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[b]For generations the Trade Federation had stood as the king of the intergalactic corporate empire. From their headquarters on the wealthy system of Neimoidia, the Nemiodians could influence every walk of life in the galaxy.

So powerful was the Trade Federation that they were represented in the Republic Senate, an honour granted usually only to planetary systems.

The Trade Federation blossomed and quickly became the most powerful force in the galaxy, with armies and fleets rivalling those of the Galactic Republic. But all was not well in the inner sanctums of the Federation.

Consumed with greed, the Vicory of the Trade Federation made a shaky alliance with one Darth Sidious, Dark Lord of the Sith. On his orders, the Federation launched an assault on the Sovereign System of Naboo, blockading the entire planet.

Only with the divine intervention of Queen Padme Amidala, and the Jedi Master and Padawn Qui-gon Gin and Obi-Wan Kenobi, was the system spared from the clutches of the Trade Federation.

The Trade Federation faced the Supreme Court of the Republic in a victorious battle twice at least, and ten years after the Naboo Blockade was still the most powerful corporate party in the galaxy.

As the Clone Wars drew near, the Trade Federation established itslef on Geonosis, constructing massive armies of battle droids to assist the Rogue Count Dooku in his war with the Republic.

But the Clone Wars did not turn out in favour of the Seperatist movement, and the Trade Federation was all but destroyed in the resulting catastrophe.

They were oblivious to the rise and fall of the Empire, the Galactic Civil War, and the invasion of the Yuuzhan Vong. It was not until, years later, as the renewed Empire fought the Rogue Jutraalian Empire on the footsteps of the Royal capital, that the Federation would resurface.

Under Nelix Galdra, the Trade Federation saw the light once more. They rebuilt their lost starfleets, and within months of their initial resurgence were considered the formost corporate power in the galaxy, rivalling the monolithic Vinda-Corp in sheer power and influence.

But war does not bode well for the Federation, it seems. Even as they took their first baby steps into the galaxy, war was descending upon them. After cutting off critial supplies to the Galactic Defence Initiative, a band of do-gooder 'Peacekeepers' during a time of war, they found themselves battling on the same fronts that they had for generations.

Tava Yagen and Mestra would have fallen to the GDI, were it not for the intervention of Grand Admiral Daemon Hyfe, of the Galactic Empire, and Dxun Isstal, Supreme Commander of the Galactic Defence Initiative, who signed a peace treaty on the grounds of ceasing the bloodshed.

Thus the Federation was spared.

But as the galaxy once more began to know peace, the Federation's fragile inards began to crumble. Nelix Galdra, vaunted Vicory and Dark Lord of the Sith in training, vanished seemingly over night. The galaxy shook, and the Federation took its final breath as Civil War ravaged Neimodia.

By the time of Tilaric Brell and his New Empire, the Trade Federation was but a distant memory once more...

The Past... Eriadu

"...and what has become of the Trade Federation...?"

Ton Karlos, longtime Executor of the mysterious Shadow Hand, sat in one corner of the darkened room, watching the raindrops fall outside the windows. The city was dark at this hour, just past midnight. Only a few diehards still out, for reasons that Ton would rather now know.

He took a careful sip of the caf clutched in his right hand, taking his eyes slowly away from the window to face the LFX Industrial Lord Protector.

Hiram Drayson frowned, eyes darting from the Executor, to the window, and back. The caf he held was forgotten, or so it seemed.

"...we're not sure. Reports from Neimoidia have been... scarce, at best. Rogue Federation elements have been deteced across the galaxy..."

The Executor nodded thoughtfully. The Admiral of the Fleet, Hiram Drayson, was a compitent man and was well known for being able to process information and reach the neccessary conclusions... but if he did say so himself, Ton Karlos was much more adapt at the intelligence part of that.

"...under the leadership of Rogues, no doubt. You should know, Admiral, that it is not uncommon for fleet elements to splinter when the head of their government is cut off..."

Drayson shifted, the noise radically loud in the near-perfect quiet, and nodded. He took a sip of the caf, almost absently, and almost spat it out again.

"...horrid stuff, this... I'll have to talk to Mister Ashar in the morning..."

Ton checked his watch absently and realized the time. Apologizing profusely, he left the Admiral and beat a hasty retreat.

At the time, neither had any idea that the next day would call Hiram Drayson away to Corellia for an emergency meeting of the New Republic Council, and that he would not be seen on Eriadu again.

At the time, it was just another day for LFX Industrial...

The Present

Commenor... LFX Industrial Headquarters Building...

"...the Trade Federation, Executor... the Trade Federation, or rather, Neimoidia had erupted into Civil War by the time we got wind of Galdra's disappearence... evidently, they did not want others to know of that event until it was to late..."

Ton Karlos, sitting by a similar window in a similar building, this time during the day, nodded without speaking. He knew most of this, but he had not yet had the perspective of the Polemarch on it. It was really fascinating stuff.

"...and what happened then, Trayden...? once we did learn of Nelix's... vanishing...?

Trayden Locke paused here and set down the cup he held.

"...we sent the fleet... you know that... and they tried to restore order..."

Ton nodded. The fleet had been sent, indeed, and had found a world so wound up in chaos that it had almost taken an all out invasion to quell them.

"...and then we were ejected... the resroted Neimoidian government ordered us to leave their world and we did..."

The Polemarch went silent, and Ton stayed silent, lost in thought. After a time, he asked,

"...who commanded the fleet that went to Neimoidia...?

A smile crept to the lips of Locke, and he chucled a bit.

"...that was my command, Karlos... operation manifestation..."

Ton looked at the man, squinting slightly.

"...the archive file was locked very tightly... I haven't had the time yet to decrypt it... why...?"

The Polemarch shook his head, his smile vanishing in an instant.

"...I was ordered not to inform anyone of this, Ton, so you must believe me that it is highly confidential..."

He paused for a moment, gauging the reaction of the Executor, who nodded but said nothing.

"...while we were on Neimoidia, we discovered some very shocking and disturbing things... dangerous things about the Trade Federation... the government ejected us because of those things, and told us not to come back..."

"...what kind of things, Trayden...?"

The Executor asked.

"...I have to know..."

"...weapons... secrets... plans and advances and communications from the Trade Federation... some of them are out of date, now, of course... some about Endgame, others Trade Federation war plans... but some very dangeous, sensitive material, as well..."

Ton nodded.

"...I'll decrypt the file as soon as possible..."

Trayden nodded.

"...I think that some of it might be very relevent to the current state of the galaxy..."

The Past

The City of Darlaxia... Neimoidia...

Following the fall of the Trade Federation, a dozen or more officials each claimed lordship over her vast empire and fleets. Each thought that they, and only they, were in charge, and as such a fight broke out among them. Splintering elements of the fleet abandoned Neimoidia, taking the warlords path, while others fell under the command of one Dlak Sho. Dlak Sho looted the city and retreated to a heavily guarded government palace in the centre of Darlaxia to wait out the storm.

Hoards of angry citizens rampaged the once-beautiful streets of Neimoidia's capital, the stunning vista that had once been the City of Darlaxia. Since the disaperence of Vicory Nelix Galdra, and the subsequent collapse of the Trade Federation infastructure, the city and the planet had become a chaotic pit of hopelessness, puncuated by death, despair, and terror.

"...run, damnit, run...!"

"...they're coming...!"

"...take the children and go... I'll hold them off...!"

The rampaging crowds had stripped the government buildings of all but the most useless of items. Universities, hospitals, schools... none where spared from the rampage of the Neimoidian people.

Then one of the last officers of the Trade Federation took control. The fleet overhead - what was left of it - opened fire on 'select locations'. Entire neighbourhoods were wiped out, destroyed in the blink of an eye by the horror of an orbital bombardment.

Then the troops came. Wave after wave of Battle Droids entered the city, restoring order with a mighty fist of anger. The rampaging and rioting ended - but at great cost. A hundred thousand citizens dead, more than half from the orbital bombardment and another third from the incursion of Trade Federation Battle Droids.

Days later the Releif Fleet from Eriadu arrived and found themselves at odds with the remnants of the Trade Federation armada. The LFX Industrial fleet tore the remaining warships to pieces above their own homeworld, and proceeded to land troops in and around the City of Darlaxia. Federation Battle Droids were shut down en-mass, and for the first time since Dlak Sho took control, Darlaxia began to know peace.

Only Dlak Sho himself was left, virtually alone in the massive palace that he had locked himself inside, surrounded by an entourage of Battle Droids and Destroyer Droids.

The Home Defence Corps. would eventually route Dlak from his refuge and take control of the palace, before the Neimoidian government they had restored would order them off the planet.

They took with them some very dark secrets, from the former palace of Vicroy Nelix Galdra, of the Trade Federation...

The Present

The Blackhawk... en route to Neimoidia...

He took a drag from his cigara thoughtfully, watching as the shuttle leapt into hyperspace, the starlines expanding and then disapearing, replaced by a swirling blue vortex.

He pulled his eyes away from the viewport and smiled grimly.

"...what can I expect to find on Neimoidia...?"

He asked, turning away from the viewport and walking across the small room.

"...danger, of course... but I daresay you're used to that by now..."

Ton chuckled a bit and nodded.

"...fairily..."

The other smiled and bobbed his head once, chuckling a bit.

"...indeed... the Neimoidian government ordered us off the planet once, but whether that will have changed in unknown..."

"...but we're assuming that it has not..."

"...yes... you know the risks we're taking getting you in, sir..."

"...yes... but I think we may find something very interesting once we get there..."