The Emperor watched in grim satisfaction as the mines stopped in space, holding still for a moment before beginning to move backwards in the grip of the Hive Mind.

Such an asset he had never encountered, and as he watched he truly appreciated the power of being able to communicate instantaniously with everyone near you, and to combine your power in ways such as this!

A few mines that were not caught in the net of the Hive Mind were shot down by the TIE Raptors deployed from the Soveriegn Protectors ships, and Seti Ashar sent a short message of thanks to that man as the last of the mines disappeared from his scopes, tumbling headlong into the atmosphere of Tholatin and detonating there.

Beside him, Trayden Locke was silent. The Emperor regarded this man carefully, as if sizing him up. It had been a long while since he had watched the Polemarch of the Fleet drive the fleets to victory, but as Seti watched he realized the pure skill that drove Trayden. The man is like a machine, he thought, cold and merciless.

The fleet was driving forward towards the enemy craft, the massive bulk of the Demosthenes almost pulling the entire armada with her as she advanced.

The ship hummed with the constant hammer of the turbolaser batteries as they continued to beat out against the two Dreadnaughts that comprised of nearly the entire Tholatin defence fleet.

Death comes on swift wings. The Emperor thought, watching through the viewports as Tholatin was crushed, beneath the Iron First of God.

Royal Hapes Military Base, Surface of Tholatin.

The fighters scrambled quickly, forming seamlessly into the battleline of Tholatin ships as they drew up for combat. The droid command centre instantly sent a warning message to its sister station on Zonama Seklot issuing a red alert and signalling for them to begin long range offensive scouting for enemy forces stumbling across the Galaxy.

The 72 Raptors remained together, working the background of the ISD, picking off isolated assaulting fighters. Unless backup came, the commanders knew it would simply be a matter of how many enemy they could kill before being overwhelmed.

"My leige, they try to call for support. Your orders?"

The Sovereign Protector paused to contemplate the options, his gaze still locked on the fleets poised upove Tholatin. His gloved fingers gripped the edge of his officers Comm unit.

"Allow them to call for help. We will be done and gone before they can reinforce this meager force. Let them call for help... When it arrives it will find nothing but a smoldering planet."

His orders seemed to resolve the determination of the Crimson crew, they were trained to follow orders... Orders of destruction and death were always followed with great esteem. The 'reds', as their enemies called them, were killers through and through.

"I see the Hapans have an interest here. Inform their command that if they leave now, without delay, we will spare them destruction. The Cluster will have to cut their losses at Thoaltin and pull out."

Stepping away from the comm, Silk clasped his hands behind his back and strolled to the front of the bridge with his gaze still locked on the engagement kilometers off of the Grand Masters bridge.

"If you have your firing solutions... Gunners..."

At his words the hollow thump-thump of ion and turbo-laser cannons reverberated through the Ageis' hull inteposed with the explosive launches of concussion and proton torpedos.

Watching with grim amusement, Silk awaited the first impacts, detonations and destruction of his weapons.

Ktaruuk watched on with morbid glee as the orbital mines descended into the atmoshpere, rocketing down onto the surface with ferocious impact in a hail of explosive fire. Thier sheer velocity coupled with thier explosive yield, the mines would no doubt cause immense destruction down on the surface.

The evidence was clearly visible even from up here . . .down below, tiny circles of fire twinkled on the planet like a shimmering back-lit blanket.

"Send an additional four squadrons of Bio-Fighters to engage those approaching from the planet. Signal gunship attack groups one-a through four to engage the enemy capital ships, groups five, six and seven take flanking positions behind those fighters . . . give them cover fire. After they have disposed of the fighters, continue onward and take out your assigned civilian targets, groups one and eight, hold your positions and remain in protection fo the carrier.

Down in the lower atmosphere, the first three bio-fighter squadrons engaged the Hapan fighters, laser blasts firing, soon they would be joined by another three squadrons, and three groups of gunships. Another four gunship groups headed steadily to engage the Tholatin warships, thier torpedo launchers letting loose a small barrage of missles as soon as thier targetting computers gained a clear lock . . .

Twenty four proton torpedo's sailed towards thier targetted Imperial Star Destroyer . . .soon they would hit its belly, and the ship would be crippled.

"@#%$. This is bad. Destroy those missiles then load everyone that is military onto the ships in the fleet. We're leaving."

The ship rocked as it fired on the incoming missiles. After destroying most of them, the rest impacted, the Tholatin fleet and the loaded up troops and droids and monteradons turned and headed away from the planet.

Kamon ordered the fighters to enter the hangar bays and strap in. He told the Hapan vessels to leave and go back to Hapes or take a roundabout path to Zonama Sekot. The ships in the fleet jetted up and over the planet.

They intended to get away from the battle. There would be other better plans for fighting HDE and Tholatin would be regained. Fortunately, the enemy hadn't deployed on that side of the planet.

The Interdictors that had been en route received a holonet message that was severly encoded and told them to head for Juutral, they would be accepted there. Tholatin would be left to its fate.

Kenshin blinked as he read the words on his datapad for the third time.

The news of an evacuation had travelled quickly throughout the castle, but the urgency of it hadn't really registered until now. Now he had written proof of the approval of this manuver.

There was a pause as Kenshin allowed the news to sink. Thinking quickly he issued the evacuation orders to the squad captains.

"Tell the guys to grab the necessities and head for the hanger. We're going to Juutral."

The Demosthenes...

"Lord Locke, sir. Tholatin ships are breaking off their attacks on our forces. Intelligence sources suggest a full retreat of all space and ground-based forces. We have ships of all description launcing from the surface."

The Polemarch of the Black Fleet nodded slowly, smiling slightly. He cast an eye to his Emperor, who gave only a grim nod, and Trayden turned away, already issuing orders.

"Right. Launch all transports, secure those shipyards immediatly. Position the Demosthenes in geosync above their capital. Have K'Taruuk's gunships deployed in similar orbits over the other vital areas. I want the entire planet covered. Starfighter patrols as neccessary, blockade formations."

He smiled.

"It seems that we have won the day, Lord Emperor." Seti Ashar watched the last of the Tholatin warships flicker briefly and make the leap to hyperspace.

"It would seem so. But Kamon Vondiranch is still at large. The galaxy would not see peace until he and his Jutraalian masters are eliminated."

Trayden nodded, smile fading.

"All in good time, My Lord. The Jutraalians cannot hold out for long. The might of the Holy Empire will overcome them, in good time."

But the Emperor's attitude did not change.

"I fear time is something we may been running short of."


Tholatin...

The shuttles landed silently in the nearly empty hanger bays of the monolithic Tholatin shipyards, the clang of soldiers' armoured boots ringing from the walls.

The stations were devoid of life, their crewers having retreated with the rest of the Tholatins when the Prince issued the orders.

Soldiers spread quickly through the stuctures, fanning out from bay to bay, rythmically taking over the constructions and securing them for the Holy Demosthesian Empire.

It was, Captain Mkin considered as he heard the reports from his teams, a cycle of sorts. Yards like these had been built to produce machines of war, which in their turn had been used to secure these yards. These yards would be made to produce machines of war, which would go to further the dismantling of the Tholatin and Jutraalian Empires.

He smiled as the last report came in. The Holy Demosthesian Empire would win this war, that much was certain.

The Demosthenes
Tholatin Orbit

The Emperor swept into the war room, his two ISS bodyguards trailing slightly behind. Those men, attired in pure black with blaster clipped to their hips, stood at ease just outside the doorway as it lifted open.

Seated around the command table were half a dozen of the Empire's ranking officers, among them the Polemarch of the Fleet, Trayden Locke, and Admiral Bhindi Drayson, the woman who had just recently seen the massive defeat of a Tholatin battle group outside Commenor space.

Mostly that victory had been achieved through superior technology... but the use of the Twilight Class Craft there had been magnificent in its simplicity, and had been responsible almost entirely for the destruction of a Jutraalian Defender Star Destroyer... the same ship that Fearsons had captured from the Rogue Sith, Xilen, at Mon Calamari... the ship that carried that Emperor's name, and was said to be his preferred vessel.

The loss of that ship had broken Jutraalian moral across more than a dozen systems... it was, Seti reflected as he entered the room, what the loss of the Demosthenes would mean to his Empire. The destruction had had far-reaching affects, and he reminded himself to find a suitable promotion for Bhindi...

Those two commanders, along with a smaller team of personelle, including Captain Edwards, who had led the Silencer Sqaudron responsible for crippling the Spirit of Fearsons, leading to her destruction, and two members of the Imperial Security Service, there in place of Ton Karlos, it seemed. KTaruuk, the leader of the Retenarri Swarm was also there, via holocom from his flagship.

"Gentlemen, lady," Seti said, smiling warmly at the assembled officers, "good day. You have all seen the Polemarch's report?"

There was a chorus of agreements, and Seti nodded once, happy enough for now.

"Excellent. Then you will know that as of this moment, the Holy Demosthesian Empire has officially declared war on the Tholatin Empire and the Jutraalian Empire. We have also recieved reports of pending action from the Bith Monarchy, including a mark of some ten million credits on my head."

The Emperor smiled at that, glancing towards the two ISS Agents that escorted him.

"It is nice to know that I am so very, very valuable. I believe that Fearsons' has posted Lupercus Darksword at 250 000? Yes? Very good... very good indeed."

He paused, considering.

"Where is Lupercus, anyway?"

It was one of the ISS agents that responded, his voice silk and smooth. This was, Seti thought, was an actor. And a fine one, at that.

"By last report, he was assisting the New Order in their assault on Kamino. We haven't heard from him since, I'm afraid."

The Emperor nodded, finally taking his seat at the head of the table. The assembled officers all shuffled nervously, rusting papers and tapping at datapads unconiously.

Ashar allowed this to go on for a moment, then spoke quietly, slowly.

"The Jutraalian Empire has declared war on us. They will be moving to strike out against our worlds within the week, I am certain. Despite what Fearsons may claim about wanting peace, he will not hesitate to launch an offensive against the Empire. He is as transparent as he is stupid."

There was a chorus of agreements with this statement, and the Emperor nodded slowly.

"With the aide of the Swarm," he cast a respectful nod to KTaruuk, "we shall be able to combat the forces of Jutraal. Even with the aide of the Tholatin Remnants, and the Bith Monarchy, a victory should not be doubted." He paued, eyeing each of his commanders for a moment. "We have superior machines, we have the best trained crews, and... we have the most proficent, most dedicated, most loyal, and smartest, fleet commanders outside the New Order."

There was some smiling and a moment of applause at these satements, which the Emperor put down almost immediatly. There was little time to waste.

"We must choose a target that interests the Jutraalians, and we must strike at it. We must obliterate a single world, leave nothing alive. We must prove to the Jutraalians that the Holy Demosthesian Empire will fight this war on every front they can imagine. If they wish to fight us, the Jutraalians must be prepared to sacrafice a hundred billion of their own in order to see us crushed."

There was a still silence as the Emperor finished speaking.

"Do we have such a target?"

This was an insult, true and pure.
Neither commander seemed to have any recollection of the Crimson Forces still in high orbit above Tholatin. They had come and done as they were commanded, Dioan Silk had offered his support, his fighters had done their part. To leave the Sovereign Protector in the lurch after such a triad was truely a dangerous thing.

"Get me their so-called Emporer on the comm. Contact the Swarm forces as well. Inform them that we are, indeed, still here."

Nodding the affirmative, his red-clad Comm officer did as he was ordered, and in short order.

Still on the bridge of the Grand Master, Silk was growing impaitent. He'd been drawn away from one promising conflict to assist in this one, and now he, Crimson Sovereign Protector had been passed over despite his assistance, despite his support.

"Form up all squadrons for departure. Recall the starfighters and plot a departure course. I want us ready to leave when I say."

Smiling beneath the helm of his armor, Silk paused to recollect his thoughts. It may be a rash action but, not un-expected. He would be recognized, one way or the other...

His Dark Lord had missed his triumph, and if anything, Silk was one who needed recognition. It was this that made him the perfect Hand for Dark Lord Maim, the highest among the galaxies Sith.

So, watching on as his fighters moved towards their berths, he awaited his due prize.