On a large research station orbiting a gas giant deep in Imperial space, Admiral Kritus was walking towards the door towards the lone prisoner in the building. She knew the dangers of dealing with this man; not only had he attempted to break out twice, but had also made a habit of constantly insulting anyone and anything who was related to the Empire. Nevertheless, she was confident that he was well secured now, and there was no possibility that she would be affected by whatever he threw at her.
She approached the control panel, studying the controls for a second before keying in her authorisation codes. Without hesitation, the blast doors slid away to reveal the prisoner; the one survivor they had captured on the Arizona.
"F### off." He weakly mumbled as he lay on the wall, his Imperial Prison Service uniform crumpled after days of use.
"Rise and shine you pathetic excuse for a human." Came back Kritus. "Your services are required."
"So this is my life now." Remarked the man as he got up. "I live, eat, sleep and do whatever and go wherever you say now?"
"You are a prisoner of war. You have no say in what you can or can't do."
"You know, in the Federation, we don't give our prisoners of war this sort of treatment. We treat them fairly and respectfully, and don't force them to do our s### for us."
She waited for him to make his way out of the room, before telling him, "Once you finish cleaning yourself up, haul your pathetic ass down to R&D. Captain Beratas will direct you from there."
"Why don't you call me by my name?"
"Calling you by your name will only lead to me becoming attached to you in some form. Now get out of my sight."
A pair of stormtroopers moved to escort the prisoner out of the room. The prisoner moved to go with them, as one of them bumped him forwards with his blaster. He gave Kritus a distasteful glare as the stormtroopers pushed him out of the room.
After being pushed out of the room and forced into a sterilisation procedure, the stormtroopers hauled him to a nearby airlock. Captain Shivus Beratas walked up to him, his hands held behind his back as a show of strength.
"Ahh, Captain Darius Trent." Began Beratas. "Long time no see."
"The nicecity fails to make an impression anymore Captain Beratas." Remarked Trent. "I've had 7 different 'new' labs in the space of god knows how long I've been here."
"Oh trust me, your research has been nothing short of helpful for my superiors." Assured Beratas. "As a matter of fact, this will be the last transfer you'll have."
"Before you execute me using means we consider evil?"
"Nonsense, Trent. After this, we're going to let you go."
"That's the same thing you said to the thousands of Federation civilians you dissected to prove we were the same species. We're not just animals for you to experiment with because your Emperor is too greedy for his own good."
"Exactly. You're not a bunch of animals. Because you're smart enough to help us with this project of ours that even our best couldn't figure out."
"Maybe if you let alien races in your ranks you'd have figured it out already."
"Regardless of which let's get back to business now shall we?" Redirected Beratas as he steered the conversation away from a civil rights war. "The electronic pattern fragment you decoded last time was a perfect match to the original. Not only did you manage to reconstruct his brain, but you also managed to maintain his personality and memories, all up to the moment he was killed."
"So what do you want me to do?"
"Your objective is now to put together all the fragments you've decoded together and reconstruct the body."
"But that would take one of the computers where I'm from to do that." Argues Trent. "And even then, it could take days in the states that the fragments are in."
"Which is why we have provided you with the means to do so." Beratas pressed a button on a nearby panel, and several shutters around the airlock unfurled to reveal a sight Trent was taken aback by.
"The Arizona?" He exclaimed as he couldn't believe his eyes. The wrecked saucer section of the USS Arizona now floated next to the space station he was on, connected by several power cords and airlock corridors. Areas of the ship once exposed from battle damage now were perfectly sealed using force fields. From behind, Trent could see that the saucer's impulse engines had been rigged to go at the same speed the station rotated at, so as to ensure the wreck didn't get torn off the station and flung out into space. Trent stared at the saucer for a while before turning to face Beratas.
"I thought I self-destructed the saucer back on Tatooine before you captured me?"
"The self-destruct, as it turned out, failed to activate due to damage sustained in the battle." Explained Beratas. "We tractor beamed the wreckage from the surface and rigged it so that it was airtight. While the weapons, shields and data cores were beyond recoverable, the actual computer itself was reasonably intact. From our measurements and calculations, it should still be powerful enough for you to reconstruct the body. Now, shall we board the infamous 'Destroyer of Vader'?"
Trent was speechless as he nodded in reply. Beratas gestured for the stormtroopers to remove the cuffs they had placed on Trent. They typed a security code into the cuffs themselves, releasing their once right grip on Trent's hands. The airlock doors opened to a corridor leading to one of the Arizona's own airlocks as Captain Beratas gestured again for Trent to walk in front of him. Trent was silent as he entered the corridor towards his old ship, with Beratas following behind with a mischievous grin on his face.
In orbit of the planet Aurelia II, in what was formerly deep in secure Federation territory, the SSD Arbitrator floated silently through the wreckage of the Federation attack group it had just destroyed. Surrounding it was a small escort of 10 Imperial 2 Star Destroyers, all in tight formation around their command ship as the Arbitrator began to convince the population of the planet below to surrender. The Federation attack group, consisting of 2 Excelsior Classes, one Akira Class, one Galaxy Class and a Steamrunner Class, stood no chance, as their attackers dropped out of hyperspace next to them at close to point blank range, eliminating the planet's only defenses within mere minutes.
Aboard the Arbitrator, Fleet Admiral Motti was in the midst of attempting to convince the leader of Aurelia II to surrender to the Empire.
"Aurelia refuses to surrender to the Galactic Empire." Defiantly Stated the Governor. "Whether it be in this life or the next, we refuse to allow ourselves to fall into a tyrannical government without fighting."
"And yet the fighting is already over." argued Motti. "We destroyed the ships protecting your planet. Your weapons platforms have been neutralized. And any ship that makes it off the planet will be destroyed upon exiting the atmosphere! You have no logical course of action but to surrender."
"We will never surrender." proclaimed the Governor. "We would rather die than lose our lives to you."
"Then die you shall." Motti guestured for the channel to be closed, before ordering. "Target their capital city, Base Delta Zero blasts. I want them to know the price they'll pay if they refuse again."
The Arbitrator and it's escorts rotated themselves so their turbolasers could take aim at the planet below. Every single gun on every single ship pointed themselves at one point on the planet where the capital was. Then, without further adieu, they opened fire.
The green bolts hurtled from their turrets, traveling through the atmosphere faster than the people on the planet could see, before slamming into the ground below. The turbolasers had been set to Base Delta Zero, meaning the complete annihilation of everything in the surrounding area. The people of Aurelia II's capital city looked up in horror as the bolts streaked through the sky, before they wiped out everything, civilians and government officials alike burning in the aftermath. Within seconds, what was once Aurelia II's capital city was now nothing but a smouldering hot lava lake.
"Standard Base Delta Zero barrage complete." announced an officer as he listed the results. "Capital city of Aurelia II has been destroyed. Complete annihilation of everything within 100 Kilometers. Estimated government and military casualties at 20,000 personnel. Estimated civilian casualties at 23 million."
"Hail them again." Motti ordered, his mind putting aside the millions of civilians he had just wiped out. "This is Fleet Admiral Motti once again, to any surviving members of the Aurelia II government. We have destroyed your capital city, as well as all the people who were living there. Over 20 million people are now dead because of your inaction. We will destroy your second largest city in 2 minutes if you fail to surrender in that time period. I will tolerate no further inaction."
"Admiral, they are hailing us now." Announced the ship's comm officer.
"Put them through." A crackly, staticky voice broke through the speakers, the interference likely from a misplaced shot hitting Aurelia's global comms network.
"This is the acting governor of Aurelia II, to the Imperial forces in orbit. Our previous governor was a stubborn fool who could not see your tactical advantage over us. In his steed, we surrender ourselves to the Galactic Empire. Please, you can do whatever you want to our military and government population, but leave our civilians alone."
"Your conditions are acceptable governor. Please stand by for immediate arrest upon our arrival."
The channel closed as Motti's first officer turned to face him.
"Why are we doing this sir?" He asked Motti. "Surely we would capture their civilians as well as their military and government."
"Can I speak to you in private Commander?" Requested Motti in reply. His first officer nodded in agreement, and they both walked to the corner of the room to discuss more private matters.
"The reason why I accepted to leave the Aurelian civilians alone is because that would paint us as the evil ones in this war." Answered Motti. "Were you at the battle of Tatooine?"
"Yes I was." Replied his first officer. "The ISD Renouncer. Second officer."
"And do you remember how the Starfleet vessel leading the attack, the USS Tanaka, killed the entire population of Tatooine with an unknown radiation weapon?"
"Yes I do sir. It was all over the comm feeds. More than 60,000 civilians killed."
"The fact that it was on the comm feeds should show you why. If we capture and torture the Federation's civilians, we'll only be proving to them and us that we are the aggressors, the monsters in this war. We have to be better than them, in order that we can subsume their population without any resistance. Is that understood?"
"Understood Admiral." Answered his first officer as he straightened himself out. "Shall I prepare a standard invasion force?"
"Do it." Ordered Motti. "Ensure their citizens are treated with a decent amount of respect. If I hear any word that you or the men are mistreating them, things will not end well for you. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir."
"Sir, we're receiving a fleet-wide transmission." Announced the ship's comm officer. "It is from Lord Vader himself."
"What does he have to say?" Asked Motti as he walked up to the officer's control panel.
"He is requesting a meeting of all leading Admirals in the Nimbus system. He says this system is between Federation, Klingon and Romulan space, so it will be easier for everyone to get there."
"Set course for the Nimbus system then." Ordered Motti. "Have 5 of our escorts stay back here to defend this planet until we have secured it."
"Yes Admiral." Replied the bridge crew. Motti walked off the bridge, his first officer peering down the corridor to spy where he was going. As usual, he was heading to his quarters, but for what purpose? He had done nothing but stay in his quarters in his spare time, only coming out to eat with the crew during official events and whenever he had no spare time. His first officer had had suspicions of Motti for a fair while now, and he knew that whatever he was doing in his quarters, it couldn't be good.