Empire Risen: Rebirth

[BadSamaritan]

(Editors note: This is a story about a SW RPG some friend and I are running right now, about how our Gm thinks things should have went, and how poorly things are turning out for the New Republic. Im guessing I will tirn it into a three part series, with installments of every part as soon as the story unfolds and I can get to writing about it.)

 

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.

[Paul]

This is great! I can't wait for the next part. Just watch your spelling dude.- Grand Moff Conway

[BadSamaritan]

(Editors Note: Spelling schmelling. You know what I am trying to say. And just so you know, you will never get to see our charachters in action, as we are a NR Intelligence team. Sadly, our preformance dictates how the war progresses...)

 

He hurt, but this did not bother him. Pain meant that he was alive. And that was always a good thing as far as he was concerned. What bothered him was where he hurt. Every part of his body seemed to thud with a dull aching of one sort or another. And for some reason, something in the back of his mind was telling him that wasn't right.

 

Slowly, as though he were submerged under water, he moved his arms to the parts of his body that hurt the most. When his hands touched bare flesh, a shock went though his system. memories suddenly came flooding back to him, memories of a buring bridge, loud claxons, and a bulkhead that was slowly crushing the life out of him.

 

His eyes snapped open, and to close up again, the bright light for to much for his eyes to handle. He reached out with his hands, trying to feel something, anything, only to find them come against what felt like a bacta tube. but he knew that wasn't right either. He was allergic to bacta. So that option was whisked from his mind. As he continued to press against the tube, his mind raced to figure out what was going on, and where he was.

 

The possibilites were limited, which helped out his thought process. After a few moments, he came to the sudden realisation that he was whole. The could feel his entire body. Something the Emperor had promised him would never happen again. Which led him to his second conclusion. He had died. But this brought up another question. If he had died, why was he here?

 

He let his hands fall back to his side, and began a new thought process, this one to figure out why he was here. The Emperor had said his punishemnt for his failures would eventually be death. So why had the Emperor chosen to bring him back to life? And more importantly, how had he died? The injuries he remembered sustaining in those final battles were serious, but robotic replacements had saved him. But he could not remember much of anything after that.

 

Then more memories came back to him. memories of a secret facility, that only he and the Emperor knew of. His own personal cloning facility. Slwoly, more and more pieces of the puzzles fell into place. If he was there, he had died again for certain. But if he had died, who had brought him back? he knew the Emperor wouldn't have allowed it. meaning someone other than the Emperor had done this.

 

This train of thought brought about a new line of questions, albeit a short one. Who else could have known about this facility, and would have the audacity to defy the Emperor? This list, once he comiled it, was virtually non-existant. So whoever did this had to be either very insane, or very desperate. And either way, he wanted to meet the person who fit these requirements.

 

As these final thoughts came through his mind, he felt a slight tug on his face, and came to the sudden realisation that he was wearing a breathing mask. he dared to open his eyes, and found that the light had been dimmed severaly. He opened them wider, and looked up to see someone waving at him. Weakly, he kicked hs legs, and began a slow float to the surface of the tank.

 

*************************************************

 

Pelleon watched as the technicians slowly pulled the man from the cloning tank. He found it hard to see the mans features, but that didn't bother him, as the light had been dimmed so that the mans eyes could adjust slowly. It would be several more days before the man would be able to walk, talk, or use any of his appendeges in any sort of normal function. But all of this was to be expected. Pelleon was just happy that so far, this had all gone according to plan.

 

"Admiral?" came a soft voice from behind him, and pelleon tunred to see the lead technician standing behind him.

 

"Yes?" he asked, wondering what she could want. She had the annoying habit of asking him about every little detail, when pelleon should have been the one asking her questions.

 

"Would you like to see him now? He should be ablt to understand what you are saying, but he won't be able to reply." she said, and Pelleon looked back to the man, who was now being helped away from teh tank.

 

"No, I shall wait until he is fully recovered. But, make sure no one tell him about why he has been brought back. He is to know nothing about the current state of affairs. Is that understood?" he asked, and the technician nodded quickly.

 

As he watched her scurry away, he wondered if she would be able to obey that order. She had the habit of cracking under the right types of pressure, pressure that the Grand Admiral would no doubt lay onto her as soon as he could. Pelleon just hoped she would not tell him everything until he was fully recuperated. Because if he wasn't ready, Pelleon had no idea about how he would react. But he had a feeling it would not be a very pleasent reaction.

[Paul]

Keep it coming. By the way, which of the thirteen (if you count the traitor Zaarin) did you bring back?-Grand Moff Conway

[BadSamaritan]

Paul, enough info has been given out already for you to figure that out. All it takes is a trip to wikipedia.

[DarthTex]

My guess is Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik. Hope I didn't spoil anything?

[Paul]

After rereading my Star Wars Insider edition on the 13 (again if you count Zaarin) I must agree. I forgot the scum executed him. I don't use Wiki. - Grand Moff Conway

[Thrawn90]

Sounds interesting, although IMHO Thrawn is the only Grand Admiral worth bringing back lol

[BadSamaritan]

Editors Note: I have to write a lot of filler to make it a good story, as our RPG only plays a small part in the whole scenario, although our success and deafeats end up playing major roles. Needless to say, our bungling an assignment is what led to this whole scenario. Sadly, as of yesterdays session, it also led to the death of a major Star Wars charachter, disgrace to another, and a major victory for the Empire. But we will get to that later.

 

Pelleon stopped short of entering the chambers that sat before him. Ever since the Grand Admiral had awoken, he had been quite demanding in his requests. He had hounded Pelleon for more information of the Fleets status, enemy fleet positions and apparent strenghts, and loads more political information than Pelleon thought was necessary.

 

But Pelleon had continued to feed the Grand Admiral information as quickly as he could. He knew he had to deal with the demands, lest he try to completely take control of the Empire from him. Pelleon had made sure to point out he fact that he was in command of the Empire, and that the Admirals' fate was in his hands. But at the same time, Pelleon had a dire fear of the man. His simple presence was astounding, even more so now that he was fully human again.

 

Pelleon took a deep breath, and entered the chambers. In front of him was a set of lavish quarters, the largest in the facility. The lights were dimmed, however, as the Admirals eyesight had yet to return to normal, and was still wary of bright lights. Pelleon looked around for a moment, and then saw the Admiral sitting at his desk, looking over reports. Pelleon walked over to the desk, then stood smartly, waiting for the Admiral to look up.

 

"Do you have the reports I asked you for yet?" Teshik asked, and Pelleon nodded.

 

"These," he said, handing over several datacards, "are reports on the positions of major New Republic supply depots. The ones we have found, at least. There are also reports on the recent movemtns of the first and second fleets." Pelleon said, and Teshik nodded.

 

"May I ask you a question Admiral?" Teshik asked quietly, and Pelleon hesistated. This was a new side of the Grand Admiral, one that he had not shown so far. Perhaps he was reverting back to his normal habits?

 

"Of course sir. All information at my disposal is yours." he said, and Pelleon twitched. It was odd to be once again answering to a superior.

 

"Why is it that after all of these years, the Empire has not designed any new starfighters? I have read the reports on some designs that wre tested, but never brought into full production." he said, and Pelleon sighed inwardly. The lack of new starfighters was a major problem that he believed to be hampering the Empire.

 

"While we have tested several designs, and some of them have preformed well, we do not currenly have the resources to bring them to full production. Hence the reason we still rely so heavily on the TIE fighter and Interceptor. Although I have implemented procedures to make them more viable in combat." he said, and Teshik nodded.

 

"I did note that, and I commend you on them. Sheilding our Interceptors was somethign I pushed for during their design phase, but the cost put them higher than other commanders wanted. And I assume that you build many more standard TIE fighters than Interceptors because of cost?" he asked, and again Pelleon nodded.

 

"I would prefer to set Interceptors as our main starfighter, but we lack the financial resources to due so." he said, and Teshik nodded.

 

"I also noted that. You gave me the answers I expected," he said, looking up, "and they are good answers. But they do not answer the problem that our starfighters are simply no match for the New Republic starfighters." he said, and he reached into his desk. He pulled out a small datapad, and handed it to Pelleon, who took it and began skimming its contents.

 

"These look like starfighter schematics." Pelleon said, and Teshik nodded.

 

"They are. TIE-Sabres. The files were stored in the main computer core at this facility. I had been working on them in secret, with plans to present them to the Emperor upon their completion. Sadly, Endor prevented them from ever reaching the light of day." he said, and Pelleon nodded, studying them carefully.

 

By the looks of the schematics, the fighters were small, not much larger than an A-wing. But other than the twin ion-engines from which the TIE derived its name, these looked nothing like TIE fighters. Their cockpits were elongated, resembling the cockpits of B-wings. The twin engines sat directly behind the cockpit, with an odd ring setup between the two of them. The wings were attached at the rear of the vessel, and looked like someone had simply chopped an Interceptor wing into two pieces, and mounted a piece on each side at downward angles.

 

"What was the projected cost of these starfighters?" Pelleon asked, thoughts running through his head. If the cost was low enough, with some improvements, these starfighters may actually be viable for what little resources the Empire had.

 

"Overall, they were cheaper than standard TIE fighters due to the smaller amount of resources needed to build them. Although the price increases greatly when you add sheilds, which the Type-II has, and when you install faster engines, which the Type-II also has. The final design cost slightly more than a standard TIE fighter, with the speed and manuverability that put it on par with rebel A-wings." he said, and Pelleon smiled.

 

"If you wish, we can begin building prototypes right away, to see what the final cost for a full production model will be. If what you say is true, we will have a new mainstay starfighter." Pelleon said, and Teshik nodded.

 

"Which is one problem solved. Our next problem will require much more finesse to solve." he said, and Pelleon grimaced.

 

"And what problem is that?" he asked, and Teshik smiled.

 

"The New Republic controls almost the entire galaxy. Because of this, they are proud of their accomplishments. We need to take some of that pride away from them." he said, and Pelleon nodded.

 

"Do you suggest we use their pride against them?" he asked, but Teshik shook his head.

 

"No, using your enemies pride against themselves is something Thrawn would do. We will hurt their pride in other ways. But before we plan for that, I must know more about our situation. Can you get me more detailed reports on our holdings in the deep core, if any? Also, information on any un-reconstructed Imperials that might be lurking about would be usefull." he said, and Pelleon nodded.

 

"It will take some time, but yes. I may have to send scouts to the core to find out if anyone is still there however." he said, but Teshik waved his hand.

 

"Do not bother with sending scouts. Just get me as much as you have on file. Sending scouts might alert the New Republic to our interest in the deep-core Imperials. Best not to let them think that for now." he said, and pelleon again nodded. He could already tell Teshik had a plan brewing. But of what, he had no idea.

 

Slowly, Pelleon turned, and walked from the room. He would have to contect his flagship for much of this information. Some of it he may even have to send to Bastion for. He hoped it would not take to long.

 

But thankfully, Admiral Teshik was already helping the Empire in enourmous ways, if this TIE-Sabre turned out to be as good a design as he claimed. He would hand this off to his design staff for study, and order them to drop everything to begin working on the proto-types.

 

******************************************************

 

"So the Imperials have been pretty quiet as of late?" Luke asked, and Wedge nodded. They both sat in one of the many tapcafs in Coruscants' Senate district, catching up on each other. But the conversation had turned, as it always seemd to, towards the war.

 

"Pretty much. Just the standard patrol routes, and minor fleet movements. Nothing aggressive though. Which is odd for Pelleon. He likes to try ang gauge our reactions." Wedge said, and Luke nodded, slowly sipping on his hot chocolate.

 

"That is odd for him. Any chance he is preparing for a major strike? Perhaps at Ord Mantell?" Luke asked, remembering that Intelligance had pinponted that world as a possible target.

 

"Not likely, but it is possible. I think he is biding his time, waiting." Wedge said, and looked up form his cup.

 

"What would he be waiting for? An invitation to attack us?" he asked, and Wedge smiled.

 

"Maybe. I bet if we asked him nicely, he would throw his whole warfleet at us." he said jokingly, but they both knew that if Pelleon were to do that, it would not be pretty. Reduced as the Empire was, it could still pack a punch if it chose to. While neither had any doubt the New Republic would win in the end, the total cost would be enourmous.

 

"I'm sure Cracken is looking into things. From what I understand, Pelleon has fallen off the screens entirely now. Intelligence lost track of him a month ago or so." Wedge said, and Luke nodded. Then a thought crossed his mind.

 

"That is rather odd for him. Perhaps there was an attempt on his life?" he asked, and Wedge nodded.

 

"It is possible. A few of the Moffs are still unhappy that he is in command instead of them. I suppose an attempt could have been made, but Pelleon isn;t the type to hide because of one. If anything, he would be at the forfront of the investigation looking for the person behind it." Wedge said, and Luke nodded in agreement.

 

They both sat there for a moment, each of them wondering what was goign on in the Empire. Things as of late had changed. The Empire was much more passive than it had been in the past. But no one seemed able to figure out why. But they both had an ominous feeling about what was to come.

 

"Well, it was good seeing you Luke. But I have a general staff meeting. Ackbar is pushing to pull the Lusankya out of active service." Wedge said, and Luke smiled. He knew how attached Wedge had become to his command ship, having been the one to capture it for the New Republic years ago over Thyferra.

 

"Going to fight him on this one?" Luke asked, and Wedge nodded.

 

"Yes, I am. It may cost a fortune to run, but I think it is still far to valuable a tool to just scrap. Especially with Pelleon still in command of the Reaper." he said, bringing to mind the Super Star Destroyer that Pelleon had aqquired when he took control. That one vessel was capable of dealing out enourmous amounts of damage, and the resources to take one down was even higher. Wedge was firm in the belief that his command ship was the only thing prevent Pelleon from using the Reaper more aggressively, as he could not afford to lose the ship.

 

"Alright. Well, good luck in this battle. I have a feeling you will need it." Luke said, and the two old friend embraced one last time. Wedge turned and walked out of the tapcaf, and Luke sat back down. His thought began to wander to other things, and after a few minutes, he stood up. He walked out of the Tapcaf, and turned towards his speeder. Lando lived nearby, and perhaps it was time to visit him also.

[Paul]

Keep it coming, great so far. I hope the Imperials kick butt.-Grand Moff Conway

[Zer_Teron]

You dare suggest that the Empire might lose? Traitor!

 

Guards seize him.

[BadSamaritan]

(Editors Note: Thanks for the support Paul. it means a lto knowing at least someone is enjoying this. Granted, i enjoy writing it, but it makes it easier knowing someone other than Myself is getting some enjoyment from it.)

 

General Cracken, head of New Republic intelligence, was in an unusually foul mood. As he sat as his desk looking over the latest information, his mood only darkened.

 

Several weeks ago, the leader of the Empire, Admiral Pelleon, had vanished. And so far, all attempt at fidning him had come up with nothing. His informants from all over the empire were saying the same thing. He had simply vanished. The only lead he had found so far was the fact that one of the best medical science teams from bastion had disapeared at the same time.

 

This small bit of information had led to several theories, none of which had panned out. So Crackens' teams were being forced to look deeper for information. Is some cases, this meant that a few of his teams were making steps towards infiltrating the deepest parts of the Empire. He just wished Wraith Squadron, his top infilitration unit, wasn't already on assignemt trying to track down Admiral Tavira. This is the sort of assignment that squadron would love to tackle.

 

As Cracken sat there, one of his aides entered his office, and stood at attention, waiting for him to notice. Some days, his aides could stand there for almost an hour before he noticed them. But they had all grown use to it. Cracken seemed to have a sixth sence sence about when a subordinate had reported in with important information. And this happened to be one of those times.

 

Cracken looked up, and nodded gently, the silent cue for his aide to speak.

 

"Drake squad has reported in, sir. They found the Chimaera." she said, and Cracken suddenly gave this aide his full attention. If they had found the Chimaera, maybe thay had found Pelleon.

 

"Is Pelleon with the ship?" he asked, but to his dismay, the aide shook her head.

 

"No. They found the ship in orbit of Milyk II. Apparently, there is an Imperial base located there that we did not know about. But from what they can tell, Pelleon left the vessel several weeks ago, with orders to wait for his return." she said, and Cracken sighed. Another dead end.

 

"Any new reports from our source on Muunilist then? Perhaps he has noticed anything strange." Cracken suggested, and the Aide looked at her datapad.

 

"No new reports as of yet. But we can get a message to him asking if you want to." she said, and Cracken nodded. They still had no idea who this new source of information was, only that he was willing to work with them, for a price. And so far, most of the information had panned out. Most of it had dealt with the Empires financial matters, but the person also seemed to be able to come across other usefull info, which had lead to the revelation that the Empire had business dealings throughout the galaxy, most of which funded their war machine. This had caught everyone off gaurd, especially since doing business with the Empire was a serious offence.

 

"Get the message there as fast as you can. Ask him to look into and new accounts for the Empires military, ordered by Pelleon. Also look for new accounts opened by any moffs, or subordinates of all of them. Tell him the m,ore thurough his information is, the more he will get paid." Cracken said, and his aide turned and walked from the room to prepare the message.

 

Cracken then looked back to his datapad, wondering what his next move would be. He couldn't just sit around waiting for hs mystery informant to contact them. After several seconds, he decided to prepare a mission to Yaga Minor, and its library database. Perhaps there would be some clues there.

 

**********************************************************

 

Grand Admiral Teshik sat at his desk, his hand absently running through the goatee that was slwoly regrowing on his face. He knew the motion was simply more than an old habit that refused to go away, but it still bothered him. He hated having bad habits.

 

Across from him, Admiral Pelleon sat looking at a series of plans Teshik had written up. Most of the plans were minor ones, designed to bolster the front lines against attack. But other ones were far more in depth, ranging from blackmailing top Republic officials, to assignation attempts, to outright assault on Republic worlds.

 

"These are the Imperials we should bring back into the fold." Teshik said suddenly, and Pelleon startled at the sound of his voice. Neither of them had said a word in almost an hour. This was becaoming common in ther planning sessions. Pelleon reached over, and took the datapad from Teshik. He noticed that the list was quiet small, and did not include several warlords from the core.

 

"Admiral Tavira, Admiral Drommel, General Vernyk, and Supreme General Ashuuk." Pelleon said, nodding slowly. He could understand Drommel, his posession of a Super Star Destroyer would make him a valuable asset. And Admiral Tavira, while overly paranoid, had proven herself capable of operating a decent sized force of vessels with very few resources. But the the reasons behind the other two eluded him. There were small warlords with holdings near the Corperate Sector.

 

"I can understand Tavira and Drommel, but both of them have already refused to rejoin the Empire. But why Vernyk and Ashuuk?" he asked, and Teshik smiled.

 

"Vernyk may not have shown it very often, but he has a keen sense for ground combat. One matched by only a few people. As for Ashuuk, he was only mediocre when it came to almost everything. But he makes up for it in one skill in particular. Starship design. He was part of the design team for the TIE-Defender, and also designed several other starfighters." Teshik said, and Pelleon nodded. He thought about noting the fact that bringing all of these people back into the fold would be difficult, but decided against it. Teshik probably already knew that anyways.

 

"Before I forget Admiral, has our traitor on Muunilist recieved word from the NRI as of late?" Teshik asked, and Pelleon shook his head.

 

"No. And I still dislike that plan. Losing the income from those business dealings hasn't hurt us yet, but it will eventually." he said, and Teshik nodded.

 

"I can understand your worry, but you must trust me on this. The money he Empire is losing will be worth the final result." Teshik said, and Pelleon stared at him for a moment. He was taking a huge risk on this plan. Teshik didn't seem to realise how much income actually came from those businesses. All of which helped fund the Imperial Navy.

 

Teshik still had not let on as to why he wanted such valuable information to escape, but he knew there had to be a good reason. He just hoped it panned out soon. Otherwise Pelleon would have to pull the plug on the plan, and risk the ire of the Grand Admiral.

[Paul]

I love this excerpt as well Bad Samaritan. Send me more as soon as you can.-Paul (Grand Moff Conway)

[DarthTex]

An excellent story BadSamaritan. It's very intriguing. You say this is all based off an RPG you're running now, so does this mean you have no idea on where this is all going? Fascinating! Keep posting as time allows.

[Zer_Teron]

Good story keep it coming.

[BadSamaritan]

(Editors Note: Basically, the only person who knows where this is going is the guy running the game. And so far, he has us all running in circles trying to figure out what he is going to do next. It's very frustrating. All we have figured out is that the Grand Admiral is a very patient person, who has a different way of waging war.)

 

Grand Admiral teshik sat ilently, looking over the latest reports from new Republic space. But unlike most reports, these were not about the government. These reports were from the financial sector, with one spot being of highest importance. As he looked over the information, a smile slowly grew on his face.

 

"It would appear, Admiral, that everything is going according to plan so far. Would you agree?" Teshik asked, and Pelleon nodded.

 

"It would appear so, yes. But I still fail to see how hurting those companies is going to help us. They are far to small to hurt the economy if they collapse outright." Pelleon said, and Teshik looked to him.

 

"We do not want them to collapse outright. That would defeat the purpose. We just want them to be under investigaton. While they are dealing with that, they cannot build their products due to New Republic law concerning these matters. And allof these companies build one thing the New Republic cannot do without." he said, and Pelleon smiled.

 

"Starfighter parts. If we keep this us, the New Republic military will start having a shortage of spare parts for their starfighters. This is turn will force them to start grounding parts of their stafighter fleet." he said, finally understanding. It was a very clever ploy, one that the New Republic could not help but to fall into.

 

"Exactly. The best way to fight a war is to take away your opponents ability to fight one." Twshik said, and Pelleon looked to him, a frown on his face.

 

"But what if they catch on? Surely they will eventually." Pelleon said, and Teshik nodded.

 

"of course they will. I suspect they already have. But they still have to proceed with shutting the companies down. If they do not, it would appear that they are favoring companies that help maintain ther battle fleet. Also, all the companies so far are human own, whih would be even worse for them." Teshik said, and Pelleon smiled.

 

"I wonder how they like being forced to hurt their own warmachine to follow their own laws." Pelleon said, and Teshik shrugged his shoulders.

 

"I suspect they dislike it. But on to other things. Our traitor has recieved word by now, I would assume?" Teshik asked, and Pelleon nodded.

 

"Yes. It would appear that the NRI is looking for me. Perhaps it is time for me to come out of hiding, so that they do not look to hard?" Pelleon asked, and Teshik nodded in agreement.

 

"Yes, we cannot tip them to my existance. But I also should leave this place. It is time we start preparing for the upcoming battles." he said, and Pelleon looked to him quizzically.

 

"Battles? I thought we were gong to wait before we became more agressive at the battle lines, so that we would have more TIE-Sabres at our disposal." Pelleon said, and Teshik nodded, a smile on his face.

 

"The front line battles will wait for now. What I have in mind will be a much more precise strike. And it will lure a certain Admiral back into the fold." he said, and Pelleon nodded, not quite understanding,

 

"And how will we accomplish this? We do not have the firepower to spare for a major strike." Pelleon said, and Teshik nodded.

 

"We will not need it. Depending on what the New Republic brings to the fight, we shouldn't need that many vessels at all." he said. Pelleon looked to him, wondering what the Grand Admiral had planned.

 

"And how are we going to accomplish this?" Pelleon asked, hoping to glem some insight into the Admirals mind.

 

"Simple. We now know how fast the NEw Republic reacts when they receive information through their intelligance network. So we will feed them information which will lead them to a certain vessel." Teshik said, and a look of surprise blossomed on Pelleons face.

 

"You are going to give them the Gaurdians' location?" he said, and Teshik smiled.

 

"Yes. And when they come to take it, we will crush them, and convince Drommel that it is time to rejoin us." Teshik said, a predatory smile on his face.

 

"Accomplishing several objectives at once. We will hurt the New Republic, get another Super Star Destroyer under our command, and be able to test out our TIE-Sabres in actual combat." Pelleon said, but then he thought about it a moment longer.

 

"No, leave the TIE-Sabres for another battle. One where we can use them to their full effectiveness, and it turn, test all their capabilities." he said, and Teshik grinned.

 

"Very astute Admiral. I am starting to see why Thrawn placed so much trust in you. You would have made an excellent Grand Admiral in the old fleet I think." Teshik said, and Pelleon smiled.

 

"Thank you sir. But, shall we begin preperations to leave?" Pelleon asked, and Teshik nodded.

 

"Yes. The sooner we are out of here, and you are back in the light for the NRI to see, th better." Teshik said, and Pelleon nodded. He had a feeling the next few months were going to be very busy, but at the sime time, very rewarding,.

[Paul]

This is great as usual. Keep it coming dude.-Grand Moff Conway

[Zer_Teron]

I agree great RPing.

[Thrawn90]

I'm really starting to get addicted to this. It's much better, even, than many SW novels, IMO.

 

...*glares at "The Worst SW Novel Awards!!!" thread*...

[DarthTex]

Excellent as usual. This is almost like one of them-there-oldtime serial thrillers, always having people wanting for more.

[BadSamaritan]

(Editors note: Well, the RPG is moving along swiftly now. My story is about a year behind where we are in the story right now. But the ext few sessions are going to allow me to do a lot of catching up, as we are trapped on.... nevermind. Cant give away that part of the story! Anyways, my writings are getting close to the first major battle, so let get on with it.)

 

Wedge Antilles and Garm Bel Iblis, two of the New Republics most well known generals, sat across a table from each other, looking over a series of datacards. Each of them had serious looks on their faces, each of them deep in thought. After several minutes, Garm spoke softly.

 

"So tell me Wedge. What do you think of the reports we have been receiving? That Pelleon has stepped down from command, and someone else is in charge now?" he asked and Wedge sighed. They had both been hearing about the rumors. Almost all of them said something different, but all of them led to the same point. Pelleon was no longer in command of the Empire.

 

"I honestly don't know. If he did step down, something major must have happened. He isn't the type just to walk away from what he has built so far." Wedge said, and Garm nodded.

 

"No, he isn't. I just wish we had some way of knowing for sure. But every time this happens, we end up staring down the wrong ends of turblolaser cannons." he said glumly, remembering the weeks and months before the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn and the Emperor.

 

"Very true, but we succeeded in the end. Granted, it cost us a lot to beat Thrawn and the Emperor, but we did it." Wedge countered, and Garm nodded in agreement.

 

"I know,. I just wish the Empire would realise that this is a war they can't win anymore, and surrender finally." Garm said, and Wedge shook his head.

 

"Garm, you know as well as I do that the this war is far from over. We may have them trapped out on the rim, but they still have a lot of worlds, and a lot of ships. While I hope I'm not right, I can see the Empire outliving the both of us." he said, and Garm frowned.

 

"Don't go saying that Wedge. you know just as well as I do that we both have a lot of years in front of ourselves. It might take a decade or two, but I think we will see the fall of the Empire." he said, and Wedge nodded in agreement.

 

As they both sat and thought about this, Wedges' comlink chirped loudly at him. He looked down to it, and sighed.

 

"Admiral Ackbar. I guess this means that I have a deployment ahead of me." he said, and Garm smiled.

 

"Come on, Wedge. You can say it. You look forward to these deployments now. You do have to admit, flying around in a Super Star Destroyer is much more comfterable than flying in an X-wing." he said, and Wedge laughed.

 

"Comfterable, yes. Entertaining, no." he said, and he tapped the commlink.

 

"Good evening Admiral. How can I be of service?" he said, and Ackbars voice came back quickly through the commlink.

 

"Good evening General. I take it General Iblis is with you also?" Ackbar asked, and Wedge frowned.

 

"Yes, he is. May I ask what this is about?" he said, and when Ackbar responded, Wedge could almost hear the concern in Ackbars' voice.

 

"No, not over this line. I need both of you in my office immediatly." he said, and they heard Ackbar shut down teh comlink. Wedge and Garm looked at each other, worry in their faces.

 

"This sounds bad. Do you think Ackbar knows who is in charge o the Empire now?" Garm asked, and Wedge shrugged.

 

"Who knows. But we should get going. This sounds urgent." he said, and they both stood up. Together, they wlked out of the office, and towards the hanger bay.

[Paul]

Keep it coming.-Grand Moff Conway

[BadSamaritan]

(Editors Note: Uhh...... yah. Here is the next part obviously. Can't think of anythng else to note. Other then the fact that our GM sucks, and TIE-Sabres can lick me where I pee.)

 

Wedge and Garm entered Ackbars office, and found several other people already there. Wedge recognized a few of them, mostly cruiser commanders from his task force. But the others he could not put faces to the rest of them.

 

"Excellent, Now that you are here, we can begin. I would like to get this done with quickly, so that we can begin preperations in the fleet." Ackbar said, and Wedge frowned. That was not a good way to start a sudden meeting like this. Wedge and Garm sat at the table, and the lights dimmed. A holoprojector lowered from th ceiling, and it flickered to life, showing a small blue and brown world.

 

"This is the world of Soullex, n the Fardon system. It is an outer rim world currently outside the jurisdiction of both the Empire, and the New Republic. But while outside both our jurisdictions, it has just now become a very important system because of what is in orbit." Ackbar said, and the hologram switched to one of what looked like a battlescarred Super Star Destroyer.

 

"Our intelligence operatives two days ago captured these pictures. The vessels name is Gaurdian, commanded by Admiral Drommel. Not long after Endor, He went rogue, and launched an offensive against the New Republic. At the Battle of Tantive V, the other three destroyers in his fleet were captured or destroyed, and he fled in his flagship. Apparently, he ended up in orbit of Soullex, where he has stayed since. We belive he has not yet been able to repair the Gaurdian enough to leave the system." he said, and Wedge smiled. he had been present when Drommel had retreated. It was a major vicotry then for the young New Republic.

 

"Admiral, I hate to ask this, but why is this ship important all of a sudden? Granted, it IS a Super Star Destroyer, but if it can;t leave the system, it is hardly a threat to anyone." one of the captians asked, and Ackbar nodded.

 

"This may be true. But, we have reason to believe that Admiral Pelleon has begun a project to help Drommel restore the vessel, and return it to service. If this should occur, it will give the Empire two of the vessels to use. Obviously, we cannot allow this." Ackbar said, and everyone nodded. They all knew the Destructive power that kind of vessel had, and the thought of the Empire having two of them was not a good thought.

 

"I take it my task force will be part of this operation?" Wedge asked, and Ackbar nodded.

 

"Yes. Your force, along with General Iblis' force, will be launching within 24 hours. Plan on arrive within 24 hours after that. We want to hit them as soon as possible, to prevent Pelleon from sending vessels to protect the Gaurdian." Ackbar said, and Wedge frowned. His force along would be able to take a lone Super Star Destroyer.

 

"Admiral, I don't wish to argue, but why send both forces? Wedges' fleet alone can handle that one vessel. Both our fleets combined would be overkill." Garm said, and again, Ackbar nodded.

 

"I am aware of this. But, we have reason to belive that this is a ploy for our forces. Therefor, General Garms' forces will be held in reserve, in case it is a trap." Ackbar said, and everyone nodded. All of them had been present for the battle of Adriss IX, where a similar situation had led to the deaths of several porminent fleet commanders several months ago, including Admiral Yonka. And none of them wanted that situation to happen again.

 

"So basically, my force goes it, passifies the Gaurdian, and if any trouble strikes, Garm jumps in with his force to stomp it? Pretty straight forward." Wedge said. Everyone nodded in agreement with this assessment.

 

"I do not feel the need for an overly complicated plan. But I want you to be cautious. If this is a trap, we expect Admiral Pelleon to be there." Ackbar siad, and Wedges' mood suddenly turned sour. He knew he was a good commander, but he was no match for the Grand Admiral.

 

"If you expect him to there, why don;t you lead this assault? You would much more suited to butting heads with him." Wedge said, and Ackbar shook his head.

 

"If this is a trap, they will be watching the movements of my force. If it leaves, they will expect me there. Also, I myself am preparing for an assualt on a certain world which shal remain unamed for now." he said, and Wedge nodded. It was sound reasoning. But he still did not like it.

 

"Admiral, I wish to go on the record as saying that I would prefer you to lead this assault. If Pelleon does show up, he will easily outclass me." Wedge said, and Ackbar sighed.

 

"Noted General, but you are still in overall command. If things get out of hand, you are to retreat with all possible haste. Understood?" Ackbar asked, and Wedge nodded. Everyone in the room already knew that Wedge would retreat if needed.

 

"Alright. This meeting is done. I want all personell on leave to be recalled, and your forces to be gathered ith 12 hours for the assault. May the force be with you." Ackbar said, and everyone stood up to leave.

 

Wedge and Garm left together, heading back to their speeder. They walked silently, without saying a word. But both knew what the oher wanted to say. They both had the same feeling about the mission. But they did not need to air those suspicions.

 

Once in the airspeeder, they left for the Naval Spaceport. Once there, they would get abord their personal craft, and head to their flagships. They both had orders to prepare, ships to ready. But neither of them was happy about it. They both had the feeling that this was not going to end well.

 

***************************************************

 

Grand Admiral Teshik, on baord his new flagship, the Star Destroyer Sperpants' Fang, smiled as he read over the reports. So far, everything was going as planned. He looked over to Admiral Pelleon, who was sitting across the desk from him.

 

"It appears that General Antilles and General Iblis have been put in charge of taking the Gaurdian away from us. If they do not add vessels to their respective fleets, we know what they will both bring to the battle. And we will plan accordingly." he said, and Pelleon nodded.

 

"Antilles is in command of the Lusankya, that one vessel will require a large amount of firepower to deal with. Shall I prepare the Reaper?" he asked, but teshik shook his head.

 

"No, we will not be needing it. Super Star Destoryers are hard to destroy, but not that hard to nuetralize. We will just have to accomdate that into our planning." Teshik said, and Pelleon nodded.

 

"How large of a force shall we be needing?" Pleeon asked, and teshik thought about it for a moment.

 

"The Fifth task force should be enough to deal with Antilles, and as for Iblis, I belive your Second patrol group shall suffice. We will also pull Destroyers from the Fourth Patrol Group to supplement our forces." Teshik said, and Pelleon nodded. That would give them approximately the same amount of vessels as those they would be facing.

 

"Shall I call up the 181st for this battle? They may not be the elite group they once were, but they are still among out best pilots." Pelleon asked, but Teshik shook his head.

 

"No, I already have them placed somewhere else, training in TIE-Sabres. I want them to be ready for the next operation after this one." Teshik said, and Pelleon nodded, although he wondered about leaving them out of this battle.

 

"Alright. When shall we leave?" Pleeon asked, and Teshik smiled.

 

"We made the jump to hyperspace not long after you were aboard. We will arive on station in six hours," he said, a evil grin on ehis face, "and seven hours after that, we will show the New Republic that the Empire will not lie down and die just yet."

[Paul]

So far so good. Long live the Empire. And may I ask why the sudden dislike of TIE Sabres?-Grand Moff Conway

[BadSamaritan]

(Editors Note: The TIE-Sabres are constantly being modified to fit various mission profiles. Most recently, we had to deal with a squad of them armed with heavy ion-canons instead of laser canons. They disabled our transport vessel, trapping us on yet another world under seige my the Grand Admiral. I think he did it to slow us down, we are catching on to all his little tricks now.)

 

General Antilles sat in the command chair of the Lusankya, a look of owrry on his face. Through the entire hyperspace trip so far, he had been worried about this mission. There were just to many unknown variables to deal with. To much room for error. To him, this entire mission was a fiasco in the making. But Ackbar had trust in him and his abilities, so he still had hope that everything wouls turn out alright.

 

"General, one minute to realspace." came a call from the crew pits. Wedge nodded, and then walked towards the viewport. As he waitied, he mentally calculated the strength of his force versus what was supposed to be in the system.

 

He had the Lusakya, two Mon Cal Cruisers; the Mon Kerra and Mon Delindo respectively, two Imp Stars; the Rebel Dream and Whirlwind, and a host of support craft. It should be more than enough to take on a single damaged Super Star Destroyer. But that was assuming Pelleon hadn;t sent anything to help defend the vessel.

 

But even if Pelleon had sent something, that where Iblis and his group came into play. He had several cruisers under his command, and just as many smaller vessels. To much firepower for their mission, just enough in case it went wrong. Or so Wedge hoped.

 

Then, the lines of hyperspace faded into single dots, and the world of Soullex hung in front on him. Around the world, hanging dangerously close to the atmosphere, was the hulk of the Gaurdian And next to it sat two Imperial Star Destroyers. Pelleon had sent reinforcements. But not enough to stop him.

 

"Order our starfighters into a defensive screen for now. Move forward at full speed. Call it out when we are 300 Klicks from target, and every ten kicks after that. Fore at maximum range, all guns targeting those escort vessels. Let's make this quick and clean people." he said, and he smiled as his orders were followed. He knew his crew was capable. They had prove that in their years together. They were also effecient, something else he liked. But even if they weren;t, by the looks of it, this battle was going to be easy. He just hoped it wouls stay that way.

 

********************************************************

 

Commander Dorja smiled as the New Republic force dropped out of hypserspace. he may not have known where they were going to arrive, but it didn;t matter. Either way, they were doomed.

 

"Lock onto the Gaurdian with all tractor beams, and get us moving. Lets put on a good show for the rebels, shall we?" he said, and he watched carefully as his vessel and the Right to Rule both locked onto the massive vessel, and slowly began tugging it away from the world.

 

All they had to do was make the rebels think they wre running. And considering how outgunned they were right now, making them think that would not be hard at all.

 

****************************************************

 

"General, the Star Destroyers have locked onto the Gaurdian with tractor beams. I think they are trying to drag it out of the planets gravity well. No starfighter launches as of yet." a voice said, and Wedge nodded. They probaly had the hyperdrives working then. Which means he less timeto stop them then he thought.

 

"Order half our starfighters to move out and engage the Destroyers. Target their engines only. If we can capture them as well, even better. If the Imperials launch starfighters, send out half of second group to deal with them. Kepp all other starfighters back, just in case." he said, and he watched as his starfighters raced out to stop the fleeing vessels.

 

As he watched, TIE fighters shot from teh hanger bays of all three vessels, and moved to form a screen around the engines of their home vessels. Whoever was commanding that force was no fool.

 

"Order half of second group out. Have first group change targets to the starfighters. If we can get rid of that screen fast enough, we will have them." Wedge said, and he smiled. he couldn't have hoped for thisto go any better. But something still felt wrong about it.

 

As his first group of starfighters reached the halfway point, it suddenyl hit him. He glanced at the numbers, and realised that the Destroyers in front of him hadn't launched any TIE Bombers. Meaning they had been moved somewhere else. He was about to start calling back starfighters, when a hurried voice called out from the pits.

 

"General! Multiple enemy contacts dropping from hypserspace to our stern! Im seeing multiple starfighter launched, mostly TIE Interceptors and Bombers!" the vouice called, and an icy fist closed in on his stomach. He had fallen for a simple trap, like a green commander.

 

"Call back our starfighters, now! and give me numbers of enemy capitol ships! Helm, turn us around. I want them out of our blind spot as soon as possible!" he shouted, and he watched as his starfighters began to reverse course.

 

"Sir, Im seeing five Imperial class Star Destoryers, two Victory clas star Destoryers, and a dozen support vessels. They came out close sir. They will reach firign range in ten seconds." Came a reply, and Wedge cursed. This was not good. His support vessels were all forward, and would take time to get back far enough to engage the Imperials. With every growing second, this was getting worse.

 

Wedge rocked slightly as the first barrages hit his rear sheilds. He had a sudden eeling that he would be need General Iblis' Force.

 

*****************************************************

 

Pelleon smiled as his froce dropped out of Hyperapace, just behind the massive hulk of the Lusankya. He couldn't have asked for a better spot. The engies were in fron and just above his fforce, were the least amount of guns from the mighty ship could attack him. he could pound the engines, disable them, then chew away at the ship until it either exploded, or surrendered.

 

"Launch all starfighers, and heve them begin runs on the Lusankya. That vessel is our main target. Take that ship, and the battle is ours. Have all vessels concentrate fire on its' engines. If we can disable it fast enough, perhaps we can convince the good general to surrender it to us." he said, and he smiled.

 

He watched as the guns from his vessel, and several othe nearbye vessels, began pounding away at the bigger vessels rear sheilds. With the amount of fire being poured into them, they wouldn't last long at all. And once they wre down, the battle was his to win.

 

*******************************************************

 

"General, aft sheilds down to 30 percent! They canl;t take much more of this!" came a worried call from the weapons pit. Wedge smacked his hand against his command chair, and sighed. He knew already the battle was lost. But now he needed help just to get his ship out in one piece.

 

"Send a message to Iblis' force. Give him our current coordinates, and tell him we need help in escaping. And tell him to hurry." Wedge said, and he could tell from the silence that what was happening ha just hit the crew. For the frst time ever, the mighty Luskanya was retreating.