being hobbled." Malkon pushed, "Not by any stretch of the imagination."

"It won't happen again." Teller stated simply, "I'll put an upper limit on how many ships we can borrow at any given time - say, twelve Frigates, five Cruisers and a Star Destroyer?"

"I'd rather you didn't touch my Star Destroyers after this." Malkon shot back, a touch of humour returning to his voice.

"Of course." Teller smiled ruefully.

"And I imagine you two should appoint liaisons to each other." D'antello added, "It would mean that we didn't have to do this in meetings next time."

Glancing to the two, D'antello continued onwards:

"Which brings us to the third item on the agenda. Teller, how long until your prototype batches are ready for their test deployments?"

"A few weeks more." Teller said simply, "That's when the last Spectres and Banshees will be ready. The rest are ready for testing as soon as we find somewhere to test them. Why?"

"Because we've found a place to test them." Malkon explained, "Sundari's had another shipment of Headhunters, not to mention pair of Providences. And if history is any show of character, we're the ones they're going to throw them at. So we've got our preparatory war on the horizon. Now I just need a fleet to fight it with."

[Esselman]

The Kuat Hegemony
Kuat Drive Yard Orbital Fabrication, Kuat, 0 BBY

"Emperor Palpatine. You honor us by your presence. May I offer you refreshments, or ought else? Whenever you wish, the Grand Admiral has prepared a tour of the Executor so you may see what the devotion of Kuat has produced."

"As with the rest of the galaxy, Corellia will soon fall to the might of the Empire. You have done well here. I shall remain in the viewing dock to see the takeoff of our great fleet additions before this tour with the Admiral," said the Emperor, his succession of guards following behind him as they moved from the docking bay.

The Emperor was merely here on a visit to see the fleet of the Empire first hand, but also to witness the full capabilities of the Empire acting more autonomously than ever before. Once safely in a private docking bay, with full view of the mighty ships before him, he contacted Lord Vader via holo.

"Vader. You shall rendezvous with the Grand Moff, I wish to send an occupational fleet to the Garos sector, I trust he may have the resources to clean up any rumours that may eminiate from there," he said

"As you wish my master," quickly responded Vader.

The emperor then commenced back to the docks as the Fleet Admiral led.

---

Scarif, 0 BBY

"See to it we are redirected to the Garos sector immediately, I want no mention of our efforts here whatsoever!" began the stoic and fearsome Grand Moff of the Empire.

"Sir, incoming transmission from Lord Vader, we believe it to be urgent," said an officer.