They say that the dead feel no pain. They say that if one feels pain, one must be alive.

If that was true, than he must be alive. Very alive. Pain consumed him, igniting every nerve ending in his body. It coursed through him, throbbing with every beat of his heart. The pain was the only thing he knew. He did not know how long the pain was with him, for within the pain there was no measure of time.

In time he learned to fight the pain. Gradually it lessened, and he learned to wall himself against it. Soon he could feel things other than the pain. His senses began to function again.

At first he could only see darkness. He stared into the darkness for an eternity, gazing into its never-ending depths. He struggled against it, willing it away. Soon he saw dim colours through it, blobs that moved back and forth. These resolved into people, moving back and forth beyond the foot of his bed.

He was laying in a bed. In a medical centre.

How had he got there?

He pondered this for some time, struggling with the wall between his memories.

Then the wall broke.

And he remembered.

Jeori Teebo stared out the window of his personal flagship, the Viscount, at the massive Calamari shipyards. Thousands of tiny ships flirted about, completing the framework of another of the massive Mon Calamari Star Defenders, one of the largest and most powerful ships in the galaxy.

The entire framework of this one had already been completed, and construction crews were working on attaching the durasteel panels the would make up the hull. Calamarian engineers took great pride in their work, and went to extreme ends to ensure that no two Calamari cruisers were alike. This one was going to have a dark green hull, covered with hundreds of the lumps and bumps that were unique to Calamari cruisers.

He watched the crews for some time, proud that this cruiser would soon be a part of the Mon Calamari Republic's glorious fleet. He would name this cruiser Pride of the Calamari. That would be an adequate name.

As he stood watching, he was dimly aware of someone approaching from the hallway behind him. He heard them key the door open and step in. He turned around to see who his visitor was.

"Lieutenant," he said, recognizing the young Calamarian officer he had recently hand picked to be one of the crew on his flagship, "Is there a problem?"

The Lieutenant brought both his eyes to bare on the Admiral. "Sir, we've just recieved a transmission from the colony on Da Soocha." The young Lieutenant gulped.

Jeori straightened himself, preparing for the worst. "And?"

"The Commander there, Captain Agbar, reported that several Star Destroyers came out of hyperspace, and were moving into attack position on the shipyards."

Jeori swore silently to himself. "What happened?"

"We don't know, Admiral. We lost contact several minutes ago."

Jeori locked both his large eyes onto the Lieutenant. "Lost contact?"

"Yes, sir. The Captain reported that the Star Destroyers commenced fire on the Shipyards, and that one was moving into position to fire upon the base." He paused for a moment, and bowed his large domed head. "We fear the worst, Admiral."

"Prepare the ship for hyperspace. Inform the Captain that we will be leaving for Da Soocha immidiately."

"Yes, sir."

"And tell him I'm coming up to the bridge. I want to review that transmission."



Jeori felt his chest tighten as he watched the transmission. He could see the tension in Captain Agbar's body tone as he reported what was happening. He could hear the fear in the Captain's voice.

Jeori had made a mistake. He had left Da Soocha extremely lightly defended, leaving her only a Light Cruiser. He had thought that she would be safe.

He was wrong. As he watched the transmission, he cocked his other eye around to look at the other inhabitants of the room. He could see the anger in his officers, especially those of his race. It was more difficult to tell with the others, like the Bothan and the humans, but he could feel it radiating from them.

He knew it was there because he felt it too. He wanted to charge in there and rip off the heads of alll of those responsible for their atrocities. They had gone and senselessly and ruthlessly slaughtered thousands of innocent civilians.

But anger was not the way of the Jedi. He calmed himself, and looked about the room. "We must go there. We must see if there are any survivors. Da Soocha will not be the end of this. Soon they will come here. We must go and find out what we can, before they attack." He paused and met each of their eyes in turn. "We must protect the planet."

He activated his comlink. "Set course for Da Soocha."

Jeori stood, surveying the wreckage, trying not to cry out in grief. The Shipyards, the colony... were gone. They had been horribly destroyed, entirely beyond repair. The ruins were still smoking, floating aimlessly among the stars. There was no sign of the attackers.

He turned to his Captain. "Ready some salvage crews. Perhaps there is something still intact."

"Yes, Admiral." The Captain turned and relayed the message, then turned back to Jeori.

"Who would do such a thing?" he said.

"I don't know." Teebo said, his voice troubled. "I don't know."



He sat in his private quarters as he read over the reports coming in to him. He was glad that there were no others present, for they would have been alarmed at how shaken he was. He knew that the horrors were not over. No one would be finished after destroying a minor outpost world. They would continue on to Calamari.

In the beginning he had hoped that it was a fluke, that it was just an attack by some angry Imperialists. That after this attack, their anger would be justified. But already contact had been lost with Startide, a cruiser sent on a deep space mission, and Liberty, a cruiser patrolling hyperspace routes between Da Soozha and Calamari.

This was all out war.

As Jeori stood, looking at the wreckage of Da Soocha, he heard a knock at the door behind him. "Come in." he said, and cocked one of his large eyes around to see who the visitor was. As the door slid open, he saw the blue-green mottled head of his Captain stick in.

"Sorry to disturb you Admiral..."

"Not a problem. What is it, Captain?"

The Captain's expression became troubled. "We just received report from Calamari. Two Star Destroyers launched a hit and run on the outer defensive bet. One cruiser was heavily damaged."

Jeori swore. "Prepare the ship for hyperspace. We've done all we can here." He finally turned around to face the Captain. "We must defend our people."



As the massive Star Defender pulled out of hyperspace, alarms started ringing off all through the warship. Crewman scrambled to their posts, and Jeori frantically glanced at the sensors to see what was amiss. He swore as the screens came online, and revealed a Super Star Destroyer and two Imperator-Class Star Destroyers sitting a few kilometers to their aft.

"Open fire!" He shouted, struggling to be heard over the din of the alarms, "And launch all fighter squadrons." He watched as green and blue beams of destructive energy laced out, causing tiny explosions across the hulls of the Star Destroyers.

"Sir," one of his senior officers said, "Freedom and Nightfire are moving into position. They'll be in firing range in five minutes." Jeori nodded to confirm that he heard, then turned to the Captain.

"Tell your men to concentrate all firepower on that Super Star Destroyer. I want it taken down first."

"Yes, sir."

Hundreds of glowing green lances of energy slammed into the starship, and soon the number of incoming beams was tripled. The immense power of the concentrated turbolaser shots was beginning to takes its toll on the Star Destroyer as massive pieces of the hull broke off. Already areas were charred black and smoking.

Jeori watched all this, grinning. "Inform the Freedom and the Nightfire that we will finish it, and have them concentrate in the Imperators."

"Yes sir."



Soon the battle was done, and the Destroyers were nothing more than charred debris in orbit of Calamari. Jeori was no longer grinning, however. Apparently, just before the massive vessels had opened fire on Mon Calamari forces, they had broadcasted that an all out attack on Calamari would commence in 24 hours.

Jeori had 24 hours to defend Calamari against possibly one of the largest fleets that ever existed. He wasted little time, and immediately had all combat ready ships up in space, preparing for the assault. There were over fifty cruisers in total, and over 25 command vessels, over six kilometers in length. There was also thousands of fighters, swarming about, weaving in and out of the cruisers.

But he wasn't sure if it would be enough. There could easily be thousands of Destroyers, enough to pummel his tiny flotilla into scrap metal. But he wasn’t about to give up on his homeworld.

Not this time.

Not again.

Rain poured down from the darkened sky, splashing onto the giant form of Foamwander City, the capital of Mon Calamari. A small shuttle shot from between the clouds, and set down to land on a platform. From inside the shuttle came several Mon Calamarians. They walked quickly, pausing only to open the door, then stepped inside the vast city.

The Mon Calamarians strode down a smooth curving hall, ignoring several others who stopped to salute them as they passed by. Soon the Mon Calamarians came to a transparent tunnel, which once again passed outside. It was raining even harder now, so hard that one could only see several feet. One of the Calamarians looked out the window, staring into the distant skies. This was Jeori Teebo, leader of the Mon Calamari Republic. His people saw him as unshakeable, one who could never be surprised.

But he was fidgeting now. He knew that an attack on the watery world of Calamari could begin at any moment. It was essential that he get to Mon Calamari High Command, so that all the greatest tactical geniuses of the Calamari could decide on what the best course of action would be.

He only hoped that he wouldn’t be too late.

OOC:Wrong account.

"I will not tolerate this!" shouted High Admiral Filgad, his salmon cloured skin flushed olive. "I will not let our world fall! I will not sit here while you pacificists discuss about pointless matters! It is clear to me what we must do!" He paused, and took a breath. "It is very clear indeed." He looked around at all of those seated in the room. Many flinched, especially the humans. "We must marshal the fleets immediately. We must bring all of our ships here. We must fight to the death, no matter the odds." He looked among those gathered again. "I will not give up on our world. I had to stand by and do nothing before. I am not about to let that happen again." He walked back over to his seat and sat down.

"Nor will I." Jeori said, standing up. "I had to make the decision to abandon Calamari before. I regretted it every moment of every day afterward, and it took all my will not to return and conquer it once more." He looked at Filgad. "I will not give in this time. I will fight to the death."

Cheers arose from the others. No one wanted to see their world destroyed. No one wanted to see their world lost forever, doomed in the hands of the Empire. Even the humans, Bothans, Bimms, Kubaz, and other species not native to Calamari. Many had grown to love it, and would not be able to bear to see it fall.



"Sir," a young female human said, "Several Star Destroyers have arrived on the edge of the system. They are powering up weapon systems."

Jeori snapped his head up. "Hail them."

"Yes sir. Channel opened, Admiral."

He self-consciously straightened his uniform, and turned to face the holo-projector. "Unidentified Star Destroyers, you have entered Mon Calamari Republic space and charged weapon systems. State your business or be prepared to face the consequences."

A human, wearing the rank insignia and uniform of an Imperial Admiral returned the call. "We are here to rid the galaxy of you horrid alien fish with your high-minded ideals." The Admiral grinned. "Prepare to be terminated."

"You expect three Star Destroyers to wipe out our entire fleet?" Jeori responded, sounding amused.

The Admiral chuckled. "There is more than three, I'm afraid."

"Sir!" the human said, "A large group of vessels have just hyperspaced in! At least eighty Destroyers!"

Jeori turned back coldly to the Admiral. "You've made a big mistake coming here. You're going to regret it."

"I think not." The Admiral said, then cut the channel.

Hundred upon thousands of turbolaser shots lanced out, slamming against shields, causing tiny explosions wherever they impacted. TIE fighters beyond number flew amogst they, engaging in dogfights with equal thousands of Mon Calamari stafighters. Thousands of beings planet side stopped whatever they were doing to watch the exchange of pure destructive energies.

"What's the count on those destroyers?" Jeori said. The sensor readings were so clouded there was almost a cloud of green of enemies, amidst a solid block of blue blips for Calamari vessels.

"We have eighteen Victory-Class, thirty-two Imperator-Class, and twelve Executor-Class." The Lieutenant paused, then looked down confused at the readings. 'We can't get a count on the TIEs. There are too many."

Jeori swore. He had never commanded a battle so large. It was going to be tough. "Power up the planetary shields. I don't want anything getting through."

"Yes, sir." The Lieutenant relayed the order. "Planetary shields up, sir."

"Excellent-"

The ship jurked violently as a massive explosion ripped through the aft. Jeori was thrown from his command chair and slammed headfirst into the bulkhead. He was dimly aware of officers shouting, medics crowding over him, before the darkness consumed him.

Jeori lay there in the Medical Wing, thinking. What had happened to him after that? What had happened to his forces after that? Had they won? At what cost? He thought for some time. He had distant memories of waking up at other times, but he had been hardly able to move, let alone ask anyone questions. Then again, he hadn't seen anyone that he could direct his questions at anyway.

So he just lay there, waiting.





A Mon Calamari female medic pushed her way through the curtains surrounding the Admiral's bed. She stopped short as she saw him, looking around, his large Calamari eyes searching, as if he was looking for something.

"Admiral! You're all right!"

He looked over to her, noticing her for the first time. "Where am I?" he said.

"You're in the hospital wing, on Foamwander." she replied.

"On Foamwander?" his eyes lit up. "Then we won the battle?" He looked at her again. "Tell me what happened."

She just stared at him for a moment. "You are not suffering from memory loss of any kind? You are aware of why you're here?"

"Yes."

"Alright, well..." She paused, and looked up at the ceiling with both her eyes, then looked at the floor, avoiding his eyes. "After you were knocked unconscious, Admiral Filgad took control. He fought well, but the Imperials managed to get near the planet. They took down all of the Shipyards except one, then they started to try to take down the shields." She paused for a moment. "The Admiral destroyed many of their cruisers, but at a great cost to our ships as well. However, the Imperials seemed reluctant to give in, and just pressed on.

"They managed to bring down the shields, and commenced orbital bombardment on the floating cities." She swallowed, reluctant to go on. "They managed to destroy Heurkea and Kee-Piru before they turned back to our capital vessels. In the end they managed to destroy almost all of our ships, and planetary defenses. What they didn't destroy, we were forced to scrap." She finally met his eyes. "But we won."