The Belarus class Medium Cruiser Styx glided through the blackness of space. Having been comissioned only a few days ago, she was a nice vessel, a type slightly smaller and less powerful than the Loronar Strike cruiser, but that didn't mean that she was any less deadly. She still sported many powerful turbolaser, and laser cannons, and the ever dangerous ion cannon, known not for their destroying potential, but for the fact that they can be used to disable an enemy vessel. Three such of these vessels had recently been churned out by the shipyards currently orbiting Vladet, and these three were thus currently assigned to the Mid-Rim Proctectorate. Their first mission, and such their shakedown cruise, was to subjugate the planet of Gorulag. The planet of Gorulag was similar to Corulag in name, and in fact those two planets are in the same system. But what makes Gorulag so different to Corulag is that, while Corulag is a rock and dirt planet, the planet of Gorulag is a gas giant, one that is rich with the resource known as Tibanna Gas. Why the planet had not become popular like Bespin, or Talorran, Commander Drufeys did not know. All he knew, is that his goal was to conquer the planet, either through diplomacy, or through sheer military force, although the first would work out better for the Empire, the latter would provide his men with much needed combat experience. The fleet formed up near the edge of the Corulag sector, somewhat near the Corellian Sector, then, with an order from the Commander, the fleet jumped into hyperspace, bound for the planet Gorulag.

The Imperial fleet emerged in the space surronding the world of Gorulag, a gas giant with a notable amount of tibanna gas in it's atmopshere. The Imperial warships formed up into an attack wedge, and fighters were deployed to deal with any threats that may show themselves. As the warships moved torwards Gorulag, a message was picked up by their communications gear. The message read, as follows:

"Imperial warships, this is Minister Jobruk Hans of the Gorulag Mining Station and City Hansville. May I ask your intentions?" quiered the Minister.

A man, wearing the olive grey uniform of an Imperial commander, and wearing the rank of Commander, which was very common in the New Order, strode over to the communications station in which the message had come from. The person wearing the uniform, however, was anything but normal. By all appearences, he appeared to be anything but human, but human he was indeed. His face, his whole body, was a matter of fact, was scarred. The man had become this way when the TIE Defender he was in was hit by enemy fire. Since then he had recovered, and steadily risen in rank until he had achieved Commander. However, the Empire Proper saw fit that he was unworthy of command, due to his scarring, and so he had sat at a desk for a long period of time. Until he had been transferred to the Mid-Rim Proctectorate, under the advisment of Vice Admiral Kraken, who needed good Commanders, no matter what their race, sex, or other disqualifications for advancement were. So long as the Commanders were human. Commander Theseuis smiled as he thought of this second chance, many of whom he knew would never get such a chance. And so here he was, in command of a brand new Belarus class Medium Cruiser, and the adding of this world to the Empire would be his first assignment, a test to see whether or not he was fit for command. A simple assignment, but not one without it's own challenges.

"Prime Minister Hans, this is Commander Theseuis of the Imperial warship Styx. If you surrender now, I will not destroy your city, and your planet." said the Commander.

Let's see just how far this Prime Minister will bend, thought Commander Theseuis with an evil smile...........

The Belarus class Medium Cruiser soared into a high orbit above the swirly cloud world called Gorulag. The gas giant was the normal size of it's kind, but produced more than the normal traces of Tibanna Gas commonly found in other gas giants throughout the galaxy. As a matter of fact, there was enough here to begin mining, in large amounts, even though the Imperials had more than enough tibanna gas already from stores mined from Talorran, and Bespin before those planets had met their unfortunate ends at the hands of the brutal stormtroopers of the Outer Rim Soveriengty. Now the Empire, along with the rest of the galaxy, needed a new source of tibanna gas, to equip it's vessels, and weapons of war with, and the Empire, quick on the uptake, and seeking to gain a quick monopoly, had dispatched a small fleet to negotiate with the world to join the Empire, so the Empire could quickly build up a mining operation, and gain a hefty profit from the buisness, as well as imposing strict tariffs on those who would supply the Empire's enemies with the gas, and provide the enemies of the Empire with a tempting target to attack, which really didn't bother Vice Admiral Kraken, since the more ships and materiel his enemies tied up, the better it was for him and his offensive operations.

For now, the small Imperial force cruised above the world, ready to go to action at any moment, but knowing that they would not, for the promoted officer would be risking too much if the ship was to open fire, and possibly, most likely, as a matter of fact, ignite the atmosphere of the world, and make it another dead ball, like Bespin, and Talorran have become.

Then, after recieving a message from the Prime Minister of the ruling mining city on Gorulag, the Imperial flagship opened it's cavernous bay doors, and out flew several shuttles, conveying the diplomats, ambassadors, Command staff, and their honor guard, conveying them to the city where they would, it hoped, successfully convince the Prime Minister, and his staff, along with the citizens of Gorulag that they would better off seeking rule under the Empire, rather then go at it alone, or with another one of the various factions spread throughout the galaxy............

The swift Imperial shuttles descended into the atmosphere of Gorulag, their white shapes looking like stars descending from the sky, espically since it was nightime in this part of Gorulag, the sun just now disappearing over the horizon. The shuttles descended into blackness, being their only guiding in the atmopshere was the beacon that was registered to be the city of Hansville.

Then, a bright light suddenly pierced the blackness, and the crews of the Imperials shuttles were amazed at what they saw, for right before them, no less than five kilometers away, floated the larger than previously thought city of Hansville, almost as big as cloud city. The city had to have at least ten thousand citizens as a population. The Imperial crews were amazed that Gorulag was popular enough to have attracted such a large city of miners, and profiters. Then the shuttles were directed to a large landing platform, where a squadron of TIE Series Starfighters now rested. It seemed the city wasn't as vulnerable as previously thought, either. There were scattered turbolaser emplacements, and octuple missile launchers. There were at least forty emplacements for these such weapons scattered along the metropolis area of the city, with more probaly below. Readings were taken of the city, scanning for lifeforms. It was then discovered that the actual population of the city was somewhere around thirty five thousand individuals, damn near the standard complement and crew of an Imperial class Star Destroyer.

The shuttles set down on the landing platform, and the stormtroopers filed out of the shuttles landing bays, and onto the landing platform. A delegation of politicians waited to meet them, escort, as the Imperials noted with some suprise, stormtroopers of their own. The reason became apparent as a figure was noticed among the politicians. Former Imperial Warlord Foga Brill was seen among them, having served under Imperial Admiral Daala for some time in the Deep Core regions before becoming a traitor, and leading his fleet against other Imperial warlords after Admiral Daala's departure. The man had lost several warships, most notably one strike cruiser, and an escort frigate in battle against the Vagabond, after which Foga Brill had fled with his fleet. Now, with him showing up here, the Imperials wondered whether or not the rest of his fleet was here with him.

Soon time would tell, as the diplomats, Imperial and Gorulagian, moved to begin the negotiations........

"This is Prime Minister Hans," said the figure wearing long red robes with black stripes that stood up at the end of the table, "and let me welcome you to the fine mining city of Hansville, the biggest, most lucrative mining station in the galaxy, now."

"Greetings, Prime Minister, I am Captian Picard of the New Order. I'd like to introduce to you my staff. On my left is Major Himron, of the Imperial Army, Flight Leader Dornear of the Imperial Starfighter Command, and on my right is Agent Liasion, of the Imperial Intelligence Service. I myself represent the Imperial Navy." said Captian Picard.

"Nice to meet you captian, and all of you, as well." said Prime Minister Hans.

"We will each give a report on how we will occupy Gorulag, our long term deployment, and other things concerning our permanent stay at Gorulag." said the Capitan.

"I will go first. First off, the Medium Cruiser in orbit pales in comparison to the firepower that the Mid-Rim Protectorate can bring to bear against enemies that dare to attack and invade Gorulag. Currently a number of ships are under construction, but right now our fleet numbers some twenty five large captial warships, and some two hundred starfighters. That might not sound like a lot, but considering that we only currently have two planets to defend, it could be a lot indeed. The overall ruler of the Mid-Rim Protectorate, Vice Admiral Kraken, is a very bright military commander with an illustrious career. He helped the Imperial military overthrow the Mon Calamari homeworld, and defeat formidable defenses there, as well as assisting in the destruction of several Outer-Rim Sovereingty Battleships." said Captian Picard.

"Second off, we would install a number of defenses on the world. Not now, but over time, we would build orbital Golan Platforms capable of sustaining a severe beating, and giving back large amounts of punishment. And we would also deploy minefields to help protect the planet, and finally, we would eventually install a Planetery Shield Generator, and a Planetery Ion cannon network." said Captian Picard.

"and that concludes the briefing by the Navy. Next up will be Major Himron, and his report of army deployments." said the captian as he took a seat.

"Greetings, Prime Minister, and officials of Gorulag. The late tragedies at Bespin and Talorran were caused by Outer-Rim Sovereingty troops infiltrating and sabotaging the station's repulsors. What I intend to do is install a series of blastdoors, and security auto-cannons that would incinerate anyone forcing open such a door without the proper access code, and voiceprint system. There will also be holocamms monitoring the hallways, just in case these systems don't do their jobs. The Imperialy Army will deploy 4 All Terrain Personal Transports to the city, five hundred E-Web Heavy Repeating Blasters, and Two thousand, five hundred stormtroopers of the general infantry brand. That is all." said Major Himron as he took his seat.

Next up was Flight Leader Dornear of the Imperial Starfighter Command. He had seen many battles, and had been injured a few times, as was indicated by a scar on his right cheek, and an eye patch covering his left eye. "Greetings, Prime Minister, and officials of Hansville. First off, let me start by saying, that if I were a rogue pirate, flying the most basic of fighters, a TIE Fighter, I could take out this station in three passes. This station and it's defenses are terrible. You need to upgrade, and badly. While the flak and ack ack batteries were a good idea, as it is very easy to set off voliatle tibanna gas with lasers, with the modern starfighter technology where it is at today, the flak and ack ack wouldn't be able to penetrate the shields of oncoming starfighters. What I suggest, is a mixed battery of Ion cannons, and projectiles, using rail guns. The ion cannons use ionic energy, and does not contain the heat, or the constumbaility that laser cannons do to set off tibanna gas. What it does, is it penetrates the shields of an oncoming starfighter, and disables it's circuits. Not only does the station need this, but also a good star destroyer grade shield generator and projector certainly wouldn't hurt either. Finally, I hope to construct hangars for the future deployment of a battle wing of thirty six Starfury Assault Starfighters. These fighters are small, but have good weaponry, and are very fast and manueverable. In addition, any captial ships stationed in orbit would carry these fighters and one other brand known as TIE Defenders as well. And that wraps up my report." said Flight Leader Dornear.

"If that is all, then let me state, that I accept your terms, and turn over control of Hansville to the Empire." said the Prime Minister as the Imperial officials, and Gorulagian officials broke out cheering, and exchaned hugs, and handshakes.

The Imperial fleet sat in a lazy orbit above the skies of Gorulag. It had been a couple of weeks since a treaty was negotiated for the planet to join the Empire, and already things were looking up for the planet, and for the citizens, and officials of Hansville. Right now the station buzzed with utility droids, and mantinence models, welding on steel plates to protect previously vulnerable systems, installing blast doors, and gouging out sections of walls to make way for the autocannons to be installed in them. Freighters lifted off, and landed at regular intervals. This provided a rich opportunity for the mechants living in the city, as they sold many antiques, and trinkets to the average and interested Imperial engineer, and freighter crewmen. The three Casinoes on Hansville were also making very good money as groups of Imperials gathered off duty to pit their sabaac, and pizaak card playing skills against those of the city's rich, and famous. And finally, those that ran food stands, and lodging shelters fared the best of all, although being forced to lower their rates for the Imperial officers who had meager pay, still made a tidy profit from having all their rooms filled up completley with Imperial officials and construction workers.

Meanwhile, out across the vast sea of clouds, and valuable pockets of Tibanna Gas, Imperial shuttles, and engineeers in hover craft were hard at work building and installing platforms to harvest and store the tibanna gas that was soon to be manufacturered here. Three platforms had already been constructed, and installed, with the final works being put on them, while a fourth platform was nearing completion in installation. In the meantime, at three older and smaller installations, workers and droids were hard at work bringing into the stations pockets of tibanna gas, feeding them into tubes from which the Gas was refined, and processed, then compressed into tubes, from which the tubes were empited into large storage containers. Every once in a while, a Modular Conveyer Transport came along and collected the tubes, to transport them to Hansville, from which they would be loaded onto freighters, and shipped out. And the small prison on Hansville was filled with four more criminals after it was discovered that they were running a sham corporation buying the tibanna gas for purposes of running laser cutting construction vehicles that mined asteriods. It turned out that they were actually smuggling it into the arms of the Outer-Rim Soveriengty. After being brought up on charges of treason, it was decided to sentence them to life in prison, instead of merely executing them.

Finally, in orbit rested the Imperial fleet that had been assigned the temporary station of defending Gorulag. The flagship of the fleet was the Victory Star Destroyer Mark I Python II, and other ships in the fleet consisted of the Strike class Cruiser Nymph, the Belarus Medium Cruiser Styx, and Strike group Alpha, which is a force of Five Corellian Gunships, named Alpha Red, Alpha Blue, Alpha Black, Alpha Green, and Alpha White, respectivley. And there were also three squadrons of TIE Defenders assigned a temporary station, two on the Victory Star Destroyer, and one on the city, until the newer models had finished construction. These ships were under the respective command of Commodore Huey, a known Imperial official who had been involved in Vice Admiral Kraken's arms deals with Farfalen, and also had daringly risked his ships in order to rescue the leader of Farfalen, Governer Kyric Zen, from the clutches of the Outer-Rim Soveriengty after his flagship had been blown out from under him. The Imperial fleet would leave after staying several days, relieved by another set of forces. Ships were constantley transferred from one planet to another, to ensure that their crews never grew restless, and that they were in top fighting trim constantley, in case a threat ever manifested it's self.

Rumor had it that Vice Admiral Kraken would soon be journeying to Gorulag in his brand new flagship in order to conduct an inspection tour, and perhaps take a little vacation while he was at it.........

The Imperial warship Glorious reverted from hyperspace, and headed towards the planet, the massive bulk of the Allegiance class Star Destroyer dwarfing the smaller Imperial warships already in orbit around the planet of Gorulag. The Imperial ship began to spit shuttles, dropping ten shuttles, and twenty Imperial TIE Defenders from it's cavernous hangar bays. In the lead shuttle was the man himself, Vice Admiral Kraken, leader of the Mid-Rim Protectorate. He was looking forward to a good, long vacation after his many duties, and services performed in the name of the Empire. First had come the conquest of the planets of Selonia, and Drall. Thanks in part to assitance by the Baron Telan Desaria, this had been accomplished, and the two planets had been added to the Empire. Then had come the point where he was given command of a powerful fleet of battleships, and tasked to help relieve forces laying siege to Mon Calamari. The forces had come under attack from the allies of the Galatic Coalition, the Outer-Rim Sovereignty, a rogue Imperial faction, using a combination of New Republic, and Imperial designed warships, and technology. Admiral Kraken had played a decisive role in the battle, assisting in the destruction of an Imperial Star Destroyer, and several smaller warships, along with rescuing some damaged Imperial warships, and eliminating thousands of Defender type Ion cannon mines that would have proved troublesome for the Anthos ships, and Imperial ships when they proceeded to capture the planet. Then, after the Mon Calamari battle was over, or rather, after his role had been played in the battle, Admiral Kraken had left, and prepared for a grand venture of his own into the ranks of the Imperial elite. He decided to form a New Protectorate, called the Mid-Rim Protectorate. And the capital planet of his new protectorate would be Vladet. The world had been held by a brutal Imperial style warlord, and his fleet, consisting of a old Strike class Cruiser converted to carry TIE Fighters, called the Havoc, and numerous patrol craft, including IPV systems patrol craft, and DX-9 Stormtrooper transports. The Admiral, however, attacked in greater force, and soundly defeated the Warlord's navy. Soon afterwards, he landed Mountian Terrain Armoured Transports with Special Navy Troopers to scale the mountian or volcano surronding grand isle, and conquered the Warlord's base, executing him a short time later. And thus, with Vladet conquered, the Mid-Rim Protectorate was born.

The next phase of his operation was aggressivley reaching outwards, and seizing the planet of Rachuk, which hosted a large stormtrooper training facility. While negotians were ongoing for the surrender of the planet, cowardly Imperials ambushed the comittie, and killed most of the diplomats, along with some two hundred honor guard stormtroopers. The Vice Admiral barely escaped with his life. In revenge, and retaliation, the Imperial warships in orbit mercissley bombarded the capital city of Rach, reducing it to rubble in a matter of minutes. However, in the earlier fighting, the civilians had evacuated the city, meaning that most, if not all the casualties suffered were military ones. Soon after Imperial troops once again landed, and by force siezed the planet, and the Imperial corps of engineers rebuilt Rach city in record time, as well as ecpanding the Stormtrooper base to include wards for civilian instructors to tutor citizens in self defense methods, and start a junior stormtrooper training program. But peace did not last long, as once again the great beast, the Outer-Rim Sovereignty, sought to sink it's talons into the neck of the Empire, and it's civilian population. A vast fleet of Outer-Rim Warships appeared out of nowhere, and rapidly obliterated the brave Imperial frigates watching over the world. The enemy forces had just now began the process of landing troops, when relieving forces arrived. Even now the relief forces would be teaching the ORS a thing or two about attacking Imperial worlds.

Then there was the brilliant plan to end the long feud between the races of the Ishori, and Diamalans, while at the same time gaining revenge for a debt both nations owed to the Empire, and gaining some valuable master shipbuilders, and technology. In exchange for giving better than normal treatement than what is usually given to alien speices, the Diamalans, and Ishori promised to hand over designs for their most advanced warships, and do their best to serve the Empire on them. There was one problem. The Diversity Alliance showed a keen interest in the planets, and chose to interfere in the Imperial attack on Diamal. But after a resolute naval engagement, the Imperial warships under Kraken's command trounced the Diversity Alliance warships, and captured Diamal. But, there was one scar on Admiral Kraken's brilliant career. And that scar was the operaitons against the Coalition held world of Ando. The first Imperial incursion ended in failure when an Imperial Constrainer class Interdiction Picket was captured by the Empire. The second incursion resulted in a massive naval engagement which ended in a draw, the Empire losing many fighter pilots, and a Victory Star Destroyer, and two Constrainer Pickets, and the Galatic Coalition lost Five Defender Gunships, and numerous fighters of their own as well.

Landing on the surface, the Imperial shuttle containing Admiral Kraken began to lower it's ramp......

"Server droid, bring another one all around." yelled Park Kraken as he scooped up the dice from the holotable. Him, some of his crewmen, and some of the local women were seated around the table, having taken in a few drinks, and gambling away their recent paychecks. Right now Kraken was the lucky one, but he didn't want it to stay that way. He came here to give his crew members a good time, not steal all their earnings. Besides, he had a suspicion that they were letting him win because he was the admiral. Well, no more. With a flick of the wrist, he sent the dice clattering down the table. Then, when the announcer said that he had lost, and quickly ducked under the table, Kraken just smiled, and stood up. He walked over to the bar, and unlike the men leaning against the nearby wall with their drinks, he merely plopped down on a barstool. The waiter brought him his third lomin-ale of the night, and he began to drink it in a slow, relishing manner. However, this would be his last drink of the night, as he couldn't afford to become too drunk in case a sudden emergency appeared. With the last sip of his drink, he sauntered out into the night in order to get a fresh breath of air. He walked towards a balcony overlooking the depths of the serenly glowing gas giant below. Two of his earlier female companions walked up behind him. One was one of those rare, beatiful blue skinned Twi'leks, with the other being a just as beautiful human woman.

As they approached, they were intercepted by a group of about twenty men. All drunk, all not his crewers, but workers from the various other gas mining stations from around here. They intercepted the human female first, one of them being so straightforward as to put his hand on her rump. His reply from her came a second later, her vicious slap knocking out one of her teeth. Then the mob attacked, tearing the clothes off the women and pinning them to the ground in a way that left no doubt in Kraken's mind what they had in store for those innocent citizens. Well, maybe not so innocent, but still a crime being comitted on his city. He pulled out his comlink and clicked twice, a signal for his personal bodyguard that he was in trouble. Then, he pulled out his personal service pistol, a DL-11 model. He switched the setting to kill. The noise drew the attention of one of thugs, and he looked up, just in time for Park Kraken's scarlet ruby bolt to pierce his heart, melting it and dropping him backwards, dead by the time he hit the ground. The other thugs looked up in suprise, and stood up, the Twi'lek sobbing, and the human female not responding, probaly knocked out by one of the thugs, probaly the one she slapped. The men brought out weapons, and vibroswords, and advanced on him. Kraken stood his ground, and began to speak in a loud, condenming voice:

"For acts of crimes comitted against these two women, stemming from assault and battery to rape, and for crimes of pulling out weapons, and advancing on the Imperial leader, I hereby sentence you to death." uttered Kraken, who then brought his blaster back up, and erased the life of another thug. Then the mob rushed him. Suddenly, from above, four shapes appeared in front of him, blocking him off from the rest of the mob. These would be his bodyguards. Three thugs gasped in pain suddenly, and collapsed. Realising the danger they were in, the remaning fifteen thugs retreated. None made it more than three meters before they were brought down with a combination of knives, silenced pistols, and hand to hand combat. Five seconds after his bodyguards had appeared, Kraken stepped over the bodies of the thugs, and came to the two women. He signaled to his SpecNav commandoes, and with them hoisting the women up, and covering them with their own combat jackets, they set off for the local hospital. Indeed, no where in the galaxy was a insured haven....

After the woman had been seen to the hospital, Vice Admiral Kraken took off to a tavern in order to find something delicious to eat. It had been a while since he had fine, homemade, food. The bar and restaruant were owned and run by one of former Prime Minister Han's sons. He was a good man, and served some delicious meals, along with some good wines, and mixed drinks. Truly this was bound to be a destined spot for many Imperials coming off duty, espically after the expansion was done that would add a band, and a stage for women to dance as entertainment. But for now the place was just a nice, small resturaunt. The Imperial troops had already visited the establishment, and the manager of the place had spoken very well of their kindness, and the troops had reported to Kraken about the niceness of the folks there, as well of their great food, and drinks. Kraken settled down at a table with one of his fellow Commodores, and a General, by the name of Judd. The Commodore, Heuy, began a conversation with Admiral Kraken as Kraken ordered a Corellian Rootbeer, and the nerf beef special with golden potatoes, and Freedom Fries. The Commodore was talking about how being at the rank of Vice Admiral really didn't fit with the Admiral commanding such a large fleet, and running a protectorate. Kraken agreed with the Commodore, and decided to promote himself to the lauded rank of Admiral of the Fleet, following approval from Simon Kaine, the closest thing to an Emporer in this Empire. After all, he had subjugated five planets, and built a fleet worthy of the old days. He didn't see why he couldn't have such a large fleet after all. It would be something that he would have to apply some thought to, but only after he finished lunch, as his food was just arriving......

Finally, the day came when he was to announce that break time was over, vacation time, or whatever he wanted to call it, and it was time for the Imperial troops to get back to fighting a war against the Outer-Rim Sovereignty. The Imperial troops assembled in full dress armour, whether they be stormtroopers, or SpecNav Commandoes, or Imperial officers, and crewers, engineers, sailors, the point was that it was time to go. Admiral Kraken walked up to the podium, and began to speak.....

"I am proud to announce that for the first time in Imperial history, a planet was added to the Mid-Rim Protectorate without the needless spilling of blood or guts from either side. For this I thank our diplomats, and the diplomats of Hansville, as well as Prime Minister Hans himself for realizing that joining the Empire throught agreement rather than subjugation would be the best choice for the city, and it's citizens. For three days after the city joined the Empire, along with the rest of the planet, Imperial troops and officers alike celebrated this victory won with words instead of blaster rifles. Now, it is time to go back to work. I know many of you are disappointed that we didn't get to hang out longer, and that many of your friends didn't survive in order to see this day, the first vacation on a large scale, but it is our duty to move on. Go back to work refreshed, and knowing that the Empire is supreme. For now once again the Empire has a steady source of Tibanna Gas, and once again, a planet has joined the Empire, expanding it's borders, and increasing it's Empire. Gloria Imperium!" yelled Admiral Kraken as he pumped his fist into the air.

"Gloria Imperium!" roared the troops in response as they likewise pumped their fists into the air.

It was good to serve in the Empire indeed.