Orbit over Taris
The Emperor was dead.
The message played on repeat over all imperial frequencies. The bridge aboard the The Styx was silent, only the humming of electronics was audible. The forth brother stood staring out into space.
Everyone in the force had felt the galaxy shudder at the death, even more so at the death of Lord Vader. His next steps would have to be measured.
"Notify the fleet, prepare jump to Fondor." His order breached the silence. The bridge immediately burst to life. As the navigators pit began charting their course.
As the ship began to turn, He saw the other two str destroyers under his command follow. The Acheron was next, followed quickly by the Phlegethon.
"Entering light speed now, sir." One of the bridge hands called out, I nodded in acknowledgment as the emptiness of space turned to the blue of hyperspace travel.
"Notify me as we exit the jump." I left the order as I departed the bridge to the stormtrooper barracks aboard.
The mood was grim in the bowels of the ship. The thoughts of the soldiers and personnel were easy to understand. Glum. Wavering.
He raised his comm, contacting the captain of the attached storm trooper legion, the 327th. "Captain, gather your men in the hanger so I can address them.
"Yessir." Was the snappy reply.
The soldiers and staff stiffened and saluted, as he stalked down the halls, toward the main hanger.
He emerged at the flight control deck, which had been cleared ahead of his address the to the troopers, his own inquisitorial purge troopers flanked him.
"Soldiers of the empire."
"As you have heard. The emperor is dead."
A ripple of emotion travelled through the crowd.
"As a direct result of this. The entire chain of command has collapsed." A strong waver traveled through the assembled soldiers.
"But now is the time for retribution! Moving forward, you will swear loyalty to me as we regroup with other fleets, following the contingency plans set out by his majesty."
"From this point, you will swear loyalty to me, as we set out reforge this empire." The vigor spread throughout the crowd. The rebel alliance will know true fear under our attacks!"
His blood roared, as did the soldiers, who were cheering and calling for blood.
"As of now, we move towards Fondor to claim the shipyards and their stock, to empower our fleet."
He turned back to stalk up to the bridge, a squad of purge troopers flanked him, captain Lyian of the 327th fell in beside him.
"Captain, have your mean repaint their armour to black, we will began work on these destroyers too."
"Yessir, " he rattled off before diverting to the barracks.
The blue tunnel of hyperspace broke as the fleet dropped into the Fondor system, the circular shipyards dotted around this side of the planet.
On the far side, near the other hyperlane area, a rebel fleet were engaging the depleted shipyard defence fleet, which was taking a beating.
He could feel the concern of his bridge staff.
"Hail the shipyard command, immediately."
"Yessir!" One of the pit crew responded, a hologram appearing in front of him a moment later.
"Fondor shipyard command this the Styx, under command of the inquisitorious. What's going on?"
"This is shipyard command," a panicked reply came through, "A rebel fleet is attempting to capture the dry docks, we have boarders!"
"Affirmative, we are sending troopers over." He cut the comm.
"Captain," the fourth brother turned to the fleet captain Helon. "Deploy the 327th to the shipyard. Move our fleet to intercept the rebels."
"At once sir."
The ship hummed as the engines powered the vessel forward.
"Contact the rebel flagship."
A moment later, he was in comm with the rebel commander, mon calamari.
"Rebel fleet this is Imperial Star Destroyer Styx, surrender now, or be destroyed." He laid out his demands.
"Imperial fleet, this is the Raxus 1, we will not surrender. Leave this system while you can." Came the counter demand.
Sneering, the fourth brother cut the comms, turning to his gunnery command. "Focus firepower on the enemy capital ship."
A scurry of activity filled the bridge as the turbo lasers opened up, the combined power of three ISD 2's shattering the ship's shields.
He stood motionless as the enemy flagship burnt in space, it's support vessels suffering a similar fate as they tried to shield their flagship. He spied a nebulon B get split by its thin spine.
"The enemy fleet is crumbling, sir!" One of the gunnery chiefs called out.
"Excellent. Fire on it's bridge. And give me a status report on the shipyard."
A moment followed before the report came through. "Rebel forces have been repelled, they have prisoners sir."
"Execute the prisoners and have the shipyards deploy the star destroyers that are ready to go, we will pick up crews for them soon."
The bridge fell to silence as the staff watched through the glass the enemy fleet crumble apart in space.
The shipyards surrounding the system unclamped their ghost crewed star destroyers, their navigation computers set to follow his fleet unmanned.
"We have four ghost crewed star destroyers with us now sir." Helon reported.
"Have them track our hyperspace jump, plot course for Corusca-."
A whining tone cut him off, before a crewman shouted out. "Enemy fleet dropping out of hyperspace sir!"
His view snapped back outside as a rebel battle group dropped into the system, their guns firing immediately.
"Get us out of here now!"
The galaxy spun to blue as they made their jump to the imperial capital.
The jump was a short one, and they emerged to a thankfully rebel free space.
"Hail the academy, we are taking all their students to crew our new ships, they should have more than enough personnel.
It had taken a bit of convincing, the key turning point being threatening the commandant with execution, before the academy turned over their staff to crew the newly named ships among his fleet, The Ajax, Bellerophon, and the Aeneas.
He had drawn the names from the near eons old myths his home planet had, all of them begin great heroes. He had also given the recorded myths and history from the imperial archives to boost their moral.
Obviously, it wasn't ideal to have green crews in his remnant forces, but he had to take what he could grab among the power struggle. Reports were beginning to emerge of other Moffs making themselves warlords with their assets left to them.
Thankfully, the new star destroyers were fully stocked with fighter wings and army assets, meaning he was at nearly full combat strength, alongside have the power of two fleets under him.
The fleet commanders and captains confirmed they were ready to depart, their armour and ships now painted black, red highlights where necessary.
"Admiral Helon," he began, laying on the emphasis of the new title he had bestowed. "We have one more stop before action can truly begin. Set course for the Byss system."
"The, Byss system, sir?" Came the confused reply. He had forgotten that the system was insider information only available to the close confidants of the emperor, and those who knew how to listen.
"I'll give the coordinates, just get us there."
"Yessir."
"I do not recognise your authority. You have no permission to enter this system." The Nasally tone of the planet governor responded.
His fleet stood at a standstill, opposite the planetary defence fleet of Byss. It was a ragtag collection of ships, a few Gozanti corvettes holding its star fighter retinue, an old arquitens cruiser, and the Governors acclamtor.
"Governor, I am acting under continuation orders from the Emperor. These orders require you to grant me passage to the planetary vault." He lied through his teeth.
"I have no such orders and cannot grant you entry." The speech continued but he zoned it out, instead turning to his gunnery chiefs.
"Do they enemy ships have their shield's raised?" He asked.
A moment followed before the answer came. "No sir. The only power they have is in auxiliary systems and engines."
"Good. Main battery, one shot. Super charge it. Fire for the neck of the command ship." He ordered.
"Um, sir?" The gunnery officer questioned, clearly stunned at the order to fire at another imperial asset.
"The governor is refusing to comply, and is likely planning to defect. Fire at the neck to sever the bridge."
"At once sir."
A moment followed before the green laser fired form them spinal battery. It glowed with power as it impacted the support stand for the ageing acclamator, the bridge staff watched as their opposite command collapsed forward into the main hull, engulfing the ship in a fireball.
"Hail the rest of fleet, demand compliance. Have the rest of the fleet go weapons ready. Ready my shuttle too."
"Yessir."
He strode out the bridge, pressing a button on his gauntlet. As he approached the hanger a platoon of his purge troopers fell in, boarding the shuttle behind him.
The shuttle lifted off and set course for the planet. Two TIE Interceptors escorting it.
The blockade let them through, and they flew past the flaming hull of the devastated acclamator.
Breaching the atmosphere, the shuttle and escort flew down to the administration building, landing on the main landing pad.
Descending the ramp, the fourth brother and his purge troopers were met with a squad of rebel soldiers. Their presence was concerning to say the least, as this was supposed to be a hidden world.
"Surrender! Your empire is destroyed!" The front most one called.
His lightsaber hissed at he activated it, the red blade humming as he strode towards the squad of soldiers.
The first fired, and he brought his saber up to deflect it, the boot striking the rebel in the chest. By the time the others went to fire he was already among them, his saber hacking up the enemy.
He and his squad strode over the corpses, entering the main building. More turned administrative guards attempted to stop them but were quickly gunned down by the purge troopers.
They reached the elevator banks and split up, half the purge troopers and their captain went up to the main office to wipe the data banks, as the other half and the inquisitor went down to the vault in the basement.
Upon reaching the vault near the planets core, they found a rebel team attempting to break into the force sealed vault, evidently having little success.
Unaware to the imperial presence, they were gunned down in a moment as the fourth brother approached the safe door.
Reaching out with the force, he could feel the mechanism moving. After a moment it clicked open, and the durasteel doors moved apart.
Within, lay a treasure trove of Jedi and sith artefacts. Holocrons, old lightsabers, books of all sorts. The force thrummed with restless energy.
"Take this back to my ship." The troopers complied, and began carefully storing everything within the crates that were present.
He commed up the second team, who confirmed wipe of the main computer. The team regrouped at the landing pad, boarding the lambda shuttle back to his flagship. Again, the blockade fleet allowed them passage, but made no move to contact or hinder them.
As they neared The Styx, he hailed the bridge. "Admiral Helon, we had rebels on the surface, the governor has clearly turned. Destroy the enemy fleet and move for orbital bombardment."
"Yes sir, firing now."
As one, his entire fleet opened fire, decimating the unprepared planetary guard fleet. The fleet pressed on and positioned above the administrative centre.
The hail of gunfire from six star destroyers was quick the turn the city to glass. The fleet stayed out for two hours, continually dropping ordnance onto the traitors.
After they stopped, a probe droid was sent down. The video feed was broadcast for all on the bridge to see. Not one building still stood, ash replaced grass and vegetation, the city was now a black speck on the planet surface visible from orbit.
"Admiral set course for the mustafar system."