Author's Note: Hello my dear readers. I got another chapter done, so I thought I'd get it out today.

Challenge King: Thank you, but I'm curious as to how you judge in-character for them as there has been only one chapter, so I'm still establishing character for them in addition to what you know of them from their respective shows.

Fanfic-Reader-88: Oh, it just gets worst for these people. It is a war and I'm not pulling punches on showing how messy and brutal it will become, that's why parts will eventually reach an M rating.

PD31: I took from an Ancient Greek story telling technique to jump the audience right into the action. Yes, backstory for these characters will be filled in as the story progresses.

illusorygentleman: Thanks, because I hope it's an enjoyable kind of different.

Agent-M-0167: Thank you. Fortunately since Galaxy Wars is billed as it not being a cakewalk for the Empire, it allows me not to have to write it as one.

Speaking of illusorygentleman, I recently ran across his work and if you're old enough, I suggest you take a look at his work, especially his later stuff that covers Jedi. I'm usually hesitant to recommend specific M rated fics due to the age range of my usual readers and the content in general, but for those who are old enough to read them, I suggest you give them a try because the stories good and they progressively get better outside the M rated scenes. If you think they're just lemons, then I would have to respectfully disagree with you. However, I did warn you about the rating and so does he in his stories, so be responsible in your reading.

Okay, on with the chapter.

Rating: T Language

Chapter 2: What a Face for a Rebellion

Main Bridge
USS Tori (NCC-1725)
Constitution-Class Mk. II Heavy Cruiser

An hour or so later after passing through the Vereb's Kuiper belt, Captain Benson sat in his command seat with a PADD in his hand reading over the progress of ship repairs then started writing out condolence letters to the families of the crewmembers lost in battle. He had written these before after skirmishes with the Klingons and battles with Orion Pirates, but they never got any easier… telling someone they were sorry for their loss seemed so hollow as it was to him…

Freddie ran down the hospital corridor as quickly as his feet could take him, but he suddenly stopped before reaching the Emergency Room at the sight of Jade standing several feet in front of it. She wore a dermal patch over the left side of her forehead, scratches on her right cheek, her hair disheveled and right arm in a sling. Her blue uniform shirt had several scorch marks on it and torn in a few places. Tears freely ran down from her bloodshot eyes and she looked paler than her normal appearance.

The forced his feet to move to stop just in front of her and gently placed his hands on her shoulders. He looked directly into her blue eyes and fearfully asked, "Jade?"

She choked out, "I'm… I'm so sorry, I'm…" She couldn't continue as she dropped her forehead onto his left shoulder and he wrapped his arms around her. He looked over her shoulder to see several medical personal exiting the room and a brief glance at seeing someone pulling a sheet over someone's face before the doors swung closed.

His wedding band felt very heavy… heavier than the PADD in his hand.

He clenched his fist tight then turned back to continue writing. He didn't get very far as Shapiro called out, "Sir, I'm picking up several vessels in our path."

He looked up from his PADD and called out, "Sound General Quarters!"

Valentine called out, "Aye sir!"

The red lights flashed on the bridge and throughout the ship along with the expected klaxons as since the battle the taskforce had been on Yellow Alert.

A yeoman approached to the captain's left and took the PADD from him as he continued, "Identify."

"They're Star Fleet and they're on an intercept course."

He passed the quickest of glanced over his right shoulder. "Valentine, I want IFF confirmation."

"Working on it sir."

Several hundred thousand kilometers in front of the taskforce, several frigates, a pair of Saladin-Class Destroyers (identical in appearance to the Hermes-Class Scouts), a Constitution-Class starship and about two dozen fighters dropped out of warp.

The redhead Caitian held the earpiece in her pointy ear and happily informed, "It's the USS Ari and they're signaling they're our escorts."

"Acknowledge signal."

Valentine joyfully obeyed with her tail waving about behind her, "Hiiiii… this is Cat of the starship Tori, acknowledging instructions."

Benson softly pinched the bridge of his nose and let out a soft breath.

The taskforce and her escorts proceeded at low warp for several minutes, passing several patrols of heavy cruisers with paired or trio destroyer groups, until they reached a Mobile Basestation.

It was a mobile station in the truest sense as it was made up six large transport cylinders attached to a center command structure as if they were spokes to a wheel. The base appeared so ready to take off that there was either Ptolemy-Class Fleet Transport (Constitution saucer with dual warp nacelles strutting out from the bottom) or a Hoffa-Class Light Tactical Transport was still connected to the transport cylinders and ready to take off with their cargo in a heartbeat.

The station buzzed with several flights of fighters on patrol and several mobile dry docks where several battle damaged starships were being attended.

Several ships were docked amongst the ends of the cylinder with the most visible ones being a Federation-Class Dreadnaught and a Napoleon-Class Heavy Carrier.

Valentine spoke up again, "Rear Admiral Shay of the Federation requests that you see him immediate."

Benson blew out a soft breath as he wore a pensive expression. He grudgingly ordered, "Send acknowledge Valentine, contact the dock master for permission to dock and tell Commander Gibson to start patching up the hole in my ship… but you don't have to be so eager in responding."

"'kay, 'kay," she happily ignored him as she went about her task.

Admiral's Office
USS Federation (NCC-2100)
Federation-Class Dreadnaught
Task Force 7, Elements of First, Second, Third and Fifth Fleets
Docked to Mobile Basestation
Sector 2903

Benson stopped in front of the door to the office with an armored, rifle carrying marine standing on either side. Neither marine offered a salute as that would require them to take their hands off their respective weapon, but they acknowledged the captain with a slight nod of their respective heads. The door opened and he entered the Admiral's office. As soon as he stepped in front of the desk, snapped his right hand in a salute.

Rear Admiral Steven "Loco" Shay, dressed in a gold command shirt and black trousers instead of the expected white and grey colored uniform expected of an admiral, returned the salute then retook his seat behind his desk and leaned back in his chair. "Captain Benson."

"Admiral Shay."

"At ease."

Benson complied and stood at ease with his hands behind his back.

Shay's voice had the outer sound of a professional, but there was a fatherly concern underneath it, "I'm glad you made it out."

The starship commander refused to meet the admiral's eyes again as he answered, "Thank you sir. We gave them a good fight sir. We made them bleed for the system. I just wish we could have made them bleed a little more."

Shay replied in a completely confident voice signaling he had the admiral's support on whatever he was about say, "What happened son?"

Benson stiffened his posture and cleared his throat.

The Admiral slightly frowned at the captain's spike in uneasiness and corrected, "What happened out there Captain?"

The Captain continued his focus on the wall above the Admiral's head has he continued, "I haven't finished my After Action Report yet. I was still going over battle damage of the task force and causality list when we made contact with the escort."

"Informal one then Captain."

Benson set his jaw tightly for a moment then answered, "With the ships of second fleet that were able to rendezvous with us and the handful of the colony National Guard ships, we engaged an enemy fleet above Ogle colony in an attempt to allow them to evacuate as many people off as possible. We outnumbered them two-to-one, but we were severally outgunned. When I realized that even a holding action was suicidal, I ordered a withdrawn. The Tori, Byrd and Columbia engaged one of their vessels sending out interference and I ordered our escape through the hole we made through their envelopment… I stuck my tail between my legs and I ran away and I ordered my taskforce and those colony ships that made it out to do the same. The National Guard ships refused the order and stood and fight. I can only assume they were all destroyed and the colony completely occupied."

He licked his lips then finished, "We were able to destroy their… interdictor cruiser, what I assume is one of their battle cruisers and a National Guard ship suicide rammed one of their light cruisers, destroying both in the process. We also destroyed dozens of their fighter craft."

The Admiral leaned back in his chair and slightly tilted his head as he looked to the young captain. He took a soft breath and replied, "You made the right call. You saved your ship and the rest of your taskforce from overwhelming odds."

Benson clenched his jaw tightly then answered with barely constrained self-loathing, "I'm sorry sir, but that's little comfort to having to abandon that many people to occupation… assuming they just don't exterminate them like the Wasps."

Shay nodded his head as Benson continued, "When we were passing through the Verebian system we found that surface of Vereb Four into molten rock. We assumed it was this alien force."

The Admiral sympathetically answered, "I know, but to bring you a little piece of mind, there haven't been any reports of any mass executions. If anything, the reports filtering out are that they have been far more humane than the Klingons in their occupations."

Benson found that a little hard to believe in that the Klingons had no problem butchering innocent woman and children. On Organian the Klingon Commander Kor attempted to execute hundreds of the inhabitants in an attempt to ferret out Captain Kirk and Commander Spock left stranded on the planet during the Four Day War with the Klingons before the godlike inhabitants put a halt to the war. If he ever met Commander Kor and had the opportunity, he'd kill him in a heartbeat. The Klingon wasn't a soldier, but a butcher wannabe and the universe would be better off without him.

"Speaking of Klingons, I'm surprised to see you here sir. I would expect you to be on our side of the Klingon Neutral Zone with Third Fleet or did you finally listen to your wife and take the first opening in Home Fleet or desk job?"

Shay muttered out in disgust, "Yes, the 'Neutral Zone'." The Admiral's feelings on the Organians were well known of being of absolute disgust with the godlike entities and their interference in the war. As a career officer that had seen combat across known space against Klingons, rebel Kzinti and Orion Pirates and dozen of minor races that threatened peace, he of all people knew the horrors of war, so he was the first to advocate finding a peaceful solution to problems with the Federation stellar neighbors as had been done with frosty relations with the Tholians and far warmer relations with the Gorns.

However, the way the Organians imposed peace left him bitter as the price for peace was too high: they allowed the Klingons to get away with their openly aggressive actions that included multiple invasions of Federation territory and killing of their citizens. Also in Shay's opinion, refusing to allow the Federation to finally check the Klingons allowed them to continued to mistreat their subject races and other races within their borders and allowed them to continue to be aggressive to their weaker 'Western' neighbors the Hydran and Lyrans or their newly discovered 'Northern' neighbor the Cardassians.

The Organian Ayelborne's question to James Kirk would haunt him possibly for the rest of his life, "To wage war, Captain? To kill millions of innocent people? To destroy life on a planetary scale? Is that what you're defending?"

The question would haunt him because he had an answer instead of Jim's sputtering capitulating answer; the answer is yes when the alternative is to bow to the Klingons and his sons and stepdaughter living under their boot.

Shay continued with a somber voice, "No, I'm still with Third Fleet. I just brought a number of combat veteran ships to lead ships sent from Home, Gorn Border and as many Second Fleet ships that can get back here in a counterattack against the Imperials. The Klingons will think twice before trying to take advantage of the situation with Morgan there incase the Organians suddenly change their minds in interfering."

Benson finally looked down to meet the Admiral's eyes and stated, "Sir, you don't intend to have a knock down drag out fight? I've seen what their ships can do; we can't stand toe-to-toe with their ships-of-the-line. They carry the heaviest of planetary grade weaponry and possibly beyond that."

"I know. How do you think Battlestation Vereb is just a debris field now?"

Benson softly bit his tongue and glanced away.

Shay got up from his seat and walked around the desk to stand next to the young man as he continued speaking, "I have absolutely no intention of doing such a thing. They'd bulldozer over us. Nogura may want me to do such a thing, but that's suicide and Fleet Admiral Marcus supports my strategic position."

"Then what do you plan to do?"

"A fighting retreat, but now they will bleed for every inch of space they take from us."

"All the way to Earth?"

Shay clenched his jaw for a moment then answered in a resigned tone, "If necessary… Earth is just one planet."

Benson confidently pointed out, "The Tori will be right there sir; giving her all she's got."

Shay raised a coy eyebrow and questioned, "Is that a request for the Tori… or you to be officially transferred out of Second Fleet and given another command?"

"I'll go where you send me sir, but I doubt you'd put your stepdaughter into the front line."

Shay took a deep breath then casually commented, "Jade's a big girl who makes her own decisions. Jade wanted Tori, so she got Tori."

Benson wanted to point out that he had final say in his CMO, but refrained from commenting on that point and surprisingly challenged, "I doubt you tell your wife such a thing."

The veteran cracked a smile and answered, "I don't have to; Jade tells Ruby exactly how she feels."

The starship commander finally cracked a smile and answered with a jovial voice, "Doctor West never has been one to hold back her tongue."

Shay rested against the edge of his desk and crossed his arms over his chest, refraining from commenting on the fact Benson addressed Jade by her title. He blew out a tired breath and continued with a more somber tone, "I would like to make you one of my taskforce commanders, but… I have a far more important job." The Admiral licked his lips then continued, "Probably the most important job of this war."

Benson knotted his brow as Shay tapped a control under his computer monitor and the large viewscreen embedded into the bulkhead to Benson's right turned on to show a display of the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. The Captain immediately noticed that the fourth top portion of the Federation and some of known Gorn space had changed to a crimson red from the respective blue and green colors usually used to display the stellar nations.

Shay turned and walked to the screen with Benson in tow. "This is the current strategic situation: They've attacked and occupied any colony worth having in the northern twenty six sectors of Federation space. They've done the same to the Gorns and we think they have done the same with the Cardassians according to Fourth Fleet, but they're not talking and we're pulling Fourth Fleet back to consolidate with Third Fleet. We're not wasting scouts.

The captain shook his head and asked while studying the strategic map, "Who are they? Who are we fighting?"

"They call themselves the 'Galactic Empire', an Imperial dictatorship that overthrew a representative republic similar to the Federation that stood for the last twenty-five thousand years and controls the entire Gamma and Delta Quadrants from what we've been able to determine so far."

"Twenty-five thousand years? Why didn't we encounter them millennia ago? Why didn't they just plant a flag on any of our planets we were in caves?"

"We don't know why. They're not much up for talking except demanding our surrender and the GIA's contacts haven't provided that information yet other than perhaps there was some navigational hazard related to their form of FTL drive that kept them on that side of the galaxy."

"Like the Galactic Barrier?"

"We don't know, but what we do know is they've overcome that limitation and turned their attention on us."

Benson blew out a breath and commented while looking back at the screen, "And they're stomping us into the ground…"

"But hopefully not for long. The GIA has found out that the Empire isn't a monolithic entity with full control over their territory."

"Recent dictatorships usually don't."

Shay raised an eyebrow and answered, "True, but this one as an effective, organized rebellion and this is where you come in: I need you to make contact with the leader of this rebellion, a Princess and Senator Tori Ablingada of the planet Alderaan or was until she was expelled from their senate, and negotiate an alliance with this resistance."

Benson knotted his brow as he questioned the Admiral, "Tori Ablingada? A princess and a senator?"

The war veteran snorted out a breath, "It's one of the translations that the Universal Translator comes up with during translation of their common language. I thought it would be nicer than just calling her 'bird'."

Freddie snorted out a laugh and slightly shook his head.

The Admiral walked over to the viewscreen and tapped on it and switched the display from the map to a picture of a very lovely brunette and very human looking young woman who if she was from Earth would be of Hispanic descent. "Her homeworld is currently blockaded by the Empire and now she's the face of the resistance."

"A pretty face… I wouldn't be surprised if people joined just to meet her."

Shay softly chuckled at seeing that Benson could still have a sense of humor, unfortunately it didn't last long as he asked in a serious tone, "Why me? There must be plenty of other people more qualified to make contact with her: trained diplomats or some GIA spook?"

The former starfighter flyer snorted, "More qualified? You use to be a member of a Prime Team—best of the best of landing parties trained to handle anything Star Fleet needs and you're a starship commander on a five year exploration mission who is expected to make first contact with unknown alien civilizations on a regular basis. This is exactly what you trained for and have the experience in handling."

Benson glanced away and reluctantly questioned, "What about Kirk? Isn't the Enterprise still assigned to Third Fleet or is she back in Second Fleet? He's the living legend that handles these sorts of things in his sleep and he could probably seduce her into anything he wanted her to do for us."

The Admiral frowned at the mention of the Big E's commander. "Captain Kirk is quite ill-suited for this assignment."

The young man gave the Admiral a curious expression. "How sir? He meets the qualifications you expect from me."

"Except for character. The last thing I need for him is to sleep with her and have a scorn woman who may decide to sit on the sidelines and let the Empire carve us up out of spite and he thinks he's invincible, but it's his crew that suffers with death after death. His luck is going to run out at some point and I don't need it to run out on this mission."

Benson felt the need to defend his fellow starship captain, "I'm not sure that's a fair judgment of him sir."

"How many crewmembers have you lost in your two years so far?"

"Including today?"

"No."

"None, sir."

"He's lost nearly thirty, he's been out there for the same amount of time and you've faced the same challenges and other than ships lost with all hands, no one has as high a causality rate as he has."

Benson frowned as he hated to admit the Admiral was correct. Kirk's casualty rate was atrocious.

"There is one more reason that I need you."

"Yes, sir?"

"Well as nepotistic as this is: you're my son and there's no one I trust more to handle this."

Benson gave him a deep frown and snapped off in a blatant disrespectful manner to a superior officer, "I'm not your son anymore."

Shay gave him a fatherly smile, rested his hand on his shoulder and answered, "You'll always be my son."

The gold shirted young man clenched his jaw tightly to try not to let the Admiral know that his words cut deep. He took a step back and turned his attention back to the picture of the Princess. He snorted out in annoyance, "Where am I going to make contact with her?"

The Admiral held back a smile and answered, "You'll be meeting at a predetermined set of coordinates past the north of Gorn space." Shay walked next to Benson and tapped the screen again to bring the map back up then pointed to the spot. Unfortunately, it was in Imperial occupied territory."

"How will I get there? That's further than any of our ships have ever gone before and according to this, the Imperials control that space."

"You won't be taking the Tori, but an alternative means of transportation. Since the invasion, planets across the northern half of the Federation have been visited by private individuals looking to do business with us."

Benson raised an eyebrow and questioned, "They're invading economically too?"

Shay cracked a smile. "The shoe's on the other foot for a change. Anyway, you'll be meeting an individual on Skoleos and you will be arranging personal transport with him. A one, Beck Oliver or so the Universal Translator translates his name and he thinks he's arranging for one of his freighter pilots to transport people that want to get out of the way of fighting and you'll keep it that way."

The young man nodded along then asked, "What am I authorized to offer her to entice her into an alliance?"

"Anything short of biological weapons."

"Who's my team?"

"The team is up to you and you have access to anyone in the fleet including several Prime Teams you can pull people from, but I wouldn't suggest more than three as it may look suspicious."

"Yes sir."

He walked over to his desk and pulled a blue data microtape and handed it to the captain. "This is all the information that GIA has been able to obtain about the Princess, the rebels and the 'business men' from the other side. You have a day before you have to leave. You'll take the Tori to just outside of Skoleos System then take a civilian shuttle to the planet. The Tori will be on standby if you'll need her. You are authorized to inform only those personal that you are taking with you."

"Thank you sir. If you'll excuse me, I have some work to do." Benson raised his hand and offered a salute that Shay quickly returned. He turned to leave and head for the door, but just before he reached it, he called over his shoulder, "Say hello to Ian for me the next time you speak with him."

Shay nodded his head with a smile then the young man exited the office. He walked around and had a seat behind his desk. He took a moment to glance at the family picture of his wife Ruby, Jade, Spencer, Carly, Freddie and little Ian on Ruby's lap and took a deep breath. He turned to his desk computer and tapped a few controls.

A few moments later a Federation seal was brought up then the face of Fleet Admiral Marcus appeared on the screen. This far out from Earth there would be at least a seventy five minute delay in communications, but fortunately Shay had access to highly kept secret subspace booster relays. The Star Fleet CinC politely greeted him, "Admiral Shay? News?"

"Captain Benson has accepted the assignment and he'll be on his way in a day."

The graying officer gave a solemn nod of his head. "What did you tell him?"

"What he needed to know to get the job done and an electronic trail that says he was just following what he thought were lawful orders by me, getting him off the hook if this mission goes bad."

Marcus snorted out in disgust, "To Hell with that Steven. I'll dump this whole thing on Vice Admiral Fitzpatrick in an instant and finally get rid of that damn 'desk admiral' if this thing goes to Hell. I'm not sacrificing your boy or you for this."

Shay slightly shook his head and held back a smirk as the Admiral displayed to of his famous traits: loyalty and disgust with incompetent fools put into positions of power over far more competent individuals.

Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope you put some pieces together about some background and what is going on, especially if you've seen Star Trek: Into Darkness and remember how I treat Steven Shay's career in the Air Force. Also, I borrowed from Amarillo Design Bureau Star Fleet Universe some races and the concept of the 'Prime Team'. Think of them as a group of personnel trained to Special Forces level training to specifically be an Away Team or Landing Party in TOS so you wouldn't put your senior staff, especially a starship commander in a highly dangerous situation even with a bunch of redshirts.

If you're ever curious about the class of ships I mention, a good source is jaynz dot trekships dot org slash index dot php and look under Federation (2265) and Federation (ADB) sections.

Joe Flanigan as Rear Admiral Steven 'Loco' Shay
Peter Weller as Fleet Admiral Alexander Marcus
Drew Roy as Rex Powers