Expanding Empire
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Galaxy, Zromkiar stood next to Admiral Tarkin at the bottom of The Dark Claw's loading ramp as the members of the Sith Army boarded the ship.
"You have no need to be so stoic Zromkiar," Admiral Tarkin stated, "It will not be long before the Empire has control of Agamar."
"I hope you are correct," Zromkiar said, "For your sake," he added aggressively as he stalked up the ramp following Aqiri.
Captain Falorn approached the Admiral as he glanced a fearful look towards Zromkiar, "Are you alright Admiral?" he asked.
"Never mind that interaction Falorn, Zromkiar's bite is worse than his bark," Tarkin replied with an emotionless expression. Then he walked up the ramp with the Naval Captain close on his heel. Upon reaching the top of the ramp began it began to close behind them. The Admiral and Captain headed straight for the bridge, by the time they arrived the star destroyer started to take off.
"Set the Hyperspace coordinates to Agamar," Admiral Tarkin ordered as Naval Officers sat at their stations and followed their orders accordingly.
Within moments the Dark Claw and three Starships entered Hyperspace.
Zromkiar, Aqiri, Joikaw, Hirhaish and Ridae were in one of the conference rooms of the Dark Claw; three of whom were holo images as they were on the other three ships. There was a holo projection of the planet in the middle of their circle as they discussed strategies and battle plans. Each of them would oversee two Battalions, each of which consisted of four Companies and had up to two-hundred and fifty Sith in them. This meant that each of the Force Born members would oversee close to two thousand soldiers.
"I will lead from the starship," Joikaw stated confidently as Hirhaish agreed with him.
"A blockade will be the most effective way to invade the planet," Ridae said, "If each of the ships stay in orbit in these locations then we can each focus control of each of those areas that are below the ship," she added as the projection showed the four ships in specific points around the orbit of the planet.
"How about you Ridae?" Aqiri asked, "Do you plan to stay in space?"
"The Empress ordered me to stay on the ship and control my group from space," Ridae said, sounding annoyed with the order but she had no choice but to follow it.
"Very well then, Aqiri and I will be going down to the surface as Tarkin should be capable of handling things in space," Zromkiar stated in finality. The door buzzer went off and Zromkiar opened the door with the Force to allow admittance to whoever was outside.
"We are about to leave Hyperspace," Captain Falorn informed them upon entering the conference room and then left promptly.
The holo images of Joikaw, Hirhaish and Ridae disappeared as Zromkiar and Aqiri left the conference room to head for the hold where the Sith Army were located to give out orders in preparation for landing. Upon entering the hold, the four Sith Commanders who were easily identified with the two silver bands on their sleeves and the silver hem of their robes approached cautiously to receive their orders from their superiors. Once each of them received their instructions they left to bring their company up to speed. Then the Sith Army scrambled onto the dropships that would take them to the surface while making sure they were on the correct ship as that was crucial for not only the success of the invasion but their own lives.
Alarms were going off on the surface of the planet below as people were trying to organise themselves to defend their planet from the sudden threat of attack and invasion.
"Help! We need urgent assistance! The Empire has blockaded the planet and is landing an invasion force! Send help!" a voice yelled into the communicator as he attempted to send a message before their communications were cut off.
Shortly after receiving the call for assistance from Agamar, the Masters were gathered in an emergency session to discuss providing aid to the planet that was now under siege and were trying to decide who they would put in charge of the mission. Master Yoda was silent throughout the conversation as he thought heavily about the decision. Padawans Dubreas and Solak had still not returned to the Jedi Temple which meant it needed to be one of the other Padawans in the group, but the question was which one was ready for the responsibility of leading a force on Agamar.
"It should be my Padawan," Master Windu stated firmly, "He is the most level-headed out of all of them."
"No, Padawan Haemin is not the right choice, he is too young and doesn't have the level of confidence necessary for a leader yet," Master Ti countered with a few of the other Jedi Masters agreeing with her promptly.
Master Yoda opened his eyes and coughed softly to bring silence to the room once again as all the eyes turned on him, "Lead the aid force to Agamar, Padawan Vitalis will," he stated in finality. As Master Yoda had made the decision everyone fell silent on the topic and then sent for the group to come to the Council Chambers.
When the group entered the room Master Yoda was the first to speak, "Attacked Agamar has been."
"What are you wanting to do Masters?" Raven asked seriously.
"We will be sending you all to stop this invasion force with a fleet of Republic Star Cruisers and all available Clone Troopers and the limited numbers of Jedi that can be spared," Master Windu said.
"The leader of this aid force will be Padawan Vitalis," Master Kenobi revealed causing Raven to look around at the Masters in shock but then composed himself quickly.
"Very well Masters," Raven said as he bowed and left the room as the group was dismissed to start preparing for the mission. While in the elevator Raven handed out tasks so that they could leave as soon as possible.
"Should I go tell Eric?" Stret asked and Raven nodded his head.
"And make sure all the Starfighters are ready for the trip there please Stret," Raven requested as they exited the lift, and everyone went to complete their tasks as quickly as possible. Raven was on the way to his destination when he walked around a corner and Mia was walking in the opposite direction.
"Raven, I heard that Agamar was attacked," Mia said.
"Yes, I am leading the aid force that is leaving shortly to go and assist in protecting the planet," Raven explained quickly.
"I want to come and help. I'm trained in using a sniper rifle," Mia revealed, and Raven saw the weapon that was strapped to her back.
"That sounds like a good idea, we could use all the help we can get," Raven agreed, "This way, I have a list of Jedi to send to the hangar," he added as she followed him to the different location in the Temple. Then when they had found everyone they both headed straight to the hangar which was a chaos of people running back and forth, getting ready to leave.
Meanwhile, on Agamar, the dropship landed on the planet's surface and the occupants ran out to come face to face with something that shocked them all. A shipwreck of massive scale greeted them and they all froze to the spot unsure of what to do.
"Move forward, we need to secure this area and capture any of the inhabitants that may be hiding here," Sith Commander Rezrak ordered as he walked ahead of his Company.
"But what is it Commander?" one of the soldiers asked, visibly shaking from the freezing cold wind.
Sith Commander Rezrak turned to face his men and answered the question swiftly, "This is an old Separatist Battle Station from the Clone Wars."
The group followed him in their approach and became ignorantly relaxed in thinking that all the battle droids would be destroyed. However, as they got further into the middle of the Battleship Rezrak couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.
"Take cover!" he ordered as they suddenly came under fire from ahead, "Identify the enemy," he ordered one of the technicians that took cover next to him.
The technician nodded and peaked over the barrier with his macro binoculars and his eyes widened when he saw what was shooting at them, "They're Separatist Battle Droids, sir," he answered in shock.
"What?" Rezrak demanded, "That's impossible, they should have shut down when the Separatist Alliance was defeated."
Then there was the sound of the droids talking amongst each other and at that point, there was no mistaking the well-known statement used by the Battle Droids, "Roger-Roger."
Suddenly there was a massive explosion nearby which sent Sith flying in every direction, most of whom were now dead.
"The General ordered all the Jedi to be killed," the voice of a Battle Droid said as Rezrak faded into darkness, feeling a slight level of confusion when it said Jedi.