Kessel

The stars receded from his vision, and here he was, back in the present time and place. He shook his head, and instantly regretted it as muscles relaxed in a comatose state for months suddenly awakened with loud protest.

"Relax sir while we inject the stimulate." said a droid voice.

He felt something being prodded into his side, then moments later, he felt the fluid flowing through his body, re-motivating his muscles and nerves to normal levels. Then, with one or two deep breaths, he slowly got up out of the freezing chamber, and stood up straight. Thanks to the stimulate, he felt the same way that he went in, only better, no longer affected by the spores of the strange disease that had infected him so long ago. He looked over to his left, where his aide stood.

"I take it then that the procedure was a success?" said the Commodore.

"Yes it was. All signs of the disease in your body have been eradicated. And it is good to have you back, because we have somewhat of a situation at hand." said the aide.

"What kind of a situation? Has one of the factions breached the border?" asked the Commodore.

"More than just breached it. Last we heard, several of our planets have willingly joined the Galatic Coalition." said the aide.

The Commodore stood and looked at the aide in a mixture of dis-belief and awe.

"And Dameo has consented to this change in power?" asked the Commodore.

"We don't know. We are not able to contact them. Apparently we are cut off from the great empire by the new swath of Coalition space." said the aide, showing the Commodore a data pad map of what the Coalition now owned.

"We cannot have this. I will get in contact with Dameo one way or another. Prepare the war fleet, we will be departing within forty eight hours. Plot us the thinnest course through Coalition space to Dameo. We will force our way out, one way or another." said the Commodore.

With that, he dismissed the aide to carry out his orders while he headed off to the mess hall to find something to eat. Spending months on end in a freeze chamber with only a thin feeding tube with basic nutrients left one starved to eat real food like mad.

Teth

"Commodore, ten seconds to reversion." called out the navigator.

"All right people, this is it. We have no idea what the Coalition is up to here. But no matter what happens, we are to not, and I repeat, to not open fire first. If there is hostile action, then it will be offered up by the Coalition, not us." reminded the Commodore to the bridge crew and commanders of the Pride of Zen.

Then it was time. The Navigator pulled back on the hyperspace levers, and the fleet dropped out of hyperspace well into the Teth system. The fleet consisted of Farfalen style warships, as such ships had been deployed to Kessel for control of that area of space, and the fleet contained within it one Zen class Command Cruiser, ten Shoto class Battlecruisers, four Immobilizer class Interdictor Cruisers, twenty Cutter class corvettes, and fifty Kessel-A class Picket cruisers. The fleet quickly shifted into formation, but did not raise shields, nor for that matter power up weapons, launch starfighter squadrons, or deploy the gravity wells. Instead a message was sent out to the planet.

"This is Commodore Harker of the Black Dragon Empire, hailing the planet Teth, from the Zen class Command Cruiser Pride of Zen." said the Commodore into the ship's long range comm. As the ships scanned the system, the Commodore awaited an reply.

Teth was a planet filled with factions, subgroups subcultures, conflicting ideals, and contradictive philosophies. The only thing that had kept the planet together was actually a uniting hatred of the Empire, a government which they blamed for their fall from grace.

In recent times, however, Coalition explorers had helped encourage harmony and understanding on Teth, which was perhaps not enough to solve all their problems, but it did make a noticeable difference. A united Teth was an impressive thing, the planet being very industrial and dotted with vast cities, and as such it afforded a grand measure of protection.

The New Coalition fleet stationed over Teth was far more cosmopolitan then the planet below, but the woman in charge was still a native Tethian. Aboard a Coalition Claymore Battleship, Captain Sheila Clarak stood tall, appraising the newly arrived fleet.

"Dragons..." she growled, grinding her teeth. "Nothing but trouble. What are they even doing outside of their 'Neutral Zone'?"

"No idea, ma'm" said the Comms officer "Should we send them a message?"

"...Yes, I believe we shall. Tell them that the New Coalition welcomes them and wants to know what the hell they think they're doing with a warfleet appearing in our space unnanounced. Then put out an emergency call to the Coalition Command and see that they deploy the Eastern fleet to our position fast. Teth is officially on lockdown until I say otherwise, got it?"

"Yes ma'm." said the Comms officer, who turned back to his duties.

"While we're at it, launch all fighters and form the fleet into a defensive formation between Teth and this "Pile of Zen" or whatever he called it. No one is to open fire or make any aggressive moves until I give the command."

The report from the sensors officer came in.

"Sir, we have identified numerious Coalition Battleships and support vessels in the space around Teth." reported the sensors officer.

"Sir, incoming communication from unidentified enemy battleship." sang out the communications officer.

"Put it on up here." ordered the Commodore.

The Commodore and his officers and aides then watched and listened to the message. When it was finished, some of them had shocked expressions, some others showing initial shock, and then anger.

"I presume that everyone noticed the choice of words the official used?" said the Commodore.

"Yes, we have Commodore. It's bad enough that the Coalition has crossed the line of Neutrality with warships, but to officially claim the sector theirs? This is nothing short of an invasion into Dameun Space. War has once again broken out between the Galatic Coalition and the Black Dragon Empire." said one of the aides.

"I agree it looks bad. But we must not jump to conclusions. It is now imperative that we reach Dameo as soon as possible." said the Commodore.

With the others nodding, he spoke aloud.

"Navigation, set us a course away from Teth and torwards Dameo. Communications, send a reply. Tell them we are merely transiting from Kessel to Dameo." said the Commodore.

The fleet formed up from in-system formation and into hyperspace formation.

Sheila watched as the Dragon forces left quickly and curtly, altogether unsettled. "So... what?"

"Ma'm?" said the Comms officer "Command on the comm. they want to know what's up."

"...I guess tell them they're gone. The Black Dragon was just passing through - but that can't be all they were doing..." For a time, she seemed lost in thought. "At the least, increased Black Dragon activity in this sector isn't good at all. Better tell Command everything..."

The fleet quickly dispersed about their normal business, but Sheila lingered to look out into space a moment longer. Something just wasn't right about all this...

Dameo

The Farfalen war fleet emerged from hyperspace to well within the range of Dameo's gravity well. The planet sat as it always did, with the main fleet of the Dragon's in orbit of the planet, stations and ships, and a regular flow of traffic moving from in the system to out. The arrivial of the Farfalen fleet obviously was a suprise to most, because Tion Deathgliders began issueing from the war vessels as they moved from an orbit and torwards the fleet. A message was broadcast from the fleet flagship, a Tion Star Destroyer, called Impedence.

"Farfalen vessels, this is Admiral Draayko of the Dameun Home Defense fleet. State your buisness or be gone." said the commander.

"This is Commodore Vincent Harker of the Farfalen Division of the Black Dragon Empire. I request an immediate audience with his holiness, Emporer Raktus." replied the Commodore.

"The Emporer is not avilable. We apologize for the lack of communications, but the Empire has been in dis-array following it's leaders procuring some strange disease." replied the Admiral.

"Then no one knows of the invasion?" asked the Commodore worridely.

"What invasion?" asked the Admiral.

"I will say no more over an open line. We will meet on station twenty one A. I will tell you more when I arrive." said the Commodore as the lines were cut. Several shuttles with an escort of Deathgliders issued from the flagship. The Commodore ordered a course set for the station.

Station twenty one A

Chardoc sat in his chair writing down something, but laid his hand aside looking bothered as a young man walked into the doorway of the room and bowed slightly at him.

"Your presence has been requested master..."

Chardoc put the notepad aside and got up straightening his robes.

"Well finally they managed to get time for this... you may go now and return to your post..."

The young man nodded and left the room as Chardoc walked to his bed; he placed his few types of equipment on his belt and left the room. He had been a long time working within the empire without looking what happened outside, but now everything seemed so disturbing. His latest assignment to the outside of the dragon territory was to set a base on Rhen Var, but since then he had not heard anything from the outside.

Perhaps this meeting could slightly shed light on the latest events, but he knew small things about what was going on in the galaxy. Chardoc didn’t like the situation at all, companies getting bigger along with the dragons rivals and it seemed that the galaxy began to be too small for them all. He snapped out of his thoughts as he walked into a meeting room as some would call it, he looked around at the empty room that he was requested, but guessed that someone would soon come in. He sat in a chair there and crossed his arms waiting patiently for someone to enter. In the end it seemed so sad that all the high ranking officers made the real decisions and he just seemed like a guy to get rid of the wrong sort, but at least that gave him some power.