*Meanwhile, across the galaxy...*
The Iron Fist plowed through a cloud of ever-expanding fire and debris as another wing of Romulan warbirds disappeared under the withering fire of the fleet's turbolasers. The Iron Fist's escorts were leading the charge, mercilessly ripping through the Romulan fleet's defensive lines. There were no strategic or tactical niceties. This was raw firepower applied against an inferior defensive force.
Daala watched the dance of death outside her view port with the interest that a doctor gives his a patient. She noticed one of the massive warbirds drifting to port, power systems destroyed and one of the nacelles reduced to glowing slag.
"Have recovery teams launched to that warbird. I want some functioning models of their cloaking devices." Daala ordered. Kratas nodded and quickly relayed the order.
"Seven more warbirds have decloaked to the extreme right flank. They're concentrating their fire on the Relentless." Kratas reported.
"Ignore them, keep pushing for their home world." Daala ordered. She paused for a moment. "Have our sensors been calibrated yet to pierce their cloaks? It is becoming tiresome to keep having these ships appear in our lines."
"We're having trouble compensating for the subspace portion of their cloak, but we have started to detect them partially through simple grav shadow analysis." Kratas responded.
Daala nodded as another warbird erupted far off to the port side. Her fleet was moving as quickly as it could, pushing, no, shoving its way to the world that was slowly looming ahead.
"Admiral. It is time for a demonstration of our power." Marek spoke for the first time since the engagement began. The entire campaign, if this several hour attack could be called such was Marek's idea. The fleet had emerged from hyperspace near a militarized portion of the Federation border. While Marek dispatched two Star Destroyers to capture Federation ships and prisoners their sensors had picked up another empire operating on the other side of the border.
Marek had watched an analysis of the communications they had intercepted as well as tactical data. They called themselves Romulans. Marek, with that odd intuition of his stated quite firmly that they were ripe for conquest. The destruction of the fleet and occupation of their space would provide the Imperial fleet with a base of operations and raw materials to supply their needs.
Daala could find nothing wrong with the desire to create a base of operations. Frankly, she was growing concerned that the fleet would remain baseless, drifting through this galaxy like ghosts searching for the way home. But to steal away an entire empire's resources seemed a bit…ambitious. They were a powerful fleet, of that there was no doubt. Nearly an entire sector fleet devoted to the destruction of the Ssi Ruuvi. But to attack and hold the amount of space that Marek was proposing troubled her. They had an overwhelming advantage in firepower and defensive equipment. But they did not have the raw numbers to hold much of anything. A few worlds perhaps, and if there was a concerted resistance, how long then?
Of course there was also the unspoken thought that perhaps by establishing bases, a mini-empire, that hope of returning home was lost.
"Your orders, Lord Marek?" Daala asked.
Marek eyed Daala for a moment, and a chill passed down her spine. The man may have heard his thoughts, they were not treasonous, but then again, Daala knew almost nothing of this Sith Lord. He may kill just for the thrill.
"Prepare to fire the superlaser."
"Lord?" Kratas stammered, turning his head sharply to look at Marek.
"Target the Romulan home world of Romulas, leave Remus alone. If I recall correctly, Remus has the resources?"
"Correct, my Lord. There seems to be heavy mining throughout the planet, our probe droids are reporting Tibanna gas in many of those mines."
"Excellent." Marek replied with a nod.
Daala nodded to Kratas.
Kratas hesitantly turned to the weapons officers.
"Prepare the laser." He shouted down to the pit.
"Aye captain."
"Target the largest metropolitan area, maximum population density." Marek ordered. His voice had dropped slightly as he spoke. Daala did not look back. It was almost as if the Sith lord had not wanted to say that. Almost.
"That would be on the night side of the planet, my lord. We will need a few more minutes to maneuver into firing position."
"Excellent. Admiral?"
"My Lord?"
"Order all fighters and bombers recovered. As soon as the last of our wings is back in the hangars, order all ships to cease firing as we move into firing position."
"My Lord?"
"Let the Romulans fire on us at will, Admiral." He ordered tersely. Daala blinked several times. It went against all her instincts as an Imperial officer to allow an enemy to fire on her fleet.
"All will be revealed to you in time, Admiral. Until then I demand absolute obedience." Daala felt phantom fingers brush against her throat and ice formed in her stomach.
"Of course, my Lord." Daala turned on her heel and walked over to Kratas who was busy overseeing the deployment of the superlaser.
"Recover all wings."
"Admiral?"
"Captain, I want all wings back in their hangars as soon as possible." Daala orderd.
"Of course, Admiral." Kratas replied and nodded to his squadron commander. Daala watched the battle again. Slowly the fighters began to breakaway. Many of them had spent the last few hours jinking and weaving through the green hulled giants that were the Romulan warbirds. Their fire constantly peppered the capital ships and many fighters formed wedges, protecting the tight TIE Bomber formations that were scoring impressive victories, many taking down these ships in a single pass.
Now the fighters were peeling away in a uniform retreat back to the base ships. The Bombers first, many electing to fire one last wave of torpedoes before winging it back to their respective ships. She smiled softly. Her men never ceased to amaze her. They did their best to damage the enemy even in retreat. That is why we'll win. She thought to herself.
"Recovering fighters and bombers, superlaser has been unveiled. Reactor cores are charging the emitter." Kratas reported.
The nose of the Iron fist slowly opened, armored portions sliding back into the hull revealing a flat channel, with several smaller emitters forming a perfect circle around the central iris. The smaller emitters swiveled around three times in a pre-firing systems check before locking into firing position. The fleet continued forward, slowly turning as the Iron Fist slid into firing position, facing the night side of Romulas. More warbirds were decloaking, some obviously just coming out of warp. Orbital defensive batteries that had remained silent until now opened fire. Hundreds of plasma torpedoes suddenly flashed over to the fleet, splashing in whitish green explosions on the fleet's shields.
"All ships recovered. Sir, intensity of enemy fire has increased significantly." Kratas warned.
"We have our orders." Daala replied frostily and watched as her fleet continued onward, explosions beginning to increase in number and intensity as dozens of warbirds started to slash their way towards the Iron Fist.
"It did not take them long to take advantage of the lack of fire." Kratas muttered as the warbirds began attacking the Iron Fist en masse.
"Time until we are in firing position?" Daala asked.
"Four minutes and we will be in optimal range."
"Good."
"Lord Marek, the bulk of their warbirds are now ignoring the rest of the fleet and concentrating all fire on us." Daala commented hoping that perhaps she could sway the dark lord.
Marek smiled in cold satisfaction.
"So much the better, Admiral. So much the better."
Daala turned back to look out the view port. The Iron Fist was literally bathed in green fire. Dozens of Warbirds were flanking her hungrily, firing continuously into her shield grid.
"Main energizers near capacity." The tactical officer reported.
"Superlaser is now fully charged." Kratas relayed to Daala.
"We will be in primary firing position in two minutes." Navigation reported.
"Admiral, when we achieve primary firing position, hold your fire until my order." Marek said coldly and continued staring out the port over Daala's shoulder.
"What is our shield status?" Daala quietly asked Kratas.
"Holding, but there is an awful lot of energy getting poured into the grid." Kratas answered.
The bridge was silent as they continued on towards Romulas' night side. The warbirds now ignored the fleet and simply swarmed the Iron Fist. The great flagship slowly rotated and faced the planet.
"We are in primary firing position."
"Hold, Admiral."
Daala held her breath as the orbital platforms started concentrating their fire on the Iron Fist as well. It seemed to her that the entire Romulan defense network was firing on them as one.
Marek remained silent, watching the pyrotechnic display outside with a cold gaze.
Another minute went by and Daala briefly considered suggesting at least some counter fire. She remembered Pegin's shattered body and decided against it. Kratas was far less calm about it, he kept pacing over to the tactical station and checking the shield status.
Another minute and Marek finally spoke.
"You may fire when ready, Admiral."
Daala turned to Kratas.
"Lock the superlaser on target and fire."
"Aye aye."
"Commence primary ignition." The tactical officer stated and displays lit up all along the weapons pit. The nose of the Iron Fist began to glow as power flowed to the main and smaller emitters. The Romulan fire seemed to intensify as they sensors picked up the enormous energy spike.
Marek stared hard at the screen, as if willing something to happen. Daala and Kratas both leaned forward slightly, ready for anything.
The blast from the Iron Fist erupted forth in a green beam of raw destructive power as it lanced into the planet. On the night side of Romulas, for the largest city on the planet, night became day. The green superlaser burned through the air, literally igniting it with its passage and struck the earth with the sound of Armageddon. Instantly, the city was vaporized, millions died before they could utter a sound. The blast continued on unopposed into the planet's crust, thrusting through the rocky outer layer of the planet and exposing the molten mantle beneath. Huge geysers of molten rock spewed forth into the atmosphere. The blast shock wave began rippling along the surface like a monstrous thing, completely obliterating all in its path, cities, mountain ranges, even oceans boiled away at its passage. Several hundred million instantly died with the shock wave, many more would perish as the resulting earthquakes and fires damaged vital matter/antimatter reactors, causing a chain reaction of core breeches throughout the planet. White flashes of core breaches slowly appeared, circling the night side like a string of pearls.
Daala stared in awe. Kratas looked down at a readout.
"Admiral, the superlaser discharged the full effect, no deviation from simulated results. The weapon has preformed precisely to expectations."
"Can you feel it now, Admiral?" Marek asked quietly as he suddenly appeared standing right behind them. "Can you feel the fear swelling in them now? They have fired on us with all of their weapons, every defensive system, all their warships for over five minutes without us firing a single shot and it accomplished nothing." He smiled coldly as realization slowly dawned on Daala's face. "They are now faced with the awful certainty that they can do nothing against us. I will offer them an alternative." Marek strode past them and stalked over to the communications section.
"I want a transmission broadcast to all the Romulan ships, beam my image to the surface of Romulas and Remus."
"Aye My lord."
Marek folded his arms and stared intently at the holo-imager. It suddenly lit up.
"Transmitting My Lord."
"People of the Romulan Star Empire. I am Galen Marek, leader of the advance forces of the Galactic Empire and the Apprentice to Darth Vader. You have seen a small demonstration of our power. As I speak, we are transmitting to the rest of your empire a full playback of the battle to control the space above your home world. It will clearly show that your defense forces fought a valiant but useless battle to stop us. The end result is the destruction of a major continent or your planet Romulas. I am prepared to offer a truce between our empires. The Romulan Star Empire will be allowed to survive as a client state of the Galactic Empire and her Emperor. You will surrender your arms and your fleets will now belong to us to do with as we wish. If the Romulan Star Empire does not accede to this demand, then I will fire the superlaser again, and this time Romulas will be nothing but rubble and I will not stop until Remus is laid waste then I will continue on outward, eradicating every world that harbors your people. I will sterilize this space of your kind and in the end there will not be a single monument, placard or even ruins to say that you ever existed at all. Your space will be filled with the rubble of your dead worlds and the shattered hulls of your ineffectual warships. No cloaking device can save you now. You either bow to the will of the Empire, or be exterminated like vermin. Make no mistake, there will be no second chances, I will not make this offer again. Once I start the great slaughter it will not be stopped. This is your sole chance at life. You have precisely 5 of your minutes to comply." Marek nodded and the holo-imager shut off.
"Lord, it will take longer than five minutes to recharge the superlaser, and it will certainly not shatter their world in the next shot, it will take many shots to imitate the true effects of the Death Star superlaser." Daala warned.
Marek smiled.
"Admiral. I know fear. Fear and I are intimate allies. Fear attracts the weak and the powerful. We will use fear throughout this campaign to win a new empire for our Emperor and to get our brave fleet back home." Marek answered.
Kratas was watching the destruction of the Romulan planet's major continent. Slowly, great cracks marked with crimson molten rock were spreading along the continental shelf, large portions of the center, the initial impact site of the superlaser was breaking open like the opening of a rose blossom. Enormous chunks of the crust were sinking into the molten mantle until several hundred square kilometers of crust disappeared leaving what looked like an angry red eye staring back at him.
"It is beautiful." Kratas whispered.
"Careful Captain. We are Imperial officers, this is a duty not a pleasure." Daala responded coolly. Kratas glanced back at his Admiral and nodded.
"Of course, Admiral." Kratas replied respectfully. He noted the celebrations amongst the weapons crews, they had successfully fired the first ship mounted superlaser. He could imagine what it would mean for the Empire once they had one on every command ship. No world would be safe, none could hide from the New Order.
"We have seen the dawn of the end of the rebellion." Kratas said emphatically.
"Once we are home and the rebels lay down their arms, I will agree with you my friend, but for now, let us focus on the task at hand. How long until Lord Marek's ultimatum runs out?" Daala replied, watching the warbirds slowly circling them. They had stopped firing the moment Marek began speaking.
"Two minutes."
"Are you picking up communication?" Marek asked.
"Yes, my lord, there are hundreds of tight beamed transmissions between the ships and the planet. There are also furious transmissions between the central command and the various political centers that remain functioning."
Marek nodded.
"Prepare to launch fighters and bombers. Make sure the bombers are all reloaded before sending them out." Daala ordered as she prepared to assume the worst.
"That will not be necessary, Admiral. Unless I am sorely mistaken, we will receive the answer that we are looking for very shortly." Marek interjected. Daala nodded hesitantly.
"Captain Drayson is going to kill us when he finds out we have been engaged in a battle of this magnitude without him, particularly that he was not here for the firing of the superlaser." Kratas commented with a wry smile.
Daala smiled softly in return.
"Captain Drayson will be most displeased indeed."
Time passed swiftly.
"The ultimatum runs out in 5 seconds."
"My lord?" Daala asked.
Marek raised a hand in a waiting gesture.
"We are receiving a transmission from the Romulan flagship."
"Put it through."
"This is Admiral T'vor of the Romulan Defensive Fleet. We are complying with your demand, Lord Marek. The Romulan fleet is standing down, defensive batteries are shutting down. We await your word." The voice was cold and there was real anger brewing beneath the surface. Marek smiled.
"They are not happy." Kratas noted with a smug smile.
"They are a practical people. They know when they are beaten and they are survivors. They will do anything to survive, even surrender."
"Cowards." Kratas replied bitterly.
"Don't be so sure, my friend. They have lost millions of lives in a matter of moments and they are impotent against us. It was a reasonable conclusion to accept life under Imperial rule than oblivion." Daala replied softly. Marek's eyes narrowed on the Admiral, but Daala did not notice because her back was to him.
"Admiral, I will leave the logistics to you. Start immediate landing, we need to let these people know immediately that we are in control. Begin calling in Romulan ships from all corners of their empire, I want no ships functioning independently away from us. Once we have a firm logistics train established we will prepare to extract the information we need from the Federation."
"Of course, my lord."
"And Admiral, bring me all data files from their military, I want to see all their secrets and what they know. Perhaps they have things to offer us that we are unaware of. You have free reign to do what you need to restore order."
"Anything my lord?" Daala asked pointedly.
"I will ask no questions, just restore order, that is my only command."
"Of course my lord. It shall be done."
"Lord Marek, Captain Drayson is signaling that he has secured a Federation starship as well as its crew. He is ready to jump to our coordinates." Kratas reported with satisfaction.
Marek nodded.
"Inform Captain Drayson that he is to proceed here immediately. I want to personally attend to the interrogations."
"Yes my lord."
Marek stalked off the bridge. Kratas sighed softly as he imagined what awaited the miserable bastard that fell into Marek's hands. He smiled coldly for a moment as a thought occurred to him.
"Let me speak directly to Captain Drayson."
"Aye Captain." The tech handed him a headset.
"Drayson, it's Kratas, was it a tough battle against the Federation ship?" He listened and nodded. "I see, no challenge at all….mmm..rebel freighters have given you more trouble? Mmmm…I thought you might like to know that we have just conquered one of the empires bordering the Federation border….it was glorious, hours of intense mortal combat against hundreds of ships…" Kratas suppressed the laugh as Drayson's outraged voice drifted over the headphone. "And we test fired the superlaser on their home world." Drayson's outrage became a shout of anger and the line went dead. Kratas's face became calm and professional again as he handed the tech back the headphones.
As Kratas turned Daala was standing right behind him.
"Are you quite finished, Captain?"
"Of course. I was just endeavoring to keep our fleet elements appraised of our status." Kratas replied with a straightface, looking straight ahead at attention.
"I'm sure you were, but I would be careful if I were you, Commander. Captain Drayson is not one to be toyed with. He once had to chase a rebel ship through five star systems and an asteroid field before finally capturing the ship. What he did to the rebel crew has gone done in the legends of Imperial interrogators for years afterwards. Don't toy with the Gundark or you will get the fangs." Daala replied just as straight faced.
Kratas nodded.
"Begin landing operations immediately and I want you to see to the occupation personally captain."
"Yes Admiral." Kratas replied and stepped away.
Daala watched him leave and could not help but smile. Drayson was going to skin Kratas alive if he caught him. Funny that, even in this dark, forsaken place far from home and order, they could still find time to smile. Behind Daala, the great angry red eye in the center of Romulas glared at them all in accusation.