"Only the dead have seen the end of war." - Plato

Kashyyyk

Two weeks prior to the Roche Encounter with Imperial Forces...

Julius Octavian carefully smoothed the last few wrinkles out of his freshly pressed uniform and fingered the cufflinks of his sleeves neatly together. His quarters were less than tolerable for a newly promoted Captain. Dirty brown rags hung over roughly carved windows in the tree-house that overlooked the cool crisp waters of the Leefari Sea on the far side of the planet. The seafront had become a hive of activity over the last two weeks following a series of events that threatened to make the world a prime target for border conflict between the Empire and the Coalition. Rumors of a standoff in the Roche Asteroid Belt had been escalated by the arrival of a new Coalition warfleet commanded by an unknown officer of recent appointment.

Julius pondered for a moment as he adjusted the new Coalition branded insignia on his chest and looked out the ruggid and glassless window. The primitive Wookies were advanced technicians, but seemed to lack the interest to weatherize their tree-house homes. As he observed the metallic grey-blue crates being carefully stocked near two landing shuttles a slight twinge of excitement rooted itself in the pit of his stomach.

Beep Beep Beep....

The sound of his datapad's alert distracted his attention from the activity outside. Carefully, he picked it up off of the small wooden bedside table and delicately fingered the command keys.

"Octavian, Julius. Captain."

Voice Recognition Accepted

His eyes squinted in anticipation...

Kashyyyk, Present Day

"Captain on the Bridge!" a young officer announced as Julius briskly strode forward into the compact transport bridge. The Gallofree Medium Transport was hardly a model of Coalition military strength. The almost classic and outdated transport groaned loudly as it's powerful sublight engines prepared for liftoff. Without a word Julius nodded his liftoff order and took his seat. The ship listed slightly to one side, groaned, and eventually lifted off of the moist soil of Kashyyyk. Julius glanced down out of the starships viewing ports, taking what could be his last look at the surface of any planet.

"Our ETA is approximately five minutes Captain," the younger officer yelled to be heard "the fleet dispatched by the Coalition Federal Military Council is just finishing up preparations for a brief jump to the outskirts of the Roche Asteroid Belt. They should be ready for departure once we dock."

Julius nodded his head but kept his distant gaze fixed on Kashyyyk as it's surface grew smaller and smaller with distance.

Roche Asteroid Belt

Revision in three... two... one...

The Claymore-class Battlecruiser slowly reverted to real space on the outskirts of the Roche Astroid Belt followed by a sizeable entourage of Coalition warships. Tiny fragments of rock collided with the ominous warships shields before vaporizing into tiny particles of space dust as the fleet inched closer to the asteroid belt. In the distance, the hollow metallic shell of what would become one of the greatest projects in the eastern provinces; Aphelion; the space station that would secure the standoff in the Roche Asteroid Belt.

"Get me all of the information you can on this so-called Verpine (the distaste for the word evident in his words) species that resides here. Upload it to my databank and inform me when we have successfully cleared the construction zone of rogue asteroids. Revert all non-essential power to the shields and weapons systems."

Following his orders, Julius turned on his heel and briskly strode off of the bridge.

Continued from Securing the Crossroads...

Roche Asteroid Field

They called it Battlestar Perlemian, and it was the largest space station built by the Empire since the second Death Star. Stretching kilometres around, the massive construct dominated the edge of the Roche Asteroid field, a target even the most hardened of enemy commanders would think twice about engaging.

Or they would have, were the massive station not still shrouded in the cloak that had hidden her construction for the last months.

Now, though, the station was complete. Yuri Katarn's visit had seen the final implementation and testing of the Battlestar's Advanced Automation Project - the linked human brains that would control her primary firing mechanisms, and transports had recently arrived carrying thousands of starfighters to fill the station's racks.

Indeed, many would say that with the completion of the Perlemian, the Roche Asteroid Field was impregnable. As, indeed, it needed to be, to guard against the threat of the Black Dragon Empire - Roche was a crossroads, a spot where any approaching fleet would be forced to revert to realspace in order to determine a route or around through the field.

As one particular Coalition fleet did, arriving opposite the shrouded Battlestar as her final tests came back positive. The fleet that stood guard around her was instantly alert, for the tentative agreement between the Coalition and the Empire made no provision for the arrival of another enemy force with such numbers, and certainly not in the Empire's 'corner' of the asteroid field, as it were.

As it happened, it was Rear Admiral Midias Raine, the twice-hero of Abregado-Rae, commanding the RCD Pisces, the ship that had driven the Coalition from that world after Ralen M'vere's brutal slaughter of its people.

Roche was, then, in good hands.

The report was carried to Raine through the ship's Commanding Officer, a veteran of the Sovereignty war named Jobs. Some knew him as a bitter old man who had resigned himself to Captaining a starship for the rest of his life - his hopes of an Admiralty position dashed by an unfortunate incident with a young boy. But his control of the Pisces was complete, and his brutal efficiency and need for perfection made that ship one of the most formidable in the Fleet.

Rear Admiral Midias Raine was proud to have him as his CO. In his words, a more capable man could not be found outside the Imperial Guard to command a Star Destroyer.

And so this is the position the Coalition's fleet found itself in as it approached the asteroid field: a sizable force of Imperial Star Destroyers, among their numbers several of the Reign class, but also a modest number of the larger Astrus type, and perhaps three times their number of the swift and decidedly lethal Eternal class. These ships of the line were escorted by a mixed force of Thorne Dreadnaughts and a variety of cruisers and frigates, randing in size from the small Fire class to the much more potent Aegis II type.

And, of course, there was the invisible Battlestar - the bane of any attacking fleet.

From the bridge of the Pisces, Midias Raine watched the Coalition fleet arrive, the forces of the Galactic Empire formed against them.

And, not for the first time, he wondered if the Coalition knew what it was getting into.

Silence...

It seemed to be impossible to find in space. Even the soft hum of the Battlecruisers immense sublight engines seemed to grow louder and louder as he tried to consentrate on the information displayed before him. Julius had forgotten the irritation of space travel but knew that eventually he would get used to it. Space was infinate. An insterstellar symphony of stars and brilliance unparalleled in beauty by any world he had ever set foot on. He glanced up as the ship listed gracefully to the left allowing his transparisteel viewing ports to behold the immense shell of what would be Aphelion.

"Pardon me sir, can I get you anything?" the silver-plated protocal droid AV-14 interrupted as she waddled toward the metallic desk. The soft hum of her femenin voice soothed and relaxed him as the space station once again fell out of view.

"No, thank you AeeVee." Julius waved a dismissive hand and went back to work.

War Room, Claymore-class Battlecruiser Circadian

"You're telling me this is all we have?!"

"We cannot hold the Roche Asteroid Belt! I recommend a withdrawl."

"Withdrawl? Sometimes I think you have the mind of a Nerf herder."

The three bickering officers paused and looked at Julius awaiting his input. He sat in silence, his olive tan skin and jet black hair gistening against the artificial light of the war room. In the middle of the circular table a small holographic map displayed the region of the Roche Asteroid Belt where the two space stations were being constructed. Displayed was the immense collection of Imperial warships and a large red circle where they assumed the construction point of the Imperial Space Station was taking place.

"The Empire," Julius started as he sat up "is not looking for a war. The war against the Black Dragon Empire is at a crucial turning point. The Coalition, nor the Empire can afford to expend the troops and ships necessary to start a full scale war on two fronts. I do not think that the Empire is looking to launch an attack against the Coalition. I think they are trying to intimidate us into pulling out of one of the most crucial vantage points they have overlooked. The Roche Asteroid Belt," Julius pointed with his stern finger as the map transposed into a larger view of the Galaxy "would provide a direct invasion route for the Coalition to attack the core. This fact may have been overlooked by the Federal Command, or it may be the sole reason that we are here. I don't know. But I do know that we are Coalition officers. We were sent here to perform a job and no matter how impossible it might be, I'll be damned if I am going to sit here on my ass and be defeated by the Empire on my first mission as Commanding Officer."

"How does the Coalition expect us to construct a functioning defense station when they cant even send us a functioning fleet? Besides the Circadian, every ship here is older than the Coalition itself! To construct a space station, we need resources. We need weapons. We need manpower."

Julius nodded his head. It was true that the Coalition seemed to put little thought or care into what was happening in the Roche Astroid Belt. The war against the Black Dragon Empire required the full attention of the Coalition, as well as all possible resources, manpower and equipment.

"We will utilize what we have to make up for lost time." Julius folded his hands in thought for a moment.

"Lieutenant, how many of the ships in our task force are understaffed?"

"Every ship, with the exception of your flagship Captain."

Julius nodded and paused for another moment. "And how many of them are below Coalition standards of functionality?"

"At least half. A few of the frigates have only a third of the turbolaser power that they could have. They were stripped of several batteries before they were recommissioned."

"Evacuate the ships that do not have basic functionality. Any ship that you inspect that is not up to code, I want evacuated. Reassign all personnel to the undermanned warships and order a team of engineers to strip the ships of all weapons systems. We will store them where we can until we've established a basic base of operations." The lieutenant nodded as Julius continued "Ensign, once the ships have been stripped of everything we can use to bring our fleet up to code, I want you to oversee the official decommissioning and deconstruction of each ship. We will use what scrap metal we can get to finish as much of the station as we can. That will be all gentlemen."

With a dismissive nod, Julius turned off the holographic map. As the officers stood and exited the room, Julius turned his chair to the viewing port overlooking the asteroid belt and the Imperial Warships holding there defensive line.

"God help us..."

Silence...

In space, it was infinite. On the bridge of the Star Destroyer, even the buzz of the Pisces' massive sublight drives was reduced to a muted hum. Outside the hull of the great ship, where space was broken only by the occasional star, planet, or starcraft, silence was all there was.

Silence, and cold.

For those that served aboard a ship of the Fleet, the greatest fear was to be set lose, alone, in that great expanse. Outside their ships - their containers, as it were - there was nothing. Space was like water - flowing how it would, of its own accord, with little heed for the will of others. Spacemen loved, feared, and respected space, like the mariners of ancient times had loved, feared, and respected the sea.

The Empire, then, was as a glass is to water - restraining it, holding it back.

It was once said on one world, lost to memory, that he who controls the seas controls the world. Well, he who controls space certainly controls of the galaxy.

And the Empire, with its thousands of starships and millions of soldiers, controlled space.

And, by extension...

Rear Admiral Midias Raine stood at the bridge of the Pisces in what a soldier would call Parade Rest, legs shoulder-width apart, hands clasped behind his back, staring out at the storm that was the Roche Asteroid Field.

The Verpine, the asteroid field's cockroach-like native inhabitants, would tell you that they did not know where their homeworld had been located. But historians would tell you that the asteroids were all that was left of a beautiful planet, destroyed by Civic War. Now all that was left was a swarm of asteroids, dancing an intricate course that made travel through the field a dangerous prospect for even the most hardened of pilots.

Raine recalled the story of Han Solo and the Millenium Falcon blasting away from the Rebel's base on Hoth, pursued into the asteroid field there by Darth Vader and the Executor.

Such a feat was the stuff of holovids, Raine thought with a thin smile.

But now Darth Vader was dead, and Han Solo had not been seen or heard from in a decade or more. The Empire had fallen and risen anew: it was a new age.

An Imperial age.

This time, Raine doubted very much the Rebels would be foolish enough to dive into the asteroid field. But if they were, he was ready for them.

"Captain," Raine said, sensing the cautious approach of Jobs, "deploy our scouts, and find out what the Rebels are up to."

Captain Jobs, sensing his CO's mood, did not speak. He saluted, and turned in a brisk military spin, to carry out the man's orders.

Far away, a large asteroid was making its away across the sun's path, eclipsing its rays. A shadow fell across the angular prow of the Pisces, slowly enveloping it. As the shadow reached the great Imperial crest adorning her superstructure, Raine smiled thinly.

"A shadow of the Empire?" He mused philosophically. "But it is in shadow that the Rebels have most to fear."

"Do you think he's crazy?"

The younger of the two officers gave his wrench a few more cranks before the control panel fell loose. It had only been a few hours since the ships had started to dismantel, but with the help of several Verpine engineers the progress made was significant. Already the frigates had been stripped of all internal weapons systems, and several smaller shuttle teams were joining the verpine in removing the external turbolaser emplacements.

"He's either crazy," the more seasoned officer commented as he stroked his salt-and-pepper grey beard "or he's a brilliant man. It's not every day a C.O. orders the decomissioning of half of his fleet. Especially in the Shadow of the Empire." The younger officer nodded and readjusted his wrench as he continued to dismantel the computer systems.

Command Bridge - Claymore-class Battlecruiser Circadian

Captain Julius Octavian sat in silence as he observed the deconstruction of the Lazra, a relic of what was once the main opposition force against the tyrannical Empire. For a brief moment, he wondered if he had made the right decision. He wondered if the Empire would see this move as a sign of weakness, or a sign of strength and eternal resolve. Thoughts invaded his mind; thoughts of devistation and of triumph; Thoughts of peace and thoughts of war.

Only the dead have seen the end of war... he reminded himself.

"Captain?"

Julius continued to stare out of the transparisteel viewing ports as one of the laser batteries fell loose from the shell of the Lazra.

"Captain!"

"What is it Ensign?"

"Sensors indicate that a small group of Imperial scouts are making a dangerously close pass at the fleet. Initial scans indicate that they may have detected the teams deconstructing our ships."

Julius pondered this for a moment and nodded his head.

"Shall we engage?"

Moments passed, but Julius didn't answer.

"Captain Octavian?" a more senior officer growled with a stern voice. "There is an Imperial patrol within firing range. What are your orders?"

"Stand down, of course. The Empire wants us to make the first move. They want us to betray the delicate peace that the Verpine have entrusted in both of us. They want us to loose the respect and trust of the dignified Verpine people to that they will have the upper hand. Stand down all forces. It's business as usual, Captain Naeda."

The Captain growled under his breath with a red face, and nodded his confirmation of the order. For a moment, he wondered if Life Day would turn out to be Death Day in Roche...