Kulthis... Imperial Borderlands

On Admiral Kyoto's list of favourite things, unexplained alarm bells in the middle of the night were not in the top five. In fact, they were somewhere very close to the bottom, just above mutineers and plugged toliets.

So when he was woken by the base's general alert bell, he was less than pleased. But years of service in the Imperial Navy had taught him well, and he was awake in seconds, pulling on his uniform and rushing from his chambers towards the nerve centre of the installation.

He arrived moments later to find the room full - the regular staff were all at their stations, and a dozen more senior officers who had been on duty in other parts of the base had evidently come to take control until the Admiral arrived.

"Breifing?" Kyoto demanded, even as a junior officer brought him a thermos of caf that he gladly accepted.

"We just got word from one of our scouts," another officer reported, speaking quickly, "a Coalition fleet is gathered near the Tion border. We've also received an unconfirmed tip that the interdiction fields along the border have been failing. Scounts are trying to confirm whether its purposeful, or if the Tions have fallen under attack."

Kyoto nearly dropped the thermos. There had been no word from Command of any Coalition intentions to attack the Black Dragon Empire - and the Roche base had not reported any GC fleet gathering.

Evidently, this operation was very secret. Which begged the question, why would they tip their hand now by attacking the interdictors?

What did the purportedly peace-loving Galactic Coalition have in mind?

And how would it impact the Empire?

Kyoto said nothing, considering. At last, he spoke: "What targets are in the area for the Coalition?"

A different officer answered, "Chandaar is the only Tion base near to their attack zone," he said, "but it's possible they're trying to punch a hole to Mon Calamari."

Neither of which much helped Kyoto's position. He held to distinct love for the Black Dragon Empire, but on the same note they had served nicely to distract the enemies of the Empire during the last war.

A war, he noted with some amusement, that was also started by the Coalition.

"Right. Send word to the Supreme Commander, High Command. Request orders. In the meantime, I want a complete test done on all of our defences. Recall any away fleets and inform Contruum of our actions. Double our scouts, I want to know of anything coming our way before they know they're coming."

Kyoto had no idea what was going to happen, but come what may, he knew that he would be ready for it.

Waiting for word from Command, he remembered the words of Grand Moff Drayson: "the defences have to hold!"

Was it time, he wondered, for those defences to be put to the test?

Yaga Minor... Imperial Ubiqtorate

The holorepresentation of the galaxy glowed in half a dozen spots with a steady pulse of red light. Conflict zones, areas where the Coalition or the Black Dragon Empire was known, or thought, to be engaged in battle.

"I don't like it." Bhindi Drayson said again, her eyes scanning the board. Most of the conflict so far had been contained to the Tion's space: two Coalition incursions into their space, apparently striking for Caluula and Chandaar; an attack on Tammar; the strike against Mon Calamari was as-yet unconfirmed, but with the former capital situated dead-centre in the midst of the Tion Empire it was hardly likely to survive for long, if indeed it had not already fallen. It blinked more slowly than the others, it's status unknown.

"The Coalition seems to have the advantadge at the moment." Ariel Trinity offered, also observing the holodisplay. "The Dragons are on the defensive - if they don't plug those gaps the Coalition will enter the heart of their Empire."

It was true - but what neither Trinity, nor apparently the Galactic Coalition, knew was the extent of the Dragon's defences within their borders. There was more to it than a simple ring of gravity well generators (simple being a relative term given the sheer size of that particular operation). Imperial Intelligence had exerted a huge deal of time and effort in finding out what the Black Dragon Empire was doing behind their lines, and even then they had returned limited results.

Whatever it was, the Dragons clearly did not want the rest of the galaxy to find out.

"This is interesting." Bhindi said, pointing to the glowing dot that represented Tammar. That battle, if reports were to be believed, had nothing at all to do with the Black Dragon Empire. Intelligence from the Oversector Outer had revealed the gathering of a sizable fleet near their space some days prior, including an Imperator Class Star Destroyer. The name was unknown, and no doubt it was not the name the ship was born with, but any group that could field an ISD against the Coalition was a strong one indeed. Nevermind the rest of that fleet - Mon Calamari cruisers and squadron after sqaudron of starfighters.

"Intelligence has been unable to trace who is operating the ships or why they've targetted the Coalition." Trinity said from memory.

"Someone taking advantadge of the Coalition's distraction to pay back an old debt?" The Grand Moff asked.

"Possible," The Observer responded, "but with scouts in place we only just learned of the war's outbreak. This force was gathering some days ago, before even we knew anything."

Bhindi nodded, watching the steady pulse of the dot. Tammar, more than anything else on the map, was a cause for question and concern.

"Maybe they just got lucky?" She ventured, knowing it was not the case.

"Possible," Trinity said again, "but more likely they knew it was coming. The Dragons certainly did, Regrad tipped his hand pretty early with that little speech of his."

Which was, Trinity reflected, rather one of the Coalition Prime Minister's weak points: he insisted on warning his enemies that he was coming. Images of various Coalition leaders vowing "we're coming for you" floated to the surface of her mind.

"You think the Dragons tipped them off." The Grand Moff said.

"Tipped them off, sure. Or bought them, more likely."

"Mercenaries." Bhindi said the word with disgust.

"Yes. But mercenaries who can field a full task force, if these reports are to be believed."

And given II's reputation, there was no reason not to believe the reports. Any independent force that could field an ISD and support was not something to be taken lightly; one that could do so without the Empire knowing who or what they were was something to be concerned about.

"Right. Keep an eye on them - I want to know who they are, who they're work for, and where they come from."

Trinity nodded, taking notes on her datapad as the Grand Moff spoke.

"Admiral Kyoto is requesting orders." She offered.

"What does he have at his disposal?" Bhindi asked, turning her gaze to the solid dot that was Kulthis.

"His own fleet is spread between Kulthis and Contruum... elements of Dessaria's force are still at Anzat, and the rest are stationed at Nal Hutta. Enough ships to give us a buffer, not enough to win us a war. A lot of our attention has been diverted by Roche lately."

Bhindi smirked at that: the Roche base, that had been Trinity's work. The system had fallen to the Coalition, but on the condition that they allow the Empire to build a massive starbase to monitor traffic to the Borderlands. A stalemate, if anything.

"Right. I want the Imperial Expeditionary Force to move to Belderone to support Kyoto's force. Where is Dessaria now?"

Trinity consulted her datapad before answering, "He's officially assigned to the capital, but he's currently with the Guard at Nal Hutta."

"Good. I'm going to send General Vladimeer and the Requiem to Troiken - I want you to meet Admiral Dessaria and inform him of the situation."

Trinity nodded.

"I'll go immediatly."

"Good. The fleet won't be going through Roche - the Coalition cannot know of our movements. But I want you at Nar Shadda as soon as possible."

"Very good, Admiral." Trinity saluted and turned for the door.

"Gloria Imperium, Captain." Bhindi said softly.