16. A Unified Empire
"The empires of the future are the empires of the mind." Winston Churchill
With the re-establishing of the alliance between Teshik and Thrawn, Teshik has allocated some advanced survey ships, in the form of the Tagge Industries Modular Taskforce Cruiser.
Reinforcing the Empire of the Hand
Tagge Industries Modular Taskforce Cruiser the basic design of the Modular Taskforce Cruiser is simple. In its baseline configuration, the ship consisted of a command section, a life-support system, and quarters for a skeleton crew and an engineering section. Since this is a support vessel, armament is relatively light for a warship of its size of 1,150 meters in length.
On its own, the baseline configuration does little more than transport a small amount of cargo. The real purpose of this framework is to carry mission-specific modules, such as Hospital, Inquisition, Observation, Rescue, Survey, Starfighter Carrier and Troop Transport modules to name but a few.
Observation module
The versions was originally designed for long-range espionage, though this version can also be used for long ranged observations of potentially hostile forces, this module carries 500 probe droids among its cargo, and is employed in observation actions from outside the border of enemy territory. This version of the Modular Taskforce Cruiser can carry up to twelve TIE Defenders for defence and long-ranged armed recon, with the TIE Defenders warhead launchers replaced by long ranged sensors.
Survey module
The survey module is designed for rapid planetary and system exploration operations. Assisted by its complement of airspeeders and droids, it is capable of completely analyzing a planet, including surveying for natural resources and good colony sites, within a standard day. This variant can also plot viable hyperlanes from the survey location to major trade routes.
This version of the Modular Taskforce Cruiser can carry up to twenty-four TIE Defenders for defence and long-ranged armed recon, along with five Skipray Blastboats.
Both the variants have had their hyperdrive upgraded from there standard class 3, to the much faster class 1.
It is proposed by Teshik that the Survey and Observation versions be produced for the Empire of the Hand, as these two variants will be the best suited for exploration, Thrawn agrees. Teshik will use the money and resources that provided directly to him, by CSA to manufacture these two variants, so as not to tip off the Imperial Council that Thrawn has returned.
With the Empire of the Hand now part of the Empire along with Grand Admiral Thrawn, Teshik's Empire is now much stronger than it was a few days ago.
Teshik returns to the Night Hammer, leaving Thrawn to command the Empire of the Hand.
New Rebel Alliance, Falling
Once there discussions are complete, Teshik has another task to deal with, the new Rebel Alliance that is forming out of the remains of the New Republic, Teshik needs to nip this in the bud before it gets out of control.
Teshik orders Imperial Intelligence to focus on finding the location of the Lusankya, as Imperial Intelligence that this is being used as the mobile headquarters of the Rebel Alliance, if the location of the Lusankya can be found then Teshik can deal with the dead and the rest should attend to itself.
It will take Imperial Intelligence many months to find the location of the Lusankya, or rather were the Lusankya will be on a certain date and time and how long the Lusankya will remain at that location.
During the next few months, Teshik has been slowly building up a strike forces to capture the Lusankya this force consists of Hammer Squadron, along with thirty Imperial II class star destroyers, seventy-five Vindicator class heavy cruisers, one hundred eleven Enforcer class patrol cruisers and twenty Interdictor class cruisers.
This includes the Imperial II class star destroyers Elusive and Jaalib Brandl as part of the attack force.
Teshik thinks to himself a formidable force possibly a bit of overkill, but as the Emperor had always said, better too much firepower than too little or just enough. Now that I have the location of the Lusankya this will be a hard battle as I need to capture the Rebel leaders, not kill them, as killing them would make them martyrs to the Rebel cause.
The Imperial fleet jumps into hyperspace towards the location of the Lusankya, very shortly the Rebels will be in for a surprise.
The Capture
As the Imperial fleet drops out of hyperspace, the Interdictor cruisers immediately begin powering up there GWP, to prevent the Lusankya from escaping into hyperspace. The Lusankya and her small escort force powers up there shields and weapons, along with launching there fighters.
The Imperial class star destroyers begin to engage the Lusankya escort ships, with the remaining Imperial warships split between defending the Interdictor cruisers and supporting the Imperial class star destroyers.
Hammer Squadron initially remains at the edge of the battle with the Night Hammer remaining out of range of the Rebels weapons, this is not characteristic of Teshik, though this time Teshik's plan is to capture the Lusankya not destroy her. His forces here could easily do this, all he would have to do is close with the Lusankya and open fire with the Night Hammers formidable armament, add to that the firepower of his fleet, it would not take long to destroy the Lusankya.
As the battle progresses the Lusankya escorting warships are quickly picked off, one by one, leaving only the Lusankya remaining, along with the remains of her fighter forces, it has only taken the Imperial fleet two hours to achieve this.
The remaining Rebels are not concentrating on defending the Lusankya, though they have little hope of victory against the Imperial fleet, the Lusankya herself has suffered very little battle damage up to this point.
The Imperial fleet has lost one Imperial class star destroyer and eleven Enforcer class patrol cruisers and nine Vindicator class heavy cruisers, with numerous other Imperial warships damaged to various degrees. These losses are not critical, in fact they are below Grand Admiral Teshik estimated losses at this point in the battle.
Night Hammer
On the bridge of the Night Hammer Grand Admiral Teshik has been watching the battle evolve he says, "Helm bring the Night Hammer within weapons range, guns prepare to fire Ion Cannons only, engineering boost power to the shields."
From around the bridge there are a series of "aye sir", the Night Hammer begins to move towards the Lusankya.
Lusankya
On the bridge of the Lusankya Fleet Admiral Wedge Antilles can see the Imperial warships pulling back out of weapons range, but not withdrawing, they are mealy containing the Lusankya. In addition, all Imperial fighters have broken of their engagements with the remaining Rebels fighters, Admiral Antilles orders that his fighters return to rearm and refuel.
Admiral Antilles looking at the tactical display as the Night Hammer closes on the Lusankya he says, "So Grand Admiral Teshik wants to finish us off himself."
Beside him Luke Skywalker, asks, "Why would he do this, he could use his fleet to destroy this ship, after all even the Lusankya cannot stand up to the firepower of that number of warships."
Admiral Antilles replies, "My guess would be that this would be symbolic and it would cement his leadership of the Empire."
Night Hammer
From the tactical pit the officer says, "We are with weapons range."
Teshik says, "Open fire with Ion Cannons only, all other weapons defensive fire only, understood?"
From the tactical pit the officer replies, "Yes Admiral, understood."
From the port side of the Night Hammer a ripple of blue Ion Cannon bolts shoot out towards the Lusankya impacting against the Lusankya shields and hull.
Lusankya
As the blue Ion Cannon bolts strike the Lusankya Admiral Antilles says, "Ion Cannons, they mean to capture the Lusankya, all available weapons return fire."
From the Lusankya a ripple of return fire begins to impact the Night Hammers shields, though this return fire almost immediately begins to weaken as the Ion Cannon bolts begins to knock out systems all over the Lusankya.
After several minutes of Ion Cannon, the Lusankya primary systems shuts down, the Lusankya is now dead in space, with only emergency backup systems available. The affects of the Ion Cannons fire can be fixed but it will take several days to get the Lusankya fully operational again and they do not have that much time, or so they think!
The Night Hammer suddenly stops firing once the Lusankya is dead in space.
An early silence falls over the bridge of the Lusankya and the bridge crew are desperately trying to bring the various knocked out systems back online.
Night Hammer
With the Lusankya now disabled Teshik says, "Hail the Lusankya"
From the communications pit comes the reply, "Yes Admiral, sending hail now."
Several minutes go by before the comm in front of Teshik springs to life and the image of Admiral Antilles and says, "I would assume that you are asking for my ships surrender?"
Teshik replies, "You would assume wrong Admiral Antilles, I am here to ask for representatives of what was known as the New Republic, now known as the New Rebel Alliance, to come over to my command ship. I will guarantee their safety, in addition I will take no hostile action against your ship, unless you strike first, while the representatives are onboard my ship."
On the display, Teshik can see that his offer has taken Admiral Antilles by complete surprise, for a few moments Admiral Antilles says nothing, then he says, "I will need time to discuss your offer."
Teshik nods ever so slightly and replies, "You have one hour no more and please do not try anything daft, I am offering you a chance do not mess it up, understood?"
Admiral Antilles responds, "Understood, one hour admiral."
The communication is ended on the bridge a one hour countdown is started.
Captain Frisk walks up to Teshik command station and asks, "Do you think the Rebels will go for this offer sir?"
Teshik smiles at Captain Frisk and replies, "Yes captain, I think that they will do and they will try to use it to buy time for the Lusankya to be made operational again, so that they can try to punch out of this trap. That strategy will fail as you know."
Captain Frisk says, "Yes sir, after all we also have capture groups standing by ready to pull the Lusankya out of hyperspace if she was able to break through here and jump into hyperspace."
One Hour Later
Just as the one hour deadline is almost up, the Lusankya transmits to the Night Hammer, Admiral Antilles appears in front of Teshik and says, "Admiral your terms have been accepted. A delegation will come onboard your ship to hear what you have to say."
Teshik his face unchanged replies, "That is good to hear Admiral I will expect your delegation shortly."
Admiral Antilles says, "Good we will send them over in the Falcon, it that acceptable?"
Teshik replies, "That is acceptable, how many do you wish to send?"
Admiral Antilles says, "General Solo, Chewbacca, Princess Leia, Jedi Master Skywalker, Chief of State Fey'lya, along with several aids, fifteen in total."
Teshik replies, "That is also acceptable, how long until they launch?"
Admiral Antilles says, "About twenty minutes"
Teshik replies, "Good I will have a formal guard of honour waiting in the main hanger bay."
The communication is ended.
Teshik says, "Captain Frisk, prepare a guard of honour for our guests."
Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir" and goes about arranging the guard of honour for the main hanger bay.
Teshik then turns in his chair towards Jaalib Brandl who has been watching the events unfold and says, "Jaalib, go down to the main hanger to make sure that Skywalker does not try to read out people's minds."
Jaalib Brandl grins and replies, "Sure, on my way" and heads towards the turbolift.
Teshik says, "Captain, I will be in the main briefing room with our guests, you know what to do if they try anything?"
Captain Frisk replies, "Yes sir"
Teshik gets up and leaves the bridge, leaving Captain Frisk in charge.
Night Hammer, Main Shuttle Bay
As the Flacon touches down, Han Solo and Chewbacca can see the guard of honour waiting for them, Han Solo is in his general's uniform (which he hates) Chewbacca lets out a low moan.
The Flacon's ramp lowers, first out is Skywalker followed by Princess Leia, Chief of State Fey'lya then the aids and finally Han Solo and Chewbacca.
As the Imperial officer formally welcomes them onboard the Night Hammer, from one of the cluster of turbolift, a teenager steps out and walk towards the group, attached to his right his is a lightsabre.
Skywalker is the first to sense the presence Skywalker turns towards the approaching teenager who seems unconcerned (even bored) with what is going on around him.
The reaction from the Imperial officer is different, he immediately snaps to attention and says, "My lord" and deeply bows.
Jaalib Brandl shakes his head slightly and giggles at what the Imperial officer has just said to him, something that surprises everyone, he says, "Hi, I am Jaalib Brandl, nice to meet you all."
Skywalker asks, "You're a Sith?"
Jaalib Brandl who is still smiling replies, "Nope, just someone who knows how to use the force" in a tone that is very dismissive of the question, in a friendly way.
Before Skywalker can continue, Princess Leia in a thoughtful voice says, "Jaalib Brandl any relation to Adalric Cessius Brandl, the former Imperial Inquisitor?"
Jaalib Brandl replies, "Yes he is my father and to answer your next question I am not my father's son."
Several of the Rebel Alliance aids take a step back.
Jaalib Brandl says, "I am here to escort you to Grand Admiral Teshik, this way please."
The Rebel Alliance delegation follows Jaalib Brandl to their meeting with Grand Admiral Teshik.
The Truth
Once they are all settled into their chairs and introductions have been made, Teshik is the first one to speak. What he says is part truth, part lie, though the Rebels do not know this, they will incorrectly assume that it is all the truth, as there is no one around the can contradict Teshik account of what he is saying.
Over the next few hours Teshik informs them of the truth, in the there is an extra galactic invasion of this galaxy and that the Rebel Alliance has been infiltrated by these aliens, that are using the New Rebellion for their own needs. This is partially true what Teshik is telling the representatives of the Rebel Alliance, as the Emperor, had no intention of giving up power once this alien threat had passed.
Along with the fact that the Death Star was built to defeat the aliens and was not intended to destroy Alderaan, again, this is not the whole truth, but it is nothing that can be disproved, as everyone that was involved in the first Death Star is now dead, except Teshik.
Teshik was not stupid as to inform the representatives of the Rebel Alliance of that bit of information and as he was the only one who knew of this, the Rebel Alliance would never find this out.
As the briefing goes on, all the Rebel Alliance members listen in stunned silence as Teshik briefs them, along with showing intelligence information and images of the gathering alien fleet at the edge of their galaxy.
At the end of the briefing Teshik says, "Only now, at the end, do you understand."
Skywalker's head snaps up at what Teshik has just said and he states, "The Emperor said the same thing when I was onboard the second Death Star."
Teshik replies, "I know."
No one says anything, they all realise that without the Empire and it military resources, there would be little hope in defeating these alien invaders.
Princess Leia who has now managed to find her voice says, "We were so wrong in our reason of doing what we did, but why did the Emperor simply not tell the Imperial Senate?"
Teshik replies, "Two reasons, firstly because the former Old Republic Senate and then the Imperial Senate would never have believed him, Princess Leia as a former Senator would you have believed the Emperor back then?"
Princess Leia thinks for a few moments and says, "No."
Teshik continues, "Secondly the Emperor knew that these aliens had infiltrated the Imperial Senate, possibly even the Old Republic Senate as well and if he has informed the Imperial Senate the aliens would have known about it and changed their plans. This would have caused problems for the long term planning against these aliens."
Princess Leia says, "Yes I see that."
Teshik says, "You have a lot to discuss, I suggest you return to the Lusankya to discuss this and my offer of a full pardon for all members of the Rebel Alliance, including those that are currently in prison."
Chief of State Fey'lya who had not said anything so far finally finds his voice and says, "Thank you Grand Admiral, how long do we have to make a decision?"
Teshik replies, "As long as you like, I will be dispersing the fleet after this meeting and along my command squadron will remain, I already know that you will not flee, as I found you once I will be able to do so again."
The meeting then break up, the Rebel Alliance member return to the Lusankya.
Shortly after their return, the Imperial fleet disperses, just as Teshik had predicted the Rebels do not attempt to flee.
Six Weeks Later
After much debate, the New Rebel Alliance lays down its arms.
Teshik gives all members of the Rebel Alliance full pardons, the Lusankya remains under the command of Admiral Antilles, along with all the remaining ships of what once was the New Republic Fleet, later the New Rebel Alliance Fleet, also fall under Admiral Antilles command.
The New Rebel Alliance Fleet becomes the 25th Imperial Fleet.
The Rebellion is finally over.
Rebellion Breakup
A few weeks later, the New Rebel Alliance begins to break up, once the news is out of their formal surrender to the Empire and sensation of hostiles. Over the next year or so the vast majority of the New Rebel Alliance members surrender and receive their pardons, a few choose to try to fight on, they will fail, the Second Empire is here to stay.
Now Grand Admiral Teshik has one last major threat to deal with, with a united and rapidly growing Empire and Imperial military behind him, along with the fact the he is not the only Grand Admiral still alive, the extinction of an extra galactic race is assured.
At the edge of the galaxy, the leader of the aliens known as Yuuzhan Vong is worried about these recent developments, for the first time in his life Warmaster Tsavong Lah did not know what to do. The intended attack had been called off and the Yuuzhan Vong fleet concentrated on a few desolate systems on the edge of this galaxy, waited for Warmaster Tsavong Lah orders.
To be continued.