The dark emptiness of space stared back at him.
Imperial Navy Admiral Perseus Jackson, of the Kuat system stood upon the bridge of the Wolf's Head. The bridge lay in absolute silence, minus the buzz of the many computers that ran on its nerve centre.
Below them, the planet of Malachor V lay, it's surface lay cracked to reveal the ancient sith battlegrounds below, where an imperial archaeological team was carrying out work.
escort duty. He loathed to himself. He was the best in his class at the Royal Kuati Naval Academy, not that it mattered when he was there on scholarship.
The others had all been descendants of former graduates or of the aristocratic upper class on kuat, politically connected throughout the galactic core and senate, and upon graduation had immediately been placed into much higher roles than escort duty.
his glowering was cut off by his chief communications officer. "Sir, class one distress call from the Yavin system, rebel fleet appears to be there as well!"
Class one distress calls were for only the most elite in the empire. Even a grand admirals distress call was only listed as a class three.
He turned to face the bridge crew before barking out orders. "Prepare jump to light speed! Calculate the fastest route to the Yavin system! Inform the archeological team that they will be based of the frigate we are leaving here.
The bridge exploded into a flurry of activity as deckhands tan about futility orders. Already the Wolfs Head was turning towards its hyperspace vector.
He stalked over to his communications officer. "How detailed is the report of the rebel fleet?"
The officer turned to him, "The distress call only has a short description, but details a 'main rebel fleet sir'"
Jackson thought for a second. "How far away is the closest battle fleet?"
The officer consulted his computer before replying. The Mandalore system sir, under the command of Admiral Grace.
Of course it's Grace. The maker curses me. He woed internally.
"Inform them they have new orders, deployment to the Yavin system."
The officer looked at him aghast, "We don't have the authority to issue those sir!"
Jackson looked down at the seated officer coldly. "I do not care, send them. Any fallout I will take."
"Yes sir."
He walked back to the front viewport as they entered light speed, rapidly approaching the distress call.
Their arrival was rather prompt, due in part to the class 2 hyperdrive fitted aboard the second generation of imperial star destroyers.
Admiral Jackson opened a channel on the distress frequency. "This is Admiral Jackson of the ISD Wolf's Head responding to imperial class one distress message."
A moment went by before a reply was heard over the radio. "This is Lord Vader, approaching from .03, prepare for my arrival." The signal cut afterwards.
The bridge staff stilled, Jackson included. "Prepare an honour guard in the central hangar, I will greet Lord Vader personally."
turning and beginning an extremely brisk walk towards the hanger, he intercepted the platoon of troopers heading towards the hanger, having them form up just as the Tie advanced of the chief enforcer of the empire landed.
Quickly smoothing out his uniform, he exhaled and stood to attention. The was a loud thud as Lord Vader dropped from the top of the cockpit down to the hanger floor.
"Lord Vader." Admiral Jackson greeted, bowing stiffly at the waist.
The onyx giant strode past him, leaving the admiral to quickly try catching up with him, his navy cap being left behind.
"Admiral." The synthetic voice ground out. "What is the operational capacity of this ship?"
"ISD 2 Wolf's Head is without an attached navy stormtrooper regiment aside from the standard ship security force, however is carrying a full star fighter and turbo laser weaponry."
"The rebel headquarters is on the moon Yavin 4, alongside their fleet. Signal for reinforcements for when we engage." The dark lord ordered.
"I signalled for the nearest battle group to move here as I responded to your call my lord, they should be arriving soon." Jackson informed him.
Vader stopped and turned to look at the admiral, who in turn looked at him. "It is not often I encounter officers with such tact and wisdom. Jackson, was it?" He asked, resuming his stride.
"Yes milord." He answered, silently thankful as they reached the bridge.
Vader immediately took charge of the bridge, leaving Perseus to watch the grip at which he seized control of the situation.
Looking out the viewport, both Admiral and Enforcer watched a fleet of five star destroyers drop into the system, immediately contacting his ship. Admiral Jackson opened the line, and was instantly met with the horribly upper class kuati accent of Royal Kuati Naval Academy Valedictorian, and now Imperial Admiral Jason Grace.
"This is the Admiral Grace of the Bellator responding to movement orders, why are we here Jackson?"
Vader could sense the tenseness of the admiral next to him, and allowed him to respond to the call.
"Admiral Grace, how nice of you to show up." He began, much to Vader's secret amusement. "I was responding to a distress call from Lord Vader here when I sent you the move orders, in preparation of a battle."
Vader could sense the other admiral clam up at the mention of his name, as he continued from his bridge. "Well we are here now to tackle the rebel scum. You may return to escort duty for archaeologists, Admiral Jackson." Vader didnt have to use the force to feel the megaton glower Jackson was currently levelling towards the other ships in the system.
It was then that he decided to intervene. "That will not be necessary Admiral, I will lead the fight from Jackson's destroyer." The stuttering response of Grace was cut short as Jackson severed the communication.
Vader's orders rang outloud on the bridge. "Move the ship to take point, inform the other ships to follow us in. Have them ready their storm trooper regiments. Move around the sun to the Yavin IV Moon." Again the bridge burst to life in calculated activity, the engines burst to life, pressing the Wolf's Head to the front of the formation of imperial ships, as they moved towards the rebel planet.
It took mere minutes before they came into view of the forest planet, the bustling activity of the misfit fleet was clear, and it appeared a retreat was underway. Vader was surprised when he was beaten to the punch by the junior admiral. "Fire all turbolasers, deploy all fighters and bombers. Have the rest of the fleet deploy their ground elements."
Vader watched as the space around them filled with green turbolasers, all flying towards the unready rebel fleet. The first volley shattered the closest mon calamari frigate and sent the rest of the rebel fleet into complete disarray, the confusion caused by the sudden attack resulting in a flurry of unencrypted comms, all of which were audible on the bridge of the Wolf's Head.
The rebel fleet suffered more losses before they gathered their wits, turning their fleet to engage. The first retaliation shots from the rebel fleet went wide as their gunners got their bearings, but it wasn't long before the space in the Yavin system became a slugfest between fleets.
"Rebel fighters incoming!" Came the call from the fighter control pit on the bridge.
"Power to point defence turrets, deploy all fighter wings." Jackson ordered cooly.
A flurry of TIEs left the lower central hanger; and dove to engage in the fighter dogfight, whilst the capital ships continued to exchange fire.
"Sir!" A bridgehand called, both Jackson and Vader turned to face. "Enemy transport ships are beginning to jump to light speed!"
Vader turned back to observe the battle. "The rebels mean to flee to survive this battle." The dark behemoth turned to Jackson. "Admiral, see to it that the rebels do not escape this system."
He was testing him, he knew. But if Jackson was anything, he was not one to turn down a challenge. "Yes Lord Vader." He replied, before turning to initiate his plan.
"Full power to the engines, let us punch through this rebel fleet." He ordered, immediately feeling the jolt of the ship as it powered forward. "Prepare all stormtrooper legions for ground deployment, have a shuttle made ready alongside."
The capital ships of the impromptu fleet surged forward, cutting the fighter dogfight in two and in some cases, colliding with the unexpecting rebel x-wings, crushing them against the durasteel hull of the star destroyers.
"Deploy all transports, I want boots on the ground now!" Jackson ordered. From the surrounding star destroyers, an array of different transport ships departed, heading towards the fourth moon.
The detonation of rebel frigates light up the orbit of the forest moon, as the rebel fleet defending the system began to crumble.
"Admiral Jackson," Vader began, "See to it that no more rebel transports escape. I will lead our ground forces."
"Yes Lord Vader, a shuttle is ready for you." The young admiral replied.
The emperor's chief enforcer strode out with a dramatic flow of his dark cape.
The battle continued in much the same fashion, one by one the rebel fleet succumbed to the overwhelming firepower of the imperial fleet.
"Sir, three enemy transports have left the surface, scans show only one has personnel onboard." another deckhand called.
"Gunnery crews, disable that transport. Destroy the others." Jackson ordered. "And prepare a boarding crew."
Perseus couldn't say he liked the standard imperial officer's armour. It was bulky, restricted movement and didn't really provide any proper protection. However, it was what he had to use whilst leading the boarding effort aboard the rebel transport.
The doors to the transport, a stripped down nebulon B frigate, exploded inwards, the associated stormtrooper marines stormed through, meeting no initial resistance.
Low level lighting illuminated the long hallway, the exchange of fire in the earlier ship battle having evidently knocked out the main generator.
"Lieutenant," He addressed the stormtrooper, "Have your men split up into teams, secure the engine bay and reactor. Both you and I will go to the bridge."
The bulkhead was a flurry of activity as squads began to infiltrate they ship, Jackson himself took point, wielding an E-11 blaster in lieu of the standard officer's blaster pistol.
Moving up the spine of the ship, they quickly met resistance from an armed repair crew who were servicing some electrical systems.
The ridged corridors provided excellent cover, and Jackson huddled down behind one whilst a flurry of blaster fire was exchanged. The white hallway was baked with a red glow.
The cries of rebels soon became audible, as imperial shots soon found their marks. Jackson peaked out and lined up his rifle with the last rebel, squeezing the trigger and planting a laser bolt straight through their chest.
Again, they began to creep forward. It wasn't long before an alarm started to blare, and a rebel fireteam rounded the corner, again turning the corridors into a laser alley.
A bolt skimmed Jackson's shoulder, singing his uniform. Scowling in annoyance, he held his blaster out of cover and blind fired, before pulling back into cover.
Eventually, a trooper gathered his wits and threw a thermal detonator, the explosion filling the hallway with smoke and killing multiple.
"Go go go!" The marine sergeant and his troopers rushed through, blasting the stunned rebels.
Following them through, Jackson took charge. "Bridge is just up ahead, let's go double time!"
They stormed up to the main door of the bridge, of which seemed completely unaware of the hostile boarding party, judging by their surprise at being shot at.
The bridge crew were poorly equipped, wielding only a few lacklustre blaster pistols. Their poor armament posed little risk, and all of the armed crew was quickly dispatched by the stormtrooper marines, and they soon held control of the ship.
"Lock the ship down, disable the engines and lower shields, make contact with the Wolf's Head." Jackson ordered, taking in position in the captains seat.
A comm channel opened, his 2nd in command answered. "Admiral." He greeted.
"Bring the transport ship into the main hanger. Have storm trooper teams sweep and arrest all that remain on here." He ordered.
"Yessir, engaging tractor beam now."
The space over Yavin had quietened down now that the rebels had been routed. The space around lay as a debris field of rebel ships, Admiral Grace had assumed command once he began his boarding action.
Infuriated that he had been usurped, he had ordered the complete destruction of any and all rebel ships left in the system, utterly decimating the rear guard of the rebellion evacuation effort.
Following the capture of the personnel transport, and the conclusion of the surface battle under the command of Vader, a transmission to the Imperial Security Bureau had been sent, informing them off the large quantity of rebel staff captured.
Both Vader and Jackson stood on the bridge of the Wolf's Head, surveying the scanning effort of debris from the rebel ships. The fleet had suffered minor damage, with only minimal repairs required, and the replenishment of some TIEs.
"Ship entering the system sir, imperial class Arquitens. No identifier enabled." Scanner command called up.
Jackson turned to face him, "No identifier?"
"They're hailing us sir."
"Patch them through." He ordered.
It took a moment before a connection was established, Jackson spoke up. "Imperial Arquitens class, you are in restricted space, state your identifier and authorisation codes."
"Imperial Star Destroyer Wolf's Head, this is the ISB ship The Ahklys responding to a report of rebel capture." Came the snappy response.
"Acknowledged Ahklys, our hanger is clear for a shuttle." He returned, before severing the line.
Jackson turned and stalked out the bridge, two troopers flanked him as he approached the main hanger, where a Lambda shuttle was touching down.
In honesty, he had no idea what to expect from the ISB. The rumours that circulated the rank and file made them out to be demons, apathetic torturers who would stop at nothing for answers.
His thoughts were interrupted by the landing ramp descending with its huff of smoke, as a team of white uniformed ISB agents walked down, accompanied by a team of grey overalled technicians and their own red highlighted stormtroopers.
The most senior of them, a colonel, as indicated by his rank plaque, was at the head of the column.
"Colonel, Welcome aboard The Wolf's Head." Jackson greeted, extending his hand.
he was met with a stiff handshake as the colonel responded, "My thanks for contacting us so soon Admiral. May I ask if there are any other senior officers aboard?" A strong upper class coruscanti accent clear.
"Lord Vader is on the bridge, whilst we await new orders." He informed them, smirking internally at the brief shock on the colonel's face.
"Very well, we will proceed to the detention block and transport the prisoners to ISB facilities."
Jackson nodded and turned away beginning to leave the hangar before his comm beeped. Turning it on, he was greeted by his 2nd.
"Admiral, new transmission from imperial naval command." He began. "All members of the admiralty are to return to coruscant for briefing."
"Was there a purpose listed?" Jackson asked.
"No sir. I'm having a shuttle made ready for both you and Lord Vader."
"Very good. Jackson out." He replied, cutting the communication.