Time for a New chapter!

All people have regrets. Warriors are no exceptions.
One would hope it was possible to distinguish between events caused by one's carelessness or lack of ability and those caused by circumstances or forces beyond a one's control. But in practice, there is no difference. All forms of regret sear equally into the mind and soul. All forms leave scars of equal bitterness.
A warrior must learn to set those regrets aside as best he can. Knowing full well that they will never be far away."
-Grand Admiral Thrawn

Center of Solum nebula
Deep Space -near Rakatan Security Station
Star Destroyer Chimera
Ready Room

"You are sure of this plan?"

Thrawn's voice encompassed the chamber, despite not physically being present in the Chimaera's ready room. Instead, his transparent figure flickered on the holographic table, it's pale blue light suffusing the area.

Sparing only a slight glance with the significantly less domineering, but also holographic form of Parck, Pelleaon and his fellow captain gave a stiff nod towards their superior.

"Positive sir. It accounts for every variable presented by the station, and will greatly reduce the amount of potential casualties that would otherwise be unavoidable. A good thing as well, time may be of the essence."

"So you've informed me," Thrawn acknowledged, "A week the report read, yes?"

"Before food runs out, aye sir, but food can be rationed. I'm more concerned about their opponents."

The Grand Admiral inclined an eyebrow, "Elaborate."

"To put it bluntly, the station does not seem to be running out of Grimm, regardless of how many are killed. I fear..."

He paused, resisting the urge to tug at his uniform's collar.

"I fear the legion will soon be overwhelmed. If not in a few hours then a few days. Regardless, the sooner they are reinforced, the better."

Thrawn frowned, but nodded, "Hence this… ambitious plan of yours."

"Yes sir."

Thrawn leaned back, considering. After a moment he turned to Parck, inclining his head.

"And you Captain. What are your thoughts on this plan? After all, it is your vessel that will be most vulnerable in such an operation."

Straightening, Park glanced at the read out on his datapad.

"The Admonitor's shields are back at 100%, but most of our hull breaches have been patched with material of... questionable quality. We'd require an actual shipyard to conduct proper repairs."

"So you do not believe it battleready?"

"I never said that sir. I firmly believe the plan can work, and the Admonitor can and will do her duty as is demanded of her. However… I would feel safer if we had some backup. In fact...might I inquire as to the Grey Wolf's status?"

"Unavailable," Thrawn said flatly, "and likely to be so until the negotiations are nearing completion, serving as the incredibly vital window ornament for the natives to gawk at that it is. I can, however, lend you most of my fighter complement."

"Appreciated sir."

"What about task force Tumultuous?" Pelleaon interjected, viewing a map of the area on his datapad, "Captain Sallorel could be here in less then a day."

The observation was sound, but Thrawn was already shaking his head, "A Gyrsk warfleet has been sighted in the area, and the Tumultuous has already had to repel several smaller raids. Pulling them away would likely result in the loss of numerous worlds. Most of our other task forces are in similar straits"

Park pursed his lips, "Truly? Not a single task force is available?"

"None within a week's time, no," Thrawn responded, tone contemplative.

"That seems rather… curious."

"Suspicious, you mean. And indeed it is, but for now we must make due." he refocused on them, "So I ask again, are you both confident in your ability to complete this operation?"

The two captains eyed eachother before nodding, "This station has proven a more difficult opponent than anticipated, but yes, we have faith in this plan."

Thrawn was silent for a long moment, studying them through a narrowed gaze.

"No, I think not," he finally said, slowly, as if he was still in thought.

Pelleaon's brow crinkled.

"Sir?"

Thrawn's gaze refocused on him, "An addendum to your strategy Captain. Instead of reinforcing the legions, you are to evacuate them."

"Abandon the station?" Parck asked, surprised.

"Why not?" Thrawn mused, "I doubt it's going anywhere. We can seize it at our leisure, preferably once we have more forces at our disposal and are more familiar with the Grimm and their capabilities."

He paused, raising a questioning eyebrow to his two subordinates, "Unless either of you wish to continue simply throwing stormtroopers at it until it breaks?"

Pelleaon winced, remembering the 909th's last report of casualties. It was long. Far longer than is remotely necessary. Judging by Parck's expression, he was thinking the same.

"Understood sir. We'll get it done."

Thrawn nodded, "Good. Now, this meeting is adjourned, for I have political negotiations to return to."

Pelleaon regarded his superior with something akin to pity,

"Shall I wish you luck sir?"

"Luck is for those insufficiently prepared, Captain." he absentmindedly responded, tapping his console.

"Then perhaps a headache reliever?"

The Grand Admiral paused, finger hovering above the transmitter button.

"Perhaps," he warily agreed.

Once the meeting with Thrawn concluded, the two captains quickly readied their respective ships for the operation ahead, a process that would take several hours to complete. Once done however, the Chimera quickly hyperspaced towards Remnant, joined up with the Grey Wolf, and transferred over the flagship's complement of Ties into herself. That done, it soon hyperspaced back to rejoin the Admonitor.

With its return the operation officially commenced, and the two ships began moving towards the station.

As with the last dozen times they had moved against it, the station opened fire the moment they entered range, hundreds of turbolasers hammering the star destroyers. Unlike the last dozen times, the two vessels failed to retaliate. Instead their guns remained silent as they pushed forward, conserving as much power for the shields as physically possible. Only upon getting within a few hundred kilometers from the station did the two star destroyers unveil their plan.

To understand said plan, one must be able to picture the basic structure of the station they pitted themselves against. The Rakatan security station, like all Rakatan stations, consisted of a single central "ball" that served as the main body and housed most of the hangar bays (these ones filled with stranded imperial troops), and three separate "fins" that extended below and above the main body, each an equal distance from the others. This meant that anyone attacking the station would be subjected to at least two of the fins at all times, and since said fins held most of the weapon hardpoints, it was a very dangerous undertaking indeed.

The imperial star destroyers proceeded to place themselves directly between two of the fins, tilting until they were lined up vertically and facing the other, their command towers almost touching while each ship's bottom hull and hanger faced one of the station's fins. This effectively created a "shielded" area between the two star destroyers that was protected from the fins and could only be fired upon from the central ball. Said central ball was then quickly subjected to several full broadsides from both star destroyers, thoroughly destroying any weapon emplacements and blowing several gaping holes into the station.

At this point each ship launched its complement of fighters and shuttles, which prior to the attack had been removed from their hangers and placed on the top of their respective destroyers, just under the vessel's shield coverage. Though the rush towards the station had undoubtedly been uncomfortable for the shuttle and Tie pilots, who had been stuck on top of a star destroyer while thousands of turbolasers impacted glowing shields just a few meters above their heads, it had worked, and now they could operate in this protected area with minimal risk from the station.

Now as safe as they could be, the pilots went to work, shuttles swarmed into the contested hangar bays, where the stranded troops immediately and eagerly began their evacuation.

Upon seeing its prey escaping, the station retaliated with predictable rage. Durasteel peeled back, like the petals of a particularly dangerous flower, revealing caverns filled thousands of possessed droids. As one they charged and launched themselves off the station, their broken forms swinging wildly as they hurtled towards the star destroyers.

Imperial gunners and pilots reacted swiftly to the target rich environment, the star destroyer's point defense guns ripping through the floating hordes. Even the mighty turbolasers, typically useless against such small targets, found it near impossible to miss in such conditions, each blast vaporizing dozens of droids.

Indeed, the only imperial forces not engaging in the slaughter were the shuttles full of exhausted stormtroopers that were quickly exiting the now-empty hangers. Said shuttles, unwilling to risk leaving the relatively safe area between the two capital ships, elected to instead land directly on the hulls of the star destroyers themselves, the troops they ferried quickly being directed towards one of a select few airlocks opened specifically for this purpose.

As more and more of the 909th successful evacuated the station and poured into the star destroyers, the mad droids were finally experiencing some success of their own. The sheer number of automatons being thrown into the void was having an effect as the imperials found themselves unable to eliminate every single one. In time droids began slipping through, managing to land on the star destroyers as well and moved to attack anything they could find.

Before long the hulls of the capital ships became sprawling battlefields as droids rabidly hunted the evacuated stormtroopers, tore into turbolaser batteries, or poured into the ships through any available opening.

Though one could be forgiven for thinking the droids possessed the upper hand, this was not actually the case, as though the droids were ferocious in their attacks, the stormtroopers had long been prepared for this operation.

Droids poured into obvious openings, only to be met by hard defensive positions. They chased battered 909th troopers, only to be gunned down in extensively prepared killboxes. They swarmed turbolaser batteries, only to be strafed by Tie fighters and bombers, (the later of which having switched out their proton torpedoes for ion bombs). They even tried to jump back into the void in an effort to attack the craft flying above, to unsurprisingly limited success.

By this point the battle had raged for over an hour, and despite taking considerable casualties (though significantly less than the worst-case scenarios), the imperial's objective was nearing completion. The grimmified droids, having met unyielding resistance at every turn, began to grow desperate, and whatever little coordination they might have possessed soon broke down amid their fury and rage.

For a moment it looked like the imperial had won the battle then and there. The droids were dwindling by the hundreds every second, and though more continued to pour out from the station, it wasn't nearly enough to make up for their atrocious casualty rate. Meanwhile the suttles were retrieving that last of the 909th from the station, soon set to deliver them back to the safety of their own vessels.

Yet even so, at the moment of their clear victory, the grimm had one last trick to play.

It is a well-known fact that noise does not travel in space. Holodramas and cheap datapics might say otherwise, but anyone who traveled and worked in the void of space knew this as an ironclad fact.

So when the thousands of stormtroopers fighting and dying atop the two star destroyers stopped whatever they were doing, and instead looked up at the station, it is understandable that they were shocked into silence as an inhuman roar echoed from within. The grimm too, halted as the eldritch sound washed over the battlefield.

The station's hangers, where the last of the 909th was boarding the evacuation shuttles, suddenly closed like the jaws of a massive maw, the poor imperials still within barely having a moment to realize what was happening before they were crushed between thousands of tons of durasteel.

Their fellow imperials' shock was short-lived, as the moment the roar ended, the droids responded with one of their own. As one, every droid still active on the star destroyers immediately charged, abandoning whatever prior target they were, moments ago, so determined to kill. Instead the whole horde, with a fanatical intensity, beelined straight for each vessel's two bulbous shield generators.

The imperial's responded with panicked determination of their own, as should those generators be destroyed there would be nothing stopping the station's hundred plus turbolasers from tearing into the two vessels. Indeed, throughout both ships stormtroopers abandoned their defensive positions and carefully prepared killzones and poured onto the surface, doggedly blasting away as they moved to help defend the precious generators.

Meanwhile and unnoticed by the droids and troopers tearing into eachother, the Rakatan station's two fins, those which the imperial ISDs had placed themselves between, suddenly took on a dark hue, black mist pouring off them. Slowly, the two station fins began to inch towards eachother, the multi-kilometer long sections evidently harder to move than a few hander walls. At the same time, powerful systems on said fins, not activated for thousands of years, began humming.

The first indication the stormtroopers defending the generators had that something was wrong was when the star destroyer they fought atop suddenly jerked, sending droid and imperial alike tumbling to the ground. Towards the rear of the vessel the massive engines roared, the glow brightening as power flooded into them. Across from them, the other star destroyer did the same, the safe zone between the two disintegrating as the two began to peel away from eachother. Though the troopers were still safe, and would remain so so long as they protected the shield generators, the dozens of Ties above them were not so lucky, detonating under a barrage of lasers as the now rapidly closing fins exploited their restored firing arcs.

As the star destroyers desperately attempted to vacate the area between the two fins, it quickly became evident to both captains that such would not be possible, as the station was holding them in place with powerful tractor beams. Realizing the futility of conventional escape, the two ships instead halted as they poured even more power into their engines, rapidly charging their hyperdrives.

For a brief moment it looked like it wouldn't work, the horror made all the more stark as the first fin slammed into the side of the Chimera, tearing away metal and stormtroopers as it began pushing the star destroyer towards the other fin.

But luck was on the imperial's side, and in a bright flash and a high-pitched tearing sound the two ships shot away from the station, the Chimera leaving behind a chunk of its side as it did so, but otherwise intact.

They had won the day, but a close victory indeed.

12 hours later…

Kingdom of Vale
City of Vale
Beacon Academy
Headmaster's office

The doors to the room opened with a muted hiss, enticing Glynda Goodwitch to push off of the wall she had been leaning against.

"Headmaster. You're ba-," she paused, warily eyeing the person who was most definitely not Ozpin as he entered, "James. I thought you'd be back on your ship by now."

"And I thought you'd be sleeping yourself Glynda. Long night?"

She grimaced, but nodded, turning to gaze at the celebrating city in the distance, "Couldn't sleep. Too much on my mind."

"Hmm."

"Same for you?"

He grunted, "I wish. The negotiations just ended for the night."

Glynda looked at him, aghast, "They just ended? It's one in the morning!"

"Trust me, I know," he replied, slumping into one of the chairs, looking more tired than she had seen in a while, "so many revelations, so much to do. And it was just the first day. I wouldn't be surprised if these talks go on for months."

She sat next to him, idly fingering her crop, "Did they ever figure out who leaked the news to the media?"

"Yes," he sighed, "It was councilmember Torrean's secretary, though I don't imagine she still has that job after tonight."

Glynda considered that before offering a hint of a shrug, "At least she also leaked that the aliens are friendly. Otherwise I suspect we'd be having a lot less celebrating and a lot more panic."

"True" he acknowledged, "but it shouldn't have happened at all. It's still far too early to say they're our friends, much less whether we'll agree to their terms."

Glynda had her doubts about that, but decided it wasn't worth arguing over.

"Where Ozpin?" she asked instead.

"Taking a walk I think."

She arched an eyebrow, "You think?"

He shrugged, "Said something about stuffy politicians and needing fresh air."

"Ah."

"Can't say I blame him."

"That bad?"

James just laughed at that.

"Damn."

"Damn indeed."

Far below, in the city streets choked with thousands of hopeful citizens, three figures gazed up at the darkening sky, where, barely visible behind the glow of gleeful fireworks and triumphant banners, the stark grey form of the Imperial's star destroyer could still be seen.

"Well, a grey-haired teen said, "this puts a wrench in our plans."

An amber-eyed witch turned to him, eyes seemingly glowing in the dark, "Is that so Mercury?" she asked, almost purring, "because I fail to see how this changes anything."

"Really?" Mercury drawled, gesturing to the festivities around them, "cause I don't know, but this doesn't look like a terrified city to me."

"Cinder, I… hate agreeing with him," the third figure, a mint-hair girl spoke up, indeed looking like she had swallowed a lemon, "but he's right. If these aliens or… whatever they are decide to help with the Vytal Festival's security, we could have a problem. We never accounted for anything like this"

Cinder just let out a small chuckle, completely unworried. "Please, Ironwood would never let anyone else take over his precious security command, and if for some reason Vale does prove stupidly trusting enough to invite these 'imperials' to help with the security, that just means more opportunities to spread chaos. Why, if we play our cards right...," she leaned in, eyes glowing,

"...we might just start a war."