Allies in the Unknown Regions

The Nebulon-C escort frigate drifted through space. Appearing as a small speck in the distance was the the Chiss Colony Station Cam'co, a base stationed at the far end of the Chiss Ascendency. House Nuruodo, which served as the executive branch of the Chiss Ascendency, made a point in dealing with strangers from the greater Galaxy at a point far removed from the heart of the tangled web of hyperlanes that was Chiss Space. Cam'co Station, located in what even the Chiss considered to be a frontier system, was the perfect rendezvous point. Anyone wishing to know the location of Cam'co Station had to have the coordinates of the safe passages already granted to them by House Nuruodo, and even if someone wished to use these coordinates for nefarious purposes, the system was a long way from the Chiss homeworld of Csilla.

Behind the Nebulon-C was one of the most powerful ships in the Chiss Expansionary Defense Fleet, a Chiss Star Destroyer which was flanked by a dozen Nssis-class Clawcraft-quite the welcoming party. The Chiss had the firepower to destroy the Nebulon in minutes. The Chiss did not usually try to intimidate their allies, but they seemed to be extra cautious.

Cam'co Station had the appearance of two large cones stuck together at their bases floating through space, a standard Chiss military space station. As the Nebulon drew closer, a small square of lights began to flash and small docking claws opened up. A tractor beam was turned on, and the Nebulon was ordered to power down.

On the bridge, Leia Organa Solo watched. The past two months had been a trying experience as many of the Resistance members who survived had abandoned the cause and those who remained were often bitter. The most grievous loss was that of Poe Dameron. After the Battle of Crait, the Millennium Falcon escaped the system and its crew ended up on the planet Talasea, which housed a storeroom of supplies and weapons. The very night of arrival, Poe found an old Rebellion-era X-Wing fighter still in working condition. He took off and was never seen again.

From Talasea, Leia was able to call in forces from planets who were sympathetic to their cause, but the request was more often than not met with either silence or a cold refusal. Still, by calling in favors and using what remained of her financial resources she was able to gather together a small fleet and army. Still, without firm leadership the Resistance was handicapped, and she now hoped that the Chiss, her last and greatest ally, would come through, although given the cold welcome her hopes were not high.

Leadership, leadership is the key- the key she did not have. Not only did the greatest pilot arguably since Wedge Antilles himself desert her cause, but Vice Admiral Holdo, her own apprentice, was dead. Leia was not very skilled with the Force. Due to her government work, she never had the time to devote herself to Luke's training regimen. Still, Luke had taught her the basics. She discovered that she had a particular talent with precognition and telepathy, abilities which under the guidance of Luke she turned into a primitive form of Battle Meditation- the power to predict multiple outcomes of a battle and guide one's forces towards that victory. This skill had been invaluable during the early skirmishes and as soon as Leia discovered Holdo's force-sensitivity, she was quick to nurture the same abilities in her.

Still, Holdo was arrogant. Once she discovered that she could envision the future and guide the present towards that reality, her planning abilities began to slip. After all, if one can see and the future, why couldn't one create the most byzantine systems and plots imaginable? She did not account for free will and the sheer mathematical unpredictability of chaos theory. There is an old Bendu doctrine, closely related to the concepts of dependant origination and emptiness, that the present is the result of billions of tiny millisecond changes and variables that could have been different. Leia was never taught this doctrine as it was forgotten with the Jedi Purge. Even if one can see the future, simple plans are prefered as there is less that can go wrong.

Still, if it wasn't for Holdo, Leia would be dead. Either Leia or Holdo could have performed the act which saved the small Resistance remnant, but one of them had to die because nobody else could do it. When ships enters or leaves hyperspace, space is torn as the ship is elevated to a corridor in the higher dimensions of hyperspace. This spatial rift is proportional to both the mass of the ship and its hypervelocity, and yet due to the vastness of space, even large and fast ships could often jump in and out of hyperspace around space stations and other ships without much danger. In fact, even if one wanted to crash a ship into another while entering hyperspace, it was almost impossible. Ships are small and space is big, just a few microdegrees can drastically change the ship's vector. If two ships were a safe distance away from each other, these small degrees effectively acted as a hyperspace shield. Enter hyperspace too early, and the ship would pass over the other. Jump too far to one side or the other and the spatial rift would not even effect the other. As such only one particularly skilled in Jedi precognition could hope to crash a ship into another while entering hyperspace. Thus, such a tactic could never become a mainstream strategy.

Even if one had precognition, weaponizing hyperspace is a tricky affair. The ships had to be lined up just right and of targetable size. A smaller ship was almost impossible to hit, even for a Jedi, but a larger ship provided a greater target. However, this tactic was almost impossible to use against planetoids and large space stations as the mass shadow of said planetoid would rip the ship out of hyperspace before it made contact with the planet's surface.

There was only one known occasion of a successful use of this tactic against a planetary body. Sometime during the Clone Wars, a possibly deranged Jedi jumped the Republic battlecruiser Quaestor into the Separatist world of Pammant, destroying the planet by fracturing its core. However, Pammant was a smaller world whose insides were mostly hollow generating only a minor mass shadow. Additionally, the Jedi in question took advantage of a Separatist hyperspace launcher, using it to shoot his ship into hyperspace before he turned on his own hyperdrive to gather momentum. As much as later military strategists may have wanted to duplicate this feat, due to the special conditions and circumstances involved, it was far too impractical to even consider. Holdo had only been able to ram the Mega-class dreadnought due to its relative size and her own precognitive abilities.

Even more devastating to the Resistance was the inglorious death of Admiral Ackbar. Ackbar was by far the greatest admiral the Rebellion, the New Republic, and the Resistance ever had. In many ways, he was the face of the high command itself, the living embodiment of how to run the navy. Before his death, he was officially retired but had instantly volunteered when the First Order attacked. Leia knew that even with the chaos of the collapse of the New Republic and the potential collapse of civilization itself right around the corner, the militaries of many worlds that had once been members of the New Republic were mourning his death- and likely cursing her own name.

Leia felt the shutter of the magnetic locks fastening the Nebulon to Cam'co Station. She left the bridge and began to walk to the boarding dock.

A Chiss sergeant with a large Charric rifle greeted Leia. He merely informed her, in the Sy Bisti trade language, that the Aristocra wished to see her, and so the Resistance party was led by armed Chiss soldiers through the corridors of Cam'co Station. Eventually, the party emerged in a large auditorium-like room which reminded Leia of inside of a courthouse. Seated upon a raised platform at one end were seven Chiss, who watched her with their red eyes as she entered. The Resistance party was left to stand in the middle of the room as the guards spread out keeping their rifles at the ready. Leia took her position directly in front of the Aristocra, an elderly Chiss female.

"Aristocra Sev'eere'nuruodo," said Leia formally in Sy Bisti, "I bid you greetings from the Resistance-"

"Do not use my full name," said the Aristocra with a sneer, "tell me what you demand from us."

"I do not demand anything, Aristocra Veeren," said Leia diplomatically using the short hand version of her name, "we are allies together determined to preserve sentient civilization against tyranny- a mutually beneficial arrangement."

"Do not try to deceive me with your honeyed words," said Veeren, "I know why you are here. You have failed. You have utterly failed after squandering our resources and now you come to us demanding more aid from the Chiss Ascendency. Do you now expect us to fight your wars for you?"

"Aristocra Veeren, we destroyed the Starkiller upholding our end of the bargain."

"You destroyed it after it obliterated your 'New Republic' and now the Galaxy is in a state of anarchy! We gave you the tools necessary to cripple the First Order while upholding peace and stability in the wider Galaxy."

"Your honor, the Hosnian System was destroyed after years of political turmoil. There was nothing we could do."

"You could have sabotaged the Starkiller before it was operational like you agreed to do!"

"The New Republic could not organize the fleet for such a thing as that would provoke full-on war. We had to operate through the Resistance only as it was technically an independent political entity."

"Well a war is better than the collapse of civilization, now isn't it?"

Leia bit her tongue.

"Do you know how it works out here in the 'Unknown Regions'?" asked Veeren.

"I am not as familiar with your politics as you are."

"Out here, it is like a jungle, and we, the Chiss, are like the permacrete city that slowly expands to cover the jungle. We are civilization amidst a sea of anarchy. We fought several wars with the Vagaari and the Killik hives. Everyday the Empire of the Hand expands and encroaches on our southern border while the Rakata strike at our northern borders. There are a hundred different threats out here that would freeze your blood if you knew of them- and something is stirring them up."

"Aristocra," interrupted one of the other Chiss. Veeren glanced over at him and decided that some things are better left unsaid. She took a breath.

"Without civilization, all that is left is the state of nature- in which an eternal war blazes between all against all. We do not want that to happen either, but in the face of it anything is preferable."

"If anything is preferable," said Leia more than a bit annoyed, "You will help us."

"You have no army and a small navy. You have no loyalty or leadership. Even if we did help you, our resources would be squandered as all our aid in the past has been. At this point, I would rather give aid to the Rogue!"

"The Rogue?"

Veeren realized that she had stumbled upon an unpleasant topic. "Leave us. I no longer care what you do or where you go as long as you do not threaten the Chiss Ascendancy. With the Galaxy in ruins and civilization on the brink of collapse we must prepare ourselves. I hope that the Galaxy is able to break into several confederations because at this point even an eternal war against various factions is preferred to the state of nature, and so I would recommend joining the strongest, but as it stands we are on the edge of a precipice. One small nudge could send everyone over. I do not know which way to push to send the Galaxy in the opposite direction- if that is even possible at that point, but I am not about to give our limited resources to a group that had repeatedly butchered our chances of peace with ineptitude. If the first great Fall since the last Dark Age is coming, the Chiss should stay out of it to prevent us from being dragged back 25,000 years on the technological ladder."