Author's Note: Happy November and Saturday everybody! I am proud to bring you the next chapter to the story, however; I regret to inform everyone that I may or may not be starting to wrap up the story. I might return with another story later on, or a sequel to this involving Thrawn and Praxon, but we will have to see. In the meantime though, let us go on with the next chapter, shall we?
The first one on the right approached me, as the others simply stayed near the door. His hands neatly folded in-front of his person alongside him relaxing into a much less upright position.
"Grand Moff Praxon, a pleasure it is to finally see you."
I didn't know what I was feeling during that moment, but due to my past experiences and the likeness of people just dropping by unannounced, I suppose I had gotten used to the anonymity, ever since my encounter with that 'Stranger'.
"I do not know if I should return the favor, or if I should just listen to what you gentlemen have to say," I retorted in a slightly unamused tone.
The man placed a grin on his face, "Hmm…I suppose we can skip the pleasantries," while pausing for a second before continuing, "Let me tell you a little story, Mister Praxon. There was once a very powerful leader that led a very massive empire, and…eventually, this man began to root out his incompetent advisors and subleaders. One of these specific subleaders has caught the interest of that very powerful leader, due to his less than proficient skills in managing his subjects. Need I continue, Mister Praxon?"
The whole 'analogy' began to flush over me as I came to a realization or at least a slight deduction as to who these men were.
"Please tell me that…Sate Pestage got back to the Emperor and told him my-…" I was swiftly interrupted by the man near my desk.
"Yes, Mister Pestage told me that you had dealt with the spy. Though, the Emperor still requests your presence on Coruscant."
That phrase echoed my mind as I slowly began to recede back into my chair and would counter, "But…the Emperor can't hold me responsible for everything that has happened…The Emperor gave Thrawn control of the Outer Rim, how could I be held responsible for what has incurred?"
The man apathetically told me, "Regardless of what you may think, you can simply address it to the Emperor, Mister Praxon."
I felt myself slowly rise out of my seat as I glanced towards the three near the door again, only to realize that they had what appeared to be DT-29's in the hands of the three. I turned back to the armored figure near the desk and rhetorically asked, "I don't have a choice in this…do I?"
He shook his head as he gestured me to follow the men out of my office. I did so willingly, as I began to imagine only what the Emperor would have in store for me. The thoughts of my death becoming an all too possible outcome, or a similar fate to what I shared when I went before the Emperor at the Gala I attended, or if I was to think a little optimistically, I might not suffer any of the former, perhaps a simple demotion to Fleet Admiral or something would be suitable. At the moment with all the chaos that had previously happened before, my mind was an utter wreck of 'what-ifs' and scenarios.
As we came out towards the landing platform, there was a simple Lambda shuttle with a purple coloration added to it. Two stormtroopers were guarding it, and upon seeing me coming out towards the shuttle, they went to salute. As the realization hit them that I was the one being 'dragged' to the shuttle, they quickly corrected their stance and continued standing there. The ramp suddenly closed behind the last person that stepped on-board, leaving me to sit back in my seat worrying about the silence that was emerging in the now sealed cabin.
The jump to hyperspace was one of eeriness as I hadn't before really taken the time to listen to the sound of the hyperdrive whirring up before utter deafness. No sounds from the outside, no usual humming of the ion engines vibrating through-out the ship. This wasn't a great environment for me to be in, considering if I was going to end up as just another piece of organic matter with the life snuffed out of it; the plausibility that the afterlife might just very well be this constant darkness and silence.
I must've been lulled asleep as I found myself waking up inside the shuttle's cabin again, except this time to the sound of someone yelling at me and a gun pointed directly at my head. My eyes hadn't adjusted to the light but my ears adjusted quicker to the verbal command, "Get up now," as my body proceeded to stand. The four armored figures were in-front of me and telling me to exit the shuttle as the ramp conveyed itself downwards. The noisy bustling of Coruscant became rapidly apparent to my mind as I saw the many skyscrapers, sun shining off the cars above me and the most apparent structure, the Imperial Palace.
The Gala Room, the offices, the hallways and corridors of familiarity, and the massive galleries of art and sculptures from different culture around the galaxy, the palace hadn't changed much since I had last been here except for a noticeable hole in one of the walls that had been taped off. The turbolifts became closer as we inched towards it with every step, only to enter the small cylindrical room as the doors opened, letting the five of us pile in. To say that I felt like I was a ysalamir in a cage or a terrorist being sent to the gallows was an understatement. Up until now, I had relative control over myself except for the shakiness of my confidence and constantly building anxiety, until I felt the dark and terrifying presence of the throne room surrounded me.
The steps leading up to the platform were the most nerve-racking, as I noticed that it was completely devoid of anyone, whereas in the past, at least there were people present when I had gone before the Emperor. The throne twisted around in a nail-bitingly snail-like manner as the black cladded figure turned around with his lips curling upon seeing me.
"Grand Moff Praxon. I am glad that you were able to take the time to come visit me at my humble home," the Emperor stated in his raspy and cold voice.
With a lump going down my throat, I replied, "Of course…Emperor Palpatine. I-…I would never pa-…pass up the opportunity to address our benevolent leader, le-…let alone deny an invitation from him."
Eventually, the man who had spoken to me in my office spoke up, "Emperor Palpatine, we have brought the man here as ordered. Shall we-…"
The Emperor quickly retorted, "Silence. You will stay here until I dismiss you."
The man retreated back to the other three similarly dressed men, as I continued to gaze on at the Emperor.
"Tell me, Grand Moff Praxon. Why is it do you think I have summoned you here for?"
I calculated my words with as much time I could spare, "I…would assume that you have summoned me due to the problems that the Grand Admiral and I have had…with the loss of multiple systems and the recent breach from an infiltrator…is that correct, your highness?"
The Emperor let air flow past his teeth after I had said my piece, "Gooood. At least you know what your mistakes and the whole reason of this meeting."
I stood without saying a word, leaving the room to its own echoes. The four men behind me eventually began to walk down the stairs as I heard the sound of metallic clinging come from behind me.
"You dare defy your Emperor!?" he yelled out towards the men.
Without a second to lose, they all stepped back into position, before he told the four men to come to him immediately. As they stood in a uniformal line in-front of him, he unleashed a torrent of lightning from his hands that effectively made the four of them collapse to the ground, yelling out in agony. This continued for a few minutes as I simply stood as far as I could from the possibility of being hit by any ricocheting lightning.
As he finished up with the now completely charred corpses, he pressed a button on his chair which must've been for the Royal Guards as I heard two distinct footsteps come up the stairwell, as they began to drag the bodies away from the feet of the throne.
"They would've made horrible royal guards, as you can see, Grand Moff Praxon. They lack focus and patience. Something I do not have need for in the Empire."
I nodded my head in affirmation, as he then gestured me to come near the throne. I felt another series of lumps go down my throat, the next one harder to swallow then the other as I felt myself slightly arch backwards as I approached the Emperor.
"Do not worry, Praxon. If you believe I am here to kill you, you are severely mistaken. Albeit, I have not enjoyed your pitiful trifles in the Outer-Rim, making you a Grand Moff was a bit of a mistake if I say so myself. Surely you cannot deny that, hm?"
I concurred, "Yes…Emperor Palpatine, you are correct and if I was to be honest with you, I see now retrospectively, that what I had done was a grab for power, a fairly stupid decision of me as I was not ready to take on the load of Grand Moff. If I may petition this…I would like to be demoted to Fleet Admiral so that I may not be incompetent or a hindrance to your agenda, your highness."
The chambers echoed the electronic humming as no voice came from neither myself or the Emperor. Eventually though, the Emperor moved his mouth and stated in a rather cautious tone, "You are lucky, Mister Praxon that your record, despite being littered with many recent problems which I have seen as a poor show of your skills, that I see value in you. For if I didn't, like I had stated earlier, you would be just like the four men I had sent to get you," he paused as he rose out of his throne, "however, I still believe you are in need of punishment to drill you into not making the same mistake."
My body tensed and swelled up as I tried to prepare myself for the most likely case of being electrocuted, but that didn't come. Instead, I felt a rather tight force around my windpipe as I attempted to breathe in, only resulting in my neck clenching up. Instinctively, I brought my hands up to collar as I tried to pull it forward and readjust it, only to realize that I wasn't going to be barraged by electricity, but instead suffer the wraith of not being able to breathe. I collapsed to the ground, as one of my arms held me up and the other still trying to adjust my neck to allow me to inhale. My throat was eventually released of the pressure as I gasped for much needed oxygen, looking up at the now seated figure again.
"I will grant you your petition, Admiral Praxon, since Governor Ulixor has showed he has the experience to perform expertly in areas where you lacked. He will take the mantle of Grand Moff of the Outer Rim."
I pulled myself off the ground and calculated if I should bring up the topics of the Restitute, Director Krennicand the Omicron Regiment, which despite my mind telling me not to do so, I decided to bring it up.
"My liege…there is one more thing I have to bring up. I, would also like to claim the Restitute, my personal transport, my personal squad I had been training, the Omicron Regiment, Director Krennic, and an Imperial Star Destroyer Class-II…"
The notion didn't seem to amuse him as he stated, "Do not let your ambitions and your recent survival of my wraith give you false confidence in granting tall orders such as that, Admiral Praxon."
However, he would then counter, "The Restitute was given to Grand Admiral Thrawn as he stated he had more need of it, than you ever did, so I cannot grant you that, Admiral Praxon. Your personal squad will fall under the new Grand Moff's control, but I will allow you to keep the incompetent Director Krennic and give you your Star Destroyer."
Having exceeded my welcome, he quickly told me to leave him at once and that he will send the Star Destroyer to Eriadu. He held out his hand with a new rank plate, prompting me to take it and to place my current one in his hands. With a gentle bow, I worked my way over to the turbolift, and upon the door closing behind me, I felt my legs give out from under me as I started to have a panic attack, as my composure and façade quickly faded from me. I undid my jacket, as I felt the elevator coming to a slow, with the new Fleet Admiral plate in my black gloved hand.
Time Transfer | Eridau, Planet Surface
I came out of the shuttle to the faces of a blue skinned Grand Admiral, a white tailored suit with a cape, and the regiment I had come to previously known as the Omicron Regiment. My walk to the small group was halted when the Chiss walked towards him, holding his arm out to take hands with me, whilst simultaneously asking where I had gone, feigning as if he didn't know where I had went.
"Grand Admiral Thrawn, just drop the façade. You know very well that you do indeed have knowledge of what had occurred in Coruscant," I paused for a second before thinking back to past encounters with the Chiss, "And…don't pretend as this wasn't part of your plan, Thrawn."
Upon hearing my statement, he gave me a smile and just nodded towards me as he rescinded himself from the group and went back into the Governor's Palace. Krennic was the second person to approach me, all too aware of what the Grand Admiral had just done, but also with a face of surprise as he had looked down towards my right pectoral to see a new insignia placed upon my jacket.
"You-…you went to see the Emperor, didn't you?" Director Krennic asked in a seemingly astonished way.
"What gave it away? Thrawn walking away? The new rankplate? Or the fact that I am still alive and virtually broken to the core?"
Krennic simply brought his fist up to his mouth and said, "If you had survived the Emperor's wraith…then you are clearly luckier than I have ever been before Vader. But…what does this mean? The Emperor demoted you from Grand Moff?"
I continued, "Yes, I am no longer the Grand Moff of the Outer Rim. Personally though, I am glad since I won't have to worry about the fear of dying every second something goes wrong under my command," I then pulled up my finger, "But…I did come out with some benefits. I am now a Fleet Admiral, the Emperor allocated a new Class-II Star Destroyer to be under my command, and despite…losing a precious squad I had worked hard to put together and my personal ship, I was able to keep one precious asset."
Almost as if it was written in a stereotyped space opera, the Director asked, "And what is that?"
With a stifled laugh, I replied with, "You. The Emperor saw it fitting that you still work under me for reasons unknown to me."
Krennic's slight smile fell into a bitter and somewhat neutral gaze as he let out an iconic, 'Oh' before folding his arms around his chest. He'd then turn to the squad that had been waiting beside him, only to slowly walking off as he made dramatic steps towards the inside of the building, leaving me with the visibly distraught men of mine. I decided to approach them with a sincere face and a sigh of anguish as I pulled my head up to meet them.
"I'm…sorry, everyone…but, as you had heard…the Emperor has demoted me. As you might've also overheard…I am losing a 'precious squad' who I had worked hard to assemble…in which case, that would refer to you all. I-…I can only say that I hope the new Grand Moff respects you…all of you and that you all find comfort that I will be moving on to bring the fight to the rebels more…directly."
Despite the men and the few women of the squad protesting loudly towards me, I began to walk towards my old office, with the sound of my men's voices dying down as they all dispersed. Within the few moments I had been contemplating, I had arrived at my office, surprised to see that there were a few crates outside and some workers moving the things out of the room and onto a hover cart. I only tilted my head in to witness the relatively empty room, a saddened feeling irking around inside of me.
Before deciding to go to the shuttle to board the Star Destroyer which had just recently come out of hyperspace, I wanted to pay my last goodbyes to the Grand Admiral, despite his hand most likely being a part of all of this. However, as my eyes glanced over to the Grand Admiral's office, I had realized that a very astute and upright figure in Grand Moff looking attire was outside with two Shocktroopers, conversing with the Chiss.
I approached the group only for the Grand Admiral to see me first and would turn towards me, speaking rather loudly, "Ahh, Praxon. Such an opportune time, come over here for a second, will you?"
Despite already walking over, I acted like I turned paths and came within a couple of feet of the small congregation. The man I had been speaking about earlier turned towards me, revealing his thinning brown hair, swept over into an authoritative haircut, deep blue eyes and a rather rough looking face with scars battered all over. He might've been oddly tall, but he certainly had the complexion of a horse.
"Reylan Praxon. It is an honor to meet the person I am preceding before you leave Eriadu. I must say, this is a beautiful planet and had I chosen where to be born, I would've definitely picked here." The new Grand Moff said.
I shook my head in a cold demeanor, "Listen, don't patronize me or make small talk or pity me, Grand Moff. The Emperor said you had far more experience than I did, and more or less I kind of felt like a placeholder for the position. So by all means, I feel like you should've taken the position regardless. The only thing I ask of you is that you bring the Outer Rim under control, take care of the squad I assembled, and keep the planet the way it is."
His compassionate tone he had originally had quickly faded into a bored and monotone composition, "Hmm. You are just as serious as some of your officers under you had stated beforehand. I can respect that, a man of business, little time for jokes or wasted time. Rest assured, Admiral Praxon, I will honor your requests to the best of my abilities."
He held out his hand for a shake, in which I firmly shook his hand in return, before breaking the handshake. The Grand Admiral then gestured me to follow him, as a few workers started up a hover cart with crates and followed us. As we came to the landing platform, Thrawn spoke up as he told the workers to load his cargo unto the shuttle.
"You know, I should commend you. You are taking this quite well, which is oddly enough something I didn't predict. I had actually thought that in an attempt to hold your power, you might've lied to the Emperor and gotten killed, but no…you are adaptable and you learn when things go wrong or are not in your control. I suppose I should state I underestimated you, Praxon."
I scoffed at his comment, "I may have very well been dead had I not been honest, and or the Emperor not actually taking a second to evaluate that I am a competent Admiral based on my past performances."
Thrawn nodded, "Yes, I suppose so. Regardless of what I had thought would happen, this can be weaved into something much better. Therefore, as you had a trip down memory lane near your office, I contacted the Emperor and you are now officially a part of the Seventh Fleet. Congratulations, Admiral Praxon."
My body jumped back viciously as I heard the statement and replied, "What!?"
Thrawn smiled his infamous smirk at the cost of my chagrin, "Yes. I realize now that you can be quite a powerful ally and despite my under-analysis of you during your reign as the Grand Moff, I realize that your skills lie elsewhere. More precisely in battle based strategy and combat, rather than macro scaled politics, enforcement and strategy. Plus, I could use someone competent at the Mandalore incursion that is due to occur within the next coming hours."
My eyes glared at the Chiss with contempt but also understanding as I couldn't know whether to thank the Grand Admiral, or to be angry at him for weaving this unfortunate scenario into his plan. However, I couldn't be mad at him for I respected men like me, and despite the fact that Thrawn might even be better by the nth degree compared to me, I have to respect him.
The Grand Admiral then raised his voice as he looked towards the sky, "I do believe we should get going, Admiral Praxon. Like I said, we should be on-time for our defensive."
Mandalore Orbit | 6 Hours Later
The Star Destroyer I had received was personally nicknamed by me as the Eriadun Fist. The crew seemed to be neutral to the name, with a few of the Ensigns, and a single Lieutenant supporting the name as something unique. We eventually came out of hyperspace with three other Star Destroyers, which were given to me to control under Thrawn's orders. The planet had an orbiting Cardan Class III Space Station, a garrison of Tartan Patrol Cruisers, and a few Arquitens. I decided to place us in a spread out formation, a fair distance away from the space station as I wouldn't want a repeat of what had happened to a specific shipyard that had occurred in my earlier days. After everyone assuming their positions, I told everyone to get the crews to their fighters and to get ready to scramble them once the opposing fleet had arrived. Turbolasers and Shields were set to priority power, as I placed Engines on minimal for all four Star Destroyers. As I was spouting out another command, an Ensign yelled from the bridge that the fleet had just dropped out of hyperspace.
I quickly made my way to the front of the bridge to assess what the threat was, only to find a large fleet of 4 MC80 Cruisers, 3 Assault Frigate Mark II's, multiple gunboats and corvettes, with a small compliment of marauder cruisers and GR70 transports. X-Wings, A-Wings, B-Wings and Y-Wings were spread in and out of the gaps of all the ships, causing me to take a moment to assess how I would handle this substantial threat. I immediately told the space station and the other Star Destroyers to scramble their fighters and interceptors and to keep bombers on stand-by, whilst the Tartan Patrol Cruisers prepare their Point Laser Defense systems and laser cannons for incoming fighters. After yelling the last order I could think of that could prepare us for this, I then let myself go silent as I looked towards Lieutenant Aldrenich, my second in command.
Just as the fleet was moving into firing range and I was about to give the order to scramble all fighters and to begin barrage, one of the ensigns stated that a lone fighter had just came out of hyperspace behind the rebel fleet. It was at that very moment that the fleet stopped in movement and remained idle just out of firing range as they investigated the fighter most likely. A lone communications officer managed to get some audio from one of the frequencies that the rebels were using, playing it for me on the speakers.
"…Unknown Fighter, identify yourself or be destroyed…so b-…a-t…yo-…w-r-…warn-…Squa-…assa-…make sure it-…terminated-…"
Just as the transmission finished, a large flash of light was seen near the resistance fleet, as fighters began to break off from the fleet to deal with the mystery craft. I leaned over on the control console in-front of me, watching the few bright flashes occur on the horizon, but to my surprise, it seemed as if the rebels were still fighting the craft. Squadron after Squadron then turned positions in a most likely impulsive attempt to overwhelm the fighter and destroy it, but quite the contrary occurred. Instead, the fighters from the resistance fleet fell one after another, before the capital ships and frigates began to open fire on it. I was called back immediately to the communications officer who had decrypted their idle frequency allowing us to listen to all the communications going back and forth between their fleet.
"All Ships, concentrate fire on that Starfighter! All squadrons focus fire and launch proton torpedoes."
A second later, another transmission from one of the Squadron leaders, "This is Blue Leader, all of Blue Squadrons has confirmed proton torpedo hits on the craft, but there isn't a scratch on it! The B-Wings and A-Wings are unloaded into it, Admiral. The ship isn't taking damage at all!"
The last transmissions were from a Squadron that stated a small fraction of a sentence before followed by the sound of death yell from the said person, and one of the MC80 cruiser captains stating that they had hit the ship with one of its turbolasers to no effect.
I returned back to the front of the bridge to witness what was going on, in which a few Ensigns and Gunners had left their position to watch what was happening. To my shock, I could no longer see the swarms of fighters that had been previously scattered between the ships, and a swarm of green energy beams being shot back and forth towards a small speck on the horizon. This was quickly followed by explosions from the Assault Frigates as they were destroyed one by one, which was quickly replaced with explosions from one of the MC80's. They, much like the Assault Frigates, shared a similar fate as they all blew up in a massive heap of scrap. At this point and time, the remaining resistance fleet quickly jumped to hyperspace, leaving behind the sole fighter and millions of pieces of wreckage and destroyed ship.
My presence was returned to the Communication Officers as I yelled out, "I want someone to get me a channel to that ship. Hail him immediately."
The officers attempted to get into contact with the ship as I stood in the area between the communications area and the corridor leading to the bridge. Just as I went to yell at the officers to try harder, I saw the speck quickly disappear as it most likely entered hyperspace. I quickly stepped my way towards the front of the bridge to see if my eyes had deceived me, but upon scanning the pile of ships that were previously there, I could not discern the odd shape of the craft anymore. Lieutenant Aldrenich eventually made his way towards my side and pulled his arms behind his back as he waited for me to say something.
I turned to him and said, "Lieutenant Aldrenich, it would be very comforting if I knew if that is either some Imperial prototype or an Imperial ally. If they aren't, then I fear our time has finally come for us."
Lieutenant Aldrenich simply shook his head and he replied, "We have just finished scanning the ship, sir…it is…disturbing to say the least…it is best if you just come and see it for yourself."
I walked with the Lieutenant over to the display room, which had an oddly shaped fighter on the projector. It apparently had three fixed wings, one on top of the fighter, and one on both sides of the fighter, permanently facing in an upwards slant. The scan showed that it had two laser cannons beneath the pilot's cockpit, which looked very similar to that of a Tie Fighter's, four heavily modified X17 turbolasers, two on each wing that had been fixed to the end of them, an unknown heavy ion cannon fixed to the wing on-top of the fighter, and two unknown missile pods fixed on-top of the ship alongside two unknown launcher pods on the side of the ship. Aside from that information, there was little else known from the little time we had to scan the ship, except some rough estimates like the dimensions of the craft excluding the wings, and the possible hyperdrive class, which the computer stated was at least a Class 1.
A few things began to race through my mind such as the fact that a fighter was able to attach turbolasers to the wings, which would drain a considerable amount of energy a fighter shouldn't have. If it was an Imperial Ally or Imperial related prototype that had come to assist them, and if not, who would have such weaponry? The capabilities of the star craft and how it was able to sustain innumerable damage that would've disable a lightly armored frigate, and so much more.
Reflecting back on what I had witnessed, I decided that there were only two possibilities. It was either A, the possibility that Thrawn had gotten the blueprints of the Suncrusher and had made this prototype Starfighter, and if not Thrawn, perhaps someone else who had preserved it. And or B, it might've been the 'Stranger' that I had meet not too longer since weird occurrences such as this only happened in the presence of him.