Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter.

Let's get to it.

GREAT CELESTIAL DRAGON: The Terrans are never going to stop exploring.

Guest: They wouldn't be Terran Jedi. They would be a part of Luke's Jedi order.

BlackWatcher1234: Yes, the Military Disarmament Act will be a point of contest between the two powers. And yes, the Mandalorian and Child will meet Terrans at some point.

RicoRodriguez2018: It'll come before the end of the year, I promise that.

Peter Hong Kong: Well, any clauses dealing with the Empire would have been within the Galactic Concordance, not the Treaty of Terra. And the Terran Alliance wouldn't have included some of those harsh clauses in the treaty. And while there may come a time where the Terran Alliance occupies the Andromeda Galaxy as the main power, it won't be now. As for calling it the Greater Terran Union, I don't think I'd do that simply because it's been taken already as you said. May create a Terran battlestation at some point, but not anytime soon. As for the Mandalorian, I'm gonna wait until Season 2 is done to really plan that story out. And the Terran Alliance will kind of be like a police of the Andromeda Galaxy to some extent, but not enough that there won't be a Resistance.

Chapter 84- End of an Era

(July 4, 2019)

Kelly and Luke are silent as they wait eagerly in a small room at Fort Bragg. They had been asked to come and witness this ceremony.

Today, they had been called to Fort Bragg for a very special reason. Over recent months, many of the original members of the ASAT team had been retiring from various roles or assuming new roles. Kelly's dad had promoted and given a spot on the Terran Joint Command shortly after the signing of the Galactic Concordance. Since General Han had retired at the same time, General Alexei Ivankov, one of the junior members of the original ASAT team, had been promoted to fill Adams' place as Head of TSOC. Several other members of the original ASAT team had retired altogether. And General Paton had left the ASAT team shortly after the Battle of Coruscant due to a wound he had received, and he had decided to retire completely, leaving Tyler Hall as the last member of the original ASAT team still on the team.

However, Hall was not what he used to be. Despite his personal fitness, Hall was now 55 years old, and age was starting to catch up with him. More than that, he had decided that, with the Oath of the ASAT Team fulfilled and the Empire destroyed, his purpose as an ASAT member was finished. He had decided to retire from the ASAT team and accept a position on the Joint Command alongside some of his former teammates.

Today is the change of command for the ASAT team, as well as Hall's retirement from the team. The command of the team would be handed over to Brigadier General Nathaniel Wright, a former Delta Force officer who took Toshiyuki Yamazaki's place on the ASAT team in 2004 when Yamazaki left the team after losing his eye. Wright had spent most of the Galactic Civil War on duty on Earth, but was the senior member of the team after Hall.

Calvin walks up besides them. "Hey. Thanks for coming you guys," he says.

"Of course. Wouldn't miss it," Luke says.

Calvin smiles and nods, then walks forward to take his place near the front of the room with the rest of the team. The rest of the team, except for Ronen, who is on his special mission with Pellaeon, is standing on either side of the stage. At the same time, in the front row is sitting Major Anthony Brown, a SEAL who has been selected to take Hall's place on the team. He will be sworn into the team after the change of command.

Kelly hears the slight sound of a baby fussing, and turns to her left to see Leia trying to calm down Jaina, while Jacen is peacefully sleeping in Han's arms. Both Han and Leia had been invited to the ceremony as well.

"Want me to take her?" Kelly asks.

"Sure," Leia says gratefully.

Kelly immediately takes her niece from Leia, smiling and bouncing her, whispering to her, trying to calm her down. It's only a few moments before Kelly has the little girl smiling and quiet.

"You work wonders. I swear, sometimes I think she likes you more than me," Leia says humorously, making Kelly chuckle.

"All rise!"

Everyone stands up as Hall walks into the room along with Wright and General Ivankov. After a few moments, everyone takes a seat.

"Good evening. Welcome to Fort Bragg for the changing of command of the Anti-Sith Assault Team," Ivankov says, drawing a few claps. He then invites Calvin to come forward for the ceremony.

Calvin takes guidon of the ASAT team as Hall and Ivankov face each other, both standing at attention. Calvin hands the guidon to Hall, who takes it and faces Ivankov. Hall hands the guidon to Ivankov, saying, "I relinquish command."

Ivankov accepts the guidon, then hands it back to Calvin. Hall then steps back before walking to the side of the stage. After a moment, Wright walks up and stands a few paces from Ivankov at attention. Ivankov takes the guidon from Calvin, then hands it out to Wright. Wright accepts guidon and says, "I assume command." He then hands the guidon back to Calvin, who then replaces it in its mount on the stage.

Ivankov then walks over to the podium and says, "We will now hear a few words from General Hall."

Everyone claps politely as Hall walks up to the podium. After the clapping dies down, Hall pauses for an additional moment before he says, "When I first joined the ASAT team, I had no idea how much my life was going to change. Since then, I have seen things most men could not imagine, fought the Sith on multiple occasions, and risked everything for this world and for the sake of peace."

"When one joins the ASAT team, it is not just a job or a commitment. It is a way of life. The identity of being an ASAT commando seeps into every aspect of one's life, and defines who you are as a being. My life has not been the same since I joined the team, and it has taught so much more than I ever thought it could."

"While Darth Sidious has been defeated at last, the threat of darkness is not gone. The dark side still very much exists, and evil always returns no matter how long it is held at bay. We may have vanquished the Sith, but evil return someday. Perhaps in a new generation of Sith, and perhaps in some other form. But, when that day comes, the Anti-Sith Assault Team will once again be on the front lines, ready to defend the Terran Alliance with all they have," Hall says.

Everyone begins to clap. Hall waits for them to finish before he says, "I have served on this team for over a quarter of a century, and I am the last of its original number to leave the team. While it is sad to be leaving it, I know I am ready for my next role, and I know that General Wright will lead the team well. I leave to all of the 12 men who make up this team a commitement to continue to follow the Oath of the ASAT Team, however it may apply, and defend the light with every breath."

More clapping ensues as Hall smiles and steps away from the podium. After a few moments, Wright walks up to the podium.

"Wow. That's tough to follow," he says, drawing a few laughs.

"But in all seriousness, this really is a tough act to follow. The original ASAT team set the bar very, very high, and attempting to live up to that standard is very difficult. Even after years of experience on this team, I consider myself half the man that General Hall or any of his original teammates are. However, I do my best on a daily basis to live up to the standard they set."

"The future for the ASAT team is murky, there is no doubt. But, As General Hall said, there will come a day when evil returns and we will be called up to fight it. And when that day comes, I hope I can make the three men who have held this mantle before me proud."

Everyone claps a bit as Wright steps away from the podium. Ivankov then steps forward and calls Brown to the stage. Ivankov then officially commissions Brown into the team, and Brown takes his position among the ten other members of the team who are present. Ivankov then says a few final words, and then the ceremony concludes.

As the various guests begin milling about, the ten remaining original members of the ASAT team gather on the stage, all of them having come for the ceremony.

The 12 men stand in a tight circle, just looking around at each other. Finally, Adams says, "Well. After almost 28 years, the last of us have left the team."

"It's the end of an era," Wilson says.

"I miss the days when it was all of us," White says.

After a few moments of silence, Rommel finally says, "I feel sad. Twenty eight years, and there's finally none of us left on the team. It just feels like…twenty eight years of seeking a single goal has just come to an end, and now it feels like there's a bit of a hole that the team filled."

"I feel you there. But this is what we fought for, so now we'll just have to find something else we're willing to fight for. And we trained the next generation well. I know Wright will lead them well," Hall says.

The 12 of them continue to stand there for a few moments before Hall finally lays his hand in the middle of the circle and says, "No matter what happens, no matter what direction life takes us, we always stick together. Right, brothers?"

The others all smile and lay their hands in the middle. "Right, brother," they all echo one by one, knowing that no matter what, they will always be brothers.

(July 10, 2019, Naval Station Norfolk)

Admiral Marom races into the room amidst the sound of alarms going off. "What the hell is going on?" he shouts. He had been called to the room, one of the main communications centers, just a few minutes earlier. The officer who had called him had sounded very urgent.

The officer who called Marom there turns his seat around, looking very concerned and alarmed. "Admiral, Admiral Pellaeon was supposed to make his regular check in 6 hours ago, but we received nothing from him. He's never missed a call in before. But what's worse is that we lost all data coming from the Hood about 20 minutes ago."

Marom instantly feels a chill. Like all ships of the Terran Starfleet, the Hood has a transponder and other various systems that link back to Starfleet Headquarters at Norfolk that allows the Starfleet to keep track of its ships. It's more meant to allow them to keep track of ships' status than its location, though it can help track a ship's location too. Although there are several ways that these systems can go offline, the most likely scenarios are either that the ship has lost all power or has been destroyed.

"I'm taking this to the Joint Command," Marom says. He walks over a holotable in the room and says, "Get me a connection to Thrawn immediately."

"Yes, sir," the officer manning the table says.

After a minute, an image of Thrawn appears. "Yes, Admiral Marom?" Thrawn asks.

"Sir, we have a situation. Pellaeon didn't make his last call-in, and 20 minutes ago, we lost all contact of any kind with the Hood. It's transponder is now longer transmitting, nor are any of its other systems we should be picking up," Marom says.

For a moment, Thrawn looks concerned, but he quickly schools his emotions again. After a moment, "Thank you for alerting me. I'll get to work on a rescue." The transmission then cuts off.

(August 1, 2019)

"How much further?" Admiral Montgomery asks.

"Seconds until the end of hyperspace run, sir," the navigation officer says.

Immediately upon receiving the news of the loss of contact with the Hood, Thrawn had dispatched Montgomery with a task force of ships to go search for the Hood. Montgomery was flying his flag on the Repulse. Also part of the task force were the Lutzow, Dreadnought, Kitty Hawk, Granite Mountain, 8 London class Star Destroyers, the Imperator class Star Destroyer Chimaera, and 3 Anzio class light cruisers. They were ordered to search for the Hood at her last reported position and the surrounding systems. There had still been no contact with the missing battlecruiser.

Montgomery walks over to the viewport. Only a few moments later, the ship drops out of hyperspace. Montgomery scans the entire range of his vision, but sees nothing.

"Anything?" Montgomery calls out.

"Nothing, sir. Nothing on the scopes. We're still scanning visually," an officer responds.

"Scramble all fighters and bombers to begin scouting," Montgomery orders.

Within minutes, fighters and bombers begin taking off from the ships of the task force, spreading out in all directions. They are determined to find any sign of the Hood that they can.

The searches by the fighters and bombers last for almost 24 hours, but there is no sign of the Hood. After hearing this, Montgomery finally orders the task force to split up and begin searching nearby space. The ships of the task begin making very brief hyperspace jumps to search for any signs.

These searches last for another 36 hours. Finally, after two and a half days, Montgomery finally decides to give up search.

This comes as a blow to every man of the task force. Despite all they had been through in the war, the Terran Alliance had never lost a capital ship, aka a battlecruiser, battleship, starfighter carrier, or Super Star Destroyer. Now, to have the Hood of all ships lost, as well as Major David Ronen, after the end of the war was very low blow, and to return without any sign of it or any survivors is tough for the crews of the task force to handle. As they begin heading home, all of them are feeling very depressed.

(August 10, 2019)

Obama slowly walks out into the Press Room in the White House. He's been preparing for this news conference for hours now. He has wished so desperately they could receive some news that would make this conference unnecessary. But, no such luck.

Reaching the podium, he looks out over the multitude of reporters who have gathered. After a moment, he says, "Good evening. Tonight, I am sad to report to the people of the Terran Alliance of the loss of a great ship. Exactly one month ago today, while it was on a mission in the Unknown Regions of the Andromeda Galaxy, the Terran Starfleet Headquarters lost contact with the battlecruiser TAS Hood. On board this ship were the former Imperial admiral Gilad Pellaeon, the commando unit known as Inferno Squad, and Major David Ronen of the Anti-Sith Assault Team. Rescue efforts carried out a week ago failed to find any sign of the ship or its crew."

"It is my solemn duty this night to inform you that as of today, the Terran Starfleet Admiralty has declared the TAS Hood and everyone aboard her as Missing in Action. On behalf of the Admiralty and all of the Terran Alliance, I express my condolences to the families of those who were aboard the Hood, and say that our prayers are with you in this time. We will never forget their sacrifice, and we will endeavor to continue to search for the cause of their loss."

Obama turns the time over to questions. Soon enough, news is being transmitted across the world that the Terran Starfleet has, for the first time, lost a capital ship, and that it was the Hood. Within a few days, the British Parliament has authorized a monument to the Hood in Trafalgar Square. Not only because it was named for the HMS Hood, but also because almost half of its crew were British.

All across the world and other worlds of the Alliance, and even in the Republic, people are mourning the loss of the mighty Hood.

And, I'll end there.

So, Hall has left the team, and with it, the ASAT team no longer contains any of its original members. I felt with the Empire destroyed, it was as good a time as any for this to happen.

So, many of you may be surprised with what happened in the second half of this chapter. As I'm sure some of you are probably guessing, the Hood has not been destroyed, and the people aboard are not dead. I have an entire EU story planned around what has actually happened to the Hood and the people aboard, and it will play into the sequel trilogy story in an important way.

Next chapter will be the last one of the story. It should be up soon, until then, please leave a review, and stay tuned.