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Chapter 2

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Part 3

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7 ABY/ 4 IC (Imperial Calendar)
FEW PSD Palpatine's Honor

Cal-Seti
Cal-Seti System
Torranix Sector

The next leg of the journey brought the Federated Empire ships nearly one thousand and five hundred parsecs deeper into the strange galaxy. All Piett and his officers could find about the place were that it was supposed to have a small operational Imperial base on the primary inhabited world. Contacting their local counterparts was going to prove enlightening. Doing so would potentially give Firmus enough information to decide which of the available hyper-lanes to take on his way to mirror Coruscant.

Despite being within the Core proper, the primary claim to fame this system had was its location as a junction of two hyperspace routes – the Agricultural Circuit, and the Metellos Trade Route. Otherwise, the rocky planets, and little useful resources, would have condemned the place as a backwater no one gave a damn about.

Instead, Cal-Seti enjoyed a lot of traffic, and thus profited from both trade, and usually Republic, or later, Imperial presence. Back home, the place was supposed to contain a regional base, providing staging, logistics, and a firm hold for operations within the surrounding sectors. Here the situation had been probably similar, perhaps without the need to bring secessionists back into the fold, but that was mere supposition on Firmus' part.

The first interesting thing was the locals hailed his small fleet soon after they left lightspeed. Second, there was a small defense squadron in orbit of the Cal-Seti itself. Passive, and then active sensors confirmed those to be corvette-sized ships of unknown configuration.

"This is Ramsees Hed Control. Unknown ships, we don't register your IFF. Please identify yourselves." A pleasant and calm-sounding female voice came over the comm.

"This is Captain Firmus Piett, commanding the Federated Empire Star Destroyer Palpatine's Pride, and attached task force. We come in peace."

"This is Commandant Jaxx, CO of the Ramsees Hed installation. Please confirm your allegiance, Captain Piett. We're unfamiliar with a faction calling itself the Federated Empire." A new, much older, and tired sounded voice responded.

"I can confirm my allegiance, Commandant Jaxx. It is to the Empire, the Emperor, and Empress Kenobi, as its lawful leaders, and the New Order that brought us through the darkest years of the Clone Wars. To clarify, we're a scouting squadron sent to explore what happened to this part of the galaxy after the Event a few days ago. From what I gather, no one missed the light show." Piett patiently explained and awaited an answer.

"That is a bold claim you make, Captain Piett, yet it makes as much sense as anything in these unpleasant times. Are you in any relation to Admiral Firmus Piett, of Vader's Death Squadron?"

Piett's XO glanced at him at that declaration. "I've never heard the General call his units that way?"

"The closest there was beyond official designation, was his Eleventh Legion, Veil's First. Most of the survivors now serve as part of his personal backup unit within the Freehold." Firmus explained.

"Command Jaxx, I am unfamiliar with any Darth called Vader, or the Death Squadron you speak off. From what little we've been able to gather, for a lack of a better word, our timelines have diverged at least a few decades ago from your point of view. I would like a confirmation of the current date. From what we learned at our previous stops, from our point of view, we're in a strange future that doesn't make much sense considering what we knew for a fact a few days ago. It is currently year four of the new Imperial calendar. For reference, it was established with the foundation of the Federated Empire in the third year of the Clone Wars."

"It was Darth Vader, not that it matters much now he's dead. And if you don't know about him after your Clone Wars…" A loud sigh followed. "I don't know what to do with you and your story, Captain, I'm being frank here. With a civil war raging across the galaxy again, we've been abandoned to fend for ourselves. As if that wasn't enough, the people claiming to be the Empire right now, stripped us from everything we need to defend this part of space. We can no longer secure the sector against pirates, much less, Rebels, or rogue Warlords! If it wasn't for my few patrol craft being out showing the flag across the sector, we wouldn't even have them to fend off the odd pirate with delusions of grandeur or even the ground forces to keep this facility secure." Bitterness weighed down every single word the Commandant spoke. "In all fairness our situation out here is untenable. To the best of my knowledge, the damn Rebels took Coruscant, and are likely to hold it. With that being the case, I have only two realistic options. I will have to either await the Rebel's arrival or surrender, hoping that they would show mercy. Either that or I must make other arrangements to ensure the continued well-being of the people under my command…" The local commander trailed off.

"Can you elaborate, Commandant Jaxx?" Piett asked. The implications of what he just heard were startling.

"I am ready to conditionally surrender my command, and with it this system to the Federated Empire in exchange for becoming a part of your nation and protection against Rebel, or Imperial Warlord reprisal." It was obvious that making this offer practically physically pained the Commandant.

"Shav it, that looks like pure desperation!" The XO exclaimed after making sure that no one outside the CIC would hear him.

"It looks the same from where I am standing. Then again, having a secure base of operations, and a source of intelligence about what has been happening out here sounds invaluable. Comms, have one of our escorts race back into clear communications range with Atrisia and inform command about what Commandant Jaxx just requested. I don't want even a hint of his suggestion going over the local Holonet." Piett ordered, before returning his attention to the local commander. "Commandant Jaxx, I suggest we speak face to face. As a gesture of goodwill, I will come to the surface with a light escort. Be advised, that right now, I lack the authority to accept your offer. However, I'm detaching a courier ship to contact Coruscant and present your offer to the relevant authorities. What I can do within the bounds of my orders is offer you protection. This state of affairs can continue until we receive an answer from Coruscant. In exchange, I would require information about the current state of the galaxy you're familiar with, and how you got there."

=FG=

7 ABY/ 4 IC (Imperial Calendar)
Empress Office
Imperial Senate building
Coruscant

Satine Kenobi, neé Kryze, Empress of the Federated Empire, and one of the most powerful people in the galaxy, all but fled back into her office. Dealing with reporters used to be tedious at best, back when she was merely a Mandalorian Duchess, running a single planet, and representing a group of likely-minded neutral systems.

Now, Empress, or not, the reporters on Coruscant were much, much worse to deal with. Soldiers in the silver and black Mandalorian-styled armor of the Imperial Guard, closed the doors in her wake, as soon as her small entourage entered.

"Is it just me, or are those parasites getting worse by the day?" Obi-Wan lightly asked. He used the Force to levitate his helmet to a nearby table and looked down at his armor with his usual mixed feelings on the subject.

Now that the war was over, her husband would have loved to discard armor for simple Jedi-like robes, or at worst, the utilitarian uniform of the Imperial Knights. However, he did become a Mandalorian the night they married and considering his station, appearances mattered. Everything any one of them did, got dissected by the media, friends, foes, and those who were more or less neutral. Given her past as leader of the New Mandalorians, Satine herself had more of a leeway. For her, what would be ruinously expensive dresses and jewelry were her armor when facing the galaxy's high society, and more importantly, politicians. In that regard, Satine couldn't present herself as a woman, a person. She had to be a symbol of power, an icon representing the Federated Empire in its whole.

That truth didn't make it any less awkward to sit comfortably without disrupting the mobile castle masquerading as her current outfit.

"Bail, as the leader of the Loyal Opposition, give it to me straight. How much trouble is the Senate going to be about dealing with this unprecedented turn of events?"

"That depends on what we're dealing with, and we simply don't know, do we?" Organa sat on the couch across Obi-Wan and raised a fine eyebrow at his fellow royals. "Until we know there is a clear danger for sure, I can't officially back releasing more funds for mobilization, or the military in general. We're already walking a fine line between economic recovery, and facing our other critical obligations. Even without taking the exclusion zones into account, occupying Confederate space is proving extremely expensive. It will be years before we can restore orbital industries, mines, and such, making those regions of space anything but a net drain of resources."

No one felt like pointing out that pulling back wasn't an option – the Confederacy would have loved to move right back, without firing a shot. The bastards were already proving troublesome enough with their efforts to bind the Hutts to their side and entice neutral secessionists to back them.

"On that note, do we have any new information about this so-called mirror galaxy?" Satine had to struggle not to roll her eyes at the increasingly popular, yet wildly inaccurate way people called the changed part of the galaxy. It was all the media's fault of course.

"We're still building a comprehensive clean history to present the Pentastar Alignment representatives. I am sure they're doing their best to give us a sanitized copy of

their history as well. My colleagues are following your orders, and we will not be using outright lies or deception in the files we send, merely make our position look much more stable and secure than it is in reality." Satine's Intelligence Adviser stated, from where he had been busy browsing through a datapad. "There is a new development, Ma'am. Captain Piett finally made contact with remnants from our counterparts on the other side. I've got his report here, as well as a recorded request from a local Imperial commander to join the Federated Empire. In exchange, he is ready to surrender the station he is in charge of, the small patrol fleet he has at his disposal, and the mirror Cal-Seti system. From Captain Piett's observation, and the Director agrees, the Commandant in charge of Cal-Seti is getting desperate."

"That's…" Satine trailed off. Of all things they discussed as potential dangers and opportunities the Even represented, this wasn't one of them. "Give me a breakdown of known benefits and dangers of even entertaining the idea of annexing a system on the other side of the galaxy?" She demanded as a distraction while trying to work through the implications of what she just heard. "Please show us the recorded request, and Captain Piett's observations of the situation as well."

=FG=

Part 4

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7 ABY/ 4 IC (Imperial Calendar)
Empress Office
Imperial Senate building
Coruscant

"When this hits our Holonet, we'll be dealing with outcry from all over the Empire, and rightly so!" Bail was on his feet, pacing angrily to the side of a large screen. On it ran intercepts from the mirror Holonet dully recorded and sent home by Piett's people. "This government, this whole regime, and the Empire at large is built upon the promise that we will make the tough decisions, not what is politically convenient, or expedient! We have to do something about this atrocity! Unless the galaxy starts making sense right now, we would have to live with these new people and nations that just appeared in a flash of light! We need to draw a line and show this new galaxy of ours where we stand and who we are!"

Beside Bail stood the frozen censored image of poor aliens melting in one of the mirror Coruscant hospitals. Then the doctors over there were unable to do a thing due to a lack of critical supplies like Bacta.

"You're right. We can't just sit and watch, pretending none of this is our business." Satine nodded sharply. "At the same time, we're in no state for major military operations against a new enemy, with unknown capabilities. And mark my words, it's precisely this is what will happen if we poke the mess on the other side beyond trying to open diplomatic channels." Satine groaned. "First things first! Obi-Wan, see if you can shake loose a few capital ship squadrons with escorts. Contact the Mid-Rim Alliance, and Veil if you have to. Once this breaks, the Naboo will be howling for blood, and the Alliance will back them to test if we still uphold everything we stand for if nothing less. Bail, I want you to speak with your friend Mothma and see how many food supplies we can spare to send as an aid to this other Coruscant. I want at least one of our medical ships ready to depart as soon as we can arrange a proper escort for it. And I'm authorizing it to draw Bacta from our emergency reserves. On that note, Bail, I'll need your people's backing for an emergency bill both restoring our reserves and increasing production if it comes to that. This can be an opportunity to make a great first impression of a whole galaxy. People, let's not blow it!"

"I'll see what I can do. We'll likely have to rely primarily on federalizing units from the Alliance and the Freehold for this exercise. At least until the next construction and refit cycles are complete, and their new crews have time to shake up. Piett is already too junior and inexperienced for the task we sent him on." Obi-Wan offered. "I'll speak with Valentra first, and get the logistics rolling. However, before that, we need a resolution about the mirror Cal-Seti. If we're to conduct operations deep within the other side's Core, we'll need a forward operation base, ideally more than one."

One of the painful lessons everyone in the room learned during the war, and its immediate aftermath, was that logistics ruled supreme. It didn't matter what an Emperor ordered, or what the Imperial Senate decreed happen if the logistics weren't there to make it so.

"That's good," Organa agreed aloud. It was heartening that, the New Order failed to disappoint him so far. That said, some unpleasant compromises couldn't be avoided in making sure the Empire kept running. "I'll speak with my wife. I'm sure we'll be able to release something for the aid convoy as well." Then he grimaced. Annexing systems left a bad taste in his mouth. Currently, it was the primary Imperial policy he didn't agree with, yet the strategic situation made it all moot. The Empire simply couldn't afford to leave so many potentially hostile entities all over the place.

That was true even when such systems were former Republic worlds, that for one reason or another didn't want to participate in the war. As often as not, the reasons were ideological, as pure cold-blooded pragmatism.

However, Bail knew for a fact, that most of the people in the Empire didn't agree with his sentiments on the topic. The general perception, among both the regular citizens and the military, was that of the secessionists being traitors. Arguably worse, the same was true even among the more moderate members of the Imperial Senate.

On the other hand, it wasn't frequent that people asked to be annexed back into the fold. As the young Captain summarized, the locals were desperate for protection and supplies. Continued talks didn't reveal as much as Piett had hoped. Still, they made it clear that whoever was supposed to run the fractured Galactic Empire on the other side, had abandoned Cal-Seti, and its small garrison. The place hadn't been resupplied in months. No one had received salaries either, forcing the Commandant to improvise with what little emergency funds and income from tolls he had to work with.

"Ideally, I would like to put it to a Senate vote." Bail offered. "However, I'm aware you already got a blanket permission to do what is needed to bring systems back into the fold over strategic security concerns."

"Practically, it's up to the Empress, or at a stretch, the Imperial Council." Obi-Wan pointed out.

"We all know that the Council doesn't exist yet!" Bail countered.

The Imperial Council was supposed to be a compromise answer to the Senate being too slow, and often deadlocked to get things done. On the other hand, it would also solve the issue of giving a single person practically unlimited power. In theory, it should be the middle step between various Imperial organizations having the discretion to respond to emergencies, and the slow and ponderous action of the Senate on the best of days. The primary issue there was deciding who would be on the Council, and how the Council would legally work. For the time being, its existence, even if officially ratified by the Senate, was a moot point.

"Boys, stop bickering as if someone just took away your favorite toy, and focus!" The Empress chided lightly. "I want to hear well-argued, viable options."

"I'll restate the obvious," Obi-Wan began. "If we're to operate anything but a diplomatic mission in the new part of the galaxy, we'll need a forward base, ideally bases. That's unnegotiable, we know what happens if logistics aren't squared away properly." Among other things, you got General Valentra, explaining in excruciating detail how and why your niffy plan was either idiotic or at worst, why it failed miserably, killing a bunch of people. Speaking about the logistics devil of the Empire, Obi-Wan made a mental note to contact him as soon as this meeting ended. "If we are to send substantial aid, much less medical ships with all the Bacta we can spare, and appropriate escorts, then annexing Cal-Seti is the obvious first step."

"Morally right, or not, doing so will be jumping on a mine." Bail had to once again play the role of a devil's advocate. It was part of his job description as a part of the loyal opposition. "Such an act will have implications, both domestically, and diplomatically. It would color the perceptions of every new nation we're about to meet and open diplomatic relations with."

"If we're to send anything but a token amount of aid, it can't be helped. Bail, we both know, that when the news breaks, just making a gesture won't be enough." The Emperor reasonably pointed out. "If we do it, we do it right."

Considering the image of a peerless soldier Obi-Wan had been forced to adopt due to politics, it was easy to forget that this was still the same man who earned himself the title "The Negotiator" during the war. And now, Kenobi was becoming experienced in politics.

"In this case, it's not me you'll have to convince, Obi-Wan." Bail said.

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