Imperial Centre

The greatest warship the Empire had ever known had returned home. Stretching nearly 18 kilometres from her bow pulpit to her afterdecks, the shadow of the Ebony Vigilance II was cast onto the surface of Imperial Centre.

In hiding since the attempt against her, the great vessel had at long last returned home to take up her rightful place at the head of the Emperor's Sentinel fleet, the protector of His Capital and His Empire.

To meet the great flagship was an assembly of ships the likes of which had not been seen since the war: the Star Destroyers of Bhindi Drayson, Telan Dessaria, Park Kraken, and more where present, in escort formation around the greater ship as she made orbit at Imperial Centre for the first time.

A great cheer went up from the fleet, leaping from ship to ship as it was broadcast, and above all else a single cry from every soldier, officer, and citizen of the Empire: Long Live the Emperor!

To say there was blood in the water would have been something of an understatement. The Empire had tolerated incursions, pirate activity, and even some terror-driven strikes to a point, damaging the morale of the men severely. In an Empire that controlled over a thousand systems and had near a billion men in uniform through the galaxy, even the slightest damage could be devastating when speaking of the body as one. The Galactic Coalition had been the enemy of the Empire, that organization the very embodiment of everything it stood agains: democracy, chaos, and insecurity. War was present, but undeclared. No large scale actions had been authorized, only border skirmishes with undetermined results.


Grand Admiral Desaria knew all this but had not received any orders from his masters - Emperor Hyfe or Grand Marschal Kaine - to act decisively. He was the leader of the Guard and he had done everything he could to see his men received any action available. That desire had culminated in a rather dramatic and bloody subjugation of Hutt Space that had brought glory to the Empire and soothed the bloodlust burning in the heart of every Guardsman. On hearing the Grand Marshal's orders of an attack, many years of discipline were called upon to stop the gratious yell growing in his lungs.


As the conference continued, Desaria proved his worth as a member of the Twelve by mentally separating his thoughts on three simultaneous tracks. He called to mind some design schematics of warships the assault force might encounter and with them, the ways the Fleet had found best to defeat them. Likewise he reviewed the current disposition of the Imperial Guard: three squadrons along with the planetary assualt force were deployed in Hutt Space while another was drilling in the Braxant Sector - two squadrons remained: the Grand Admiral chose the Sixth Squadron of the Guard. Its ships were new and it was the most recent formation to join the Empire's elite but it was also the most powerful detachment to date. Thirdly, Desaria tried to remember the Griff character and knew that, to date, he had never engaged him in battle.


There is no time like the present to change the past...





It did not take the Sixth Squadron very long to arrive since it was drilling with several other Naval formations nearby at Cosix VII. The Grand Admiral had invited Grand Moff Drayson to his flagship so they could both take the salute during a quickly-organized parade. The ships were in excellent repair and fired the saluting salvoes as precisely as any well-drilled crew would.


The Moff departed to her own ship leaving Desaria aboard his to oversee the final preparations for battle. All the while, he could not help but acknolwedge the level of attraction the woman carried. He was not directly taken with females in general but could easily acknolwedge what most saw in her: she was proud, intelligenct, and ruthless not to mention beautiful.


Grand Admiral Desaria was the ranking naval officer but had ceded operational control to the civilian, as decorum commanded. Drayson's record had shown her as a competent strategist with a firm grasp of naval tactics. Before departing though, he had left little doubt in her mind that if things became unacceptable he would assume command. That, however, was a very unlikely possibility and doubted to the extreme he would need to invoke any authority. He had faith in the woman, even if she was a member of the Political Kommissariat.


Desaria awaited confirmation from Grand Moff Drayson and gave the order for his ships to depart on the heels of their comrades, all the while muttering the ancient prayer of the Admirals.

Today we sail unto the Great Unknown
Whether Glory awaits us there is no Sign
We can only do as our forefathers have done
And bring honour to our cause In Death Defeat or Victory
When the Guns belch their great Noise into the void
We shall see Power unleashed
To the Gods we surrender the Fate of our Families
As we set the Example for all Soldiers to follow
We will Fight and we will Die
Let Honour be Our Guide

To which the Grand Admiral added...Gloria Imperium

Reign Command Destroyer Osciliath
Imperial Centre
The ship looked just as it had the last time Bhindi Drayson had been aboard, when she had led the charge to head off Kamon Vondiranches fleet at Carida, during the opening skirmish of that war. Its Captain, a portly man called Kattan, had done his duty and kept the ship in pristine condition, drilling his men inceasently so that as the Grand Moff stepped aboard she could sense their eagerness, their readiness to do battle.

The corner of her mouth curved into a smile at that thought. It had been too long since she had herself led a force into battle - the responsibilities of her Office were great, and left little time for such direct action as this. She was anticipating the coming battle as a predator anticipates the hunt.

"Course set, Admiral." The helsman reported, reverting to Bhindi's naval title in lieu of her more formal Moff title.

"Very good, Officer." She returned easily, and, turning to Kattan, said, "Captain, is my flagship ready?"

"The Osciliath is fully at your command, Admiral." The Captain gave the formal response, as was expected.

"Very good. Inform Grand Admiral Dessaria we will be commencing our first jump on my mark."

There was a pause, and then the entire fleet made the jump to hyperspace, accelerating faster than the eye could see, en route to Borleais.

"They always have to do everything big, don't they?" Stem asked as he watched the massive Imperial armada grow bigger on the live camera feed from a small buoy in space.

He and his partner, Lt. Brago, were huddled down in a hidden bunker near the newly abandoned Black Hand operations base that had most recently served Xander Griff and his band of Sovereignty hold-outs.

The group Griff lead could be considered the last remaining vestages of the old Outer-Rim Sovereignty. As the war was lost and the Sovereignty burned around him, Griff had taken the few legions still loyal to him and had fled into the Unknown Regions, where he had stayed (except for a few skirmishes with Logan and the Coalition).

Most recently, Griff had established a base on Borleias (shortly before joining the shadowy organization known only as the Union), where he had intended to hole up for quite awhile.

But things didn't always go the way you wanted it.


Not a day earlier, Union spies within the Empire had reported that a fleet attached to the Imperial Guard, under Grand Admiral Desaria had been ordered on a deployment, along with a fleet rumored to be under the command of Bhindi Drayson herself.

The spies suggested Borleias as the target, and Griff and the Committee were inclined to agree.

"Best not be taking any chances. And if we are wrong, coming back to Borleias would be extremely simple." Griff had said from his new posting with the Commitee, far from Borleias itself.

The Black Hand had immediately abandoned the base, destroying all the equipment that could not be speedily dismantled and razing the base itself. The planet was now effectively abandoned, aside from Stem and Brago, two Black Hand agents left behind to watch for Imperial activities.


"They'll see the buoy." Brago commented.

Stem shrugged, "Let them have their target practice. It's the only action the buffoons will see all day."

Brago chuckled and continued to watch the live holofeed. The bunker they were in was locked down pretty tight. It was heavily camoflaged to look just like the hillside it was built into, and it would take a hell of alot of searching to locate it, and even more firepower to get it open.

Let them try to get in, Brago thought. A tunnel leading from the bunker into the hillside and to the nearby jungle had been carefully dug and hidden. If by some freak chance the Imperials located the bunker, Brago and Stem could flee into the tunnel and then into the jungle.

And if they were captured... they had been given orders not to be taken alive.

The two agents continued to casually chuckle to themselves as they watched the Imperial armada have it's fun.





OOC: This will be my one and only post (provided you don't do something crazy and outrageous). The planet is abandoned as stated, and is yours to take. Have fun.

"Nothing?" Bhindi repeated, her eyes wide.

"Unless you count the buoy the Thestral just blew up," The officer sitting at the sensor consol said with a shrug, "there's nothing out there."

Bhindi collapsed back into the command chair and sighed.

"Have Admiral Dessaria's fleet take up a regular holding pattern." She said slowly. "And begin landing our troops... I believe there's an old Imperial base on the surface?"

The sensor officer took a moment to study the scans, and frowned.

"At one point, Admiral. It's been razed."

Now that, Bhindi thought to herself, was interesting. Perhaps Borleais was not the dead end they had thought it to be.

"Put our troops there. And have someone from Intelligence go with them."

She smiled thinly. Borleais would yield some answers yet.