It was a brisk day on Tall Avenue Azguardia, the financial center of the Galatic Coalition. Stock brokers, traders, and all other manners of people were busy going about their usual routines. Busting the bank, or busting their own personal fortunes, the Azguardians, and humans, and other alien spiecies that populated the local planets milled about, going about their buisness in kind. But recent events had upset the tranquility of the Azguard Stock Market. Terroist attacks, spread throughout the galaxy, with some affecting Coalition planets, had sent shock ripples through the peaceful communities, and goverment, causing many share holders to dump their investments, and use the money to either buy protection, or hoard it in case the stock markets collapsed. It was so bad that several tractor beam stations were positioned around the stock trading buildings to catch Azguards who tried to end it all. Actual rioting, something not usually seen in the peaceful coalition, had breakened out in local communities, and riot police, for the first time in years, had been called out to deal with the incidents. Something had to be done about the terroists, and the person to help solve that problem was Mobissiya Sardinia. He was an Azguard of the Royal Military, a naval commander with a brilliant tatical mind, and plenty of supports within the military and intelligence to pull off an operaiton that would eliminate the threat of terroism within Coalition space, and would win back the hearts and money of the investors that had left in terror and pain within the last few weeks.

First, a show of force was in order to help the people see that in fact the Galatic Coalition Military was indeed present to help protect them should they come under direct threat from terroism. Mon Calamari cruisers, and gunships now patrolled the lanes of the planets. Reservits were called up, and recruitment stations went active again. Divisions of peacekeepers were called up as well, and ships in mothballs or reserve fleets were activated once again, as the Military geared up to protect the populations of the Coalition once again. Close media coverage was provided in order to ensure the civilian populations that while the military was here to protect the civilian population, it would also stay within it's limits, and not abuse the civilian population either.

Meanwhile a quite lobbying campaign was conducted in order to find financial traces, and what had happened to all the money that was being transferred out, Azguardian accountants realizing that some of the wealthier, richer merchants may be sending money to the terroists, trying to buy peace back for them, but in the fact, only provide them with the resources needed to continue their campaigns of terror and destruction. Mobissya promised to track down all such leads, and to continue to support the people, and he asked in turn, for the people to support him and the military. Also, suspects to look for were companies who are profiting from the recent crashes, and holes in the economy. Several suspect companies were currently being investiaged.

Mobus himself had been born on the main planet of Azguardia, and had spent most of his thirty year life on the planet, and had moved off five years ago, to join the military in the wars with the Empire, and other groups. He had served on several warships during the last war, with some of them being blown out from under his feet. From serving as an aide on a gunship, to a gunnery chief on a frigate, and then as a captian on a cruiser, he had seen it all, and participated in it all, and knew what he was dealing with. He had as much hate and ill gratitude torward war as any other Azguardian, but unlike many of his bretheren, he was prepared to make the sacrafice of war in order to promote the longevity of peace. There would always be periods of peace, but Mobus would also recognize that would always be periods of war to intermix with it as well.

*Yawn*. Mobus awoke from his afternoon nap. He rubbed his tired eyes, and accepted a cup of caf from his beautiful wife, Melena. Stretching and snapping as he sipped at the stuff of life, he gingerly got up off the daybed, and went to his closet. He had a later afternoon meeting with a starfleet commander that he needed to keep. He selected a nice red bodysuite, with black stripes, just the thing to wear to a meeting with military types. He normally wore yellow or cyan bodysuits for meetings with civilians or the like. Unlike other alien species, Azguardians normally wore bodysuites from neck to foot that showed off their features without revealing in great detail the features that would make them seem repulsive to other alien species.

Going on down the list of items to wear, he selected a dark magneta hat with a bright red feather, his pass for entry onto the military base, and also wore a set of black boots. Although most of his species went barefoot, with his experience on other planets, Mobus had gotten used to wearing boots for his normal footwear. It was better this way, so he wouldn't have to get re-acquainted with them this way when his next off planet meeting was to occur. With a final kiss to his wife, he was off and way to his meeting. The commander he was about to meet was one of the graduates that had not taken part in the war, and was fresh, and a good tatician, or according to the simulators he was. He commanded a Republic class Star Destroyer. For the mission he had in mind, Mobus did not want to use any former Imperial ships, either in design, or in service.

Fifteen minutes later he was in the office with the starfleet commander. The commander's name was Farso, which was Azguardian for, Brave Soul. The commander was very kind and polite, unlike the others who had served in the war, and survived, who were mostly a bitter and shy bunch. Mobus was very receptive to the commander, as was the commander's attitude torwards him. They sat in a lounge area for a while, sitting on mesh seat cushions, and sipping on a fine pale brandy manufactured on the world of Hurok. Then they began to get down to buisness. The first topic on the issue board was the trade, and trends of the market.

"Well right now, stock is going up in the last few gun manufacturers for private ownership that still exist within our space. We have been previously trying to edge these buisnesses out of ownerships, or the system in general in our path torwards total peace, but so far that hasn't been happening. The terroist strikes of late are the main factor in stopping this progress, but hopefully, this trend won't continue on for too long. For when peace settles inevitably in again, the gun owners will get rid of their guns, and inevitably, some of them will fall into the wrong hands, and thus we will have a short spree of crimes before they are locked down, providing a brief period of economic decline in which investors will be looking to save and protect their profits. This is one matter of importance that I came to talk to you today." said Mobus.

"Another point in the market is that silk is on the decline in the supply factor. This has increased the demand factor, and the main reason that we are not getting enough silk is that one of the factories hit in the terroist attack was used to refine raw silk mined off of Lavisar. As a result, and because merchants are a little jumpy to transport the stuff to our homeworlds, the supply was dwindled, and the prices, and thus the demand, has gone up." said Mobus.

"Now, in order to rectify the situation, although our people's has been moving away from the military, and torwards peace, we realize that in these turbulent times, and in this turbulent galaxy, there is no such thing as everlasting peace. Therefore I think it is important to at least keep a certain portion of the military at a full state of readiness, to conduct exercises and keep in excellent shape. First off, a military victory against these so called terroists, more like a training exercise compared to your past events and engagements, would help to quell these recent economic events. First, a military victory has always, and should help this time, to reassure and spike the confidence of our investors. Second, securing of space should relieve the merchants, and help the silk to flowing again. And thirdly, confidence in the military, as well as alleviating of the turbulent times, should help drive the gun manufacturers for private citizens out of buisness, and help further to secure our population's safety." stated Mobus.

"Well, I can certainly see your points in this matter, mister Mobus, but let me explain to you. Right now the military is not in a very good state of being. After the last war, our resource and personnel became very depleted. Well sure, our fleet in being may look very impressive on paper, but in reality, our personnel are becoming very peace loving, and less military minded, and well, as a result, Mutinous. We are working on programs to help relieve this, but with many ships in drydock, or currently undergoing repairs and modernization, we have not very many combat vessels avilable for operations. Many warships of the picket sized are currently enlisted as planetery patrols to guard against new terroist attacks." said the commander.

"I have seen and glanced over the reports, commander. Now let me tell you something. First off, the crews are a problem, but in my opinion, all they need is to restore their confidence in their navy, and a good military operation followed by a victory will go a long ways torwards restoring their confidence. As for peace lovers, simply transfer them to ground, and let eager young recruits take their places. Sure they may not be trained up to the standards of the veteran crewers that they will be replacing, but they will be trained to do so, and nothing is as good as a nice little combat engagement. As for avilability of warships, squadrons of warships are just as effective as fleets of warships if they can be trained to work together. I will begin requistions to gather up a small fleet of vessels for this operation. The fleet will go out on exercises, and will be proudly displayed before the public, both as a morale booster for all Azguardians, and also as the first step to restoring our military to it's former standards." said Mobus.

"Your ideas sound sound and sturdy, but they are no garauntee that this is the right path to choose. Still, if you have the resources on hand, there is no reason not to try this, and we need any kind of a faith booster that we can get right now. The gods of the Azguards may be a all around faith booster, but they cannot protect anyone, and everyone. We need a strong military for that. We do we get started?" asked the commander.

"Meet me back here in one month. By that time the resources shall be assembled, and the fleet ready for it's mission. By that time I will also have pryed the markets, and backtreaked enough financial transactions to locate a suitable target for our operation. We will most likely end up taking a planet to help boost everyone's spending capability. In one month, we will begin the operations. Till then commander." said Mobus as he stood to leave.

"Good day, Counselor Mobus." saluted the commander.

On the planet Hurok, precisely twenty four hours after the meeting with the commander....

Mobus stood on the deck of the mon calamari cruiser Harbinger, and gazed out at the stars surronding the planet. The taskforce had been called together in orbit over this world in preparation for their first and most important mission. Provided nothing went wrong, the military victory should be assured, and the stock market should begin it's process of healing. Already stocks were jetting up in the proper places thanks to the fleet manuevers, and parades displayed in front of the now security minded public. The taskforce consisted of the type ninety cruiser Harbringer, which was the flagship of the taskforce, along with the Defender class star destroyer Defender, the last ship of a powerful variety built by the former New Republic, and the two Tholatin class Star Destroyers, Memory of Tholatin, and Vondariach. The fleet boasted full crew complements, and full complement of starfighters, shuttles, and troops, not quite yet veterans, but at least up to the status level of novices thanks to all the previous drills and fleet manuevers. The fleet was currently holding orbit in diamond formation, with the fleet flagship in the lead, followed by the Defender, with the other two Tholatin class ships in flanking positions. Mobus was preparing to take a shuttle down to the surface for one last meeting with the commander, and to discuss the battle plan with him, and also pick up the telecast crew that was coming along with them to telecast the battle back for the viewers. Mobus knew this last was a risky supposition, but felt it was needed to ensure fleet stability, and to assure the viewers that no attoricities were being comitted in the battle proper.

Sometime later, Mobus had landed on the planet, and was proceeding to the office of the commander. Once he had reached the office he chimed in the door bell and waited. He was not long in coming in, for the commander had been expecting him after all. They walked into the somewhat lush quarters of the commander, and came to what obviously was the dining quarters. Laid out on a table was a buffet of foods. The command glanced up to Mobus and smiled. "Mobus, welcome to my home. Come now, although I know you are anxious to carry on with this operation, you must be famished. Here, I have some Purkey Pot Roast, and some Dravy dressing, served up with some Golden Brown Discuits, finally with some sweet Dea to go with it all." beckoned the commander. "Good, it was been awhile since I have eaten. Thank you very much for your hospitality commander, I accept." said Mobus. With that the two Azguardians sat down and began to eat. Mobus selected a fine piece of Purkey, and poured some Dravy over it, and then selected a Discuit as a side, finally filling up a fine quartz glass with sweet iced Dea. Taking a sip of the Dea, Mobus relaxed, and sighed. The Commander looked up from his meal, and used a nipkin to wipe some food frothing around his lips. He smirked at the tired Mobus, and went back to his meal. Mobus began to wander with his thoughts, back home to his wife, and his children. It had been a couple of days since he had been away from them now, and would be at least another two weeks before he could see them again, because he would be away and involved in this military engagement, and the stock market reaction to it. He gradually pushed these thoughts out of his mind, and managed to finish his meal. It took him about an hour to do so, whereas at home he normally gobbeled up his food within five minutes. The commander had finished eating some time ago, and was patiently waiting for Mobus to finish. Seeing the counselor was done, the commander signaled for the cleaning droids to come. When their dished had been carted away, the commander pressed a button under the table. The top wooden section of the table splintered, and revealed a holotable beneath it.

"Now," began the commander, "The military target, as provided by you, is the planet of Loriare, which is located on the end of the Wild Space arm, near our homeworld cluster. The target is a world full of rich potential resources, and is in fact inhabited by humans that first came to the planet as miners to exploit these valuable resources. As of the start of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, the population of the planet was about twenty five million people, mostly humans. As the invasion climaxed, the number soared to thirty five million as a result of refugees. But now the world is controlled by a renegade group of pirates who had enslaved or slaughtered much of the population. The pirates have begun a massive military upgrade, selling the planet's rare resources collected via slave labour of the remaining planet's population in exchange for military hardware. The most recent transaction took place recently as the pirates made their biggest purchase yet, buying one old Imperial Strike class cruisers, formerly heading to the scrap yards. The cruiser we believe has been refitted and is now the pirate's flagship. The rest of their fleet consists of some thirty ships, consisting mainly of picket ships or corvettes refitted for raiding duty. There are also some old escort frigates serving under their banner as well, most of them having fled the New Republic during the Yuuzhan Vong incursion into our galaxy. The ships are mostly in orbit over the planet, although some are sometimes out on patrol or raiding missions away from the planet proper. Our battle plan is to engage and eliminate the enemy fleet, mostly by disabling the vessels, we want to cause as minimal casualties on both sides as possible. Then we will negotiate the planet to join with us. Even if it doesn't, we will still supply with relief supplies needed to help along with the rebuilding of the planet, and the restoration of it's freedom, peace, and tranquility."

"Very good commander. The battle plan is hereby approved by me, and thus the council. Now, let us depart on our mission to the planet of Loraire. The ships will leave in one hour's time. We have that long to finish final plans, and to take the taskforce up to full readiness. Let's get moving." said Mobus.

Ten hours later, over the planet of Loraire.....

Shock Ou of the Zharingen pirate gang looked up from his evening meal. Today he was feasting on roasted carrion bird, one of several birds that were captured on a hutt supply ship in a raid executed by the modified picket ship Nice Fury. The ship was an old IPV systems corvette, modified with addition laser cannons, and some troops with a docking collar. The ship had captured in addition to the birds a small hold full of ryll spice from Ryloth, not the best haul, not as rare as glitterstim, but rare enough for their purposes. The Ryll will be sold in a upcoming purchase to help by six old TIE fighters to help form a squadron that will serve on their brand new flagship, an old Imperial Strike cruiser. Recently having finished refitting, the ship now had some twenty turbolaser batteries, and twenty ion cannons, a very formidable ship as strong as the victory star destroyers of old. When they had first established this base as their new area of operations, Ou had been worried about inteference from the Galatic Coalition, which was based out of some weird hidden planets somewhere nearby. But as long as they have been active, Ou was no longer worried about it. The recent war between the Coalition, and the New Order convinced him of the weakness and inability of their military, being defeated decisively in several battles that reduced the overall size of their empire. Ou was now completley sure of their safety from the threat of the Coalition. That thought lasted about as long as it took for him to scoop the last bit of roasted carrion into his mouth. Then it was shattered by alarms ringing througout the bridge. Four large ships, presumably warships, had exited from hyperspace, and were on an approach vector to the planet. Ou ran into the war room, as he was captian of this ship, the escort frigate Lavisar. There he saw what the threats were all about. One of the ships was instantly identified as a mon calamari war cruiser. Another was soon identified as a defender class star destroyer, a class of fearsome warship that Ou had thought were all wiped out from the New Republic in either the war with the Yuuzhang Vong, or the subsiquent wars with the Empire. In another few minutes of scouring the databases, the last two were identified as Tholatin class Star Destroyers, ships known to exist only within the spheres of the New Galatic Coalition, or the Black Dragon Empire, and Ou doubted the later would be all the way out here. His suspicions were confirmed when Coalition markings were found on the vessels. ID's also came up, and confirmed them as Coalition warships. Finally, a message came in from the largest of the ships, a mon calamari type ninety cruiser, identified as the Harbringer.The message was from a man named Mobus, and warned of terrible destruction and carnage should the pirates stay to fight.

Having just finally assembled their new fleet, and not wanting to be crushed, the pirates decided to accept the words and warnings of Mobus, and leave the system. However, a few dissenters thought otherwise, and stayed behind to combat the New Galatic Coalition warships. One of those people was capitan Ou, who doubted the Coalitioners had the guts to take on his ships. He stayed behind with two old modified escort frigates, and one modified IPV systems picket craft, modified, the Nice Fury. He ordered his starfighters to deploy for battle, some three incomplete squadrons of X-wings, and one complete squadron of TIE Interceptors. The starfighters streaked out of the hangar bays, and prepared to go to war with the enemy invaders. Ou quickly came up with a simple and straightford battle plan. All of his ships and starfighters would engage the Defender type destroyer, the vessel identified as having the weakest shields, and hull strengths. If they could destroy this vessel, the enemy troops might loose the stomach for the fight, and either flee, or better yet, mutiny against their commanders. He ordered his TIE Fighters and corvette to protect the other vessels from enemy threats while they converged upon and destroyed the enemy star destroyer. The fleet began to move forward, and Captian Ou realized that he may have just ordered his ships, and his men to their destruction and deaths......

On board the Harbringer

Conselour Mobus took a backseat to the events now happening as the commander leapt into action in order to deal with the enemy fleet. Starfighters were deployed to act as a screen for the capital ships, which would use thier ion cannons to first disable the enemy ships, and then would send in troops aboard shuttles to capture the enemy ships and their crews. The enemy starfighters would be taken out, but their starfighters were ordered to let any enemy who tried to flee to escape, and to try for disabling hits instead of precise kills. The less enemy pilots died, the better it would be for all. Mobus already had ideas of how to deal with the captured pirates and ships. Any naughty pirates would be sent to prison for about five to ten years depending on the crimes they comitted, while these ships with the good pirates would be recomissioned as part of a defense force to help protect the planet from future pirate raids. But that was in the future. For right now came the matter of the engagement. Mobus patiently waiting for the shooting to begin......

On board the heavy cruiser Harbringer.....

As the two frigates and three squadrons of understrength X-wing fighters closed with the battlegroup, Mobus did his best to keep any emotions from his face. Right now the game of confidence was in the commanders lap, and with his confident smile, this reinforced the crews morale, and boosted the chances of victory within his men. Of course, the odds were quite unfair for the enemy, but they paid no heed for this, which had worried some of the crew that they might be up to something. Of course the commander had anticipated what they might try, and so had made moves to prevent it. The two Tholatin star destroyers were moving to cut off the frigates. As soon as they were cut off, the Harbringer, and Defender would move to flank the frigates, and destroy them in a crossfire. The remanining starfighters would be handled by their own MC-10 starfighters.

Then the two frigates were upon them, sweeping past the Harbringer from both sides, raining a sea of turbolaser and laser cannon blasts down upon the encircled mon calamari cruisers, while the enemy starfighters broke above and below the mon calamari cruiser. The cruiser replied with her ion batteries, and turbolaser cannons, scoring a direct hit on one frigate that blew through it's shields and reduced it's engine strength by half. Two quick concentrated ion salvos followed that finish the job on the frigate's propulsion. With one frigate down, the commander decided to alter his strategy. The Mon Calamari cruiser would finish off this frigate, while the two Tholatins would team together and eliminate the last enemy frigate, leaving their starfighters, and the Defender to deal with the threat of the enemy starfighters. The two opposing groups met up, the Tholatins turning broadside in order to cut off the enemies advance, and opening fire with their full broadsides on the remaining frigate, cutting it's shields to ribbons with their turbolasers and missile launchers, and disabling the ship itself with their ion cannons. With the two frigates disabled, assault shuttles were launched from the Mon Calamari cruiser, and the Defender type Star Destroyer to capture the two frigates and intern them and their crew. This left only the enemy starfighters to be dealt with. Four squadrons of MC-10 starfighters had caught up to them, and in a bloodthirsty and cautious engagement lasting some fifteen minutes, five enemy starfighters were disabled, another twenty crippled, and five were destroyed, in exchange for seven MC-10 starfighters destroyed, and two crippled. With the enemy fleet vanquished, Loraire was open for invasion. But that was not the way Mobus had planned to handle it.

Instead, negotiators and troops were sent down to the surface, the troops would escort the negotiators and arrest any remaining pirates, while the negotiators themselves would negotiate with the closest thing to planetery authorities for the planet to join the New Galatic Coalition. The negotiators were away while Mobus remained in orbit with the Commander and the Battlegroup. Mobus ordered refreshements to be served at his private chambers as he invited the commander there to talk about the operation, and it's outcome. Mobus stood from the bridge, and left from the back entrance, descended down the turbolift, and walked the distance to his quarters. Once there he keyed the door to his room to open, opened the cork on a bottle of brandy, prepared the delievered bowl of fooler candies, and waited for the commander to show.

When he did show up, Mobus was surpised to see the commander in casual uniform. When Mobus inquired as to why the commander was in regular dress, he simply responded that this was the first, and was probably the last time in a while, that he would be able to relax. Besides, he had a lot of tension that he needed to get rid of right after the engagement. Mobus had to agree with him on this point as he poured two crystal quartz glasses full of the brandy. Cradling his glass in his hand, letting the cool amber liquid slosh around in his cup, he looked the commander in the eye, and started thier converstation, "So commander, I take it you think this operation has been a success?"

"Why yes, quite so Conselour Mobus. I would even further that our little wager, or rather, experiment also turned out according to plan. We have secured a good military victory with minimal casualties on our side, and although we killed more of them than I would have liked, certainly the enemy faced and suffered far fewer casaulties than what they would have should they have been fighting other goverments." said the Commander.

"So, in retrospect, we have won. Yet a full victory is still not at hand, for a different kind of battle is even now being fought on the surface, between their negotiators, and our own. Now tell me commader, in precise numbers, what have we and they lost?" asked Mobus.

"Totally, we lost eight starfighters, with their crews half dead, the other half managing to eject and be rescued. Several enemy ion cannon hits caused overloads and small explosions and fires aboard this vessel, killing ten crewmen. So in total we have lost fourteen dead, twenty eight wounded, eight starfighters destroyed, one capital ship with very minor damage. In total however, the enemy lost all of his fleet, two frigates disabled and captured with their crews, one corvette crippled, most of it's crew dead, and some forty enemy starfighters either dead, disabled, or captured. In total, we estimate the enemy dead to be fifty, with another one hundred wounded, and some six hundred fifty taken prisoner." stated the commander.

*Beep Beep*. "I would continue this conversation commander, but it appears that we are getting a call from the surface. Let me take this one." Mobus said as he leans over the comlink. After several minutes he looks up again. "Those were our diplomats. Apparently, their mission was successful. Loraire is the newest member of the New Galatic Coalition. Total victory is ours commander. Cheers!" said Mobus, raising his glass.

"Cheers, and fine day it is for all peace loving citizens," replied the commander as their glasses clinked together, a clink heard throught the entirety of Wild Space.