Against all expectations (including my own), I've decided to begin this rewrite ahead of schedule. In expectation of the storm of complaints whenever I do something the fanatics among you dislike, there's a very basic rule: You're only allowed to complain about something once. If I decide to change it based on what you've said, consider yourself lucky and leave it. If I don't (as is probably more likely), and you want to make your point clear, don't do it in a review. Find the topic in my forums, and say it there, because I'm sick and tired of trawling through reviews which are nothing more than calculated attempts to rip apart the crossover links. Sorry if that comes out hostile, but that sort of situation was what caused the demise of the original. I guarantee that any comments in the forum will be responded to, but if I start getting repeated complaining reviews again, this may well be stopped FOR GOOD. Clear? Thank you.

Admiral Aktar smiled in satisfaction as the last Republic cruiser entered hyperspace. The battle for MI-7576 had been hard-fought, but the last shipyards of the Imperial Remnant were again safe.

For now, at least. Until the next attack.

He sighed. Since they had located MI-7576, the Republic had been waging a constant war on the system, knowing that taking it or destroying the shipyards would essentially cripple the Remnant.

"Damage report," he said.

"Most of the fleet has taken punishment, sir. Shadowblade has taken a pounding, but nothing that will require a full refit to repair. I'm afraid that the Deathless is beyond recovery, though."

"Damn." The Deathless had been one of the Remnant's dwindling number of Imperator-class Star Destroyers. With its loss, only ninety remained. Even backed up by two hundred and thirty Victory-class Destroyers, and the Shadowblade itself, the last Imperial-controlled Executor-class, they were running out of heavy capital ships to defend the Remnant's shrinking territory.

"Get salvage teams on it," Aktar ordered. "Even if the ship itself is too badly damaged, we can at least make use of the wreckage."

"Yes, sir."

"Sir? Battle reports from Ovarlis Minor."

"Thank you, lieutenant."

The Admiral scanned the datapad. It showed nothing good. The squadron of Carrack-class cruisers and Victory-class defending the mining operations in the system had been forced to flee by five Republic Assault Frigates. The mining operation itself was presumed lost.

Yet another speck on the grand scheme of things turned from blue to red. That's how the holo-displays would show it.

Retaking the system was essential. It provided nearly a quarter of the Remnant's capital ship construction resources, and without that, any Remnant ship losses would become that much more serious. While the Republic was spitting out new warships at a rate of knots.

The irritating thing was that the Republic was no longer even officially at war. A few months ago, the Senate had declared that the Galactic Civil War was over, with victory for what had once been known as the Rebel Alliance. Only one of the many Mon Calamari shipyards was still constructing pure warships – mainly the new MC-95 Defender-class battleships, eight-kilometre behemoths that easily outgunned the aging Imperator-class. Shadowblade had once faced – and beaten – two Defenders, but had taken heavy damage in the process and had been forced to withdraw on the arrival of a swarm of Assault Frigates.

That had been the battle that had put him in charge of the entire Remnant, after the death of Moff Gazrile when a lucky proton torpedo had cored the Super Star Destroyer's bridge. He himself had been in command of another battle a few systems away.

"Admiral, transmission from Captain Dathrius – his fleet is under attack by an MC-95 and five Nebulon B frigates. Orders?"

"Send the Wraith, Vengeance, Star Hammer and ten Dreadnaughts to reinforce him."

Aktar watched as the trio of Star Destroyers moved into the hyperspace vector, led by the Stealth Armoured Wraith.

"Admiral, Fareias Prime has sent a message saying that they wish to terminate our trade agreement. They indicate that any attempts to send ships to the planet will be met by a Republic fleet."

"Another? Second system this month… at this rate, the Remnant won't exist in a few years without the Republic having to raise a finger."

There was relative silence on the bridge, leaving the Admiral to his thoughts.

Back when the New Republic had just been the Rebel Alliance, even thinking such defeatist comments was treasonous. Now, it was a matter of course. The Empire might be holding out against the Republic attacks, but that was all it was: holding out. No major attacks on Republic territory had happened for almost a year, and even the routine strikes were an uncommon occurrence.

If the Remnant could just fade away… become the guerrilla influence that the Alliance had been, there might be a chance. But it wouldn't happen. Oh, some of his predecessors had pulled off such tactics, but now the Republic had found their power base. Without sacrificing MI-7576, and other important systems, they could not fade away. Unlike the Alliance, there were no sympathetic factions to the Empire that they could shelter with. No-one else to provide shipyards and resources to maintain the war effort.

Sometimes he considered surrendering to the Republic. They were fighting for a long-forgotten ideal of control, one which had never worked in the first place. If it had worked, the remains of it would not exist here, on the outer rim, as much subject to the constant Republic attacks as to every pirate and renegade hoping that a Star Destroyer's bridge tower would buy them amnesty.

He sighed. He knew why the Remnant could never surrender, of course. He'd known that it was an impossible idea ever since Senate's declaration of peace. They'd be welcomed with open arms, and then quietly put to the sidelines as an embarrassing reminder of an unpleasant blip in history.

The men under his command deserved better than that.

"Admiral Aktar! Two unidentified starfighters entering the system in Sector 9!"

Aktar moved to the indicating officer. "No ID at all?"

"It seems to be an Imperial code, sir, but there are no flights due from that direction. And I've never seen this design before."

"Show me."

A hologram appeared of the fighters. A long, slightly hooked central section dominated the craft, with two long, forward pointing wings at the back. Two large engines extended from each wing, and two vicious-looking weapon on swivel mounts lay halfway along each wing.

"And it's definitely an Imperial code?"

"Yes, sir. The strange thing is that I've never seen one like it, but the computer passes it automatically."

"Admiral, the fighters are requesting permission to dock."

Aktar considered the vessels, and then nodded. "Direct them to the Shadowblade's hangars, but have a stormtrooper division meet us there. If they do cause trouble, we'll be ready for them."

The ships were definitely impressive, the Admiral thought. Slightly reminiscent of the old X-wings, and the newer E-wings, but with much smoother lines. The black, red-streaked colour made them stand out, even among all the usual bustle in the Super Star Destroyer's hangers.

The cockpits opened, and one figure climbed out from each.

"You will have no need of your troops, Admiral," said the first. He wore some sort of armour, covered by a long, black cloak. At his belt lay a dangerous-looking blaster, and a metal cylinder.

The realisation came quickly. There was only one creature in the universe that carried such an innocuous device in such military company, and had an Imperial code that computers automatically passed.

"You are Sith…" he breathed.

"Very good, Admiral," the other said with a mirthless smile. "I am Lethkas. This is my apprentice, Kalinda."

Aktar looked at the other pilot for the first time. Kalinda was a beautiful, fragile looking woman. This was offset by the powerful disruptor, the lightsabre, and the diamond-hard eyes.

"I presume that the ID codes were a gift from your old master?" inquired Aktar.

Lethkas smiled again. "They were indeed. Second-hand, though; the originals were from the Emperor's second clone. I was given them by one of his pupils. I never met Palpatine myself."

"May I inquire as to your presence on the flagship of the Empire?"

"Two-fold, Admiral. We are here to make you an offer, and to claim what by the Emperor's command is our right."

"And that right is…" said Aktar, with an unpleasant feeling about the answer.

As though sensing his unease, Lethkas smiled even wider. It was his apprentice, Kalinda, who replied.

"Leadership."

"Do relax, Admiral," said Lethkas soothingly, as the doors into the briefing room closed. "We are not here to claim the Emperor's position. You lead the Empire now. We respect that. We merely claim a position of power within it."

"What's this offer of yours, then?" the Admiral replied.

"Have you ever heard of hyperspace wormholes, Admiral?"

Aktar shrugged. "Only as rumours. A naturally-occurring passage into hyperspace that lead to a fixed location. Highly unstable. Considerably quicker than any existing hyperspace technology."

"There is a tale of a Sith Lord, Darth Theralus, who found a hyperspace wormhole into another galaxy around ten thousand years ago. He passed through it, and returned some time later, bringing a tale of a vast Empire, ruled by humans. He had suffered badly during his time there, and was raving mad when he returned – stories of the Force becoming solid and aggressive where just one of his claims. Such stories are unlikely, at best, but the tale was enough to spark Kalinda's interest. I must admit, I was sceptical, believing that it was just a myth. Even if it wasn't, Theralus had returned shortly afterwards to find the wormhole sealed."

"Locating the position of the wormhole took time and effort," said Kalinda. "But when we found it, there was a wormhole there. We passed through, and found a place that was nowhere on our starcharts. We wandered for a time, never staying long in the systems, and found the worlds that Theralus had described." At this she looked slightly chidingly at Lethkas, then continued. "When we returned to this galaxy, I realised that the wormhole was in a state of predictable flux. If it were possible to stabilise that flux, it would be possible to keep the wormhole open… indefinitely. And that is something I now know how to do."

"And you propose that the Empire is moved through this wormhole, and sets up camp in this other galaxy?" said Aktar.

"Not all at once, perhaps," replied Lethkas. "But if the conditions seem to be favourable…"

"And how do we know that we will not be mown down the moment that we start to carve out our little patch?"

"We don't."

"Then why should we risk it? Master Lethkas?"

"The alternative is to stay here, slowly being worn down by the Republic until they don't consider you even worth that. The Empire is over, Admiral! Remnant is the exact term. Just the remains of a once powerful body that can no longer hold its own. Even if you do lose in this new place, you'll die in the knowledge that you were the man that tried to raise the Empire back to its former glory, even if you did fail!"

Aktar looked at the pair shrewdly. Surely the Sith would not take such a risk unless they thought it was worth it. They could be lying, but what would be the point?

"What do you need for this flux-stabiliser?" he asked.

Kalinda grinned like a shark, and handed him a datapad. "Those are the specifications for the space station that would do the job. If construction is begun immediately, it will be ready before the wormhole collapses too far."

"And you still say that you saw two fighters move into and out of the Warp?" asked the Inquisitor.

"On my word and in the Emperor's name, yes my lord!" gabbled the trader. "I've seen a few things in my time, honoured Inquisitor, but not even the traitors can do that! I thought we were imagining things, but then Grykk (he's my brother, he runs a fueling station in Alakan) said that he saw the same thing a few minutes later! Now that I know is impossible, nothing can travel that fast, but I know what we saw, sir!"

"Thank you," the Inquisitor said dismissively. "Your statement corroborates with that of several Naval captains, and will be investigated. You will be rewarded for your aid."

"Thank you, my lord! I'll, er, go now, shall I?"

"Yes, yes, off with you."

Inquisitor Tyrathlion was technically a part of the Ordo Malleus, but liked to involve himself in anything that was unusual or threatening in the Imperium. Two fighters capable of Warp travel, and able to move faster than any known vessel while doing it certainly fell into that category… In terms of speed, there were probably more than two. That would make sense. But the ability to use Warp travel...

And as for the shape… they were like nothing in the Inquisition's databanks. Even the Adeptus Mechanicus had drawn a blank. Elegant and minimalist, yet dangerous looking… he would have thought them to be Eldar craft, but they had the wrong basic design.

His contacts in the Adeptus Mechanicus were slavering over the opportunity to analyse one of the ships, hoping to find a lost Standard Template Construction.

Catching up with the ships would be difficult, if not impossible, though. They had been sighted in over a dozen systems, and had only spent a few minutes in each. Some of the more jittery and knowledgeable witnesses had commented darkly about the same tactics being used by the Necrons with their Shroud-class cruisers.

It was nonsense, of course. Whatever technology was being used by the mysterious craft was almost certainly not Necron – no Necron fighter had ever been seen, and many doubted that the robotic menaces even used such vessels. Besides, Necrons did not use Warp travel.

For now, there was nothing to do except place the Navy on alert, and hope that the matter was settled quickly, one way or the other.