You might call Aquaris a planet, but technically it was just a big ball of water with a core. Water covered one hundred percent of the planet leaving no land masses available. Not that anyone cared or anything, it's just that if you crash on the planet, you die. Your ship would sink to the ocean floor so fast you'd be dead in a few seconds. That is, if you didn't die on impact.

Even if you made it out of the ship before it sunk to the ocean floor you'd have to deal with natural predators. Demonsquid were commonly know to attack things no matter what their size. Gnooroop, not known to attack people, travel in extremely large schools and are common beneath the waters. Demonsquid make an easy snack out of these fish but their populations remain strong.

The planet, although having no land masses, is not uninhabited. A smuugler and pirate by the name of Silver Fyre took Aquaris as her home. Building an underwater base, she made almost the perfect hideaway. That ability to hide like that was exactly what the Republic was looking for. THey needed a place where secret operations could be run without the possibility of them being seen by spying eyes. Aquaris was exactly the right place.

Admiral Delrain was not exactly happy about having to go under water. He hated water and now was not his ideal time to learn to like it. If he had had his say they wouldn't be going to Aquaris at all. Of course Prince Vondiranach had wanted Aquaris as it was an extremely good planet for hiding, but Delrain had been unable to persuade him otherwise. This was why he was now sitting onboard a Tholatin-class Star Destroyer that was on its way to the planet.

He was not particularly pleased with the idea of meeting the Freeholders in person. Even though smuggling was in the blood of everyone born on Tholatin, he himself did not like their kind. He knew the leader, Silver Fyre, was a respectable person and had been an ally of the New Republic. That still didn't change his feelings about them. He didn't want to go near them. Maybe he would stay on the ship. Then he wouldn't have to. He could let one of the Generals handle it. He'd do that. Then he wouldn't have to worry about it.

Of all the forsaken planets we have to add, Aquaris has to be one of them? This is crazy! General Hector was looking out one of the ships many viewports into the white oblivion of hyperspace. It was rather a dull thing to watch but there didn't seem to be anything else to do. His troops were ready for an underwater trip. The RPGC had specially trained water troops, after all. Not much he could do but wait.

He stepped away from the window and stuck his hands deep into the pockets of his fatigues. It was not required by military code that he wear his uniform while they were just flying through hyperspace. Besides, he had just come from the rec hall where he had been running on a machine designed for it. THen of course he had done a sim for the mission. He hoped it would be as easy as the sim but things never were.

Passing by the mess hall, he could hear the sounds of many voices having a merry time. It was all intermingled in with laughter and he knew something was going on. Choosing not to stick his head into the room for fear of being blasted with food, he walke don towards his quarters and the refreshing shower that awaited him. It sounded so refreshing that he completely ignored the salute one of his men offered him. The man shrugged and headed for the mess hall.

Hector entered his quarters and stripped off his fatigues so that he could hop in the shower. The water was cool at first but turned a bit warmer after a few minutes. It felt good sliding across his skin and he took a few extra minutes to completely enjoy it. After a long shower, probably using a lot of the ships water, he stepped out and toweled off. Just before he could go to lay down his comlink beeped. He picked it up.

"Hector."

"General, this Admiral Delrain. Could you please come to the bridge?"

"Yeah. Be there in a sec."

"Alright."

Hector deactivated the marvel of technology and picked up his generals uniform from its hook in the closet. Slipping it on, he made sure to fasten everything before walking out of the room. He was forced to go back once he realized he had forgotten his comlink. Setting out again, he finally made it to the turbolift and shot up to the bridge. He was saluted by a few men on the inside before he walked over to Delrain.

"This had better be worth my time."

Delrain smirked at Hector as she handed him a datapad that she had made up a bit ago. On it was a new set of orders from command about the mission which included Hector as the planetary leader. He stared at the screen for a while before looking ather then back again. He couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. He had been put in charge on the planet? Sithspawn.

"Why have I been put in charge? What did I do to get demoted to planetside duty? I didn't offend any of the higher ups did I?"

"No you didn't. They just seem to believe you are better for the job than me. I can't say as I don't believe them. You have more planetside experience. You should be the one down there to do the damage. Even if it is water."

"But I don't like water."

"Too bad."

Hector growled and stormed back to the turbolift. He slammed his fist against the keys and the door closed. With a whooshing sound it took him away from the bridge. Dlerain smiled and looked out the viewport. THey still had about two hours until they got to Aquaris but she knew Hector would still be fuming then. He just never seemed to stop when he got worked up over something. She smiled and sat back to wait out the rest of their flight.

Hector was fuming when he made his way to the briefing room whcih was the only place he could find solitude. ANywhere else he might try would be full of people talking, and conversing about anything. He slammed his fist on the table as he sat down. He hated water and all forms of the substance. Whether it be water, mist, snow, or sleet he hated them all. He wished he could just be rid of it. The stuff made him sick.

"Oh. Hello General. Something wrong?"

He hadn't heard the door open so he didn't know that Corporal Scienar had walked into the room. Scienar led one of the Advance teams for Hectors army. He was one of the best division commanders TTR had to offer and Hector was known to be proud of the junior officer. Today, however, was a different matter for him. He didn't feel like being proud of anything or anyone.

"Go away Scienar. I'm ticked at command for our new orders."

"New orders, sir?"

"I've been assigned to command the planetary force. They know I hate water but they still assign me to planetary duty."

"I see, sir. Permission to speak freely?"

"Go ahead."

"You don't necessarily have to go down into the water with the rest of us. You can use one of the Amphibions and command from there."

"Yeah, I could. And I will to be exact. Thank you very much Corporal."

"You're welcome, sir. I'll be going now. Have to see that my people are prepared."

"You do that, Corporal."

"Yes, sir."

The Corporal turned on his heels and exited the room to leave the General by himself for a while. Hector had a smile on his face now. The Corp had assigned him to be in charge o the planetary forces. They hadn't told him he had to go into the water. That was his lucky break. He wouldn't be disobeying orders and he could keep out of the water. He'd gotten out of this one.

Delrain looked out the view port at the still streaming stars. They did not have a whole lot of time left before the ship arrived on location at Aquaris. But it was enough time to get a bit of shuteye in. Instead of going down to her quarters she had just closed her eyes and slept in the chair for a while. That way if anything happened and she was needed she was right where she needed to be. There was nothing wrong with being extra prepared in her line of work.

The sleep had come slowly and had taken her a while to shut out the noise of the crew working around her. Of course she had eventually done so, but it had taken quite some time to do it. However, after what seemed like only a few minutes, a gentle hand shook her shoulder and awoke her from her sleep. She rubbed her eyes a few times before they adjusted to the light then she looked at the man in front of her.

“What is it Captain?”

“We’ve arrived at Aquaris. And it isn’t a pretty sight.”

Delrain sat forward in her seat and looked out the front view port at the planet below. It seemed fine and for a while she wondered what the captain was talking about. His statement had not made sense to her. Then she saw the debris floating in space and quickly stood up. This was not good. It could mean there was a hostile fleet floating nearby. She looked at the Captain.

“Recent?”

“No. Years old from what we gathered. It seems that the previous inhabitants have met with a tragic end.”

“Too bad for Silver Fyre.”

“And there’s this.”

The captain handed Delrain a data pad with a visual on it from a probe droid. She looked in puzzlement at the scene depicted on the screen. The enclosed platform was above water and looked completely deserted. After a few moments of deliberation she looked at the Captain with a raised eyebrow.

“Anything moved down there?”

“Not that we’ve seen. Of course there could be wraiths or something down there and you can’t exactly see those.”

“No you can’t. Have the droid move in closer.”

“Alright.”

Delrain watched as the view from the droid changed. The droid was moving closer to the landing platform whose dome was down as if waiting for a ship to land. As the droid moved over the platform, something on the screen shifted. A shadow seemed to move and then the droid was destroyed and the picture was lost.

“Did you see that?”

“Yes I did. There are hostile wraiths down there. We’re going to have to have the troops go in hot. Anyone seen the General?”

“No. Would you like me to call him up.”

“Yes. Please do. And tell him to have his people ready.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“It’s showtime.”

Hector looked up at the door when it opened. He wasn’t surprised to see the Ensign standing there looking at him for a few moments. He’d wondered when they would actually arrive at Aquaris. They’d been journeying for quite some time and had not gotten there. It seemed a miracle that the ship had arrived after all the waiting they had to do. Hector motioned for the Ensign to enter then set his papers down to look at him.

“What can I do for you, Ensign?”

“Admiral Delrain said to inform you that we have arrived at Aquaris and that you are to get your Aqua troops ready. She also requests that you join her on the bridge. It appears they have made a discovery about the planet.”

“Alright. Thank you for your assistance, Ensign. You may go back to your duties and tell the Admiral I will be right up. I just have to have my men begin final preparations.”

“Yes, sir.”

The Ensign saluted then turned to depart from the room. Hector stood from his seat and slid on his work jacket. He’d be going planet side and a formal jacket would not be worth the wearing. He walked out of the room and closed the door. Down the hall just a little ways was a ready room, which he knew the occupants of. He opened the door and looked at Corporal Scienar.

“Corporal, we have reached Aquaris. Please have your men begin final preparation and load the drop ships. We will be leaving shortly.”

“Yes, sir.”

Hector stepped back out of the room and walked farther down the hall to a turbo lift that went up to the bridge. He climbed aboard and let the lift take him up to where he needed to be. There he departed and walked over towards the Admiral who was holding a data pad with a frozen image on it. She handed it to him as he approached.

“What did you want? For me to look at this? It’s just a still of the landing platform.”

Delrain nodded slightly.

“Right now it is. Press the play button and watch the picture. We made a discovery that may now keep your men alive. If we hadn’t you might as well consider this a flop. Every single man you sent down there would be dead as soon as they landed. Now they have a chance to complete their mission.”

Hector looked at her with a raised eyebrow. Then, shrugging her comments off, he pressed the play button. Watching the shot move closer and closer, he suddenly saw movement, a shadow shifted and then the image was cut dead as the droid taking it blew up. He stopped the motion and looked right at Delrain.

“Was that what I think it was?”

“A Wraith, yes. We’ve been doing flybys with fighters equipped with cameras. We’ve noticed multiple shadows shifting around on the landing platform and believe that there are two dozen of the things down there on the platform. There is likely to be more.”

“This is very interesting. I need to speak with my men about this. We’ll have to cover this scenario. The only one we covered was fighting against the demonsquid.”

“Yes, well, you have four hours to get prepared. You best move.”

“I am, I am.”

Hector walked into the ready room a few minutes later and looked at the squad of commanders in front of him. There were quite a few of them there and as he entered they stood and saluted. He saluted back and gave them the at ease call. They relaxed and sat back down in their seats. Hector looked at them with a very serious look on his face.

“We’ve got a complication. It appears there are wraiths on the base down there.”

“I told you Ralen was right.”

Hector looked at the person who had spoken.

“What was that?”

“General Ralen MeVere. Garm Bel Iblis’ protégé helped defeat a naval force run by Wraiths that attacked TTR and ORS ages ago. No one’s heard from him since except that he has a book out about his exploits and his beliefs.”

“What does that have to do with our fight?”

“He fought the wraiths. They hate too much light. Use lights on the platform and we can kill them easily.”

“Interesting. Well, get ready. We have work to do.”

Admiral Delrain watched the Wraiths with a watchful eye. Even she knew the danger of fighting against an enemy you couldn’t see. Whatever Hector decided to do had better work or they were going to lose a lot of men to an unseen foe. They could possibly push the wraiths inside with scattered blaster fire and then take over the base systematically. Of course that would take a lot of time and time was something they didn’t have a lot of.

“New development, Admiral.”

She looked up as an ensign approached her with some sheets of information. On it was a report from one of the ships scientists. Apparently he had been watching the wraiths and noticed they tended to shy away from any source of light. All you had to do was direct a simple beam of energy at them and they would back off. She thanked the ensign and got on her comlink with General Hector.

“General, it appears that the Wraiths don’t like light. If you could dir….”

“We already know, Admiral. One of my soldiers has read Admiral Ralen MeVere’s book. He’s the Admiral that helped us in the Wraith War a couple years back. He mentioned his tactics for defeating them in the book and one of my soldiers pointed out their weakness to me.”

“I see.”

“We’re going to deploy some large spotlights on the landing platform and push our way inside to the control center. Then we’ll head on down to the base and take over down there.”

“Alright good. Good luck.”

“Thanks.”

She cut off the conversation and looked out the view port at the water planet below. Another ensign walked up and whispered in her ear. She listened intently then looked at the image from below. There was a disturbance on the surface and she watched as something fell over the edge of the landing platform and then a demonsquid sucked it in.

”Give me a replay.”

She watched it again.

“Alright now zoom in on that object.”

They did so and to her horror it appeared to be the figure of a struggling man. She and almost everyone else on the ship gasped in horror as the demonsquid chomped the still live human in half and sent the rest of him floating in the water for another squid to eat. She looked away after a little while. It was just too much to see.

“Tell the General to hurry up. There are still live humans down there.”

“Yes, ma’am.”



“General?”

“Yes?”

“Admiral Delrain would like to express the wish that you hurry because it appears there are live people still down there other than the Wraiths.”

The aide handed Hector a data pad that was playing and replaying a video clip. He watched in horror the same scene that Admiral Delrain had just witnessed. He pushed the data pad away after a few moments and stood from his seat. Walking over to the door, he grabbed his weapons belt and his blaster rifle and looked at the aide.

“Tell the Admiral that we’re leaving now.”

He left the room and sent the aide back towards the bridge. Walking into the ready room, he found that his teams were already ready and he looked them over. Everything seemed to be set. The squads had every man ready and fully loaded with the gear he would need for the assault.

“We’re going now. There are live people down there and the Wraiths are feeding them to the demonsquid alive.”

The troops looked shocked that even the Wraiths would be so inhumane. Nobody in their right mind would ever send a person to his death by pushing him into the jaws of a demonsquid while still alive. It was just too horrific to imagine.

“Saddle-up.”

The drop ships quickly moved out away from the fleet vessels. Their contents of soldiers, marines, and water units would be deployed on the planet in order to provide effective weapons against the Wraiths. Among their cargo were some large spotlights to spread light across the whole landing platform. It would allow them to keep the Wraiths inside while they set up. Every trooper carried a glow rod in order to provide a light source on the inside as well as to keep the Wraiths away.

“Landing in 5…4….3…2…1…touchdown. Deploy.”

The doors swung down and the spotlights were wheeled out and turned on. The landing platforms shadows were illuminated with light and the Wraiths on the platform howled in pain as they ran inside. A squad of RPGC ran over to the door and popped their glow rods inside to push the Wraiths back. General Hector followed this squad inside with his own as they pressed forward. Blaster fire erupted on the inside as the two RPGC squads opened fire on a band of Wraiths that were pressing their luck and attacking.

The fact that the blaster bolts themselves were lights and that they were destructive energy effectively killed the Wraiths as they moved forward. Hector motioned for them to split off and move down the two separate halls and they did so. His squad went right while the other squad went left. Outside, the troops were securing the platform and checking to make sure everything would still work properly. Hectors squad was the one that found the command room.

“Alright. Get this thing working you two.”

Hector pointed at the two technical members of the squad.

“You two guard the doors for them while the rest of us see if there are any other beings in this half of the platform.”

A chorus of acknowledgments sounded as the troops spread out through their half of the platform in search of any living being. Of course there were still Wraiths to fight, and blaster fire from far off told them that the other squad was having the same difficulty. The Wraiths seemed to be everywhere and it was tough trying to get rid of them. Hector and his two men came across a band of them holed up in a side room that had once housed the platforms operators. They took them out quickly, but were forced to leave the room when they discovered the remains of a dead Gotal on the floor.

“Grotesque creatures, these Wraiths,” one of his men spoke up.

“Yes, they are. It looks like they took the place by storm. Perhaps came in on a merchant ship, then departed it upon landing and waited. When that ship left, they attacked ruthlessly. The operators, wisely, kept the platform above water.”

“But it looked like it had been under recently.”

“It did indeed. The Wraiths probably rode it down to grab a couple of people then brought it back up so they could torture them. Hence the one they threw to the Demonsquid.”

The trooper nodded and Hector led them back out of the room and off down the hall. They finished up scouring their side of the platforms interior and headed back to meet up with the others. By then the other squad had returned with two female humans in tow. They threw themselves at Hectors feet and pleaded for their lives. Hector rolled his eyes and lifted them from the ground.

“No one here plans to kill you. We’re from the Tholatin Republic. We’re here to liberate Aquaris from the Wraiths as well as get Aquaris to join the Republic secretly.”

“Oh I hope she’ll let us.”

They looked at each other with hopeful faces as Hector spoke.

“Who’s this she you speak of?”

“Silver Fyre of course.”

“Silver Fyre is still alive? I’m surprised.”

“She is but she’s a lot older than she used to be. But she’s a lot more willing to deal.”

“Good. Well, that’s what we’re here for. To deal.”

They nodded and Hector walked into the command room to check on the progress of the two technicians. They said they were ready for decent and sounded a warning klaxon outside as the waterproof dome came up and sealed itself over the exposed part of the platform. It jerked as the turbines went to work pulling it back under the oceans surface. Hector grabbed onto a bolted down chair for support as they descended.

“Hope this thing holds together. Otherwise we’re in deep trouble.”

“It’ll hold.”

As the platform plunged beneath the surface, Hector watched the animals on the outside as the moved by. The hostile squid came after the thing with wide mouths, but they could do no harm to the platform. And when they tried, a few underwater craft that the Republic had borrowed would come in and shoot harpoons at them to drive them away. Or they would use simple electroshock mechanisms to push them off. They were easily kept at bay, however.

“How long will it take us to get down?”

“Twenty minutes. It’s a long way down.”

“That’s a lot of pressure for this platform.”

“That’s a lot of pressure for anything, but this base was designed to hold. Ms. Fyre did a very good job of making sure she could take the pressure. Otherwise we wouldn’t be here on our own.”

“Very true.”

After twenty minutes of watching water and fish float by on the outside, there was a loud clank as the platform finished its decent. Off to the side of where all the troops were waiting there was a loud hiss as the pressure seal between the platform and the underwater base became active. One of the women undid the hatch and pulled open the door. She called in that there were friends coming in and Hector led his troops and the ones that joined them from the platform inside.

A large group of humans and other alien creatures approached them. At the front was a woman Hector knew almost as soon as he saw her. She was Silver Fyre herself and he had to admit she still looked dashing in her very revealing outfit. She did seem to be a bit older, but other than in the way she carried herself one would never have guessed she was over the age of twenty-five. Hector gave her a slight bow.

“General Hector of the Tholatin Republic Expeditionary Forces at your service.”

“A pleasure I’m sure. I assume you know me.”

“Yes, of course. You are Silver Fyre, leader of the Freeholders. One would be hard pressed not to know you. Fortunately this location has remained a secret.”

“How then, did you find us?”

“Prince Vondiranach of Tholatin used to be an Admiral of the New Republic. He discovered Aquaris and your base by accident and wiped all memory of the planet from Coruscant while he was there. He deemed it necessary to keep it a secret.”

“I see. What brings you here then? Are you going to try and kick us out of our home like these blasted Wraiths have been doing?”

“Absolutely not. We’re here to see if you would like to lend your services to the only Republic left in the galaxy. The New Republic is dead thanks to a lack of leadership. Our Republic is the only one still around.”

She motioned for him to follow her and led him off through some corridors. The rest of her people remained behind to chat with the RPGC troopers about the goings on in the galaxy. It seemed that information about what was going on was hard to get for the Freeholders. Mainly because of the Wraiths. Fyre led Hector into a lounge and they sat in two comfortable chairs off to the side.

“How does this benefit us?”

“Well, the Republic will lend some water forces to the planet and put a garrison here as an addition to your underwater base. In order to keep the fact that the Republic is here a secret, we’ll be shipping in supplies for both us and you through your ships so that our enemies only believe the Freeholders are here.”

“So far so good.”

“The platform will be fitted with four anti star fighter gun turrets and two torpedo launchers. Should an enemy try to land, you can blast them out of the air and then bring the platform down while we mobilize a fleet to come to your defense. Aquaris is not that far away from some of our planets.”

“So you’re saying we benefit by getting free supplies and a defense force.”

“Yes, exactly. And all you have to do is ship the supplies in and make sure our troops remain healthy while here.”

“Easily done. What’s the catch?”

“In the case if an emergency where our command structure must remove itself to a secret location they will come here and assume control of the Republic from here. You must accommodate them and be under their command while here.”

“Taking commands from outsiders is not something that we’re exactly good at.”

“It won’t be that hard. It’s unlikely you will ever have to do so. Their first choice is a planet hidden in unknown space that we found. If they ever are forced to come here it will only be under the most dire of circumstances.”

“Very well. We accept. When will this garrison be installed?”

“It’s ready to be installed now. In fact, it should have begun to float down here already. We’ll have it installed in two days at the most.”

“Alright.”

“The troops here with me will be the ones in the garrison and will be in charge of the defense structures that they have already begun to install on the platform. They will also assist in the attaching of the new base.”

“Alright. When do we begin shipping in supplies and such?”

“As soon as you can get ships to Ruusan. That will be your pick up point. Then you will follow an elaborate set of jumps to get back. That way nobody can trace your path back here.”

“Simple enough. Alright. We’ll get right on it. I’ll have one of my transports head over to pick up our supplies.”

”Very good. And Welcome to the Republic. I need to get back topside so if you will excuse me, I’ll be going. Commander Doren will be the one in charge of our troops.”

“Alright. Thanks. See you around. Give my regards to the Prince.”

Hector nodded and stood from his seat. Bowing slightly to her, he excused himself from the room and went back to where the platform was. Nodding to his two technical people, they all got inside the platform and soon enough it was headed back towards the surface. Hector had to report back to Admiral Delrain’s task force so that they could return to their station at Tholatin. From what they’d heard it would be necessary for them to go out on another mission soon.

The galaxy was growing heated as more and more fighting erupted between the super powers on all sides. Even some of the neutral factions had gotten involved in the war by attacking certain sides. Some even attacked both sides. It wasn’t everyday that that happened but it was becoming more and more evident the longer the war lasted. It was just a gigantic mess out there now and the Republic had some work on their infrastructure to do to get ready for the next time around. It was going to be a long off season.