Hey there!

I'd like to take this time to say a few things. First off, I'm going to say straight up now that, due to the current world situation, this fan fiction and others I make in the duration will definitely come out at a slower rate than before. I'm not necessarily sick, but the amount of time which I get off for myself to write these stories has definitely decreased, so in the meantime stay vigilant.

Next off, I'm going to say now that I have put a poll up on my profile page on which crossover do you want to see next! I know, it may seem a bit premature, but I wanted to collect the maximum amount of results possible so that you can all have a chance to vote by the end of the series. I'll be keeping it up there until the end of the last book, so if you want to influence what I write next, vote as soon as you finish this chapter.

Finally, I know that this sounds cringe worthy, but I am asking for you to review this if you want to. I need feedback, and it's better if I receive it from you guys than the people I know, who are probably biased. None of this is compulsory, but if you want to, go ahead and do it.

That's it from me for now. I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 8: Project Chimaera

"It all began about 6 months ago, back after the Battle of Tatooine." began Trent as he sat next to Rex and Wolffe. He had begun to explain the details of Project Chimaera to them, as they had only been given the briefest of introductions to their mission and what they had to do. "They started by interrogating me about transporter functions. What they were capable of. How they worked. And then they had me work on a series of encrypted mathematical equations."

"Forgive me for asking, but how does maths relate to teleporters?" asked Rex.

"The transporters we use break a person down into a series of mathematical equations, which then get transferred to either another transporter console or isolated via a beam on the ground, where they are re-integrated and the person is 'materialised'." answered Trent. "Anyhow, the equations they had me working on had a heavy encryption lock on them. It was almost as if someone had created a challenge for them to overcome, and what the equations materialised into was some sort of reward."

"And what was this reward?"

"I didn't get the chance to get the name of who it was they were putting together again. I was always constantly moving around from lab to lab, and just when I had finished decrypting it and had begun identifying what the equation was, they locked me up again."

"That was, until they moved you back to the Arizona."

"You're right. When they moved me to the Arizona, they had me reassemble all the equations into one large equation, ready for re-materialization. I had just finished working on the final complex part of it before you people rescued me."

"And did you manage to get a visual of who it was from there?"

"As a matter of fact, I did." Trent pulled out a stolen holo-projector from his back pocket, and then activated it. An image flared up of a blue-skinned man with red eyes, in an Imperial Navy uniform. His dark blue hair contrasted to his stark white uniform as his posture resembled a man with both intent and collectedness.

Rex's eyes widened at the sight of him. The man's face was one he had been hoping to never see again. Now though, it appeared that the Empire had come close to bringing back one of his greatest nemeses.

"I was going to access the station's database in order to fully identify him. Are you ok Captain?"

"I'm fine." replied Rex. "it's just that I never thought I would see him again."

"Who is he?"

"His name is Grand Admiral Thrawn." began Rex. "He was the empire's greatest stratician, and one of the only non-human officers in the Empire. He crushed insurgency after insurgency within the Empire, rising up until he tried to take on us. We lost nearly everything to his schemes before we managed to get rid of him."

"How did you stop him?"

"A friend of mine, Ezra, managed to summon a pod of Purgills to attack his fleet and buy us enough time to escape. The Purgills then went into hyperspace, and neither of them have been seen since."

"I see. Has the Empire been giving you any trouble recently?"

"It's been getting harder and harder to continue fighting Darius. The empire's been cracking down on us big time, and we just can't get the necessary resources to fight anymore. Our fleet is barely holding together, and while we do have many ships now that we have the full support of the Mon Calamari, we don't have enough manpower or resources to power them."

"Captain, we're approaching the rendezvous point." announced the ship's pilot as their U-wing began to slow out of hyperspace.

"Understood. Once we're out of hyperspace, bring us into Home One."

The U-wing and it's counterparts slowed out of Hyperspace until it dropped out in front of a massive rebel fleet. Amongst the fleet were hundreds of hundreds of starfighters and cruisers, all based around 3 massive Mon Calamari cruisers.

"How many ships are there in this fleet?" asked Trent, awestruck at the large scale of the rebel fleet, expecting something much smaller from an organization which claimed to have less.

"We've got up to 200 ships here. But most of them are unarmed frigates and transports, and some are so badly damaged that they're not crewed at the moment. Our fighter count mounts currently at around 400, although I believe we're going to take severe losses in the coming battle."

The U-wing they were in approached the hangar bay of one of the three large Mon Calamari cruisers present. As it folded it's wing's forwards, it gradually slowed itself down until it came to a complete stop within the hangar bay. The X-wings and Y-wings which were escorting it then quickly veered off to go to seperate ships in order to refuel and recuperate. As the U-wing extended it's landing gear to the ground, it landed with a soft thud, as systems aboard the U-wing began to power down.

"Welcome aboard Home One Darius." welcomed Rex as Trent stepped out of the U-wing. All around him, flight crews were at work shifting around supplies and landing and launching fighters from the bay, leaving him awestruck at the scale of the operation. "She's the flagship of the fleet."

Noticing Trent was distracted at the amount of things going on, Rex put his hand on Trent's shoulder. "Come on. There's someone I need you to meet."

"Greeting, Captain Trent." greeted Mon Mothma. "I'm Chancellor Mothma, the leader of the Rebel Alliance."

"It's an honour to meet you Chancellor," replied Trent as he looked around the large briefing room he now found himself in, bustling with people and pilots, "although I must ask what the hell is going on."

"I'm about to conduct a briefing to the fleet from here." answered Mothma. "You can stay here and listen."

"Of course Chancellor. I'll find a seat."

Trent sat behind Mothma as she got up before the crowds of people who now began to enter the room. Fighter pilots, workers, crew members and officers alike all walked in, some with tired looks on their face, others with an intense determination in their eyes.

As the doors into the room closed, Mothma finally spoke up.

"My fellow rebels, the time has come for our final action in this universe." began Mothma. "As most of you are aware, almost a year ago, an anomaly opened up over Tatooine, and it confirmed the existence of alternative universes beyond our own. The presence of Captain Trent from their universe should dissuade your current suspicions."

Gesturing to Trent, Trent looked up around the room as the entire room focused their attention to him.

"The data brought to us by the Bothan spies gives us the exact strength of the forces that the Empire has at both Tatooine and on the other side. From this, we know that there is a relatively small force over Tatooine defending our half of the anomaly, but on the other side, there are many, many more Star Destroyers, all of various classes. But with the Imperial fleet hunting us down day by day, we are now forced to commit everything we have to this assault. If we succeed in escaping to the other side, we will have a far greater chance of overthrowing the empire than we ever will here."

A rush of chatter erupted from the crowd, as people began to debate their chances of success and what they could do about it.

"Many Bothans died to bring us this information." hushed Mothma. "Admiral Ackbar, please."

A humanoid-amphibious creature stepped forwards, bringing up a display of the planet Tatooine and the Ivor exit point.

"We have approximately 4 hours before the Imperial fleet catches up to us here at Sullust. This combined with the fact that it will take us over a day to get to Tatooine, we will be leaving with all the ships which we have now. I know that some of you may know people who are on transport ships that are still on their way here, but unless they arrive here in the next 2 hours, they will be left behind."

He focused back onto the display, as murmurs began to rise from the crowd.

"If you look here, you will see the desert planet of Tatooine, and the anomaly which resides in synchronous orbit with the planet. While the Empire does have several space stations close to the anomaly and an imperial garrison on the planet, there are only 3 Star Destroyers defending the anomaly. With this, we will charge through them and overwhelm them with our sheer strength in numbers. After we go through the anomaly, we will immediately attempt to go to hyperspace, by which we should have cover fire from whatever help Lieutenant Antilles has managed to muster."

"And what if he wasn't able to get any help?" asked a rebel crewmember. The room fell deadly silent as everyone realised that their plan could fail out of random chance that Wedge didn't make it.

"Then we shall fight to the last and make sure that the rebellion survives to defeat the Empire." answered Ackbar. "Now, report to your assigned stations and await to jump to hyperspace. Dismissed."

Acting Captain's log, Stardate 58226.17. The Sovereign is now headed to Ivor at best possible speed. I've notified Starfleet Command of the situation, and they have sent me information and material which I am now required to brief to my senior staff.

"I'd like to start this meeting by confirming that I will be the Acting Captain of the Sovereign for the remainder of this mission." began Aldrin as soon as everyone had settled down in the ship's observation lounge. "Starfleet Command has given me a field promotion to Captain in the absence of Captain Leres, and I expect that I will be treated with the same amount of respect you would give Captain Trent or Leres. Is that understood?"

Everyone in the room silently nodded, cuing Aldrin to continue.

"Now, I've explained our situation to Starfleet Command. They have reported to us that they will attempt to send reinforcements to us as soon as possible, but for now, we will have to go it alone."

"Aren't there other ships in the area that could assist us in defending the rebel fleet when they come out?" asked Hawk.

"They're all too busy defending their own sectors and planets to help us. They may be able to route us Defense 1, but they're repelling an invasion of Aurelia at the moment."
"Hang on, what's Defense 1?" asked Wedge.

"It's a small fleet of first strike vessels which was set up as a fast-response fleet to Imperial incursions." Answered Th'etonnor. "It's composed of 7 Vesta Class ships and the USS Discovery, the fastest ships in the fleet."

"Getting back on track," Continued Aldrin, "Deep Space Nine has reported a loss of contact with the Enterprise. As no communications have been established with the Dominion, it is therefore likely to assume that the Enterprise is now lost in the Gamma Quadrant, for an unknown reason. And because of the war, we can't spare any ships to find her."

"So we're genuinely on our own now." figured Hawk. "Well, at least we can go down in flames."

"That may not happen Lieutenant." rebutted Aldrin. "Starfleet's also received news that not only have the Romulans managed to eliminate the Imperial strike groups within their space, but they've also destroyed the main Imperial Starbase in our Galaxy. The Imperial fleet is in chaos at the moment, and that would have given us a good shot at helping the rebel fleet. However, Commander T'pon made a recent discovery which I feel he is more suited to discuss."

"In the battle with the Star Destroyer to rescue Lieutenant Antilles, we suffered damage to our Warp Nacelles, and as a result the warp coils are out of alignment." explained T'pon. "As a result, we are now restricted to warp 6 until we can get to a Starbase for Warp Coil realignment."

"But that means that we'll reach the Ivor system in over 2 months, and by then it'll be far too late for us to do anything that'll save the war." realised Hawk.

"Exactly Lieutenant. As you humans would put it, the situation is dire."

"Does anyone have any solutions to this issue?" asked Aldrin.

"We could try and form a quantum slipstream using technology we have on the ship." proposed Horan.

"While that proposal does have merit, this ship is not designed to go into a Quantum Slipstream, and the phase variance may knock us out of slipstream enroute and destroy us." Rebutted T'pon.

"What about if we find a Borg Transwarp Conduit?" suggested Hawk.

"That would be good, if we could find one." argued Horan.

"Warning: unknown vessels in hyperspace are within 2 light years of the Sovereign." blared the computer. "All command personnel to the bridge immediately."

The sudden announcement caught everyone off guard as everyone rushed in unison to the doors. Within moments, the entire room was cleared, leaving no one left.

"Report!" ordered Aldrin as she walked onto the bridge.

"They're coming in hot ma'am. ETA in 1 minute." reported the conn officer as he stood up to let Aldrin sit down.

"Take us to Red Alert! Prepare to launch all auxiliary craft!"

The Red Alert siren blared in the background as the lighting scheme changed from white to flashing red. Computer consoles around the room and across the ship changed from a blue-white colour scheme to a red-white colour scheme, as various computer warnings began erupting across the ship.

"What's our defensive capabilities as they stand now?" requested Aldrin.

"Shields are at 84% capacity." answered Th'etonnor. "We still have full phaser and torpedo capability. The USS Yarra is still unable to launch, as it is still undergoing repairs, and fighters Leslie and Morrows are still being reloaded."

"Hail the unknown fleet." ordered Aldrin. Th'etonnor nodded and pretty quickly the comms sound came on signifying that she was on.

"This is Acting Captain Miral Aldrin of the USS Sovereign, to the unidentified fleet approaching us. You will cease approaching us or we will open fire. Do not think that we won't defend ourselves."

"No response." reported Th'etonnor.

"Sir!" exclaimed Hawk as she saw what appeared on the viewscreen before them. Aldrin looked up and gasped at the awe-striking sight which now lay before her.

"It can't be…"