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Jobal, Palpatine Prime, The capital of the 2nd Galactic Empire
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Smugglers Cove was the most exclusive officer's club in the city. Its décor and motif was based loosely around the Tiki Bar concept which had emerged from New Mandalore after the war. The grass skirted droid servers and tropical cantina drinks gave the place a certain aquatic, nautical feeling which was popular among Naval officers who had spent their lifetimes serving the Empire in the Void; some of whom had never once dipped a toe into a body of water larger than a puddle.
Admiral Aron Gentis, who had once hailed from the Deep Core world of Lettow, adored the place on the rare occasions he had been recalled back to the Imperial Capital. The Admiralty Board, which oversaw the Imperial Military, had vacated Tarkin Tower almost minutes after the Empress had left Mars and now occupied new quarters and offices in the granite city of Jobal, in a grand façade dubbed the Rhombus. As commander of the Empire's largest war ship, they preferred to keep Admiral Gentis on as short a leash as they could get away with. His ship, the Super Star Destroyer Ares currently stood on station high in orbit above the capital world.
Gentis was fifty-one standard years old and was at the lead of a new breed of Imperial officers. His was a class that hadn't cut their teeth in the Clone Wars, but had started their service in Palpatine's Imperial Navy stamping out the last of the Separatist Holdouts and hunting down clone deserters and the emerging rebellion in the Outer Rim.
Unlike the late Grand Admiral Yutu, Gentis never yelled at a subordinate, drank to excess, chased women or let a word of profanity fall from his lips. He had inherited a warship which had once been boarded by under-powered, yet diabolically intuitive, Earth commandos during the war. Such a stain on her reputation had left her the butt of many a joke in the Imperial Navy, to the demoralization of her crew. The Ares was a glutton for hypermatter and coaxium which left her almost permanently stationed at Vaedor III, where droid-manned coaxium mines continuously refined fuel for the Empire.
Gentis himself was of medium height and had a ruddy complexion with pale blue eyes, set in striking contrast to a pair of bushy white eyebrows and an equally white head of hair. Born and raised in an underground city on Lettow on the very edge of the Deep Core he hadn't seen the stars until he was nearly twelve cycles old. Gentis came from a humble family of nerf herders. As a boy he had spoken as much Arkanian as Basic. He took long hikes, he could cover the length of the Ares in a day, and played Chin-Bret to keep fit. For relaxation he blasted at targets with his antique B-405 Rancor pistol, tossed laser darts, played sabacc and listened to classical music from the lost Core Worlds.
Within the constraints of his lofty rank, Gentis was a genuinely warm and outgoing man. He was compulsively social and always used a personal touch. He let it be known that any officer or sailor in his command could see him and kept a strict open door policy. With nearly twenty thousand members of his crew and marine security detachment those meetings could sometimes prove a tax on his time, but they kept him in touch with every level and section of the Ares. He bore the inherent military bearing of a Deep Core warrior and the Empress herself had once told him, after the Battle of Four Navies, that he was the only officer on the bridge of the Quill that hadn't flinched when they had rammed the Wilderness during Seco's doomed rebellion.
"Why is it every time I see you it looks like you're ready to charge into battle?" The officer he was meeting stood up and waved him over to his secluded corner booth. Gentis chuckled and walked over to shake the hand of his old friend.
Gentis slid into the booth across from the other officer. "What is the Terran saying? Damn the torpedoes! Full steam ahead!"
Captain Murp, of Naval Intelligence, laughed as he waved over the serving droid. Only a handful of distant tables were occupied at this time of the day and the droid had little to do. Intercepting the droid before it could approach the two officers, the Smuggler's Cove's owner reached the table first. The Rodian bowed and smiled at both of the naval officers. "Admiral Gentis, so glad to see you have returned to Palpatine Prime."
"It's good to see you as well, Reezo." Gentis never forgot a name, even one of a Rodian he had probably not laid eyes on in three years. "The place looks wizard."
"Thank you. Thank you. Can I bring the esteemed, gentlemen anything?" Reezo asked.
"We will take the house specialty. And I'll have a Bad Motivator IPA." Murp ordered.
Reezo turned his gaze to Gentis. "I'll have a Lothal Spicebrew. But only a half pint."
"Very good. I will have the chef start two plates of Sorgan Krill Po'boys and have those drinks right out to you." The Rodian bowed again as he made his exit.
Gentis grinned at his comrade. "It's good to see you back in your natural element."
"It's kriffing good to be back in Intelligence, that's for stang sure. You can take ship command and shove it."
"I've heard the Quill is a soft assignment." Gentis countered.
"She was, well, is. She's still the flagship and the Empress's private ship, which means she never goes anywhere. She's on permanent station here at Palpatine Prime watching all the moons go by." Murp complained.
"Still, she's one of those tickets you needed to punch to get your latest rank squares. I know you also had high marks at the Command Academy here on the capital."
"Aye. I liked what I was doing. I've always preferred the bigger galactic picture to the smaller world of a command bridge." Murp replied.
Captain Murp had been one of Grand Admiral Yutu's creatures during the war and as far as Gentis knew was born directly into the Intelligence services. Murp had correctly and fiercely blamed the Terrans for the assassination of the Grand Admiral in the closing days of the Empire-Earth War and since then kept a narrow focus on the Terrans. He was devious and clever and exactly the sort of officer you wanted to have in charge of keeping tabs on your biggest enemy.
"You get more immediate results on the deck of a Star Destroyer."
"True. But Yutu once taught me that a Star Destroyer wasn't necessarily the most powerful weapon around. Sometimes a well-placed vibroblade in the right back could do much more damage in the long run."
The server droid delivered their drinks. Gentis held his up to Murp. "To the Grand Admiral."
Murp clinked his drink to Gentis's. "I'll drink to that." And he did.
Gentis turned the topic to today's official visit. "Any idea why I've been recalled back here?"
"Some. Maybe a little bigger picture than even the Admiralty has." Murp referred to the four senior Admirals that ran the Imperial Navy, Army, TIE Fighter Corps, and Stormtrooper Corps from the nearby Rhombus, the four-sided command center and office building on Palpatine Prime that had replaced Mars's Tarkin's Tower as the heart and brain of the Imperial Military.
"What have I missed?"
"How familiar are you with Moff Hinter's command?" Murp asked.
"Mars? She's a Fortress World. The Fortress World. She's the only planet with a planetary shield and she's got the Limbo and Purgatory on permanent station at Phobos. Plus the 212th Legion is under her command. That's one-third of our Stormtroopers, all staring up at Earth. Mars is the safest world in the Empire."
"You're absolutely right. She's also in charge of interdiction patrols for any Space Force ships that try to cross the Phasma Belt in violation of the Mercury Accords." Murp continued.
"I've heard the scuttlebutt around that. Supposedly the Confederacy pulled back all of their corvettes and abandoned their asteroid mines just under a year ago."
"It's true. They didn't leave anything out there but passive scanners and a handful of their cheap droid knock-offs. What you might not know is they've moved an entire Legion of their new front line Legionnaires to Luna."
"Are they threatening the embassy? President Harris can't be that foolish." Gentis was surprised.
"Ambassador Snoke recently returned to that post. He's saying they aren't doing anything overt but the Confederacy's demands are becoming more and more outrageous. There's talk of pulling DiploServe back away from Luna in the Senate. At least until the CEN sees reason again."
"What's he asking for?" Gentis leaned forward and rested on his elbows.
"He wants us to turn over officers who served during the war for war crime trials. He wants material reparations. He wants us to ban the production of Star Destroyers and pull back from Mars. He asking for the demarcation line to move from the Phasma Belt to the Sol System's Oort Cloud."
"Absurd."
"That's what the Empress and the Prime Chancellor both said." Murp reported.
"Well we can at least abide with the production of new warships. The Ares was the last Star Destroyer the New Empire built and she was launched thirteen years ago. Half the fleet is in mothballs or maintaining a skeleton crew. By the Black Nebula, I've got nearly five thousand service droids replacing sailors on my ship alone." Gentis complained through gritted teeth. The economic collapse after the war had stalled production and advancement of new weapon systems throughout the entire military. New Stormtrooper armor and blasters being issued in the closing days of the war had been scrapped and recycled. Dozens of Legions had been reduced down to the three current ones, releasing nearly a million military personnel back into civilian roles.
"The only big project we've managed to complete was the Kuati Fleet conversion at Nal Kuat."
"Well it was a pet project of the Admiralty. They knew bombardment hurt the Terrans the most in the war. Converting an entire squadron of Kuati Star Destroyers into heavy siege vessels will end the next war right quick." Gentis argued. Though he saw little reason in the refurbishing of the Star Destroyers into battlewagons with heavier turbolasers. It wasn't as if they'd come across an enemy with ships armored enough to justify the expense and Star Destroyers with the old types of cannons had no trouble bombarding the Earth the last time around.
"They just sit at Nal Kuat moored to the KDY rings like a sore thumb. Most days their engines aren't even running."
"I understand the crews have thumb twiddling contests to pass the time on the rings." Gentis joked.
Murp smiled. "You're not far off. It's a cushy post, but boring as the seven hells."
"Well fleet inactivity and uppity Earthlings isn't enough reason to recall me back to Palpatine Prime. What's really going on?" Gentis asked.
Murp stayed silent for a long moment. Typical Intel agent, Gentis thought, always one to keep his sabacc close to his chest. "How familiar are you with the Carina-Sagittarius Arm?"
Now it was Gentis's turn to pause. Not that astrocartography wasn't an interest, it was just that there wasn't a lot known about their galactic neighbor. The Empire had only been established for twenty-five years in the Milky Way Galaxy, which was a mere blink of an eye in the Universal sense. Back in the Home Galaxy humans had been exploring that galaxy for twenty-five millennia ever since escaping the Rakata's slave pens and there was still massive amounts of uncharted Void in the Unknown Regions and Wild Space when Tarkin's Fist had departed.
"The Fleet hasn't attempted any large scale exploration as of yet. Our entire focus has been centered on protecting and establishing colonies along the Bloodstripe Run. Our strength is in the Orion Spur. Let the Space Ministry waste lives and credits on punching through to the next spiral arm, I say."
"They've been trying. I'm sure you're aware of the Convor?" Murp inquired.
"That big E-9 Explorer the HoloNews goes on and on about? Sounds to me like they probably hyperjumped into a supernova or got sucked into an uncharted black hole. If we were back in the Home Galaxy I'd say the summa-verminoth got them."
"I'd probably agree with you. However within days of their disappearance a large grouping of mysterious signals were intercepted emanating from within a parsec of the Convor's last known location. Too many signals for a simple exploration vessel."
"What type of signals?" Gentis asked, his curiosity peaking.
"Ship-to-ship mostly. Followed by odd ranging and locator signals as if they were searching for navigation beacons."
"We haven't established any out there yet. A navi-beacon system like that takes centuries to build which is why the Old Empire still used the Old Republic's navigation system."
"True. The signals were strange. They were emitted across frequencies neither the Earth nor the Empire utilizes and appeared slightly stronger than our current hyperwave tech, plus, they were encoded." Murp revealed.
"Encoded? How?"
"Our cryptology teams have been working on that for a year. It appears they were encoded with tech slightly more advanced than what we currently own."
"Any idea who the messages might be from."
"Yes. Us."
"What?!" The Admiral exclaimed.
"Well someone a lot like us. The codes were all in the style of Imperial encryptions. Except we'd need their ciphers and keys to decipher them. Before we could pinpoint the location the signals vanished, only to pick up again here and there along the Sagittarius Arm. Each time moving rim-ward and towards the Orion Spur. We hadn't heard anything in the past four months standard."
"Perhaps they've left?" Gentis offered.
"That's just it. They didn't. We just picked up an errant signal three days ago."
"Oh, yes. And where are these mystery intruders now?" The Admiral asked.
"The Sol System. More specifically Luna."
"Earth's moon?"
"I've read your service packet. You've been briefed to hear about Fulcrum." Murp seemed to change the subject slightly but Gentis could see the topics would be related somehow.
Gentis looked about the dining room to make sure Reezo or a service droid wasn't lurking nearby. "The suspected agent provocateur. The one with the possible links to the death of Droo Filoni from the HoloNews?"
"The same. The Imperial Security Bureau is working under the assumption that Filoni's death wasn't an accident, but an assassination set up by the Confederate Investigation Agency through their Fulcrum asset for exposing the massive fraud in their elections."
"Palp's eyes, man. That was, what, eighteen years ago. Where has the ISB been this whole time?"
"The trail went cold. They've set traps and arrested some suspects over the years but nothing ever came of it until this week."
"The signal from Luna. Well if Fulcrum is there then he's beyond our reach." Gentis relented.
"No, he's not. The signal was sent to Fulcrum. It was a broad spectrum burst picked up by our commscan units all along the Bloodstripe. Same high-tech signal. Same updated Imperial encryption. This time, however, one of my stations, the Station Amethyst one at Nal Kuat, had some luck cracking the first half of the code."
"What's it say?" Gentis asked.
"It's an inquiry for Fulcrum."
"What do they want to know?"
"The location of the Ares for this entire week."
Gentis jerked back. There could only be one reason why the Earth would need to know the location of the Empire's most powerful warship and the fact that they were willing to risk exposing one of their most valuable espionage assets proved just how desperate they were."
"Has Fulcrum responded?"
"Not as far as we can tell." Murp replied. "Which is why the Admiralty recalled you here. The Quill is currently the only war ship in the Cygnus System protecting the capital."
"Would they attack Palpatine Prime?"
"It's the logical target. Mars has a planetary shield. Harris is insane but he's not that insane."
"They can't even reach past New Ryloth in a single jump, have you seen their ships? What about anywhere else?"
"The Admiralty has concluded that Palpatine Prime is the logical target." Murp rubbed his chin in contemplation. "But like you said, how would the Earth's Space Force even reach us here without being detected? They couldn't get to Palpatine Prime in a single hyperjump."
"Have any other commands been notified?" Gentis asked. "I certainly wasn't given any notification enroute."
"No, that's FleetCom's perspective and they're under direct authority of the Admiralty Board."
"So, the bulk of the Confederate Space Force could be rounding New Thyfeeria right now and our fleet is asleep at the helm." Gentis gasped.
"The second part of the message was undeciphered, but it did include a diminishing numerical pattern. Do you suppose it could be . . .?"
"A countdown!" Gentis nearly leaped from the table. Both he and Captain Murp dropped their utensils. Murp threw several credits down on the table as they got to their feet. Patrons at the other tables turned their heads to watch and wonder what had gotten two senior officers so excited. Reezo wasn't fast enough to say his farewells before both of the officers were out the door.
Captain Murp nearly broke into a run as soon as they exited the restaurant. The very possibility of danger pulled them into action, yet Admiral Gentis held back for a second. Gentis looked skyward up the towering edifice of Mount Home.
The granite edifice was nearly eight kilometers high and had been barren of all life when the Empire had arrived. Rising above a vast sprawling grassy plain crisscrossed with dozens of rivers that expanded well over the horizon, the great mountain was the pressure outlet for a vast underground ocean. Bursting to the surface near the peak of Mount Home nearly thirty waterfalls cascaded downwards through the city erected along its slopes.
Jobal, the capital city of the 2nd Galactic Empire, glistened in the light of the three blue protostars, Cygnus Aurek, Besh and Cresh. Mist drifting away from the multitude of falls cast ever present rainbows across the city. Borscii and Kafvris vines twisted up and down the mountain, covering nearly every single building and home in the city's tiered districts. No roads existed inside Jobal and transportation throughout the metropolis was dependent on repulsor boats and hover barges that were capable of not only sailing through Jobal's canals but up and down her waterfalls as well.
Gentis looked up at the great Yos Palace at the peak of Mount Home. It was a grand sight despite the embarrassment discovered after its construction that the architect had stolen the design from a Terran fantasy novel of a place dubbed Minas Tirith. Great flocks of Porgs flew about the city and palace like a living whirlwind swirling this way and that across the face of the mountain.
Something had stopped the Admiral in his tracks as he soaked in the beauty of the capital. This grand visage of peacefulness was calling for him to notice it. Perhaps, he thought, it would be his last tranquil moment for some time.
"Excuse me, officers." An older man called to them from the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. The human sounded polite but carried himself in a way that demanded attention. He wore a professional, yet elegant robe that signified him as some sort of elite servant, but the way he carried himself hinted at prior military service. Not an uncommon trait in the Empire after the Clone Wars and the Empire-Earth War, but still odd to see it in someone's butler. "I'm terribly sorry, but I require a moment of your time."
"We have important business of our own to attend to. We can't . . ." Murp started to reject the man's plea.
"I'm afraid it is a matter of life and death." The man replied.
Captain Murp again attempted to rebuff the man but Gentis cut him off. "Who's?"
"Phasma Yos, Her most Serene Highness." The man said. His warning sent a chill through Gentis's skin.
Gentis turned to Murp. "Could this be connected to what we were just discussing?"
Murp looked to the servant. "How can we help?"
"I have someone who would very much like to discuss this matter with the both of you." The man waved his hand towards the canal that ran in front of the Smuggler's Cove. Parked in front of the restaurant was the fanciest hover yacht Gentis had ever seen. Even by his most modest estimate, the aqua-craft probably cost several of his yearly salaries.
The two officers were led aboard by the butler who signaled to an R2 Ferry Droid to get the boat underway. There was no one else aboard as far as Gentis could detect. The servant activated a control on a hidden imagecaster. The device came to life, emitting the well-known image of Gage Kuat.
Kuat was a highly recognizable face in Naval circles. KDY was the largest supplier of warships for the Imperial Navy and their ring driveyard circling the world of Nal Kuat was the only shipyard capable of producing capital ships in the known galaxy. It was also on Nal Kuat's neighbor Nal Kessel that the Navy's secret stygium crystal deposits had been discovered, and Gage Kuat had been instrumental in assisting the Navy with its planned cloaking project, which both Gentis and Murp had contributed to during the past year.
Despite the young Kuati's refusal to take up the mantle of Moff of Nal Kuat, instead handing it to his subordinate Lucious Farnmir, both of the military officers saluted the powerful industrialist.
"Greetings, Admiral, Captain. I'm glad I reached you both in time." Gage Kuat seemed rushed. Gentis couldn't detect what kind of location the Kuati was in but he seemed to be wearing a large bulky robe over something. Personal Death Trooper armor, Gentis suspected, though for what reason the Kuat of Kuat would need such a measure escaped him.
"I'm afraid we were in the midst of dealing with an important matter when your servant intercepted us, my Lord." Gentis told Gage. "Would you care to explain yourself?"
"I would. I would. I am glad you followed Alferon here. I authorized him to use whatever means he seemed fit to get you to accompany him." Gage stated. There was a slight listing as the yacht started ascending one of the city's waterfalls.
Gentis looked to the butler who held out two cups to the officers. "Tea?"
Gentis took the offered beverage and took a sip. The aroma and taste of the expensive Bantha Chai immediately caused him to relax yet focus his senses.
"An associate of mine has recently led an investigation of the Crimson Dawn on Next-1 that has led him all the way back here to Palpatine Prime." Gage explained.
"I would hardly think the Spice gangs would challenge the throne. ISB and the military would destroy them, leaving their rivals in the Gran Kajidic to pick off whatever was left." Murp stated. Gentis agreed. The Navy played a nexu and womprat game along the Bloodstripe, with the Navy interceding the smuggling trade when and where it could, but the Spice gangs had never been a larger threat besides criminal activities.
"I was under the same assumption. However, my associate uncovered an arrangement by Nyssa Raatko . . ."
"The smuggler? She's a familiar entity within the Navy's patrols. Not as slippery as the Gran's Agen's Light pilot but she's up there." Murp added.
"The same. She runs the Shadow Collective Cantina on Plympto Blight and works the rimward Bloodstripe Run for the Dawn. She recently completed a job that took a large delivery from Forca Movel to Next-1, where the criminal Elia Neggma received it and then transferred whatever the delivery was here to Palpatine Prime."
"Forca Movel?" Murp, for once, was at a lost.
"It's a small grouping of dead planetoids not far from Nal Kuat. A parsec perhaps. Isn't it located near the Almuhit Maelstrom?" Gentis filled in the gaps.
"It is. I sent a scouting vessel to Forca Movel to locate whoever was out there but the place was abandoned." Gage Kuat reported.
"That doesn't mean much. The Almuhit could provide a million hiding places. Too bad no one has ever mapped a route through that briar patch." Murp added.
"What does a spice shipment have to do with a threat to the Empress?" Gentis demanded to know. Time was growing short. He could sense it.
"My associate was able to relocate Elia Neggma this morning, here in Jobal." Gage said.
"Good. Have her arrested and brought in for immediate questioning." Murp stated.
"That could be problematic. You see, Neggma is dead. She was found with a bolt hole in the back of her head. A preliminary forensics study of her corpse showed the tibanna of the bolt was of a blend never produced in the Empire. Clutched in her hand was a small holodisk with the image of Phasma Yos and her known schedule for today." Gage laid out his associate's findings.
Murp raised his comlink to his mouth and connected to his own subordinates. "I need to know the location of the Empress and the Royal family immediately."
"I already know where Phasma Yos is located and Alferon is taking you there as we speak."
"And how do you know this?" Gentis inquired.
"Well on Next-1 my colleague uncovered a rather large cache of True Victory paraphernalia along with modern Stormtrooper blasters."
"So this wasn't spice Neggma and Raatko were transporting. You suspect what? Assassins?"
"It's a logical assumption based on the evidence." Gage replied. "The tibanna, the uniforms, the profile discs."
"Who would do such a thing? The Confederacy? The Empress has two Jedi Knights guarding her and they're supposed to be able to sniff out a Terran a kilometer away."
Murp's comlink activated. "Captain, the Empress is currently located at the Eriadu Convention Center on the Coruscant Mesa section of the capital."
"Palpatine's Grace, she's nearly ten kilometers away from the palace and the Royal Guard's barracks." Gentis exclaimed. "Captain, notify the Royal Guard and the Stormtrooper contingent aboard the Ares. Have them moved to the convention center and secure a perimeter immediately.
"Aye, Admiral. That may take several minutes. What is happening at the convention center today?" Murp asked his subordinate.
"The Empress is slated to address a gathering of Empire-Earth War veterans on the anniversary of the Battle of the Yangtze. She was asked there on the invitation of Marrin Farvakine to address concerns about veteran pensions and new land grants in the colonies."
"The leader of the True Victory Legion?" Gentis was quickly putting the pieces together. "He will have hundreds of his most loyal stalwarts with him."
Alferon, the butler chimed in. "The True Victory Legion may be heavy handed with their political endeavors but they have always been extremely loyal to the Empire and the House of Yos. I, myself, once weighed the option of joining their fellowship in the days following the late war."
"Really!" Gage Kuat's eyes went wide in surprise.
"I found a higher calling, Master Gage."
"If it's not True Victory and it's not the Terrans...who then?" Murp demanded.
"The Forca Movelians, whoever they are." Gentis suggested. Everyone else nodded that his suggestion was all they had to go on.
The ferry droid beeped to indicate that they had arrived at their final destination. Gentis and Murp debarked the hover yacht and climbed a gangplank up and out of the canal. They had their weapons ready, though Gentis would have preferred to have brought along his pair of quadnoculars.
Eriadu Convention Center was built between two massive cathedral towers each adorned with expansive stained-glass panels. The one closest to the canal depicted Grand Moff Tarkin standing stoically in front of the completed Death Star, while the other contained the image of Director Krennic with the Death Star still under construction. The Convention Hall was topped with rows of rib vaults and flying buttress. The center was adjacent to a large park where Murp and Gentis now found themselves. It was filled with nearly a hundred beings milling about at their leisure or walking towards the convention center. A few city guard patrolled outside the convention center. On the level above Coruscant Mesa was the large dome of the Senate building that gazed down from higher atop Mount Home across the Palpatine Prime plains.
Gentis looked back over the plains himself for a moment. The Ares and the Quill both rested in orbit, barely visible in the dark royal blue sky of Palpatine Prime. The star light from the Cygnus trio were hardly bright enough to illuminate the warships above the planet. Below the Star Destroyers, Gentis spotted a half dozen small black dots growing larger as they approached the capital. He knew they were Sentinel landing craft packed with his Stormtroopers, but estimated that they wouldn't arrive at their location for another five minutes.
As Murp and Gentis started to run across the park, distant sirens could be heard as the Jobal Guard and Royal Guard rushed to the convention center. The guard troopers ahead of them were on their comlinks, no doubt receiving the warning Gentis had put out.
"Looks like we made it just in time." Captain Murp tempted fate, perhaps one too many times.
Just as the intelligence chief uttered his relief an explosion rocked the convention center ahead of them. The tower with Tarkin's visage shuddered with the blast that shattered the beautiful glass panes into a shower of a million crystalline shards. Krennic tower had large pieces of the famous engineer's portrait knocked free and dark billowy smoke poured from the building. Inside the building the sound of blaster rifles discharging rang out like the eruption of dust-corn kernels in a hot fire.
The two officers arrived at the main entrance of the convention center just as the first wounded and frightened civilians came pouring out. Many of them were holding wounds that bled profusely or helping more severely injured escape the endangered building.
Murp yelled at the Jobal Guard troopers nearby and towards the newly arriving ones that were pouring into the park. "Set up a perimeter. Do not let anyone leave until they are cleared by Naval Intelligence and the ISB."
"Yes, sir." A trooper saluted. "What about the wounded?"
"Get RescueOps here at once." Gentis ordered. "I have Stormtroopers inbound. Do not let anyone inside without my say so."
They didn't have to wait long. Jobal Guard troopers chased away gawkers in the park to allow room for the Sentinels to land. Each of the six landing barges dispersed fifty Stormtroopers who surrounded the building. At the same time, a TIE Reaper landed in front of Gentis and Murp and disgorged a heavy squad of Death Troopers. The dark-armored Death Troopers ran up to the Admiral and saluted while blaster fire from inside the building filled the air.
Gentis quickly looked over the Death Troopers until he decided which one was in charge. "Right, Sergeant. We have unknown number of unidentified assailants inside the building. We don't know yet if this is an assassination attempt or a hostage taking."
"Hostages are irrelevant. Empress Phasma is inside." A voice said behind Gentis.
The Admiral spun around to face nearly twenty blue-cloaked Royal Guardsmen. He hadn't even heard them approach.
"The hall is still pretty packed with civilians." Gentis pointed as the scores of beings still pouring from the convention center.
"Noted and rejected. We will be leading the assault to rescue the Empress. Your men may follow but do not get in our way." With that the Royal Guard turned almost as one and charged up the steps to the convention center. They barreled over a few civilians who were too slow to get out of their way.
Gentis turned to the Death Troopers. "You heard them. Get in there and secure that building."
The Death Troopers responded in their strange encrypted language, set their blasters to kill and rushed up the stairs to join the Royal Guard.
"Admiral, if you'd prefer to command the situation from out here. I can see how things are inside." Captain Murp offered while cocking his own sidearm. A Stormtrooper walked up and handed them both officer battle armor.
Gentis threw aside his cap and donned the open faced helmet before strapping on the chest armor. "Nonsense, a commander should lead from the front. Besides both of our careers are dead in the water if something happens to the Empress. So it might be for the best if I fall alongside her."
"Force forbid." Murp worried. Gentis couldn't blame him. He was nearly shaking in his boots that something awful would happen to their beloved sovereign.
They entered the main hall of the convention center to a scene of chaos and violence. The Royal Guard was pinned down at the far end of the hall by assailants who were concealed at the opposing end of the hall near the Krennic tower. Bodies were splayed out across the hall and dozens of True Victory stalwarts huddled behind whatever cover they could find. Veterans of the Empire-Earth War with nearly every one of them armed with some sort of blaster or another, they provided excellent covering fire as the Royal Guard and Death trooper assault teams moved forward.
A large carbon scoring at the front of the hall proved to have been the location of the bomb's detonation. Gentis noticed a scattering of small body parts indicating the nefarious use of a Being Bomb. A suicide tactic the Earth had deployed during the late war.
"Admiral, over here." Captain Murp called out. He was kneeling next to a wounded man who was holding pressure on a nasty looking belly wound. The man was propped up, sitting against a wall, with two strange, black-armored Stormtroopers lying dead at his feet. Their light armor had odd striations along the plates and two red stripes that ran vertically across the front of their helmets. The armor was of a sort that was unknown to Gentis. The man had a blaster in his hand which Murp confiscated.
"What in the Black Nebula is happening here?" Gentis demanded from the injured man.
"Not sure." He grunted through his pain. "I had just finished my speech to my troopers and was waiting to introduce the Empress. It took a lot of work to get her to attend our conference so we were pretty excited. All of a sudden somebody near the entrance yelled something about a false Empire and then blew themselves up. Knocked me right off the stage. When I got up a bunch of strange lads had thrown off their True Victory uniforms and were wearing those." The wounded man pointed at the two dead Stormtroopers in black. "They just started blasting."
"Their armor almost looks like it came from the TIE Corps. Are they some kind of SpecOps unit I'm not aware of?" Gentis asked the other officer.
"No. SpecOps works for FleetIntel so I would know of them. This gear looks top of the line but it's nothing I've ever seen before." Murp admitted.
Somebody threw a thermal detonator which sent shrapnel spiraling through the hall. The Royal Guard charged the barricade. Several of them were cut down before they were thrown back.
"You've got to bust past them." The wounded man said. "The Empress was getting ready for her speech inside that tower beyond that scum. She's got at least two of her tykes along with her."
"Thanks, citizen." Gentis thanked the man for his help.
"It's Farvakine, JO-3003. Take as many of my True Victory boys as you need. We've never backed away from a fight and we're not going to start now." The man stated, causing Admiral Gentis to realize he had been speaking with Marrin Farvakine, the energetic leader of the True Victory Legion.
"Will do. Stay here and wait for RescueOps to see to that wound." Murp told the veteran sniper turned political renegade.
The Royal Guard were rallying to attempt another charge at the barricade. They would happily forfeit their lives to save the Empress. Gentis could see five more of the heavily armed black Stormtroopers on the other side of the barricade waiting for them. They moved and acted like professional Special Forces and didn't appear to have any give in them.
Suddenly there was a flash of light behind the barricade followed by a heavy cloud of smoke. A shadow dropped from the ceiling as blaster fire flashed haphazardly from the defenders.
Another black figure moved quickly amongst the enemy position. A large ebony cape could be seen disappearing and reappearing inside the smoke as one blaster after another went silent.
As the smoke cleared it revealed a solitary figure dressed in pitch black armor standing amidst five fallen enemy troopers. The barricade had been smashed open.
The Royal Guard charged the figure with the electro-pikes raised. He was standing between them and the Empress and his assistance with clearing the obstacle meant nothing to them. The figure must have realized this, as he raised a grappling thrower towards the ceiling and fired its hook. He raised two fingers to his brow in a sort of irreverent salute to the onrushing Guardsmen. The device yanked him away from the smashed barricade just as the Royal Guard charged through his former position.
Out of their way, the Royal Guard paid little attention to the black figure who was even now vanishing in the rafters of the convention center. There was a brief light-fight at the base of the tower as the Royal Guard secured it. They mercilessly cut down three more of the black-armored terrorists at the base of the stairs leading upwards.
Gentis ordered the Death Troopers to secure the five prisoners at the barricade. He wished he had more time to discover whoever their mystery helper was. "Who was that masked man?"
Murp bent down to check the pulse of the nearest prisoner. "You haven't been listening to late-night HoloNews it appears. If I had to guess, that was the notorious Mynockian every criminal has been gobbing about for the past year, and most likely Gage Kuat's unnamed associate."
"Whoever he was, we owe him one." Gentis said.
"Stang it. This one is dead." Murp removed the terrorist's black helmet revealing greenish foam pouring from the trooper's mouth. Along one side of the dead man's neck was a Legion tattoo of the 23rd Legion. Gentis had never heard of such a unit and no 23rd Legion had ever come through the 'big jump' with the rest of Tarkin's Fist.
"Suicide teeth." Gentis looked over at the nearest Death Trooper who shook his head to indicate the others had followed the same path. "All of them. By the stars, who are these men?"
"Forca Movelians, sir. That's all I know."
There was more blasting from the upper stories of the tower. Gentis cocked his pistol. "The Empress! Let's move."
They ran up seven flights of stairs. The two officers led the Death Troopers and a score of True Victory veterans into the tower's upper levels. The stairway was littered with debris and bodies. The Royal Guard that had been present at the Convention Center had sold their lives dearly protecting the Empress. Three of the black-armored troopers had fallen for each of the dead Royal Guard.
It was at the top of the staircase that they found the Jedi. Or what was left of the Jedi.
The corpses of the Arconan Knight, El-Les Nein and the Human Knight Rajine Qiyn lay dead atop the stairwell. Both of the Jedi Sentinels had been pierced with scores of blaster bolts before they succumbed. A dozen of the enemy lay fallen at their feet. They had died well, though Gentis wondered if that thought would comfort Grand Master Ti when she learned of their fate.
Ten Royal Guard, half of what had started the assault into the Convention Center were ahead of the officers and their party. The blue-clad super-troopers were using their electro-pikes to pry a large door open.
"We witnessed the last three enemy rush into this room when we made it up here." One of the Royal Guardsman reported. "The Empress has to be on the other side."
"This is the top story." Murp said. "Makes sense that there would be nowhere left for them to go."
"Get this door open right now." Gentis shouted at the Death Troopers. One of which trotted forward. He was carrying an Alpha Charge which he affixed to the heavy door.
Everyone stepped back for a minute as the Alpha Charge directed its detonation silently and smokelessly into the door. With a loud creak and pop, the door fell from its frame and toppled inwards.
The Royal Guard rushed into the chamber before the door even hit the ground. To everyone's relief they were met by Phasma Yos.
The Empress stood in the center of the room. A hold out blaster held in her hands with faint wisps of smoke coming from the blasting chamber. Blood was splattered across her face and gown. She held the weapon with steady resolve on three bodies sprawled out on the carpet at her feet.
Two of the dead wore the black armor Gentis had become familiar with downstairs while the third wore all red armor signifying that perhaps he had been the leader of this strike team. The Admiral wanted to spit on the leader's corpse for attacking the Empress.
The Royal Guard quickly surrounded her. Their weapons pointed outwards from their protective circle daring anyone to come any closer to their charge. Gentis and Murp held the crowd in the hallway back with a stern glare.
"Your Majesty, we need to evacuate you to a secure location. It's not safe here." The lead Royal Guardsman told the Empress.
"The twins? Where are my younglings?" Empress Yos demanded.
"Here, Mommy." A small voice came from the large wardrobe in the room. Two small children stepped from their hiding place.
Gentis, as well as every true Imperial in the hallway, let out an audible sigh of relief as the six year old twins Princess Ryoo and Prince Palo revealed themselves. Thank the Celestials, Gentis thought, they're unharmed. The twins rushed between the ready Royal Guardsmen and into the loving arms of their mother who quickly checked both of the younglings over for unseen injuries.
Phasma looked towards the doorway and noticed the Naval officers for the first time. "Admiral Gentis, Captain Murp, I hope you two have some answers to what in the Bakuran Blazes is going on. Who are these terrorists?"
"Your Majesty, your guard is correct. We need to move you away from here. This place is not yet secure." Gentis said as he and Murp bowed at the waist to honor their regent.
"I'm much harder to kill than this lot figured." Phasma declared. Now in her mid-thirties, Phasma Yos was still ever the resolute leader he had seen on the bridge of the Quill during the Battle of the Four Navies, which had occurred the day after Loag assassins had tried to assassinate her on Mars. Perhaps there was little in the Galaxy that would make this particular Empress flinch. Gentis hoped he never discovered what could.
"They're Forca Movellians, your Highness." Murp reported. "That's all we know so far. We were acting on a security tip from a private citizen that spice gangs had smuggled a small team of commandos with the purpose of harming or kidnapping your person."
"Forca Movellians? I've never heard of such nonsense." Phasma exclaimed. The Royal Guard were growing edgy that they weren't relocating yet. "And for what purpose? The bounty on my kidnappers head would far outstrip any ransom they could hope to claim."
Murp couldn't answer for at just that moment his comlink came to life with another emergency call. The Intelligence chief put the device to his ear to not disturb the other's conversation.
Gentis looked down at the freshly killed corpses at their feet. "They're too professional. If I had to guess, your Highness, this looks like a military job."
"President Harris wouldn't be foolish enough to send commandos after me a second time. No, this seems bigger than whatever the Earth could do to us." Phasma decided. Gentis tended to agree with her. Take out Phasma Yos and the whole Earth would burn by the end of the day.
"Excuse me, your Highness, Admiral, I'm sorry to interrupt but you both need to hear this." Murp interjected. His face had grown pale as if all the blood in his body had suddenly vanished.
The Empress saw the concern written across the Captain's features. Gently she asked. "Captain, what has happened now?"
"It's Nal Kuat." Murp's voice shook with fear.
"What about it?" Gentis asked.
"It's under attack. The fleet is burning!"