The Imperial Warships Spartan, Bellona, and Black Prince arrived over the world of Rachuk in a wedge formation, with the flagship, Black Prince, taking the lead spot. In behind the three Imperial Fire class Light Frigates came two old Liquidator class Bulk Cruisers, having been modified to serve as troopships for the possible upcoming campaign against the citizens of Rachuk. But before action against the world would commence, Admiral Kraken was going to try his hand at diplomacy, and see if he could successfully persuade the goverment of Rachuk to quietly surrender without a struggle that would result in needless deaths.

After recieving permission to speak with diplomatic envoys, six shuttles departed from the fleet, two from each Bulk Cruiser and two from the flagship Black Prince. A Twin Ion Engine (TIE) Fighter escort totalling one squadron of twelve fighters formed up on the shuttles, two per a shuttle. Together the small convoy of ships descended to the surface of Rachuk. They overflew the main military base, containing the large stormtrooper training facility that Admiral Kraken hoped to take intact. If he was successful, then this would produce the numbers of stormtroopers Kraken needed to wage his own war without relying on resources from other parts of the New Order.

Then they landed in the spacious spaceport. Debarking from the shuttles was a total of two hundred and forty personnel. The shuttles contained forty diplomatic officials, including Admiral Kraken himself, and two hundred stormtroopers to act as a honor guard. They then proceeded to a large ball room, were at a long table were seated forty of Rachuk's own senators, governers, rulers, and diplomats. Admiral Kraken took his seat, as did the other New Order officials, then the negotiations began.......................

The Emporer of Rachuk, Prime Minister Frodo Husk, stood as he addressed the New Order officials,

"I see you have come in force to my peaceful world, and have made demands that the world should surrender to the New Order. Come now, tell me, why should we surrender to the likes of you? What would we stand to gain by negotiating for terms of surrender before a single shot has even been fired?" asked the Prime Minister.

"What would you gain?" repeated Admiral Kraken, "why, for one thing, the lives of your soldiers, and ours, as well as your civilians, would be spared that would otherwise inevitably be lost in the conflict. For another example, your economy would also be spared the horrors full fledged combat would bring upon it. Finally, agreeing to surrender now would garauntee that you would remain the governer of this world, so long as you remain loyal to the New Order, and keep the peace." said Admiral Kraken.

"Hmmm. The lives of my soldiers, you say? There is the possibility they may be executed anyways as a security measure, as I have heard rumors of such happening on other worlds recently captured by the Empire. The lives of my civilians? I have also heard rumors of rape, torture, and maimings happening on other worlds. And having been to tryings and executions of Imperial officials who have done such heinous acts, I tend to agree with the rumors. The lives of your soldiers? I would say so, considering the obviously small size of your invasion force. Why, there could be no more than ten thousand stormtroopers in your force. We have more than fifty thousand stormtroopers protecting our world. So our economy would be spared? I think not, considering that a Imperial style tariff would wreck it anyways once your forces have conquered my planet. In addition, although illegial in any case, smugglers, and pirates, along with Galactic Coalition goods that we ship to the highest bidder would be outlawed, resulting in the loss of many credits, and jobs. Finally, keep my position eh? I think not, the moment I signed any such accord with the successor to the Empire, the people would literally hang my head from the town flag post, and there would be no way that I could remain governer. Unless you have something better to offer, or can change mine, and my people's mind on the matter, I'm afraid that no peace accord could be reached." the Prime Minister said.

Admiral Kraken sighed, then continued to speak, "I think that you are way off course, Prime Minister. Here I am trying to reach a peaceful accord, and here you are, rejecting it and leading us closer to war. You have my personal garauntee that none of your soldiers would be slaughtered. They would all be used to the best of their abilites, and will be rewarded for as much. Your civilians will be treated with due respect, and will not be bothered unless they are extremley unruly, in which case legal action of a minor nature, unless the civilian has comitted an act of treason, will be taken. And of course I want to preserve the lives of my soldiers. Your economy would reinforced by the factories I plan to construct on the surface of the planet. The food and durasteel processing factories, along with the new assembly plants I plan to construct, would provide hundreds, if not thousands, of new jobs, not only replacing those that were lost, but also adding more civilians who are homeless, penniless, and jobless to the mix, adding new hope for those people. The former smuggler, and pirates who once plundered and smuggled for your buisness and profit will find new meaning as they become freighter pilots, and work on Bulk Cruisers to deliver the goods were manufacture across the galaxy. Any Imperial Tariff imposed would be very small, for we do not need the money that badly, if at all. And we can take steps to garauntee your safety." stated Admiral Kraken.

The arguement, or terms, then began to shift as the Prime Minister had to retire for the evening, to deal with the civilians and other issues that were brought about due to the arrival of the Imperial fleet, and the negotians to take the planet without a shot fired. The Minister's aide, Diplomatic envoy Jakatal, took over in the absence of the Prime Minister.

"Okay, we have discussed the important, immediate issues. Now, let's move onto other issues concerning our future with the Empire. What do you plan to do with our world? What will become of our vast stormtrooper training facility, and what of these plants you choose to build?" asked the aide.

"First off, we plan to turn your world into a mighty machine of war, but at the same time make it a haven for people in the local sector, and provide many jobs for civilians without work, food, or shelter. There are two main types of factories we plan to build. First off is a construction yard, a massive building that is actually many smaller factories that manufacture parts for ground assault vehicles, which are then assembled in massive assembley line plants. Although droids do a lot of the work, the vast size of these collection of plants mean that we can employ up to twenty thousand civilians. And the other type of planets. Food Processing plants. We notice that your northern hemisphere is ripe for farming, as numerous settlements have seemed to take advantage of. We would build twenty large food processing facilities, and ship large amounts of foodstuffs offworld, or use them as rashions for the troops that we train here. The vast stormtrooper facility would remain in full production, and may be even enlarged to add extra training facilites and proving grounds, thus allowing the facility to train better soldiers that even what they are right now." stated Admiral Kraken.

"Indeed. Most interesting. And how many jobs would these additional plants provide? And are there any more plants planned that we should know about?" asked the aide.

"The plants, alltogether, should provide a total of one hundred thousand jobs to civilians, cutting this planet's unemployment rate by a quarter.We also plan to construct durasteel mining, and smelting planets on the mountians on the western most edge of your main continent, but the work would be sooo dangerous and unhealthy that droids would do all of the work there. Well, any other questions?" asked Admiral Kraken.

"We will need time to debate whether or not to surrender, and take all of your considerations and terms into account. Please, if you would, wait a day before you ask us for our answer." said the Aide. And with that, their meeting ended. Admiral Kraken departed back into the shuttle, and met up with his flagship a short time later. From there it was a matter of time.

Admiral Kraken recieved the request the next day to come down to the surface of the planet for a meeting with the diplomatic envoy after he had inquired into the peace proposal. Landing again in the shuttles with his full honor guard of two hundred stormtroopers, Admiral Kraken marched into the grand hall....to find no one waiting for him. He shouted for someone, but no one answered. Sensing treacherey, he turned to leave, when an explosion knocked him off his feet. He got up, and ran outside with fifty of his troops to discover what used to be their three Sentinel Assault Shuttles, now reduced to piles of glowing metal. Overhead soared a flight of three TIE Bombers, their bomb bays closing after the successful missile run on the shuttles. A quarter of his honor guard lay around him, dead, with the rest either rushing him to safety, or taking cover. Quickly the stormtroopers salvaged what equipment they could from the wreckage of the shutles, but most of the heavy weaponry had been destroyed. Only three E-Webs, and five light repeating laser cannons could be retrieved, in addition to the stormtrooper's own weaponry. Admiral Kraken attempted to reach the Black Prince, but he could not get through the thick atmosphere. So he singaled for his troops to follow him. They were going to take over the civilian communications array so he could contact his warships, and ask them for extraction from the surface. Together he and his honor guard of one hundred and fifty stormtroopers departed just as another wave of three TIE Bombers streaked in from the north, loosing a series of bombs that utterly destroyed the grand hall, and remaining Imperial ships, and equipment.

Knowing that that wave was meant to kill him, Kraken made it a priority to hurry up, and get to the communications array. When they reached the city, the forward troopers of his company exchanged fire from people around the building. When they told him they were civilians, he ordered them to switch their weapons to stunfire. Over the course of the next ten minutes, he lost fifteen stormtroopers in exchange for one civilian killed, and thirty stunned. They reached the communications array in short order, and he activated the comm to call for assistance......

"This is Admiral Kraken of the New Order, talking to New Order warship Spartan, do you copy, over?" asked Admiral Kraken into the comm.

The answer was immediate, and filled with concern. "This is the warship Spartan, Admiral Kraken, what the hell is going on down there? We've detected multipule large explosions in your vicinity, and laserfire. In addition, we have detected the launch of multipule small captial warships, and starfighters from the surface of the planet, most inbound for our position. What are you orders?" asked Commander William Harrier.

"It is obvious that our overtures for peace have been rejected. I want you to send down three more Sentinel Shuttles for me and my guard, and send back down the twelve fighters along with it. Then deploy the rest of your fighters to engage and hold the enemy fleet until I arrive. I will take over from there, understood?" asked Admiral Kraken.

"Yes sir, we are currently holding position. The fighters and their shuttles are on the way. The other eighteen fighters have been dispatch to hold the enemy fleet at bay while you return. About the enemy fleet, their numbers are now known to be one Corellian class Corvette, and thirty-six TIE Interceptors. The corvette is moving to screen their fighters from our fighters. I guess they figure they can eliminate our frigates with fighters alone. I guess we will be teaching them the error of their ways." said Command Harrier. Then, with the connection cut, Admiral Kraken sat back, and waited. Once more it was only a matter of waiting.........

As he waited for the shuttles to come extract him, Admiral Kraken turned to talk to a young stormtrooper next to him. He was very young, Kraken could tell, from the way he shuffled about, and fidgeted while they were waiting. He was probaly younger than twenty four years of age, Kraken decided.

"So, while we are waiting, Major Garlack, perhaps we could pass the time by talking about your service to the Empire." asked Admiral Kraken.

"I suppose we could sir. I was born and raised on the world of Corellia, and joined the Imperial army at the age of eighteen. I trained on Carida, and then was shipped off to the world of Coruscant to serve in duties there. I saw extensive service under the leadership of Lei Lebron before being transferred to a new unit under the New Order." said Major Garlack.

"I see, nothing really interesting, unless you have actually engaged the Rebels in combat." said Kraken.

"Well, not Rebels, not precisely, per se, but I have engaged with traitors of the Empire, and other various factions that refuse to yield to our grip of Iron over their systems." said the Major.

At that moment a loud rumbling roar grew in crescendo, until it stopped, very near them it sounded like. Another young recruit, Ensign Mitchell, thought it was the shuttles landing, so he popped out of the building that he had taken station in, and ran out into the streets looking for the shuttle. As soon as he waded into a street, a brilliant pair of green laser bolts hit him, slicing clean through his chest cavity and leaving him to fall to the street, dead before he hit the ground. He then heard chatter through his comm unit.

"This is Eagle Eyes one to Admiral Kraken, Eagle Eyes one, be advised, multipule Juggernaught Assault Vehicles have moved into the area, over." said the crisp voice, full of alarm and concern.

As Kraken shyed away from the door, it blew in, clouding all of thier vision. When it cleared, multipule enemy stormtroopers rushed in, wearing grey armour. Major Garlack cut down three of the enemy stormtroopers before he himself was cut down, taking a blaster bolt to his stomach. Kraken could hear him groaning in pain, and misery. Kraken withdrew his service blaster as he rounded a corner, and waited for the enemy stormtroopers to follow him. Two troopers took up positions next to him, and four more also on the other side of the doorway. Then the greybacks rushed through the doorway. Fifteen fell as they all piled through the doorway at one time, then an object bounced through the doorway. One of his trooper's blocked his vision of the object. The trooper also saved his Admiral's life. A concussion grenade exploded, knocking the trooper back into Admiral Kraken, and knocking both of them into the warehouse wall, then he, Admiral Kraken, slumped to the floor as blackness began to close in. 'I guess I will have to wait once again for me to regain consciousness' Kraken thought to himself as he slid into the darkness............

Vice Admiral Kraken heard noises as he came conscience. He slowly stood up, and took a glance around him inside the warehouse. There were grey, and white stormtrooper bodies littering the floor of the warehouse, some two hundred total, it looked like. Most of them were Grey Stormtroopers, troops of the Rachuk Defense Fleet. But some fifty were solid white, color of his honor guard. Kraken now knew that at least one hundred of his troops, about half of the two hundred total stormtroopers in his honor guard, were now dead. Probaly more, as his troops had been caught for the most part offguard when the Juggernaught Assault Vehicles and the accompying troops had invaded his position. Slipping to the doorway, he carefully glanced outside, and saw Grey Stormtroopers everywhere, and no signs of his soldiers what so ever. Feeling hot anger rising in himself for the lost of his brave soldiers, Vice Admiral Park Kraken ran to the other side of the warehouse, and managed to slip back out into the alleyway as the Grey Troopers enetered the warehouse to search for the missing Admiral. Vice Admiral Park Kraken ran to a parked military speeder, and started to hotwire it. He had to get to a deserted field someplace so he could activate his emergency transmitter, so that a shuttle could be sent to pick him up. He had the blasted complicated thing almost hotwired when some of the Grey Troopers came out of the back of the warehouse, and spotted him trying to hijack the speeder. Cursing as blaster bolts splattered around him, he ducked under the parked speeder to the other side, and broke into the passenger side of the vehicle. He withdrew a light repeating blaster cannon and several powerpacks on a strap that he slung over his should, then took up the cannon, switched the safety off, and set it to KILL, then stepped back and fired three shots into the exposed circuitry, ruining the speeder. He then took off into the alleyways near him with ten of the Grey stormtroopers in hot pursuit.

Meanwhile, aboard the Imperial Fire class Light Frigate Spartan, Commander William Harrier grew increasingley worried as time went by without word of the Admiral. A pair of laser blasts on the shields around the bridge brought his attention back to the space battle raging around him. Most of his fighters had either been destroyed by ground defenses, or by the superior agility, firepower, and numbers of the Twin Ion Engine (TIE) Interceptors sent up by Rachuk to protect their only military vessel, a Corvette, while it attempted to destroy the Bulk Cruisers that had been refitted as Troop Ships. A flurry of Turbolaser Cannon and Ion Cannon bolts were shot out by his warship, and hit the corvette. While the Turbolaser bolts expended themselves on the Corvette's shields, the Ion Cannon shots broke through easily, skittering across the hull and disrupting the systems of the corvette, starting small fires, and disabling weapons, systems, and electic flow in general, causing other systems near the hits to wink out and die. Commander William Harrier wanted to disable the corvette before he turned his full attention to the remaining forty four TIE Interceptors that buzzed about his ships, or the Admiral's ships, if he was still alive, thought Commander William Harrier as he once again turned his thought's to his Admiral's condition.

The Admiral, in the meantime, had his hands full with the Gray Troopers. He stopped just after he rounded the corner of another building, and set up his blaster cannon on a small tripod, having to kneel on his knees in order to operate the weapon. The stormtroopers charged around the building, and Vice Admiral Park Kraken let loose on them with a flurry of laser bolts. The first three in line fell immediatlty with large gaping holes in their chest armour, and the next two took non-fatal hits, but they still feel. The last five wheeled about, and ran the way they came. Quickly taking up the tripod, Park Kraken moved on. He came to an old building on the outskirts of town. Walking into it cautiously, Park Kraken found a Chariot LAV in it. Not believing his luck, he quickly set to work hotwiring the speeder. Suddenly, a crisp voice came from behind him,

"Step away from the vehicle, drop your weapon, and put your hands high in the air." Commanded the voice.

Dropping his blaster cannon, Admiral Park Kraken turned around, and found himself staring at a group of about ten stormtroopers. Laughing in relief, Kraken slumped against the speeder. The lead stormtrooper did not seem amused.

"Who are you?" he asked with suspicion in his voice.

Turning all pro, Vice Admiral Park Kraken drew himself up to his full height, which made him tower slightly over the stormtroopers. Turning his smile into a sneer, he stated, "I am Vice Admiral Park Kraken of the New Order. And who may you be, Stormtrooper?"

The stormtrooper looked shocked, and the others either stiffened with suprise and embarrasement, or slumped with relief. The trooper stuttered, then started to speak again.

"Admiral, we thought you were dead. A shuttle is on it's way to pick us up. We are the only members left of your honor guard, sir." said the stormtrooper.

At that moment, the familiar whine of repulsorlifts sounded, the shuttle had landed.

Later, on board the Imperial Fire class Light Frigate Spartan, having been attended to by medics, changed into a clean uniform, Vice Admiral Park Kraken strode into the bridge, with revenge for his fallen Honor Guard the first order of buisness in his mind. He ordered his warships to form a line of battle, then to train their guns on the city below where he had just departed from. According to the latest reports, twenty military vehicles and ten thousand troopers were scouring the city for any remaining New Order troops. He order the city zoned, and divided into twenty squares. He then assigned four squares apiece to the targeting systems of his warships. After several minutes to configure the firing solutions, Vice Admiral Park Kraken gazed down at the planet as the guns on his warships traversed downwards. "This is for you, my brave troopers." Park Kraken said in a solemn voice. With his lips forming a sneer, he said, "Commence Bombardement

The New Order ships opened fire on the Imperial Remnant City below, working on one grid after another as they pulsed and sent wave after wave of Turbolaser bolts from the Fire class Light Frigates, and even bigger, if less powerful waves of laser cannon bolts from the Liquidator class Bulk Cruisers. The energy beams streaked through the atmosphere, and struck the buildings, the enemy armour, the enemy soldiers, and in the unfortunate incidents, the enemy civilians. The pattern of the bombardment was simple, start at the outside of the city, and work your way in. Make the enemy know that he is doomed, increase his fear, and make him tremble for the acts he comitted against his foe who thought he was going to take the planet without having to kill him. After thirty minutes of orbital bombardement ceased, Admiral Kraken walked from the sensor station to the viewport. The planet was on fire, the entire city was ablaze, along with some of the surronding forest. The tallest structre in the city was the burned out hulk of a Juggernaught Assault Vehicles. Heapes of rubble, moundes of blackened duracrete, and scattered bodies lay about, twisted and diffused.

Walking from there to the comm station, Admiral Kraken ordered that a message be sent to the Emporer, now known to be hiding in his palace. When the hologram reverted, it showed the Prime Minister with a ash fallen face, looking very angry, and very sad at the same time. Admiral Kraken began to speak;

"When I first came to this planet, I harboured Illusions that peace could be sought without violence. Like a Bantha I was lured in to the prospect that you were in fact, seeking a peaceful resolution. But now I see more clearley. With the brutal misleading, and slaughtering of two hundred of my best troops, I see what you are really made of. And now you know what we are really made of. I have no quarrels of reducing your planet, it's civilian, and military population, to rubble, mister Prime Minister. We've defeated your space navy, decimated half of your ground forces, your armoured vehicles. Victory for you should by have now let you know are impossible. We'll give you one last chance to surrender." said Kraken.

The Prime Minister, his face twitching, his voice full of fear, took hold of the comm quickly, and spoke into it;

"I accept with hesitation. You may begin your occupation at any time." he said.

The rebuilding of the city of Rach began soon after the surrender. With New Order troops occupying the world, and with Imperial Fighters patrolling air space, and with the capital warships orbiting the world, on the alert either for rogue Rachuk forces, or space pirates who may try to take advantage of Rachuk's fall to the New Order, the rebuilding process began and progressed smoothley. The first thing to be reconstructed was the military base. Although it was left intact by the orbital bombardement that had destroyed Rach, the New Order Commanders wanted it expanded to include more extensive training programs for it's stormtroopers, and live fire exercises, as well as a large prison, and emplacements for future assembley factories, and planetery defenses. A large meeting was being held in the High Command section of the military base in order to discuss the recent campaign, and what it had cost Imperial Forces, as well as their plans for the future of Rachuk and it's citizens. The issue would be the overall progress of the campaign, what had happened and when, and what it's outcome was. Then there would be the casualties list. Kraken was expecting overall casualties to be somewhere near two hundred and fifty all together, counting the stormtrooper honor guard, Sentinel Assault Shuttle crews, and the TIE Fighter pilots who had given their lives in service to the Empire. The final part of the meeting would be based on how to treat the citizens of Rachuk, how to tax them, how to employ them in the war effort, and how they would play into the future plans of the Empire.

Reaching the base, and walking into the large room that seated about ten of the top military Commanders that were put into charge for this planetery takeover, Kraken exchanged salutes, and hand shakes with all of them, then seated himself, and began to speak;

"Another long and bloody campaign, another brutal victory for the Empire. At least this time we managed to conquer the planet with most of it's civilian population intact. And, we also managed to take the military base more or less intact as well, something we have not been able to do in past, what with the determination of the soldiers we faced in the last campaign against Vladet. I am to commend you all, and promotions will be forthcoming in a ceremony soon afterwards. But for now, let's hear of the overall progress of the campaign, and the events that lead to it's conclusion." said Admiral Kraken.

The room was filled with about ten members of the Imperial Command Staff that had participated in the assault and takeover of Rachuk, and that now oversaw it's reconstruction, and institution into the New Order. Seated at the very left were a few familiar faces, the ones who had commanded most of the military forces involved, namely, Commander William Harrier, who commanded the ground forces that were now occupying the planet, and whose stormtrooper regiment had assembled the honor guard of stormtroopers that had been slaughtered to almost a man in the city of Rach, and then there was Major Hermoine, the commander of the fleet's TIE Fighters, which had suffered at least fifty percent casualties in the battle. Finally there was Vice Admiral Park Kraken himself, overall Commander of the New Order fleet. There was also the captian of the New Order Fire class Light Frigate Spartan, and the captian of the New Order Fire class Light Frigate Bellona, two ships that were involved in heavy fighting above the world, and the main ships to eliminate the threat of the enemy Corellian Engineering Corporation Corellian Corvette that had risen from the surface to threaten their Liquidator class Bulk Cruisers that were carrying most of their troops, and shuttles. Seated across from this group were four civilians that were assigned the duties of ruling the goverment, rebuilding the economy, and taking care of the citizen population in general. The talks began with words of casualties as Commander William Harrier took the floor;

"First, let's start by counting the number of dead we have. In the space battle above the planet, we lost fourteen TIE Fighters to the enemy space force, leaving fourteen pilots dead. In the small, and brief, but by no means less furious captial ship engagement, the Spartan lost five men when one of her Turbolaser Cannons overheated, and exploded, causing minor damage to the ship itself. The Bellona lost ten men on a Triple Ion Cannon mount when that weapon exploded due to enemy turbolaser fire that managed to pierce the shields. The Liquidator class Bulk Cruiser Vindictive lost four men when a TIE Interceptor that broke through the line first managed to open a small gap in it's shields with it's laser cannons, then dived through the shield gap to kamikaze into the side of the ship. Fortunatley, the explosion did not damage any vital systems, nor did it affect the troops that were being carried aboard. Finally, on the surface of the planet, one hundred and eighty eight men lost their lives as part of Admiral Kraken's honor guard, with another twenty shuttle crew dying after their shuttles were either destroy by bombers, or shot down by the military's base defenses. That is all, bringing total campaign casualties to two hundred thirty seven men killed in action, plus there were three deaths because of injuries sustained that could not be healed in time." said Commandeer William Henry.

"Before we move on with the speeches, I need to make a speech to the fellow Imperial officers. I may take to the stand?" asked Vice Admiral Kraken.

After receiving nods of approvement, Admiral Kraken took to the podium, and began to speak, addressing all of the Imperial troops. "Another campaign has been fought, and another battle has been won, but only at the cost of more Imperial troops. Thanks to your the efforts, namely, the efforts of the living, another battle has been won, but we must also honor the efforts of those who lost and gave their lives in service to the Empire. Thank you, for your efforts. Gloria Imperium!"