When Star Wars: The Old Republic was released in 2011, many MMO fans hoped it would help revolutionize the genre. World of Warcraft had reached a peak user base of 12 million a year earlier, and at the time it was mostly a matter of finding the next "WoW killer" to push the genre into new territory, a task BioWare is confidently accomplishing thanks to the studio's RPG pedigree and the huge success of Mass Effect 2.

For nearly a decade, Star Wars: The Old Republic had not gained the long-term respect that the original Knight Republic games had. The game struggled and ultimately struggled to survive in its subscription model in what was then a very monopolistic market. Star Wars: The Old Republic, however, is still worth looking back on 10 years later.

Star Wars: The Old Republic executed a balanced move that BioWare and fans hoped would lead to a successful MMORPG. The game had eight classes, four of which were Republic and the other four Sith. Each has a massive KOTOR campaign that includes full-voice NPCs, separate voices for player characters, and a variety of dialogue options around the world.

Ultimately, The Old Republic feels like a shared MMORPG world, grouped into eight single-player games. Players interact with each other in very few ways in the role-playing game. Ultimately, it's only the sudden realization that two players of the same level are living the same life as their companion that drives them apart. Even in group games, two players speaking in the same voice find it difficult to roleplay the entire group.

As a result, Old Republic always felt like it had two main components, and it didn't gel accurately. Fans hoping for a BioWare RPG experience were initially satisfied, but simply playing through the game like a single-player game leaves players too far behind in the levels to keep up with their main tasks, and they have to engage in the less narrative tasks. MMO aspects of the game that drive it.

On the other hand, MMO fans are so wrapped up in the storyline that they can't even see their fellow players, let alone interact with them. The promise of MMOs with KOTOR-level storytelling has been fulfilled, but never truly synthesized. But there's still an important reason to return to the Old Republic as you can buy cheap swtor gold from SSEGold.

Ultimately, Star Wars: The Old Republic has more BioWare Star Wars content than Knights of the Old Republic and its sequels combined. MMO fans may find the servers emptier, but fans of single-player BioWare RPGs will still find the game a treasure trove of BioWare's best and most forgotten stories.

In addition, The Old Republic has turned into a free-to-play model since its release, allowing players to explore eight full-fledged campaigns across a variety of worlds and some of BioWare's best companions without spending a dime. Star Wars: The Old Republic may never quite live up to the experience of a truly synthetic KOTOR MMO, but it's still a fun, expansive single-player experience in a huge world that matches the best BioWare games on a much larger scale.

SWTOR has always understood a good chunk of people want to play it because they want a Knights of the Old Republic experience, not because they're mad keen on grouping up with a load of strangers. That is why SWTOR has always included long, winding storylines for each character class right from the beginning of the game. Single-player story experiences within a massively multiplayer world - a kind of dual-aspect game. And these single-player segments are voiced, have cutscenes and dialogue choices, companions and romances. They were impressive at launch in 2011 and are even more so now.

They really took off in recent expansions Knights of the Fallen Empire (2015) and Knights of the Eternal Throne (2016). They told a combined story of an immortal Sith Lord called Valkorion, and his lackeys, who inevitably needed stopping. Valkorion remains one of the best Star Wars baddies I've come across and I'm saying this as someone who's plunged into a few of the books as well as the games and films. He's nuanced, incredibly powerful and he takes the story to places much deeper than simply evil you need to cauterise with your lightsaber. I wrote more about both Knights of the Fallen Empire and Knights of the Eternal Throne when they came out. In some respects they're really good, and as I can buy swtor credits from SSEGold at a cheap price, this make me like playing SWTOR games more.

That's me, Bertina. I'm not very nice.

Nevertheless, those expansions were four years ago and I haven't played since. Then I saw the game finally appear on Steam last week and got excited and reinstalled. In practice all Steam does is download the launcher for you and allow you to play through it. You still need a separate (and free) SWTOR account to log in. Doesn't that mean it adds a layer of fuss rather than take one away? Regardless, it was a moment and I thought I'd capitalise on it.

I was dreading it a little bit, to be honest, because when I logged back into World of Warcraft after a long time away, I had an uphill battle trying to relearn what felt like a very different game. The same wasn't true of SWTOR. To my delight, I was off on a new single-player story within moments of firing up the game. I just pressed 'launch' in the journal and I picked up seamlessly where I left off, as the person in charge of the Eternal Throne and its armada, a faction leader brokering alliances with the Imperial Empire and the Republic, not some rookie trying to rise within the ranks of them.

Everything I needed to remember about how to play came back to me on the job. I didn't need to refamiliarise before heading out because the companions the SWTOR story gives you heal so powerfully it's almost impossible to die. It was like this in the previous expansions. In story mode, SWTOR is a breeze. You can saunter through a grandiose story for hours without ever bumping into another player, only ever setting foot in a public area to run through it, to the green-hued barrier signalling the entrance to your own instanced personal world, your own Star Wars. In reality you might be a newcomer in a wider community but the most you'll ever see of it is when stopping to inspect people as you trot through, like dogs in a park.

There's a lot of fighting droids. Notice the heal amount in green there. My companion never stops healing me.

I love how agreeable SWTOR is about me playing like this, and how easy it is to pick up again and play. It makes me wonder why EA and BioWare haven't seriously considered taking it to consoles. They once said SWTOR represented KOTOR 3, 4, 5 and beyond because it had so much story in it, a marketing line no one ever swallowed, but now I look at it and the depth some of the story goes to, I think maybe they were onto something. I'd love to experience that from the comfort of my sofa, breezing through another character class' story from start to finish, maybe a goodie this time, although I feel a bit sick even considering it. If people can modify World of Warcraft to look like a surprisingly appealing controller experience, I bet someone can do something similar for SWTOR.

But as convincing as it can be as a single-player experience, SWTOR will still never be one, not fully, because mechanically and philosophically it is multiplayer, and the big creaky persistent world it lives in is what holds it back. Squint and it's KOTOR, and I think it's about time to admit I like it. (Article source:Eurogamer)

Starting

7 fleet regiments

14 army regiments

2 bulk cruisers

7 corvettes

1 med transport

7 x-wings

7 y-wings

various facilities

1 guerilla

1 infiltrator

3 longprobe

3 bothan spies

Mon Mothma, Han, Luke, Leia, Wedge, Chewie, Jan, Afyon, Narra, Roget Jiriss, Tura Raftican

Akbar recruited by Han day 10 while waiting on Yavin for fleet transport

Bren Derlin recruited by Leia day 11 while waiting for fleet transport

Han recruites Talon Karrde day 26

Coruscant Sector

Bilbringi, Borleias, Ruan, Averam ~80-85% support Alliance, Averam under Imperial military occupation

Velusia ~90% support Empire (assumed fleet presence)

Coruscant 100% support Empire

Other systems all 50% support

Deep Core

Fresia, Empress Teta, Galantos, Prakith, Ojomm ~75% support Alliance, Fresia under Imperial military occupation

Vulpter, Tarkin's Fang ~90% support Empire

Ebaq leaning towards Empire, still neutral

Khomm 50% support

Kuat Sector

Commenor ~75% support Alliance

Rendili ~65-70% support Empire

Arkania ~80-85% support Empire

Neimodia, Balmorra leaning towards Alliance

Kuat leaning towards Empire, Mon Mothma enroute

Carida, Camaas, Tepasi neutral

Alderaan unexplored

Corellian Sector

Talus ~90% support Alliance

Saccoria leaning towards Alliance

New Plympto, Drall, Duros Neutral

Nubia, Selonia, Corfai ~65-70% Imperial support

Corellia, Tralus ~90% Imperial support

Tapani Sector

Kiffex ~85% Support Alliance

Thyferra, Abregado ~75% Support Alliance, under Imperial military occupation

Ghorman leaning towards Alliance

Fondor, Bestine, Devaron, Yag'Dhul Neutral

Mrlsst ~80% support Empire

Bassadro ~90% support Empire

Doldur Sector

Zolan ~80% support Alliance, under Imperial military occupation

all others neutral/leaning towards Alliance

Corporate Sector

Bonadan, Abo Dreth, Rampa ~80% Alliance, Rampa under Imperial military occupation

Saffalore, Ession, Kalla leaning towards Alliance

Mytus neutral, under Imperial military occupation

Orron ~70% Imperial support

Etti IV ~80% Imperial Support

Trian ~90% Imperial support

Borderlands Sector

Chawza, Taanab 100% support Alliance

all others unexplored

Unknown

All neutral or leaning towards Alliance

Rampa - Day 4

Imp

VSD (Despot) - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Dread 3 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Carrack 12

Carrack 20

Galleon 19 - 2 fleet reg

Carrack 43

ISD 12 - 2 TIE, 2 stormie reg

Dread 30 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Galleon 61 - 2 fleet reg

VSD 73 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Carrack 71

Carrack 75

ISD 39 - 2 TIE, 2 stormie reg

VSD 105 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 110 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 112 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 114 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Carrack 113

ISD 51 - 2 TIE, 2 stormie reg

Carrack 121

Carrack 128

Dread 82 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Carrack 139

VSD 187 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Carrack 161

Dread 104 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 191 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 195 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

17 TIE fighters on system

Averam - Day 5

Dread (Supreme) - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 14 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 15 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 22 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Carrack 30

Dread 18 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Galleon 35 - 2 fleet reg

Carrack 44

Dread 28 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 49 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Dread 38 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 74 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Dread 52 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

ISD 25 - 2 TIE, 2 stormies

Carrack 82

Galleon 105

ISD 37 - 2 TIE, 2 stormies

VSD 108 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

ISD 43 - 2 TIE, 2 stormie

Carrack 108

Dread 69 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Carrack 118

VSD 136 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Carrack 124

Dread 77 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 139 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 140 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Galleon 147 - 2 fleet reg

Galleon 148 - 2 fleet reg

VSD 143 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 147 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Dread 92 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

Carrack 145

Carrack 149

VSD 170 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 171 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 175 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

VSD 188 - 1 TIE, 1 fleet reg

17 system based TIE Fighters

Coruscant - Day 6

ISD Judicator

VSD Master

Carrack Goblin

VSD Paramount

Carrack 16

Carrack 17

Galleon 22

Galleon 32

VSD 40

VSD 41

Carrack 48

Galleon 54

VSD 53

VSD 58

Dread 45

Dread 50

ISD 28

VSD 88

Carrack 86

Carrack 94

Galleon 115

ISD 56

ISD 57

ISD 60

Galleon 143

Carrack 138

VSD 154

Galleon 169

Galleon 175

ISD 78

Thyferra - Day 9

Carrack Dragon

Carrack Prometheus

Carrack 34

Galleon 30

VSD 32

Dread 24

VSD 43

VSD 50

Galleon 58

VSD 55

Carrack 63

Dread 39

VSD 82

Galleon 84

VSD 99

VSD 100

Galleon 109

Carrack 101

VSD 42

Carrack 105

Galleon 127

VSD 128

VSD 142

Carrack 140

Carrack 141

Galleon 163

Carrack 150

VSD 198

Tarkin's Fang - Day 23

Fleet 18 - 27 Cap, 35 squadrons, 49 troops

Fleet 23 - 24 cap, 24 squadrons, 44 troops

Fleet 24 - 27 cap, 57 squadrons, 55 troops

Fleet 29 - 3 cap, 3 fighter, 4 troops

Galantos - Day 25, assaulted day 27

3 VSDs

1 Dread

1 Carrack

vs.

1 Y-Wing

Edit in yellow.

Just today, I was playing around and the Empire managed to find my Rebel stronghold on day 22. Dunno how, but he hit me with 2 VSDs, 2 Dreadnoughts, 3 Carracks, 1 Transport, 4 TIEs, and a bunch of troops.

I had: 1 Bulk Cruiser, 3 Corellian Corvettes, 1 Transport, 1 Carrier, 4 Y-Wings, and 8 X-Wings. And because this was my HQ, I had to defend it.

Beginning of the battle, I figure I can slaughter his TIEs, but his capital ships are going to murder me. My fighters, with their torpedoes and resistance to turbolasers, are my only hope. I sent the Corvettes, Transport, and Carrier after his TIEs and focused everything else on his Carracks. As the battle progressed, he lost his TIEs, I lost my Y-Wings, he lost two Carracks, and two of my Corvettes were nought but scrap metal with an engine. But by the end, he had straight up lost all three Carracks, both his Dreadnoughts were being held together with bubblegum, and one VSD was without engines, weapons, or hyperdrive.

I lost the transport, one Corvette, the Y-Wings, and 7 X-Wing squads. Everything else escaped, though pretty damaged. At the conclusion, five systems joined the Alliance and Luke, Han, and Chewie sabotaged the operational VSD, then the transport, and finally the disabled dreads and VSD. Oh, and the HQ survived just fine.

So what unexpected battles have you won?

Anyone else love how Rebellion gets the imagination flowing? I love to write, but have a hard time coming up with ideas. Then suddenly play a bit of Rebellion and your mind cannot help but wonder. For instance, in my current game I have Moff Jerjerrod who was conducting diplomacy on Ando. I had recently been informed of this, and happened to have just moved some of my best people into the sector. So, I had Han, Chewie, Page, Narra, Dash Rendar and Ruckus to go get him.

A few days later, I get a message that he was in fact captured. And he was also injured. Huh. He must have put up a fight.

This is where the imagination starts. Obviously, they all loaded up onto the Falcon (or maybe Falcon AND Outrider, since they're about as fast as each other.) Going over details, and info and strategy as they headed to the water world.

I can just see Jerjerrod meeting with the Aquilish in some majestic town hall, on some above ocean city, obviously perturbed he has to deal with the non-humans. I can see Han, Chewie and the rest kind of doing casual recon around the city, figuring out where the Imps are and such (though it's hard to be subtle with a Wookie.)

A few days of tailing Jerjerrod, they make their move. I had Ruckus, Page and Narra as distractions. So they probably set charges on some Imperial building or another. Jerjerrod comes out of his meeting, distressed from the results. His personal guard of a few Stormies take up position around him as he begins to go down the stairs. Suddenly an explosion lights up the sky a few blocks down by the water. Figures. They are near a state of revolt as it is, so this is probably the start of an uprising. Giving quick orders to his soldiers, a few rush off. He begins a hurried/annoyed movement down the now panicking street toward the garrison. Sirens blare as smoke billows high into the air.

Han, watching from a distance gives a nod to Chewie, a ways away and ahead of Jerjerrod. Chewie steps out and smacks the leading Stormie, sending him crumpling to the ground. Dash peels out from behind a now vacant stand and blasts one of the other guards as Chewie quickly finishes off the last. Jerjerrod doesn't hesitate to take out his blaster, but Han blasts it out of his hand. Chewie smacks him unconscious and gives out a warm thanks to Han, who just smirks and holsters it. They quickly hide the Imps as Page shows up in a "borrowed" speeder. They load the unconscious diplomat into the thing and they take off toward the ships. Narra and Ruckus have the two ships prepped and ready to blast off into the sky.

A mission done well.

Man, I love this game.

To summarise rebed: weaker fighters, cheaper ships for AI, more expensive spec forces and cheaper everything else for everyone but even more for AI, double power planetary defences, faster hyperdrives. I had edited so there were 8 core sectors; at the start of the game I abandoned all militarily occupied planets and conducted civilian bombardments such that 6/8 core sectors were under rebel control (apart from two planets).

I took over the other two sectors rather quickly, and began to expand heavily into the rim. In the early game I experienced some pressure as the rebels had a superior fleet, but it didn't take long before I was attacking.

In terms of AI ship building, this was a big success- I have never seen such large numbers of Mon Cal cruisers, assault frigates, ect. Would the fact that I was seeing more enemy capital ships in this game than in possibly all my other games put together impact the result?

Not at all! It was even worse for the AI than in all previous games where they never managed to build a proper fleet (I typically never encounter a significant fleet after I start my offensive)! The AIs fleet handling is so bad that it didn't mean much in terms of putting up a fight- I mostly just annihilated individual ships or very small groups all arriving at a planet at different times.

What made it worse was that when the AI had no significant fleets, gathering enough troops and waiting for planetary defences to be erected provided a substantial speed bump to progress. I at least had a sense of having to slog through. Now, everyone loves me because of killing all the alliance fleets! I can just bombard their planets and watch them turn green.

Thus, the primary impact of more AI ships was to just gift me entire sectors worth of popular support! It turned out to be even easier, if anything, once I had my fleets. Its possible even lower AI costs would help, as I was able to concentrate superior fleets but I think the primary issue is that the AI's method of shuffling ships about individually is just far too vulnerable to interdictors regardless of their overall fleet.

My new plan, therefore, is to totally remove interdictor vessels from the game. While this will, sadly, mean many less fleet battles, it will mean that the AI at least can't commit hari-kiri with its ships. In fact, by having its ships survive its superior production might actually allow its fleet to outnumber mine. I think the interdictor cruisers mostly work against the AI heavily- its totally incapable of handling its ships in a way that reflects the need to avoid being caught by them, so hopefully their removal will help a little. Interdictors were definitely the single biggest factor for me in this game.

I wondered has anyone else tried a no-interdictor game?

What is the best ships to use for fleets? As Imperials, I've always tried to stick with numerous Vic destroyers and the regular Imps when possible and a crap load of Lancer frigates and Carrack cruisers to match. Would it be better to instead build numerous escort carriers and fill them with fighters?

As for the Rebels, I'm at a loss for fleet make up. Same for the Fighters. I saw in another post that somebody had a fleet of something like 10 escort carriers and 60 y-wings. Would a fleet like that be better for attacking and then subsequently bombarding a planet?

Help me Rebellion gurus, you're my only hope.

I'm starting a new game (standard game, hard, large galaxy) as the Galactic Empire with my New Galaxy configuration. And to make it more challenging I'm using the following guidelines:

1) No RebEd changes.

2) Diplomats can only work on systems in the core sectors, with the following exceptions: a) any Imperial controlled system in the outer rim can have diplomats bring loyalty up to 100%; b) the Corporate and Unknown sectors (they have "civilizations" to sway). After the core neutral systems have been swayed to one side or the other, outer rim systems are fair game.

3) No Rebel outer rim systems will be assaulted until the entire core is Imperial (any Rebel systems in the core are fair game); with one exception - the Alliance HQ when found.

4) No sabotage of Rebel mines or refineries. All other units and facilities are fair game, with exception to capital ships (unless they are blockading or bombarding an Imperial system).

5) No Rebel characters are to be actively targeted for capture, with the following exceptions: a) Mon Mothma or Luke, b) they are on a mission on an Imperial system, c) characters not in the Rebel military (i.e. Page, Tura Raftican, etc), d) characters with R&D abilities are NOT to be captured (missions can be disrupted, but I'll try to avoid this), e) NO Rebel diplomats will be targeted for capture.

Hopefully, this will give the Rebels plenty of time to build up their forces and a good infrastructure for a long and drawn out battle. It will be a priority to control the material wealth of the core systems to create my own infrastructure. I'm going to control the Coruscant sector first, and then concentrate on the other core sectors.

So when the game started, this is what I had to start with:

Coruscant sector: 1 Imperial, 4 Alliance and 5 Neutral systems.

- Coruscant

Deep Core sector: 2 Imperial, 5 Alliance and 3 Neutral systems.

- Tarkin's Fang

- Vulpter

Kuat sector: 2 Imperial, 2 Alliance and 6 Neutral systems.

- Alderaan

- Balmorra

Corellian sector: 1 Imperial, 5 Alliance and 4 Neutral systems.

- Saccoria

Corporate sector: 0 Imperial, 2 Alliance and 8 Neutral systems.

Tapani sector: 6 Imperial, 1 Alliance and 3 Neutral systems.

- Abregado

- Fondor

Ships: 2 Star Destroyers, 1 Dreadnaught & 1 Galleon.

Construction yards: 5 (2 on Coruscant & Fondor).

Training Facilities: 2

Shipyards: 1

Maintenance: 701

The first order of business will be for the construction yards (CY) to create more CY's where possible. My training facilities (TF) will produce espionage droids and eventually garrison troops. The ship yard (SY) will start off producing Tie Fighters (for defense), then Carracks (for raids & exploration) and maybe more transports (if troops are available for them).

A big challenge will be the lack of TF's for troops and SY's for ships. My CY's are going to be plenty busy!

Coruscant sector: I have Palpy doing recruitment on Coruscant, with Piett & Darth Vader going to Bilbringi & Anaxes to do diplomacy, respectively. Bevel Lemelisk in on Coruscant doing Facility Design. Niles Ferrier is on an espionage mission to Velusia.

Kuat sector: Veers is enroute to do Troop Research on Balmorra.

Deep Core sector: Klev is enroute to do Ship Research on Vulpter. Menndo is on an espionage mission to Byss.

Tapani sector: Jerjerrod is enroute to do diplomacy on Devaron.

Corellian sector: Needa is on Saccoria doing a Subdue Uprising mission as I move troops off-system to build up popular support without having to use a diplomat. Saccoria has no facilities, so it's not too terribly important; other than needing the resources and being the only Imperial presence in the sector.

My biggest concern right now is the lack of any GenCores on Coruscant; it's basically wide open to assault except for the one ISD in orbit. The fighters and troops on the ISD have been moved planetside for better defense of the system (the Tie Fighter won't have to "launch" and troops aren't much good in space battles). I have no doubt the Rebels are already amassing for an attack. I plan to pull the other ISD to Coruscant ASAP; it's currently delivering Jerjerrod to Devaron. As soon as the CY's on Coruscant are finished, I'll have to scrap two refineries to free space for the GenCores. I hope I have time to pull this off.

I plan to make Vulpter-Deep Core a SY system, and depending on my diplomacy missions there may be more in the Coruscant and Tapani sectors. Basically now I'm just building up the most meager of forces. But I do plan on assaulting all of the Rebel systems in the Coruscant sector soon; they don't have any facilities as far as I can tell, and only minimal defenses. I plan on assualting them with minimal troops (resulting in uprisings), then use Darth Vader and Piett to do Subdue Uprising missions; but that will have to wait at least until they're "in sector" and the other ISD has arrived at Coruscant.

http://i883.photobucket.com/albums/ac33/MarkusRamikin/OPLeia.jpg

Surprisingly easy to do, once you've located Vader.

(I know I'm hardly the first one to have done this).

Here is a transcript of some salient points of an ongoing campaign game between myself and Lord Vader.

1) Balmorra, the only Rebel planet in the Sesswenna sector is captured by Imperial troops on Day 6.

2) Rebel diplomatic efforts and a minor skirmish in the Farfin sector swings the entire sector to the Alliance.

3) Intensive Imperial Diplomatic efforts swing most of Sluis and Corellian sectors to The Empire.

4) Dolomar starts falling through diplomacy to the Alliance.

5) First major campaign by the Empire leaves much of the Dolomar sector in ruins but still in Rebel hands.

6) Extensive sabotage is carried out by both sides, but the carracks Assasin, Eagle and Retribution wreak havoc in Rebel rear areas with squads of commandoes led by Novall Garaint, Garidian and Niles.

7) Imperial Commerce raiders Sulla, Caligula, Nero and Caesar ( Victory I's) bombard alot of Rebel resource and Industry to Ashes in Alliance rear areas. Nero and Caligula are destroyed but Sulla 'the scourge of the Alliance' continues to pay for itself many times over. It is reported that the Alliance is down to -700 maintenance at one point.

Luke Skywalker is captured and abducted on Delaya by Darth Vader and brought before the Emperor to learn of his heritage. He is severely wounded and sentenced to life imprisionment on the prison planet IPP101, where he is constantly poked with a sharp stick by IMP-22.

9) The frontline stabilizes with both sides fighting pitched battles in the Fakir System. Control swings back and forth with the Rebels slowly gaining control through uprisings although the system is devastated.

10) Imperial Fleet Strike1 is completely annihilated at Palanhi by superior Rebel tactics and firepower. Several Imperial capital ships including the renowned Decimator are lost.

11) Imperial Fleet Strike 2 supported by the Death Star ( which missed the battle of Palanhi by one week ) arrive over Palanhi and destroy a crippled Mon Calamari cruiser. Palanhi recaptured.

12) Alliance forces capture Sluis Van. Strike 2 and DS arrive over Sluis Van. Rebel player has cunningly loaded the planet with hundreds of B Wings ... the scourge of the Death Star which succumbs to a fighter attack. B wings wiped out and Sluis Van recaptured. Empire has loyalty problems on several planets due to the loss of the Death Star.

13) Roving Alliance Fleet of several capital ships is utterly defeated in an Imperial ambush over Norval II. Second Death Star Construction begins.

14) The Rebel Base is discovered unbeknown to the Alliance on Alk'lellish III.

15) Two Imperial SSD ( flagships are the Galactically renowned and feared Imperator & Emperor ), together with several ISDII's and many others, plus the new Death Star are sent to to eliminate the Rebel Base via Denab.

16) Strike3 arrives over Alk'lellish III supported by the DS. The Death Star is again destroyed... , but the Rebel base is destroyed and the planet captured.

This is where the game stands at around turn 1900 approx. The game has been one of many triumphs and reverses ( not all of which are recorded ) for both sides. The game has been extremely competitive and fiercely fought, but also with humour. I have enjoyed the game immensely although it has been a little slow on my part ( I usually have 8-10 reports to deal with on average every turn, honest Russ!! ), but Russ has been very good about it. I will update on completion.

I also have a game with Chancellor running at the moment although this game is only at turn 350, so I will write a report again around turn 2000 ( if I last that long).

End of Transmission

CR-90 Alliance Corvette â€

Wow, where to begin. Chronological order would be best I'm guessing.

The Empire wins the Battle of Endor. However this battle turns out atleast some rebels are going to escape, (not many but some.) Maybe say 5 of them in starfighters. (A-Wings)

The Rebellion, though defeated, would simply go underground and essentially become the equivilant of one of the many pirate bands throught the galaxy. (I'm reminded of the pirate groups in I,Jedi.) I have no comment on what would happen to Luke, Leia, Han and the rest for now.

There is no garuntee that the Empire would have gained the Entrenchment technology from defeating the Ssi-Ruuvi. Most of the damage done to the Ssi-Ruuvi Imperium was by the Chiss E.D.F. when their borders (most likely) came under attack. The Empire may have continued on into Ssi-Ruuvi space and conquered them but they would have probably tried to destroy their technology lest their enemy use it on them.

Like most exotic technologies some or most of it would have ended up at the Mount Tantiss storehouse. Even with some of it recovered, I don't think this tech would have become very widespread, as the Emperor might want to keep it for himself in ways to prolong his life. (Or the lives of choice followers.)

I also agree that Palpatine would begin constructing a New Sith Order much along the lines of what was said above [ie. original discussion this was taken from.] by others. He would certainly have many people to choose from. Mara Jade would essentially remain the puppet she was and Kam would keep his old job. Dathomir would continue to be a source to draw dark side adepts from with the large population of Witches there.

The Rebellion would continue in the outer rim territories and some remote locations but I don't think the Empire would (need to) resort to totaly erasing any more species. Even durring the Krytos Virus outbreak Isard had been planning to contain select populations of certain species that had proven useful in labour such as Wookies and Sullustans. The Bothans on the otherhand I doubt would be as lucky as Isard considered them a primary target for extermination.

I can easily see an area about the size of the Imperial Remnant becoming a Rebel stronghold arround Mon Cal. Of course that entire area would have been crushed by the Imperials several times. Everyone would just scatter and stay hidden except for raiding.

I feel confident that Vader would have been able to deal with the Mount Tantiss incident with Jorus C'boath (sp?) unless perhaps Palpatine had him created on purpouse? Who knows, but most of the more serious incidents through the galaxy that plagued the NR would have been taken care of by the Empire easily.

Droid fighters would be introduced on a massive scale but these would be more suplemental, similar to how they were used by Zinj. One human pilot and a Droid wingmate which would shadow and cover them. Certain Elite Units would be upgraded with TIE Defenders and Avengers. Gun and missile boats would undergo a resurgance in the support role and Skipray blastboats would also be numerous. The Empire's missile production would remain mostly focused on Concussion missiles rather than Torpedos much as it has always been.

At this point infiltration of the galaxy begins. Vong Infiltrators would have an easy time infiltrating the Rebel factions, Hutt Syndicates or Black Sun and even the Empire. Unless they were to come into close contact with a Dark Jedi there isn't much that would give them away. In the event a Vong was ever seen without an Oooglith Masquer it would look like "Just another Alien" to most imperials. In a worst case secnario the infiltrator would kill themselves before any information could be wrought out of them.

When the invasion finally began, all the Vong would need to do is close off the nearby sectors quickily enough to stop communications from getting out.

Nom Anor's sucess in the anti-Jedi Peace Brigade [and other group's before it] could be just as effective when used against the populations of the Empire.

EDIT:

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/Defender_16/TieGauntlet-Missile.gif

http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/Defender_16/TieGauntlet-Laser.gif

I can dig the Sheild strentgh to strong for Bombardment, like in ESB, but you have to be given the option to ground assault, even if the odds are not in your favor. Run out of troops? go get some more and come back!

So I decided to take away Sheild Generators, or at least the ability to build new ones, I did however give the Ai (when he's the Empire) the chance to build a Gen 2 when he researched it on high level!

And had to take away bombarment from almost everything, to be sure.

Now Ion cannons can be used if you decide to let tie bombers or y-wings have that job.

This brought the assault back into the game no matter what! I love it. And If I'm playing the rebellion I also went and gave the empire a little bit cheaper Fleet regiments.

1 I dont mind him having overwhelming access to troop numbers

2 I'm of the opinion he should be able to most of the time take any planet w/ enough work or want.

But that being said I gave the Rebellion "Rangers" as someone had put that card up.

I made them, real cheap and semi ok for assualting, semi decent for defense, because they are more Guerilla type figthing. This means I can at least have someone on planets that support me. Usually I tend to get the planets support diplomatically, Doesnt mean I can protect them against the might of the Imperial army though.

So w/ out a navy strong enough to protect a system or sector , it forces my real building to the outer rim.

Also I used the method by a member here of doubling alot of ship stats so fighters were not so dangerous to capital ships. I'll find the post and link it, cause he had a great idea! Made for as he said faster Battles.

So thats how Ive been playing lately.

I recently dusted off my Rebellion CD and played a few games. Now, we all know that the AI is... naïve — at best. After finishing off my last game, where I won by controlling an entire huge galaxy (I even gave up control of Coruscant), I got a bit bored and decided, "Hey, I want to see Solo brought before Jabba!" So I started a new game on expert huge (as usual) and just let the days run by. To have things run even faster for me, I scrapped everything and moved everyone to Alliiance HQ. About 300-and-something days in, the Empire launched an attack on the HQ and destroyed it. So far, only once had the lousy bounty hunters attacked Solo. (Which is how the Empire found the Alliance HQ location.) As my characters regrouped to the nearest system, I thought, "Hmm... This might prove a challenge, let's save the game once they arrive." I let the game run its course further, to see if I could get the Jabba's palace scenario.

In the end, I ended up with only one system left and Solo still very much in my control.

Now, however, winning the game will most definitely be a huge challenge — even if it's against the AI. So, if like me, you're up for a challenging game, listen up:

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/9148/swryavin.png

It's day 1500. The Alliance headquarters at Garban have been destroyed. Mon Mothma is captured along with Ackbar and princess Leia. Jan Dodonna has been killed. Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Wedge Antilles, Chewbacca, Drayson, Huoba Neva and Sarin Virgillo has taken refuge at Yavin -- the ONLY planet still in your control. And it's been stripped of EVERYTHING. No facilities, no troops, no ships. It's only a question of when the Empire will launch its attack on the last Alliance planet, and bring Skywalker to the emperor... (My tests show that the Empire will launch its attack on Yavin at around day 1590. When they do, you WILL lose the system, and the game.)

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/6282/swrsupport.png

I hope some of you will try out this scenario and report back your results. Let's see who can win the game in the shortest amount of time? Do you have some interesting stories of key missions or battles going in or against your favour? How many times will you curse my name as you spot an Imperial abduction mission at Luke's location?

I've included a little readme with a note on where to put the savegame, an overview of the situation, and contact information if you should wish to drop me an e-mail. Now get the file from here: http://www.mediafire.com/?kebo7kjc7eeorfn and let me know how things turn out for you.

SWR newbie here posting for the first time. I had been eyeing the game for a couple years now but hesitant to buy it because the price never seemed to come down. Then I found this site a month or so ago and finally bought the game.

Still just started playing, and have been limited in time to play but working on my second game now. But I got to wondering after reading the forums here some. What is the fastest game you folks have played in terms of game time?

My first game was as the Rebel Alliance, small galaxy, easy game. (After all, I was just trying to get a feel for it.) I had been working on Luke's force skills when he went off on his Dagaobgh (sp?) training mission. I was still in the process of exploring the Outer Rim and establishing bases and facilities when Luke came back. On about his second or third mission back, he was captured by Vader and taken to Coursant. I was debating on how to mount a rescue mission to get him back when he arrives there.

Well, the "Last Battle" senernio apparently kicked in and Luke ends up capturing both Vader and the Emperor in one sweep. So I jump on the opportunity and grab every ship I can and load up for an assult on Coursant. Once I arrive it is a fairly quick battle to overwheml the defending forces and I win my first game. Total turns elasped, just over 1200. Don't remember exactly, but that is close.

Is that a typical experince, do game normally end that early on?

Or did I just get lucky?

What is the fastest you have ever had a game play out?

Day 100:

Sesswana Sector:

I control Bortras, Balmorra and Svivren. Balmorra is may main base there. Early, I grouped everything together (3 Corvettes, a Med. Transport and an Escort Carrier with 1 X-Wing and 1 Y-Wing squadrom, and began constructing a dreadnought. I launched the attack on Coruscant before waiting for the dread. I thought there was just a ISDS, nothing else. They actually had 16 TIEs as well. 1 Corvette was destroyed. everything else crippled. 7 Bothans were went to spy on the planet-they all died. Luke, Han, Chewie and Crix did a bunch of missions, eventually destroying the ISD and freeing Drayson.

Sumitra Sector:

My base is here, on Tierfon. I send everything to Yavin, to hold against imperial strikes. (A Med. Transport, a few corvettes and a pack of X-/Y- Wings. Mon Mothma recruits a bunch of personell, including Garm Bel Iblis, so I give him command of two corvettes, the Katana and the Dagger, and send him away to pester Imp forces. All chars and spec forces are sent to balmorra from Yavin. Wedge researches there, but no progress.

Not the best of starts.

Star Trek vs. Star Wars:

http://www.intowit.com/bloggd/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/starwars_vs_startrek.jpg

Shattered Space Part I

Silently the ship glided through space. The flashes of ion storms in a nearby nebula illuminated its glistening grey surface. The dim red and blue pulse of the ship's drives gave the vessel a ghostly appearance as it passed through the shadow of a small moon. Its grey hull was separated into two major and two minor sections, the forward section looked like a stretched oval or the backside of a concave mirror, the second main section was shaped like the main hull of an old mariner. The two minor hull sections looked to be some form of engine, their sides glowed a faint blue. The ship itself was small in the realm of intergalactic travel with perhaps only as many as five or six decks. Each level could be guessed at from the pattern of windows on the ship's hull. On the upper plates of the vessel, in clear English was the ship's name, Voyager.

On the ship's compact bridge Captain Janeway sat sipping a cup of coffee as her crew worked. Ahead on the viewer, she could see light glinting off tumbling asteroids. The rings around the planet were spectacular and reflected light like small mirrors as their components spun through space. The mere fact that the planet existed was something of a natural miracle, this system was still in its earliest stage of formation, and space was littered with debris, tons of rock, dust, and comentary fragments, a venerable firing squad upon the new planet.

The Warp engines were undergoing a maintenance check, one that was long overdue, as the Voyager trolled at less then quarter impulse around the planet. Janeway glanced up as fiery streak of light in rings broadcast a collision within them. With a flash one of the larger pieces in the ring, a shepherd satellite, split in two from a collision with the foreign meteor, "It's been awhile since we've been able to just sit back and do a little stargazing." She slowly turned in her seat to look at one of the bridge crew, "Kim, did you watch the stars back home."

Ensign Kim smiled slightly as he tapped the console, "Captain, who in Starfleet didn't look up at the stars?"

Commander Tuvok, the dark skinned Vulcan officer glanced up as a series of electronic alarms went off from his console, "Captain, I'm picking up a signal, in the subspace band, I can't make it out." He glanced over to Ensign Kim, "Ensign can you identify the format of the transmission?"

Kim frowned and turned to the display behind him. "The signal seems to be in a holographic format of some sort," Ensign Kim said as he began to analyze the signal, "I'm compressing it to two dimensional and routing to the view screen."

A voice shot from the comm, but only static appeared on the view screen, "This is the New Republic Transport Jade Scimitar to any ships in range, requesting emergency assistance... Repeating this is the Jade Scimitar..."

Janeway glanced at the ensign, "Can you clean it up any?"

"Negative Captain, there is too much interference; I've plotted the transmission's source. It's coming from just inside the nebula, sir."

"Tom, set course for that distress call," Janeway ordered as she turned toward the helm. She turned to the blond woman that sat beside her over at the sensor displays; "Seven, what can you make of the nebula?"

Seven of Nine, the lone Borg member of the crew furrowed her brow almost imperceptibly. "This nebula has never been catalogued by any Borg expedition. It has an unusually large concentration of tachyon and graviton particles." Seven of Nine stiffened slightly, "I'm picking up the ship. It's just within visual range."

"On screen," Janeway turned to the display and saw the screen flash to show a scarred vessel. A large bulb shot forward and a pair of steel wings shot around the bulb. Behind the bulb the ship flared outward and a pair of ring shaped surfaces was visible on its ventral side. The ship kept flaring outward and a bulb shaped turret was visible at its center. The ship curved outward into a pair of wings with a nest of six ion engines in between them.

"Sensors are picking up a number of energy traces on the vessel's hull, and excessive residue of neutrinos would indicate a large energy wake has affected the vessel. Plasma burns are scattered across the hull. I'm not detecting any kind of warp field or warp core captain, their primary source of propulsion appears to be some form of Ion Drive," Tuvok reported as he finished his scan.

"How'd it get out here?" Lieutenant Tom Paris asked from the helm.

"That's not important at the moment, life signs?" Janeway asked turning to Seven of Nine.

"Captain I'm picking up three, all human." Seven looked up at Janeway, her expression slightly puzzled.

"Hail them," Janeway too felt bewilderment at the statement, but she knew what had to be done.

Seven pushed a button, "Waiting for response. They're trying to open a channel, were synchronizing, connection established."

The view screen flared to life and a middle aged blond man sat in front of the monitor He seemed to be leaning back to look up at the projector. Janeway stood in the center of the bridge to be clearly visible, "This is Captain Janeway of the Federation starship Voyager to the unknown vessel; do you require assistance?"

The man smiled slightly then stopped "Federation? You don't recognize our vessel? Which Federation are you talking about?" He craned back and yelled to someone off screen, "Mara, get our location off the nav computer."

Janeway looked left and right to the other bridge members, they looked as confused as she was, "Uh, captain this is the USS Voyager of the United Federation of Planets. I ask again, do you require assistance?"

"The nav computer say's we're off near Wayland, Luke, but the stars don't match up exactly," A voice answered Luke from off screen.

"Stand bye, Voyager, we're running a diagnostic, could you do a sensor sweep of the area for us?"

Janeway threw up her hands, she'd never found herself dealing with people like these, "Seven run a sensor sweep."

Seven seemed to straighten, "Captain we're picking up a pair of small contacts closing fast."

"Captain, do you have anyone pursuing you?" Janeway said as she dropped down into the command chair.

"Negative Voyager, we've just picked up the contacts, looks like a pair of Skipray Blastboats, should be friendly, Alliance craft," The man said slowly. Janeway watched as he expertly checked the systems on the craft. Luke glanced back up at the monitor, "We're shutting down for another diagnostic, stand by." The image winked off to be replaced by the image of a pair of small vessels closing on the damaged ship.

"I am detecting increased residue on the hulls of these vessels as well captain," Tuvok proclaimed as he diligently scanned the ships. Suddenly a blaze of green and blue pulse weapons fire leapt between the two new ships and the original damaged vessel.

Suddenly a voice snapped onto the comm, "Captain we're under attack requesting immediate assistance!!!" Janeway watched as the original ship’s drive lit and the vessel made a swift roll to expose what little shields it had onboard.

Janeway saw the Skipray Blastboats clearly now, their curving forward fuselage and cross shaped profile. She saw that one of them was now boring down on them, "Yellow alert, hail those ships."

"No, response," Paris said from his post. Suddenly Janeway saw the flashes of light that were the weapons of the Skipray firing.

"Red alert, engage those ships, attack pattern delta four," Janeway ordered swiftly. She felt the thump of weapons fire impacting the shields. The original vessel suddenly blazed into sight, a flaming projectile shot into the Skipray which detonated in a shower of debris and sparks. Janeway turned to Tom, "Fire on the other ship!"

The glistening solid red blast of the phaser shot smashed through the forward shielding of the Blastboat. After a few seconds it had born completely through the ship and out the other side leaving an empty hulk tumbling through space.

"The ship is hailing us," Seven said from her post.

Janeway laid a finger under her chin, "On screen."

Luke was leaning back in his seat, "Thanks for the assistance, Voyager, my ship..."

From off the screen came a second voice, "Our ship."

"...Is badly damaged, our life support is failing and our hyperdrive is damaged," Luke said slowly.

"We could transport you aboard our ship, give you whatever parts you need for repairs, our technology and yours may be very different mind you," Janeway answered swiftly.

"Understood Captain, we'll be waiting."

"Prepare to beam them aboard," Janeway turned to the others around her, "Cancel red alert."

"Beam, what do you mean?" Luke suddenly disappeared as the blue lines closed around him.

Janeway stood and walked out of the bridge and onto the turbolift, "Transporter room."

* * *

Luke took a quick breath as he saw the room materialize before him. Slowly he stretched out with his senses, and there in front of him were a pair of crewman wearing those simple jumpsuits. He felt a warm hand tug at his arm and turned to see Mara standing there next to him. She smiled faintly at him and gripped Ben’s hand. He smiled sheepishly at her touch as the doors in the corner of the room slid open.

The woman he’d talked to earlier stepped into the bridge. She suddenly stopped and starred at Mara. Luke heard Mara’s sharp intake of breath, and Luke realized something that had been nagging at him since he’d first seen the woman. In every way, but the eyes, she and Mara looked identical. After a moment the woman glanced at Ben who was gripping Mara’s legs frightened, “I’ll be alright.” She glanced at the two of them, “My name is Kathryn Janeway, I’m captain of Voyager, are any of you injured.”

“Just some scratches,” Luke answered swiftly. He shrugged, “I’m Luke Skywalker, this is my wife Mara, and our son Ben.”

“Well our doctor can fix those rather quickly,” Janeway held up a hand, “If you’d turn over any weapons you are carrying I’ll take you to sick bay.”

Mara sighed and pulled off her holstered DL-44, “Alright, I suppose we can ease your paranoia.” She tossed the holstered pistol to one of the guards. Luke drew his lightsaber and handed it to Janeway.

Janeway hesitantly took it and glanced at the second device that was strapped to Mara’s hip, “What about yours?”

Mara bit her lip and took the saber from her belt and handed it to Janeway, “Satisfied?”

“Yes,” Kathryn Janeway answered as she turned to led them out of the room. She led them threw the plain halls of the Starship and to the pair of nondescript doors identical to all the others around the ship. Slowly she waved them forward.

Luke froze as he entered the room, there was a slightly balding man standing before him, dressed in a black and blue jumpsuit. Luke realized that there was nothing there, a void in his perceptions. Slowly Mara reached toward the saber Janeway held in her hand. It leapt with shocking speed from her hand and into Mara’s. With a snap hiss the lightsaber ignited and Mara pointed it toward the doctor, “You’re not human?”

The doctor lifted his hands in surprise, “Not really, no.”

“Lower your weapon, he’s a hologram,” Janeway bellowed as she drew her phaser. Mara’s eyes glanced from the doctor to Janeway’s hard stare and slowly she lowered the saber.

“Of course you wouldn’t have been able to damage me, and I am after all a hologram,” the doctor said as the saber disappeared.

Mara arched an eyebrow, “You might be surprised.”

Kathryn held out a hand and plucked the saber from Mara’s hands, “I can’t have you waving weapons around my ship.” Only then did Kathryn’s attention turn to the young boy next to Mara. She smiled slightly at the boy, who grinned back, on glancing back at Mara Janeway found those green eyes staring back at her. Once again Janeway was shocked by the similarity of their features. Slowly she pulled the doctor aside, “I want you to do a genetic scan on them, check it with our records.”

“What should I be looking for?”

“Just find out who they are,” Kathryn answered and then walked out of the room.

Mara watched the Captain leave, and felt uncomfortable as the doctor held a scanner next to her, “Great, from running from the Rapora to this, what next?”

Luke slowly shook his head, “I know Mara, but what are we suppose to do?” He sighed, “We’re unknown to these people how can we expect them to trust us?”

Mara nodded slowly as Ben climbed up onto one of the beds, “I suppose you’re right, and the Captain, she’s just as irritating as I am, isn’t she.”

“Irritating isn’t the word I’d choose,” The doctor remarked as he scanned Mara. Suddenly he stopped, “Interesting, you’re generating an electromagnetic field.”

“I am?” Mara asked surprised. Slowly the doctor walked over to Ben and scanned him for a moment then proceeded to Luke.

“You’re all generating an electro-magnetic field. I’ve never seen that before in humans,” The Doctor said slowly.

Slowly the doctor walked over to a microscope and put a strand of hair that he’d found while examining Mara under the microscope, “Hmmm… All life forms contain tiny magnets that are usually arranged half hazard the body, you on the other hand.” The Doctor straightened, “Your cellular magnets are arranged tip to tip, like your whole body now generates an electrical field.”

Luke looked over at Mara, “Miticlorians those are the magnets he’s talking about.”

Mara nodded, “I see where this is going.” Suddenly Ben jumped into her lap, “Hi.”

Ben smiled at Mara, “Mom, where are we?”

“I’m not sure,” Mara answered plainly.

* * *

Janeway wandered around her desk and stopped by the viewport, “Computer, search archives for a Luke Skywalker.”

“Searching… no pertinent material found, expand search to all archives?”

“Expand search,” Janeway said as she picked a coffee cup from her desk and took a sip, it was still warm from the replicator.

“Multiple matches found, source, literature, cultural, and film files.”

“Doing a little research are we?” An all too familiar voice asked from behind Janeway. She spun to see the middle aged man standing there in a standard red and black Starfleet uniform.

“Q, don’t tell me you’re behind this?” Janeway asked as she recognized the visitor.

“Me, I’m afraid I’m just an observer, the continuum sent me to investigate,” Q said flatly as he dropped himself into one of the chairs and put his boots on the desk.

Janeway arched an eyebrow as she glanced at the search results, “Fictional references…” She slowly leaned forward, “Alright Q, what is going on here?”

“I have no idea, I do recall a little incident with a child similar to this but I can’t recall why it reminds me of Trelane,” Q said slowly then a smirk crossed his face, “An interesting quandary, but as Einstein said God does not play dice, there must be a reason behind this.”

“You probably met the man,” Janeway said flatly.

Q grinned again, “I got his autograph, want to see?” Janeway just rolled her eyes. “Well if you really want to know, I think we’re seeing the result of very rare natural phenomena.”

“Please Q, what did you do?”

“Me? Nothing or at least the me that exists in this reality didn’t do anything,” Q said swiftly. As he finished a series of alarms ran through the cabin.

Janeway was through the door as the call went through the ship, “Unknown ship entering sensor range.” She stopped in front of the command chair as the ship appeared on the view screen. It was a small ship, only couple dozen meters in diameter. Janeway looked over to Ensign Kim, “They haven’t detected us yet.”

“That won’t stay true for long,” Kathryn Janeway said swiftly.

* * *

Mara glanced up from the doctor as the lights suddenly dimmed and a series of red lights light up the consoles in the sick bay. The doctor frowned and tapped the comm badge at his chest, “Captain what’s going on?”

“Doctor, bring our guests to the bridge,” The Captain answered across the comm channel.

Mara stood and took Ben’s hand, “What next?”

Luke frowned slightly and concentrated, “I can sense something a familiar mind… I think I know who it is.”

“Who?” Mara asked flatly as the doctor lead them through the door and down the hall. With a hiss the doors of the turbolift opened and they stepped inside.

The Doctor spoke swiftly, “Bridge.”

“Lets just say that I hope Han was right about his change in heart,” Luke said slowly as the doors hissed open. Luke stepped out of the turbolift and stopped as he saw the image on the view screen. There a familiar faceless figure was framed in the center of the screen.

Mara was faster on her wits than Luke once again, “I’ll be a hutt, its Boba Fett.”

“Hello Jade, Master Skywalker I was told I could find you near Wayland,” The armored man answered slowly. He seemed slightly edgy, unnerve, “There has been a large bounty placed on your head Skywalker, if I didn’t have as much respect for you as I do, I would have taken the job.”

Luke stopped to think, Boba Fett respected him? It seemed a strange turn of events, “You don’t have a spare hyperdrive do you Fett?”

“I’m afraid not Skywalker, I’d be willing to guard your ship for the time being but I’m critically short on supplies.”

Janeway glanced between the two foreigners, “I’d be willing to provide supplies.”

“Thank you Captain, if you’ll open up your hangar bay I’ll be willing to dock.”

* * *

Belana Tores ran a hand through her thick hair as she finished the final repairs to the Delta Flyer. Slowly she pulled herself out of the ship as the doors to the rear of the ship slowly opened. She turned to see a large vessel slowly move to enter. It dipped beneath the hangar entrance and seemed to be standing on its tail as it settled to the floor. Slowly a pair of doors beneath the beam of the ship slid open and a man descended the platform with a pair of blaster pistols.

The doors for the bay slid open and a pair of gold clad guards slipped into the bay followed by Captain Janeway and a pair of people she didn’t recognize along with a eight year old child. Slowly Belana walked over to the Captain as the armored clad man walked to them. The man with blond hair spoke softly, “If you want to take his weapons you’ll want the whole suite.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Janeway answered the blond then turned to the armored man, “I’m afraid you won’t be able to keep your weapons while you’re onboard.”

With a hiss Q wandered into the shuttle bay, “Captain let me handle this, Mandalorians can be as tough to get along with as Klingons.”

The armored man didn’t move, “Have the Jedi given up their arms?” Janeway nodded and the mandalorian lifted his hands to the helmet and tugged it off his head, “I will give up mine as well then.” The face that had been beneath the helmet was pockmarked and scarred but undeniably human. Belana felt herself breath in a sharp intake of breath. A tattoo topped one of the eyes and the face without the scars was undeniably familiar, Chekotay’s.

Q cocked his head at the Mandalore, “I’m surprised you gave up your arms so easily, Boba.”

The man lifted a gauntleted hand, “Wait you’re Q.”

Luke and Mara turned to stair at Q who seemed staggered by the remark, “Uh, yes…” He glanced to the others around them, “Have we met before?”

“You certainly seemed to know him,” Janeway observed swiftly.

“It comes from spending too much time in the twentieth century, George Lucas sure got his money’s worth out of those films,” Q said swiftly. It was obvious to all that he was on the defensive, “Alright, I have a rather large collection of Star Wars merchandise.”

Mara and Luke looked at each other obviously confused. Slowly Q lowered his hands and exhaled, “I don’t know how to put this but… in this reality Luke, Mara, and even you Boba are all fiction.”

“They seem real enough to me,” Belana retorted at the two of them. Slowly the others nodded.

Q shook his head, “Fine, I’ll be leaving you can figure this out by yourselves.” He snapped his fingers and disappeared in a flash.

Luke and Mara looked at each other, “Who was that anyway?”

Boba turned to Luke and Mara, “Thirty years back the Empire hired me to capture a man named Q. It turned out he was some sort of super being, able to travel through time and space at his own will.” He shrugged, “That had been quite a challenge. I never caught him, I told the Imps that they could try themselves, they’d fail of course but.” The man cracked a faint smile, “You have to wonder how he does that.”

“We’ve encountered Q once or twice, he causes trouble and leaves,” Janeway shrugged slightly then smiled, “He’s got a son now and tried to romance me once… just typical Q antics.” As she finished her comm badge went off, “Janeway here.”

“Come to sick bay as quick as you can, you might want to see this.”

Janeway tapped her comm badge, “On my way.”

Deep in the bowels of a long abandoned mining facility, a bored gaurd sat tapping away at a computer termial, looking through the local news for details on the war against the Empire. When he had first been assigned to this position, he had been diligant in his duties, knowing fully well that the small vault behind him gaurded something important to the New Republic. He did not known what it was then, nor did he know now, but he knew it was important. Why else wuld he be stationed here, gaurding a room that was sealed shut in a facotry that no one cared about?

But now, he spent his shifts watching holovids, and occasionally catching naps. He had been kept here for several years now, with hopes of eventual re-asignment looking dimmer by the week. He thought that eventually they would place a different gaurd here for this shift, and he would get moved somewhere else.

But recently, thoughts that he had been forgotten by his superiors had crept into his mind. This, along with a complete lack of anything else to do, had led to his current state of apathy towards his duties. And it was this apathy, this complete lack of caring, that some had been waiting for. Few people knew what remained behind the massive doors. Fewer still even cared. But a few people did, and they wanted nothing more than to get behind them, and get at what lay there, collecting dust.

As the gaurd sat there, the doors on the other end of the corridor slid open silently, and a pair of men walked out of them. The gaurd looked up, and smiled. This was something new. Nothing new ever happened to him. Therefor, this was a good thing. As they appraoched, he assumed a more militaristic pose, and aluted them when they neared.

"Good evening Captains." the gaurd said, and the men looked at him, a smile on one of their lips. Their hands were clasped behind their backs, their uniforms were clean and tidy. They looked like the perfect picture of New Rebuplic military officers. Sadly, this was not the case.

One of them drew a small blaster out from behind his back, and pressed it to the chest of the gaurd. he squezzed the trigger, and a muffled blast could be heard in the msall corridor. The gaurd fell back into his chair, a smoking crater in his chest. The tow men looked at him for a moment, and then at each other.

"We could have let him live you know. They would have punished him for his failure." one of them said, and the other nodded.

"Very true. But this would be better for him. Look at him. He was dead already. I wonder if they have even given him a raise in the years he has spent here." the man wondered, and the other shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, and I doubt I will ever care. Now lets get moving. we don't have much time." he said, and he walked towards the doors behind the desk.

As they reached them, he pulled out a small comlink, and tapped on it. it sent out a complicated series of signals, and the doors swung wide open. These signals were supposed to have been beyond top secret, so secret that no record of them had been kept anywhere supposedly. They were supposed to have been forgetten by time, so that no one could ever enter the room. But someone had remembered the codes,and recorded them in thier personal files. It had taken years of searching, and millions of credits to get the files, but they had been found. And finally, they had been put to use.

The two men entered the small chamber, and frowned at what they saw. A small operating table lay before them, covered in years of dust. They could tell no one had entered this room since it had last been closed. But that was not their primary concern.

"You take left, I'll take right." said one of the men, and they fanned out, searching the room for the objective. There was little in the room, so the search went quickly. As the men neared the other end, the both noticed a series of squares on the wall they were approaching. they looked at each other and smiled. They both walked towards them, and looked for the opening mechanisms.

They quickly found the control pad, which was attached to s small computer. One of the men powered up the computer, and smiled at what he saw. A list of names sat before him. It wasn't a long list, but then again, the New Republic hadn't executed very many people. He scanned the names until he found the one he was looking for.

"Check C-437-Aleph." said on of the man, and the other nodded. He walked back along the wall, looking at the marking until he found the correct one. He tapped on the square, and the sound of compressed air hissing out could be heard. Slowly, the square moved out, revealing a small platform on which a corpse lay.

The corpse was old, that much was certain. But the cropse was not was important. What was important was what was inside the corpse. the man pulled out a small vibroblade, and began slicing away at the dried flesh. he quickly struck metal, but that much was to be expected. The corpse was mostly robotic, a sign of a bacta allergy and serious battle injuries. The man ignored the robotics, and continued cutting until he found the correct spot. He deactived the vibroblade, and pellud out a small pair of pliers. He reached in, and began tugging at a small peice of metal that was grafted to one of the corpses bones.

After a few moments of struggling, the man freed the metal from its bonds, and he stepped back. He looked it over, and noted the small line of coordinates inscribed upon it. he smiled, knowing he had found what they ha come for. he nodded to the other man, who in turn re-sucured the corpse in the wall.

As the men turned and walked out of the room, they stopped to look at the corpse of the gaurd. One of the men reached over and gently closed the eyes of the man, who still had a look fo fear frozen on his face.

"Do you think he had any idea what he was gaurding?" one of them asked, and the other shook his head.

"No. If he did, i think he would have been much more adhered to procedure." th other said, nothing the small flashing light which indicated that a weapon had been brought into the hallway.

"Very true. Sad really." the first man said, and then he shrugged. Together, both men walked back towards the lift that had brought them here. The lift would take them buck up towards the surface, in an abandoned factory. They would then get back into the ship they had arrived on, and fly back to their masters, who would no doubt be pleased with their success.

Several months later...

Admiral pelleon watched the life signs on the moniter that sat before him, and frowned. Things wre going as they should have been, but muh slower than normal. He knew this was due to teh fact that the man floating iside the tank was allergic to bacta. But it still bothered him. he had spent millions of credits on this project, millions of credits the empire couldn;t afford to spare. If this project failed, the Moff Council would have his head on a platter.

"What is his condidtion?" he asked, and th lead technician looked up.

"Improving Admiral. I suspect he will be ready to emerge from the tank within a week or so. Any sooner, and the bidy wont last long." the woman said, and Pelleon nodded.

"Excellent. Keep me informed of his status." he said, and he turned to walk out of the room.

As he walked down the hallway, he wondered where in the galaxy all the other facilities like this one were located. grand Admiral Thrawn had hinted at their existance more than once, but this had been the first, and only one, Pelleon could locate. Unlike Mount Tantis, which had been the Emperors personal storehouse, this facility was based around one thing, and one thing only, the preserving one some of the greatest military minds in the Empire. Each one was set up to preserve only a single mind, and their were twelve of them spread throughout the galaxy. Pelleon counted himself lucky that this one had been located in what was left of Imperial space. If it hadnt been, he would have been hard pressed to get to it, and use it.

As he reached his personal quarters at the facility, he wondered ti himself if all his efforts would be in vain. He had no doubt in his mind that the person he was bringing back to the land of the living would be of great use to the Empire, but in the back of his mind, Pelleon knew that the best hope for the Empire to ever win was long since dead, slain by his own body gaurd.

But he knew that while he was the leader of the Empire, he would bneed the help of someone greater than him to try and preserve what was left. Hence the reason he had embarked on this grand mission.

Pelleon activated the terminal at his deak, and sighed. He had a lot of work to do before the Grand Admiral emerged from his tank. He had met him only once, and that had been enough to leave the impression that man liked to be prepared. Therefor, he would need to know as much as he could about the current state of affairs in the galaxy. Pelleon had an inkling he would not be happy with what he had to work with, but at the same time, he would be more than happy to give it his all. He had given his life more than once for the Empire, and undoubtadly, would be willing to do so again. Or so Pelleon hoped.