Star Wars – Aftermath

Aftermath – Part 16 – Yuuzhan Vong Preparations and The Discovery

+20 Years after Endor

Preparations for War

On the distant world Rhommamool, the invaders, through Nom Anor, disguised as the leader of the Red Knights of Life, stirred up rebellion between Rhommamool and its neighbour Osarian to distract the New Republic from its more important attacks. Once war had been reached between the two worlds, Nom Anor faked his own death. This allowed him to move on, as well as escalating the conflict and diverting the Republic's attention from the true target.

On Belkadan on the edge of the galaxy, a team of scientists from ExGal-4 are charting the abyss for extra-galactic life. Finally they discovered an asteroid heading for the nearby Helska system. Yuuzhan Vong agent Yomin Carr began killing many of the ExGal-4 workers, save the few that went to Helska 4 to investigate the extragalactic object that had landed there. He also unleashed deadly toxins into the atmosphere, making it virtually uninhabitable, and killing all local wildlife.

The extra-galactic object, a Praetorite Vong worldship commanded by Prefect Da’Gara touched down on the icy and unknown planet Helska 4, where they unloaded a massive, tentacle creature known as a yammosk, or “war coordinator”.

Da’Gara’s worldship is also noticed by the “Dozen and Two Avengers”, a Republic starfighter squadron led by Kyp Durron. The Avengers and the ExGal team arrived in the Helska system, only to be ambushed by a group of coralskippers, killing all but Durron, Miko Reglia and Danni Quee. Kyp Durron managed to escape; Reglia, an Avenger, was captured, as was Danni Quee, an ExGal scientist. Reglia was tortured strenuously by the yammosk, but the Yuuzhan Vong spared Quee this, seeing her fit to die a honourable death.

While the initial attacks by the Yuuzhan Vong where going on they where being observed by reconnaissance stealth ships of the Shadow Empire Command, using the new clocking technology. These reconnaissance stealth ships are designed for stealth and speed and not for combat and they are very good at their job as Nom Anor is unaware of their surveillance operations.

Nom Anor has many informants and spies within the New Republic to keep him informed of any discoveries that the New Republic’s intelligence services makes. As the New Republic’s intelligence services are unaware of the existence of the Shadow Empire Command (or even the Hand of Thrawn), all that Nom Anor is aware of are the “myths and legends” surrounding the Unknown Regions as has ignored them (just as the New Republic has).

The Yuuzhan Vong used their yammosk to coordinate an attack on Sernpidal, using the ancient Yo’gand’s Core tactic to crash the planet's moon Dobido into the surface. They discovered that the Yuuzhan Vong had planted a gravity-manipulating dovin basal east of Sernpidal City to draw its smallest moon toward the planet. The mayor sacrificed himself to kill the creature but this was too late to stop the moon from plummeting from the sky.

Han, Chewbacca and Anakin managed to save many civilians, but while rescuing a small child, Anakin was knocked from the ship by some debris. Chewbacca rescued him and hauled him back into the ship before he was separated from the others. Anakin made the decision to fly away in order to save the others as the moon crashed down, killing Chewbacca.

Leia Organa Solo, unable to fully convince Chief of State Borsk Fey’lya of the threat the Yuuzhan Vong posed, was only able to amass one Star Destroyer. The Rejuvenator the Rejuvenator arrived with her small task force, consisting of a dozen of warships, including a number of smaller cruisers, six Ranger class gunships, cargo support, and even a crew transport for the attack on Helska 4.

The small Republic task force went forward and attacked the Helska system, and though Jacen Solo rescues Danni Quee during the fighting, the Rejuvenator is destroyed, and what few ships the small Republic task force had left had to retreat and regrouped, as all the remaining warships had suffered various forms of battle damage.

Once the New Republic realised the danger, the New Republic’s military forces began to mobilise slowly as Chief of State Borsk Fey’lya did not want an all out war against the Yuuzhan Vong. So Chief of State Borsk Fey’lya tried to negotiate with the Yuuzhan Vong, this strategy would prove to be ultimately futile for both Chief of State Borsk Fey’lya and the New Republic.

Over the next two years system after system fell to the Yuuzhan Vong fleets, but the Yuuzhan Vong did not attack any Imperial controlled system or world and deliberately went out of there way to avoid contact with any Imperil military forces from either the Imperial Remnant of the Imperial forces of the Calon sector and there allies. This would prove to be an effective strategy as both Imperial forces had peace treaties or cease fire agreements with the New Republic, but the New Republic did not have a defence agreement with these Imperials, so these Imperial forces would watch from the sidelines, which suited the Yuuzhan Vong.

+22 Years after Endor, Fall of Coruscant

After two years of combat the Yuuzhan Vong are finally ready to attack the Galactic capital of Coruscant. After a preliminary assault on Reecee, the Yuuzhan Vong is ready to make their move. The Yuuzhan Vong fleet emerged above Coruscant, with the defensive minefields around Coruscant very doing little damage. The attackers used refugee ships to bombard the planetary shield until it collapsed then attacked the planet’s surface.

The Republic commanders struggled against the onslaught, unwilling to fire on the refugee ships eventually General Garm Bel Iblis did so, causing conflict with the other commanders and weakening Coruscant’s defences. Chief of State Borsk Fey’lya realising what damage he had done confronted Tsavong Lah’s subordinate Commander Romm Zqar, detonating a bomb that killed himself, along with twenty-five thousand Yuuzhan Vong warriors, and destroyed much of the Imperial Palace including the records archive of the New Republic, thus denying this information to the Yuuzhan Vong.

Meanwhile on Wayland…….

The much-reduced New Republic archaeological unit on Wayland that had been going through for former Imperial base at Mount Tantiss for any information that might have survived its destruction, has been ordered to evacuate the planet as a Yuuzhan Vong fleet has been spotted heading towards Wayland. A young archaeologist name Matt Turner has made a discovery of over fifty data cards in the same location that the data cards holding the information on the Caamas Document and the Hand of Thrawn.

Unfortunately, the evacuation order had not given Matt Turner time to examine these data cards in his personnel data card reader. So instead of taking his personnel belongings he decided to take the data cards and his reader and only a small number of personnel items, this would prove to be the best decision of his life and the most shocking discovery of his life as well.

But for now Matt Turner and his backpack containing the fifty data cards are inside a Noghri scout ship headed away from Wayland, just making it to hyperspace before the arrival of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet. As the Noghri scout ship had made a hurried exit the Noghri scout ship had to go into hyperspace very close to the planets gravity well and this had caused damage to the Noghri scout ships primary and back-up hyperdrives.

The Noghri Captain of the scout ship says that the hyperdrives can be repaired but this will take time to do, probably several weeks maybe longer depending on the level of damage, the Noghri scout ship will be drifting in the space between systems until the hyperdrives can be repaired by the Noghri. As Matt Turner has no knowledge of how to repair a hyperdrive he starts to catalogue the data cards via is personnel data card reader over the next few weeks, while keeping out of the way of the Noghri.

The only time they are all together is during meals, it is during these meals that Matt Turner explains what an archaeologist does, at first the Noghri do not understand, but when Matt Turner that he is tracking the past. This is something the Noghri understand and they start to take a real interest in Matt Turner’s talks about the data cards that he is cataloguing.

Over the past few weeks Matt Turner has manage to catalogue twenty-nine of the fifty-three data cards, the twenty-nine catalogued data cards are all from the Old Republic, mostly speeches from Old Republic’s senate. As he loads data card number thirty Matt Turner notes that the surface of this data card does not contain any writing on the contents as the other twenty-nine data cards did.

As Matt Turner inserts the unmarked data card into the reader the first image to come on to the screen is an Imperial logo along with a date that indicates that this data card comes from three months prior to the battle of Endor. As Matt Turner turns to the next page with the usual warning that any unauthorized access to this information will be subject to the death penalty.

The next page contains a summery that after reading it makes Matt Turner start to shake with fear, the summary says they following.

+++++++++++++++++++++++TOP SECRET ++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++EYES ONLY+++++++++++++++++++++++++

FROM: EMPEROR PALPATINE
TO: FLEET ADMIRAL ZERIK HAMMOND

BY ORDER OF EMPEROR PALPATINE, ZERIK HAMMOND IS HERBY ORDERED TO SET-UP AND TO TAKE COMMAND OF THE SHADOW EMPIRE COMMAND, BASED IN AND CONSISTING OF THE FORCES OF THE CALON SECTOR ALONG WITH THE VARIOUS FORCES ATTACHED (SEE SEPARATE DATA CARD FOR FURTHER INFORMATION ON SIZE AND DISPOSITION OF THESE FORCES).

ZERIK HAMMOND IS TO CONCEAL THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS COMMAND FROM ALL OTHER IMPERIAL AND NONE IMPERIAL FORCES, UNTIL INSTRUCTED TO REVEAL HIS COMMAND BY EMPEROR PALPATINE AND NO ONE ELSE. THE ONLY EXCEPTION TO THIS ORDER IS IF THE SHADOW EMPIRE COMMAND IS ATTACKED, THEN ZERIK HAMMOND IS AUTHORISED TO USE ALL THE FORCES UNDER HIS COMMAND TO DEFEAT THE ATTACKING FORCE OR FORCES BY WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY.

TO CARRY OUT THESE ORDERS ZERIK HAMMOND IS HEREBY PROMOTED TO THE RANK OF GRAND ADMIRAL WITH THE ADDITIONAL AUTHORITY OF OVERSECTOR COMMANDER, ALSO CALLED A PRIORITY SECTOR COMMANDER IN ACQUIRING WHATEVER RESOURCES ARE NEEDED TO SET-UP THE SHADOW EMPIRE COMMAND.

THE RANK OF GRAND ADMIRAL AND AUTHORITY WILL ONLY BE USED IF NECESSARY, ZERIK HAMMOND WILL USE THE RANK OF FLEET ADMIRAL AS HIS OVERT RANK, USING THE RANK AND AUTHORITY OF GRAND ADMIRAL COVERTLY.

ADDITIONALLY GRAND ADMIRAL ZERIK HAMMOND WILL BE ASSIGNED A SITH LORD TO ASSIST IN “OPERATIONS” WITHIN THE SHADOW EMPIRE COMMAND AND BEYOND WHEN NECESSARY, THIS SITH WILL BE LORD TREMAYNE AND LORD TREMAYNE WILL OBEY THE ORDERS OF GRAND ADMIRAL ZERIK HAMMOND AS IF THEY HAVE COME FROM EMPEROR PALPATINE.

LORD TREMAYNE, WILL SET-UP A SITH ACADEMY, TO FIND AND TRAIN BEINGS SKILLED IN THE WAYS OF THE FORCE AND TURN THEM TO THE DARK SIDE OF THE FORCE AND ALSO TRAIN THESE FORCE BEINGS IN HOW TO USE THE DARK SIDE OF FORCE USING SITH TRAINING TECHNIQUES, LORD TREMAYNE WILL HAVE TOTAL CONTROL OVER THE SITH ACADEMY ANSWERABLE ONLY TO EMPEROR PALPATINE AND GRAND ADMIRAL ZERIK HAMMOND.

FINALLY NO COPIES OF THIS DATA CARD ARE TO BE KEPT.

THE PENALTY FOR UNAUTHORISED READING OR UNAUTHORISED COPYING OF THIS DATA CARD IS DEATH.

BY ORDER
EMPEROR PALPATINE

ENDS…..

+++++++++++++++++++++++TOP SECRET++++++++++++++++++++++++
++++++++++++++++++++++++EYES ONLY+++++++++++++++++++++++++

As Matt Turner finishes reading the data card he is shaking with fear. As he thinks of the events since the battle of Endor everything that Zerik Hammond has done has been to keep the Calon sector safe from attack, it is like a curtain has been opened and Matt Turner can see the whole picture and this scares him.

What this data card does not reveal is that Grand Admiral Zerik Hammond has taken over Grand Admiral Thrawns Unknown Regions command and added Grand Admiral Thrawn’s command to his own Shadow Empire Command, also this data card does not reveal any of the events post Endor, but what it does reveal makes Matt Turner very frightened. As an Imperial Grand Admiral would be a useful ally against the Yuuzhan Vong right now.

After a few minutes calming himself down he goes to see the Noghri Captain of the scout ship and shows him the data card and asks that he is taken to see Princess Leia to show her the information as soon as the scout ship has been repaired. The Noghri Captain on reading the information on the data card agrees and says the Princess Leia is currently in the Bastion system trying to get the Imperial Remnant to rejoin the war against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Once Matt Turner has finished informing the Noghri Captain, he goes back to his quarters to see if any of the remaining data cards are the ones containing information on the disposition of the force/resources of the Shadow Empire Command, but this search proves to be futile as none of the other data cards contain this information.

But events will overtake this action while the Noghri scout ship is being repaired Fleet Admiral Pellaeon has agreed to help the New Republic against the Yuuzhan Vong, by launching an attack on the Yuuzhan Vong forces.

This action by Fleet Admiral Pellaeon will bring the Shadow Empire Command into battle against the Yuuzhan Vong and change the course of the war and the course of history.

To be continued
 
Aftermath – Part 17 – Battle for Bastion

Prelude to the Battle for Bastion

With Admiral Pellaeon bringing the Imperial Remnant into the fight against the Yuuzhan Vong, during the mobilization of the Imperial Remnants military forces, Fleet Admiral Pellaeon received unexpected aid, the Empire of the Hand had intercepted the mobilization orders and General Baron Soontir Fel sent Force Spike, an elite wing of Nssis class “Clawcraft” fighters under his son, Colonel Jagged Fel, to aid Admiral Pellaeon.

But what Admiral Pellaeon did not know that this was only a very small fraction of the forces that are gathering in the Unknown Regions, with several very large battle fleets assembling to help the Imperial Remnants military forces, but this gathering of the Shadow Empires battle fleets would take time.

Grand Admiral Zerik Hammond has decided to take his own sectors command squadron with the Imperial III class star destroyers Victorious (command ship), Battle Hammer, Astute, Tiger, Sentinel, Pacifier, Imperial Storm, Warspite and Scorpion, along with the eleven upgraded Victory class star destroyers and Admiral Stele and his eight heavily modified and upgraded Dreadnought class heavy cruisers.

In the meantime until these forces are ready Fleet Admiral Pellaeon and the Imperial Remnant would be on there own.

Imperial Remnant, first strikes

When Fleet Admiral Pellaeon’s intelligence assets informed him of a seemingly rebuffed raid on Garqi, Fleet Admiral Pellaeon took the Chimaera along with the Red Harvest, and Force Spike to investigate. When Admiral Traest Kre’fey’s task force returned to extract the commando team under Colonel Corran Horn that it had inserted during the first raid, it came under heavy fire and was nearly forced to retreat. Fleet Admiral Pellaeon jumped his force in to aid the beleaguered New Republic forces, and his unexpected aid saved the operation.

As the war against the Yuuzhan Vong continued the Imperial Remnant’s military forces are giving a good account of themselves, but after several defeats the Council of Moff’s ordered Fleet Admiral Pellaeon to return to Imperial Remnant controlled space and not to help the New Republic.

The Imperial Remnant now begins to dig in along its eight sectors boarders, with each sectors, sector group fleet acting as a mobile reserve for its own sectors defence, but when the Yuuzhan Vong strike they will strike at the heart of the Imperial Remnant, at Bastion.

The battle of Bastion will change everything, forever.

Battle for Bastion

The Bastion system and the planet Bastion are strongly defended by orbital defences. Though most of the sectors defence fleet has been moved into a single unified force, to enable Bastions sector group to hit at any Yuuzhan Vong fleet attacking any system or planet in the Bastion sector, the Bastion sector group is currently chasing a false alarm spread by Yuuzhan Vong infiltrators.

In orbit around Bastion there are only two Imperial II class star destroyers, the Chimaera and the Superior along with a small number of other warships, Bastions main defences lies in its orbital battle stations and its surface to space weapon systems along with a strong planetary defence shield system.

The Yuuzhan Vong forces, under Commander B'shith Vorrik, appeared in the Bastion system, destroying most of the planetary defence systems in a surprise attack with ease and catching the Imperial Navy off guard, only the defences surrounding the Capital city on Bastion are left intact, as the capital city has its own secondary defence systems.

The Yuuzhan Vong fleet then comes into contact with the Chimaera and the Superior and the small number of other Imperial warships in the Bastion system. Commander Vorrik thought that the destruction of the Chimaera and the Superior would be easy, but while the Yuuzhan Vong fleet had been destroying the planetary defence systems, this had given time for the Chimaera and the Superior and there accompanying warships to go to battle stations.

Only the Chimaera and the Superior responded to the attack with suitable efficiency. Despite the overwhelming odds against the Chimaera and her accompanying warships the Imperial Navy warships are able to hold its own against a larger Yuuzhan Vong fleet. This is because the commander of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet would only commit a small number of warships of his fleet to the battle, as he did not want to commit his entire fleet to destroy just two warships and there support warships.

This action by the Yuuzhan Vong commander, would allow the Imperials to do several things, one it would allow the evacuation of the civilian population from the planet, two this would allow the Imperial Army to concentrate its ground forces in defending the capital city rather than the entire planet.

Meanwhile in Deep Space…….

In deep space near the boarder with the Unknown Regions, the Shadow Empires fleets are gathering at a slow but steady pace. Grand Admiral Hammond decides to take his own command squadron to Bastion, as a holding force until the rest of one of the fleets can join him.

The Victorious along with the Battle Hammer, Astute, Tiger, Sentinel, Pacifier, Imperial Storm, Warspite and Scorpion and the eleven upgraded Victory class star destroyers, Admiral Stele and his eight heavily modified and upgraded Dreadnought class heavy cruisers each with 36 Missileboats onboard, jump into hyperspace towards Bastion.

Bastion

The battle between the Chimaera and her small fleet of ships and the Yuuzhan Vong fleet is not going well, as several of the supporting warships have been destroyed, though most of the evacuation ships carrying the civilian population have managed to get away (Bastion has always had an evacuation plan, just in case).

On board the Chimaera is Princess Leia, who was on a diplomatic mission to the Imperial Remnant to try and get the Imperial Remnant back in the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, but the attack by the Yuuzhan Vong has now convinced the Council of Moff’s that the Yuuzhan Vong cannot be negotiated with and must be defeated.

As the battle between the Imperials and the Yuuzhan Vong space fleets goes on while the last few Imperial civilian vessels try to get away from Bastion with the last batches of refugees. A Noghri scout ship comes out of hyperspace very close to the planet and request to come onboard the Chimaera, explaining that they have vital information for Princess Leia the request is grated.

While Matt Turner and the Noghri from the scout ship, are on their way from the Chimaera hanger bay to the bridge. The sensor operator on the bridge of the Chimaera reports that there is hyperspace activity between the Yuuzhan Vong fleet and the edge of the Bastion system, but as yet he cannot identify what may have come out of hyperspace.

Admiral Pellaeon says, “Keep an eye on those readings it may be additional Yuuzhan Vong warships.

The sensor operator replies, “Aye sir.

Princess Leia says, “They may be New Republic warships, as I did manage to send out a call for help and it would have taken the New Republic this length of time to send ships, they maybe waiting for a signal?

Admiral Pellaeon replies, “That is possible, communications open a channel to those ships that have come out of hyperspace.

But before the communications officer can reply, Matt Turner who has just come onto the bridge says, “No you must not do that, I have important information, please read this before you make a decision on communicating with those ships.

The communications officer looks up from his pit to Admiral Pellaeon, who says, “Hold that order for the moment.

The communications officer replies, “Aye sir.

Matt Turner says with much relief says, “Thank you.

Admiral Pellaeon turns to face Matt Turner and says, “Now what is this information you have?

Matt Turner takes a deep breath and says, “I believe that there is an Imperial Grand Admiral still alive, who dates from before the battle of Endor, with a large military force of unknown size and strength, known as the Shadow Empire Command.” Once Matt Turner has finish his statement, the bridge of the Chimaera becomes very quite as the enormity of this information sinks in.

Admiral Pellaeon is just about to respond when the communications officer says, “Incoming communication, Admiral

Admiral Pellaeon turns and says, “From the Yuuzhan Vong?

The communications officer replies, “No sir, it is a general broadcast from one those Imperial warships, the Imperial class star destroyer Victorious sir.

Admiral Pellaeon says, “Put it on the main display.

The main display on the bridge of the Chimaera changes from tactical readouts, to an image of an Imperial logo with the script around the edge saying SHADOW EMPIRE COMMAND.

Then a holographic image appears of a man in a Grand Admirals uniform sitting in the command chair on the bridge of an Imperial class star destroyer. The man says in an unnervingly calm voice, “I am Grand Admiral Zerik Hammond of the Galactic Empire, to all Yuuzhan Vong forces in the Bastion system you will stand down and prepare to be boarded, you have five minutes to comply or be destroyed, no further warnings will be issued.

Once the transmission is finished, the Imperial logo returns, but this time with a countdown of the time the Yuuzhan Vong has left to surrender. As the seconds and then minutes go by the Yuuzhan Vong fleet re-orientates itself towards the small group of Imperial warships, while a smaller number of Yuuzhan Vong warships are keeping the Chimaera and her ships pinned against Bastion.

On the bridge of the Chimaera Admiral Pellaeon says, “That small number of warships does not stand a chance against that large number of Yuuzhan Vong warships”, but as those words are barely of his mouth the sensor operator says, “Admiral I am picking up a large number of warships coming out of hyperspace just behind those Imperial warships.

Admiral Pellaeon says, “More Yuuzhan Vong warships?

The sensor operator does not reply but goes very pale and his jaw drops, Admiral Pellaeon this time with more command in his voice says, “Are those Yuuzhan Vong warships, answer me, that is an order

The sensor operator replies in a small voice, “No sir they are Imperial warships, hundreds of them, correction thousands” the sensor operator has gone very pale.

Admiral Pellaeon frowns and says, “Show me, put up the tactical display.

The sensor operator replies, “Aye sir.

The tactical display shows the warships still coming out of hyperspace, with fifty Imperial III class star destroyers along with 3,000 other warships and support vessels, Admiral Pellaeon is sitting in his command chair now with his mouth open, but what the still stunned sensor operator says next is even more stunning.

Sensor operator, now in a very excited state says, “Admiral, second group of Imperial warships coming out of hyperspace, with approximately the same numbers as the first group.

On the now very overcrowded tactical display, is becoming even more overcrowded.

Sensor operator still in a very excited voice says, “Admiral, third group of Imperial warships coming out of hyperspace, with the same numbers as the first and second groups.

Admiral Pellaeon is shocked and looking at the sensor operator says, “You have got to be kidding?” Admiral Pellaeon has not seen a gathering of this level of Imperial firepower since Endor. Looking at the positioning of the Imperial warships, Admiral Pellaeon sees that they are adopting an encirclement of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet with these three Imperial fleets, with the Interdictors keeping the Yuuzhan Vong fleet from fleeing into hyperspace.

The battle for Bastion has just turned in the Imperial Remnants favour, in a big way, although Admiral Pellaeon or Princess Leia do not yet realise that this is only a small proportion of the military forces available to the Shadow Empire Command, but they soon would see the full extent of firepower available to the Shadow Empire Command.

After several hours after the battle (or slaughter) was over and the entire Yuuzhan Vong fleet that had been sent to the Bastion system had been wiped out. The Yuuzhan Vong fleet was so out gunned and out matched they did not stand a chance against these three Imperial fleets. All those Yuuzhan Vong warships that tried to surrender are destroyed without mercy.

Several hours after the battle

Onboard the Chimaera Admiral Pellaeon has been reading the data card that Matt Turner had brought from Wayland in more detail. With an increasing sense of unease about the newly discovered information that Zerik Hammond is really a Grand Admiral, not a “normal” Fleet Admiral realising that Grand Admiral Zerik Hammond had been playing the entire galaxy just like Grand Admiral Thrawn had done all those years ago, possibly even better than Grand Admiral Thrawn!

The communications officer says, “Sir, transmission coming in from the Victorious.

Admiral Pellaeon says, “Put it though” in front of Admiral Pellaeon is a holographic image of Grand Admiral Zerik Hammond.

Grand Admiral Hammond says, “Greetings Admiral Pellaeon, I assume that Princess Leia is on the bridge with you” after a short pause with no reply, Grand Admiral Hammond goes on to say “good, this will save me the bother of repeating myself. I am sending you a set of coordinates for a rendezvous in ten days time, to discuss how my command can help deal with the minor Yuuzhan Vong problem. You may each bring one warship to the rendezvous. Do both of you agree to come? I will also be leaving leave these three fleets to protect Imperial Remnant space until you can rebuild your own defences.

Admiral Pellaeon replies, “As leader of the Imperial Remnant I agree to come and thank you for your help Grand Admiral.

Then turns his chair to face Princess Leia and at the same time switching the holographic feed from him to Princess Leia.

Princess Leia says, “I agree as well

Grand Admiral Hammond says, “Good I will see you both in ten days then, Hammond out.

Admiral Pellaeon looking at Princess Leia, Admiral Pellaeon says, “Did he just say “minor problem”?” all Princess Leia can do in just nod in reply. If Grand Admiral Hammond thinks that the Yuuzhan Vong is a minor problem, Admiral Pellaeon wonders what a major problem would be, then he think to himself he would rather not know!

+++++++++++++

From the Book of Revelations

"The first horseman, I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest."

"The second horseman, then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword."

“The third horseman, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’”

“The fourth horseman, I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth."

The Shadow Empire has entered the war!

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 18 – Rendezvous

Ten days later, both Admiral Pellaeon and Princess Leia (even though the New Republic leadership was against Princess Leia going in a single ship, they did eventually give way) along with several dozen New Republic and Imperial diplomats and officials onboard their two respective warships, Admiral Pellaeon onboard the Imperial II class star destroyer Right to Rule and Princess Leia along with Luke and Maria are onboard the Nebula class star destroyer Republic Fury.

As both ships jump together towards the coordinates given by Grand Admiral Hammond, both Admiral Pellaeon and Princess Leia are very nervous about the meeting with Grand Admiral Hammond and the possible size of the forces that he could and will bring to bear against the Yuuzhan Vong invaders.

Princess Leia is especially nervous as both Luke and Maria had told her about the Hand of Thrawn and she had been wondering whether or not this may have been the tip of a very large iceberg and how Grand Admiral Hammond had managed to keep this under wraps for so many years right under the New Republics nose.

Princess Leia could also see why Admiral Hammond was stringing out the negations with the New Republic diplomats over the years. Leia and certain senior members of the New Republic’s leadership are feeling more than a bit stupid in not spotting this sooner. Though both Leia and the New Republic where so busy dealing with other problems and the setting up the New Republic, they paid very little attention to one sector (Calon sector), not realising that this was the tip of something much larger.

Rendezvous, deep space…..

When the two star destroyers come out of hyperspace at the rendezvous coordinates. On both bridges they are stunted to see the largest fleet ever assembled with hundreds of Imperial III class star destroyers and thousands of other classes warships and support vessels, including Tagge Industries Modular Taskforce Cruisers, Enforcer and Vindicator heavy cruiser all the way down to corvettes and patrol vessels to name but a few types.

For several minutes there is silence on both the Right to Rule and the Republic Fury’s bridges, which is broken first by the sensor operator on the Right to Rule saying, “Admiral we have fighters coming towards us, though I am unable to identify the type?

Admiral Pellaeon replies, “Show me

The sensor operator says, “Aye sir” the holographic displays show two groups of 36 fighters coming towards the Right to Rule and the Republic Fury, then focusing in on one of the incoming fighter for Admiral Pellaeon to examine, Admiral Pellaeon’s eye’s narrow and he says, “They are XM-1 Missileboats, the prototypes, production machinery and all the engineers and pilots disappeared before Endor location unknown, but now we know where they went.

The sensor operator says, “XM-1 Missileboats sir, I have heard roomers that they are supposed to be unstoppable in the right hands”

Admiral Pellaeon replies, “That is correct, last commander of the XM-1 Missileboats was a Maarek Stele possibly even better than Baron Fel, but that was well before Endor.”

The communications officer interrupts by saying, “Communications coming in from the lead fighter.

Admiral Pellaeon replies, “Put it through

On the speakers comes though a voice that says the following, “This Admiral Maarek Stele of Nova Group to the Right to Rule, I have orders from Grand Admiral Hammond to escort you to the Victorious II.

Admiral Pellaeon replies, “This is Admiral Pellaeon to Admiral Stele acknowledged Nova Group lead.” Admiral Pellaeon thinks to himself that at least now we know where the Missileboats and Maarek Stele went!

As the XM-1 Missileboats form an escort around the Right to Rule and second group of Missileboats are forming around the Republic Fury, as they head deeper into the Imperial warships that have gathered. As both warships approach the centre of the fleet they come into range of the four command ships, these warships are the Eclipse class super star destroyers.

On both star destroyer bridges, Admiral Pellaeon and Princess Leia are looking out of the bridge windows in amazement at the amount of firepower that the Shadow Empire Command has deployed. But what neither of them know is that the warships here are just the fleets attached to each of the four command ships and do not represent all of the firepower of Shadow Empire Command.

Command ships

The Eclipse class super star destroyers are the most powerful warships ever built by the Empire (so far!!), the original two Eclipse class super star destroyers where the Emperors command ships (Eclipse I and II) which where destroyed during the Dark Empire period.

Perhaps the most deadly weapon carried by Eclipse class ships is a keel-mounted superlaser that was as powerful as one of the component beams used in the Death Star's superlaser. An Eclipse class’s superlaser easily has enough power to destroy an Imperial class star destroyer or even Executor class super star destroyers with ease.

Destroying other ships however, doesn't show the extent of the Eclipse class’s superlaser’s power. These weapons are capable of slashing through any planetary shields to crack open a planet’s crust and sear entire continental landmasses with a single blast. The massive superlaser is however more widely used to destroy enemy capital ships and space stations during combat, as the superlaser does not need to fire at one hundred percent to destroy other warships, thus giving the Eclipse class multiple shots, limited only by how quickly the crew can aim and fire at the next target.

The latest versions of the Eclipse class has benefited from the most significant weaponry-improvements of the last few decades. These behemoths are armed with hundreds of heavy laser, turbolaser mountings and heavy Ion cannons. In addition to its firepower, the Eclipse classes armour and shields are so powerful that it can easily ram enemy ships of Imperial class star destroyer size without any risk of taking any structural damage.

The current four Eclipse class vessels, each carries 600 TIE Defenders and 96 Scimitar Assault Bombers, divided into 58 squadrons, for ground assault, they carry 150,000 Imperial soldiers, 100 AT-ATs, and five prefabricated bases along with all the associated support equipment. The hangars are located at the sides of the vessel, with the fore and aft launch bays closely spaced underneath this area, towards the middle of the ship.

Each Eclipse class super star destroyer, is easily a fleet unto itself and the Shadow Empire has at least four of these warships currently operational, these are the Victorious II is a grey-hulled command ship of Grand Admiral Hammond. The Executor II is a red-hulled command ship of Lord Tremayne, the Admonitor is a white-hulled command ship of a clone of Grand Admiral Thrawn and finally the Virulence is a black-hulled command ship of General Sev Tans commander of “special projects” within the Shadow Empire Command.

Approach and Arrival

As both the Right to Rule and the Republic Fury approach the Victorious II though the protective screen of warships and fighters surrounding all four Eclipse class super star destroyers, on the bridge of the New Republic warship Fury, Princess Leia along with her brother Jedi Master Skywalker and Mara Jade-Skywalker.

When Princess Leia turns to see what everyone else on the bridge is doing, Leia notices that Mara seems to be gazing at the floor with a far away look on her face, Leia asks, “Is everything ok, you look a bit far away.

Mara looks at Leia as if she has woken from a deep sleep and says, “I am remembering something that the Emperor once told me.

Leia says, “What was that?

Mara still looking out of the view port replies, “It was just after Yavin IV and Luke had just destroyed the first Death Star, Lord Vader had just been rescued by Hammond and had been promoted to the rank of Fleet Admiral, by Vader. The Emperor said to me that the future of the Empire would be in Hammond’s hands. I had thought at the time he meant the next generation of Imperial officers, but what he really meant was this” Waving her hands towards the assembled Imperial warships.

A shocked Leia looking at Mara says, “You mean that the Emperor had already chosen him to command this. That means that the Emperor must have been planning this for years before the battle of Yavin IV, just waiting for the right person to command this Shadow Empire Command.

Mara replies, “Yes it does, the Emperor was always one for planning well ahead, sometimes decades.

Pausing for a moment, Mara goes onto say, “I met Zerik Hammond several times at various parties and gatherings on Coruscant, though he did not know me as the Emperors Hand, I always thought that he was extremely smart and cunning and of course he comes from a very rich and influential family from the Old Republic and then the Empire. He always reminded me of Thrawn in many ways.

All Leia can do is look at Mara and thinks to herself that another Grand Admiral with similar abilities to Thrawn, she almost felt sorry of the Yuuzhan Vong, also that news has also made Leia very nervous of there meeting with Grand Admiral Hammond.

Leia then asks out loud, “I wonder why he waited until now to intervene?

Mara replies, “I don’t know and that is what is worrying me more than anything else. A Grand Admiral usually does not “hang around” for several years or even decades unless there is a very good reason and I am wondering what that reason is? Especially after you told me that he thought the Yuuzhan Vong was a “minor problem”, I wonder what a major problem would be or is?

Before Leia can reply the Captain of the Republic Fury informs them that it is time to go to the shuttle bay as they are at the coordinates to shuttle over to the Victorious II. Once the shuttlecraft has cleared the hanger bay the XM-1 Missileboats move to form an honour guard for the shuttlecraft, off in the distance the Imperial shuttlecraft if getting a similar treatment.

It only takes a few minutes to travel the short distance between the Republic Fury and Victorious II, on the approach to the Victorious II massive main hanger bay, Leia can see row after row of Imperial Army, Navy and Stormtroopers to make up an honour guard to greet both shuttles. At the end of the honour guard Leia can also see several dozen members of the Imperial Royal Guard along with several Imperial officers waiting to greet them but no Grand Admiral.

After landing both parties from the two shuttlecrafts disembark to be met by an Imperial officer in the uniform of an Imperial Fleet Captain, the Captain says, “Welcome onboard the Victorious II, I am Captain Torn Matcliff, Captain of the Victorious II, Grand Admiral Hammond has asked me to escort you to the briefing room.

Captain Matcliff polity nods towards the New Republic diplomatic party, but when facing Admiral Pellaeon, Captain Matcliff formally salutes Admiral Pellaeon who returns Captain Matcliff’s salute, their is still a noticeable distrust by Imperial personnel towards the New Republic, Princess Leia and her party of New Republic diplomats will have there work cut out in that area.

Main meeting/briefing room - Victorious II

After a surprisingly short journey by turbolift, both parties arrive at the meeting/briefing room. As they enter on one side of the table is a row of Ysalamiri on one side of the table where Grand Admiral Hammond is standing he says “Welcome onboard the Victorious II, you will have to excuse the Ysalamiri, but I would like to keep my thoughts to myself when there are Jedi around. The Ysalamiri’s force-neutral bubble should only extend to halfway across the table, please be seated, while be wait for the others to join us.

Admiral Pellaeon just salutes along with the other military members of his staff and then begins to find their seats at the table. Princess Leia is the first one to speak she says, “Thank you for your invitation Grand Admiral Hammond, but the Ysalamiri are unnecessary as we would never read you mind.

Grand Admiral Hammond smiles and replies, “That is your opinion, not mine, the Ysalamiri are saying.” This causes both Leia and Luke to exchange quick glances and all Luke does is shrug is shoulders and Princess Leia says, “Understood, no offence was meant” and goes to her assigned place at the table.

Grand Admiral Hammond continues to smile seemingly unaffected by Leia’s request and replies, “None taken

The next person to enter the room, with two stormtroopers fitted with Ysalamiri carrying frames, Grand Admiral Hammond says, “May I introduce General Sev Tans commander of Imperial ground forces within the Shadow Empire Command, amongst other duties.

There are the usual exchange of pleasantries between the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant parties and General Sev Tans, and then General Tans take his chair (second vacant to Grand Admiral Hammonds left) on the other side of the table.

Grand Admiral Hammond says, “One member will not be able to be here in person, but he will be here by holographic transmission.” The activating his communications consol in front of him he says, “Put him though” with a muffled aye sir coming though.

To Grand Admiral Hammonds right the holographic image of Lord Tremayne spears causing a deep intake of breathe from both the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant parties. Grand Admiral Hammond says, “I believe that you all know Lord Tremayne so there is no real need for full introductions.

Princess Leia trying to regain some initiative says, “The Yuuzhan Vong has vastly superior technology, also their tactics are also superior to ours and the Imperial Remnant, though we have managed to win a few battles, but the war goes on.

Before Grand Admiral Hammond can reply a familiarly claim voice behind Princess Leia says, “The Yuuzhan Vong can quite easily be defeated and their so called technology is not that impressive.

Both the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant parties turn in there seats to see a blue skinned alien walking though the door with two stormtroopers fitted with Ysalamiri carrying frames.

Grand Admiral Hammond says, “I believe that you know my deputy military commander of the Shadow Empire Command, Grand Admiral Thrawn.” There are a large number of very sharp intakes of breath and the Princess Leia’s two Noghri bodyguards are staring at Grand Admiral Thrawn with killer looks in their eyes.

Grand Admiral Hammond then says, “Princess Leia, I think that you will need to control your two Noghri bodyguards before they do something that everyone in this room will regret.

Princess Leia turns in her chair to her two bodyguards and says, “You will not harm Grand Admiral Thrawn I want your word of honour on this.” After a few second both Noghri bodyguards just nod, by this time Grand Admiral Thrawn has take the vacant chair on Grand Admiral Hammond’s left.

Grand Admiral Hammond says, “Good, Now that we are all here we can begin.

Thirty hours later…..

Both the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant parties had left, now knowing the new realty in the galaxy. During the negotiations Mara has remained silent after Grand Admiral Hammond had looked at her directly in the eyes and had given her a knowing nod (the implication be that Hammond knows that Mara is the Emperors Hand). This nod sent a chill down Mara’s spine and she would not say a word throughout the entire negations.

Once both ships have jumped into hyperspace, Grand Admiral Hammond says, “Admiral Thrawn, General Tans are both your forces ready to commence the attack against the Yuuzhan Vong?

Grand Admiral Thrawn says, “We can go within the hour, Admiral

Grand Admiral Hammond says, “Good then proceed, dismissed gentlemen

Both Grand Admiral Thrawn and General Tans gets up and leaves, once they are gone Grand Admiral Hammond says to Lord Tremayne, “I think that we are going to need some more “test subjects” for our allies in the Qektoth Confederation to help speed up there analysis on the Yuuzhan Vong and there organic technology.

Lord Tremayne replies, “Agreed, I will send Dark Adept Captain Tanda Pryl, with her Imperial III class star destroyer Thunderflare to get some more “test subjects” for the Qektoth Confederation. I will also assign several Dark Adepts to the planetary assault force it will be useful practice for them.

Grand Admiral Hammond replies, “Agreed it will be useful practice for them against some live targets, proceed” and ends the communication.

Within an hour both Grand Admiral Thrawn and General Tans fleets have set course for their first major battle against the Yuuzhan Vong. Along the way they will pick up several other fleets to add to their own command fleets, Grand Admiral Thrawn will head for Coruscant, while General Tans will head for his target.

The Yuuzhan Vong has awakened a sleeping giant that will show no mercy at all.

But all is not what it seems the Shadow Empire has committed the bulk of its military forces to engage the Yuuzhan Vong, leaving behind only a skeleton defence under the command of Admiral Servalan on the headquarters planet of the Shadow Empire. Grand Admiral Hammond is taking what he considers a calculated risk in engaging the Yuuzhan Vong, he is confident of victory, but wars have been lost even with the level of firepower that the Shadow Empire can bring to bear against the Yuuzhan Vong.

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 19 – The Battle for Coruscant (part 1)

In deep space, a short jump away from the Coruscant system, Grand Admiral Thrawn’s fleets are fully assembled for their attack against Coruscant, without waiting for the New Republic or the Imperial Remnants military forces to join he own fleets. Grand Admiral Thrawn knew that the small number of warships that both sides would send would be too small in numbers to affect the battles outcome.

Grand Admiral Thrawn’s fleets consists of the following warships, Grand Admiral Thrawn’s flagships the Eclipse class super star destroyer Admonitor, 100 Imperial III class star destroyers, 10 Interdictor class heavy cruisers, 1,500 heavy cruisers of the Enforcer and Vindicator classes, and 2,000 other classes of lesser warships and support vessels.

Along with Grand Admiral Thrawn’s command fleet there are also three other fleets, the first two are “standard” fleets consisting of fifty Imperial III class star destroyers along with 2,950 other warships and support vessels. The third fleet is a planetary assault fleet with over 1.5 million ground troops and all there assault and support equipment, this planetary assault fleet will be assigned the task of retaking Coruscant from the Yuuzhan Vong, the assault fleet will be supported by Grand Admiral Thrawn’s command fleet and the two “standard” fleets.

Eclipse class super star destroyer Admonitor

Sitting in his command chair onboard the Admonitor, Grand Admiral Thrawn says to the Captain of the Admonitor, “Is my flagship and fleets ready?

The Captain of the Admonitor replies, “Your flagship and fleets are ready for your orders Grand Admiral.

Grand Admiral Thrawn says, “Very well Captain you may begin the count.

The Captain of the Admonitor replies, “Aye sir. Communications you heard the order begin the count.

The communications officer replies, “Aye sir” and sends the go signal to the fleets to begin their countdowns to jump into hyperspace towards Coruscant. Grand Admiral Thrawn’s own fleet begins to move towards the star that is the Coruscant system the other three fleets at their locations will be doing the same.

As the countdown reaches zero Grand Admiral Thrawn’s fleet in a ripple of ships jumps into hyperspace, with a second countdown until the warships a due to come out of hyperspace.

Meanwhile in orbit around Coruscant…..

In orbit around Coruscant the commander of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet defending Coruscant from any potential attack is reviewing the start of the terraforming of Coruscant that was underway over a large section of Coruscant, now called Yuuzhan’tar after their original homeworld.

When one of his aides informs him that there is a large fleet of warships coming out of hyperspace, the Yuuzhan Vong commander tells his aide to put the fleet of warships on the main display, as he watches the growing number of warships come out of hyperspace his jaw drops and for what seems like a long time more and more warships and support vessels come out of hyperspace.

The Empire has arrived with a vengeance, and then some!

Meanwhile onboard the Admonitor……

The Captain of the Admonitor says, “Sir, all warships accounted for

Grand Admiral Thrawn replies, “Good Captain, have all warships begin deployment and also have them deploy the first stage of starfighters

The Captain of the Admonitor says, “Yes sir sending signal now” the warships of Grand Admiral Thrawn’s fleet begin to deploy a quarter of their starfighters in defensive formation.

The Captain of the Admonitor says, “Sir, all first stage starfighters have been deployed. The Yuuzhan Vong fleet is also deploying fighters and also moving their warships into attack positions.

Grand Admiral Thrawn replies, “Good Captain, just as I have predicated. At this point the commander of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet would expect use to close and engage their fleet, but fortunately we have another option. Commence power up of the Admonitor’s superlaser.

The Captain of the Admonitor with a large grin on his face says, “Aye sir, Gunnery officer commence superlaser power up to hot standby.

The Gunnery officer replies, “Yes sir, commencing power up power up sequence, estimating 60 seconds to full power.

The Captain of the Admonitor says, “Commence target identification and prioritisation of enemy warships and begin a plotting a firing solution on to the nearest Yuuzhan Vong capital warships.

The Gunnery officer replies, “Aye sir, commencing target identification and prioritisation and locking on to the nearest Yuuzhan Vong capital warships.” As the seconds ticked away, Grand Admiral Thrawn notes with some satisfaction that there are fifty targets in range of the Admonitor’s superlaser. Once the 60-second power up is complete the Gunnery officer says, “Captain the superlaser is fully charged and ready to fire, we have established a firing solution on the nearest fifty enemy warships, awaiting your orders to fire.

The Captain of the Admonitor turns to Grand Admiral Thrawn and says, “Admiral we are ready to commence firing, awaiting your order, Sir.

Grand Admiral Thrawn looks a the Captain and says, “You may fire at will Captain

The Captain of the Admonitor says, “Aye sir” and turns back to the gunnery officer and says, “Guns, you may fire at will at the first fifty targets.” With most of the bridge crew straining to see what is about to happen from there crew pits.

The gunnery officer says into his com link to the gunnery crew of the superlaser, “You may commence primary ignition and fire at will at the first fifty targets.” A confirmation reply comes over the com link, which is just an “Aye sir, commencing primary ignition and firing now.

From the bow of the Admonitor shoots a green energy beam that connects with the first Yuuzhan Vong warship that punches through the warship like it is not there, the Yuuzhan Vong warship a second or two later detonates leaving an expanding debris field. The superlaser of the Admonitor is not firing at full power, to destroy a warship the Admonitors superlaser only needs to fire at between five and ten percent of full power (depending of the size of the enemy warship) allowing not only multiple shots, but also allow time for the superlaser to recharge between shots.

The Admonitor then fires again and again, achieving the same results as the first shot. While the Admonitor is firing its superlaser the rest of Grand Admiral Thrawn’s fleet has been moving slowly away from the Admonitor to give the Admonitor room to fire and to see if the Yuuzhan Vong will fall into Thrawn’s trap.

The Yuuzhan Vong commander on his flagship orders that all the Yuuzhan Vong fighters are to engage the enemy command ship, in the hope that the enemy commander will have to divert power from the superlaser to shields. As the Yuuzhan Vong fighters break formation and head towards the Admonitor the Imperial fighters begin to move to intercept the Yuuzhan Vong fighters, but the Imperial fighters are too small in number to stop all the Yuuzhan Vong fighters.

Onboard the Admonitor the gunnery officer has reported that the first fifty Yuuzhan Vong warships have been destroyed to that Grand Admiral Thrawn says, “Good power down the superlaser divert power to shields and normal weapons, let us see if the Yuuzhan Vong commander will do what I think he will do.

The gunnery officer replies, “Aye sir, switching power now

Grand Admiral Thrawn says, “Captain signal that two other fleets to begin there fifteen minute count, by then the Yuuzhan Vong warships should be completely stripped of there fighter cover and standby to launch second wave of fighters in fifteen minutes.

The Captain of the Admonitor says, “Aye sir, signal sent and acknowledged, countdown has commenced.” For the next fifteen minutes the Admonitor is the focus of a concentrated Yuuzhan Vong fighter attack as the Yuuzhan Vong fighters are able to break through the “weak” Imperial fighter screen.

As the Yuuzhan Vong fighter attack the Admonitor with no success, some of the Yuuzhan Vong fighters even ram the Admonitor’s shields, again with no success as the Admonitor’s shields are strong enough to allow the Admonitor to ram another capital warship without any possibility of damage to the Admonitor.

As the final few seconds are gone the two other fleets jump into the Coruscant system at different points completely surrounding the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, that has be now sent its entire fighter force to engage the Admonitor and her fighter escort. As soon as the two other Imperial fleets have come out of hyperspace the second and much larger wave of fighters is launched from the Admonitor and the other warships of Grand Admiral Thrawn’s own fleet that had been hanging back so far.

With the bulk of the Yuuzhan Vong fighters is now being engaged by a larger force of Imperial fighters (TIE Defenders), the Yuuzhan Vong fighter pilots are now fighting for there lives and desperately trying to disengage from Grand Admiral Thrawn’s force of fighters to return to there own fleets defence.

As the fighter battle is going on the Interdictor cruisers from all three Imperial fleet’s power up their gravity well projectors to prevent the Yuuzhan Vong fleet from fleeing into hyperspace.

The Yuuzhan Vong fighters are now being whittled down in numbers at an alarming rate, as they are outnumbered eight to one by the TIE Defenders. Within two hours ninety percent of the Yuuzhan Vong fighters have been destroyed by the TIE Defenders, the remaining ten percent have managed to return to the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, though the pilots are thoroughly exhausted and need time to rest and recover.

Grand Admiral Thrawn though has other ideas about allowing the Yuuzhan Vong to catch there breath, Grand Admiral Thrawn orders the third wave of fighters to be launched and like the first wave the second wave is to be recovered for rest and rearming/repair.

Once this is done Grand Admiral Thrawn orders that the three Imperial fleets begin to close on the much-depleted Yuuzhan Vong fleet and engage and destroy the all Yuuzhan Vong warships and any remaining fighters.

After another thirty hours of combat the remaining Yuuzhan Vong warships of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet have been destroyed and the three Imperial fleets now control the Coruscant system. All that remains to do is eliminate the Yuuzhan Vong ground forces on the planet.

Once the space in and around Coruscant has been secured Grand Admiral Thrawn gives the order for the fourth fleet to enter the system, this fourth fleet is not equipped for space combat, but instead is designed to carry out planetary assault missions.

Imperial planetary assault fleet

The Imperial planetary assault fleet contains a large number of troop transports and support ships carrying everything that an Imperial army would need to assault a planet. The planetary assault force is the equivalent to an old Imperial Sector Army, with the firepower of Assault Fleet capable of deploying four full surface Armies against any resistance or hostility in the sector 774,576 combat troops in a total muster of 1,180,379 personnel.

The Imperial planetary assault fleet also has its own desiccated Scimitar assault bombers and TIE Defenders, dedicated just for the support of the ground troops, so the ground command does not need to ask for help from the other three fleets.

This force does not include the Imperial troops that are also on the three other Imperial fleets under Grand Admiral Thrawn’s current command, this total force easy exceeds three million Imperial troops and support personnel.

Also following the Imperial planetary assault fleet is two World Devastators (Numbers 8 and 11) to assist in clearing up the considerable debris field in orbit around Coruscant to clear a path for the troop transports.

Coruscant - Yuuzhan Vong area

The ground command of the Yuuzhan Vong has concentrated his entire military force on that area of Coruscant’s surface that has been terraformed by Yuuzhan Vong technology. This area also contains the Yuuzhan Vong of a local area planetary defence shield generator, the Yuuzhan Vong ground commander is confident that he can hold out until additional Yuuzhan Vong warships arrive to break the siege.

What the Yuuzhan Vong ground commander does not know is that there will be no reinforcements coming and that his troops will on there own against the Imperial army.

New Republic

On hearing of the Imperial attack against Coruscant the New Republic decides to send a fleet of two hundred fifty warships along with 300,000 New Republic ground troops to help the Empire capture back Coruscant from the Yuuzhan Vong.

When the New Republic fleet arrives they are met be several thousand Imperial warships spread throughout the Coruscant system along with two World Devastators and an Imperial assault fleet beginning the first stages of landing troops on Coruscant surface.

How will the New Republic be able to “help” the Imperials and how will Grand Admiral Thrawn deal with the New Republic’s offer of “help” with recapturing Coruscant?

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 20 – The Battle for Coruscant (part 2)

Initial Landings

With wave after wave of Imperial landing barges on there way down to the planets surface with both TIE Defenders and Scimitar assault bombers providing cover for the Imperial landing barges and bombing the various landing zones respectively, so that when the first waves touchdown.

They can safely deploy their troops and armour to secure the area around the landing zones for the next waves, around the area of land that the Yuuzhan Vong have grouped around for there defence of Coruscant (Yuuzhan’tar) to make sure that the Yuuzhan Vong do not try to break out, thus trapping the Yuuzhan Vong.

As the initial landing zones are being secured, TIE Defenders and Scimitar assault bombers fly overhead providing cover to the initial Imperial landing forces, though this cover proves to be unneeded as the Yuuzhan Vong are to busy digging in along the front line (they have no fighter cover left). The Yuuzhan Vong ground forces are busy building deeper lines of defence within the area they control on the surface of Coruscant, this area is the size of roughly twenty-five square kilometres and circular in shape.

The Yuuzhan Vong have made a tactical error by grouping his troops into one area, by doing this the Imperial troops are not scatted all over Coruscant trying to engage the Yuuzhan Vong. Rather they can entrap the Yuuzhan Vong on one area of the planet and concentrate the Imperial forces onto that one area, making it much more easier to destroy the Yuuzhan Vong.

Meanwhile….

In the space around Coruscant a New Republic fleet has arrived with 300,000 New Republic ground troops to help the Imperial ground troops retake Coruscant, though these New Republic ground troops are not really needed, Grand Admiral Thrawn welcomes the New Republic forces and assigns them to the third landing zone on the planets surface.

The New Republics troops and all there support equipment, including armour and artillery will take eights hours to ship down to the surface of Coruscant and then another four hours fir the Imperial forces to link the landing zones together to completely encircle the Yuuzhan Vong troops. Once this is done then the ground attack can begin.

All the Yuuzhan Vong troops can do for the next sixteen hours is watch as more and more Imperial and New Republic troops continue to land around them. The Yuuzhan Vong commander now knows that none of his troops will survive the Imperial (and New Republic) attacks against them, as his forces are outnumbered. The Yuuzhan Vong has only 750,000 troops (and other support personnel) to protect there hold on Coruscant and this is not enough to stop nearly two million plus Imperial along with the 300,000 New Republic troops.

The best the Yuuzhan Vong commander can hope to do is slow the attacking force down and hope to inflict large number of casualties on both the Shadow Empire and the New Republic as possible. What the Yuuzhan Vong commander does not know (and the New Republic) is that the Shadow Empire has an almost unlimited supply of troops (via cloning) and military equipment (via World Devastators).

As the hours go by, the Imperial fleets move into a higher orbit to give both the World Devastators and the planetary assault fleet better access and clear space, to allow the World Devastators clean up the remains of the battle and also to allow the troops to speed up the landings on Coruscant.

Onboard the New Republic flagship

General Erics watched as his fleet comes out of hyperspace around hi flagship he is greeted by a very large and impressive combined Imperial fleet. Once the initial formalities are over General Eric’s fleet is given instructions to begin landing their troops in what the Imperials called the third landing zone.

General Eric’s then spent the next few hours watching not only his own troops land on the surface of Coruscant, but also the Imperial troops. It has already dawned on General Eric’s that this Shadow Empire does not really need the New Republic’s help and that the Shadow Empire could quite easily wipe out the Yuuzhan Vong force on Coruscant by them selves.

The Shadow Empire is merely being polite to the New Republic, though General Erics does not know why the Shadow Empire is doing this. For the moment he does not care, as he will take help for any quarter to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong and worry about the consequences later, this view is also held be the New Republic council.

11 hours into the landings

As the troop landings are nearing there completion a single Imperial III class star destroyer comes out of hyperspace, this is the Thunderflare with Sith Dark Adept Captain Tanda Pryl and the fifty Sith Dark Adepts that will be joining the ground forces. In an added twist Grand Admiral Thrawn orders that the Dark Adepts be concentrated in the third landing zone where the New Republic troops are concentrated.

Grand Admiral Thrawn then informs General Eric’s that he has assigned some “special personnel” to help with the attack and that a Captain Pryl from the Thunderflare will be coming down as a liaison officer with these “special personnel”. What General Erics assumes that these “special personnel” are Imperial Special Forces and he indicates to Grand Admiral Thrawn that he will meet Captain Pryl personally.

30 minutes later main landing area (within the third landing zone)

Standing at the main landing complex within the third landing zone is General Eric’s and his aides along with Lieutenant General Calls commander of the 82nd Imperial Corps assigning to support General Eric’s New Republic army.

At the landing zone, General Eric’s can see three Sentinel class shuttles approaching with several squadrons of TIE Defenders acting as escort, he also notices that the space around these shuttles are flying through has been cleared of all other traffic.

Once the shuttles have landed General Eric’s starts to move forwards as the ramps of the shuttles go down, General Eric’s sees coming out of the middle shuttle a woman in an Imperial navies Captains uniform, then he sees hanging from her right hip a lightsaber, this causes General Eric’s to stop.

Captain Pryl approaches General Eric’s and salutes and say, “Sir Captain Pryl reporting as ordered.

General Eric’s manages to recover quickly and returns Captain Pryl’s salute and says, “Welcome Captain Pryl” and then says, “Forgive me for asking, but are you a Jedi, as I did not think that any Jedi that are part of the Empire?

Captain Pryl smiles and almost laughs and replies, “No General I am not a Jedi I am a Sith. I have come and brought with in fifty other Sith, we have come to help defeat the Yuuzhan Vong and not only stand by our fellow Imperials but also our New Republic allies.” Out of the other two shuttles comes a total of fifty Sith Adepts all carrying or wearing lightsabres.

Some of the Sith are dresses in ornate robes, but one is dressed in shorts, t-shirt and a flight jacket and carrying a back pack, what makes this Sith stand out from all the others is that he is wearing no shoes and is not as well dressed as the other Sith are. This other thing that General Erics is that most of these Sith seem to be either teenagers or in there early twenties, with the exception of Captain Pryl.

General Eric’s after a short pause nods and replies, “Then you are all welcome, allow me to show you the battle plan for this sector.

Captain Pryl replies, “Thank you General, Lead the way.” With Captain Pryl along with the fifty Sith Adepts go to the briefing area, to be briefed on the current plan of attack, though they already know the plan via Captain Pryl, and are simply humouring General Eric’s. As General Eric’s with Captain Pryl he makes a mental note to inform the New Republic of his “discovery” of the Sith, but first they have a ground battle to win against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Once the briefing is over, General Eric’s sends a coded message to the new headquarters on the planet Mon Calamari and having elected Cal Omas to replace Fey’lya, who also created the High Council. Which will coordinate the Jedi’s role in the war after Fey’lya failure to use all necessary methods to beat the Yuuzhan Vong, Cal Omas was determined not to make the same mistakes.

Mon Calamari, temporary headquarters, New Republic

Cal Omas on receiving the information that there are a large number of Sith participating in the re-capture of Coruscant. Cal Omas is not surprised at the Sith, though his is surprised at the number of Sith that are participating in the re-capture of Coruscant and he duly informs Jedi Master Skywalker about the Sith, who is also surprised at the number of Sith.

Jedi Master Skywalker decides to send a number of Jedi Knights to Coruscant to “assist” (keep an eye on) the Sith during the ground battle for Coruscant. Jedi Master Skywalker will give the leadership of this mission to Kam Solusar, a former Dark Jedi who Luke had turned back to the light during the re-born Emperor’s return. Jedi Knight Solusar will take three other Jedi with him to Coruscant as the Jedi’s numbers have been reduced during the past two years of war against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Jedi Knight Solusar will arrive after the ground battle has begun and will see first hand the capabilities of the Sith and also how the Sith have adapted there lightsabres to the Yuuzhan Vong bio armour and weapons.

Meanwhile back on Coruscant…..

On Coruscant the attack against the now encircled Yuuzhan Vong has begun, as General Erics watches from the command headquarters of the 82 Imperial Corps as from the rear the Imperial artillery opens fire with concussion missiles and begin to impact on the Yuuzhan Vong lines with a deadly and growing series of explosions.

As the artillery fire continues, the forward Imperial Armour and Infantry units begin to slowly move forwards, in the lead are the new SD55 war droids. These SD55 war droids are a development of the old SD 9, 10 and X-1 Viper war droids that where originally manufactured by Balmorran Arms.

The SD55 war droid is humanoid shaped, though it dwarfs even a human with a height of 2.5 meters. The SD55’s are equipped with laser-reflective armour, advanced servomotors, powerful targeting sensors, and prototype advanced self-healing metal, and point-of-impact shield generators, along with an armament of two twin heavy blaster cannons in each “arm” and a miniature concussion missile launcher in each forearms, giving each SD55 war droid’s considerable firepower on the battlefield.

By using these SD55 war droids at the front of the attacking forces, both Grand Admiral Hammond and Thrawn have calculated that the Yuuzhan Vong who are religious zealots, who view mechanical technology as blasphemy, their own technological innovations are genetically engineered and purely organic.

As the SD55 war droids approach the Yuuzhan Vong front line, the Yuuzhan Vong soldiers seeing the SD55 war droids approaching from the safety of there fortifications. Just as Grand Admiral’s Hammond and Thrawn had predicted the Yuuzhan Vong rise up out of there, fortifications and try to charge the SD55 war droids, screaming at the SD55 war droids about how impure the SD55’s are.

The SD55 war droids then begin to engage the Yuuzhan Vong soldiers with their two twin heavy blaster cannons. Mowing down wave after wave of Yuuzhan Vong soldiers with devastating fire, along with the heavy firepower support of the Imperial armour (in the form of Imperial tanks and AT-AT’s) following and the Imperial Infantry just behind the SD55 war droids, adding there firepower to the already considerable firepower pounding the Yuuzhan Vong.

As the hours go by the numbers of Yuuzhan Vong soldiers coming out of their defensive positions is reduced. As the commander of the Yuuzhan Vong forces has now ordered his troops to hold there positions and not be goaded into attacking the SD55 war droids, but by the time the order had been issued there, Yuuzhan Vong losses along the front had reached 175,000 in just a few hours.

The first line of defence has also been breached in many places along the front lines, forcing the Yuuzhan Vong troops back to their next defence line. The Imperial and New Republic troops are now in the process of flushing out the holdouts in the bunkers with grenades and a lot of close quarter combat. During this phase the Sith are in the thick of the fighting in clearing out the bunkers and strong points, the Sith had the advantage of knowledge of the Yuuzhan Vong organic technology gained from studies done by one of the Shadow Empires allies.

This study has allowed the Sith to modify their lightsabers that are now more effective against the Yuuzhan Vong bio-engineered weaponry and armour, such as the amphistaff and Vonduun crab armour held a natural and limited resistance to the lightsaber however, weaknesses are soon found in the armour and staff.

Most of these modifications (well all) have been done and led by one Sith, the son of Admiral Maarek Stele, Jav Stele, he had at the age of 10 built his first lightsaber and by the age of 13 he was almost as good at lightsaber combat as Lord Tremayne. He has been leading the research in finding ways to combat the Yuuzhan Vong bio-engineered weaponry and armour that are (where) resistant to lightersabers.

At the age of 12 he was assigned to the Qektoth Confederation to study the Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology. It had taken him eighteen months of research to come up with the modifications to restore the lightsabers cutting capability and defensive beam reflecting capability. During this research Jav Stele would personally kill several hundred Yuuzhan Vong to test the effectiveness of the lightsaber modifications.

Now at sixteen years old Jav Stele is in the lead attacking the Yuuzhan Vong. With his own crimson red bladed lightsaber, he has also inherited his father’s good looks (along with the ability to pilot starfighters) and wears outfits that show of his well toned and extremely fit body, usually T-shirts and shorts and sometimes a flight jacket with the insignia of his father fighter group. Though he is not a smart dresser and looks more like a space bum, he also very rarely wears shoes, Jav Stele is also an adenine junky and loves to push himself to the edge (and beyond) during combat and anything else that gives him a thrill or a buzz, he is also very strong in the Dark side of the force.

After clearing out the first line of Yuuzhan Vong defence Jav Stele shuts down his lightsaber while breathing heavily and with an evil smile on his face says, “That was fun, can we do that again!” His younger sister the 13-year-old Saleena Stele nearby replies, “Yes you can Jav as there are still several hundred thousand Yuuzhan Vong out there.

The other Sith Adepts around them just start to laugh, seeing that Jav is sweating heavily after several hours of almost continues combat, like the other Sith Adepts around them. Jav Stele then removes his t-shirt and starts to wipe the sweat from his head and body while making his way back to the Sith camp with the other Sith Adepts to rest and prepare for the next days attack on the next defence lines.

Behind them the Imperial troops are now securing their new forward positions for the night and the SD55 war droids and being switch to sentry mode, to protect the new parameter.

How will the first meeting between the Sith returning from battle and the Jedi go?

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 21 – The Battle for Coruscant (part 3)

Meanwhile….

At the Sith camp Jedi Knight Solusar and the three other Jedi have arrived just after the finish of the first assault, Jedi Knight Solusar is introducing himself to Sith Adept Captain Tanda Pryl, as the other Sith Adepts approach. The first few moments there is a tense standoff between the returning fifty Sith Adepts and the Jedi, only to broken by Jav saying, “Well you Jedi always seem to turn up late for parties like this”.

To that remark the other Sith Adepts start to laugh and move off, all Captain Pryl does is shake her head, and Jedi Knight Solusar simply shrugs his shoulders, while thinking to himself that first meeting went better than expected.

Jav walks off now only wearing a pair of shorts and still using his t-shirt as a towel, to wash-up before the evening meal. When he has finished he is now back wearing shorts and a t-shirt and walking around the camp cracking bad jokes and generally making a nuisance of himself at headquarters of the Imperial commander of the 82 Imperial Corps Lieutenant General Calls does nothing to stop Jav’s behaviour.

When General Erics asks Lieutenant General Calls why he does nothing to stop this activity, Lieutenant General Calls reply is quite simple, he says that he does not want to be killed, because the quickest way to be killed is to annoy a Sith and he wants to live. This news to General Erics confirms that the Imperial military seem to be subordinate to the Sith (though General Erics is wrong in his conclusion).

Later as the Sith Adepts and Jedi start having there evening meals around the camp, again Jev is the first to say, “Have you Jedi figured out how to beat the Yuuzhan Vong’s bio-engineered weaponry and armour that are resistant to lightsabers?

Jedi Knight Solusar replies, “No not completely, though our lightsabers are more effect than they were two years ago, why do you ask?

Jev replies, “I have managed to modify my lightsaber to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong’s bio-engineered weaponry and armour, would you like to have a copy of the instructions of the modifications?

Jedi Knight Solusar looks at the sixteen-year-old Jav with open mouth Stele and says, “Yes that information would be useful, thank you. Did you do these modifications by yourself?” What Solusar does not know is that Jev has been given instructions to give this information to the Jedi by Lord Tremayne, to make the point to the Jedi of how skilled the Sith are compared to the Jedi, this point is not lost on Jedi Knight Solusar.

Jev passes the data file containing the information to Jedi Knight Solusar and replies, “Yes I did all the modifications myself when I was thirteen years old.

Jedi Knight Solusar replies, “You are extremely skilled for one so young

Jev smiles and says, “Yes I know, that is what Lord Tremayne keeps telling me” With that the rest of the meal is finished in silence, as Solusar has a lot to think about, especially the skills of a thirteen year old making such modifications to a lightsaber.

The next day…..

As the sun begins to rise over the preparations for the next stage of the attack are beginning, this second attack will be the final attack against the Yuuzhan Vong and this attack will be short and very bloody.

As the initial artillery fore opens up as yesterday, also as yesterday the SD55 war droids are taking the lead trying to provoke the Yuuzhan Vong soldiers from coming out of there defences, but this time the Yuuzhan Vong soldiers are not going to fall for that trick twice.

But this time Grand Admiral Thrawn has a surprise for the Yuuzhan Vong and this should shorten the battle considerably.

Meanwhile in orbit….

The Eclipse class super star destroyer Admonitor has been moving into a geo stationary orbit above the Yuuzhan Vong shielded area of Coruscant, with the Admonitor’s nose (and superlaser) pointed towards the Yuuzhan Vong shielded area. The Admonitor had been waiting until the two World Devastators had finished clearing the space around Coruscant of all the battle debris before moving into position, to give the Admonitor clear space and a clear shot.

Once in the Admonitor is in geo stationary orbit and in the right position to fire her superlaser, at this point Grand Admiral Thrawn says, “Begin power up sequence for the superlaser and set the system for planetary assault mode.

The gunnery officer replies, “Aye sir, commencing power up sequence and planetary assault mode, the superlaser should be ready to fire within one minute.

Grand Admiral Thrawn replies, “Good commander, we will wait until the ground assault has begun and then you will target the Yuuzhan Vong shield generator and you will fire on my command.

The gunnery officer replies, “Aye sir, await your order Admiral.

As Grand Admiral Thrawn watches the commencement of the second wave of the ground assault, after watching the early stages of the assault for several minutes he says, “Commander you may fire when ready

The gunnery officer replies, “Aye sir, firing now” the superlaser beam shoots out of the emitter easily punching though the shield protecting that area of Coruscant and not only vaporising the shield emitter but also every Yuuzhan Vong within a kilometre and killing all the senior Yuuzhan Vong commanders in one go.

On the ground the Imperial and momentary stunned New Republic troops launch an all out assault on the much reduced and commander less Yuuzhan Vong. This all out assault is now support by Scimitar assault bombers blasting the Yuuzhan Vong with bombs and missiles in wave after wave of bombers supporting the all out assault, now that the Yuuzhan Vong shield generator has been destroyed.

Within a few hours the Yuuzhan Vong have been wiped out and Coruscant ahs now been recaptured, with only a few thousand Yuuzhan Vong prisoners of war out of 750,000 Yuuzhan Vong left. Imperial causalities are just over 350,000 dead or wounded and the New Republics losses are 22,000 dead or wounded.

Of the few thousand prisoners of war some are handed over to the New Republic, but the rest are sent to the Qektoth Confederation for study and questioning (the New Republics not informed of this part). The dead Yuuzhan Vong are the lucky ones, for the Yuuzhan Vong who have become Imperial prisoners it will mean a very slow and lingering death.

The ones in the New Republics custody will survive because the Shadow Empire wants to remain allies with the New Republic and is allowing them to look after some of the prisoners of war is a good idea and it will keep the New Republic occupied keeping an eye on the prisoners of war and out of Imperials way.

This is a vital first victory, but will the Shadow Empire return Coruscant to the New Republic or keep it?

Imperial Response

Not long after the destruction of the Yuuzhan Vong stronghold on Coruscant two of the four Imperial fleets began to depart for their next mission, leaving “only” Grand Admiral Thrawn’s command fleet and the planetary assault fleet. The departure of two of the four Imperial fleets takes about an hour or so before the final ships to jump into hyperspace, once these two fleets are gone Grand Admiral Thrawn’s fleet re-orientates itself to cover the Coruscant system and the planetary assault fleet.

While this is going on the troops on the surface start to be brought back up to there troop ships in orbit, also there AT-AT’s and armour is also starting to be packed up for shipment back to the military transport ships in orbit.

The New Republic warships also begin to reline themselves for system defence, the New Republic troops on the surface begin to start to dig into the surface of Coruscant to prepare there own defences just in case of a Yuuzhan Vong counter attack (though this will not happen).

At the base camp for the 82 Imperial Corps that General Eric’s is using to liaise with the Imperial command. An Imperial Lieutenant says, “General Eric’s, sir, Grand Admiral Thrawn on the comm for you.

A nervous General Eric’s replies, “Put Grand Admiral Thrawn through

The Lieutenant says, “Aye sir, connecting

In front of General Eric’s is a holographic image of the head and shoulders of Grand Admiral Thrawn, General Eric’s bows and says, “Greetings Grand Admiral Thrawn, what can I do for you?

Grand Admiral Thrawn replies, “Greetings General Erics, as you are probably aware I have sent two of the four Imperial fleets off on other assignments. The two World Devastators will also be leaving as shall I and my fleet along with the assault fleet by leaving in a few days I shall be turning the command of the Coruscant system back to you and the New Republic.

This is something that General Eric’s had not been expecting, but trying not to show any surprise replies, “Understood sir, my troops and fleet are in the process of setting up defences at the moment, we should be fully established within a few days.

Grand Admiral Thrawn replies, “Good General, my fleet will standby until you have establish your defence parameter, it is highly unlikely that the Yuuzhan Vong will launch a counter attack as the other Imperial fleets will be keeping them very busy for the foreseeable future.

General Eric’s replies, “Yes sir and thank you for your help with the Yuuzhan Vong, Grand Admiral.

Grand Admiral Thrawn replies, “Your welcome General, I will await your signal informing me that you have established your defence parameter, Thrawn out.” General Eric’s will report this development to the New Republic council that the Shadow Empire does not seem of what to take back the old Imperial Centre. Once he has done that, General Eric’s will continue to deploy his troops around key areas of Coruscant.

The news that the Shadow Empire does not what to keep Coruscant is greeted with relief by the New Republic council furthermore once Coruscant has been secured the New Republic can begin to ship refugees back to Coruscant to start the rebuilding process. This will greatly ease the refugee problem on other worlds by moving the Coruscant refugees back home, as not all of the surface building on Coruscant have been destroyed.

Though the question that no one can answer is why the Shadow Empire would do this, after all it is easily powerful enough to destroy both the Yuuzhan Vong and the remains of the New Republic, though most of the New Republic council is just grateful that the Yuuzhan Vong has been beaten in the first battle.

Once the final Imperials have left within the next week or two, Coruscant will be back fully under the control of the New Republic.

What will the remaining sole Sith on the surface to, namely one Jav Stele do now?

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 22 – A Sith onboard the Admonitor

Several days later….

Most of the Sith have departed Coruscant within a day of the fighting ending, onboard the Thunderflare to there next assignment, but Jav Stele decides to stay at the location where the camp of the 82nd Imperial Corps used to be located. During these few days Jav Stele sleeps rough out in the open and try’s to locate and Yuuzhan Vong stragglers to kill, but after a few days finding none he decides to move on.

The Jedi under Jedi Knight Solusar, stay with the New Republic troops to help with security until more permanent forces can be arranged. During these few days there is little contact between the Jedi and Jav Stele, both sides seem to be staying out of each other’s way to avoid any problems.

Going back to the former Imperial landing zone that is busy with New Republic troops and personnel, Jav Stele rummages though his back pack and pulls out an Imperial issues comm link and says into it, “This Jav Stele to the Admonitor do you receive?

After a few moments a voice on the comm link replies, “This is the Admonitor we receive you, what do you want?” Not the politest reply Jav thought, he may do something about that when he gets to the Admonitor, or not!

Jav Stele replies, “Send a shuttle down to pick me up and prepare quarters for me onboard the Admonitor and inform Grand Admiral Thrawn that I will be staying onboard the Admonitor for a while, understood?

There is another short pause that causes Jav Stele think of the hurried conversation on the bridge of the Admonitor. The person on the other end of the comm links says, “Jav Stele your request is acknowledged shuttle is on its way down, Admonitor out.” Around the conversation between Jav Stele and the Admonitor has not gone unnoticed, but none of the New Republics ground crew says anything.

After waiting for a few minutes an Imperial Lambda class shuttle approaches the landing zone, once the shuttle has landed Jav goes up the ramp before the two stormtrooper guards can exit, once onboard Jav says to the pilot, “You can return to the Admonitor now.

The pilot of the shuttle replies, “Aye sir” and the Lambda class shuttle lifts off in to the sky of Coruscant and towards the white shape of Admonitor. With Jav Stele wondering how Grand Admiral Thrawn will deal with his unexpected presence onboard his command ship, it should be fun to find out.

Admonitor, Landing bay 19

Looking over the shuttle pilots shoulder Jav Stele could see a lone Imperial lieutenant waiting for with two stormtrooper guards, but no Grand Admiral Thrawn. Jav Stele smiled to himself on what Thrawn had done. Thrawn has sent a lieutenant to escort him to his quarters, sending a clear message from Thrawn that he was not going to be ordered around by Jav Stele.

Once the shuttle had landed, Jav walked down the shuttlecrafts ramp dressed only in shorts a t-shirt and a flying jacket, carrying a backpack over his left shoulder. The Imperial lieutenant who apparently was expecting someone more intimidating than a sixteen year old bare footed boy, but then the Imperial lieutenant sees the lightsabre hanging from Jav right hip and the Imperial lieutenant says, “Welcome onboard the Admonitor sir, I have been ordered to escort you to your quarters” all Jav does is nod in reply.

A few minutes later they are outside the quarters that have been assigned to Jav Stele, the Imperial lieutenant waiting nervously to be dismissed, then with a wave of his hand Jav Stele dismissed the Imperial lieutenant and goes into his quarters. As Jav Stele enters he notices that there is little or no furniture in his quarters (just the way he likes it), he wonders if Thrawn knew he was coming onboard, but he quickly rejects that idea and assumes that the large number of guest quarters onboard the Admonitor are fitted out in different styles (overestimating Thrawn again).

After the entrance area, there is a meeting area then off to his right there is a sleeping area, then to his left there is food preparation area and off from that there is the secure holo communications room. Moving into the sleeping area and then into the shower area he showers and at the same time washes his clothes, then retires to rest for a few hours until his cloths have dried.

Sith Flashback

While lying on the hard floor of his sleeping area, Jav Stele thinks back to just after his fifth birthday, his father had taken him onboard the Dauntless with an offer to stay with his farther for a while. Jav had only a small backpack with him at the time and the few cloths that his was wearing, he said yes to his farther and that was the start of his lessons and an unusual education.

Jav Stele already knew that he had come sort of ability, but he did not know that it was an ability with the force, let alone the dark side of the force, but he was continuously used this raw force ability to get into a lot of trouble and was punished by his father for getting into trouble. The punishment was usually a sever beating that made Jav Stele angry and this enhanced his ability with the dark side of the force, the more he got into trouble the more his was beaten and the more his raw force powers would grow.

For the next few years as Jav Stele would use the Dauntless as one big play area, but also have a very fast education in piloting and gambling along with about learning the facts of life and a lot of bad language and bad habits picked up from his father’s fighter group pilots. The crew of the Dauntless, for which his father regally punished him, Jav did not mind the beatings as this allowed his raw powers to grow.

Jav Stele would usually just slept anywhere on the ship in any corner that he found as time went by he would find sleeping in a normal bed would be very uncomfortable and he would prefer to sleep on a hard surface. He was also becoming very tough and resilient, he was by his seventh birthday extremely fit and strong, not only physically, but also in the Dark side of the force, which allowed his to perform amazing acrobatic feats for his own amusement.

Just after his eighth birthday his father took him to the Sith Academy to learn to control the raw power of the Dark side of the force that Jav Stele had been using for his own personal amusement. Jav Stele was so eager to go to the Sith Academy he had urged his father to make the Dauntless go faster in hyperspace (much to his father’s amusement).

Sith Academy

At the Sith Academy the level of abuse increased, as the older students would abuse the newer students, both physically and sexually (to increase their hatred and anger and force them further to the dark side of the force). This is where Jav Stele first had his first real adrenalin surge this was boosted by the raw power of the Dark side of the force. After that he would engage in fights with the other students at the drop of a hat, so that he could get more adrenalin surges and feed the growing power of the Dark side of the force within him. As with everything he did, he would dive straight in and immerse himself fully and willingly.

Between his eighth and tenth birthdays, Jav Stele would learn to control the Dark side of the force and understand what it means to be a Sith. He would also increase his sex drive considerably during his training and allow other Sith students to abuse him as this gives him an adrenalin surge, he is also able to control the pain others did to him and also inflict pain at an equal or greater level.

Jav Stele achieved his first kill at the age of nine (part of Sith training), using his bare hands to kill a restrained prisoner that had been brought to the Sith Academy for the students to practice on, his first kill lead to a need to kill more and more, this killing surge would be encouraged by the Sith Instructors. Over the next few months many other prisoners would be brought to the Sith Academy for the students to kill, but Jav Stele would surpass his classmates by killing the most in a variety of hand-to-hand methods and rather than kill them quickly he would take his time, savouring the moment and enjoying the kill.

At the age of ten he had constructed his first lightsabre, this action had surprised the Sith instructors, as all Sith usually construct their first lightsabre either when they are thirteen or fourteen and not at ten.

Between his tenth and twelfth birthdays he would learn how to use a lightsbaer in conjunction with that Dark Side of the Force. With his own natural speed and agility this was now being considerably enhanced, by the Dark Side of the Force giving him considerable skill with a lightsabre. Jav Stele during this time was also constructing new and improved lightsabres, by cannibalising previous lightsabres that he had built.

Just after his twelfth birthday Lord Tremayne arrived and took him to the Qektoth Confederation to study the Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology along with instructions to develop an improved lightsabre to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology. After eighteen months of research Jav Stele had managed to produce a better lightsabre, along with instructions for the other Sith on how to either produce a new and better lightsabre or upgrade there own lightsabres. During this process Jav Stele killed several hundred Yuuzhan Vong that had been covertly captured by the Shadow Empire Command.

Though he did not know it, Lord Tremayne was using Jav Stele and his skill with lightsabre construction to help the Shadow Empire Command prepare of the war that was coming between them and the Yuuzhan Vong. Lord Tremayne could have done the modifications himself but as he was busy elsewhere, he would use the best cadet from the Sith Academy to do the work for him.

During these eighteen months Jav Stele would be left on his own with little help from Lord Tremayne, with only the occasional visits by Lord Tremayne to personally check on the progress of the work and deliver replacement Yuuzhan Vong test subjects for Jav Stele experiments. Lord Tremayne would also tutor Jav Stele in lightsabre technique, allowing Jav Stele to vastly improve his own sabre technique and skill.

During these eighteen months Jav would meet Dr Edda Gast one of the Qektoth Confederations leading scientists who is one of the leading experts on the Yuuzhan Vong and there bio technology. During the first month they would become lovers, even though Dr Gast is many decades his senior, Dr Gast would treat Jav Stele gently, something that Jav Stele was not used to and this would unnerve him at first, but also turn him on.

Dr Gast would spend days at a time in Jav Stele’s quarters and Dr Gast would discover to her pleasure how strong Jav Stele’s sex drive is. Dr Gast would also push Jav Stele in practicing on the Yuuzhan Vong subjects and inflicting as much pain as possible during these sessions, which Jav was very happy to do for her.

Once this work was completed, Lord Tremayne informed Jav Stele that he was free to pursue his own interests, as the Yuuzhan Vong had not yet attacked any Imperials, only the New Republic. Jav would also leave behind his lover Dr Gast and what she had taught him about biology, as both of them had been in this for the lust and mutual love of inflicting pain on others. This would not be the last time that their paths would cross.

For the next eighteen months Jav Stele wondered around the Shadow Empire, finding the seediest parts and indulging his widest and darkest fantasies and desires. He paid for these needs by selling himself as either a killer or his body (which ever gave him the greater thrill), to pay for his adventures within the criminal underworld of the Shadow Empire.

Jav is “Smart, Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know” a very lethal combination!

Present Day

Now at sixteen years old Jav lies naked in his sleeping area in his quarters onboard the Admonitor, resting for the next few hours while his cloths dried. While lying he would use the Dark side of the force to sense what was going on around him in the command area of the Admonitor and feel the emotions of the command crew as they went about there duties (but not Thrawn).

In the ranks of the Sith he is greatly feared and admired by most other Sith, when Lord Tremayne offered him a Sith title, he surprised Lord Tremayne (and the other senior Sith) by turning it down and simply calling himself “Jav Stele Sith” and nothing more, to which Lord Tremayne responded by granting his request.

Jav Stele is also very wealthy due to various trust funds set-up by his late mother for him, though he has never touched the wealth, he is worth several billion credits (and growing rapidly with interest), Jav Stele prefers to earn a living in a more “fun” manor!

Three hours later…..

Jav Stele had been lying in the darkness for three hours resting, now fully rested, he would eat in his quarters, and then he would put on shorts and a t-shirt. Looking around his quarters onboard the Admonitor at his small number of personnel possessions a few pairs of shorts, t-shirts or various styles and a flight jacket from his father’s fighter group and a lightsabre crafting tool kit.

Then Jav Stele puts on his belt and attaches his lightsabre to the belt on the right side, he thinks to himself that by now word of his arrival should have spread throughout the ship and it is time he made his presence known on the bridge of the Admonitor, by taking a stroll around the command area of the main bridge, that should be fun.

Once out of his quarters, Jav Stele heads towards the turbolift and then to the bridge, the bridge is currently on nightshift and the Admonitor’s third officer is in command of the bridge during the nightshift. As he walks around the bridge bare footed, peering into the crew pits, the crew of the Admonitor would avoid his gaze, as word had got around that a Sith was onboard and none of the command crew wished to make Jav Stele angry, all knew the fatal consequences of making a Sith angry.

Jav does pause at the communications pit on the bridge and looks at the communications officer who is now heavily sweating, as he was the one who was rude to Jav over the communicator. Jav holds the stare of about a minute (for the fun of it) then continues his walk around the bridge. As he moves away from the communications pit he hears a sigh of relief from the communications officer.

If this was anyone else other than a Sith, dressed the way his was, they would have been escorted of the bridge and into the ships brig, but no one on the Admonitor’s bridge would dare comment on the way Jav Stele dressed or acted as this would also prove fatal.

As Jav Stele makes his way to the forward observation area, as he does so he can feel the eyes of the crew looking at his back for their various pits as he passed by them with fear, he has also noted that the nightshift would end in one hour and be replaced with the next bridge crew and probably Grand Admiral Thrawn.

After half an hour of standing at the forward observation area on the bridge looking out across the expanse of the white armoured hulled that is the Admonitor, he suddenly feels a change to the bridge crews mood, one of respect, fear and admiration, Grand Admiral Thrawn has arrived on the bridge, early, Jav Stele thought to himself, so much for trying to predict a Grand Admiral!

Departure

As Grand Admiral Thrawn sits in his command seat on the bridge, Jav Stele turns around and heads towards Grand Admiral Thrawn’s command chair in the centre of the bridge who is looking at him, with his glowing red eyes, Jav Stele knew that Thrawn could read most people like an open book, just like Grand Admiral Hammond could. So hiding anything from either Grand Admiral was just plain daft, both Grand Admiral’s knew of his abilities and his darker desires and needs, so he did not bother to try and hid them from either Grand Admiral’s.

A short distance from Grand Admiral Thrawn’s command chair Jav Stele stopped made a small bow to Grand Admiral Thrawn (he did not kneel before anyone, except Lord Tremayne) and says, “Grand Admiral Thrawn, thank you for letting me stay onboard the Admonitor

Grand Admiral Thrawn replies, “Jav Stele, you are welcome onboard the Admonitor. I am sure that you will prove yourself useful in the coming campaigns” With that the formalities are over and Jav Stele goes back to the forward observation area on the bridge, while Thrawn begins his shift on the bridge.

Once the New Republic confirms that they have secured Coruscant and additional New Republic start coming into the Coruscant, Grand Admiral Thrawn command fleet leaves, along with the remain ships of the Imperial assault fleet.

How will the Yuuzhan Vong deal with this new force in the Galaxy and how will they respond to the appearance of the Shadow Empire and its military forces.

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 23 – War – The first five months

Over the next five months the Yuuzhan Vong is pushed steadily back, loosing half the territory that they had captured over the previous two years from the New Republic. In some systems that have no strategic value, the Yuuzhan Vong have withdrawn without a fight to consolidate their holdings on more valuable systems and to preserve and consolidate the bulk of there remaining fleets and military forces.

The Yuuzhan Vong have been adapting their strategy in dealing with the threat posed by the appearance of the Shadow Empire, each system is more harder than the previous system to retake as both the Shadow Empire and the New Republic go deeper into those systems that the Yuuzhan Vong have managed to fortify.

Nom Anor has also tried to send several dozen infiltrators into the Shadow Empire Command controlled territory, but all had failed to report back (they had all been captured and tortured for information). In the end this strategy of infiltration into the Shadow Empire Command had been abandoned by Nom Anor as it was costing too many lives and resources for no gain at all.

During these first five months the Admonitor is in the thick of the fighting, as is Jav Stele during planetary invasions, welding his lightsabre with great skill and daring, also he would occasionally lead Imperial troops into battle (but only when he could not get away with commanding!)

The military strength of the Shadow Empire Command during this time is not what it seems to either the New Republic or the Imperial Remnant. Though destroyed Imperial warships are replaced the numbers of Imperial warships does not increase, this causes some surprise within the New Republic, though New Republic intelligence peculates (wrongly) that the Shadow Empire Command is holding the bulk of it fleet in reserve in the unknown regions.

Shadow Empire Command - Imperial Fleets OOB
(Five months after the Battle of Coruscant)

Forces committed to the fight against the Yuuzhan Vong

Command fleets x4, each command fleet is headed by a single Eclipse class super star destroyer, along with two standard fleets each consisting of fifty Imperial III class star destroyers along with 1,750 other warships and support vessels. Though these command fleets can be of any size, small or large in ship numbers, currently these standard fleets that are attached to the command ships are smaller than a normal standard fleet.

Standard fleets x10, each standard fleet consists of fifty Imperial III class star destroyers along with 2,500 other warships and support vessels, these fleets make up the backbone of the Shadow Empire commands battle fleets. Currently there are three of these ten fleets helping to guard the Imperial Remnant controlled space.

Assault fleets x3, each assault fleet consist of 3,000 troop transports and escort vessel, no star destroyers are assigned to assault fleets, all the escort vessels are no large than heavy cruisers (600 meters in length). Assault fleets are similar to the old Imperial Sector Army, with the firepower of a single Assault Fleet capable of deploying four full surface Armies against any resistance or hostility in the sector 774,576 combat troops in a total muster of 1,180,379 personnel, along with all their armour and support equipment. Assault Fleets also carry a large number of the new SD55 war droids (usually several million).

Assault fleets are assembled as needed, they are not a standing formation, most of the three assaults fleets have been divided up into smaller assault groups to attack less defended worlds where a large assault fleet is not needed.

Word Devastators x4, only four Word Devastators out of a total of thirty have been committed to the fight against the Yuuzhan Vong. These four Word Devastators are being used as mobile production facilities for the Shadow Empire military forces, constructing replacement military equipment and material. Two are currently assigned to the Imperial Remnant and the other two are assigned to clean up the various battles and produce replacement equipment.

Shadow Empire defence forces

Military forces not committed to the fight against the Yuuzhan Vong

In the fight against the Yuuzhan Vong the Shadow Empire command has committed the bulk of it offensive fleet forces, leaving behind enough forces for defensive operations and a very limited offensive forces remaining (both the Yuuzhan Vong and the New Republic do not know this).

Primary system (sector) defence forces x16, with the bulk of the Shadow Empires battle fleets are currently deployed to deal with the Yuuzhan Vong, the defences of the 16 Primary systems has been reduced to only six Imperial III class star destroyers and 100 other warships and support vessels. This smaller force is supported by each systems powerful orbital battlestations and planetary defence shield, giving each system a very strong defensive capability against any potential attack force, but has a very limited offensive punch.

These primary system defence forces are used to defend the 16 main systems within the Shadow Empire Command that hold the primary production and population centres. They are also used to defend the sector that the primary systems are based in. The Imperial populations in these systems numbers in the billions and used to be based in the Byass system before the system was destroyed, and then transported to the Shadow Empire to begin populating the 16 primary systems.

Explored sector forces x300+, these explored sectors forces are the smallest sector forces in terms of military strength. The forces area based around a single system with their assigned sector, this system acts as base of operations for more detailed exploration of the sector. The command ship for the forces assigned is usually a Victory class star destroyer or more usually a Vindicator class heavy cruiser. The sector base system is strongly defended by orbital battlestations and the planet is equipped with full planetary shields.

Most of the Imperial navies forces assigned to an Explored sector forces, are of the Modular Taskforce Cruiser Survey Module, the survey module is designed for rapid planetary and system exploration operations. It is capable of completely analyzing a planet, including surveying for natural resources and good colony sites, within a standard day.

These systems are the headquarters for the explored sector forces are miniature versions of the primary systems, these headquarters are used as bases of operations for a more detailed survey of the system within these sectors, for resources and any potential allies or enemies. The Imperial population on these planets only numbers in the millions.

Word Devastators x26, the remaining twenty-six Word Devastators have been left behind in the Unknown Regions (Shadow Empire Command) are being used to boost the numbers of warships that are being produced, so that the Shadow Empire Command will have additional warships and eventually fleets available, but this process will take time (years) to complete.

Though with the current run of success the Shadow Empire Command may not need these additional forces, but this could change suddenly!

Meanwhile…..

Back on the front line, the New Republic is having trouble finding enough troops to protect the systems that have been liberated like Thyferra, Bilbringi, Ord Mantell, Yag’Dhul, Kessel, Tholatin, Bimmisaari and many more. As the Imperial fleets and military forces are starting to outpace the New Republic’s ability to secure these and many other system that had been freed in the past five months.

New Republic has been reforming three fleets, around the following three New Republic military commanders Admiral Traest Kre’fey, General Garm Bel Iblis and General Wedge Antilles, these fleet will be known as Groups 1, 2 and 3, these three groups being the remains of the New Republic five fleets prior to the Yuuzhan Vong invasion.

Each of these Groups has a total of 1,600 warships of all types along with about 300 support vessels of all types and classes, making each of these fleets a combination of all the remaining capital warships that the New Republic could spare from defending newly recaptured systems. This is a much-reduced force from the New Republics five fleets at the start of the war with the Yuuzhan Vong.

Mon Calamari, temporary headquarters, New Republic

The New Republic’s leadership made a request to the Shadow Empire to slow up until each system had been properly secured, the head of the New Republic government Cal Omas contacts Grand Admiral Hammond to discuss the possibility of pausing the attacks against systems that are still controlled by the Yuuzhan Vong.

In a holographic conference between Cal Omas and Grand Admiral Hammond on the Yuuzhan Vong until the New Republic can catch its breath.

President Cal Omas is the first to speak and says, “Grand Admiral Hammond thank you for having this discussion at short notice. I need to discuss the possibility of a pause in offensive action against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Grand Admiral Hammond replies, “President Omas, it is possible to pause the attacks against the Yuuzhan Vong, but I must point out that every day that goes by the Yuuzhan Vong will be able to fortify their positions making the job of retaking these systems much harder to achieve.”

Cal Omas responds by saying, “I understand that Grand Admiral Hammond, but the New Republic needs time to secure the systems that have been recaptured from the Yuuzhan Vong otherwise these systems maybe left open to being recaptured by the Yuuzhan Vong. Will the Shadow Empire Command pause its operations to help the New Republic?

For several seconds Grand Admiral Hammond says nothing for a short while, making Cal Omas more than a bit nervous. Then he says, “Very well I will order a halt to offensive operations, but be warned it will be much more harder to take back the remaining systems that the Yuuzhan Vong control at the moment, as the more time they will have to reinforce there positions.

Cal Omas replies, “I understand Grand Admiral Hammond, this is what my military advisors have told me, but we will need to secure these system that we have recaptured from the Yuuzhan Vong and I am informed that this will take several months. I have also been informed that the New Republic fleet needs time to rest and refit, so we can deal with both problems at the same time. This does not mean stopping all offensive action against the Yuuzhan Vong, it just means not retaking any systems for the next few months.

Grand Admiral Hammond says, “I know we can keep hitting them Mr President and the Imperial fleet will do so. If there is nothing else I will begin issuing the orders suspending the campaign retaking systems.” After a short pause he says “good, then we both have orders to issue, good day” with that the communication is ended.

Over the next few days the offensive action against the Yuuzhan Vong begins to slow up as both the Imperial and New Republic fleets begin to realign themselves along the new front line. Over the next few months the war would claim down while both sides catch their breath, though the Yuuzhan Vong will still continue to be attacked.

Alpha Red

Alpha Red is a clandestine experimental research group within the New Republic Intelligence Service. A task force within Alpha Blue, Alpha Red reported directly to Admiral Dif Scaur, the Director of New Republic Intelligence, and was tasked with researching the extragalactic biology of the Yuuzhan Vong, determining weaknesses in their systems and developing methods to exploit those weaknesses.

The crowning achievement of Alpha Red’s research is a biological weapon codenamed “Alpha Red”. The airborne pathogen proved in their laboratory tests to target local a unique genetic strand amongst all Vong related creatures, and destroy it, thus killing the Yuuzhan Vong and destroying any Yuuzhan Vong technology.

Alpha Blue scientist Joi Eicroth leads the team and its staff included a group of Chiss bio-technicians that worked alongside Intelligence scientists. The Chiss bio-technicians where secretly reporting back to both the Chiss and the Shadow Empire Command on there experiments. This information is passed onto the Qektoth Confederation for various “enhancements” these “enhancements” are unknown to most, except those within the senior echelons of the Shadow Empire Command and the Qektoth Confederation.

Once the news of the project “Alpha Red” came to light the New Republic Security Council allowed its continued development. The use of the pathogen is restricted by the New Republic Security Council and held as a last resort option. Alpha Red was presumed to be shutdown by the New Republic Security Council (it was) once the Shadow Empire entered the war against the Yuuzhan Vong.

But what the New Republic Security Council does not know is that the Shadow Empire and the Qektoth Confederation is continuing the work and the Qektoth Confederation has made great progress in refining the pathogen, by testing it on live subjects (captured Yuuzhan Vong and there technology).

Prototype – Dark Shadow

The Dark Shadow is based on the design of the Enforcer/Vindicator classes of heavy cruisers, but after that the differences end. The Dark Shadow is 600 meters long it combines the latest technologies from the Shadow Empire and the latest biological weaponry. At he heart of the Dark Shadow is a very powerful control computer, modelled after those used on the World Devastators. With one major difference, the Devastators required a crew the Dark Shadow is the crew. There is a human command crew onboard the Dark Shadow, but the crew only numbers 700 and is used to direct the Dark Shadows automated systems.

With this technology the Dark Shadow can repair itself during battle its outer hull is made of the same prototype advanced self-healing metal, and a point-of-impact shield generators (though on a larger scale) that equip the SD-55 war droids. The Dark Shadow is also equipped with the new second-generation cloaking device that allows the use of sensors (something the all previous cloaking devices did not allow), the Dauntless and her sister Dreadnought class heavy cruisers that are part of Admiral Steles heavy cruiser command are still fitted with the first generation cloaking technology.

It is a stealthy ship even without the cloaking device. It carries a sensor mask and a baffled drives. It has excellent passive sensors (for use when cloaked). Its memory banks include all of the Imperial Order of Battle, personnel files, and all Intelligence data about enemy organisations and personnel. It is believed to be carrying a full set of BOSS records, and can shift its transceivers to match almost any other ships profile (similar to its own) to fool any potential enemy.

It carries a miniature ore reprocessing equipment to purify natural ores, and fuel scoops and solar converters. Even without this equipment, the Dark Shadow carries enough fuel and spare parts to remain in hyperspace for ten years possibly much longer. It also contains an automated assembly line capable of building whatever the Dark Shadow needs in terms of spare parts.

The biggest problem with the Dark Shadow is that the World Devastators cannot produce this kind of warship as World Devastators cannot produce the organic parts for the Dark Shadow. Therefore for the time being only the Dark Shadow will be the only one of its class, as it takes two years to produce a single Dark Shadow warship so mass production is also out.

Recently the Dark Shadow has been out fitted with a missile launching facility in its main hanger bay, for using the Shadow Empire/Qektoth Confederation version of Alpha Red, called Project Blue (due to the blue colour of the biological agent in its liquid form).

Project Blue is much more deadly than the original Alpha Red, and will prove very useful of the next few months during this “pause” in the fighting and the Yuuzhan Vong will die in there millions, during these “field trials”.

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 24 – Project Blue

Project Blue has seen a series of unique modifications to the original New Republic intelligence backed Alpha Red biological agent, giving Project Blue a unique capability to not only kill the Yuuzhan Vong but also breaks down the molecular structure of the dead or dying Yuuzhan Vong, turning them into ash and leaving no trace. The Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology also breaks down into ash, but where there is a power source, the breaking down of the organic control system causes the power source to overload and explode.

This biological agent works against Yuuzhan Vong spacecraft, as long as the biological agent can be released inside a Yuuzhan Vong spacecraft the biological agent will eat the spacecraft from the inside until the biological agent has reached the power core and then the power core does the rest.

In a planets atmosphere the biological agent itself has a short lifespan of just 100 hours, then the biological agent dies out, leaving no trace off itself behind, unlike the Alpha Red version that would remain active for many years after deployment into a planet.

Now Project Blue is ready to be tested on a planetary scale and the pause in the fighting will provide a useful opportunity to test Project Blue against Yuuzhan Vong held worlds.

Meeting point deep space

In the void between systems the four command ships of the Shadow Empire Command are meeting to discuss the progress of the war and the use of Project Blue on a planetary scale. Those present in the meeting are Grand Admiral Hammond, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Lord Tremayne and General Tans.

After the discussion on the pause requested by the New Republic Grand Admiral Hammond says, “We will need someone to command the Dark Shadow, as the current crew of 750 is made up of engineers with very little combat experience.

Grand Admiral Thrawn responds by saying, “I agree, I have a few name this I could suggest” passing the list of Imperial navy officer names onto Grand Admiral Hammond.

The next to respond is Lord Tremayne he says, “I also agree and I also have a few names to suggest for who would be good to command the Dark Shadow” Lord Tremayne also passes his list of Sith names to Grand Admiral Hammond.

General Tans is the last to speak and he says, “I have no names to suggest as this is a navy matter and not an army matter, so I defer the choice to the Imperial Navy.

Grand Admiral Hammond replies, “Thank you for your suggestion, but I too have a name I would like to put forward” then he looks at Grand Admiral Thrawn and to Lord Tremayne and finally General Tans with a small smile on his face.

For a few moments there is silence in the room then Grand Admiral Thrawn who has been studding Grand Admiral Hammond’s face. Then the penny drops and he says, “That would not been a good person to command the Dark Shadow, he is totally irresponsible, though his is good in combat, he is not mature enough to command a warship of this type.

After Grand Admiral Thrawn has finished the penny has also dropped for Lord Tremayne and he says, “I must agree with Grand Admiral Thrawn, he would be totally inappropriate for this command and the mission.

General Tans who has been trying to keep up with the three of them and failing says, “Whom are we taking about?

Grand Admiral Hammond who is still smiling replies, “Jav Stele

General Tans says, “Ah, now I understand, but I think that he would be a good choice for this mission as he has had close contact with the top scientists in the Qektoth Confederation and also has a lot more knowledge of the Yuuzhan Vong bio technology than any other Imperial commander, outside of this room.

Grand Admiral Hammond says, “I think that he is the best choice, as these other commanders are good, but Jav is a Sith he also has considerable experience with Yuuzhan Vong bio technology as General Tans has pointed out. When he has to, he can command quite brilliantly and his ability to lead from the front inspires troops that are under his command. During the past five months Jav has led troops from the Admonitor in attacks, has he not Thrawn?

Grand Admiral Thrawn with a thoughtful and far away voice replies, “Indeed he has, but he still is reckless and needs to learn to control himself much more, but for this mission I suppose their would not harm in allowing Jav to command the Dark Shadow and the deployment of Project Blue against various Yuuzhan Vong held worlds.

Grand Admiral Hammond turns to Lord Tremayne who has remained silent and says, “Lord Tremayne, what is your option on this matter?

Lord Tremayne in a very quite and clam voice says, “Jev will command the Dark Shadow. But I would personally still have not chosen him for this mission, he is still to wild, but I will agree with you that he will be allowed to command the Dark Shadow and the deployment of Project Blue against various Yuuzhan Vong held worlds.”

Grand Admiral Hammond replies, “Thank you Lord Tremayne for agreeing with me on this appointment, I understand your reservations, but I think that Jav will do a very good job. If there is nothing else then this meeting is adjourned.

With the end of the meeting onboard the Victorious II the commanders return to their command ships. When Thrawn returns to the Admonitor he summons Jav to his quarters, after a few minutes Jav arrives.

Once inside Thrawn’s quarters Jav bows towards Thrawn and says, “You summoned me Grand Admiral?

Thrawn replies, “Yes Jav, I have orders for you. You are to report to Grand Admiral Hammond onboard the Victorious II he is waiting to give you your new assignment personally.

Jav blinks at Thrawn and says, “Understood

Thrawn says, “Good Jav, you had better hurry you would not like to keep Grand Admiral Hammond waiting, a shuttlecraft is waiting for you, dismissed.

Jav bows and leaves, running back to his quarters he quickly packs up his stuff and heads for the turbolift and then to the shuttle bay. Once the shuttlecraft is clear of the Admonitor, the Admonitor immediately jumps into hyperspace, leaving just the shuttlecraft and the Victorious II at the meeting point.

The shuttlecraft with Jav onboard then heads towards the Victorious II and lands in on the Victorious II hanger bays. Once this is complete the Victorious II also jumps into hyperspace, making Jav feel uneasy about the up coming meeting with Grand Admiral Hammond and what Grand Admiral Hammond wanted him to do as whatever this assignment is it seems to be urgent.

Once onboard the Victorious II Jav is escorted to Grand Admiral Hammond’s private offices just off from the main bridge. Guarding the bridge and Grand Admiral Hammond is a detachment of Imperial Sovereign Protectors these Protectors are the next level up from the Royal Guard. The difference between the Royal Guard and the Sovereign Protectors is that the Protectors have the ability to use the Dark Side of the Force giving the Sovereign Protectors a clear advantage of the Royal Guard.

The Protectors would be no match for Jav Stele as his abilities with the Dark Side of the Force far exceed the Sovereign Protectors limited force abilities.

Grand Admiral Hammond’s private offices - Victorious II

Once inside, Grand Admiral Hammond says, “Guards leave us” the two Sovereign Protectors leave the room. Jav thinks that this is very unusual.

Grand Admiral Hammond then says, “Welcome onboard the Victorious II Jav, come and have a seat” indicating to the chair.

Jav replies while sitting down, “Thank you Grand Admiral Hammond

Grand Admiral Hammond says, “I presume that you are wondering why I have summoned you here to give you an assignment personally Jav?

Jav replies, “Yes I am

Grand Admiral Hammond says, “As you know I don’t normally give assignment to a Sith, that is a job for Lord Tremayne, but this is an exception to this rule. I would like to take command of a prototype warship called the Dark Shadow” At the same time handing Jav a data pad containing the specifications of the Dark Shadow. “This warship will be equipped with the prototype of Project Blue biological agent I think that you are familiar with Project Blue? I would need you to use the Dark Shadow in conjunction with missiles loaded with Project Blue biological agent, to launch a series of attacks against Yuuzhan Vong controlled worlds to test Project Blue?”

Jav while still studying the data pad replies, “Yes I am familiar with Project Blue during my time with the Qektoth Confederation while I was developing an improved lightsabre.

Grand Admiral Hammond says, “Good, you also understand Yuuzhan Vong combat tactics, as Grand Admiral Thrawn has indicated to me, you also have led troops with distinction you are more than capable of carrying out this mission, if you accept that is?

Jav looked at Hammond, who was looking at him, Jav thought that he would never want to command a warship like his father, but this warship was unique and the most advanced so far produced. This was getting him very excited and was causing am adrenalin rush, without really thinking he replies, “Yes I will accept, thank you Grand Admiral Hammond

Grand Admiral Hammond replies, “Good, I thought that you would say that, because we are on our war to rendezvous with the Dark Shadow at the moment.” Jev smiled to himself and thinks to himself that Grand Admiral Hammond had known his answer before he had entered the room, again he reminds himself to never underestimate a Grand Admiral he still has much to learn.

Grand Admiral Hammond continues, “Jav some temporary quarters have been assigned to you on the Victorious II, until we reach the rendezvous coordinates. We should be there in two days. Do you have any questions?”

Jav looked up from reading the data pad at Grand Admiral Hammond and replies, “No not at the moment” though he did have a lot of questions, like why him, there where a large number of Imperial navy officers that could do the job just as well, also there are a large number of Sith, including his father.

Grand Admiral Hammond who has been looking intensely at Jav says, “I chose you for this assignment Jav, because of your unique talents, I do know that there are many others within the Shadow Empire Command who could do this, but you would not use the Dark Shadow or Project Blue to gain permanent control of either, do you understand?

Jav replies, “I think so Sir

Grand Admiral Hammond says, “Good, then you are dismissed, Jav, you have two days to familiarise yourself with the Dark Shadow systems and combat capabilities.” Jav sands up and leaves, putting the Data Pad into his backpack. On his way to his quarters he ponders what Grand Admiral Hammond had said to him and wondered if he was being used as part of a bigger game being played out between the leadership of the Shadow Empire or was he really just the right person for this assignment.

Two days later……

After two days in hyperspace the Victorious II reverts to normal space at the rendezvous with the Dark Shadow that is currently running a false IFF as a modified Vindicator class heavy cruiser Centurion that is being used as a research and development warship.

Once Jav has left the Victorious II the Victorious II then jumps back into hyperspace leaving the Centurion on its own with the incoming shuttlecraft containing Jav Stele. Approaching the Centurion Jav has his first look at the heavy cruiser and it looks just like a Vindicator class heavy cruiser without a main bridge. The main bridge is buried deep within the Centurions hull for added protection.

To look at the Centurion no one could guess at the level of firepower that the Centurion possess, especially the latest versions of the heavily modified and upgraded versions of the Qektoth Confederation’s bio energy weapons that have been installed. But to look at the outside of the warship all you could see is a heavy cruiser nothing more.

As the shuttlecraft lands in the Centurions main hanger bay Jav can see in the Centurions main hanger bay has several different types of starfighters but with a common theme they are all piloted by droids. The most common is the Shadow Droid starfighter these deadly machines are more cyborg than droid as they are implanted with the cloned brains of Imperial fighter ace pilots and are able to manipulate the dark side of the Force. Shadow Droids where first devised on the resurrected Emperor Palpatine’s throne world of Byss fifteen years ago, they have “evolved” since then.

Once the shuttlecraft has landed Jav exits the shuttlecraft and is greeted by the Captain of the Centurion (Dark Shadow) Captain of Engineers Roger Cirri who has been commanding the Centurion for the past few years. Captain Cirri is 59 years old and has been the lead Captain testing new warships including the Imperial III and the Eclipse class for the Emperor (before his death) and was transferred to Grand Admiral Hammonds command 15 years ago.

Now he commands the Dark Shadow and is about to be under the command of a “boy”, though he has worked with the Sith before and knows what to say and do, also he knows what not to say and do. Captain Cirri is uncertain on how to deal with Jav Stele as he has been sent by Grand Admiral Hammond himself to command the Dark Shadow.

Walking down the ramp of the shuttlecraft is a sixteen year old “boy” wearing nothing more that shorts, t-shit and a flight jacket and carrying a backpack. When Jav is directly in front of him Captain Cirri says, “Welcome onboard the Dark Shadow, the Dark Shadow is currently using the covert identity of the heavy cruiser Centurion, may I escort you to your quarters?

Jav replies, “Thanks for the welcome, you may escort me to my quarters, also tell the bridge that they can jump into hyperspace to the coordinates for the first target.

Captain Cirri with no surprise at this order says, “Yes I will” and speaks into his comlink to the bridge and the Centurion jumps into hyperspace. From the hanger bay it is a short journey to Jav’s quarters, where Captain Cirri leaves Jav to settle in. Jav’s quarters onboard the Centurion are much smaller that the Admonitor, they felt more comfortable than the Admonitor as they are more spartan (just to Jav’s liking).

After settling in to his quarters, Jav takes the short journey to the bridge, once on the bridge of the Centurion Jav notices how cramped the bridge is compared to other types of warships he has been on. The bridge of the Centurion also has no viewing windows as the bridge is buried deep inside the Centurion’s hull.

Once on the bridge Jav settles into his command chair and says to Captain Cirri, “Captain, report on the ships status and time to the first planet to be attacked.

Captain Cirri replies, “Aye sir”, and the briefing begins’ as in a few days the Centurion will be attacking is first world with the Project Blue biological agent.

The Yuuzhan Vong is in for an unpleasant surprise, as are the New Republic when they find out what the Shadow Empire Command is about to do.

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 25 – Biological Attack

First strike

The Centurion is sitting in deep space several light years from there first target, in the Centurion’s hanger bay the Shadow Droid fighters are being loaded with Concussion missiles loaded with Project Blue biological agent, each Concussion missile is to be used against the Yuuzhan Vong warships and fighters in orbit.

The modified Concussion missiles are fitted with darts in the nose of each missile, these darts are designed to penetrate the skin of a Yuuzhan Vong warship or fighter and inject the Project Blue biological agent into the Yuuzhan Vong warship or fighter to destroy them.

The second weapon being loaded with the Project Blue biological agent is an orbital bomb designed to be dropped from high orbit into a planets atmosphere and then release the biological agent into the planets upper atmosphere at the same time across the whole planet using multiple bombs, thus ensuing that the whole planet is infected in one go.

The system that the Centurion is going to attack first is a small outpost on the new boarder with the Yuuzhan Vong, the single habitable planet in the system only contains a few thousand Yuuzhan Vong and two frigate sized vessels, with around thirty odd fighters in orbit, an easy target for a first attack.

Onboard the Centurion, Jav Stele is informed that the final preparations are now complete, Jav says, “Very well, commence countdown for the attack, also we will attack from an none cloaked mode, just in case there is a problem, we don’t want to reveal the full capabilities of the vessel to soon.

Captain Cirri replies, “Aye sir” and then says to the bridge crew, “Begin countdown for the attack, from my mark three minutes” then pauses to wait unit the bridge crew is set then says, “mark” and the countdown begins.

As the minutes and then seconds counted down, when the counter the Centurion leaped forward into hyperspace with all systems fully powered for battle. It would only be a short journey in hyperspace to the system, once the Centurion drops out of hyperspace the Centurion immediately begins to jam any possible Yuuzhan Vong calls for assistance, while at the same time launching the first squadron of twelve Shadow Droid starfighters.

The two Yuuzhan Vong frigates in orbit immediately detect the Centurion and begin powering up there own weapon and shield systems and also start launching there own startfighters against the incoming starfighters.

As the two groups of startfighters get within weapons range the Shadow Droids launch there modified Concussion missiles at the incoming Yuuzhan Vong starfighter, two missiles are assigned to each enemy starfighter, as the missiles approach the Yuuzhan Vong starfighters the Yuuzhan Vong starfighters begin evasive manoeuvres, but the missiles keep on closing.

Once the missiles area in range the missiles detonate showering the Yuuzhan Vong starfighters with dozens of darts each dart contains the biological agent, all the Yuuzhan Vong starfighters have been hit with the darts and have been injected with the Project Blue biological agent. Once this is confirmed the Shadow Droids break of the engagement with the Yuuzhan Vong starfighters, much to the confusion of the Yuuzhan Vong pilots.

This confusion only lasts less than a minute as the Project Blue biological agent is working fast on the Yuuzhan Vong starfighters as the Project Blue biological agent is beginning to erode the control systems of the Yuuzhan Vong starfighters. Within a few minutes after that the Yuuzhan Vong starfighters begin to explode as the control systems to the starfighters power systems are destroyed and the starfighters power systems overload, destroying the starfighter.

Once the last Yuuzhan Vong starfighter has blown up the Shadow Droids head towards the two Yuuzhan Vong frigates in orbit, the frigates now see the danger and open fire with every weapon that they can bring to bear on the approaching Shadow Droids. On seeing that the Shadow Droids are under heavy fire, Jav Stele orders that the Centurion closes to weapons range to see if they can draw some of the fire from the two frigates that will allow the Shadow Droids to close to missile range and launch.

As the Centurion closes with the two frigates and begins to open fire at maximum range with its weapons, the two Yuuzhan Vong frigates begin to engage the Centurion by shifting fire from keeping the Shadow Droids out of missile range to attacking the Centurion. This allows the Shadow Droids to launch a salvo of missiles against the two frigates, causing the frigates to be infected with the Project Blue biological agent.

Once this has been achieved both the Centurion withdraw out of weapons range of the two frigates, the Shadow Droids are recalled to the Centurions hanger once outside of the frigates weapons range. As with the Yuuzhan Vong starfighters it does not take long before the two frigates systems start to fail and then as with the Yuuzhan Vong starfighters the two frigates power cores explode destroying the frigates.

Onboard the Centurions bridge Jav says, “I think that was a successful test of the anti ship missiles, now for the planet

Captain Cirri replies, “Yes the biological agent does seem very effective” then he says to the helmsman “lay in a course for the planet and keep clear of the complex on the surface just in case they have surface to space weapons

The helmsman replies “Aye sir, setting course now” the Centurion head toward the planet, while in the Centurions main hanger bay the “bombs” are being prepared to be launched. The Yuuzhan Vong base on the planets surface has put up a locale shield protecting the base from bombardment, but this is not going to happen to the base.

As the Centurion enters orbit, Jav Stele sitting in the command chair on the bridge says, “deploy the bombs” Captain Cirri replies, “Aye sir, deploying bombs now” out of the Centurions main hanger bay, exits twenty-four bombs, these bombs are not the un-powered free fall bombs, these are much more sophisticated than that.

The bombs are miniature short range “space craft” that enter the planets atmosphere and then once within the atmosphere are slowed to a hover at between 10,000 and 15,000 meters above the planets surface, depending on the planets atmospheric conditions. Then the bombs begin to release the biological agent, as the biological agent is released at the same time all over the planet from twenty-four points, this will give complete coverage for the whole planet.

Once the biological agent has been released the bomb self-destructs leaving no trace of the bomb. After one hour the biological agent starts work on the Yuuzhan Vong base and begins to consume the base and the Yuuzhan Vong troops. After another two hours the biological agent has reached the bases power control systems, once these systems have been eaten by the biological agent the power core explodes, destroying the base and only leaving a telltale mushroom cloud.

Onboard the Centurion the crew have been watching the destruction caused by the biological agent with a morbid curiosity and most with smiles on their faces as the first mission has been a success so far.

As the Centurion continues to orbit the planet taking additional readings via micro probes sent to the planets atmosphere, a series of smaller secondary explosions take place from several areas over the planets surface. These appear to be automated sensor positions that the Yuuzhan Vong had deployed, to give a complete picture of the planet, just in case of any enemy landing on the planets surface.

Watching events from the bridge Jav says, “The biological agent seems to be working as predicted, we will now cloak and observe to make sure that the biological agent disperses within the one hundred hour time line, just in case any enemy ships arrive before the 100 hours are up.

Captain Cirri replies, “Aye sir, engaging the cloaking device” as the order is given the Centurion shimmers and vanishes from sight. Over the next ninety hours the Centurions crew monitors the biological agent to make sure that it does not mutate or does anything else that it should not do. After the one hundred hour time comes to an end the biological agent begins to rapidly breakdown, just as predicted.

Once the reading has been confirmed the Centurion jumps into hyperspace leaving behind several thousand dead Yuuzhan Vong with no race of the biological agent, only a smouldering creator where the Yuuzhan Vong once was.

Several days later

After one of their outpost having failed to make several regular reports, the Yuuzhan Vong send a strong task force to investigate what has happened. The Yuuzhan Vong task force finds that there outpost has been completely destroyed and that there are not survivors and there is nothing left of the outpost but a smouldering hole.

The commander of the task force orders that the system be abandoned, once the investigation has drawn a blank and he also recommends that all other Yuuzhan Vong watch out for surprise enemy attacks. But even as the commander of the task force of this task force is filing his report the Centurion is already attacking its next target.

Second strike and beyond

The Centurion is making a similar attack against another Yuuzhan Vong outpost along the boarder, using the same tactics as the first strike and with the same results as the first attack. The second Yuuzhan Vong outpost has now been wiped out along with the small number of Yuuzhan Vong warships in orbit.

Over the next month the Centurion hits more and more Yuuzhan Vong outposts along the new boarder, wiping them out, as they do so the Yuuzhan Vong are more alert as the Centurion finds out halfway through the month as the warships defending each Yuuzhan Vong outposts is on a higher state of alert. As the numbers and type of Yuuzhan Vong protecting each Yuuzhan Vong outpost is no match for the Centurion, they are destroyed, but each battle is taking slightly longer than the last.

Thirty Days Later

At the end of the first month the Centurion has to break of her attack run as the Centurion has expended its stock of project blue biological agent and needs time to restock and rest for the next few weeks. The main problem with the Project Blue biological agent is that the biological agent needs to be specially stored and transported, if this is not done correctly the biological agent if exposed to an atmosphere etc will after one hundred hours begin to disperse.

In thirty days the Centurion has managed to eliminate six Yuuzhan Vong outpost systems, though this is only a small number the Yuuzhan Vong have increased there patrol activity along there boarder out of all proportion to the number of outpost systems that have been eliminated, drawing the Yuuzhan Vong forces from protecting more key systems. In this way Project Blue and the Centurion will pay dividends when the offensive restarts.

The next problem with Project Blue is the transportation, as this cannot be done directly from the Qektoth Confederation as the New Republic would pick-up on any special shipments coming directly from the Calon sector. So the shipments have to be made indirectly and this will take more time to deliver replacement Project Blue biological agent to the Centurion, in the meantime the Centurion has been temporally reassigned.

Coruscant several days later

The Centurion during these next few weeks is ordered to form up as part of Grand Admiral Hammonds escort group that is now in orbit over Coruscant for discussions with not only the leadership of the New Republic but also the Imperial Remnant on the future direction and course of the war. This also means as Jav is the most senior Sith present he will have to escort Grand Admiral Hammond to all the meetings and functions in the newly rebuilt Senate building formally known as the Imperial Palace, something that Jav was not looking forward to.

As the Centurion comes out of hyperspace, running with its sensor shields up to disguise its true nature. On the tactical display Jav could see a large number of warships present in the Centurion system including a single Executor class the SSD Guardian formally part of the Empire but now part of the New Republics fleet and under the command of General Wedge Antilles who seems to have been assigned to part of the defence fleet guarding Coruscant.

The Centurion is given its orbital assignment near the Victorious II and then once the Centurion is settled into position Jav will be going down to Coruscant for the duration of the newly constructed Senate building along with Grand Admiral Hammond and other Imperial diplomats and officials.

The next few weeks with either are very boring for Jav (and the Shadow Empire) or very interesting, only time will tell.

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 26 – Coruscant

On arriving as the landing area on the Senate building, Jav is escorted to the Imperial diplomatic wing of the Senate building, guarded by Imperial personnel (as a curtsey by the New Republic government), the other Imperial government occupying the Imperial diplomatic wing is that of the Imperial Remnant.

His quarters are the leading edge of luxury and have been extensively out fitted (much to Jav distaste), the view from the meeting area in his quarters is a panoramic view of part of Coruscant, with nearby buildings either being repaired or rebuilt. Once Jav has settled in he reports to Grand Admiral Hammond’s office via comm link that he has arrived, the aide to Grand Admiral Hammond thanks Jav Stele and logs the information.

Jav then leaves his quarters and begins to wonder around the Imperial diplomatic wing of the Senate building, to get his bearings and to make his presence felt. As he walks along the corridors Imperial diplomatic personnel from both the Shadow Empire Command and the Imperial Remnant move out of his way (not wanting to anger a Sith).

Once Jav has toured the Imperial diplomatic wing of the Senate building over the past few hours, Jav decides to have a look around the rest of the Senate building. Jav leaves the Imperial diplomatic wing of the Senate building and begins to move around the rest of the open area of New Republics Senate building.

The New Republics security forces that are guarding the rest of the Senate building do nothing to hinder him. As the New Republic guards at the entrance to the Imperial diplomatic wing have alerted there colleagues to the presence of Jav Stele and what he is, thus Jav is able to wonder around the open areas without any problems (much to his amusement).

As Jav is wondering around he senses that he is being followed by a Jedi, who seems to be trying to keep out of sight while following Jav (and failing) as Jav has sensed the Jedi presence. After leading the Jedi around the Senate building for several hours (for his own amusement), Jav returned to the Imperial diplomatic wing, where the Jedi could not follow and back to his quarters.

Main Senate meeting room

Those attending the meeting are for the Shadow Empire Grand Admiral Hammond, Jav Stele along with several diplomats, for the Imperial Remnant are Admiral Pellaeon and also several diplomats, for the New Republic are New Republic President Cal Omas, General Wedge Antilles, Jedi Knight Kyp Durron along with various New Republic officials and diplomats.

This meeting is designed to see about the future military operations against the Yuuzhan Vong and also how to regain control of those systems that are still under Yuuzhan Vong occupation.

During the initial introductions while Jav was meeting Kyp Durron. Jav says to Kyp Durron, “I know you where following me yesterday, do you know that you are not very good at following people, maybe you need more practice” and leaves Kyp Durron standing not knowing what to say in reply and Jav walks away with an evil grin on his face.

Once everyone have taken there seats, with Jav Stele sitting to the right of Grand Admiral Hammond, this has not gone unnoticed by either the Imperial Remnant or the New Republic, in the Jav Stele is sitting in for Lord Tremayne, thus showing the other powers how high up in the Sith ranking Jav Stele is.

The meeting get underway with the usual diplomatic niceties between the three powers. Once this is done General Antilles begins a brief summery of the New Republics fleet deployments and the rate that new warships are being built now that the core systems are back under New Republic control, General Antilles also reports that several systems on the new boarder have been abandoned and the facilities have been destroyed.

As General Antilles is reporting on those systems that the Yuuzhan Vong has “withdrawn” from, these systems are the ones that Jav Stele, using the Centurion attacked with Project Blue. The New Republic revealing this information will lead the Grand Admiral Hammond to correctly ascertain that the New Republic is unaware of what has really happened.

After another hour General Antilles has finished his briefing in the New Republics fleet deployments, and then Admiral Pellaeon starts his briefing in the readiness of the Imperial Remnants military forces. During this briefing, Admiral Pellaeon states that the Imperial Remnants military forces should be able to restart offensive operations as the two World Devastators that had been sent to clean up after the Yuuzhan Vong, have boosted the Imperial Remnants production capabilities and allowed that Imperial Remnants military forces to rebuild at a much quicker rate that originally anticipated.

Admiral Pellaeon also states during his briefing (much to the relief of the New Republic) that the Shadow Empire Command will only replace existing equipment with the same level of technology that is available to the Imperial Remnant and not give the Imperial Remnant more advanced technology. The Shadow Empire Command will however produce new equipment for the Imperial Remnant such as TIE Defenders etc as the Imperial Remnant has access to this level of technology and simply does not have the production capacity to produce enough on its own.

Admiral Pellaeon ends by stating the without the intervention of the Shadow Empire Command the Imperial Remnants military forces would be is a far worse condition and it would be many years if not decades until they could have recovered. Admiral Pellaeon finishes by stating that the Imperial Remnant should be able to deploy a fleet equivalent to an old Imperial sector group within the next month.

Then Grand Admiral Hammond starts his briefing on the Shadow Empire Command, something that the New Republic is looking forward to as the New Republic hopes to learn of the strength to the Shadow Empire Command as a whole, not just the forces deployed against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Unfortunately the New Republic is in for a disappointment as the first thing that Grand Admiral Hammond states is that he will only be discussing the forces currently deployed against the Yuuzhan Vong and not the Shadow Empire as a whole. This initial statement by Grand Admiral Hammond causes some murmuring amongst the New Republic contingent at the meeting, especially one member, the senior Bothan Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya a relative of the former New Republic President Borsk Fey'lya.

Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya interrupts Grand Admiral Hammond just after he has announced that he will only be discussing the forces sent to aid in the fight against the Yuuzhan Vong, he says, “Grand Admiral why will you not inform this body of the true strength of your command?

Grand Admiral Hammond looking straight at Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya replies in a very claim voice, “Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya I do not have to answer that question and I will not. The structure and disposition of the Shadow Empire Command is classified and you Senator do not have the authority to change that order.

Senator Sorlorsk Fey'lya not to be out done continues by saying, “Grand Admiral can you tell me who does have the authority?

Grand Admiral Hammond still looking at the Senator says, “Only the Emperor has the authority to issue order to me that order Senator.

Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya replies, “The Emperor dead, your pet Sith” pointing to Jav “Speaks for Emperor, as in the old days, as Lord Vader spoke for the Emperor, so the Sith should be able to issue that order to you

Next to Grand Admiral Hammond Jav Stele stirs slightly and says in a very chilling voice to Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya, “you had better watch your tone Senator, we maybe allies, but that does not mean that you can demand information in such a tone.

Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya with some venom in his voice replies, “Be silent boy, when I want your opinion I will.....” suddenly Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya begins to choke and Jav says, “Do not underestimate the Dark Side of the Force Senator, in the grand scheme of things Senator you are nothing.

President Cal Omas who has been watching the events with increasing horror and what Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya has been saying and his increasingly hostile tone says, “Please release the Senator, we are allies after all

For several moments Grand Admiral Hammond lets the moments hang then says, “Very Mr President, Jav release the Senator

Jav looks a Grand Admiral Hammond and says, “As you wish” and releases Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya from the force choke that he had the Senator in, though the Senator was never in any danger as Jav was allowing enough air through, but the Senator did not know.

President Cal Omas says, “thank you both” nodding to both Grand Admiral Hammond and Jav Stele “I think we will need a break and I suggest that we reconvene tomorrow after everyone has calmed down, then Grand Admiral Hammond can deliver his report, are there and objections” holding gavel for a second then slamming it down says “Good meeting adjourned

Jav returns to his quarters after being complement by Grand Admiral Hammond on the way he handled Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya. When Jav was at the guard post at the entrance to the Imperial diplomatic wing of the Senate building he issues instructions to the guard commander.

Two hours later.....

At the entrance to the Imperial diplomatic wing is Jedi Knight Kyp Durron, who asks the Imperial lieutenant at the guard post, “Could I see Jav Stele, please?

The Imperial lieutenant replies, “Name?

Kyp Durron says his name to the lieutenant and to Kyp Durron surprise the Imperial lieutenant says, “Your name is on the day list of visitors, Jav Stele is expecting you” turning to one of the guards the lieutenant says, “guard, escort Jedi Knight Kyp Durron to Jav Stele’s quarters” the guard replies, “Yes sir

As Kyp Durron following the guard down the corridors of the Imperial diplomatic wing, the Imperial personnel give Kyp Durron some strange looks and some even move out of the way (presumably thinking he is a Sith!).

Outside Jav Stele’s quarters there are two members of the Imperial Royal guard, as Kyp Durron moves towards them they move out of the way and the door to Jav Stele’s quarters opens.

Inside Jav’s quarters Kyp Durron moves into the main part of the quarters to find Jav doing a single handed hand stand with various bit of furniture into that air at the same time seeing Kyp Durron says, “Hi, I have been expecting you, after all you where the one following me around earlier, weren’t you?

A Kyp Durron slightly surprised replies, “So you knew about me following you I suspected that you knew. You also knew that I would come to see you after what you did to Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya, I suppose that you had a vision of me coming here?

Jav still in the same position replies, “No I did not have a vision, Grand Admiral Hammond told me that you would be coming to see me, you should never underestimate either Grand Admiral Hammond or Grand Admiral Thrawn or even the Dark Side of the force.

With that Jav lowers the furniture to the ground and drops himself smoothly to the ground as well and says, “I was also curious about the Jedi as I had very little contact with the Jedi, beyond the battle for Coruscant, this is.

Kyp Durron who is still trying to take it all in says, “Do you what to become a Jedi then?

Jav laughs and says, “No I am committed to the Sith order and nothing will change that, all I am interested in is if the Jedi have anything useful to teach me?

Kyp Durron responds, “I meant no offence. The Jedi have set-up a small training area in the Senate building, would you like to come and see the Jedi students training, though the training area is very limited at the moment and most of the Jedi are of at the front line at the moment, presumably like the Sith are?

Jav smiles broadly and says, “I would love to come, all this diplomacy is very boring and yes most of the Sith are at the front line, but not all

With that they both head off to the Jedi training area in the Senate building.

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 27 – Jedi and Sith

After leading Jav to the Jedi Training area within the Senate building, Kyp Durron shows Jav the lightsaber sparing area and the training versions of the lightsabers, the training lightsaber is used by Jedi trainees to practice lightsaber combat while non-lethal, contact with the blade could cause bruising and even minor burns. This type of lightsaber was often used in conjunction with the basic Shii-Cho style of lightsaber combat.

Jav picks up one of the training lightsabers and begins to play with the training sabre to get the “feel” of the sabre once Jav has the feel of the training lightsaber he says to Kyp Durron with a laugh, “Do you want to fight a Sith, Kyp?

Kyp Durron smiles and says, “Sure, why not” and uses the force to pick up one of the training lightsabers, as this begins to happen several of the Jedi and trainee Jedi come into the training area to watch the duel. As both Kyp and Jav begin to circle each other, with sabres ignited, then suddenly Jav launches a short but swift attack against Kyp, who is able to defend himself against that attack.

As both force users continue to circle each other, with the occasional probing attack that is easily defended against by either Kyp or Jav as this goes on the intensity of the duel increases until the probing attacks become one long duel with neither willing to back down.

Kyp does notice at the sabre battle goes on the Jav does not appear to exerting himself physically or with the force, as if to prolong the battle. During the fighting Jav Looks straight at Kyp and just nods at Kyp as if Jav knows what Kyp is thinking. Kyp transferring some of his concentration says to Jav, “I feel that you are not exerting yourself or that you are using the force to the full

Jav grins at Kyp while they circle each other, Jav replies, “You are right, I am not exerting or using my full potential with the Dark Side of the force, otherwise this fight would be over to quickly and that would be no fun at all

Kyp replies, “Don’t hold back on my account” the words are barely out of Kyp’s mouth, when Jav launches a full strength attack on Kyp, who retreats under the force of the attack, Jav’s training sabre moves at a blinding speed and Kyp is having trouble dealing with the concentrated attack of Jav Stele.

As Kyp try’s to hold Jav back, this is looking increasing unlikely even though Kyp is using all his abilities with his lightsaber, but is unable to hold of Jav. Then suddenly his own training lightsaber fly’s from his hand, when Jav manages to touch the top of Kyp’s hand causing Kyp to instinctively open his hand releasing the training lightsaber.

Once Jav has both lightsabers the duel is over and Jav has beaten Kyp, Kyp says, “You fight very well with a lightsaber Jav for one so young

Jav repiles, “Thanks Kyp, you are good and I found this fun to do. I have been using a lightsaber since I was ten” and with a laugh he goes on to say, “after so much time I ought to be good by now.” Around them the other Jedi trainees applaud the well-fought duel Jav in response gives a small bow.

Once the training lightsabers are put back Kyp shows Jav the rest of the small Jedi training facility, the tour does not take long. Once this tour is done Jav returns to his quarters in the Imperial diplomatic wing, leaving Kyp to report on the Sith’s obvious abilities with the lightsaber and the Dark Side of the force. This report does not go down very well with Jedi Master Luke Skywalker, who is now worrying how many Sith there are within the Unknown Regions (Shadow Empire Command) and does he have enough Jedi to deal with any Sith “problems” that might crop up?

The next day, main Senate meeting room

The meeting that had been interrupted by the confrontation between Jav Stele and Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya, now that the meeting has resumed, with the same people in attendance. Senator Sorlorsk Fey’lya now sitting quietly with a scowl on his face, the opposite can be said of Jav Stele who is smiling. Now that the meeting has resumed, Grand Admiral Hammond can brief his fellow “allies” on the forces that the Shadow Empire Command has committed to the fight against the Yuuzhan Vong, but not on the true size of the Shadow Empire Command as a whole.

Grand Admiral Hammond states that the Shadow Empire Command has committed a total of fourteen of its fleets against the Yuuzhan Vong along with three assault fleets. These three assault fleets have now been split up into various sub fleets and spread amongst the fourteen Imperial fleets to various degrees, depending on the strength of the forces that would be defending either a system with several planets or systems with a single occupied planet.

Grand Admiral Hammond goes onto says that of these fourteen Imperial fleets three are currently guarding the Imperial Remnant, but this will soon be reduced to one fleet as the Imperial Remnants military forces have almost finished rebuilding/repairing themselves after the Yuuzhan Vong attack on there space. The two World Devastators that have been accompanying the various Imperial fleets have been used to clear up the debris in the aftermath of any space battles.

The other two World Devastators that are currently being used to help rebuild the Imperial Remnants military forces. This work is almost complete, once it is these two World Devastators will join the current two on the front lines to assist in clearing up operations and add to the mobile production capability of not only the Imperial fleets, but also that of their New Republic allies.

Once Grand Admiral Hammond has finished his briefing he asks if there area any questions, the first to speak is General Wedge Antilles who says, “Grand Admiral Hammond, thank you for your briefing, I do have a question. The forces that the Shadow Empire Command have gathered he are more that enough to deal with the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, so why are you bothering to help us, as you don’t really need either the New Republics or the Imperial Remnants support, in military terms, do you?

Grand Admiral Hammond chuckles and says to General Antilles, “I was wondering when someone would ask that question.” Pausing for a moment then continues “it is true that the Shadow Empire Command could deal with the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, as you are aware that the forces deployed here are not all of the forces that the Shadow Empire Command could deploy into battle.

Grand Admiral Hammond pauses again “but as I have stated before my orders are to preserve the Shadow Empire by whatever means necessary and if I where to deploy all my forces against the Yuuzhan Vong I would neglecting those orders. Therefore I need allies at the moment to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong just as the New Republic needs the Shadow Empire to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong, do you understand General Antilles?

General Antilles replies, “Yes I do, thank you for the answer Grand Admiral Hammond

President Cal Omas who has been sitting quietly listening to the conversation between General Antilles and Grand Admiral Hammond says, “I have a question about the Sith, Grand Admiral?

Grand Admiral Hammond looks straight at President Cal Omas and for several moments says nothing (for effect) then says, “Ask your question, you may or may not get an answer Mr President.

President Cal Omas who is now looking slightly nervously at Jav says, “Do the Sith answer to you or do they answer to Lord Tremayne?

Grand Admiral Hammond replies, “the simple answer that I can give you is that the Sith answer to both myself and Lord Tremayne, that is as much as I can tell you

President Cal Omas replies, “thank you” and the goes onto say, “Now I believe we have a briefing from Jedi Knight Kyp Durron what has some information to pass on from the Jedi order.

Kyp Durron says, “Thank you Mr President. Information has been received by the Jedi order concerning Zonama Sekot, the legendary “rogue planet”. Before the Yuuzhan Vong attack the Jedi order had uncovered evidence of the planets existence, but this could not be perused as the advance of the Yuuzhan Vong had occupied the planet where this information is.

Kyp Durron goes on to say, “Recently with the victories over the Yuuzhan Vong the Jedi order has been able to restart its investigations. These investigations have reviled the following. During the time of the old Galactic Republic, Zonama Sekot was rumoured to be home to the fastest ships in the galaxy. Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and his Padawan, Anakin Skywalker, travelled there to find fellow Jedi Vergere and to purchase one of the planet's living ships. Anakin bonded with a record twelve seed-partners Obi-Wan bonded with an additional three. Wilhuff Tarkin, then a Republic commander, declared war on the living world and attacked it. Zonama Sekot unveiled its hyperdrive system and escaped into hyperspace to an unknown location.

Grand Admiral Hammond is the first to respond and says, “Fascinating, do you have the location of the planet then?

Kyp Durron replies, “Yes, but not the exact location, but we do know where to start looking

Grand Admiral Hammond asks, “Where would that be?

Kyp Durron replies, “This is the bit you are not going to like Grand Admiral, it is in the Unknown Regions, to be precise the far side of the Unknown Regions

Grand Admiral Hammond replies, “You are right I don’t like the answer, but I do have a question. How is this planet relevant to the current conflict against the Yuuzhan Vong?

Kyp Durron replies, “Recent evidence uncovered by the Jedi Order” Kyp Durron pulls out a small data disk and plugs it into the main holographic display in the centre of the table. This display’s the hyperspace jump, along with its exit vector, showing that the far edge of the Unknown Regions could be its only destination, along with Biological readouts indicating that Zonama Sekot is of Yuuzhan Vong origin.

Grand Admiral Hammond replies, “This is very strong evidence, but I cannot allow a large task force to enter the Unknown Regions

Admiral Pellaeon interrupts and says before anyone can speak, “Perhaps the Imperial Remnant could send a single ship into the unknown regions with a joint team of observers onboard, a frigate class perhaps?

Grand Admiral Hammond thinks for a while and then says, “Very well, I will allow one ship and I will choose who from my command goes onboard that ship

Admiral Pellaeon replies, “Agreed, Grand Admiral

President Cal Omas reluctantly says, “I also agree, thank you” nodding towards Admiral Pellaeon, who returns the nod.

The rest of the meeting decides that the attack against the Yuuzhan Vong occupied territories would continue, with a timetable for the attack being set for five weeks time.

Later….

After the meeting in Grand Admiral Hammond’s quarters within the Imperial diplomatic wing of the New Senate Building, Grand Admiral Hammond is finishing briefing Jav Stele on his new orders concerning the expedition to find Zonama Sekot and that Jav Stele will be going along and the representative of the Shadow Empire.

Grand Admiral Hammond finishes the briefing by saying “You understand what your orders are for this mission Jav?

Jav Stele replies, “Yes I do, Grand Admiral

Grand Admiral Hammond replies, “Good then you had better be on your way

Jav leaves to pack and then to the Centurion and with the Centurion to the rendezvous point within the Imperial Remnant.

The war against the Yuuzhan Vong would continue while the expedition to find Zonama Sekot would explore the far side of the Unknown Regions.

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 28 – Offensive Operations

After several days in hyperspace the Centurion comes out of hyperspace at the edge of the Yaga system near the planet of Yaga Minor. The planet of Yaga Minor is one of the last strongholds of the Imperial Remnant. It features a major cluster of shipyards that proved instrumental in Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign against the New Republic (before his “death”), and is also the site of an important Ubiqtorate Intelligence base.

At the time of the signing of the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty, Yaga Minor was the last shipyard under Imperial control. Yaga Minor governed by Moff Kurlen Flennic and ally of Admiral Pellaeon.

The Yaga system is therefore very heavily guarded by the Imperial Remnant military forces and there are a large number of Imperial warships assigned to the Yaga system, along with numerous orbital battle stations, the planet of Yaga Minor is equipped with a full planetary defence shield system.

Once in the Yaga system the Centurion is given a parking position next to the frigate that will be taking the expedition into the Unknown Regions. The frigate assigned to the mission is the Widowmaker is a Nebulon-B type frigate of the Imperial Remnant Navy, captained by Arien Yage, also onboard the Widowmaker would be Jedi Master Skywalker and Mara Jade-Skywalker along with Jagged Fel and the pilots of his Twin Suns Fighter Squadron.

The Twin Suns Fighters Squadron is made up of the following pilots, Jagged Fel (leader), Jaina Solo, Kyp Durron, Zindra Daine, Voort saBinring, Sharr Latt, Tilath Keer, Beelyath and Tesar Sebatyne. With most of the pilots of the Twin Suns Fighters Squadron being Jedi Knights, leaving Jav Stele at a perceived disadvantage, being the only Sith onboard and the only representative of the Shadow Empire Command.

Once Jav Stele is onboard the Widowmaker the Centurion jumps back into hyperspace, but this will not be the last the Widowmaker sees of the Centurion, as the Centurions Captain has orders to follow the Widowmaker under cloak at a discreet distance until called for by Jav Stele or if the Widowmaker comes under attack by the Yuuzhan Vong.

A potential attack by the Yuuzhan Vong is highly likely as the New Republic leaks like a sieve and the Yuuzhan Vong are bound to try and stop the mission of the Widowmaker.

Once the introductions area made with Jav Stele and Jagged Fel both knowing each other through Jav Stele’s brief visit to the Chiss Ascendancy. Where Jav Stele was introduced to the Chiss Ascendancy leadership as a Sith and what authority Jav Stele has within the Shadow Empire Command and his standing within the Sith order (something that Jagged Fel will not discuss with anyone onboard the Widowmaker).

As soon as everyone is onboard the Widowmaker, the ship jumps into hyperspace to the boarder area between the Unknown Regions and the Outer Rim Territories, once at the edge of the Unknown Regions. Jav Stele gives the coordinates for the next hyperspace jump by the Widowmaker to make sure that the Widowmaker does not jump into one of the systems defended by the Shadow Empire. As soon as the Widowmaker is in hyperspace Jav Stele goes to his small quarters to settle in, as it will take several days to reach the next jump point.

Two days later….

With at least another five days in hyperspace the joint crew of the Widowmaker has been trying to coordinate themselves even though they come from former opposing powers, this seems to be going very well. With Jav Stele talking a lot but not saying anything, all Jav would talk about is lightsaber construction and starfighter piloting, much to the annoyance of Mara Jade-Skywalker who for the first couple of days had been trying to get information out of Jav Stele, only to find he was using this to try and seduce her!

This does not go down well with Mara Jade-Skywalker who confronts Jav Stele about the attempt to seduce her, all Jav Stele does is shrug his shoulders and says, “well it was worth a try” and walks off leaving Mara Jade-Skywalker even more annoyed at Jav Stele, but with recourse Mara Jade-Skywalker drops the matter.

Five days later…..

As the Widowmaker comes out at the first hyperspace jump point in the Unknown Regions finding nothing within sensor range the Widowmaker jumps to the next hyperspace waypoint, in there journey to the out edge of the Unknown Regions.

This routine is kept up for the next few weeks, as the Widowmaker has to make several jumps in order to avoid the military bases of the Shadow Empire Command. After five weeks of this the crew of the Widowmaker have settled in and are used to the new routine, but as the Widowmaker comes out of hyperspace the alarms go of notifying the bridge crew that there are other spacecraft in the vicinity.

Captain Yage who is on the bridge says, “Sensor operator, report

The sensor operator replies, “Aye sir, there are eleven large ships at the edge of our sensor range, they appear to be” the sensor operator pausing for a moment to double check and continues “eleven World Devastators along with around one hundred other warships and support vessel

Captain Yage punches the ships intercom button and says, “Jav Stele to the bridge please” after finishing he switches off the intercom.

As the bridge crew wait for Jav Stele’s arrival, they all watch on the bridges main view screen as the Widowmaker continues to close with the eleven 30 kilometre long World Devastators. The Captain of the Widowmaker can only look in envy at the power of the Shadow Empire Command, wishing that the Imperial Remnant had access to such resources and firepower.

Once Jav is on the bridge he glances at the tactical display and says, “Why do you need me, aren’t you broadcasting the IFF signal I gave you?

Captain Yage replies, “Yes we are but I thought that the World Devastators may need some special clearance?

Jav laughs and says, “No, they don’t as long as I am onboard this ship and as long as you keep broadcasting this IFF and do not deviate from this course then you will be safe, understand?

Captain Yage replies, “Yes sir, I understand, sorry to bother you

Jav again laughs and says, “No problem, do not worry I will not kill you, as I an no Lord Vader” turning to Jedi Master Skywalker with a silly grin on his face and continues “I would worry about this Jedi Master more than me

Captain Yage frowns and says, “Why?

Jav still looking at Jedi Master Skywalker replies, “Did you not think to tell the New Republic about you find in the Unknown Regions a few years ago?

Captain Yage frowns more and says, “What find?

Jav now on the verge of a fit of laughter says, “Why the Hand of Thrawn base” and then bursts out into a fit of laughter at Jedi Master Skywalker’s expression and obvious discomfort.

Everyone on the bridge is now looking at Jedi Master Skywalker who says, “We felt it was better that no one discovered that Thrawn had a base of operations in the Unknown Regions

Jav who has now managed to stop laughing says, “Oh it gets better than that, Jedi Master Skywalker and Mara Jade-Skywalker discovered the true extent of the Empires control over the Unknown Regions all those years ago” again looking Jedi Master Skywalker Jav says “do you what to tell everyone or shall I

Jedi Master Skywalker takes a deep breath and says, “We discovered that the Shadow Empire extended to around 250 sectors in size, but at the time we though that it was an area of space that Thrawn had explored we had no knowledge of the Shadow Empire at that time. At the time we did not want the Imperial Remnant getting hold of this information, as we did not yet have a peace treaty with the Imperial Remnant. I think that it was the right decision at the time and I will stand by it.

From the corner of the bridge the senior New Republic diplomat Caven Son says, “Well I do not think that was the right decision. Especially keeping this information from the New Republic, when we get back I will be informing the New Republic security council about this” then facing Jav he goes on to say “I think know why you did this, I doubt it will work.

Jav who is still smiling says, “I know it won’t but it was worth it for a good laugh” at the fighter operations area of the bridge comes another laugh, this time from Jagged Fel, who can’t contain himself anymore.

Jaina Solo who is next to Jagged Fel says to him, “You knew?

Jagged Fel replies, “Sure I knew, the Chriss have been allies with the Shadow Empire for a long time, sorry about that. But you don’t have the automatic right to know everything that I know, you people from the New Republic automatically assume that for some odd reason, like small children, very demanding” all Jaina Solo does in nod in agreement.

After that conversation everyone leaves that is not involved in bridge operations leaves, once the Widowmaker has cleared the World Devastators, it jumps into hyperspace to continue on it journey to the edge of the Unknown Regions. On his way back to his quarters Jedi Master Skywalker thinks that the New Republic council will have more than a few questions to ask him, also he suspects that the New Republic will be keeping a much closer eye on the Jedi after this war is over.

That is was Jedi Master Skywalker suspects that Jav has gained from doing what he has just done.

Meanwhile back on the front line ……

The combined fleets of the New Republic, Imperial Remnant and the Shadow Empire have resumed there attacks against the worlds still held by the Yuuzhan Vong, unfortunately the attacks are going much more slowly than the previous attack as the pause has allowed the Yuuzhan Vong to dig into key system and worlds.

It is taking much longer to literally blast the Yuuzhan Vong out of these positions than previous attacks as the Yuuzhan Vong have been given a long time to dig in a prepare there defences against the evitable attack.

As the attacks progress at a very slow pace, the only attacks to proceed slightly faster are those four fleets that each have a single Eclipse class super spare destroyer attached, as the firepower of the Eclipse class can easily turn the tide of a battle and can dominate any space battle with ease.

Eclipse class also proves very useful in punching though the planetary shields and destroying the shield generators, thus allowing troops to assault the planet, where there is no Eclipse class the bombardment to being down the pantry shields takes much longer, weeks or even months in some cases before the troops can start landing on a planet.

As the weeks and then months drag on the fighting would get much more intense as the combined fleets of the New Republic, Imperial Remnant and the Shadow Empire penetrate deeper into Yuuzhan Vong controlled space. As each planet is liberated the joint fleets find that any member of the population of that planet that does not conform to the Yuuzhan Vong “religion” is killed.

The death toll from these systems are already in the billions, the New Republic, Imperial Remnant and the Shadow Empire expect that number to climb as they retake more systems and planets over the next few months and what appears to be years of campaigning left before these final systems will be freed from Yuuzhan Vong occupation.

Six months later…..

After six months of searching the area between the edge of the Unknown Regions and the void between the Galaxies the Widowmaker has so far found no sign of the planet Zonama Sekot most of the crew now think that the planet of Zonama Sekot is just a legend and this search is a waist of time. But they are under orders from their respective governments to complete a thorough search of this area of space and it will take another six months to complete the search.

What no one onboard knows is that a large fleet of three hundred Yuuzhan Vong is following the Widowmaker at a very discreet distance. The Yuuzhan Vong had found out about the Widowmaker’s mission and had ordered a fleet to be detached to follow the Widowmaker and to seize Zonama Sekot by force for use by the Yuuzhan Vong.

What neither the Yuuzhan Vong or most of the crew of the Widowmaker is that the Centurion (under cloak) is following the Widowmaker (in a different course) as well and the only Jav Stele knows this and can summon the Centurion at any time.

Five and a half months later…..

As the Widowmaker is coming to one of the last batch of systems to search before they will turn for home, as the Widowmaker enters the system, the sensor operator reports that there are a large number of asteroids in the system. Making it impossible to do micro hyperspace jumps inside this system, so the system and any planets with this system will have to be scanned at sub light speeds (which will take longer).

The sensor operator also states that there is only one clear root into and out of the dense asteroids field surrounding this systems sun. After several hours slowly making there way though the clear path the Widowmaker enters the system, to find a single planet orbiting the sun and from the initial readout it appears to be Zonama Sekot.

Onboard the Widowmaker the news that they have found is greeted with astonishment and joy and a lot of cheering. Once the cheering has ceased, Captain Yage orders the Widowmaker into a very high orbit around Zonama Sekot, while at the same time broadcasting messages of peace and friendship.

Once the Widowmaker is in orbit, there is a message broadcast from Zonama Sekot welcoming the Widowmaker and inviting a delegation to come down to the planets surface.

A contact team is quickly chosen, but oddly Jav Stele does not want to go down to the planet, so he is left of the team, much to the relief of the Jedi and members of the New Republic. Once the shuttles have left and successfully landed on the planet the Widowmaker waits to see what will happen with this first contact, but this will be short lived, as unexpected visitors turn up.

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 29 – Holding the Yuuzhan Vong!

As the landing team continued with their long negations with Zonama Sekot, the Widowmaker is maintaining her very high orbit around Zonama Sekot, waiting for a response, but events will overtake the negations with Zonama Sekot.

After an hour or so the sensor operator says, “Sir I am picking up multiple contacts at long range, they appear to be approaching the gap in the asteroid belt that we passed though, estimated time to the belt is just over one hour at there current speed.

Captain Yage says, “Can you identify them?

Sensor operator says, “Just coming into rage now, dam, they are Yuuzhan Vong warships, multiple types, around three hundred in number.

Captain Yage says “All hands to battle stations” and the alarms go of throughout the Widowmaker.

On communication with the contact team on the planets surface, it is decided that the team will stay on the planets surface to help with defence, while the Widowmaker try’s to go for help.

On the bridge Jav Stele has been looking at the display intently and gripping his own comm link and then says, “You will not need to go for help Captain Yage” and without waiting for a reply Jav activates his comm link and says, “This is Jav to Centurion I need you now, over

Over the comm link the reply is “Confirmed, disengage cloaking device” near the Widowmaker the Centurion shimmers out of her cloak. With a very stunned Captain Yage looking with an open mouth at Jav Stele.

Jav says, “Captain Cirri, send a shuttle for me and put the ship on battle stations

Over the comm link Captain Cirri, “Aye sir”, turning to Captain Yage Jav says, “I have a way to send as message to the Shadow Empire, trust me” as soon as Jav has finished a shuttlecraft is seen leaving the Centurion’s hanger bay.

Jav Stele leaves the bridge, to first go to his quarters to pick up stuff and then onto the shuttle bay, by the time Jav Stele has arrived they shuttlecraft has also arrived, Jav Stele the boards the shuttlecraft for the short journey to the Centurion.

Centurion’s bridge several minutes later…

Once on the bridge Jav says, “Ship, do you still have contact with central?

Over the bridge speaker the Centurion’s main computer replies, “Yes, I have access I can send and received tactical information, with no interference.

Jav says, “I want you to punch through a message to the strategy computer in Shadow Base Command Headquarters. I want you to tell it that there’s a Yuuzhan Vong battle fleet estimated at three hundred warships strong about to capture Zonama Sekot. Give it these coordinates. Tell it that the information comes from Jav Stele on the Centurion. Can you do that?

Centurion’s main computer in what sounds like a very disgruntled tone replies, “I would remind you that I am not a communicator.

Jav says, “Your carrier beam is the fastest way to contact Admiral Servalan.

Centurion’s main computer replies, “That is not the purpose for which it was developed.

Jav now getting slightly annoyed at the Centurions AI says, “Just do it, that is an order

Centurion’s main computer replies, “I have passed the message, as you requested. The Shadow Base Command Headquarters strategy computer is now registering the information.

Captain Cirri says, “So now what, it will be some time before reinforcements arrive.”

Jav smiles and replies, “Now we try to hold them off” pointing at the tactical display.

Shocked Captain Cirri now looking at Jav Stele says, “To fight off that fleet until the reinforcements get here?

Jav replies, “That’s is what I said

Captain Cirri says, “Why do we need to? With capabilities of this warship we could easily break out and come back for Zonama Sekot with the reinforcements

Jav with an evil grin replies, “Why not?

The sensor operator says, “Sir, They are under way, a small group of the Yuuzhan Vong battle fleet is moving towards the gap in the asteroid field.

Jav says, “Well that settles it. We must coordinate with the Widowmaker.

Captain Cirri says, “Ship, put the lead small group of Yuuzhan Vong warships on visual.

Centurion’s main computer responds, “Confirmed.” The display shows a small group of Yuuzhan Vong warships approaching the gap in the asteroid field.

Jav looks at Captain Cirri and says, “Well?

Captain Cirri takes a deep breath and says, “Ship, battle computers to calculate intercept course and strike ranges.

Centurion’s main computer responds, “Confirmed.

Captain Cirri says, “Put up the shields, clear the weapon systems for firing, all Shadow Droid fighters to hot standby.

Centurion’s main computer responds, “Confirmed, shields are up, the weapon systems are fully charged for firing, all Shadow Droid fighters are on hot standby.

Captain Cirri says, “Helm alter course, to intercept, communications, inform the Widowmaker to form up on us” there are several “aye sirs” from the bridge crew.

The Centurion and the Widowmaker form up and begin to move towards the lead elements of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet.

One minute to strike range…

Captain Cirri says, “We can't hold all of them.

Jav says, “They can’t all come through that gap at once.

The Centurion and the Widowmaker approaches the lead elements of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet coming through the hole in the dense asteroid field.

Jav says, “Stand by to fire.

Captain Cirri says, “Jav I have to say that this is really stupid!

Jav flashes another evil grin at Captain Cirri and says, “When did that ever stop us?” then pauses and says, “All forward batteries… Open Fire!

A blaze of green energy bolts shoot from the Centurion’s forward weapons batteries towards the lead Yuuzhan Vong warships, the battle for Zonama Sekot has begun.

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 30 – The Last Reserves

Meanwhile along way away…

Deep with the system that holds the Headquarters’ of the Shadow Empire, a tactical display is blipping continuously until an operator comes to see what the problem is, after looking at the readouts, the operator takes a copy of the information that had appeared on the display straight to Rear Admiral Durkim’s office.

A short while later…

Shadow Empire Command Headquarters’ - Command Base of the Supreme Commander of Imperial reserve forces of the Shadow Empire Admiral Servalan.

In her office Rear Admiral Durkim who enters and hands Admiral Servalan a report interrupts Admiral Servalan in a briefing about the ongoing war against the Yuuzhan Vong. Knowing that Admiral Durkim would not enter a meeting unless it is important, Admiral Servalan takes the report from Admiral Durkim without saying anything and reads the report.

After reading the report Admiral Servalan says, “When did this information come in?

Rear Admiral Durkim replies, “It showed up on the strategy readouts a few minutes ago.

After looking at the report again and seeing the enormity of the request, Servalan says, “All right, Durkim. Red One reserve fleet mobilization, to these coordinates.

A surprised Durkim replies, “You believe it?

Servalan responds by saying, “All available fighting warships to make maximum speed. Patch this office into the fleet coordination suite in the command bunker.” Then in a much stronger voice of command says “Well, get on with it!” with that order Durkim rushes out of Servalan’s office and shortly afterwards alarms start sounding throughout Shadow Base and beyond the base the planet is also going on alert, followed by the rest of the worlds colonised by the Empire in the Unknown Regions. Servalan then follows and turns towards the turbolift that will take her to the command complex deep underground.

Jav Stele’s ship, the Centurion is the only warship curtly fitted with the advanced carrier beam, which allows the Centurion’s main computer to send and receive tactical information at nearly instantaneous speed from the Shadow Empire Command Headquarters’. Thus allowing the Centurion to receive and send data without being jammed, as the advanced carrier beam is outside of the normal communications frequencies currently being used by anyone.

A short time later in the underground bunker complex, Admiral Servalan has moved herself into her secure command suite that resemble the command bridge of an Imperial class star destroyer but on a much larger scale and buried deep underground.

On the main display the following readouts on warship dispositions are starting scroll across the display…

++++++++++++

Flagship Galileo reports eighth reserve group under way, estimate coordinates achievable in four hours thirty-seven minutes.

Heavy Cruiser Beagle now estimating rendezvous coordinates in three hours and seventeen minutes.

Flotillas fourteen and sixteen confirm coordinates achievable in four hours and eight minutes.

++++++++++++

Durkim, who has arrived in the command bunker and has also been, looking at the readouts, turns to Servalan and says, “But what happens in the meantime?” Servalan has no answer to give the tension in the command bunker is intense and is rising, as the readouts continue flow in about the deployment underway.

With the bulk of the Shadow Empires Fleets engaged against the bulk of Yuuzhan Vong, the Shadow Empires remaining military is only enough for defensive operations and Admiral Servalan is taking a very big risk, by deploying what little reserves the Shadow Empire has left against this Yuuzhan Vong fleet.

The only defences that the systems have left are there orbital battle stations and starfighters along with any warships that are under repair or being upgraded. If however unlikely someone where to attack one of the main of survey bases within the explored territory of the Unknown Regions, then there would be very little in the way of reinforcements that could be sent.

Now the warships are on their way, these warships will need time, something that the do not have, the readouts on the warships ETA continue to flow across the main display…

++++++++++++

Flotillas seventeen, twenty-six and thirty-nine estimates six hours and six minutes until arrival at coordinates.

Star Destroyer Newton reports coordinates achievable in three hours and seven minutes.

Escort groups eleven and forty-two reports that coordinates are achievable in four hours and seventeen minutes.

Invidious group under way, estimate achievable coordinates in five hours fifty-one minutes.

++++++++++++

Meanwhile at the edge of the Unknown Regions things are hotting up…

The Heavy Cruiser Centurion is moving into position along with the Frigate Widowmaker to defend Zonama Sekot from attack by the Yuuzhan Vong who have arrived at the hole in the dense asteroid field and are coming through.

The Centurion along with the Widowmaker are making short work of the lead Yuuzhan Vong warships, but the Yuuzhan Vong warships are now starting to return fire against the Centurion and the Widowmaker. The Centurion being the more powerful of the two warships is better able to defend herself, both the Centurion and the Widowmaker are able to concentrate the shields in the forward arc and use their combined starfighter strength to shield them from Yuuzhan Vong fighters.

While both the Centurion and the Widowmaker are taking light damage the Centurion is better equipped to deal with the damage as the Centurion is equipped with a new automated repair system, controlled be the Centurion’s central computer.

The Centurion can repair itself when damaged. During such critical repair times, Centurion’s main computer can prioritise the survival of the Centurion over the well being of the crew (unless overridden), going so far as to deactivate life support in order to reroute power to repair devices. The auto-repair systems themselves would even attack anyone trying to keep them from doing their work.

The Widowmaker is equipped with normal lasers and turbolaser cannons, the Centurion is equipped with the latest Bio energy weapons from the Qektoth Confederation, the Bio energy weapons when fired, tendrils of blue electricity jump from one system to another, eventually unleashing fierce streaks rough, forked lightning at its target. This frightening weapon along with the plasma cannons completely ignores shields.

Though to someone who does not know how the Bio energy weapon this looks completely random, but this is not. As the Bio energy weapon slam into the lead ships of the Yuuzhan Vong warships, the Bio energy weapons discharge does much more damage per shot that a normal turbolaser cannon could do.

The first wave of Yuuzhan Vong warships are thirty corvette type vessels, these types of warship are no match for either the Centurion or the Widowmaker, it takes both warships working on conjunction took only forty-three minutes to dispatch this first wave, thus destroying ten percent of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet.

The commander of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet will not make the same mistake twice. The next wave of six Yuuzhan Vong are the cruiser analogue is a designation used by the New Republic to define a type this class capital ships used by the Yuuzhan Vong, these “cruiser analogues” and around 1,200 meters in length, roughly comparable to a star destroyer.

The Centurion’s main computer reports that the auto repair systems is currently working a five percent of capacity, as there is little damage for the auto repair systems to repair at the moment, but once the Yuuzhan Vong “cruiser analogues” come into firing range that will change.

The Yuuzhan Vong starfighters are still being held at bay by the Shadow Droid starfighters and a mix of X-wing and TIE Defender starfighters, the Shadow Droid starfighters are toting up considerable number of kills that are far exceeding the conventional starfighters.

Meanwhile…

Back at Shadow Empires Command Headquarters’ Admiral Servalan and Rear Admiral Durkim are watching the main display as the last of the reserves are deployed to the coordinates given by Jav Stele.

++++++++++++

World Devastators twenty-eight, twenty-nine and thirty estimate achievable coordinates in seven hours thirty-one minutes.

All reserve warships now deployed, total number of warships deployed nine hundred six of all classes.

Will continue to update ETA of reserve fleet as more information becomes available

++++++++++++

Admiral Servalan uses her command station to plot the routes of the warships deployed, on the main display, the information showing the deployment is changed to one of an overview of the Unknown Regions, showing the estimated positions of either individual Imperial warships or groups of warships headed towards the coordinates that Jav Stele had sent.

The nearest Imperial warship(s) are still over two hours from the coordinates.

A secondary display shows the feed coming in from the Centurion’s main computer and the initial success achieved by the Centurion and the Widowmaker, but this is short lived as the Yuuzhan Vong are deploying a much stronger force in the second wave. Centurion’s main computer is relaying this information via its carrier beam, thus Admiral Servalan can see what is happening but can do nothing to help.

A display on Rear Admiral Durkim console blips and he says, “Admiral Servalan, the courier ship is departing now for Grand Admiral Hammond coordinates

Admiral Servalan replies, “Good, how long until the courier ship arrives at Grand Admiral Hammond’s coordinates?

Rear Admiral Durkim replies, “Eighteen hours, Admiral

Admiral Servalan replies, “So now it is a waiting game, to see if the Centurion and the Widowmaker can hold the Yuuzhan Vong until the reinforcements arrive” Rear Admiral Durkim nods in agreement.

Will the Centurion and the Widowmaker be able to hold the Yuuzhan Vong for long enough, or not?

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 31 – In the Firing Line

Onboard the Centurion Jav Stele was looking at the tactical display as the “cruiser analogues” where approaching firing range, Jav says, “Ship. Target the nearest enemy warship and concentrate all fire on that warship first

Centurion’s main computer replies, “Confirmed

As the first enemy warship comes within range Jav says, “Open fire

Centurion’s main computer replies, “Confirmed, all forward batteries are firing” from the forward batteries comes a hail of fire from the bio energy weapons with unleashing fierce streaks rough, forked lightning at the bio energy weapons target.

The first Yuuzhan Vong “cruiser analogues” hull begins to crack open under the weight of fire from the Centurion, added to this fire is the turbo laser cannons fire from the Widowmaker. The return fire from the Yuuzhan Vong “cruiser analogues” impacts against the Centurion’s and Widowmaker’s shields, some of the fire penetrating through and damaging the armour of the warships hulls.

As before the Centurion is better able to withstand the return fire from the Yuuzhan Vong “cruiser analogues” than the Widowmaker is able to do. The Centurion’s auto repair system goes into action as soon as there is damage to repair, but the firepower of the Yuuzhan Vong “cruiser analogues” is greater than the corvettes of the first wave and even the Centurion is having problems dealing with the second wave of Yuuzhan Vong warships, but is still managing to hold the Yuuzhan Vong warships from coming through the gap in the asteroid field.

As the minutes tick by the damage to the Widowmaker is intense and the Widowmaker is forced to pull back, outside of the weapons range of the Yuuzhan Vong warships. To allow time to make some hasty repairs and re-enter combat, this will leave the Centurion on her own for the next few minutes, the Centurion will take the brunt of fire from the remaining four Yuuzhan Vong warships of the second wave.

Onboard the Yuuzhan Vong

Nom Anor has been watching the unfolding battle with interest, especially this Shadow Empire warship that seems to be able to repair itself and also seems to be able to fire through the Yuuzhan Vong shields with no lessening in the firepower of this Shadow Empire warship.

Nom Anor expresses interest if at all possible to capture this Shadow Empire warship for analysis so that all new Yuuzhan Vong warships could be made immune to the weapons systems of the Shadow Empire warship. The commander the Yuuzhan Vong fleet in reply states that he will try to capture this warship, but it may not be possible to capture this warship and this warship maybe destroyed in battle.

Both the commander of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet and Nom Anor know that these two warships are simply buying time for reinforcements to arrive and once that happens that battle will swing in favour of the combined New Republic, Imperial Remnant and Shadow Empire.

But what neither the commander of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet or Nom Anor knows is how long they have until the nearest Imperial warships arrive to support these two warships.

Shadow Empires Command Headquarters

It has been over two hours since the Centurion and the Widowmaker engaged the Yuuzhan Vong fleet and so far both warships have managed to withstand several attacks but the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, but with each attack both the Centurion and the Widowmaker are weakened and the Yuuzhan Vong fleet numbers will eventually overwhelm these two warships.

Looking at the ETA’s of the warships heading towards the coordinates Admiral Servalan can see that the closest is the Heavy Cruiser Beagle (only forty-one minutes away), the next nearest is at least an hour or so behind the Beagle, with the rest of the reserve fleet up to several hours behind that.

With the courier ship still over twelve hours to Grand Admiral Hammonds position inside New Republic territory. This is the main reason why Admiral Servalan has not send a signal to Grand Admiral Hammonds flagship, as any signal on the power levels needed would give the location of the headquarters of the Shadow Empire away and Admiral Servalan has standing orders not to give away the location under any circumstances.

Back at the battle for Zonama Sekot

The Widowmaker has returned to the battle after making some very hasty repairs, the Centurion are still heavily engaged against the three remaining Yuuzhan Vong “cruiser analogues”. With the Widowmaker along side the weight of fire from the Yuuzhan Vong “cruiser analogues” is now split between the two warships lessening the damage that each warship is receiving.

The return of the Widowmaker to the battle has helped the Centurion’s auto repair system to hold the damage being revived at a level that the auto repair systems can manage, but only just.

On the bridge of the Centurion, the Centurion’s main computer reports the following, “Auto repair systems are now at ninety-eight percent efficiency and holding, warning, if the level of damage increases the auto repair systems will not be able to deal with this level of damage. Therefore it is recommended that the crew ready themselves to abandon ship.

Captain Cirri responds, “Understood

On the bridges main display the three remaining Yuuzhan Vong “cruiser analogues” can been seen to be withdrawing, once out of weapons range, both crews breath a sigh of relief, but this is short lived.

Centurion’s main computer reports, “Information, Yuuzhan Vong strategy is now confirmed. Battle computers indicate full Yuuzhan Vong counterattack is underway.” On the bridges main display the bridge crew watch as all the remaining Yuuzhan Vong begin to move towards that gap in the asteroid field.

Once within weapons range the Centurion lurches under the intense bombardment from the Yuuzhan Vong warships.

Centurion’s main computer reports, “Information, Damage to the navigation computers is beyond the present capacity of the auto-repair systems. Damage control estimates breakdown is now beyond the capacity of auto-repair systems in all areas. Serious malfunction in life support would indicate evacuation by escape pod a priority one requirement.

With that Jav hit the ship wide broadcast button on hit command chair and says, “This Jav Stele to all crewmembers, abandon ship, I say again abandon ship” followed by the abandon ship alarm.

Jav says, “Ship, innate anti intruder measures, once the crew have abandon ship. I will maintain contact through emergency communications channel.

Centurion’s main computer reports, “Confirmed

With that Jav enters that command escape pod and is fired from the Centurion.

As Jav looks out of the escape pods small window he can see the Centurion drifting through the gap in the asteroid field towards Zonama Sekot, the Yuuzhan Vong have stopped firing on the Centurion and now seem to be concentrating their fore on the Widowmaker.

Shadow Empires Command Headquarters

With the sudden ending of the feed from the Centurion, Admiral Servalan and Rear Admiral Durkim exchange worried looks, seeing that the Heavy Cruiser Beagle is only three minutes away from the coordinates. Though neither Admiral Servalan nor Rear Admiral Durkim thinks a single Heavy Cruiser will not make much of a difference against the 260 odd remaining Yuuzhan Vong warships.

The Heavy Cruiser Beagle begins to engage the Yuuzhan Vong warships again reliving the pressure on the Widowmaker this again allows the Widowmaker to make some hasty repairs and also pick-up the escape pods from the Centurion.

The Battle for Zonama Sekot has just entered a new stage.

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 32 – The Battle for Zonama Sekot

Almost four hours into the Battle for Zonama Sekot, the Yuuzhan Vong fleet though having taken casualties still have the upper hand, the only two remaining warships are the heavy cruiser Beagle and the heavily damaged frigate Widowmaker are fighting a losing battle against the Yuuzhan Vong fleet.

So far the Battle for Zonama Sekot has not been going the Yuuzhan Vong way and this is about to get much worse for the Yuuzhan Vong fleet. As just before the four-hour mark is up, an Imperial III class star destroyer jumps out of hyperspace, this is the Newton, followed several minutes later by three flotillas of light warships.

These flotillas are mainly made up of corvettes and other warships of similar classes and size, these flotillas are designed for patrol and not for heavy combat, but they can offer support to the star destroyer Newton. The arrival of the star destroyer Newton is now giving the Beagle considerable support in keeping the corvette classes of Yuuzhan Vong warships at bay, while the Newton can concentrate on the bigger Yuuzhan Vong warships.

As the minutes go by the star destroyer Newton along with the three flotillas are able to add their firepower against the Yuuzhan Vong fleet. Nom Anor who is onboard the Yuuzhan Vong flagship and has been watching the battle unfold, now seeing the battle is turning against the Yuuzhan Vong, Nom Anor suggests to the commander of the Yuuzhan Vong fleet that he go for help from main Yuuzhan Vong force.

The commander Yuuzhan Vong fleet, who is busy dealing with the battle agrees (mainly to just get rid of Nom Anor), with the commanders agreement Nom Anor takes a smaller, but longer ranged Yuuzhan Vong warship and sets course to return to the main Yuuzhan Vong fleets.

Once Nom Anor has departed, the number of reinforcements arriving from the Shadow Empire begins to grow rapidly and the commander Yuuzhan Vong fleet sees that the Yuuzhan Vong fleet under his command is going to loose that battle for Battle for Zonama Sekot. So just over two hours after Nom Anor had departed, the remaining Yuuzhan Vong warships withdraw.

The Battle for Zonama Sekot is over.

In the aftermath of the Battle for Zonama Sekot, Jav Stele breathes a sigh of relief that the decision he made to call for back up was the right one and that it worked. Once Jav is certain he removes a small black box that is a hybrid communicator that uses the same frequencies as the Centurion does, but is designed for short range only.

Jav says to the box, “I want a status report on the Centurion.

The box replies, “The Centurion has sustained considerable damage, but is now operating at fifty-four percent of normal capacity. This is increasing rapidly as the auto-repair systems complete their functions.

Jav says to the box, “Can you give me a direct voice link with the Centurion’s main computer?

The box replies “Wait.

After several seconds, Jav says impatiently to the box, “Come on, come on!

The box replies, “Communicators have locked on. Your transmission may begin.

Jav says, “Ship, this is Jav. When will the life support system be operational?

Centurion’s main computer responds, “Repairs will be complete in two hours and thirty-four minutes.

Jav says, “How long until the Centurion’s flight control systems are operational and when will you be able to stabilise yourself?

Centurion’s main computer responds, “Eight hours is the estimated time

Jav says, “Try and improve on that.

Centurion’s main computer responds, “Confirmed

Jav says, “That's about all. Keep feeding reports through Box.

Centurion’s main computer responds, “Confirmed” and re-attaches the box to his belt, with the captain of the Widowmaker who had overheard the conversation and is looking at Jav.

Captain Yage then says, “The Centurion is still functional?

Jav replies, “Yep

A confused Captain Yage says, “But how, without a dry dock?

Jav replies, “The Centurion is an advanced class of warship, with some optional extras added. Beyond that I can’t tell you any more.

Captain Yage says, “Understood” and goes back to work prioritizing repairs to the Widowmaker. Captain Yage thinks to himself, this is something that he will be informing Admiral Pellaeon about, when they get back to Imperial Remnant space.

In the space around the system that Zonama Sekot occupies there is a growing number of Imperial warships from the Shadow Empire coming out of hyperspace, the last warships to come out of hyperspace are three World Devastators, thus give a considerable boost in firepower in the unlikely event that the Yuuzhan Vong would return.

The total number of Imperial warships in the system is now just over 900, with several of the warships that arrived first needed repairs, but with the arrival of the three World Devastators spare parts for the damaged warships is no longer a problem and the repairs will be completed within the next few days.

Nine hours after the battle…

Once the Centurion’s auto-repair systems have stabilised her, the crew re-board the Centurion to take control and to assist in and speed up the repair process. An hour after the Centurion has been re-boarded by her crew the Centurion’s special carrier beam has been repaired and the flow of information between the Centurion and Shadow Base Headquarters has been restored (much to the relief of Admiral Servalan).

Once Admiral Servalan had been informed that the battle for Zonama Sekot was over and the Imperial forces had won, Admiral Servalan dispatches a second courier ship to inform Grand Admiral Hammond of the current changing events.

The first courier ship would arrive in the next few hours at Grand Admiral Hammond’s current estimated location. Again, Admiral Servalan is unwilling to punch a signal through, as this would reveal the location of the headquarters of the Shadow Empire and Admiral Servalan has orders to not reveal the location under any circumstances, unless the headquarters comes under direct attack.

Twenty hours after the battle…

With the first courier ship arriving at Grand Admiral Hammond’s flagship, causing Grand Admiral Hammond to put contingency planning into place without letting either the New Republic or the Imperial Remnant know the real reason. Grand Admiral Hammond uses a reshuffle of the Imperial fleets, especially the one in Imperial Remnant to start to form a fleet to send to the aid of Admiral Servalan.

A few hours after the first courier ship had arrived an second courier ship arrives, informing Grand Admiral Hammond of the Imperial victory over the Yuuzhan Vong fleet, thus allowing Grand Admiral Hammond to cancel the fleet reshuffle and return to the business at hand.

Back at Zonama Sekot…

The attack by the Yuuzhan Vong fleet has convinced Zonama Sekot the living planet needs to help this “alliance” of powers stop the Yuuzhan Vong from being annulated along with the large number of the subjugated populations of the planets still occupied by the Yuuzhan Vong forces.

The war with the Yuuzhan Vong is now entering its final phase.

To be continued.
 
Aftermath – Part 33 – Endgame!

With Zonama Sekot help it is hopped to end the war quickly, Zonama Sekot using its hyperspace ability moves from its location on the outer edge of the Unknown Regions to the Coruscant for initial discussions on how to approach the Yuuzhan Vong without being destroyed. The Shadow Empires navel forces do not accompany Zonama Sekot back to Coruscant, only the Widowmaker and the Centurion will accompany to Coruscant.

The discovery of this system that has a very dense and externally mineral rich asteroid field will prove extremely useful for the Shadow Empire in the long term. Once Zonama Sekot has left for Coruscant and the bulk of the reserve Shadow Empires fleet has returned to their normal duties, the three remaining World Devastators begin the process of consuming the vast asteroid field, with initially constructing more World Devastators. It is estimated that it will take several hundred years to consume the entire asteroid field, even using the World Devastators!

The plan that Zonama Sekot is relatively straight forward as Zonama Sekot was the seed of the original Yuuzhan Vong home world, Yuuzhan'tar, which had been destroyed during one of the Yuuzhan Vong civil wars. With this comes with certain abilities over Yuuzhan Vong technology, which will prove very useful in dealing with the Yuuzhan Vong technology, but only for a short period of time.

Zonama Sekot intends to confront all Yuuzhan Vong with what Zonama Sekot really is, in the hope that this will be the undoing of the current hard line leadership of the Yuuzhan Vong and get the Yuuzhan Vong to surrender (hopefully without firing a shot!)

However things do not go quite as planned, as Yuuzhan Vong operatives managed to seal one of Zonama Sekot’s organic starships. Furthermore, the Shaper Nen Yim discovered that Sekotan technology was extremely similar to Yuuzhan Vong technology and that her people have gone terribly astray.

A plot by Nom Anor to destroy the living world was luckily foiled, by agents for the Shadow Empire and Nom Anor and his associates simply disappeared.

Zonama Sekot revealed itself to be the seed of the long-dead original Yuuzhan Vong homeworld. One of the terms of surrender the Alliance placed before the Yuuzhan Vong is that they are to help rebuild Coruscant. The Alliance moved its temporary capital to Denon, but would revert it back to Coruscant after the rebuilding was complete.

After the cease-fire, the remaining Yuuzhan Vong is recalled from across the galaxy to Zonama. Zonama, with its Yuuzhan Vong, disappeared back into the Unknown Regions where its new inhabitants could live in peace and renew their relationship with Sekot. They planned to abolish their caste system and eliminated the posts of Warmaster and Supreme Overlord, although Choka seemed to remain their de facto leader. A few dozen shapers remained behind on Coruscant to assist in the rebuilding, but some scattered Yuuzhan Vong forces in outlying portions of the galaxy refused Choka's call to surrender, continuing to fight for at least several more months.

Many Bothans, however, are unforgiving for the death of Fey’lya, and refused to end their state of ar’krai genocide against the Yuuzhan Vong, sending ships into the Unknown Regions to hunt for Zonama. Something that Grand Admiral Hammond did not approve of and would lead to a series of short but brutal engagements between the Bothans forces and the Shadow Empires forces, over the next few decades.

The Yuuzhan Vong war is over.

With the signing of the Yuuzhan Vong surrender document by all sides, the New Republic goes back to reforming itself after the war against the Yuuzhan Vong. With an attempt to form a Galactic Alliance with the Shadow Empire and the Imperial Remnant, but this fails and neither the Shadow Empire nor the Imperial Remnant what to be permanent allies with the New Republic.

The Shadow Empire’s fleets withdraw back to their territory within the Unknown Regions, as soon as the conflict is over leaving no troops or personnel behind in the immediate aftermath of the conflict with the Yuuzhan Vong.

On the positive side the Shadow Empire signs a peace accord with the New Republic, bringing to an end any potential conflict between the New Republic and the Shadow Empire, but with the signing of this document. The New Republic is forced to recognise the Unknown Regions as the territory of the Shadow Empire, along with the Calon sector and other regions controlled or allied with the Shadow Empire.

This peace deal between the Shadow Empire and the New Republic allows the formal setting up of diplomatic relations between the two powers, with the Calon sectors capital of Calon III. With not only the New Republic setting up a embassy on Calon III but also embassy’s from other powers as well, including the Imperial Remnant, Corporate Sector Authority are amongst those governments that set-up embassy’s on Calon III.

Some governments who try to join the Shadow Empire are politely refused, much to the shock of the New Republic and other governments, who thought that the Shadow Empire would try to expand outside of the Unknown Regions. The reasons behind this move by the Shadow Empire would not become clear for many decades.

For now the Galaxy is at peace.

What would the future bring?

The End of Aftermath

To be continued.

Next – The Shadow Empire
 
The Shadow Empire – Part 1

With the end of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong and the withdrawal of the Shadow Empires military forces back to the Unknown Regions, something that the New Republic thought that the Shadow Empire would not do. The setting of diplomatic relations with the other governments within the Galaxy, these governments having embassy’s on Calon III, though several governments thought that they may have embassies in the Unknown Regions, but these governments are disappointed.

With the recognition by the New Republic of the Shadow Empires boarders, including the whole of the Unknown Regions is a major success for the Shadow Empire. The reason that this territory is recognised is that the New Republic did not want another war, especially against the Shadow Empire.

If the government of the New Republic had known that the fleets deployed by the Shadow Empire are that bulk of the Shadow Empire’s forces then things may have turned out differently, but the New Republic did not know this.

Even though the Shadow Empire had sixteen reinforced sectors (this does not include the Hand of Thrawn base, this is considered an explored sector), guarded by each own sector group (fleet). These forces are not enough to control the vast territory of the Unknown Regions, which is what the all the other explored sectors within the Unknown Regions have only a very small token military force. Even with the Shadow Empire’s production facilities, it would take many decades to build enough warships and clone enough troops to totally control all of the Unknown Regions.

That is why Grand Admiral Thrawn set-up a network of alliances with the local governments within the Unknown Regions, as this was the quickest way of avoiding the need for vast amounts of resources (that the old Empire or the Shadow Empire did/does not have available) to be used to conquer these worlds where sentient life exists. Grand Admiral Thrawn’s model of engagement through negotiations rather than conflict proved to be the correct way to go in the Unknown Regions.

The one initial diplomatic row that is ongoing is the ongoing issue of the protection afforded to the Qektoth Confederation and the system given to the Qektoth Confederation by Grand Admiral Hammond in the Calon sector. On learning of the survival of the Qektoth Confederation, the newly installed New Republic embassy on Calon III, would request (rather than demand) the extradition of most of the leadership of the Qektoth Confederation for crimes against the New Republic.

On receiving the request for extradition, Sector Moff Davvid Harrington the former planetary governor of Calon III, is acting as a buffer between Grand Admiral Hammond and the various ambassadors. Moff Harrington points out to the New Republics ambassador that there is no extradition treaty between the Shadow Empire and the New Republic, so the request of extradition is turned down.

The one thing that the New Republic or any other government knows is that the Qektoth Confederation has a corporation inside the Corporate Sector Authority that is not only providing a steady stream of income, but also a stead stream of resources so that the Qektoth Confederation can continue with it bio research. Dodson Medical Research is viewed by the Corporate Sector Authority as one of the new and successful corporations that have come from the Civil and Yuuzhan Vong wars over the past few decades.

Most of these new independent companies have chosen to set-up inside the Corporate Sector Authority sector, thus allowing these companies to sell to almost anyone. Some of these companies like Dodson Medical Research are a front for governments and other organisations some of these companies, unlike Dodson Medical Research are known to the Corporate Sector Authority and are watched as arms length, the Corporate Sector Authority only intervenes when these companies threaten the CSA, until they do the CSA will not interfere.

This action has caused some governments like the New Republic to try to make the Corporate Sector Authority to act against these known “front companies”, but as these known “front companies” have broken no laws within the Corporate Sector Authority no action has or will be taken.

Some of these “front companies” that are part of the Imperial Remnant have come out into the open, such as the companies producing the Preybird class heavy starfighter and the Silviut Corporation who how produce a large number of Imperial Remnant small to mid ranged spacecraft, such as the Vibre class corvette. With companies like these coming out into the open the costs allocated for keeping secrete their dealings with the Imperial Remnant are no longer necessary, thus helping the Imperial Remnants finances and rebuilding programmes.

The New Republic needs the production facilities of the Corporate Sector Authority to help rebuild the New Republic, so for the time being all the New Republic does is polity complain to the Corporate Sector Authority and nothing more, the Corporate Sector Authority in response to the New Republic’s complaints is to polity ignore the complaints.

The Qektoth system and their homeworld of Qektoth prime is well defended by the Qektoth Confederations limited military forces. With the Qektoth Attack Cruiser still be the prim warships of the Qektoth Confederation and the modified version of the Vigilance II is still the Qektoth Confederations main starfighter, the Qektoth Confederation does have samples of other types of starfighters, mostly none Imperial versions, the only Imperial versions that the Qektoth Confederation have are the TIE fighter and Interceptor.

The Qektoth Confederation bio energy weapons are the primary area of research as Grand Admiral Hammond favours these weapons, though they have only been fitted to a limited number of Imperial warships with the Shadow Empire, as the time it takes to manufacture these bio energy weapons is much longer than conventional energy weapons.

The Qektoth Confederation are also researching into other areas as well, one of the most notable is Project Blue biological weapon, this biological weapon saw limited used against the Yuuzhan Vong, but due to its difficulty to transport, the Project Blue biological weapon could not be used effetely enemas. This biological weapon is still being research by the Qektoth Confederation, just in case the Yuuzhan Vong should go on the warpath again.

The Qektoth Confederation are also continuing to research there own projects such as continuing to enhance their own spacecraft with the latest biological technology that is being fitted to the Qektoth Attack Cruisers and the modified version of the Vigilance II starfighter. This level of biological technology is above what the Shadow Empire requires and the Shadow Empire is not very keen of this level of biological technology inside a spacecraft.

The only warship that the Shadow Empire has built from scratch with a combination of Qektoth Confederation biological technology and the latest technology from the Shadow Empire is the Centurion (also known as the Dark Shadow), under the command of Jav Stele.

Within a year, the Shadow Empire will be forced to act against the Killiks and the re-emergence of the Dark Nest, by dealing with the Dark Nest problem in the most brutal manner, with the biggest gain from the Dark Nest Crisis would be the Chiss.

The New Republic

In the aftermath of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, the New Republic has to rebuild itself after a long and very destructive war. The priorities for the New Republic are to rebuild the housing for there people and also rebuild the New Republic’s military, especially the New Republic’s fleets.

In the immediate aftermath of the war the New Republic is down from five fleets to just three, with one of these fleets allocated to defend Coruscant, with the other two fleets as their only reserve force, those warships that had to be abandoned during the war are now being salvaged and repaired. Also new warships are coming of the production lines, but these warships are being allocated to planetary defence rather then the New Republic’s fleet, the New Republic has learned not to focus all its resources into just five fleets.

All worlds that are part of the New Republic will receive a defence force to protect not only that world but also the system as well. The needs of these system defence forces varies from system to system, but all of these system defence forces are based around a single battle cruiser type vessel that will be the command ship for that systems military forces. The rest of the system defence force is made up of a balanced number of warships and support vessels, the numbers of warships and support vessels are based upon the population in that system and if that system contains “vital” production facilities for the New Republic.

As the New Republic regained control of systems that had been captured during the war against the Yuuzhan Vong these freed systems began the process of rebuilding, so some systems that had been freed over two years ago have nearly finished rebuilding, whereas some systems have only been rebuilding for a few months.

The New Republic will need many years to rebuild its fleets to attain the level of military strength it had before against the Yuuzhan Vong, but events over the next few years mean that the New Republic’s military strength will show little growth.

To be continued.
 
The Shadow Empire – Part 2

Dark Nest Crisis

The hidden Dark Nest of a race called the Killiks, in the Unknown Regions starts the Dark Nest Crisis. When it begins subtly influencing the rest of the Colony to begin encroaching on Chiss space (bad move, as this would trigger a response from the Shadow Empire), even though the Killiks are not running out of room in there own space.

Their motives, of course, are to provoke a war between the Killiks and the Chiss, thus providing motive for the Killiks to expand through the rest of the galaxy and bring all of the sentient beings under the influence of the hive mind, which would give Lomi Plo ultimate power.

The Dark Nest manages to steal, the New Republic Victory class star destroyer Admiral Ackbar and would lead to the Swarm War. While the New Republic is investigating the loss of the Victory class star destroyer Admiral Ackbar, an attempt by the Dark Nest to set-up a base of operations inside the Utegetu Nebula, Lomi then convinced the Killiks to build fifteen nest ships massive vessels capable of carrying virtually all of the nests inside of them.

This so called fleet is a met by a combined battle group consisting of Imperial/Chiss warships led by Moff Leonia Tavira. The Invidious battle group in a very short a devastating battle destroys the Dark Nests fleet, thus eliminating the threat from the Dark Nest over the short term, but in the long term this would lead to the Swarm War as the Dark Nest would return, less than a year after the Dark Nest crises.

After the elimination of the most of the Dark Nest in the Utegetu Nebula, the battle group under Moff Leonia Tavira blockades the Utegetu Nebula to make sure that any remaining members of the Dark Nest do not leave the Utegetu Nebula. The Shadow Empire informs the New Republic of what has happened and the destruction of their Victory class star destroyer Admiral Ackbar and the small threat posed by the Dark Nest has been eliminated by a Moff Leonia Tavira combined battle group of Imperial/Chiss warships.

The Shadow Empire denies all requests for further information on the Dark Nest by various the governments. Within a year the Dark Nest would again rear its head and the Shadow Empire along with their Chiss would deal once and for all with the Dark Nest/ Killiks threat, but for now the rebuilding process continues for the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant, the Shadow Empire continues to expand it own military at slow but steady pace.

This lack of information from the Shadow Empire will cause both the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic problems, when the Dark Nest rises again, but for now peace has been restored.

The Boarder Zone

In the boarder area between the Shadow Empire (Unknown Regions) and the New Republic, the Shadow Empire has deployed a large number of five ship squadrons consisting of one Interdictor cruiser, three Enforcer cruisers and one Vindicator class heavy cruiser (as flagship) to patrol the boarder and make sure that no one crosses into Shadow Empire territory.

This operation is mostly unsuccessful, but the New Republic does manage to get a few spy ships into the Unknown Regions. But this proves to be ultimately futile, as the New Republic doesn’t know were the bases of the Shadow Empire are located within the vastness of the Unknown Regions, it is like looking for one needle in a very large pile of needles.

After the first twelve months the New Republic withdraws its spy ships, this is partly due to the Dark Nest crises and the theft of the New Republic Victory class Star Destroyer Admiral Ackbar, as all the New Republic’s efforts are focused on retrieving this warship and finding the Dark Nest base of operations. After the Dark Nest base is destroyed by Moff Leonia Tavira battle group, the New Republic decides not to resume its spy missions within the Unknown Regions and concentrate its resources on rebuilding the New Republic.

Imperial Remnant

With the end of the conflict against the Yuuzhan Vong the Imperial Remnants military forces withdraw back to their space. The main benefit of fighting against the Yuuzhan Vong has been help from the Shadow Empire in building and rebuilding the Imperial Remnants infrastructure during the war against the Yuuzhan Vong.

Though the Shadow Empire helped building and rebuilding the Imperial Remnants infrastructure, the Shadow Empire did not provide any technology transfer to the Imperial Remnant only help in building and rebuilding existing technology that the Imperial Remnant has access to.

With the return of the military forces from the conflict against the Yuuzhan Vong, Admiral Pellaeon’s position as supreme command of the Imperial Remnants military forces is now secured. The Imperial Remnants military forces are now more loyal to Admiral Pellaeon than at the start of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong. This action by the Imperial Remnants military forces towards Admiral Pellaeon annoys the Council of Moff’s, but in the short term, there is nothing that the Council of Moff’s can do about this.

One of the final befits of the victory over the Yuuzhan Vong is the lack of need to purchase military equipment through Imperial Remnant “front companies”, this action has helped the Imperial Remnants finances and resources to be diverted from the more expensive covert purchasing of military equipment of the more cost effective overt procurement program. This is allowing the overt purchase of such military items as the Preybird class heavy starfighters and the Vibre class corvettes.

In the use of overt procurement the Imperial Remnant is also able to speed up its military and civil rebuilding program without the need to rely on the Shadow Empire’s assistance, thus freeing the Imperial Remnant from “owing” the Shadow Empire or needing to rely on the Shadow Empire for help too much (or at all). Even though Grand Admiral Thrawn is part of the Shadow Empire, Admiral Pellaeon wants the Imperial Remnant to remain as independent as possible from outside interference.

Admiral Daala

Just before the start of the Yuuzhan Vong war, Admiral Daala resurfaced in the Deep Core looking to establish yet another fleet. With forces swelled by Imperials returning from imprisonment under the Yevetha, she united the squabbling factions under warlords including Foga Brill and Moff Tethys and prepared to strike once more at the New Republic.

The forces of the Imperial Remnant were preparing for a grand campaign, with Admiral Pellaeon moving coreward from the Outer Rim, and Daala and the new Deep Core warlords moving out from the Deep Core (thought their would be no coordination between these two Imperial groups). Even if Daala’s campaign were launched, the campaign would have been unfocused as each warlord would head his own attacks against the New Republic (under Daala’s “command”). Because of the unfocused nature of this campaign, Daala would not have much success against the New Republic, so the idea is abandoned by Daala and shortly afterwards by the Deep Core warlords as well, as they did not have any competent commanders other than Daala to lead their fleets, so they had no real choice in the matter.

With the arrival of the Yuuzhan Vong the Admiral Pellaeon drops this idea of a grand campaign as well.

Though many believed Daala was dead, New Republic Intelligence was right in their worst-case scenario assumption that she had survived. Daala had fled the Deep Core and returned to the Maw (for a short while). In the Deep Core Daala was building up a small but growing fleet, named the Maw Irregular fleet, which are armed with a variety of weapons designed by the new Maw scientists themselves, including the deadly Metal Crystal Phase Shifter (MCPS) the MCPS is a superweapon that is capable of altering the molecular structure of metallic substances.

The Metal Crystal Phase Shifter (MCPS) is deigned to penetrate the shields of a starship and damage its hull once encountering the area of the phase shifter’s effect, the metal within the target’s hull would be turned into powder and thus be weakened greatly during the attack. While the MCPS does not dramatically turn an entire ship’s hull into powder, it does create many tiny cracks and weak spots throughout the hull, which is sufficient to make the vessel lose critical structural integrity and collapse on itself.

This weapon is small enough to be fitted to most types of warships, all of the warships of Daala’s Maw Irregular fleet area fitted with the MCPS. This along with other research projects, which Daala had copied from the original Maw research facility, would give Daala a technological advantage in combat, something Daala had proved during the Yuuzhan Vong War.

During the Yuuzhan Vong War, Daala’s Maw Irregular fleet helped out planets in need of aid, although word of this never spread to the New Republic’s ears, as these planets saw no need in informing anyone of who is helping them. This has given Admiral Daala a supply base of various systems and planets for her military forces based in both the Deep Core and the rebuilt Maw Instillation.

Those planets that have received aid from Admiral Daala are part of a larger number of planets that have declared neutrality in the aftermath of the Yuuzhan Vong War, thus allowing these planets that Admiral Daala helped to continue to trade and supply Admiral Daala’s Maw Irregular fleet in return for protection. This arrangement is good for both sides, as Admiral Daala is able to get the supplies she needs and her forces get combat missions against any forces attacking these planets, thus giving Admiral Daala’s military force valuable combat experience without much risk.

Leaving the New Republic wondering how these planets (under Daala’s protection) had managed to acquire a large and powerful and very well armed strike force and are able to conceal this strike force without the New Republic or anyone else finding out. This force led by Admiral Daala has diverted the New Republic (along with several other powers) attention from the Shadow Empire to finding out about this strike force, as this strike force is mainly operating within the New Republic’s boarders.

Even the Shadow Empire nor the Imperial Remnant knows that Admiral Daala is still alive (for the moment that is) and they are equally surprised how these few planets have managed to acquire such a large and powerful and very well armed strike force.

Just over a year after the Dark Nest crises, the Dark Nest has again gained dominance over the Killiks and is rearing is head again, this time the Dark Nest will concentrate against Chiss controlled space in the Unknown Regions, to obliterate their old enemy.

The Swarm War is about to begin.

To be continued.
 
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