Varonat Prime
Hundreds of modified X-Wings flew out of several hidden bases across Varonat Prime. Immeaditly they flew out towards the Avenger opening up with laser cannons. These weren't normal X-Wing fighters though. Each fighter was piloted by a droid brain and filled with explosives. There was however somebody inside. In each fighter cockpit there was an infidel, on his way to a glorious death serving Varan. As the X-Wings began to impact on the rear shields of the Avenger General Soudine looked away from the sensor display to his communications officer.

"Order Varan's Will and Varan to attack."

Varan

Captain Feal Nabon stood staring out the viewport of the Varan. Only days ago it had been a Victory I class Star Destroyer named Osprey in the service of the Varonat Space Defence Force . Re-christened Varan it was know the flagship of the task force tasked to attack the Outer-Rim Sovereignty Star Destroyer SS Avenger.

"Order Captain Blaine to attack the engines. Set our course for a drive over his dorsal surfaces. Roll us to present maximum possible firepower."

"Yes sir."

"I hate him. Griff knows too much."

Congressman Tenet paced his expansive office, located in the Diplomatic Corps HQ, one wall of the office was a window that provided a beautiful view of the Bakuran capital city, Salis D'aar. A lake was being constructed a few kilometers out and it's pristine greenish blue waters reflected the morning sun, that was rising in the east.

His personal assistant, a Rodian named Nardus, nodded nervously. Ona trip to Rodia some time ago, he had found the poor creature down on his luck, and had offered him a job. Nardus accepted, and had been faithful ever since.

"Perhaps the President knows our plans." Nardus said.

"I doubt it, He isn't that bright." Tenet said, his hands clasped behind his back as he paced his office.

"But he has the full facilities of the Black Hand at his disposal..."

"I know that. But they can't be close."

"But the holographs of that bribe..." Nardus said, trailing off.

"I know. Those were old though. It was a payoff from Jabba...to keep silent about a few things back then. But that was long ago. They aren't of any real value. I can merely claim that I was workign against the Imperial garrison, and was accepting a payoff from Jabba to do just that." Tenet said, but he realized he was rambling. Griff had the dirt on him and the President was going to use it well.

"Here are the Doxin reports.." Nardus said, "I finished them an hour ago."

Tenet nodded, but his mind was elsewhere. Things were getting too hot.





Griff once again pulled the hot pot of coffee off of his makeshift stove and poured it into a cup. He smiled as he tasted it, perfect. It was similar to what he drank when he was younger, although that was years and years ago.

He looked into the mirror as he headed out, he had not shaved in a day or so and his uniform was rumpled, but he didn't care. He had alot of work to do today.

According to the last reports of the Avenger stated they were facing resistance at Varonat, but were taking the moon. As of now, Griff knew, the moon was probably in ORS hands. But then came Varonat itself. He had been told once, by Joren Logan, that the last thing any commander would want to face is an enemy of religious fanatics. Because they were the worst kind.

The Yuuzhan Vong had been so potent mostly because of their beleifs in their gods, and were willing to die to serve them. Griff knew this is the same way the Followers of Varan would react.

Some things never change.





"Enemy forces converging on us!" Someone shouted.

Karron, the Shi'ido Black Hand agent turned to Grissom, "Captain it may be wise to -"

"I really don't care what it may be wise to do, Karron. But I have a battle to fight." Grissom said.

The agent nodded, showing no outrage in being treated with such disrespect. A few others Grissom knew would have started to protest, but this Shi'ido was different. He merely turned back to the approaching storm of enemy ships.

"Fire, all weapons!" He shouted. The Incoming Victory-class Star Destroyer was met with a hail of laser fire from the larger Star Destroyer.

The Varan's Will fired back, hitting the forward shields of the SS Avenger.

This is how the battle between the two big capital ships progressed, until Grissom ordered the SS Avenger to launch troop transports to Varonat and Varonat Prime....hundreds of little transports filed out of the Star Destroyer's hangar bay and headed to both planets.

Varan

"Sir, the Avenger is ignoring our attack. He's presenting his already weakened rear shield to us."

"It is a gift from Varan. The infidels have sent an incompetent commander to us and it will be our honor to destroy him. Full power to all forward batteries. They are to concentrate on the Avenger's engines. Angle our shields for forward protection."

The second Victory Star Destroyer moved into battle all guns firing. Blast after blast from it's gun's pounded into the Avenger's already weakened aft shields.

Varonat Prime

General Soudine smirked as he saw the Outer-Rim Sovereignty Star Destroyer turn away from the oncoming Varan to concentrate maximum fire on the Varan's Will.

Soudine turned toward the communications officer. "Send a message down to the prophet. Notify him that the battle is going as planned. Victory will be ours."

Soudine turned back to stare at the space battle in progress. Disappointing really, he'd expected better.

Varonat
Prophet's Residence

"Great one, we have a message from General Soudine on Varonat Prime."

This time it was one of the junior acolytes who delivered the message to the prophet.

Imperiously the prophet turned to stare at the acolyte.

"What does he have to say?" He inquired.

"He informs you that the battle is going well. Even as we speak the holy warriors of Varan are destroying the infidels."

The acolyte genuflected and began to back out of the room.

"Wait. Why is it you who delivered this message to me and not Chief Acolyte Hahn?"

"Chief Acolyte Hahn is currently detained. He is in the detention level. I can tell you that you require his presence if you so wish."

Curiosity stirred within the prophet. Rob Hahn had always been one of the primary advocates to complete and utter destruction of the infidels. He was one of the largest opponents of the plan to detain all the infidel females of breeding age as use for potential mates. He'd never shown anything except for the utter contempt and the urge to kill any of the prisoners. Why he'd taken a sudden interest in them was most interesting.

"No, that is not required. Send John Edwards in to see me."

It was time to inquire into the affairs of one Robert Hahn.

"Captain, the other Victory is firing on our rear." One of the junior officers said.

Grissom nodded, "Order all weapons to continue fire on the forward ship."

Karron frowned, turning to the captain, "What do you plan to do?" He asked. Grissom ignored him.

"Sir, the enemy vessel's shields are failing..." The same junior officer said. Grissom smiled and nodded, watching the superior weaponry of the SS Avenger pound the other ship.

"Karron, what is the status of the ground transports?" Grissom asked. The Shi'ido checked an incoming report and turned to the captian.

"They have landed and are taking control of the command facilities now." He said, reading the report. Grissom nodded.

"Sir," The junior officer said, "The enemy ship is disabled."

Grissom turned back to the battle. The Varan's Will was breaking up with small explosions ripping out of a dozen points on it's hull. Giant chunks of hull was now floating freely from the ship.

"Initiate tractor beams." Grissom said to his battle coordinator, who nodded quickly.

The multiple tractor beams of the SS Avenger lanced out, and each took hold of a large chunk of debris.


"Engine room..."




"Engine room, this is the captain. All ahead full."

Chief Engineer Davidson nodded as he recieved the message from the bridge. He signalled to his engine bosses. Each boss was assigned an engine to keep watch over. Each boss had a certain number of subordinates who kept the engines up. Upon Davidson's signal, the bosses ordered the output of each engine doubled.

Davidson turned back to his commlink with the bridge, "Bridge, this is the engine room. All engines..."






"Sir, the engine room reports all ahead full." An ensign said.

Grissom nodded and checked his own command board, with showed continuous reports from the various sectons of the ship. All systems were operating within parameters.

The Avenger moved forward quickly, it's engines working overtime. The Victory-class Star Destroyer followed, as expected.

"Release the debirs." Grissom said.

The tractor beams released all of their chunks of debris out into the path of the oncoming Varan.




"The battle of Varonat is apparently proceeding as planned, Mr. President." Admiral Jakob said.

Griff nodded, drinking yet another cup of hot coffee. It was morning on Bakura, and a cold one at that. The winter months were just about to set in, and Griff could see snow starting to fall on the normally quiet city.

"When will Congressman Tenet arrive?" He asked.

"Black Hand reports within the hour."

Griff turned around slightly, and motioned to a figure in the back of the room to come forward.

"Admiral, this is my informant within Tenet's staff. He has provided much useful information on the good politicians activites."

"Nardus." Griff said as the Rodian revealed himself, "Tell us what you know please."

The Rodian nodded, "Tenet is actually a very timid man. He knows how to survive, but that is pretty much it. He gained his position through blackmail, bribery and threats. I am a Black Hand agent and I was inserted into Tenet's staff just after the creation of the Sovereignty. I have been with him ever since. He has a regular stream of contacts that report to him from their respective areas of infiltration. He has spies and contacts throughout the Sovereignty Congress, including your own Staff, Mr. President."

Griff nodded, "Black Hand has known of them for some time, and I have been feeding them false information of weeks."

"Yes. But Tenet beleives every word of it. He isn't very bright, as he claimes of you." Nardus said.

Griff smiled.

"Anyway. He thinks he is coming for a private conference about Varonat."

"Yes, as his informants have told him." Griff said, "Does he have anything to do with the situation on Varonat?"

"Actually yes. You see, he is from Varonat, not Tatooine." Nardus said, much to Griff's surprise, "He was one of the first Followers of Varan and is very deeply involved with the cult. He prays daily and lives the life of a Follower. He is a very deep beleiver of the Prophet. And he has been trying to stop this war you have begun."

Griff nodded, "And what about the Varonat fleet of ships?"

"Tenet has assisted a 'General Soudine' in attaining several surplus ships, including at least one Star Destroyer."

"Where did he get them?"

"The old Corperate Sector Authority. He has several contacts within that faction." Nardus said.

Griff nodded, "I beleive Tenet has alot to answer for."

Nardus nodded, "Indeed."

Varan

"Sir. Enemy Shields at 20%."

"Continue fire. Close to within 1 kilometer of the Avenger."

"Sir, we've lost communication with the Varan's Will."

"They died in service of Varan. They will be exalted for their sacrifice. Let us finish off these invading infidels."

As the V closed with the Avenger it suddenly jetted forward.

"See how they retreat! Full power to engines."

Suddenly right in front of the Varan was the debris from the Varan's Will. With most of it's power to engines and weapons the Varan's shields were already weakened. They never had a chance to stop as the V continued full force into the debris.

Varonat Prime

General Soudine snarled as he saw the Varan ram the debris from the Varan's Will. It was clear to him that the Prophet's reign was about to come to an end.

Quickly he turned to his aide.

"Prepare my shuttle. Set the self-destruct system for the base."

Opening a drawer he grabbed a couple of fake IDs and two Credit Chits. It was time to leave Varonat. Perhaps take up refuge in the Corporate Sector. He had enough money stored away for some cosmetic surgery. Maybe he'd become a warlord out there in the Corporate Sector.

A pounding on the door startled him. He couldn't everything that was being said but he did catch four words.

"...fire in the hole!"

Thinking quickle General Soudine managed to jump behind cover thus saving his life. After the light from the explosion and the flash-bangs had subsided he rose up from behind his desk to find himself face-to-face with a squad of Outer-Rim Sovereignty troops dressed in battle armour. All of them were facing him and had their Blaster Rifles levelled at him.

"I surrender."

The words had barely escaped his mouth when his aide who had been hiding in the corner un-noticed lept out with a shriek of rage. From his pocket he drew out a knife and threw it. The knife flew true and struck General Soudine in the chest right over the heart. Before the knife hit the General though the aide was dead. The aide had been hit by no less than 5 blaster bolts from the Sovereignty troopers in less than a second. There would be no way that General Soudine could incriminate Congressman Tenet now.

"It worked!" The Senior sensor officer said. The Officer was responsible for making sure the tractor beams functioned properly and with out fault.

Grissom nodded, smiling slightly, "Proceed to Varonat. The Prophet has a date with the devil." He said to the helm operators.

"I am reading massive power levels coming from Varonat Prime, Captain." Ensign Peters said, from the sensor console.

"Explain." Grissom said.

"Power levels are consistant with known explosives that are commonly implemented in self-destuct systems." Peters said.

"They are blowing the base up?"

"I beleive so." Peters returned.

"Signal the evacuation for all of our forces on Varonat Prime." He said to the Comm officer.

"Sir," The comm officer suddenly said, "Commander Shad reports that General Soudine is dead and has activated a self destruct system."

"Tell them to get out!"

"Too late, the countdown..."

A small explosion erupted from Varonat Prime's surface, eliminating the military base there... and all Sovereignty forces within it. Grissom stared at the small moon for a moment before turning to the helm.

"All ahead full. Let us go to Varonat. What about the troops there?" Grissom asked the comm officer.

"They are fighting a pitched battle with the Followers. But they expect to have the Prophet under control soon enough."


"Good. Inform me when he has been taken prisoner."





"Mr. President, Admiral Jakob."

Griff and the admiral nodded to Congressman Tenet as the stout politician walked in. The Rodian Nardus was near the back of the room, out of sight. There were also four other being in the room, but they were hidden as well. Tenet was completely unaware.


"Welcome, Congressman." Griff said as he motioned for all to be seated.

"What is this about, fi I may ask...?" Tenet said.

"Well. I wanted to have this conference with you about Varonat. Admiral Jakob is here to provide the facts."

Tenet said nothing and nodded.

"First off," Jakob said, "We have received a new report from the Avenger. They have taken control of Varonat Prime and are now moving on to Varonat itself."

Tenet nodded.

"Almost all resistance in space has been crushed."

Griff watched carefully. Tenet seemed to not to care but his face fell, only ever-so-slightly. It was not meant to be noticeable, but Griff caught it. He said nothing for the moment though and allowed Jakob to continue.

"However we lost a great many forces on Varonat Prime, due to the Follower's base there. It appearently self-destructed. We lost about four hundred soldiers."

Griff watched intently again. Tenet showed only a little. Griff was appalled at what he saw. It was nothing but satisfaction.

"But we expect to have the Prophet under control within a few hours. Already our ground forces are taking key military and religious installations." Jakob went on.

"And what of resistance there? At the military and religious instalations?" Tenet asked carefully.

"Still fighting heavily."

Varonat City
Prophet's Residence

"How may I serve you Great One?"

The query calm and menacing came from John Edwards the head of the Prophet's Secret Police.

"Go down to the Detention Levels. Former Chief Acolyte Hahn is there. I would like to have a talk with him."

The Prophet was anxious. The battle in space had just taken a turn for the worse. Soudine was dead and his rule was crumbling. He was a Dictator and when the rule of Dictator's began to crumble people died.

"Former Chief Acolyte? Has Mr. Hahn done anything to displease you?"

"I have decided him dis-loyal that is enough for now. Now do as I told you."

"Yes Great One."

John Edwards turned to exit the room. Just as he was leaving however Alarms began to ring. The Sovereignty had arrived!

The Prophet panicked. This hadn't been supposed to happen. Nothing had gone right. The first part of the plan had gone perfectly. They'd taken perfect control of the planet. But now his space forces were gone, his chief military advisor dead and the Sovereignty assaulting his very own house.

"Never mind Hahn! Let the Sovereignty deal with him! Get all your men in the building. We're leaving!"

Edwards complied he knew that if the Sovereignty found him he was just as likely as the prophet to end up dead after a Sovereignty Court had decided that he was guilty of Genocide. And with Soudine dead Edwards was the most directly involved person in the whole genocide. The Sovereignty would no doubt waste no time shoving him up right behind the prophet maybe even ahead of him in the execution line.

Quickly Edwards, the Prophet and their escorting troops moved through the residence. Long ago soon after the Prophet became a major religious figure on Varonat the Prophet had built a secret exit from his castle. It was no very useful.

As Edwards and the Prophet exited the building they were shocked to see that the assaulting force wasn't just concentrating on the front. The whole building was encircled. As they ran out with no weapons besides a few blaster rifles they came face to face with Heavy Repulsortanks and Heavy Landspeeders. They didn't even bother resisting.

Within the day the Prophet after a bit of encouragement from some handy local Black Hand agents had transmitted an order of surrender to all remaining Followers of Varan. If they surrendered they wouldn't be harmed. Most of the Followers surrendered. The remaining pockets of resistance were quickly wiped out. But it wasn't completely over yet.

Tenet was sweating heavily, but he was trying to not show it. Griff and Jakob both knew what was about to happen, and everyone in the room tensed as Tenet stood to his feet and began to pace. Of course he tried to make it look like he was fine, but in reality he was a nervous wreck.

"The end is in sight." Griff said. Tenet thought he was referring to Varonat, but Griff was referring, in reality, to Tenet himself.

"Congressman, a vote is going to be carried out by Congress tommorow, on the growing issue of the Kathol Sector. I presume you would want what is best for Tatooine." Griff said.

"I want what is best for the Sovereignty." Tenet lied.

"Of course. You also want what is best for you." Jakob spoke up. Tenet whirrled on him.

"How can you say that, Admiral?" He asked heavily.

"I know the real you, Congressman.' Jakob stated.

"What? How?" Tenet asked, becoming angry.

"Because I told them." A new voice spoke up. Griff stood as Nardus the Rodian stepped forward. Tenet seemed, at first, betrayed, then he becamse angry.

"Nardus? But why?"

"Your time as a Follower is over, Congressman Tenet." Nardus said, "I told them everything."

"Why?"

"Because I am not a simple Rodian that you took pity on. I am an Agent of Black Hand." Nardus said.

Tenet nodded, "Traitor. Traitor!" He yelled.

"Come now, Congressman Tenet." Griff said, "It is time we are done here."

"Never!" Tenet yelled, and rushed Griff. The President stood, not flinching as four silent guards moved out of the shadows. The four Defel soldiers lifted Tenet bodily off of his feet and hurled him to the ground, where he was stunned. His limp, unconcious form was then taken away.

Griff shook Nardus's hand, "Good work. I will be calling on you again." He said.

Jakob and Griff then left.




"The Prophet, and the entire planet has been taken under our control. We have begun distributing the rations we have to the people...they are quite grateful to us." Grissom said.

"I'm sure," The hologram of President Griff said, "Good work. Relief ships will be arriving shortly with enough supplies to begin rebuilding the world. Government officials and the Diplomatic Corps are mobilizing to bring aid to the people."

"Yes sir."

"Well done, Captain. Well done."

Varonat
Village 867

Professor Vent sat in his cell. He had no idea how long it had been since John Edwards had drugged him. He'd woken up in this windowless little shack. Since then there had been no way to determine how long it had been. The meals came at irregularily and infrequently. Sometimes it would seem like days had passed since he'd last eaten. Nor did he know what was going on outside. He'd heard the guards talk but they couldn't have been speaking the truth. Millions killed? Not even the Followers of Varan the most hardline cult of the people who worshipped Varan would try to cleanse the planet. Get rid of the others yes but kill them all?

Suddenly he heard blasters. At first it was just one or two seperate reports then there was an explosion like a grenade and it seemed that the whol world had exploded. It had been a while since Vent had done his required military service but he still recognized the heavy thrumming sound of an E-Web. Suddenly there was a blast louder than all the other blasts. The E-Web stopped shooting and the volume of fire seemed to slacken for a second. Then it picked up in a deadly cresendo. However seconds later it stopped. Hoping beyong hope that somebody was here to rescue him Professor Vent stood up and straightened his pitiful garments.

Somebody hammered on the door and Vent heard some muffled shouting.

"Help! Help! I'm a prisoner!"

Vent's voice cracked from the strain of using long-silent vocal chords. The soldiers outside obviously heard him though.

"Get..ay..ow..oor!"

"Pardon me I didn't hear you."

Vent put his ear against the door trying to hear what his rescuers we're trying to say.

"Get away. We're going to blow the door!"

Vent jerked back from the door as if the soldiers were going to blow it right away. Quickly he moved back from the door into the far corner of his cell.

Suddenly the door disintegrated. Where it once was there was just a pile of ash. Four troopers wearing red and black battle armour reminiscent to stromtrooper armour piled in. Quickly they swept the room with their Blaster mounted Spot Lumas. Then one of the troopers obviously their leader motioned to Vent. Two troopers grabbed him by the arms to help him out of the cell while the other lead them out with their blasters always at a ready. These troops were prepared for anything.

When Vent came out of the cell he found himself in a scene of organized chaos. Night reigned but it had been dispelled by the powerful floodlights set up by these soldiers. All around him hundreds of armoured red and black troops scurried around. Some of them were guarding what appeared to be a number of prisoners all of them had a V tattoed on their forehead. Others tended to prisoners like him while others patrolled the perimeter of the village and searched the buildings. Off in the distance he could see Varonat City. Fireworks blazed in the sky. Obviously there was a celebration going on but only the newly freed prisoners were celebrating. The followers of Varan were all looking downcast which was understandable considering they appeared to be prisoners. And the soldiers, Vent had never met a stormtrooper, Varonat hadn't until recently been the type of place to be teeming with stormtroopers but these troops were coldly efficient with no display of humanity just like the stories he'd heard about stormtroopers.

But these couldn't be stromtroopers, yes they were using Imperial vehicles and Imperial reminiscent armour but no stormtrooper would be running around wearing Red except if they were Royal Guards which most certainly would not be on Varonat. A roar announced the presence of a new vehicle. A red and black atmospheric gunship flew into view. On it's side there was emblazoned a red triangle with the black tail of a scorpion in the center. Suddenly it all made sense. This was the Sovereignty! They'd rescued him!