BadSamaritan

Welcome back freind.

Tell that to the younglings in Ep. III

I personalyl love Wikipedia, not only for the insane amount of fun that can be had there (hit random article, read, repeat) but also for research. A lot of people say things are innacurate, but if you use the links to the sources, you can generally find accurate ones that can be used for citation.

Only on rare occasions will I even think of going ot the theater, and even then it takes a lot of convincing. The seats are terrible, the concession stand is expensive, and most importantly, I alwats manage to sit next to the ingrate who CAN"T STOP TALKING. So if you go to the theater, smuggle in drinks and snack, bring a small pillow for the seat (the seats at my theater offer no back support, so I place one at the small of my back), and bring a tazer for the talkers.

I can turn on basic cable where i live, and hear swear words round the clock. People getting shot, and killed. Brutal violence. All of which are worse (IMO) then the mentioning of certain sexual acts. Besides, we all seem to be relatively mature here. I am mentioning a few random sexual acts is something we are all adult enough to handle.

Is it not rap and Polka? I like it. 'Nuff said.

That was PG-13. Have you watched basic cable recently? You watch shows that are worse than that in primetime.

Porn is so deep. Seriously, think about it. It's a post modern deconstruction of the human search for truth and meaning. The cumshot, for example, represents the elusive ecstacy of enlightenment in a world of darkness and suffering. Anal represents the initial suffering that some must go through before achieving said enlightenment. But as for the dildos, just ignore them. They are dildos.

(Editors comment: You know, I should really work on this more often, as I really want to get to the end so that the grand finale can take place. The grand finale which let us all scratching out heads in confusion, and then left us in tears as we hadn't seen it coming before hand. But anyways, back to the current battle, and to Dengar with his semi-wastefull brute force tactics. General Crespin, seasoned pilot of the rebellion, aged vetern of the war, looked at his sensors with worry on his face. Behind him, an entire wing of B- and E-wings raced forward to engage the heavier vessles that were steadily moving towards the New Republic formation. But ahead of them were a pair of elderly Carrack-class cruisers. They appeared to be the only vessels the Empire had brought designed to deal with starfighters directly, but sending them out ahead made no sense. They were outmatched, and easy prey for his fighter wing. "Attention all fighters, watch those Carracks. Something isn't right about them." he said, and he heard his squadron commanders return his call. he continued to watch them, waiting for them to make thier move. But they just moved towards them as usual, as if they intended to chalenge the fighter wing head-on. As he got closer, he adjusted his sensors to look for anything strange along the hulls of the Carracks. The EMpire had started the bad habit of packing scatter-mines along the hulls of their vessels, designed to wipe out entire squadrons with a massive swarm of shrapnel. But so far, he saw nothing unusual, but he still had a bed feeling. "General, this is Havoc lead. I recognize that starboard Carrack. It was part of the Second fleet until about a year ago, when she was re-captured. That is the Flamespite." he said, and Crespin nodded slowly. He recognized the name, but he could not remember where from. But they were coming up on them now, and he had to make his choice. Challnge them, or go around? he tighted his grib on his control stick, and growled. "All starfighters, run the trench. Let's make them think twice before shooting at us." he said, and he adjusted hid flight to move between the two carracks. Whiel this would force his stafighters into a tighter formation, any shots the carracks took at them would risk hitting the other vessel. And Carracks were not heavily sheilding, meaning any stray hits were a problem, especially since his starfighters would also be firing their heavy laser cannons and ion-cannons at them while they slipped past them. They would probably disable them, then move on to the Destroyers. A simple enough plan, one that had worked dozens of times before. And would likely work a dozen more times. ************************************************************* Dengar watched as the starfighters ebgan moving into a think, stumpy collumn to move between the two carracks. He smiled, and shook his head. A simple tactic, but in this scenario, a fatal one. He looked over to Disteik, and nodded. Disteik smiled, and walked over to the comm stations. he tapped a button, and spoke clearly. "Begin swarm fire-tactics. Bane and Hammer, you are clear to open fire with all weapons." he said, adn Dengar watched outthe viewport. Suddenly, the space between teh two Carracks became filled with torrents of laser fire as the Carracks opened fire, much more than they should have produced normally. But, thanks the the New Republic, these two had been fitted with dozens of quad-laser batteries, designed to deploy and open fire in seconds. Far to fast for enemy starfighters to escape. And with advanced tracking systems, the weapons were painfully acurate. As Dengar was sure the starfighters were now becoming painfully aware of. ************************************************************* "All starighters, pull out!! It's a trap!!!" Havoc lead called out, and Crespin looked about, wondering what was going on. A few starfighters pulled away, but before crespin could respond, he saw the sides of the Carrack cruisers shift. Suddenly, what looked like dozens of cannon ports open, and green-laser fire filled his canopy. And he came to the realisation of why he remembered these Carracks. They had been deisgned as quasi-Lancer frigates, meant to take out swarms of starfighters. And his wing was caught in thh middle of them. "All stafighters, pull out! Go around them!!" he yelled, and he yanked his starfighter into a tight upward spiral to get out of the mealstrom he found himself in. As he did so, he glanced at his sensor board, and saw dozens of his starfighters wink out of existance before they could escape. And even after the rest had escaped, several more fell to weapons placed on other parts of the Carrack cruisers. Silently, Crespin cursed, and he turned his fighter around. "All fighters, head back to the main force. We are going to get slaughtered here." he said, and he watched as the remainder of his starfighter wing turned, and fled back to teh safety of the rest of the task force. Inside, Crespin hoped the Carracks would follow, and find temselves the targets of the much more massive Man Cals that would soon be within firing range. And there, they would suffer the same fate that his starfighters had. ONly he would see to it, that they didn't escape. ************************************************************* Han cursed loudly as his bomber wing fell apart, and then began retreating. he had hoped that they would be able to stall the larger ships for a minute, long enough to give Leia enough time to get off world. But those Carracks had squashed that plan before it could get off the ground. he looked to his side, adn saw Wedge standing there. "Wedge, why aren't you out in a starfighter?" he asked, and Wedge shook his head. "Sorry Han, but my starfighter days are over. Intelligence now, remember? And besides, my X-wing is over on the Staybound. No I decided I would be better off here, helping you." he said, and Han nodded. "Thanks. You do better with the smaller vessels than I do." Han said, and Wedge nodded. Wedge walked over to the cammand console, and looked down at the sensors. he forwned, and shook his head. "Han, this looks bad. We don't have much heavy starfighter support left. I think we should clal them all back, to try and keep their bombers off of our ships." he said, adn Han nodded. "I know. Crespin already ordered them back. They will arive about 30 seconds before the heavier ships do." Han said, and Wedge nodded. Wedge looked over to a small timer one the console, and motioned to it. "What is that?" he asked, and Han forwned. "That his how long we have till Leia is of fworld, and we can get out of here." Han said, and Wedge nodded. The timer still said six minutes. Wedge looked out the viewpot, and seeing the much larger enemy force bearing down on them, realised it was ging to be a very long six minutes. ************************************************************* Dengar stood at the viewport, and watched as his warships began to open fire. Soon, all of his vessels were engaging enemy vessels at maximum range, just as planned. As the battle became more fierce, ne nodded to Disteik. Dsteik smild, and turned to teh comm station again. He pushd a button, and spoke quickly. "Attention Crusader and Swordbane. Abandon ship, and lock thrusters. I repeat, abandon ship and lock thrusters." he said, and he released the comm. He moved to the side of Dengar, and watched as two of the elderly Dearnaughts in their force began to creep forward. Escape pods shot from both of them as the small crews abandoned the ships as their suicide runs were starting. It was a simply, yet wastefull plan. The two Dreadnaughts were to move to full slank speed, and ram two pre-determined vessels. Dengar had decided the Star Destroyer and the Mon Cal sitting to its' starboard were the most likely vessels for Solo to take as his command ship, so they would be the first to fall. And then teh landing ships could launch, and invade the city where the Chief of State was waiting. "I have you now, Solo. And soon, I will have your wife." he said, and Disteik looked over him carefully. He knew Danger had a massive grudge against Solo, but he often wondered how far it actually went. He was worried tat Dengar was letting his personal issues with Solo cloud his vision. But at the same time, the elimination of Solo was a prime gaol in this battle, so Disteik had not had to follow through with his secret orders to deal with Dengar if he felt he was no longer capable of carrying out the mission. He just hoped that he was not mistaken in that assesment. ************************************************************* Solo watched as the battle raged on, then notived the escape pods. He stood up, and stared out hte viewport. he eyed the Dreadnaughts carefully, wondering what was going on. But as the ships moved foward, it struck him. "Order the Staybound and the Tidal Fury to concentrate on those Dreadnaughts!! Have them turn to starboard, and gun the engines! Now!!" Han yelled, and Wedge watched as he suddenyl came to realisation of what Han already knew. Whoever was in command of the Imperial forces had decided to use a strange tactic, one that was seldom used by anyone, yet still very effective. Massive warships had strong shields, but even theu could not hold off a vessel the size of a Dreadnaught on a ramming course. Han and Wedge watched in horror as their two lead vessels began to trun, and fired all available weapons banks at the oncoming ships. The sheilds of the Dreadnaughts held, them slowly faded away. Fire poured into the front of the vessels, but they moved forward steadily. Smeller vessels began ppouring fire into the engines, trying to stop them, but they all knew it was to late. There was nothing they could do now, esxcept for watch. The first Dreadnaught hit his flagship, and the Star Destroyers powerfull sheilds collapsed instantly. The flaming hulk of the Dreadnaught tore into the hull, literally moving the other vessel sideways with its' force. The Star Destroyer started to bend at the impact point, tearing massive gashes into thie ships hull. And finally, the core breached, sending fragments of both vessels out in every direction. Han averted his eyes, and watched as his Mon Cal cruiser moved as fast as its' sluggish engines could push it. The captain had alos started a slow dive, to try and move the bulk of his vessel out of the direction of the Dreadnaughts path. But it had been to late. The Dreadnaught impacted with the top shields of the vessel, collapsing them quickly. the two hull ground together, and smaller explosions ripped along the sides of both vessels. Then, the lights along the hull of the Dreadnught went dark as it lost power. The Mon Cal cruiser, still under power, slowly pulled away from the Dreadnauhgt, its' hull aflame in a dozen spots, its' guns silent. "Have all vessels move forward to protect the Tidal! Order them to abandon ship, and launch recovery vehicles. Cal back all starfighters, we need to keep those TIEs away from us!!" Wedge yelled, and Han simply stared out the viewport. In a matter of seconds, two of the vessels in his command were destroyed. And now his force was doomed unless they retreated immediatly, or he somehow came up with a brilliant plan. "Wedge, you have any ideas?" Han asked, and Wedge looked at the sensor board. It was not pretty. They were far to outgunned to last in a firefight, but thye could not retreat until teh Cheif of State was off the planet. "We have to stay and fight Han. We have no choice." Wedge said, slowly, and Han nodded. "I know Wedge. All forces, hold formation, and concentrate on their heavier ships. Starfighters are to begin bombing runs on the destroyers, we need to take them out of this fight." Han said, and wedge watched as the Imperial vessels moved into closer range. Then, on the sensor board, he saw dozens of TIE fighters break from the battle, and run for the planet. And behind them, a small force of drop ships moved well outside the range of the New republic formation, surrounding by a larger force of Lambda class huttles and blastboats. "Han, they are launching landing forces." he said, adn Hand closed his eyes slowly. "I know." was all he could manage to say. He was losing this fight, and they all knew it. But unless a miracle occured, there was nothing he could do about it.

(Editors Comment: Jagmeister and Rum is bad for my liver..... but tastes sooooooooo good!!!!) Dengar stared out the viewport of the massive Star Destroyer Mauler, and smile on his face. Outside, the whirls of hyperspace flowed around the vessel as it traveled on it's way to a small planet well within New Republic territory. This was a risky operation, one which was unliekly to succeed. But Dengar had known that when he been given his task. And he still took it, becuase of one man. The man which had caused him to lose everything he had all those years ago. Han Solo. It had been nearly two decades since the swwop race crash that had nearly killed him, but Dengar still harbored all the hatred he had for Han sicne then. And now, he wold be able to exact his revenge. As he stared out the viewport, his second in cmmand walked up to him, and stood behind him silently. Dengar turnd slowly, and then smiled slightly. "What is it Commander Disteik?" he asked, his voice cold and emotionless. Disteik stared back impassionatly, and then spoke after a moment. "All forces from the Crusader and the Swordbane have been allocated throughout the rest of the task force. All fighters are ready for launch from our bays. All troops have been given their assignmetns, and are ready for landing." he said, and Dengar nodded. From the moment he had arrived at his task force, he had planned on how to best destroy the forces in orbit, and land enough tropps to ensure the capture of the Chief of State. The Admirals would dissagree with the tactics he had chosen, but he knew they would work, even if they were wastefull. "Excellent. Extend my apologies to the respective Captains for removing their commands from them, but ensure them that it is for the greater good." he said, adn then he turned back to the viewport, and he laughed slightly. "And besides, I am sure that with al the vessels we have been capturing as of late, they will find themselves in command of other vessels soon enough." he said, and Commander Disteik nodded. "Of course sir. We should be reverting in system within the next ten minutes. Assuming, or course, they aren;t interdicting the system." he said, and Dengar shook his head. "They won't be. That would alert every ship within ten sectors to what is going on there. They wanted to keep this a secret, not broadcast the entire meeting. At four minutes to revision, bring alert status to full. I want all starfighters to begin launch as soon as we revert, starting with the Sabres. Follow them up with Interceptors, and launch our Preybirds last." he sai,d and the commander slauted, then turned to make sure the orders were carried out. As Dengar continued to watch out his viewport, he counted in his head, every second seeming to last an eternity. rvenge would soon be his. And was it was, he could finally rest easily, knwoing that all was righ twith the galaxy. ************************************************************* Han cursed as the panel in front of his shot spark out, and he tossed the small electircal sensor to the ground in frustration. He had become engrossed with getting a series of lights to work in the Falcon before he went planetside, but had discoverd his flagship had lacked technicians that he felt he could trust. So he had transferred the old freightor to one of the Mon Calamari cruisers, where the chief mechanic was someone Han knew personally from the days of the rebellion. Right now, that being simply stared back at Han, a wistfull look in its' large eyes. "I am sorry General, but I am telling you the problem is not in the power conduits, but in the main energy bindings. So we are workign ont eh wrong systems." the sullustan said, and Han shook his head. "And I am telling you, the energy bindings are fine. I tuned them last than a week ago. And Chewie checked. So if you want to argue with him, be my guest." Han said, adn the SUllustan shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, but I still say I am right." he said, and he reached into his tool pouch to remove another tool needed to calibrate the power conduit relays. he handed ti to Han, he took the tool quickly. The longer this took, the less time he would have with Leia. But unfortunatly, this bank of lights served the sole purpose of telling Han if the power core was going to fall apart or not, so he didn't feel safe without them. As Han brought the tool to begin teh clabration, the hanger bay lights dimmed, and a warning claxon sounded loudly. Han looked around, a confused look on his face. he was aboutto ask if it was a surprise drill, but then a voice came ouver the speaker system in the hanger bay. "All hands to battlestations! I repeat, all hands to battlestations! This is not a drill. General Solo to control. I repeat, this is not a drill." the voice said, and Han bolted from the Falcon. He ran for the nearest lift, and arrived just in time for the doors to open and pilots to pour out, running for their starfighters. Han squeezed past them, and smacked the button that would take him close to the bridge. The moment, the lift stopped moving, Hand shot out of it, in a dead run to the bridge. When he arrived on the bridge, he found a sea of dead calm. The captain truned to him, and nodded. "General, we have Imperial forces in system. ETA, five minutes. Sensors have Identified five Destroyer-class vessels, six Deadnaught-class vessels, and over a dozen support vessels. They began launching TIE fighters upon reversion. They are on a direct course for us." the captain said, and Han nodded. "Of course they are. But how in the name of the Sith did they know we were here?" he aske,d and the captain shook his head. "I cannot say, general. But regardless, they are here, and the Chief of state is on the planet. We aqare outnumbered, and outgunned. But we cannto retreat until she is secure." he said, and Han nodded in agreement. "Of course. Begin evacuation procedures on the planet. I want her off hte planet before we get to into any fights with the Imperials." he said, and the captain nodded, and began to bark orders, which Han knew would be relayed to the planet, and to the troops currently stationed there. He just hoped htey moved quickly. Because if they didn't, this was going to get very ugly. ************************************************************* "Leia, we have Imperials inbound! We gotta go!" Lando yelled, and Leai looked up from the flowers she was examining. "What? When did they arrive?" she asked, and she broke into a run towards hte main building that housed her speeder. As she ran, she thought it al out. Five minutes to get to her transport, five to get into space. Ten minutes to get to the protection of the fleet. And to Han. "They just arrived. Big force, looks like Han is outgunned by a pretty bad amount. He wants you off the planet now, so he can pull a fast retreat." Lando said as she got to him, and they both took off for the speeder. As they ran thoughts ran through her mind quickly. This entire meeting was supposed to be a complete secret. Not even some of the council members knew about it. Every caution had been taken to protect it. The only reason Lando was here was because it was one of his luxury shuttles that had gotten her here, with him piloting. He had been the only person that she had thought of that she could trust one hundred percent, and had the contacts to make it look like she went somewhere else. As far as the rest of the galaxy was concerned, she was visiting Ryloth, trying to secure a steady supply of Ryl and the new Ryltohian starfighters for the New Republic military. And still the Imperials had found her. "Lando, how fast is your shuttle? Can it outrun those new TIE-Sabres?" she asked as they reached the speeder. Lando nodded quickly, and powered the speeder up for the ride to the Hanger bay. "I thikn so. If not, ours has some pretty decent sheilding systems. So we can withstand a few barrages before we will be in trouble." he said, and Leia nodded. "I hope you are right Lando. Because I have bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling." Leia said, and Lando frowned. She had the force to guide her, so he trusted her judgement. All he had was his gut instincts, and he had the same feelign she did. This was not going to go very well. ************************************************************* "Commodore, enemy starfighters are inbound. Shal I release our githers to engage?" the captain asked, and Dengar nodded. "Release wings one and two for now, keep all other fighters back with the main force. I do not want any of our vessels to fall prey to their torpedo tactics." Dengar said, and the captain nodded. Dengar stood and watched as the first two wings of TIE fighters shot our ahead of the main force, determined to stave off the incoming enemy starfighters. He knew that the most they would do was keep the faster, more agile A- and X-wings busy while the B-wings that were present would continue on towards his force, escorted by the powerfull E-wings. But it was what he wanted them to do. because while he lacked any of the rare Lancer-class frigates, two of the vessels in his force were specially designed to fend off starfighters. And the rebels would never see them coming. "Order the Bane and the Hammer forward at full speed. Follow the first tow wings, and engage any starifighters that make it pas tthe first engagements." he said, adn he watched as the two modified Carrac-cruisers shot forward. The Carracks were elderly vessels, which used to be foudn only in the outer-rim systems during the height of the Empire. But now, with ship construction at a minimum, the Empire had been forced to press the weak vessels into increasinlgy more active roles. Ones that generally led the the Carracks destruction. But these two were specaislly designed to take on starfighters. And as fate would have it, it was the New Republic that had modified them, years ago. The Empire had re-captured them, and simpyl kept their new configration. And now they would have a use for them. As the first waves of starfighters met, Dengar could see bright flashes as the starfigters began their deadly dance. He looked down at his sensor, and saw that several enemy squadrons were flying through the engagment, intent on hunting down bigger prey. He smiled, and shook his head. "Come, little ones. Come, and meet the reaper head on." he said, and he chuckled slightly. he looked back out the viewport, and watched as the two carracks moved closer to the incoing starfighters. He wondered how the starfighters would react to them. Would they stop to eliminate them, or would they move past them, on towards the bigger vessels? Both would lead to their destruction, but one would be faster than the other. But as he sat their and watched, the captain walked up behind him. "Commodor, the Crusader and Swordbane report ready for their run. Shall we move ahead with the battle?" he asked, and Dengar thought about it. After a few moments, he nodded. "Yes. Have all ships move together at our full speed. When we reach firing range, release both our hit ships to make their run." he said, and the captain nodded. Dengar looked back outthe viewport, a feral grin on his face. "I have you now, Solo. And this time, I will winthe race." he said, and he watched as his force began to move faster towards the enemy fleet, and clser to Han Solos' demise.

(Editors Comment: Bleargh!!!! My boos can fall off a cliff, choke on glass, and die!!!! I wanted this installment out last night, but my boss kept me at work way to late for my liking. Anyways, here ya go.) Admiral Pellaeon watched carefully as the elderly Lambda-class shuttle landed on the hanger bay floor. He studied the shuttle carefully, wondering why the man inside would let his personal vehicle fall into such disrepair. But then he noticed a series of odd bulges along the hull, and he remembered who they had sommuned to lead the mission. He calculated that there had to be at least a dozen hidden weapon emplacements all laong the hull, at least. What looked like easy prey would trun into a wild Rancor when threatened. Just like the man sitting at the controls. Slowly, the boarding ramp lowered, and down teh ramp walked a man who while looked like he was getting on in years, both he and Teshik knew that he had many long years ahead of him. A former bounty hunter, he had come into the services of the Empire a few months after the fall of Coruscant for unknown reasons. And he had stayed on through everything else that had happened afterwards, for the simple reason that it gave him the best chance at getting back at the man who had caused him years of pain. The man walked towards the tow admirals, and saluted smartly. Teshik returned the salute, and smiled. "Ahh, Commodore Dengar. Welcome to my flagship. Thank you for arriving so quickly. I am sure you were unhappy about having to leave your family so unexpectedly." he said, and the man nodded. "While an inconvenience, I always follow orders, Admiral. And I believe I was ordered to be here as soon as possible." he said, adn Teshik smiled. Pelaeon could already tell these two were going to get along quiet well. "Very good, Commodore. Now, if you will come with us, i can explain why we brought you here to the front lines." Teshik said, and Dengar nodded quickly and mtoioned for them to lead the way. Together, the three of them walked from teh hanger, and into a nearbye situation room. Once the entered, they all at down at the small table there, and the lights lowered slightly. "Commodore, we do not have much time, so we will get right to the point." Teshik said, and a holographic world appeared above the table. Dengar stared at it, and shook his head. "I have no idea what world this is, Admiral. " Dengar said, dn Teshik smiled slightly. "Nor should you. Except for the fact that it has a small spaceport with minor storage facilties and a single resort, the world has little to no value to either sides war effort. Hence teh reason it was chosen as the meeting place for the Cheif of State, and the commander of the second fleet." Teshik said, adn Dengar looked at him sharply. Everyone in the fleet now had heard that Solo was in charge of the New Republics Second fleet, and Dengar had a long-time grudge against the man. "Both of them together, that would be a massive coup to capture, or kill, both of them." Dengar said, and techik and Pellaeon looked at each other carefully. They both knew that Dengar would sooner kill Solo than capture him. Ad that was fine with the both of them. But they had both agreed the cheif of state would be much better to them alive rather than dead. "Yes, it would. Which is why we are planning a small suprise for thm while they are there. We have found out the approximate number of vessles that will be in orbit during the meeting, and have built a force large enough to fend them off. After that is done, we will be landing troops, and we plan on capturing Cheif of State Solo. Then, we want to bring her back to the Empire." Pellaeon said, and Dengar smiled. "This mission will be important. To important to risk having its' cover blown. So you want a lesser commander, one the rebels won;t be watching, to lead it." he said, adn Teshik grinned. "I can see why you made such an excellent bounty hunter, Dengar. And a very good commander in our fleet. You are very correct on that assumption. You will beleading the whole operation, from the moment you leave this system, to the moment you return, with or without a certain prisoner in tow." teshikl said, and Dengar nodded, understanding the meaning behind his words. Succeed of fail, Teshik was testing Dengar as a whole for other reasons. Reasons that were only known to the Grand Admiral. "I thank you for this chance, Admirals. What is the size fo the fleet I wll eb given?" e asked, and Pellaeon tapped a button on his console. A small set of numbers appeared, and Dengar looked over them carefully. "You will be leading a small force of destroyers, consisting of two Mark-II Star destroyers, three Mark-I Victories, and six Dreadnaughts for the main cruisers. You will also have a small mixture of support vessels at your disposal. Along with full complements of starfighters on all vessels, more if we can fit them." Pelleaon said, and Dengar nodded. "It will be the largest force I have led in a long time. But not so much that it wll be missed terribly along the front right now." he said, adn Teshik nodded. "Actually, it will be very missed. But we simply cannot afford to throw this possibilty away." he said, and Dengar nodded again. This was a very sudden act of desperation, meanoing something was not going in their favor somehow. "Understood. What will be the forces i am facing?" Dengar asked, and Teshik spoke up quickly. "We belive you will be seing at least one Star Destroyer, possibly a mark-II. Also, a dual escort of man Cal cruisers, and perhaps half a dozen support vessels. A small force, not enough to truelly give you problems." teshik said, and Pellaeon sighed. he expected twice that number to be there, but he did not voice that thought. teshik had said he wanted to test Dengars' tactical abilties, for a possible promiton. To where, Pellaeon didn't know, but it was not his place to ask just yet. "Such a small fleet? They must be trying to hide the meeting, just like we are hiding this mission." Dengar said, and Teshik nodded. "Yes, that is what we assume also. We only found out about it though luck. We captured a counter0intelligence agent who had knowledge of the meeting. Hence the rapid planning and execution of this mission." he said, and teshik stood slowly. dengar floowed suite, as did pellaeon. "Speaking of which, you must beon your way to your new fleet. The meeting will happen inless than twenty-four hours, and you will need almost that much time to get there." Teshik said, and Dengar nodded. "Of course, Admiral. Again, I think you fro this chance. Just let me know where my flee tis stationed, and I will be on my way." he said, and Teshik handed him a small datacard with the needed onformation. "I suggest you learn the names of your new subordiantes immediatly. Some of them are rather finisky, and will eb much more comfterable with you knowign theri names wen you arrive." teshik said, and Dengar nodded. He saluted, and tehn turned and left the meeting room. Pellaeon watched him leave, and then turned to Teshik. "I must say Admiral, if this works, not only will we remove the head of the New Republic from the picture, we will force the Third into action, whcih will make kayn shoose to either join us, or let us fall." he said, and Teshik nodded slowly. "Yes, it will. Let us just hope that Kayn chooses to join us. Because if not, it will be a long year for us." he said, and he turned and walked from teh room. Pellaeon watched him leave, and then heaved a small sigh. For everything that Teshik had doen for the Empire, he was wondering if it had been a good idea. he could very well be leading them into oblivion right now. But he could not turn back now. it was far to late for that. Pellaeon slwoyl walked out of the room, wondering to himself if he had made a terrible mistake. ********************************************************** General Solo stood ont eh bridge of his flagship, the massive Star Destroyer Staybound. Outside the viewport, he could see the trio of MonCalamari starcruisers that made of the rest of the larger ships in his force. Spread among them were over a dozen smaller vessels, acting support vessels for his current task force. Underneath them sat a ratehr plain looking world. Plain to the blind eye, that was. Somewhere down there was his wife, leader fo the New Republic. And while officially this was a important meeting about the current condition fo the Second fleet, everyone knew it was simpyl an excuse for Han and Leia to spend some time alone together. From across the bridge, Wedge watched Han carefully. he had noticed a strange attitude change in Han the past few days. Han had become exceptionally serious, much more serious then he should have been. They were no where near the front lines, far from any realistic danger. And annoyingly enough, he had no idea why. He slowly walked over to Han, and stood next to him. "han, what is wrong?" he asked, and Han sighed. "Wedge, why is it whenever this government is in trouble, we get called back into service? Why can't the younger guys come in and fix things for once." he sia, dnad Wedge shook his head. "because teh younger soldiers don't have our experience Han. Not many people are left that actually fought at Hoth or Endor. We have teh experience needed for these kinds of situations." Wedge said, and Han sighed deeply. "I know you are right, but that dos not mean I have to like it. We have plenty of veterns still from teh Thrawn war. Why can;t any of them lead things?" he asked, and Wedge shook his head. "You know why Han. We have more experience with old-style Imperials than anyone else in the fleet, save a few peopel higher than us, like Ackbar. We know how to deal with the Empire like thy used to be. Newer commanders are used to IMperials simply fleeing from battle. Now, we are the ones running." Wedge said, and Han nodded. "And that is the worst part. We haven't been on the recieving end of beatings for a long time. We just aren;t used to this anymore." he said, adn wedge nodded in agreement. "I know. Which is the other reason if we are needed. If we panic and run, imagine what the young pups we are leading will do. The Navy would fall apart within a month." he stated bluntly, and Han smiled. "That is true. The fact that we are all that is holding this navy together kinda makes you warm up inside, doesn't it?" he said, and Wedge laughed. "And there is the legendary Solo ego the rest fo the galaxy fears." Wedge said, and they both laughed. They stared down at the wrold beneath them, and Han sighed happily. "I hate waiting. Just a few mor ehours, and I will be cleared fro planet. Then I can finally have some peace and relaxation to myself." he said, and Wedge nodded.

Editors comment: It appears that I have a challenger to my throne. I must fight to keep my title of "best fan-fic writer on-site". To bad my job keeps me away from the computer so damned much. Otherwise I would be up for writing an installment a day like I want to. Anyways, go here for the latest picture of this author with his new haircut, and enjoy this installment of the story!!) Admiral Teshik looked around the table slowly. Admirals Tavira and Drommel were conversing quietly, more than likely comparing numerical losses in thier battles. As the two of them seemed to have gotten into a minor rivalry over who was the batter commander, it was to be expected. But he allowed it, as it was forcing them to improve upon their skills, which in his mind were needed. And just as long as thir rivalry did not get in the way of the Empires' needs, he would allow it to continue. Quietly, the door to the conference room opened, and Admiral Pellaeon entered, followed quickly by General Octorious, the newest member of the Imperial Council. A former warlord, he had just re-entered the fold when his holdings in the core had become threatened by a rival warlord, and by the encroaching New Republic. While his military genious was only on par with most other commanders, the fact that he was at one point in time one of the Empires top intelligence operatives meant that he was perfect to lead the rebuilding of the once feared Imperial intelligence division. Once the final arrivals were seated, Teshik slowly stood, and nodded to all of them. "Now that we are all here, it is time to begin. Over the past week, we have been running a lightning campaign against the New Republics' Second fleet. While we have not taken any worlds from them yet, what we have managed to do is weaken their line, and force them to continously move forces to cover worlds that we strike. By doing so, we have weakened the Second fleet as a whole, leaving their entire front open to attack." he said, and everyone around the table nodded in agreement. Drommel looked over to one of his datapads, and frowned. "Beg the Admirals pardon, but I do not think we can actually strike at the second fleet with any real force until the Thrid fleet is taken out of the picture. Is their any news of ous supposed allies in the CSA?" he asked, and Pelleaon shook his head. "No, there isn't. Supreme Admiral Kayn is still supllying us with large amounts of TIE Sabres, and other war materials. But so far, he has not brought his fleet to bear agains thte rear flanks of the Third. But the Thrid is moving farther into pre-stike mode, so if he is going to attack, he will do so soon, when his enemies are looking the other way." he said and Tavira scowled. "And if he doesn't attack, the Third will rush at us, and when we move to fend them off, the Second will strike back. We will be overwhelmed, and crushed." she said, adn Teshik nodded his head slowly. "You are very correct on that assumption. If we are forced to take on the Third fleet, as well as the second, I predict that we will be defeated within six months, if not sooner. But it is a gamble that I think we have to take, otherwise we will simply be fighting an unwinable war against the New Republic. And that is an unacceptable option." he said, and everyone around the table voiced their agreements. General Octorious then looked at several of his datapads, then over to Admiral Teshik. "Admiral, what of the New Republics Fifth fleet? Our intelligence said ot was being mobolized, possibly to reinforce the Second fleet. But now, it just seems to be sitting idle in the core." he asked, and Teshik smiled. "That is the reason that I called for this meeting. Recent information has led me to believe the Fifth fleet will used in a massive PR campaign near the core, to make thier citizens belive that all is well. Because of this, the Second fleet will have to be much more cautious until the Third is ready for war. Meaning now is the time to strike at the new commander of the Second fleet. " he said, and everyone looked around the table, slightly confused. Drommel looked at the Admiral, a quizzical look on his face. "Admiral, wouldn't it be wise to use this time to rest the fleet, instead of straining it further? Especially with the Third preparing to mobolize against us?" he asked, adn Teshik nodded. "Normally, it would be yes. But thanks to General Octorious, we have some very new information which makes me believe that now is the time to not only strike, but deal a very hard blow the New Republic. General?" he said, and he motioned for Octorious to take over the meeting. The general nodded, and slowly stood up. He looked around the tbale quickl;y, then down to his datapads. "Thanks to recent intelligence efforts, we have discoverd that General Solo has been placed in command of the Second fleet as a whole, at least temporarily. This move surprised us, as he has little to no experice running a fleet the size of the Second. However, given his past record, I somehow doubt that he will have any trouble becoming accustomed to running things. That, however, is not the important issue. What is important, is that his wife, the Leader of the New Republic, will be coming to the front line to inspect the Second fleet." he said, and there was a soft murmer around the table. Rear-Admiral Valius, head of the Imperial forces poised to fend off the Third fleet, spoke up quickly. "General, are you saying that we should assassinate her?" he asked, but the General shook his head. Everyone around the table knew that at one point the Empire would never have flinched at the thought of blatantly killing their enemies. But now, they would rather capture them and use them as bargaining tools. "No. What I am saying is that we have a prime opportunity to not only capture her, but also a chance to eliminate the legendary Han Solo, who has been a thorn in the side of the Empire since Yavin." he said, and everyone at the table thought about that possibility. The loss of both the leader of the New Republic, and one of its' most famous heroes, would be a moral blow to the New Republic that it would not soon recover from. Admiral Teshik stood back up, and spoke again. "What I propose, is that we keep up the lightning strikes at the border worlds. The Solos will be meeting up at a world far from the front lines, but still close enough that a strike at it is very feasable. If we can find out what kind of forces will be in system, we can plan accordingly, and strike with a force just large enough to take out the space forces, and hopefully land troops to capture the Cheif of State." he said, and everyone at th etable nodded. It would be a very risky operation, but they might never get this chance again. "Admiral, I agree that we must go after this opportunity, but I do have one thing I would like to say. If any of us go missing, the New Republic will know that we are planning something. As much as I fear to say it, this operation might be best if left in the hands of someone else. Someone that they do not have thier eyes on at all times." Admrial Drommel said, and Pellaeon looked over to him. "Who do you propose should lead this operation then? I do not want to risk vessels in this operation because we chose an incompetant commander." he said, and Drommel nodded. "I completely agree. But, there are several people in the Empire outside of this room who are capable of doing it. And I think I know of someone outside the Empire who would also be able of running it, assuming we could convince him to do it." he said, and everyone in the room suddenly had confused looks on their faces. Admiral Tavira looked at him, and shook her head. "The best minds in the Empire are all in this room. And who outside of the Empire would we ever trust to lead a mission of this importance?" she asked, and Drommel simply smiled. "A former Imperial, who went into retirement long ago. The new Republic may be watching him, so if we were to contact him, we would have to be very carefull about doing so." he said, and Teshik glared at Drommel carefully. "Admiral, if you knew of this person, why did you not mention him before?" he asked, and Drommel looked at the Admiral carefully. "Because unlike the rest of us, he chose not to continue fighting when the Empire needed him. he chose instead to simply surrender, and go into retirement. That, and you may have considered him a rival for your position. I did not think it ise to have a power struggle at this point in time." he said, and Teshik sat down. His mind when into overdrive as he contemplated who Drommel might be speaking of. But before he could figure it out, Pellaeon looked over at Drommel. "You propose that we bring Admiral Grant into the Empire?" he asked, and Drommel nodded. Teshik looked at Pellaeon, a look of bewilderment on his face. "Admiral Grant is still alive? Why did you not inform me of this?" he asked and pellaeon stared at the Grand Admiral. "For the same reason Drommel did not mention him. I did not wish to have a power struggle within the Empire. Power struggles are why we are in this situation as it is." he said, and Teshik nodded. "I would agree with you, but I have to argue that we should have at least contacted him. Grant was no where near my tactical level, but he was better than most." Teshik aid, and he sat and thought about it for several seconds. If they could bring grant back into the fold, they would have yet another tactical mastermind. And from his memory, Grant was never overly ambitious, and would not be likely to make a move for power. but at the same time, the NEw Republic was sure to be watching him, and contactinghim would take time. Time they did not have. "Admiral Drommel, I thank you for bringing to my attention Admiral Grant, but we do not have time to bring him into this. However, you are correct that none of us should lead this operation. I do not want to tip off the New Republic to our plans by having one of us dissapear. We will pull one of our other commanders to lead the operation." he siad, and Drommel smiled slightly. Pellaeon looked at Drommel carefully, and scowled inwardly. He had made the decision to leave Grant out of all of this, but now he might be forced to deal with two Grand Admirals instead of one. That was not something he really cared to think about. "But, let us get on with this planning. We do not have much time here, and wemust all be getting back to our battles on the front lines. Time is of the essence." teshik said, and as one, they began to discuss where they could pull vessels from to build a force for the operation, who was capable of taking on General Solo, and most importantly, who they had who could capture Leia Solo.

Editors comment: Jesus, you guys are addicts. I am seriously thinking of charging per installment, just to see what I can get out of you people for my story. Anyhoo, on a semi-related note, we fired up a new RP where the Battle of Endor was actually a draw. Death Star blew up, Emperor died, but the Rebel fleet got romperstomped by the Imperials afterwards. So now a very rag-tag rebel alliance is running random sorties against the Empire, while all the warlords duke it out for control. Currently, all bets are on the very unlikely tag-team of GA Syn/Admiral Zsinj to take Coruscant away from Isard and her cronies. But now, onto the story at hand!!!) Han sat at his desk, staring at the screens in front of him. The longer he stared at them, the more frustrated he became. One of several temporary commanders now n charge of the Second fleet, he was quickly becoming annoyed at the antics of the Empire. They were constantly shifting forces around to cover the holes the Empire was pounding into the defensive lines. And every time they moved forces, the Empire made new holes. It seemed that the Empire was just plain one step ahead of them. Currently, he was contemplating how to properly protect a world filled with needed industrial complexes, all the while making the large populations of the nearbye resort worlds happy. It was aggravatingly difficult, as the leaders of both resort worlds considered their own safety far more important than the safety of the very infrastructure that kept the New Republic military running. He was almost empted to abandon those worlds altogether, just to make the leaders squirm for a while. But heknew if he did that, he would never hear the end of it from Leia. As he sat there, his comm went off, and he cursed. As if fleet movements weren;t enough, no one would leave him alone. He was constantly being bothered by other commanders in the fleet, planetary leaders requesting more vessels for their defence, and by members of the Senate who wished to know how the battle was going. Most annoyingly was the constant reminders of how he had bested Zsinj, and why wasn;t he capable stopping this like he had before? he tapped his comm unit, and was about to speak when a voice came over it to him. "Han, long time no talk to." the voice said, and Han smiled for the first time in days. Of all the people he had expected to hear from today, Wedge was far from the top of the list. But he was near the top of the list of people he wanted to hear from. "Wedge! Where have you been? We have been trying to get ahold of you for weeks!" Han said, and he could hear Wedge sigh over the comm. "I know Han. I have been out on the rim, hunting pirates and sniffing up intel whenever I can. I just now got to where I can actually get ahold of people. " he said, and Han nodded. Just about everyone knew about the resignation of Wedge Antilles, but not all knew of his very silent, very secret re-enlistment a month later, along with assignment to the NRI long-distance recon section. Wedge, along with a squadron of specially trained pilots, was now scouting hte outer rim for pirates, and sniffing out leads to the hiding place of the Imperial funded pirates which had been houding NEw Republic shipping lanes since the battle of Soullex. "I suppose you came back when you heard of what happened at Kuat?" Han asked, and he could hear Wedge sigh again. "Yah. What a fiasco that was. Han, what the hell is going on here? A year ago we could have pounded the Empire flat. Now, we are running around just trying to keep everyone calm as the Empire runs overruns the fleet at every turn. I think I may be starting to understand how the Empire felt just before Thrawn showed up." Wedge said, and Han nodded in agreement. "I wish I could tell you. All I know is that the Empire is keeping us on our toes, and not letting us reset the defenses long enough to hold off their attacks. The only thing that keeps the senate from screaming bloody murder is the fact that the Empire hasn't taken any worlds yet. But with how we are fairing out here, it will only be a matter of time." Han said, and he could almost imagine Wedge scowling. They both knew that Wedge would be better suited at fighting on the front lines, from the cockpit of a fighter or the bridge of a flagship. BUt those who knew he eas still around also knew that it was still too early to put him back in command after the disaster at Soullex. "What are they doing, just weakening the lfeet? That seems to be a giant waste of time since it won;t belong before the Fifth will be ready to move in to relieve you guys. Not to mention the Third is finally beginning to mobolize, which will make teh EMpire look over its' shoulder." Wedge said, and Han scowled. Apparently no one had told Wedge of the new plans for the Fifth fleet. When Han had heard of the plans, he had almost flown to Coruscant himself just to put his blaster to someones temple. "You are right on the Third fleet being mobolized, to bad the Fifth is gettng ready for a "Security Tour" through the core, to show the people that the massive New Republic warfleet is still in fighting shape." han said, and he heard Wedge moan slightly on the other end. "Are you joking? The Fifth is the best chance we have of relieving the Second. Whose dumb idea was this? I think I may have a few laser-points to show them they are wrong." Wedge said, and Han chuckled, understanding how Wedge felt. "It was a call by the Senate as a whole. Apparently quite a few people are hearing about how bad we are getting whipped at the moment, and they want to show everyone back home that we still have a fleet worth their tax credits." Hand said, and he heard Wedge sigh. "That sounds like them. When are they finally going to let the military run teh war?" he asked, and Han had to wonder the same thing. But Han was also was on a deadline, so he needed to get to the point of this call. But before he could say anything, Wedge spoke up again. "Han, about the reason I called. We have some new intel about who is calling the shots in teh Empire. I didn't believe it when I heard it, but after checking a few things out, we think we have our new Emperor." he said, and Han tensed up. They had been hunting who had taken over the Empire for over a month now since they ha ddetermined Pellaeon was no longer in control. "Who is it? A moff? Or some other warlord?" he askd, and Wdge was silent for a moment, which made Han uneasy. "Han, it's a Grand Admiral. The same one we captured at Endor and executed. We don't know how, but Grand Admiral Teshik seems to be in control of the Empire." Wedge said, and Han sat there silently. He knew for a fact that it wasn't possible. He had been present at his trial. He had been present at his execution. It simply wasn't possible. But at the same time, he knew Wedge and the NRI wouldn;t be saying this unless they were absolutely possible. "Wedge, are you absolutely certain? One hundred percent? This is not something we want to screw up." Hand said, hoping beyand all hope that Wedge would give him a good answer. But as per usual, his hoped were dashed. "Sorry Han, but we have the Holos to prove that either Teshik, or someone that looks and sounds just like him, are in charge. " Wedge said, and Han cursed. It was no wonder that the Empire was running rampant while they were struggling to get their act together. grand Admirals were the best mind the Empire had, and this was just the chaos they were capable of achieving. The New Republic had been lucky that most of them had been killed in various ways before they had ben forced to deal with them themselves. "Alright Wedge, thanks for the info. I think I ned to go, and let this sink in. If it is him, we are in for a world of trouble." hand said, and Wedge came back almost immediatly. "We know Han. I will get back to you as soon as we know more. And by the way, I am supposed to extend the cangradulations, and condolences, and the Inner Council. You are now the overall commander of the Second fleet." wedge said, and Han sat back in his chair quickly. "Thanks." he muttered, and he killed the comm. He had never agreed to this. he had agreed to take over a small task force, not an entire fleet. Nor had he ever, in any way, agreed to take on a Grand Admiral. he had to wonder to himself some days, how he always managed to get himefl into these situations. All he knew was that it was always a long battle to get out of them. (Editors Note: Short, I know. But it is better than nothing. But I hope to get more done tomorrow.)

(Editors comment: here we go, due to popular demand!!! This part takes off less than a week after the battle of Kuat, so you didn't miss a whole lot. Enjoy!) Admiral Teshik smiled carefully as he stared out the viewport of his current flagship. Outside, a small force of New Republic vessels was fighting a losing battle in orbit of a minor world near the Imperial border. They were heavily outgunned, and should have surrendered at the onset of the battle. But their commander was a fool, and thought he could somehow put up a fight. A decision that had cost a Mon Calamari cruiser its' life, along with the lives of most of its' support vessels. "Have the Adamant come about, and move to block that Escort Figate. I think that vessel may be preparing to retreat." Teshik said, and he watched as his orders were carried out. He thought about all the other battles that were happening at this very moment in more than a dozen systems along the Imperial/New Republic border, and he hoped that all of them were going as well as this fight. "Admiral, we are recieving a communique from the Frigate, they are offering to surrender." the captain said, and Teshik nodded. He waitied for a moment, and then turned to the captain. "Accept their surrender, with no conditions. Offer the same to all surviving vessels, and prepare our vessels to stand down. I think most of them will accept. Destroy those that do not." he said, and he turned to walk from the bridge. The battle was over, he was no longer needed here. The captain would be able to handle the operation from here, as it was a simple mop-up operation, followed by a quick vessel capturing stage. And if the Captain could not handle it, he would soon find himself in command of a very small vessel somewhere in the deepest parts of the core doing hyperlane surveys. Teshik left the bridge, and walked into his small command room. He walked over to a small display, and activated it. A hologram swarmed to life, showing the main battle line between the Empire and the new Republic. All along the line, dozens of stars blinked slowly, showing worlds that had already been hit by the Imperial lighting raids. A dozen more glowed brightly, showing worlds currently under assault. Soon, a new set would glow, as the Empire kept up its' efforts to weaken the Republics' Second Fleet enough that they could break the line. But thier efforts did have on major downside. The entire Imperial fleet was taking part in this operation, constantly switching vessels around to make sure that vessles got enough time to repair battle damage before they had to go back into battle. But this meant that a large portion of the Empire was being left ungaurded, open to counter-assaults from the New Republic. But it was a riask they had to take. If they could weaken the Second fleet enough, the New Republic would haveto call up the elderly Third fleet to assist, which is what Teshik wanted. because once that happened, the CSA would be in a position to launch a massive assault against the unsuspecting Third, opening a second front in the war. Quiety, the chime on his desk beeped. Teshik looked over at it, and frwoned. He was supposed to be out of comminucations until this mission was over with. But that chime meant that someone had gotten through on the holo-system. He walked over to his desk, and tapped a button. "This had better be good, he growled, hoping that the evident anger in his voice would tell whoever was on the other end that he was not happy about being disturbed like this. "Admiral, this is Drommel. I would not have contected you, but I have come qacross some information about the Fifth fleet hat you may find very interesting." Drommel aid, and Teshik nodded. The Fifth fleet was supposed to have arrived within the week to assist in re-inforcing the embattled second fleet, but for some reason it didn;t appear to be be in any real hurry to get to the front. Any Teshik was wondering why this was. "Alright, send me the information. How did your battle over Delei V go?" he asked, and he heard the other Admiral chuckle slightly. "The New Republiv didn't even whimper. We arrived in system, and the two Frigates simply surrendered. We then ransacked the supply depot, and then used it as target practice. All in all, a very simple operation." he said, and Teshik smiled. One minor point in this whole operation was the capturing of as many enemy vessels as possible to supplement the Imperial warfleet. So far almost thirty vessels had been added to the fleet. "Excellent. I will contact you later, Admiral. We will all need to be meeting soon to discuss the next phase in our war." he said. he did not have to add that if the CSA did not enter, the next phase would probably mark the beginning of the end for the Empire. "Of course Admiral. Drommel out." he said, and the comm went silent. Teshik walked around to the other side of his desk to look over the information that Drommel had sent him. As he read it, he smiled slightly. This was very interesting information. And if it turned outto be true, he may have to play one of his cards sooner than he expected. Much sooner. (Editors Note: You know, ever since I got out, the distractions just keep coming. I'll post more later. I hope.)

(Editors note: Ok guys and gals, this is where the story will once again be placed. I am google caching what I can, I will have to retype the rest. Bleargh. But I am doing the best I can.)

(Editors note: This will be my last post for this story while I am on vacation. I will try to make it a nice long one, as I have all day to type it. I may even and this part of the arc today. We will see. ) Also, the Imperials may be winning, but they rebels are not getting butchered by any means. They actually put up a really good fight. But the Imperials simply outgunned them. Admiral Voon'tais' force was the only fleet to get butchered. Also, Drake squad is our RP chars. Started with six, down to three by the end of all of this chaos. Gotta love attrition.) General Han solo sat aboard his temporary flagship, the Assault Frigate Free Dreams. He watched as the remainder of the Kuat defence forces kept up their harassment of the Imperial forces in system, his mind reeling. Voon'tai had been captured. The yards were in shambles. Much of the defence force was either destroyed, or dead in space. This couldn;t have gone any worse. "General, Admiral Ackbar is on his way. What are your orders?" someone asked, and he simply shook his head. This situation was beyond him. Even his experience against Zsinj was of no use in this kind of fight. "Keep up the harassment. We don't have the firepower anymore to take on either of those fleets head on. When a vessel needs to pull back, let it. Those decisions are herebye left to the commanders of all individual vessels. Cycle starfighter squadrons in and out of the engagement, I don't want any squadrons in there for to long." he said, and he leaned back in his chair. This entire situation was just out of control. He had never felt so helpless in a battle before. He just hoped Ackbar arrived soon with reinforcments. Otherwise he would be forced to abandon the fight, and the system. ************************************************************* Admiral Teshik watched his sensor screens carefully, watching for any signs of incoming forces. But the defenders were simply harassing all his forces now, moving ships in and out of the engagement quickly, to prevent any more serious losses. A few smaller vessels here and there exploded, but most simply fell back once they had suffered moderate damage. It seemed the defenders had wisened up, and were trying to whittle away at his forces enough to weaken him. And this was something that he could not allow. "Contact all forces, and order them to move to phase three of the operation. Begin recalling starfighter squadrons, and all retrievel craft. We have accomplished out mission for this day." he said, and Pellaeon nodded. They had accomplished a lot, but they couldn't keep this up, lest they give reinforcements time to arrive. "Right away Admiral. What will our course out of the system be?" Pellaeon asked, and teshik thought about it. They had a few options, but he needed to choose the best one. But before he could answer, circumstances chose his course for him. "Admiral! Enemy forces are leaving hyperspace to our aft-starboard! Numerous vessels, all heavy classes!" the sensor officer yelled, and Teshik stood up quickly. "Get all starfighters back here, now! Alter course to seven-oh-seven-nine! All vessels to full speed! Get us out of here!" he said, and he watched as his force began the slow manuever to fly away from the newly arrived forces. He turned to his sensor boards, and almost gaped at what he saw. Dozens of massive warships were arrayed behind him, more then enough to handle the Imperial forces in system. He had no idea this kind of force was anywhere near Kuat. If he had known that, he never would have attempted this mission. "Admiral, Tavira and Drommel have confirmed retreat orders, but both ask if we are in need of assistance." came a call frm the communications pit, and Teshik thought about it for a moment. If all three forces joined together, they may be able to take on thse new arrivals. Buthe couldn;t risk it. he needed to get his forces out of here. "Negative. Order them to fall back as planned. Alter the meet point to the beta system, however. As soon as all forces arrive there, we will have to head back to Imperial space with all possible speed. We have a lot fo work ahead of us, and not much time to do it." he said, and he walked to the forward view ports of the bridge. In the distance, he could see a few enemy vessels make a vain attempt at slowly down his force, but to no avail. His fleet simply plowed through the enemy vessels like they were not there. "Admiral, we have a incoming communication from the fleet chasing us! They are asking to speak with you!" the comm officer caled, and Teshik frowned at this. If they were aksing to speak with him, they knew of his return to the world of the living. This could complicate many things. "I will handle this Admiral. We cannot let them know that you actually are alive." Pellaeon said, and Teshik nodded. For them to know of him would send many of thier carefully laid plans to waste. Which was something that he could not allow. ************************************************************* Admiral Ackbar stood next to the Holoprojector, awaiting the reply from the Imperial forces. If he knew one thing about the Grand Admiral, it was that he could not stand to mis a chance to gloat about a major victory. And he had to confirm the Grand Admirals return to life somehow. Suddenly, the holoprojector sprung to life, but instead of the Grand Admiral, Ackbar saw that Admiral Pellaeon stood before him. "Ah, Admiral Ackbar. It has been some time since we last spoke. The battle of Duros, was it not?" Pellaeon asked, a smile on his face. Ackbar nodded, realising that Pellaeon was mocking him for trying to same tactic against him again. "Yes it was, Admiral. But you are not whom I wish to speak with. I wish to speak with the commander of the Imperial Navy." Ackbar said, and Pellaeon frowned. "My dear Ackbar, surely you know that I am the commander of not only the Imperial Navy, but of the Empire itself. Who in the emperors name would I give the reigns of what I hold most dear to?" he asked, and Ackbar shook his head. "Do not lie to me, Admiral. I know that you somehow managed to clone Grand Admiral Teshik. Several of our sources have now confirmed this." Ackbar said, but Pellaeon shook his head. "I am afraid you are wrong, Admiral. If we could clone a Grand Admiral from death, you know who I would choose. Teshik was a geniusm but Thrawn was far beyond that." Pellaeon said, and Ackbar sighed, now knowing that Pellaeon was not going to give in. "Either way Admiral, this act of aggression will nto go unanswered, I assure you. You will regret ever attacking Kuat." Ackbar said, and Pellaeon nodded. "That may be true, but I have the feeling that you are incorrect. I bid you farewell Admiral. Until we meet again." pellaeon said, and the hologram vanished. Ackbar turned to the viewport, and saw that the main IMperial force was beginning to make its' jump into hysperspace. One by one, the vessels vanished. he continued to watch, until they were all gone. He slowly walked over to his chair, and sat down. "Contact General Solo, and get a status report. I want to know how much we lost. And send a communication to Coruscant. Tel them that recent events have not yet confrimed the return of the Grand Admiral." he said, and he leaned back, his eyes half closed. He knew now thathe would have to strike back at the Empire, but with what he did not know. They had lost so much in this battle, and in the previous months, that completely shuffling around the fleet was becoming his only choice. And that would take time, while the council wanted immediate results. he had a bad feeling about this, oen that he could not get out of his mind. ************************************************************* Several hours later~ General Han Solo, Admiral Ackbar, Colonel Tycho Celchu, and Commander Calskar all sat around a table, looking over different reports. None of them looked to be in a very good mood, and Han looked like he was almost at the boiling point. "Final counts are in. Fourty-seven percent of the yards in system are either destroyed, or heavily damaged. It will take some time to get the damaged ones back to operating order. And even longer to replace the destoryed ones." Commander Claskar, said, and Ackbar nodded. "Yes, they did a superb job in destroying everything their guns could reach. What were are total vessel losses?" Ackbar asked, and Solo shook his head. "Not a single vessel from my force escapes without heavy damage, at the very least. I lost several of my larger vessels, along with most of my smaller ones. As for starfighters, final counts are still coming in, but it looks like I'm sitting at about thirty percent losses." he said, and Commander Claskar looked at one of his datapads. "I suffered eighty percent starfighter losses, mostly due to runs against the Super Star Destroyers. As for my capital ships, I lost have the defence force in trying to stop them. The other half suffered damage on varying levels, from minor to crippling." he said, adn Ackbar nodded. "Yes, their starfighter defense was amazingly effecient. From the recording, I coudl see thatthey only left a few safe avenues to get within torpedoe range, and once your starfighter got close enough, they let loose with turblaser fire, forcing you into their starfighter squadrons." he said, and Tcho looked up from his reports. "Yes, this was a very different Imjperial navy we faced today. They almost never manage to stop our torpedoe runs that well. Either thay have been trianing a lot for that, or something was motivatiing them." he said, and Solo nodded. "Which lends more proof to our Grand Admiral theory. When Thrawn showed up, the Imperial navy got a lot better real fast. It was like a completely different enemy." he said, and Tycho looked up. "But still, how would they bring a Grand Admiral back from the dead? The Emperor managed to do it, but that is a special case. This has to be some sort of trick." he said, and Ackbar sighed. "I hope you are right, Colonel. Because if teshik has been returned from the dead, who knows what will happen next. Teshik is unpredictable, and ruthless. Unlike Pellaeon, he will not hesitate to bombard a world in order to take it. we will have to move quickly to counter his forces." he said, and Han nodded. "yah, but how are we going to do that? Admiral Voont'ai was in command of the second fleet, and his force was the most experienced in the fleet. With them gone, the second fleet is hurting." he said, and Ackbar nodded. "Which is why I will be moving the Fifth fleet in from their patrols to reinforce the second fleet for now. I am also going to have the third fleet begin preperations to move against the Empire as soon as the Fifth is in place." Ackbar stated, and Tycho nodded. "That will put some pressure on the Empire, but how long will that take? We may not have much time." he said, and Ackbar nodded. "General Ah'bahnt has already been contacted, and his fleet is being mobolized as we speak. Also, Fleet Admiral Ovlosk has been ordered to prepare his fleet for mobilization against the Empire. If everything goes accoding to plan, we will relieve some of the pressure ont he second fleet, enough to replenish their numbers, and place a new Admiral in charge." Ackbar said, and Tycho looked up. "Who is the leading canidate for that spot?" he asked, and Ackbar shrugged. "I currently have no idea. There are many canidates. But that is up to the council to decide, not myself." he said, and Tycho nodded. One by one, each of them returned to their reports, occasionally asking questions of the others. But in the back of al their minds lingered the same question. Who were they facing? A seemingly sharper minded Pellaeon, or a ruthless Grand Admiral? ************************************************************* Grand Admiral Teshik stood on the bridge of the Reaper, a smile on his face. Even though Drommel and Tavira had sufferd heavy losses, their missions had gone perfectly. The Kuat yards had nopt been comletely destroyed, but enough had been to hamper the construction and repair of vessels from that system. Admiral Voon'tai had been captured, severing the head of hte second fleet. And the most battle hardened task force in the entire New Republic had been annihilated. It was time to make thier move, while the New Republic was still recovering. As he stood there, he could hear someone walking up behind him. He turned to see Admiral Pellaeon, and Teshik smiled. "Ah, Admiral. Just the person I wanted to see. We need to send out orders as soon as possible. I want the first set of targets on our list to be nothing more than rubble within the day." he said, and Pellaeon nodded. "Of course, Admiral. But for now, here is the final reports on our losses from the battle. Our losses were minimal, but Tavira and Drommel both suffered heavy starfighter losses. Also, we lost numerous support vessels, and several Star Destroyers. Their losses will be hard to replace." he said, and Teshik nodded. "This is true. But if we attack quickly enough, thier losses will not have been in vain. If I am correct, Ackbar will move the Fifth fleet to help reinfoce the second, and he will mobolize the third to relieve pressure. And that is when Kayn will strike from the Corperate Sector. And once that happens, all we have to do is let the New Republic make it's mistakes." he said, adn Pellaeon nodded slowly. While he did not belive the bew Republic would fold over so easily, he knew that getting the CSA into the fight would severaly weaken the new Republic. "I only hope that you are right, Admiral. because if you are not, this may very well be the beginning of the end for us." he said, and Teshik nodded. "Oh, have no doubt Admiral. If Supreme Admiral Kayne does not enter this war, we will nto last six months. But if he does enter the war, I think we can have the New Republic beaten back in under four years time." he said, and Pellaeon nodded. it was a long term goal, but still much shorter than he could have ever thought possible. "If you don't mind me saying so, Admiral, I hope the Force is with us on this." Pellaeon siad, and Teshik shook his head. "Not at all, Admiral. I myself hope the force is with us on this. if it worked for them, perhaps it can work for us as well." he said, and silently, they both watched as themassed Imperial battlefleet moved through space, on its; way back to the safety of Imperial space. How long it would stay safe, however, was up to fate, and the force. (Editors note: And that is it for this arc!!! Finally. I also have a major mission for everyone while I am away. Go through all of this story, and edit all of my spelling/grammer mistakes. I don't care how you do it. Just get it done for me, please. And now, for a preview of what is to come in the second arc.....) ************************************************************* Han cursed as the deck beneath his feet rocked from another salvo of turblaser blasts. he stared out the viewport, silently cursing himself for ever agreeing to go back into the military. As he watched, the elderly Star Destroyer to his starboard began to break apart with a series of explosions. Finally, the core erupted, and sent debris out in every direction. he ducked as a massive chuk of the vessel skimmed right over thier heads. he shook his head, and walked over ot eh comm center. "Lando!! Get your ships moving, we can;t hold them off for much longer!" he yelled, and he held on as another salvo rocked the vessel. Then, Landos' voice came back, strain evident in it. "I'm trying!! But these fighters have us pinned down like womprats! Can you lend me any fighter support?" Lando asked, and han looked over to where Wedge sat. Wedge simply looked back to him, and shook his head. han ground his teeth together, and lowered his head. "Sorry, no can do. We are having enough trouble keeping their fighters at bay up here. Just try to hold on. We'll think of something." he said, and he cut the comm off. He turned back to Wedge, a look of fear on his face. "Please tell me you have something? Anything? Even a pair of Y-wings?" he asked pain in his voice. Wedge simply looked back to Han, a lump in his throat. He nearly choked as he spoke, trying to get the words out. "I'm sorry Han, but We have to retreat. We can't stay here any longer. We can't get back down to the surface." he said, and Han just simply stood there, a look of shock on his face. he turned to the viewport, and stared dwon at the world underneath them. it looked so peacefull down there. But he knew that somewhere, people were fighting for thier lives. people he could not leave behind. But he knew he had no choice. he reactivated the comm, and stood there for a moment. he then spoke softly, tears running down his face. "I'm sorry Lando, we can't get down to you. We can't hold up here any longer." he said, and he heard nothing but silence on the other end. then Landos voice came back, strong as ever. "Go Han, get out of here. You do what you have to do. I understand. I'll get us out somehow." he said. Han held the comm open for a few more seconds, and then spoke again. "Lando, tell Leia I love her, and I will be back for her." he said, and he then closed the comm before Lando could respond. He then stood up, and Looked at the men and woman across the bridge, they had all heard what he had said it. They all knew what it meant. Han Solo, hero of the rebellion, was leaving the woman he loved more than anything ont eh planet. As he looked around he simpyl nodded, and spoke softly.

(Editors comment: Thnk gof I typed al thsi up erlier. hr is the nexx instalment for all my fnas ou thre.) Corran sat and watched in horror as the Imperial warfleet began targetting fleeing escape pods in their brutal assault on Voon'tais' warfleet. And to make matters worse, there was nothing he, or any other member of Rogue squadron could do about it. They were helpless against the Imperials. Low on fuel, they no longer had any fight left in them. And he guessed the story was the sajme across the entire Kuat system. The entire Kuat defence force had fallen back in hoped of getting a reprieve from the assualt, and had set up a new defensive line along the last large set of shiplanes. It would be the final stand in a lost battle, the sole purpose of which was to try and get as many warships out of the lanes and into hyperspace as possible. "Lead, this is Nine. What are our orders again?" he asked, hoping for a change, although he knew it would not come. "Same, nine. We are to form up with the third defence wing, and head into the Divinity for as much refueling as we can get. When the Imperials arrive, we launch, and take out what we can until we are ordered to retreat." Tycho said, and Corran lowered his head. They were being forced to sit back and watch as thousands of beings were massacred without a way to fight back. "As ordered lead, although I protest the orders. We should be out there trying to save those escape pods." he said, and he heard several agreements throughout the squadron frequency. "I hear you nine, and I agree. But the way things stand, we would be vape bait for the Imperials. There are just to many of hem for us to handle. But your protest, as well as mine, are going to go one the record." Tycho said, and Corran nodded. As much as he hated to admit it, Tycho was right. The Imperials would massacre them if they tried anything. As corran turned back to the raging firfight nteh distance, he could see the other two IMperial battlegroups form up, and begin a slow, steady march through the now undefended shipyards. As he watched, shipdock after shipdock became nothing more than free floating debris. "Alright Rogues, our turn is up for refueling. Head in fast, we need as much as we can get. This battle isn't over yet." Tycho said, and Corran sighed. The battle would not be over until the shipyards were completely destroyed, and they all knew it. But they had to save as much as they could. As he turned to lead his flight to the refueling ship, he spotted a trio of massive starfighters pacing them. While he thought they may have ben dual-hulled B-wings at one point in time, now they looked about ready for the scrap heap. Two of them were flying with missing wings, and one looked to be missing part of the cockpit entirely. Corran switched to the general frequency, and spoke, hoping to get their attention. "Unknown starfighters, this is Lt. Corran Horn, of Rogue Squadron. What is your status?" he asked, and after a few minutes, a raspy voice came back, seemingly filled with pain. "Horn, this is Drake leader. We are pretty banged up. We need somewhere to land, and I mean now. My starfighter isn't going to hold together, and one of my pilots is flying free." came back the voice, and Corran winced. That meant a pilot was flying without life support systems, a dangerous proposition. he switched back to the squadron frequency, and spoke quickly. "Lead, this is nine. Drake squad to our starboard needs prioroty landing clearence. I don't think they will last much longer in those boats they are flying." he said, and Tycho came back quickly. "I see them Nine. I have already ordered them to head to the Bespin Pride, and abandon. They are wanted as soon as possible back on Coruscant." he said, and Corran frowned. they needed medical attentiopn, not a free ride os some old gas freightor. "Lead, recommend you reconsider. They won't make it to Coruscant on a bulk freightor." he said, but this time the raspy voice came back before Tycho could answer. "No Horn, Tycho is right. The Pride is our ride back to the NRI. We are needed there. We will get medical treatment aboard her, dont worry." he said, and Corran suddenly understood. That vessel must be one of the countless NRI vessels that seeemed to be everywhere, and nowhere at once. They changed names so often that no one could keep track of them all. "Understood Drake. Have a safe Journey." he said, and he watched as the trio of failing starfighters moved slowly to their ride home. In some ways, Corran envied them. They had a free ride out of here, a ride to safety. Where everyone else was stuck here, facing impossible odds. To him, it wasn;t a very fair trade. But he knew his duty. He turned back to where he was leading his starfighter, and scowled. Some people had all the luck. ******************************************************** Admiral teshik watched the destruction of the yards, ands mild happily. All was going according to plan. And some parts were even better. Instead of killing Voon'tai, they had captured his escape pod. A major victory. And to make things even batter, the hapless defenders had all moved to defend one last set of shipyards, leaving the reat of the Kuat system at their mercy. Andhe planned on taking full advantage of this fact. "Have Admiral tavira and Admiral Drommel begin a run around the yards. Leave nothing in one piece. But do not engage the final defenders. We will save them for last." he said, and he turned to Admiral Pelleon, who was watching the sensors carefully. Teshik noticed that something seemed to be bothering him. "Is something wrong, Admiral? You seem worried." he asked, and Pellaeon nodded. "Yes. I have seen the New republic do this once before. But I cannot remember where. But I do know I have a bad feeling about this." he said, and Teshik nodded. "Noted, Admiral. But rest assured, this battle is ours. have no doubt of that. We will destroy the yards, then head back to Imperial space to begin our attacks on the second fleet. All is going according to plan." he said, and Pelleon nodded. But something was still sounding alarms all over the back of Pellaeons mind. he knew that he had seen this before, but for the life of his he could not remember. All he knew was that he had a very bad feeling about all of it. "Admiral Teshik, we have completed our destruction of the primary target. What are our orders?" the voice of the Captain, and Teshik smiled. "Bring our force back into primary formation. It is time to turn our attentions back to the main shipyards. There are a lot of yards out there, all of which muct be destroyed. We have our work cut out for us." he said, and the captain nodded. Pellaeon watched as the battle group sowly began to reform, and slowly made its' way deeper into the Kuat system, where dozens of yards sat awaiting thier destruction. As they did so, the last sets of defenders also began to move, right towards them. "Ah, it seems that they are ready to put up their final stand it seems. Once they are dealt with, we can finish this ystem once and for all." teshik said, but Pellaeon knew he was wrong. he turned to the navigation control, and cursed. "Helm, plot out our interception point for the remaining new republic defenders. Where will we be in relation to Kuats gravity well?" he asked, and Teshik looked to him, a frown on his face. "Is there a problem, Admiral?" he asked, and Pellaeon nodded. "Yes, there is. The second battle of Duro, after the death of the resurrected Emperor. this was the exact tactic they used to lure our forces into a trap. " he said, and the helm officer looked up at the admirals. "We will be just inside the gravity well. A leap to hyperspace would require a full reversal of course, at the very least." he said, and Pellaeon nodded. "That is what I thought. They are luring us into a trap. If we enter the gravity well, reinforcements will jump into system at our backs. We will be trapped in system." pellaeon said, and Teshik nodded. "You are correct on that assumption, Admiral. And I think you may be right. Helm, change our heading so that we never enter the main gravity well of the Kuat system. order Tavira and Drommel to do the same." he said, and the helm and comm officers nodded. teshik turned to Pellaeon, and smiled. "Thank you admiral, you just mayhave saved us from being routed. Although we will have to forget about destroying all of the yards." he said, and Pellaeon nodded. "That may be true Admiral, but it is a fair trade for our lives." he said, to which teshik hardily agreed. *********************************************************** Admiral Ackbar sat aboard his flagship, and watched the sensors carefully. The Imperial warfleets were altering their courses, to avoid the inner gravity wells altogether. He sighed, realising his ruse had failed. "Contaqct al vessels, have them prepare to jump in system. We may not have trapped them, but we will still strike. Contact General Solo also, and order him to continue chasing the Imperials." he said, and he leaned back in his seat. Upon learning of the attack on Kuat, he had taken the entrie Coruscant defence fleet, and several other tasks forces to this spot in space, in hopes of surprising, and destroying, the attacking Imperial warfleets. Dozens of Mon Cal cruisers, Star Destroyers, and even more smaler vessles had arrived, but not in time to prevent the destruction of much of the Kuat Yards. Now all they could do was try and salvage what they could out of a bad situation. "All forces, make the jump to hysperspace in one minute. Attack quickly, we will not have much time. We muct take out as many of their vessels as possible." he said, and he watched as the massive fleet began it;s run to hysperspace. The battle for Kuat was not over yet. But even if he were to force the Imperials into retreat, he knew the battle was a victory for the Empire. Yet another victory that would go unanswered. Ackbar was growing weary of that. Every time they planned something, the Empire struck again, forcing them to alter thier plans, and start from scratch. It was almost like Thrawn all over again. But Ackbar knew it was not Thrawn. He, and a few other people, knew exactly who it was they were facing now, thanks to a extremly lucky intelligence squad. He just hoped that they could stop the growing tide of Imperial victories, before they washd over the shores of the new Republic.

You know, I have heard peopl talk about both, but no one has actually explained to me the difference. What is the difference?

Oh, leave the man and his use of improper spelling alone. Odds are he is just one of those types that likes to type things the way that they sound.

http://img116.imageshack.us/img116/9907/gofm5bp.gif And if you don't like it, well.... check the meter.

You forgot the last word. YOU LOSE! GOOD DAY SIR!

Why for ar you all so afraid of the BEAKers? It is not liek that ard goin go tattack you at the smallest provocation or sometihng.

Hmmm, fresh fish for the grinder? Or shall he be a shark? Only time will tell. Welcome to the site, anyhows.

*twitches* You saved your story. Awesome. *twitch-twitches* Sadly, much of mine has been lost. *triple-twitch* Excuse me, I think a certain punching bag is about to wish it belonged to Paris Hilton.

Yes, this site is superior to many a forum that I have inhabited, except a few rare exceptions. Friendly people, good discussions, and most importantly, Star Wars.