Prologue

7 years after the Rise of the Empire

Near the planet Doros, the Star Destroyer Avenger

Admiral Varinth, Imperial Navy

The bridge rocked again, sirens screeching throughout the whole Star Destroyer as another salvo of proton torpedo's made contact with the shields. I sat in the admirals chair on the Star Destroyer Avenger, clutching the arm rest as the capital ship rocked again from yet another salvo. It was only an hour ago I was wishing for something to actually happen, wishing to see some action.

By order of the Emporer, the 623rd Navy Division was instructed to set up a blockade around the planet of Doros. And the Doros Government was not happy with it. So here we were, the Avenger, the Black Hand, the Carbonate, plus 2 Imperial Frigates, fighting against mercenaries called on by the Doros militia.

I turned on my holo-comunicator, sending out a message to the other captains. 4 Holo-Images appeared in front of me, showing me the captains from the 4 other cruisers.

"Captain Nickerson, what is the enemy count?" I asked the captain of one of the Frigates. Nickerson was a young man, looking to have just come out of the Imperial Academy. He had black hair, cut to Imperial Regulation, and wore the standard olive green uniform of an Imperial Officer. He had a grim look on his face as he stood erect in his commanding chair.

"Sir, from what my Navigator tells me, we are dealing with 3 enemy frigates, 2 heavy cruisers, and at least 30 small space craft. The frigates appear to be standard Correlian Corvettes, and the Heavy ships consist of a Bothan fleet command ship and the othera Mandalorian Cruiser."

I cursed to myself. Where did these mercenaries get a Bothan Command ship from? Focusing my attention back on the 4 commander in front of me, I began giving out orders.

"Have all forward shields set to 50% power, and divert the rest to your sides. I don't want those small hand fighters to attack your side. I also want Frigates to get in a shield formation, and focus fire on the other frigates. I want all Star Destroyers to focus long range turbo lasers on the Command ships." Then Captain Farthers, commanding officer of the Carbonate, spoke up.

He was an older fellow, in his mid 30, and was at one point a junior officer for the Republic Fleets, helping with the siege of the planet Kashyyyk.(And I looked it up. I spelled Kashyyyk right)

"Admiral, what do we do about the fighters?" I bit my lip and tried to form up the strategy. The fighters were Head Hunter class, which were weak but agile fighters. The lasers alone would not be enough to take down even a frigate, but if they travelled in a large enough pack, they could wipe out a Star Destroyer. They were too small for turbo lasers to sight them, which made the situation even more disastrous.

"Scramble all TIE fighters. I want 5 squads of 5 TIEs to attack the headhunters. Have the rest provide cover fire for any TIE Bombers making runs on the enemy frigates. You have your orders. Admiral Varinth out." And with that, the 4 captains disappeared, leaving me alone with the rest of the bridge staff. The officer on the scanners suddenly stood and addressed me.

"Sir, another squad of Headhunters is making an attack run on our shields!" I looked out the view-port and saw them approaching. 10 Headhunters began descending on the Avenger, aiming for its midsection. They swiftly evaded our short range Turbo Lasers, all accept one, which blew up upon impact. As they descended, they began launching a volley of proton torpedoes, which hit the shields. But before all the Head Hunters could fire, however, one of the TIE squads rounded out and began firing on the Hunters. 2 of them exploded, and the rest quickly dispersed. Another alarm began going off, and the Attack coordinator approached me, sweat dripping from his face.

"Sir, our shields have been reduced to 10% in the front. Our side shields have been diminished. We cannot take another salvo like that!" I gulped, sweat beginning to drip down my face as I began thinking. It would only take 2 more torpedoes to disable the shields, plus any remaining bombs would tear the ship apart. Not to mention it would expose the Star Destroyer to boarding parties. I gulped as I went back to my command chair, calling up the other captains. They all appeared and began giving reports.

"My shields have been disabled, and I don't know how much longer I will be able to hold out," Captain Garanger, commander of the second frigate, reported. "Admiral, my TIES report that one of the enemy corvettes have been disabled. They will be completely down in a few minutes," Captain Farthers reported. "I believe we need to change our strateg... ahhhh!"

Captain Nickerson suddenly screamed, and his holo-image turned to static. I looked out my viewport and watched as Headhunters launched Proton Torpedoes at the Frigate's bridge. This was not good. With only one frigate left, the Star Destroyers were completely exposed to the command ships heavy lasers, which would tear through the Avengers weak shield and end my military career.

"We have lost Nickerson! Captain Garanger, I need you to pull your frigate back. I will not lose another frigate. I need all long range turbo blasters to pick a target on the heavy ships. Have the TIEs go on an attack formation to take out the frigate. Garanger, I need you to use your short range lasers to defend against the fighters."

"But sir, our turbo lasers are useless against those fighters!"

"Do you want to lose your ship?" Garanger shut up at this, turning to one of his navigators as his Holo-Image disappeared. Staring out of the view port, I watched as Garangers frigate began to turn around, coming in closer to the other Star Destroyers. I shut off the Holo frequency, walking down the narrow walkway to the front of the bridge.

Another strategy officer came up to me, handing me a Holopad. He saluted and walked away as I began reading. The pad gave reports that our navigational systems and long range communications had been destroyed. Our shield was mostly depleted, and there was a breach in Hanger 5. On a positive note, the Bothan ship's shield and Hyperdrive were down, and the Mandalorian Cruiser had a major breach in its side. One of the Corvettes were seriously damaged, and a few more shots would tear it apart. The other Corvettes, on the other hand, seemed almost in perfect condition. Then I saw something that would give us an advantage. The damaged Corvette was dangerously close to the other 2 corvettes. I quickly ran over to the ship intercom, right as the ship rocked again.

"Our shields have been disabled!" One of the officers said, fear trickled throughout his voice. I cursed as I stumbled onto the comn station. I rerouted the call to go to our strategy center. "Gunnery Corp, this is Admiral Varinth. Respond." The response came almost immediately.

"This is Gunnery Officer Mari. What are your orders, sir?" I coughed and gave the order.

"Those two Corvettes that are next to each other? I need you to relay orders for our TIES to concentrate fire on the damaged corvettes main engine." The Gunnary hesitated, as if he was going to question, but apparently decided against it.

"Yes, Sir!" He signed off and I went back to my seat. The ship rocked yet again as the head hunters made another swoop, attacking the main hull. The hull was thick, however, and was able to fend off the incoming lasers. I continued to watch out the view port as a TIE squad made its way over to the damaged Corvette, taking out its engines and stabilizers.

I smiled as the Corvette began to tumble, heading straight for the healthy Corvettes. I watched as the 2nd Corvette tried to get away, but it was too late. The damaged Corvette rammed right into the center of the 2nd one, making it break apart from the pressure. A few of the other officers began to whoop, until things went downhill. A large explosion sounded to my left.

I turned and looked with terror as The Black Hand literally tore in half. Explosions rocked the Star Destroyer as it blew up, the debris showering everywhere. No escape pods. The ship had gone down with all hands on deck. Suddenly, my holo-net started beeping. I sat down and activated it, surprised to see that it wasn't one of the ship captains. Instead, the hologram of a middle aged man appeared on the screen, clothed in the Black and white uniform of an ISB (Imperial Security Bureau) Agent. He had a clean shaven face, with side burns and piercing eyes. "Admiral! This is Agent Tailon."

"Yes Agent, go ahead."

"Sir, we have multiple boarding craft heading in our direction from the Bothan Warship." I froze and stared out the viewport. Sure enough, multiple Bothan Boarding craft were heading in our direction.

"What are you r orders, sir?" The Agent asked. I thought this over in my head, trying to figure out the most effective solution.

"Agent Tailon, I need you to anticipate where those boarding craft are heading. I want a squad of troopers at each of those intervals. If one Bothan gets on board, we are done for." The Agent saluted and shut off communications. I sighed and looked again into the intense battle proceeding outside. The Imperials only had 2 Star Destroyers and a Frigate left. Only half of our original fleet.

The boarding craft closed in, landing in a multitude of spots in the hull. There were 4 of them in all. I was praying that Agent Tailon knew where those areas were. I looked forward and saw yet another relief in the battle. The Bothan ship's main bridge exploded as the TIE bombers made another run. The ship followed quickly, its remains getting caught in Doros's gravitational pull and bringing it to the planets surface. My comn came back on, and Tailons voice came over the airwaves, blaster fire shooting off in the back ground.

"We are holding off the Bothans off as much as we can. I don't know how long we will hold, though." I cursed, about to relay an order to send reinforcements, when the hyperdrive commander stood and addressed me.

"Sir, ships are emerging from hyperspace! 6 of them." A little bit of hope emerged in me at that second. The Empire was sending reinforcements to assist against these damned insurgents. My hope diminished when I saw 3 Mandalorian Cruisers and 3 more Correlian Corvettes emerge from hyperspace, and they immediately began firing on the Star Destroyers, ripping through them. My holo-net went crazy as the fleet commanders began screaming orders for a tactical retreat. The first ship to go down was the Carbonate, which exploded in a fiery wonder.

I began to panic. there was no way we were going to hold off such an onslaught. I went to the intercom, right as the enemy ships began to focus fire on my final Star Destroyer. "This is Admiral Varinth. I need the whole ship on lock-down. Prepare to make a tactical retreat into hyperspace!"

The first response came from the navigators. "But sir, our Navigations are haywire! We wont be able to coordinate a complete Hyperspace jump!" I quickly responded, "Better than being blown to shreds here!" the second response came from Tailon.

"What about the Bothans?" My response came even quicker as my heart rate went through the roof.

"Lock them in the room with the boarding craft and get out! The Hyper jump will tear the craft out and suck them into space!" The ship rocked and sirens blared as the Corvettes began concentrating fire on the final Star Destroyer and frigate. "We have a breach on Levels 2 and 3!" The alarm blared. The lights suddenly went out as the power cuplinks were shot out, and red emergency lights came on.

"Emergency power activated." The alarm stated. One more salvo, and we would be space dust. Suddenly, our ship began aiming upwards, away from the enemy vessels. Blue light engulfed the Star Destroyer and the remaining Frigate as we shot into hyperspace. I sighed with relief, until the ship jerked violently. "Sir, without shields, the ship is going to fall apart!" One of the officers screamed in terror.

I was about to say something when another jerk made me fly forwards, landing head first into the pit where all the navigational officers were. My head struck a computer and I began to black out. As my vision dimmed, the last thing I saw were 3 Imperial Officers surrounding me, while the rest began to run around in panic.