[font=Book Antiqua]A Tale of Capricia...[/font]
Once complete, the follow systems will be owned by the Commonweath: Halbara, Dega and Osirrag


















Capricia - World Council


"The 1st Providence has reported the arrival of the Elrood Air Corps." came a voice in the virtual room.

"When?"

"Yesterday."

"All told, how much of a military presence do we have in the Elrood Sector?"

"3rd Minos, a Corps from Capricia," the voice trailed as the man looked over his notes,"Natabb 2nd Corps. Air Corps contains umm... Forty Eight effectives, a mix of A-wing and X-wings, several refueling barges, nearly a full Engineering Corps attached to the Providence."

"Three Corps and 4 Squads of air support. Any Fleet presence?" another voice calculated and asked.

"The Stellar Explorer has ventured to Kidron supporting our military presence. Three more exploratory craft are scheduled to arrive in the Sector in four days."

"That's five of the new Explorer Class of ships...The military/exploratory hybrids in operation." another voice stated counting the Radiant on a mission near the Corporate Sector.

"So far it's been enough."

A confused voice enters, "Enough for what?"

"To secure Commonwealth interests. To support the unification of the Sector under the Elrood Free Trade Agreement. The Stellar Explorer report opened our eyes to the local disturbances this shadowy fringe group seems to be spreading throughout the region."

"Rule by fear. We've seen it before." a knowing voice entered.

"The question is, is this really a fringe group or is this something more organized?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you look at things as a whole, our presence is really quite weak. Our forces are scattered and are at the very edge of our support hyperlanes. One good push will sever that line and leave our forces in the pocket. And to have Three Corps spread over two systems, it is a very precarious position to be sure."

"So what's the move?"

"We need to move our heavy batteries and reinforce Elrood. Build it up as a base of operations. I believe more systems in the region may rally to the power base if they felt their bid for freedom would be supported."

"You are still talking about leaving that heavy battery, that base, out on a limb."

"If we build up the region, it won't matter."

The voice added as an afterthought, "The Intersystem Congress hates to discuss the Elrood Question. Most think it a wasted concern but I tell you, there is a reason why there were Caprician ruins there! We are close."

"So we take the question out of Congress' hands by funding the Academian presence out of our education fund? I was wondering why we had allocated such a large budget."

There was laughter at the remark.

"Elrood needs to be upgraded anyway. Hardlight, new communications packages, defensive screens and hangers to support the growing civilian presence. Let's just move a Reconstruction Corps complete with heavy battery to the damn place and be done!"

"We do not need Congressional approval for that anyway. Just Support our own and let the exploratory fleet find what they find?"

"Our efforts in the Wyl Sector must not be affected." came a warning.

"It will take an act of God to sort out that mess, let alone Congress." and a few chuckling went on.

"If there are no more comments, a concensus will be gathered and we move along to the next topic of discussion:

The Coalition."

There were groans and a few independent conversations began to spring up as the virtual board shifted gears and people entered their position for the previous topic.

"We continue where we left off from yesterday." came the dispassionate voice of the Link.

"The Azguardians give every indication, perhaps moreso that we originally thought, of being a religious fanatical lot! To seize and inspect their merchant fleet is the least we should be doing by way of a prudent response... as a proactive measure to protect Commonwealth interests!" One representative shouted in the virtual halls of the hardlight construct as the various districts voiced their murmures of agreement or disagreement.

"The Prime Minister of the Coalition's FIRST priority should be with his own people!" came another voice that filled the vacuum left by the first speaker. "Their own security and prosperity! He gives more concern over the citizens of another faction than those that elected him!"

"His words were diliberately spoken to incite war!"

"Already there are reports from watchstations regarding the Dragon armies crossing the Borderlands."

"Is the Coalition foolish enough too.."

"Ever since the announcement from the Empire regarding these so-called Jedi Corps, the Coalition has been on edge. Our ambassador's have noted it! Our commerce agents have noticed it!"

"If the Coalition wants a galactic war should we be considering a premptive strike of our own?"

"WHAT?"

"Well...economic sanctions? Perhaps an embargo?"

"War can be good for business."

"In the business of killing, I agree." came a softer voice of the discussion playing out within the virtual session that stilled other's comments.

"Has anyone considered that the Azguard is correct?" the voice continued.

"The World Council recognizes Leantre Vio." came the announcement.

The aging Caprician smiled into a stunned crowd, some he recognized as old comrades and others he did not know.

"Is Prime Minister Regrad wrong in his assertions regarding the Empire?"

The old man continued, "The Empire IS aggressive. It is expansionists. It is opportunistic and it is brutal." He paused, "Do not dismiss the the truth of a statement just because you do not like the stateman's politics."

A defiant opinion broke out, "Where were the Azguards and their moral outrage when we were being ravaged by the Yuuzhan Vong? Where were their grand speeches about right and wrong then? Or did we just not rate as important enough on the totem pole of galactic governments?
If the Coalition wants to commit political suicide, I say let them! The Empire came to our aid when we needed it!"

Leantre's smile turned into a sarcastic grin, "That is cutting reasoning a bit fine. The Imperial Syndicate, Cyronics Industries came to our aid in the form of Adalric Cronus."

"They are part of the New Orde--"

"Not at the time. And we've not heard high or low of Mr. Cronus which puts suspicion as to whether the Empire has kept him alive or not all this time."

"Adalric was a slippery bastard. He's alive!" came a shout from an old soldier.

Leantre chuckled slightly at the memory of the opportunistic commander and his invaluable Super Star Destroyer Blaze of Glory.

A representative from the Natabb District stepped up requesting the floor and Leantre yielded. "If the Coalition does not change it's politics they are going to go to war and logistically, they stand to lose. The question of a preemptive strike becomes more pertinent because if we do not move, surely the Empire or the Dragons will sweep in and we will have an aggressive government on two flanks instead of one! If the Coalition is giving their empire away, and believe me, it doesn't matter if it is being done by a dictator or by popular vote for dead is still dead, and frankly I am amazed they lived this long after their blundering, don't we owe it to their people to salvage the mistakes of their government?"

"By conquering them?" another asked incredulously.

"Aggressive Annexation."

"Now who's worrying about another's citizens other than their own?" came the retort.

"You heard the speech. The Coalition has a vision to run the galaxy themselves! They think they can do a better job than the Empire but their track record remains unimpressive. Why not give US the galaxy? We are not evil." came a woman's voice.

"Not yet." came a cautious voice. "What if the Coalition should eventually defeat the Empire. How long until they turn on us? How long until some top Azguard get's a vision from one of their God's casting us in a bad light? Do we wait until then to answer?"

"I hate religious fanatics. The Invaders (Yuuzhan Vong) were such fanatics and it led to the bloodletting of Capricia. If this is the foundation that these Azguards base everything on, then we are looking at something far more insidious than the Empire!"

"What is that?"

"What happens when Azguard Missionaries cross our borders?"

A hush fell on the discussion as the implications too uncomfortable to contemplate came to mind.
"So they come." came a defiant voice but other voices rose up to be heard.

"Missionaries are the vanguard to colonization or conquest and it becomes a tool to use our own citizens against us."

"So what do we do? Outlaw religion?"

"Of course not! But dammit, this is dangerous!"

"This line of thinking will only have us frightened of shadows."

"The floor recognizes Representative-Elect Tyscio Korban."

Leantre shifted his position within his connection to better 'see' Tyscio, interested in what the young man's take was on all this. "If the Coalition hides an insidious intent towards us, we will answer it to their dismay. To act on wild assumptions and 'what if's' now is folly." He paused dramatically.

We are the Commonwealth! We've been forged in iron, blood and steel and NOTHING, no insidious intent, no malicious act...NOTHING will cause us to fold. We have been tempered and we have a true sense of purpose. If a religion becomes the veiled glove of a foreign power out to do us harm, our people will see through it!"

"And if the Coalition and Empire go to war? The Coalition has basically stated it's intent over the holonet." came a voice.

"Yes, they have." Tyscio agreed. "But given the state of affairs now, whether the Coalition attacks with 100 ships or 100,000 ships, they will still lose!"

"WHAT?" was the surprised retort though Leantre merely nodded at the statement. "The Rebel Alliance that your Jedi woman was a part of, broke the Empire's back with a handful of soldiers!"

Tyscio laughed at that and shook his head. "No. They didn't."

There were murmurs of confusion until Tyscio felt it had run it's course and explained. "If the Coalition sent their entire fleet into Commonwealth space and destroyed the InterSystem Congress, would the Commonwealth capitulate?"

"NO!" was the resounding shout and Tyscio nodded as if he expected nothing less.

"Unless an outside power had more soldiers than stars in a galaxy and so overran us that we could not act, NO outside power will be able to completely overpower our government. We would not fall unless it came from...?"

And as the silence dragged, Tyscio grinned, "..our own people."

A ripple of sound went through the audience as people whispered their comments at the revelation and Tyscio continued. "The people are what broke the Empire's back! The people funded the Rebel Alliance, fed it volunteers, and when the Alliance destroyed Palpatine, Vader and the Death Star, it was the people who shook off the Empire's yoke galaxy-wide. It did not happen overnight and it was not an immediate thing but without the support of the people, the Empire would have come back and crushed the Alliance before the New Republic could form."

He paused, catching his breath after having been caught up in the moment. "And that is where the Coalition has erred. They do not have the support of the Imperial people and until they do, no attack, no strike, no war will bring the New Order to it's knees."

He spread his arms out. "You cannot give freedom to people. We cannot give freedom to people. It is for them to take and fight for! And that is where the Coalition is failing. They feel that freedom is a commodity to be handed out to those designated as "appropriately good" and it simply is not. Whether a government is good or bad, has smart laws or stupid laws or is overly oppressive IS NOT OURS TO JUDGE!
It is the right of that faction's people to judge! To act!"

Tyscio grinned sheepishly as several in the audience started to clap and the noise began to climax into a cresendo of approval.

"As my old Seargent Mattias would say, 'If you want to stick it to the enemy, you do not broadcast your move over holonet.' and that is exactly what the Coalition has done. That is an error so fatal that I am almost of the belief that the Coalition will not attack. If Regrad was trying to earn himself points within his own government, I can see such a speech being made and broadcasted but if you are trying to encourage people to fight for their own freedom, you do not shout it from holonet. The Empire has already begun clamping down even harder and no doubt many citizens of the Empire must hate the Coalition for their lack of discretion.

Did the Rebel Alliance shout from holonet for the people to rebel? No, they recruited in secret, were funded in secret and developed in secret. Did they broadcast that they were taking out the Death Star and Palpatine so everyone could rebel?"

There was chuckling at that. "No. It is bad tactics to incite rebellion in full view of those you hope are overthrown."

"So do you agree with the merchant fleet seizures enacted by the Commonwealth?"

Tyscio nodded. "It's harmless, it helps our own security to clamp down on smugglers and it does send a message to the Coalition that the Commonwealth is not happy. Further measures are unnecessary unless we are thrust into circumstances beyond our control.
We are not the Invaders, after all." he smiled and yielded the floor.

"The World Council will forward it's views to the InterSystems Congress for review. Their interests are, after all, the Commonwealth's.

With the Jubilee coming, there are appropriations that have been set aside to retire the Jak'Tol Construction Yard and create an appropriate monument on that ground. The great seal of Vinda Corporation is being set on the site of where their men stood fast in defense..."


Leantre switched off and the glorious construct faded from view and he found himself sitting in his office overlooking the shipping lanes linking the rebuilt Antioch with the rest of Capricia.

He sat there in quiet contemplation pondering what was truly coming up into existence all around him and, for the first time since the War of the Invaders, the Conquest of Capricia, he felt his energy-charged hope change into something far more powerful and far more reaching..

Inspiration.

His eyes flashed, "We will not continue to seek retaliation. However, any further attacks upon ourselves or Kidron and our warships will be seeking you out to bring you and your followers to trial for justice."










Kidron - Elrood Free Trade Alliance



Major Mathias of the 1st Providence stood emotionless as he watched the Colonel walk inbetween the ranks of the gathered men. They had been, for the past few months, training the men of the Kidron Sector Defense ground forces.

Throwing together a good three more corps, he thought a bit smugly. These Kidron were no longer strangers to Mathias and his boot imprint could probably be found on more than one man's backside as he worked to shape the men into respectable killing machines.

Each group Seargent stared out with blank looks but he could read the pride in their eyes. They had given blood, sweat and tears to sharpen all their skills in the fine art of killing and Mathias knew they'd be bastards in a fight.

"The principle of war is to win. To find your enemy and kill them! Anyone tell you otherwise does not have an appreciation for this horrible monster we call war!" he had shouted to most of them.

But now there was a speech proceeding and so Mathias attention moved back to the pacing Colonel.


"Freedom means having eternal vigilance! There is a galaxy of hurt out there and many out there would not give a second thought about robbing you of that freedom! You cannot rely on someone else to give it back to you, no! To grab and maintain that freedom requires effort, not on my part but on yours!

If you are not willing to fight for it! If you are not willing to die for it then you don't deserve it!"

Mattias always liked when the Colonel Vinda went through his 'Freedom' speech. The man was not as accomplished a speaker as say, Tyscio Korban (Mattias still smiled at the memory of the Rock right before the final charge back at the Tol), but he was good enough and like the pomp that went into the pageantry of war.

The government of Kidron had specifically wanted to remain independent from the Commonwealth government which made things a bit difficult but they had found common ground and common cause in their economic alliance. The free trade between the elder Elrood Sector planet and the growing Caprician/Commonwealth-held world were beginning to show great returns.

In return for starport locations for the Commonwealth to build on Kidron, they had agreed to organize the KSD into a truly efficient and effective organization.

The three Corps of soldiers before Mathias was the result of an alliance that was growing stronger with each passing day.

A low rumble was heard in the distance and Mathias did not have to turn to know that the fly-by was coming. Tradition, started so long ago that no one remembers now why it was done in the first place, demanded a fly-by of craft to commemorate the right of passage to all upcoming tours of duty.


"Are they supposed to come in like that?" someone muttered and Mattias turned around out of irritation. The dull roar had turned high pitched and the craft, still quite a ways away, looked as if to make an attack run.

Some soldiers laughed nervously as if it were a joke but the craft still kept making their approach lower and lower..

Until the Major's eyes opened wide and he shouted, "Take cover!". He never saw three Corps of men move so quickly and off in the distance, the craft dropped from the sky completely, the fighters slamming into the ground causing a shockwave to form on the moment of impact that rattled windows for a hundred kilometers in each direction.

Major Matthias was still trying to figure out what was going on when, off in the distance, a large mushroom cloud appeared... several thousand kilometers away.

The old soldier's eyes hardened and his heart quickened.

This was an environment he knew well.

"Get yourselves in order you sons of bitches!" he shouted out to a nearby group running in panic.

"An ionization field, more than likely." muttered Colonel Vinda as he moved towards the Major.

Mathias squinted the dust and debris from his eyes trying to glance down at his sidearm testing it's functionality.

"blaster seems operational," Mathias murmured almost to himself and then turned to the Colonel. "Must have been a scatter field for the sky. Knock any patrols right out of the sky."

"Look!" came a shout from a soldier nearby as they were coming out of their cover.

In the sky, dots began to appear.

"Dropships!"

"We need to form up the Corps and prepare for a defense!" Mathias shouted to the Colonel as he began shouting to the company commanders.

"We need communications!" Vinda shouted to Mathias into the commotion and the grizly Major picked out the needed talent and pointed them to the Colonel.

"That nuke took out the KSD operations center." a boy, of near eighteen commented with a slight nervousness.

"Know anyone back there?" Vinda asked eying the youngster.

"N.. No sir." the boy stammered.

"We need to plug into the planetary comm channels and talk to someone in the know. Chances are space will be a hodge podge of panic from both civies and military. I need a sifter to sort through what we receive and it needs to be done yesterday! Get a team and get yourself some equipment requisitioned!"

The boy saluted and ran off while Mathias came back.

"What's the word?" Vinda asked looking up once more.

"Those bastards will be down in another ten minutes. Drop pattern looks like they'll have our area on three sides."

"Flanked!" muttered Vinda.

"The good news is that we're sitting on a barracks and depot so we're well stocked. The bad news is that we've got no heavy artillery or machines to spit at these newcomers!"

"You think they'll have artillery?"

"They'd be piss poor planners if they dropped planetside without it!"

"Alright!" Vinda tried to think furiously, "Get the engineers to get a proper entrench works going. Detail a few companies to help. We aren't going anywhere it seems."

Mathias was nodding absently and Vinda eyed him curiously. "What do you have going on in that wiley mind of yours?"

"Well sir. We have no artillery but we do have rocket launchers. If I can gather a good group of men, we can hit these bastards as they are unloading. Perhaps punch a whole through one flank or better yet, scatter it."

"Holding two sides is better than holding three.." was all Vinda said which Mathias took for approval and he took off to scrape together some men.

"Major!"

Mathais turned.

"Good hunting!"

Mathias grinned and began to yell at some of the men hauling materials to drop what they were doing and follow him.

Scipio Arien walked briskly through the double doors into the antechamber of the Diplomatic Corps Tower.


The floating platforms that circled the tower served as landing zones for incoming ambassadors or visiting heads of state and she had received word that the Coalition Ambassador had touched down an hour before. The warship that he had originally travelled on was stationed in the Outmarches.

The Outmarches was the area of space surrounding the Caprician System full of varying degrees of debris, radioactive 'dead zones', ionic clouds and nebulas. There were even pieces of yorrik corral from the Yuuzhan Vong invasion fleets as well as well as bits of durasteel from various ships that met a deadly fate.

Given the nature of the Outmarches, travelling by hyperspace directly into the system was a good way to slam your lightspeed travelling craft into matter of some sort effectively ending your ride.

There were only a few secure hyperlanes into the system with Vinda Corporation aware of most (including a few hidden ones). In any event, as a result, all shipping was stopped at the Outmarches and smaller shuttles were dispatched to Capricia along secure routes.

Only Commonwealth Capital warships were allowed within the system and so, the GC Ambassador had arrived in his personal shuttle with all the ceremony due to a personage of his station.




As she tapped some information onto a datapad she carried, she felt a headache coming on. It was then that she heard shouts coming from outside a room that was her destination. She paused to regain her composure thinking for the hundreth time how much she envied Achinta's calm exterior.

Sometimes emotions just plain get in the way of diplomacy.

It was a truth she would simply have to live with.


A high pitched voice overrode the grunts and snarls that were, presumably, the voice of the Coalition Ambassador. The translating device's "voice" was in stark contrast to the bass coming from the alien's throat.

"We demand that you stop transport seizures at once!" the mechanical voice demanded.


Scipio's hand came up to the door and before she pushed it open to enter, a stray thought entered: And if the Coalition Ambassador didn't know basic, I am a Rancor's Aunt!

It was the height of rudeness and a clear indication of the state of mind their visitor was in.

"The Kappreeesian Commonwealth..." the alien began when the commanding voice of Tyscio Zier began.

"The Commonwealth has EVERY right to protect it's interests! You are on war footing with a Galactic Empire and are fighting another! That makes dealings with the Coalition hazardous and we will take any measure, within our territory, we deem as necessary to ensure the protection of our citizens!"

"You have warships on the border!" the alien spat out. "Tantamount to invasion!"

Scipio pushed the door open, interrupting the verbal sparring. "The vessels on the border are patrol vessels." she said walking to the middle and taking a seat opposite the Coalition Ambassador.

"The Empire patrolled Tynna space and then they attacked. How do we know you will not do the same?"

Tyscio Zier turned to the older former Regent, Leantre Vio as he simply listened patiently while the younger Capricians and the Coalition Ambassador quarrelled.

At the question, Leantre's soft voice interrupted. "You don't."

The Coalition Ambassador's eyes widened and he bared his teeth at the implied threat.

"Kappreeesian Commonwealth is arrogant. If you attack we will destroy you. You are only a fraction of our size and you cannot significantly hurt us."
The alien drew himself up in pride.

Scipio's eyebrows rose at the words and Zier's face flushed. Only Leantre smiled at the comment and again, asked in a soft voice, "If that is so, why are you creating such a commotion about our patrols?"

That brought the alien up short. "The Coalition does not wish to destroy the Kapreesian Commonwealth but it will take 'necessary steps to protect it's citizens'." The GC Ambassador rallied throwing the Zier's words back at him.


"You might start by not antagonizing larger sovereign nations!" Zier snapped back.


"You are not larger than us!" the alien nearly shouted.

"I am talking about the Empire, you twit!" Zier responded hotly.

Real ambassadorial skills at work, Zier! Scipio thought to herself.


"Enough!" Leantre shouted stopping the retort on the alien's lips. He turned to Scipio and the Caprician woman took over.

"Mr. Ambassador. The Commonwealth and our InterSystem Congress knows that we cannot stop the Coalition from going to war if that is your agenda. However, we can take measures to ensure that the war does not spill over into our borders."

"And this seizing of Coalition Trading ships?" the Ambassador asked.

"We are seizing and searching ALL ships that originate from Coalition space and cross our borders! Our search teams are looking for contraband and should the transport clear our search, they are welcome to continue on.

But as you know, war is good for business. Even Black Market business and the Commonwealth will not be a Black Market corridor!"

The alien's eyes seemed to shrink as it contemplated the words. "Smugglers are bad." he finally relented. "Have you found any?"

Scipio held up her datapad. "We have! Though we do not claim that they are from your government. Every government has to deal smugglers inside their borders. Since we enacted our Seize and Search Task Force, we have inevitably caught some smugglers so our efforts are growing in effectiveness."


The alien absorbed this but then looked at a strange timepiece. "It is time for me to retire. Tomorrow I would like to discuss your ideological misconceptions."

Zier began to bristle all over again but Leantre smiled standing. He, along with Scipio bowed respectfully while Zier managed a stiff bow.

The alien ignored him nodding to the others and was escorted out of the room.

"Ideological Misconceptions!" Zier blurted out when the alien was out of earshot. "Of all the nerve!"

"Well, he did manage to get his point across." Scipio stated and Zier turned to her.

"What point?"

Leantre was lost in thought for a bit as he listened to Scipio's answer. "By making the S&S situation his first order of business, he is letting us know that the Coalition is aware of our displeasure and has contemplated our actions. By his worrying about a first strike from us, he is letting us know that they will not begin a war with us but they are still watching."

Leantre smiled and spoke up, "And in doing so, they also want us to be aware that they consider us no significant military threat."

"Then what is this nonsense about ideological misconceptions?" Zier asked still miffed.

Scipio's smile turned grim. "It means that the Coalition will try to control tomorrow's talks. They feel that we've played not only our trump but our only hand with the S&S."

"So you are saying the Coalition Ambassador has had the upper hand this entire time?"

"Well, Zier, they do only consider us a mere 'fraction of their size'."

"Sweet Clannus Prime!" Zier cursed. "It's like walking through a minefield in this galaxy!"

Scipio shrugged. "Welcome to diplomacy."

Zier cursed again.

Kidron


Colonel Vinda had not returned as dusk began to fall. Mathias did see a couple of dropships get shot out of the sky in the distance but could not really tell who was doing the shooting and where their position was.


If they were smart, they'd keep moving, the crusty Major thought.


Several fighters had arrived at the downed dropship's locations to provide whatever support they could.


Probably to render a bird's eye view keeping a lookout for more mischeif.


The Corps were still digging in and had layed several layers of impressive earthworks and trenches in the short amount of time they had.

Mathias was proud of them all, 1st Providence and the KSD officers. The Kidron soldiers were shaping up well but he also saw fear behind their stoic work efforts.

Something would have to be done and soon.

Holding three Corps on location as it did also kept the enemy from spreading out. They kept their numbers concentrated to answer Mathias's numbers.

"Home-court advantage" as the sports lovers would say.

Still, the enemy had the luxury of time to plan their moves while Mathias ate at his dwindling resources and had the pressure of trying to not only guess the move of the enemy but how to prepare against that move.


Still, the trouble was, the three KSD Corps he had were not the only KSD forces in the field. The longer he held them back, though, the better chance the enemy had in isolating and destroying the remaining forces spread out throughout the city and/or countryside.

And soon!

The fighter presence tickled Mathias' mind and he finally realized why. They could come from no base on the planet! They must have a bloody carrier in orbit! Whether a simple fighter carrier or something along the lines of a Star Destroyer model, the fact was if they were able to launch fighters then they had space superiority.

They could rain down destruction on Mathias' position at any moment.

The more he thought about it the more he felt the itch to move growing inside him.

"Lucas!" he bellowed out. "Prepare to move the columns!"




Enroute from Elrood to Kidron


Herridian Wye sat at the computer consol reading the old text taken from the database found within the old Marzullo Sith base. Prior to their invasion, the Jedi named Artimir had not only established control over the world and with the help of the recovering Radell Mining Corporation, established a Temple presence. Both Radell's and the Jedi's futures looked good until Itala Marzullo invaded the world breaking the company as well as Artimir.

The planet's shipyard capacity was increased under the Sith war machine but the Leveller of Empire's finished the emerging Sith empire before it could marshall it's strength once more.

The Marzullo Corridor became a notation on past maps and soon was forgotten.

There was much more shipping in system now as the Commonwealth Industrial Interests began to take shape over the Academic stewardship.

With the Free Trade Alliance moving forward with Kidron boosting both autonomous regions, Commonwealth economic interests were becoming solid.

The Radell Mining Corporation was finished but records showed the results of their exploration endeavors in nearby systems which excited the Commonwealth's own mining interests. As the Commonwealth moved more assets to Elrood with the goal of assuming ownership over former RMC holdings, the InterSystem Congress voted (with Elrood Academic Approval), to set up a Trust Fund for any and all employees and their families of the RMC who survived the brutal Marzullo occupation.

Already Halbara, Dega and Osirrag Systems were being investigated by both civilian and government agencies. Elrood was going to be the hub and Wye smiled at the bright future ahead.

And nothing tarnished that smile until, quite unexpectedly, they exited hyperspace in a Kidron System under attack.

"Sweet Clannus Prime!" he heard someone say. The Stellar Explorer was no warship but a Science Vessel. Even so, it did have weaponry and could defend itself if need be; the thinking being: If a ship full genius's couldn't defeat an enemy, how was a ship full of guns going to do so?

The battlestation klaxon blared giving Herridian a headache but he took it in stride as he stared at the menacing ships in orbit.

"Starstreaks!" someone gasped.

Herridian rubbed the bridge of his nose. He'd read the new technical manuals that travelled the science community circuit and seen the advertisements.

Commercials of Death! he thought disgustedly. Then again, people had to eat. Even Rob Stellar. The irony of his own ship's name not being lost on the Caprician.

Whoever was attacking the world had purchased either new or second-hand two Starstreak Class Escort Frigates.

Fighters were launching but according to the inital scans coming in, it was not a full compliment.

Either they already launched others, they are holding some back or they ran out of money.

"Hail them, Mr. Clay." he said, moving to push his portly frame from the command chair.

"To unknown vessels in orbit. Kidron is under the protection of the Commonwealth. Stand down and prepare to heave-too!"

Herridian did not expect them to take the Stellar Explorer seriously but he had to observe the correct protocols.

One of the Frigate's turrets swung over and began showing the crew of the Commonwealth science vessel that it was a repeating turret. Even though missing, as the Commonwealth ship was still quite a ways off, Herridian could see that it cut quite a path of destructive strength.

After a while, the repeating turret ceased its firing.

Quite unnecessarily, the Comm-Officer reported, "No response, Sir."

Herridian's eyes narrowed. "No, I think they did respond. It just wasn't what I wanted to hear."

What to do now?

~

Kidron


Mathias watched as the Corps were divided into smaller groups and threw away his earlier concepts of defense. If the enemy had starships in orbit, they could slag Mathias's three Corps and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.

Or was there?


"Signals?" A gangly soldier in a KSD uniform trotted on over.


"I suspect there is a battlewagon above us that may make things too hot to handle in an hour or two. What can we do about it?" the Major asked.


The young man rised his eyebrows. "Not a whole frell'in lot, Major-!"


Mathias' hand came up and slapped the back of the head of the Signals Officer. "I didn't ask what we couldn't do!" the older man snapped. "I asked what we CAN do!"


The gangly officer though nervous furrowed his brows in thought. The Major gave the kid time to think while he turned his attention to weapon distribution between groups. He did not want to have a group, in the thick of combat, suddenly discover all they had were light arms.


Mathias turned back to the KSD recruit, "It's all right, son. Don't hurt yourself.." he finally relented when no answer was forthcoming.


As it happened, the Major spoke too soon as the Signals Officer mumbled to himself. "IF we could send a signal to the ship it might confuse sensors."

Then he shook his head, "I'm sorry, Sir. We do not have a strong enough transmitter to even make the attempt. It's good for local area but to reach into space? And we would have to locate the position of the ship in orbit, if it's one ship.."

Mathias, a little dejected, waved the KSD soldier to silence. "It was a long shot.." he muttered. "EARS! Get your lazy butt over here!"


The 1st Providence soldier moved toward Mathias with all the efficiency of movement a veteran soldier learns over the course of time. Lieutenant (junior grade) Veers had just dressed down a recruit for almost opting to leave behind his weapon's extra energy pack. "Kids.." he muttered.

"This Signals Officer says we cannot send a signal high enough to the ship in orbit." he thumbed a direction to the KSD recruit who swallowed nervously, at the thought of his opinion suddenly coming under the review of a veteran.

"Ears" looked up into the sky as if he could see the enemy positions in orbit and nodded. "That's about right, Major. We'd have to find them first and if there are more than one, we have to split our signal strength and that lowers our overall range."

"Can't we just blanket the area?" Mathias growled.

"You could but you'd probably not block sensors.. perhaps comms.. perhaps. To interfere with a ship's sensors we'd probably have to dedicate a transmitter to the task and if there's another ship, dedicate another transmitter. For them to work in conjunction, we'd have to network them and really, Major, we don't have the time for that."

"How the hell do we ensure we aren't bombarded in the next hour, Ears!?"

The Commonwealth Lieutenant drew back a bit and thought about the problem. "Hard Light," he finally blurted out.

"What?" the Major barked in response.

"Well, Sir. Hard Light. We can't do much about a ship in orbit but we can confuse what it sees. With our local transmitters, we could blanket our area here and given them more stuff to look at."

"They'd still see us," Mathias grumbled, thinking about the Commonwealth's premier holographic technology. The KSD Signals Officer moved closer at the mention of technology he had no prior experience with.

"Yes, but we will be not only be in smaller groups but moving away and moving apart. What are those sensor boys above us going to focus on? Little groups on the move whose position is more guesswork or a sitting duck of soldiers still in the trenches?"


"Even if imaginary soldiers..."

"You have to understand, Major, that even though there's a ship in orbit, it is still terribly difficult to track forces our size from way up there. That's why if there's a bombardment, they bombard everything within a set radius. To make up the difference giving allowance for error, which would be extremely large to begin with."

The old Caprician Major had heard enough, "Make it happen, Ears. And take Signals with you! Teach the runt a thing or two!"


"Colonel, where the hell are you?" Mathias muttered as he began his final round of inspections.





Kidron System


Herridian kept the Stellar Explorer out of range and outside the mass shadow of the planet at the moment. To commit himself before he knew what his enemies had in mind was not something he felt comfortable doing. Besides, the Explorer's sensor package was superior to anything the enemy frigates had.


Weaponry was another matter. The Stellar Explorer was overmatched and did not carry fighters to boot. And while the Explorer was a fast ship, the power indications from their initial scans showed these frigates could move as well. The Commonwealth ship overmatched them in shield power but then again, they had labs to protect on the science vessel. Pit against two frigates, their shield advantage would not hold for very long.


The sensor data was distributed electronically through every department in hopes that ideas would be forthcoming.


The scientist-captain sighed. This would take their 'all'.


"Call a Science Briefing," and there was a quiet pall that descended. When all the Science Heads (and their aides) met, it was a serious thing. To a crew of the Stellar Explorer, such an order was akin to Moff Tarkin ordering the Death Star to fire.


"Send a report to Elrood and alert the Commonwealth Fleet there that Kidron is in trouble. We will respond to the threat but reinforcements and relief would be nice."


Everyone knew that by the time the Fleet did cross the relatively small distance, their battle would be over. While they could simply wait for reinforcements, it would do the Kidron people no good service in leaving the enemy a free hand to act with impunity.


Herridian's duty as a Commonwealth Captain (albeit of a Science Vessel) was clear.


"Keep trying to hail, them." he said as an afterthought as he left for the briefing.


If they want to fight, we shall give them a fight!

Science Conference



"Why don't we wait for the Fleet from Elrood?" some aide asked. It was obvious to Herridian that the person would never be more than an aide as he did not apply critical thinking as a good scientist but was good at taking orders and carrying them out, as a good lab assistant.

"Because we do not know that the Fleet is at Elrood!" snapped an older woman, Dr. Avril Gretchen. She gained some notoriety during the Second Invasion but at what, Herridian couldn't remember. "Rather than presuming, we go with what we know! We know where the enemy is and we know what we can do!" Given her rather pragmatic approach, even for a scientist, Wye's mind thought about the existence of her notoriety and wondered if he ever wanted to know.


And she was a biologist! Sweet Clannus Prime!


The Scientist-Captain brought the meeting back on track, "Let's stop worrying about what other people will do and start worrying about what we are going to do!"

He looked over the group, "Options!?" he snapped.


"Those monstrosities are overpowered!" one person observed tapping his finger on a technical sheet with Stellar Enterprises logos littering the letterhead. "If we can force them into the atmosphere, they'd rip themselves apart!"

"The frame is strong but the combination of gravitic forces should..." another picked up the sentiment.

"How?" Gretchen spit out. "Ram them? It'd be like a mynock ramming a rancor!"

Herridian sighed, "She's right. We are a lighter class than the frigates AND there's two of them!"

"We could just surrender and then when they get close enough..open fire on them!" someone towards the back of the conference table called out.

"That's treacherous!" Herridian snapped back offended. "What if we fail and other people try to surrender? How have we made their lives better?"

"Well, if we have to also worry about posterity.." the offending person drawled back.

"I'll not commit this ship to a dishonorable act!"

"Oh, so we are honorable now are we? Last, I checked, honor demanded that a person be told when his grant funding is going to be slashed in half-!"

Everyone groaned.


"Now is NOT the time for that!" the Scientist-Captain barked out.

"They're turtles." remarked Dr. Gretchen thoughtfully.

"I beg your pardon?"

"Turtles! Look at the design! What is lacking?"

Herridian stared blankly at the digital picture. "Aesthetics?" he remarked in confusion. Truth be told, the ships were ugly things offending even the most styleless Caprician.

"A bridge!" she replied in irritation. "There's no bridge!"

"I am sure it has one.." Herridian was replying when the significance erupted in his mind.

The design had removed outward showing of a bridge opting to place the ship's nerve center, it's command and control center inside the hull probably surrounded by four solid strong walls.


They commanded by television!


Dr. Gretchen saw that Herridian finally discovered the implications. "The ship is covered with holocams. Knock those out and the turtle retreats into it's shell."

A strategy was already forming but the Captain snapped his fingers. "So how do we get past their shields?"

"Kinetic energy would work as long as worked up enough velocity battering their shields into submission." a rather thin man with red, fuzzy hair remarked.

Herridian frowned. "What would we use?"

"Dr. Barker's asteriod we picked up in the drift enroute." Fuzzy Red replied happily.

"WHAT!?" stood the offending scientist seated in back. "My grant get's halved and now you steal what could be my big break! I am this close to proving microbiological life developed independently in the Drift!"

Herridian frowned. "As opposed to what?" he asked curious despite himself.

When Dr. Barker suddenly was at a loss for words, his decision was made. "Well use it! If it works, the government may look kindly upon the good doctor and in gratitude seek to further fund his search for 'Drift Microbes'."


Fuzzy Red (also known in some circles as Dr. Fuso) brought up the schematics of the frigate's Spectorgraphic Sensor Array. "Advertising propaganda aside, here is our saving grace! Ladies and gentlemen, we've just defeated our enemy!"


Herridian grinned.


Never mess with pisssed off scientists!




The Enemy


Petra sat confidently swirling in her command chair taking in the 360° display all around. She was also, however, getting restless. The intruding Commonwealth ship had remained outside the gravity well of the planet out of range so far and she pushed it out of her mind. "Have we located their ground forces yet?" she asked, putting just enough acid in her voice so people would denote her displeasure. She wanted to shoot something!


"Mistress, we have! They seem congregated and entrenched in coordinates-"


"Then fire upon them!"


"The guns are cycling, Mistress. Our gunners were taking shots at the ship on the edge of sensor range hoping to get lucky. The amount of power channeling through the repeaters is enormous. The built-in safeties cut in allowing them to cool."

The crewman leaned forward, "Shall I fire missiles?"

Petra waved him away. "No. They are expensive enough as it is. If the ship is going to remain out there, let it. I want to fire upon the enemy positions on the planet."

"Two minutes, Mistress."

Petra stroked the sides of her chair marvelling at the machines at her command. "Make it one," she admonished.

Kidron


"They are pulling out.." murmured Veers as he handed the telescoped lense back to Mathias.

"We've been engaged in a running battle with these bastards since last night. And now they are pulling away."


Mathias was about to speak when he thought he heard what sounded like a clap in the distance.

The veterans knew immediately what it was. "Orbital bombardment!"

The Major shielded his eyes as he saw red lances sizzle through the atmosphere towards the entrenched position they left two days ago.

They were far enough away from the location but with the amount of firepower being rained down on the position, he knew there would be nothing left of what was left behind. No barracks, no transmission stations..

"Sir!" came a familar voice interrupting Mathias' thoughts. It was the KSD Signals Officer running over. "Before the interference from the bombardment, we picked up a transmission.."

He held a device out to the Major who put it close to his ear. "I make out... Commonwealth .... Xplorer... Surrender..."

He looked up at Veers, "It's the Stellar Explorer and they're dealing with whatever is up there."

"What does that leave us?" Lt. Veers remarked spitting a blade of grass out of his mouth.

"GEAR UP!" he bellowed. "Signals?! Get on the radio and tell all the groups to sweep in a circular pattern North. It's time we head to the city!"

Lt. Veers' mouth opened, "We're going to chase the retreated forces?"

The crusty old war veteran spit on the ground. "We're going to smash them back against the city. If the KSD is still in the fight, they'll be the anvil."

"What if we lose?" a KSD soldier who overheard interrupted.

"Then I'll kick your butt in whatever regiment we're serving in hell!" Mathias growled out and then, loudly into his battlesuit mic, "DOUBLE TIME, YOU BASTARDS! WE HAVE AN ENEMY TO SHOOT IN THE BACK!"

Spectorgraphic Sensor Array: This is a new form of detection and tracking system designed and built at Stellar Enterprises labs. It uses the property of light to detect shields and other objects in space...

Since light travels great distances, the system can detect ships at ranges beyond normal...



Which it did.


Druckers was torn from turning from his boring monitor staring at a ship that never moved towards the shouting crowds gathered around Petra seated at the gunnery station, shooting their ventral turrets toward the planet.

He laughed from his station alone hoping his supporting guffaws were noted and appreciated by Petra.

He swiveled his chair back towards his monitor sighing only to see the ship on his screen disappear.

Cloaked?

"M.. Mistress.. Petra! The ship disappeared!" he shouted, interrupting the Captain's tale of some other battle where she had shown her prowess.

At the interruption, she glared at Druckers and walked over to his station with diliberate calm.

"Perhaps they left?" she asked quietly.

"The..They didn't turn around," Druckers continued stubbornly. "The image just... just vanished."

"If they had a cloaking device, why did they wait so long to employ it?" someone else asked. The gruffy and coarse Gnat, the person serving as her Second and someone Druckers disliked.

"The sensor may be in the fritz..." Druckers replied in irritation.

"Mistress! The enemy craft is closing!" A second sensor station picked up and Petra glared at Druckers.

"Shields!" the Mistress ordered. "Dorsal turrets, target and fire!"

The motion of the topside weaponry was heard through the bridge as their trajectories changed with the ever changing environment.



Stellar Explorer


"They've spotted us!" came the advance sensor station.

Herridian could see the turrets being brought to bear and the second frigate suddenly altering it's course.

The Commonwealth Science Ship's approach was designed to minimize the ability of both enemy frigates bringing all weapons to bear. They were also altering their course randomly to avoid being struck head on.

In another galaxy, at another time, it would have been said that they had identified the StarStreak's Achille's Heel in it's sensor array makeup. However, the advantage the Stellar Explorer had currently was rapidly diminishing the closer to the Frigates they became. Even harder was altering course in such a way so as to not greatly reduce their velocity and momentum as they were dragging Dr. Barton's asteriod behind them straining their grappling tractors.

Straining because most of the power was being diverted to their forward, overlapping shields.

Their heroic actions would be for nothing if after all this, the enemy frigates penetrated their forward shields blowing the bow of the scrappy science ship to bits.

They were panicked!

The repeating weaponry of the StarStreaks blasted away at space the Stellar Explorer occupied mere moments before.

Both ships were experiencing the same problem but with the other's changing course, the criss-crossing of their firing vectors would reduce the amount of "safe-space" optioned for the science ship's helm.

The ship shuddered as the turbolasers brushed against the shields of the Explorer.

"Ready!" Herridian shouted. They had taken extra time to measure the firing patterns of the frigates and if they're calculations were wrong, they were all dead.

"RELEASE! BREAK STARBOARD!"

The Stellar Explorer crossed an imaginary threshold propelled along as fast as it's oversized engines could carry it. Herridian closed his eyes briefly expecting the targeting of the weapons to catch up to the actual position of his ship when the guns went silent.

They are cycling!

He thanked those invisible mechanics of quantum physics in all their oil and grease stained glory.

The Stellar Explorer sailed unassailed only to bank to the right exposing their ventral hull to the broadside of the enemy.

Fortune favors the bold, Herridian had heard Tyscio Korban say once. If that boy could see them now!



The Enemy

"THE GUNS! THEY'VE STOPPED!" shouted a gunner in panicked anger. He kept depressing the firing toggles hoping beyond hope to squeeze some ounce of energy out of the gun ports to throw at their speeding enemy.

"FIRE THE MISSILES!" Petra shouted as the secondary weapon operators disengaged the safety devices that activated the warheads.

The launch tubes expelled their numbers after the craft that had already escaped their sight.

The missiles burned their extra charges to catch up.

Druckers cursed the weapons officers and slammed his hand down in anger.

The screen in front of him flickered and as a solid object came into view.

"FRACK!" he screamed at the image of the asteriod coming towards them.

The ship's shields crackled and snapped at the impact!




Stellar Explorer


Herridian thought they had gotten away and had begun to count his wingbats before they hatched.

The second frigate tried to begin a turn as they passed overhead swinging it's turrets to it's port side.

The weapons cycle program completed and the second frigate began to fire all four major turbolasers at the Stellar Explorer's wake.

The impact threw everyone out of their seats as computers, consols, switches and stations exploded sending the Commonwealth Science vessel into an uncontrolled spin.



The Enemy


Mistress Petra was screaming for everything they had to be launched at the oncoming rock.

Missile Launchers changed trajectories and the turret cooling cycle completed allowing the full broadside of the warship to be brought to bear.

The resulting wave of destructive firepower shattered the oncoming astroid into several pieces. The explosive wave that expanded back towards the frigate splashed across the carbon matrix armor. Before the energy could be adequately redistributed, the astroids crashed into the hull knocking power out on several decks.

Petra shook with rage as 180° of her bridge vision suddenly flickered and went dark.

"EMERGENCY POWER!" she shouted.


Second Frigate


Captain Gor licked his lips in anticipation as his weapons discharged. His ship was in the process of using it's port thrusters to swing around, raising slightly along the z-axis bringing the bow to bear on the target.

Unfortunately, the move brought the frigate in front of the missiles Petra had fired just as they exerted their thrust slamming them into the starboard of Gor's ship.

His ship shook against the multiple explosions that stretched out and 180° of his bridge vision went immediately dark.

"DID WE HIT THEM!" he shouted to his sensor operators who sat in mute fear at their now dark stations.

Kidron Orbit



So this is what getting the stuffing pounded out of you feels like?


Herridian picked his rotund body from the bridge floor pushing back the spectacularly humiliating sprawl a moment before.


"Status?" he asked crisply, perhaps too sharply as the rest of the bridge crew were also picking themselves up.

Smoke was everywhere and more than one station was spewing static.

"The transition to activate the rear shields did not happen as fast as we would have liked.." the coordinating engineer replied, to which Herridian responded in his mind, You think?

"Thruster controls are coming back online!"

The settling wave of counter thrust to the uncontrolled spin sent a feeling of nausea through the Scientist-Captain. At least, that is what he told himself what it was despite knowing that with operation artificial gravity and inertia dampeners, he shouldn't have felt a thing.

But then again, he thought he could slightly feel the acceleration of the ship when it made the jump to hyperspace.

"Hyperdrive is out, as is power in decks 9-12."

"Route damage control teams to the area and make sure no one is hurt."

"I have Dr. Fesi calling from Deck 11 complaining about his botany project being ruined."

"I thought power was out on that deck?"

"I think he is borrowing Dr. Fuso's power generator. It's independent from the ship's systems."

"Ignore Fesi and if Fuso has a power generator, send the DCT's and MediCorpsmen to his location!" Herridian snapped, looking at a new rendition of the enemy fleet in orbit around Kidron.

"Why are they upside down?"

"Umm. Sir. We are the ones upside down."

Herridian scratched his neck, feeling the ache of a pulled muscle. "Then we better right ourselves, don't you think?"

"Sir, our orientation does not affect our ability to return fire.."

"But a good sense of propriety, in this case, would be affected. We can defeat them but let's do so without showing off today, shall we? I think our asteriod maneuver was enough humiliation for one engagement."

If the Helmsman differed in opinion, he wisely did not show it. The orientation righted itself as the Stellar Explorer turned around.

The enemy ships were not in orbital-synch.. probably because they are trying to maneuver on half blind.

The Explorer's sensors showed a great amount of surface damage to the first frigate but the second frigate had completed it's turn and was still attempting to fire at them. The damage they had taken as a result of the friendly-fired missiles also crippled them by half blinding them but unfortunately, not the eye that was watching us.

The speed of the Explorer was severely reduced but they could still keep most of the shots missing them with the light-lag from the now-damaged sensor package of the frigate. Their still operating forward shields absorbed what shots they could not dodge.

The shots were shorter and less frequent as the gunners were now ensuring they do not overheat the turrets thus rendering them inoperable during the cool-down cycle.

It was an advantage the Commonwealth crew just lost and Herridian felt the loss in it's passing. Perhaps we might provoke the crew of the frigates into anger thus causing them to overheat the guns again?

It was food for thought for now.

"Assuming we still have communications..." he grumbled to himself as the damage reports were still coming in.

"Sir?"

"Nothing, ensign. Carry on."



With their first pass, they had not only succeeded in damaging both frigates but they had taken their attention off of the planet for now keeping it firmly fixed on them.

But to complete their task, it meant another pass and he wasn't sure the ship was up for it.

As lucky as they had been, with repeated testing, it was sure to run out.


What to do?