Some say that twelve centuries of peace
made the High Guard complacent.
I say it proves their value."
Emperess Sucharitkul XII
CY 9765
Chapter Nine
The black dagger form of the Imperial Super Star Destroyer Lusankya travelled through the territory Harper had identified as Magog space. No escorts accompanied the massive warship as it entered a heavily infested system once known as Sheridan's World.
The Lusankya had not even come near a planet before the Magog swarmships had descended upon them. A full squadron of swarmships came roaring around a large comet as the Super Star Destroyer passed by.
But the power of the Lusankya could not be challenged so easily.
Six swarmships were vanquished in the first few seconds of the attack, destroyed before they had any idea of what they were facing. Three more were destroyed as they attempted to attach themselves to the hull, vaporized as they impacted the shield.
A flak burst from a medium turbolaser rendered a tenth ship into a blacked heap.
The last two swarmships were snared in a tractor beam and dragged into a docking bay aboard the Lusankya.
As the two vessels settled in the bay hundreds of Imperial troops took up positions around the them. White armoured Stormtroopers and black clothed Navy troopers stood or knelt with weapons drawn and trained on the Magog craft.
Lord Krell stood among his troops, his lightsabre still hooked to his belt.
Without any warning the Magog craft began disgorging Magog, far more then would be expected in such a small craft. Blaster bolts filled the bay as the Imperial forces tried to mow down the crazed Magog warriors. The Magog for their part did their best to prevent the massacre in favour of their own.
As the Magog managed to bite and claw their way through the defending troops Lord Krell decided to become involved. Drawing deeply on the Force, Lord Krell activated his lightsabre and entered the fray.
Even in all the terrible ferocity of the Magog, they could not match the power of a Dark Lord. Krell's brilliant red sabre burned through over a dozen Magog before he grew bored of the fight. The Magog were dangerous but not to a Sith.
Calling on the Force once more, Krell unleashed powerful lightning, dropping each Magog he touched instantly. Soon the skirmish ended with Krell standing in a room full of dead or injured troops and Magog.
"Have the best remaining samples brought to my lab," Krell ordered, "Dispose of the rest."
Krell left his officers to sort out the mess.
He would not report this to Lord Vader, these Magog were too interesting.
____________________
A battered High Guard battlegroup returned to Commonwealth space. The battle had not gone well. Seven ships were missing from the proud formation of High Guard firepower, now laid low. The return had not been as good, only one Imperial ship had been destroyed, a light cruiser, identified as a Carrak-Class, and a heavily damaged Star Destroyer.
The Commonwealth slipfighters had fared better destroying dozens of TIE fighters in the short battle and with relatively few looses.
"I think were going to need more ships," a tired Beka said from the pilot station.
"Indeed," Tyr replied, "We should mobilize the rest of the High Guard immediately and return as soon as possible."
"No," Dylan told them, "We can't keep this secret any more. We're going to have to mobilize the entire Commonwealth, it's the only way were going to be able to drive them from our galaxy permanently."
"Will have to be ready for that short-jumping trick next time," Beka said, "It nearly killed us."
"I don't think it's a highly repeatable trick," Rommie reported, "The data Harper sent me included some information on hyperspace travel. Plotting microjumps of that length requires a great deal of preparation and couldn't be done on the fly. They would have had to plotted every jump well in advance of our arrival."
"We were drawn into a well-executed trap," Tyr decided.
"Yeah, but we escaped," Beka retorted, "A well-executed trap precludes escaping. Right."
"Perhaps," Tyr conceded.
"Maybe no one else noticed this," Trance interjected, "but that really big Star Destroyer wasn't there. You know, the one that Harper is on."
"She's right," holographic Rommie confirmed, "The larger Star Destroyer was not in the system. Trance, how do you know that Harper is aboard that ship?"
"Rommie," Trance replied, "At this point isn't better just to accept that I know and leave it at that."
Rommie simply shrugged and accepted Trance's claim.
"Beka," Dylan ordered, "take us to Sinti. Let's see if we can't persuade the rest of the Commonwealth to help us."
__________________
Fleet Marshall Cuatemoc surveyed his flagship.
Ever since the battle against the Commonwealth fleet he had been relegated to clearing out pockets of resistance from rebel forces throughout the Drago-Kazov Empire.
Slave worlds, mostly human, had taken the opportunity presented to them when the war with the Sabre-Jaguar Pride heated up. It had forced the Dragons to call for a cease fire as they purged the rebels from their hiding places. It was frustrating work, and largely unsuccessful.
"Marshall," a junior officer approached carrying a data chit, "We have received word from the Triangulum Galaxy. Our ally along the Than border, the Tiberion Pride, has just been conquered by some unknown power."
"Well," Cuatemoc said quietly, "I guess we can't let that stand.
"Prepare my task force for immediate departure."
______________________
"Here we go Artoo," Luke called over the comm., "Exiting hyperspace in 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. Welcome to Penoria. All right were heading for the asteroid field."
The plan the Alliance command had constructed was simple, its execution however would not be. First he was to avoid detection by manoeuvring through the systems asteroid field and then skirt the Imperial defences until he finally arrived at the large ring which maintained the conduit between the galaxies.
Giving himself over to the Force, though not easily, Luke managed to pass the through the asteroid field without incident.
"I wish that was the hard part," Luke commented to an extremely nervous Artoo who whistled his agreement.
"Okay Artoo, they can probably see us now," Luke said as they left the asteroids behind.
Indeed the Imperial forces were scrambling to intercept. Luke weaved his way around fixed defences and Imperial fighters dodging laser fire so thick it looked like a sandstorm.
A Star Destroyer had moved into position to block the X-Wing's path but Luke simply drove straight at the massive warship. Skirting the upper hull, Luke managed to pass the cruiser with surprising ease and now nothing stood between him and the great ring that connected galaxies.
"Hold on Artoo," Luke called, "This could get bumpy."
With that the X-Wing crossed the event horizon of the ring.
Luke felt himself be pulled in all directions as the conduit hurled him across the universe. The ship shook violently as though flying through an atmospheric storm.
As quickly as it began it was all over.
Directly in front of Luke was another Imperial Star Destroyer and this one was ready. Trying to dive beneath the massive warship had little effect as the ship had already locked a powerful tractor beam on them.
The Imperial's brought the X-wing aboard the ship and surrounded it with dozens of troopers. Luke popped the canopy himself and quietly pulled himself from the X-wing. Seeing someone who appeared to be the officer of the deck Luke quickly but with hands raised walked over to him. The Stormtrooper standing to the officers left stepped forward and removed Luke's blaster and utility belt. A restraining bolt was quickly added to Artoo as he was pulled from the fighter.
"Welcome aboard, Commander," the officer said reading Luke's insignia, "We have a lovely room waiting for you, and I'm sure our Command will love to take the opportunity to speak with you."
"Thank you," Luke replied to the sarcasm as though it were absolute truth.
The stormtrooper escorted him to the detention block, casting him in a cell and locking the door.
"I should have listened to Leia."