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Chapter 2
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Part 5
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7 ABY/ 4 IC (Imperial Calendar)
Bastion/Sartinaynian
Braxant Sector
Outer Rim Territories
Pentastar Alignmen
Ardus Kaine sat alone in his secure darkened office, brooding. He had no real peers within the Pentastar Alignment. On one hand, that meant his position was more secure than it would be otherwise. On the other hand, it also meant that he had no confidants and advisers he could rely on besides specialists when various technical topics were concerned. He had no credible heir. If either the New Republic or one of the other Warlords managed to kill him, all he built to stave off chaos could fly apart just like that.
With a few exceptions, the people who ran his small, but slowly growing Empire were corporate heads and local politicians. While they were competent enough at the job, they did, they were anything but suited to run the Alignment as a whole.
Il Dekeet was at the top of the pack as far as a potential successor went, and that was such a downgrade it wasn't even funny. Realistically, Kaine had to hope that one of the many officers under his command would show the needed qualities as a leader, and dedication to the New Order. Then Ardus could groom them as a potential successor.
That long-term issue aside, Kaine's Alignment was in very good shape. It suffered only from a single real and persistent thorn in its side.
The Red Moons were a bunch of mercenaries moonlighting as pirates targeting the Alignment's interests. Everyone with two brain cells left to rub together would easily figure out that all claims to the contrary were lies. That bunch of sith-spawned bastards was on the New Republic's payroll. They also had to receive both intelligence and material support, from those Rebel bastards.
Sadly, as long as the thin veneer of deniability existed, it was in the Alignment's best interest not to antagonize the Republic. The uneasy neutrality Kaine managed to maintain was priceless. It meant that the corporations backing him could do business both in New Republic space and with various other Imperial Remnant groups. That was an invaluable advantage, that allowed him to build up industries and defenses at what would be otherwise unsustainable pace. Given enough time, Kaine would have his corner of the galaxy industrialized enough to turn it into an unassailable fortress, and a bastion of the New Order. Only then, Ardus could afford to aggressively expand and do something about those Rebels with delusions of grandeur.
Ideally, he would have a successor ready in the wings by then, just in case. After all, the damn Rebels had a knack for taking out Imperial commanders, no matter the precautions anyone took.
In contrast, most other Imperials trying to succeed the late Emperor were still busy wasting their assets. Instead of being smart and consolidating, then figuring out who they could work with, they kept battling each other into ruin. In the process, the fools pushed more and more systems into the hands of the New Republic. By their actions, people like Zsinj proved themselves as anything but adherents to the New Order. While the same might not be true about the people under their command, that was largely a moot point or used to be. It wasn't like there was a better alternative, beside his side.
Kaine looked at the latest report from Captain Jana Varis. He had access both to the raw recordings of her conversations with the people on the other side, primary one Captain Serdan, as well as Varis' analysis of the situation at hand. From what he could see, the Captain's assessment was similar to those of the more reliable analysts he had available, which was a point in her favor.
Within the next standard day, both sides were about to do an official exchange of obviously sanitized histories, and that would be enlightening. It was also notable that for the time being, the people on the other side might be in a better bargaining position. That would be the case if their claim about making contact with this side of the galaxy in the Core, were factual. Like it or not, there was no reason for Kaine to dismiss those claims.
He skimmed Varis' last report and focused on the relevant part. The so-called Federated Empire had made contact with an Imperial Commandant at Cal-Seti. One who was either a kriff up or in such desperate straits, he was ready to surrender to the first people who brought a Star Destroyer squadron into his system. It was by accident that Captain Serdan had mentioned that Commandant Jaxx had requested to join the Federated Empire in exchange for protection and supplies.
Cal-Seti could make for a great foothold into the Core. It offered access to two major hyper-lanes, making containing incursions from there that much harder. Yet, it wasn't the last step of the Agra-circuit, ensuring that the Federated Empire could build defenses in depth before anyone could even reach their actual space.
More importantly for Kaine, and the Pentastar Alignment, this meant that the Federated Empire would soon have a source to cross-check any information he authorized to be shared with them.
In the grand scheme of things, that was at worst a minor setback. Kaine wasn't looking for conflict at this time, much less something that could mean a two, or three-front war. That would be the worst-case scenario, depending on if a Warlord or the New Republic decided to take advantage of any foolishness he might start.
Kaine looked away from the unlocked datapads spread over his desk, and in the twilight covering his office. The Federated Empire sounded fascinating. From the reports, and thus so far unconfirmed, it appeared to be decentralized, yet a strong state, trying to uphold the same principles Ardus held in high esteem.
It was both notable and surprising that there were at least two large, quite independent factions fully backing the Federated Empire, yet part of it. Mandalorians being Mandalorians, that made kind of twisted sense, though how it came to be, Kaine had no idea. It would be undoubtedly a bloody and fascinating tale. At any rate, he was more interested in his new neighbor, the Mid-Rim Alliance. What he knew for sure about it, was that it stretched from Koda Station to Eriadu and even a militarized Naboo of all things! That was both fascinating in itself, as well as eyebrow-raising.
It was a brand-new galaxy out there and was full of opportunities.
The moment Kaine allowed the news to spread, he knew that the corporations would be all over him, demanding access to untapped huge markets. The possibilities there could be endless.
The only potential issue there was that the Federated Empire could soon make contact with the New Republic, or worse, one of the Warlords. The worst-case scenario there was that the Federals cut deals that would devalue what he had to offer. They didn't need to make contact with any of the major factions! The Federal Empire just had to stumble into the right lightly defended Core Worlds and raid them for examples of modern technologies, in areas they might be lagging.
That would be unacceptable.
This was once in a lifetime opportunity to secure the position of the Pentastar Alignment and thus, his future, Kaine decided. Opening a diplomatic relationship with the Federated Empire, or at least the Mid-Rim Alliance, and negotiating the best possible trade deals were now a priority.
And he was going to personally make sure it was done, right, the first time!
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Part 6
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7 ABY/ 4 IC (Imperial Calendar)
FEW PSD Palpatine's Honor
Cal-Seti
Cal-Seti System
Torranix Sector
Piett shifted uneasily, while two Specialists fitted the last pieces of power armor on his frame. As a Star Destroyer Captain, regulations forbid that he went out in potentially hostile territory, without proper protection and large security detail. The first meant getting into one of the best suits of power armor available on board. The second was up to Colonel Zak Vigil, formerly from CorSec.
The middle-aged Corellian was a veteran, who has fought since the first day of the CIS invasion of his homeworld. As soon as the Republic managed to destroy the Droids on Corellia, Vigil enlisted into the GAR. He continued to serve the Imperial military after the formation of the Empire, so he could keep fighting against the Confederacy. In the aftermath of the war, the Colonel chose to continue his contract, and eagerly awaited the Cold War with the CIS Remnant to turn hot. To be fair, there were many career soldiers in the military, who remained in service awaiting the day the Empire could finish the job.
The boisterous Corellian looked Piett up and down, before nodding happily. "You pass muster, Captain. We might manage to keep you in one piece down there if you behave."
"Between the three Star Destroyers in orbit, we're going to land a light armored Regiment on Cal-Seti!" Piett pointed out.
"And I am just thrilled to lose a third of my combat power as garrison troops, even if it lasts only until we pass through here on our way back."
As a part of the deal, Piett was going to sign in the name of the Federated Empire, as authorized by the Empress herself, his task force was to provide a garrison to the Empire's newest world. Those troops would have to hold Cal-Seti for a few days until reinforcements could arrive and begin properly fortifying the place.
"You're all clear, Captain." One of the specialists handed Piett his helmet. The Captain nodded in appreciation. Despite his best efforts, he wasn't familiar with his whole crew yet by face or name, which was sadly understandable. Despite advanced automation, the Palpatine class still had over twenty thousand souls on board as crew, whose primary job was maintenance and dealing with combat damage. On top of that, he had nearly ten thousand soldiers, divided between Vigil's Regiment, and the marine contingent providing shipboard security.
Unless you were a savant, that was too great a task to keep track of so many people without cybernetics.
The trick, as Piett understood it, was to fake it as best as you could. You also had to do your homework before every meeting, especially if it wasn't with the usual suspects.
"We're ready. With your permission, Captain, let's go." Vigil announced.
"Permission granted," Piett said. He put on his helmet, turning it side to side, for the seals to engage with a click and hiss, before it properly fixed in place, facing forward. A soft HUD came online, and text scrolled on the left side of it, showing ongoing diagnostic. There were no issues, and soon most of the HUD faded, showing only shield strength, and power levels in the corner of Piett's eyes.
For all practical intents and purposes, that was all he needed.
Piett joined the Colonel and his command unit before a platoon of veteran troops surrounded them. They were here to ensure that Vigil could do his job without being distracted by enemy head-hunters. Thus, they marched down to the main hangar.
Down there, they faced a scene of controlled chaos. Rows upon rows of gleaming vehicles covered much of the large hangar. Swarms of soldiers went over them, either doing routine maintenance or preparing them for deployment. By design, on arrival the war machines parked in a staggered pattern. Doing so was supposed to ensure that enemy fire that penetrated the hangar, but didn't destroy everything, would have a hard time taking out all available small craft, or vehicles from a single model. In theory, every little bit helped, and the Imperial military swore on the altar of combined arms doctrine.
The group passed by a squadron of experimental TIE-Interceptors, on-field trial, distinguished by their swept wings, and howling twin ion engines.
Beside them sat a row of the latest LAAT model gunships, characterized by small swept wings heavy with munition hard-points, and the chin-mounted laser cannons.
Next towered a line of AT-TE MK V walkers, specialized for operations on mountainous terrain, and asteroids, where repulsorlift vehicles and regular tanks would be practically useless. They exchanged railguns for a lighter version of artillery beam cannons, able to damage even capital ships at short range. The unique beam modulation made them safe ish to use in the atmosphere. It somehow managed to focus almost all energy on the target, avoiding the expected thermal loss in the atmosphere. That was something that could have a disastrous effect considering the weapon yields involved. The only downside they had was the prohibitive expense of the system in question, limiting production numbers.
They bypassed a formation of Chimera APCs with their turtle-like appearance, and soon reached the open space, where First Battalion, 125 Light Armored Regiment was ready for deployment. Infantry squads stood clustered around their LAAT transports, while two companies were at ease in front of large assault shuttles, while sergeants did last-minute inspections. Transport shuttles and LAAT variants with attached crewed Chimera Tanks, walkers, and various IFVs waited for the order to deploy.
"Captain on deck!" A loud voice roared, and every one stood at attention.
"At ease. Board your transports. We're deploying now." Piett ordered and watched as the infantry scattered to do so, while engineers hurried to do one last inspection on the heavy transports.
At that point, Piett and the Colonel separated, going into different, smaller, and more maneuverable assault shuttles. Two squads of veteran infantry in Medium PA joined the Captain. Their Staff Sergeant ensured he was strapped securely in his seat, before doing so with the rest of the troops, and finally taking a seat himself.
"This is Colonel Vigil, First Battalion, 125 Light Armored Regiment ready to deploy."
"This is XO Uuvorhelem. You're cleared to deploy. Escort fighters are on station and will cover you on the way to the surface. There is no trace of hostile ships entering the system, and the local defense craft are in no position to intercept in case they have any crazy ideas." The Twi'lek Commander announced.
Piett was glad his helmet hid his expression. Uvo had been his XO for months now, and he still couldn't pronounce the man's name. Even if he wasn't alone in that predicament, it was more than embarrassing.
That was why the Commander was always XO when Firmus thought of him or spoke with the man.
=FG=
Ramsees Hed
Cal-Seti
Cal-Seti system
Torranix sector
The Federated Empire transports landed at the starport without incident. Above them, two wings of highly modified Torrent interceptors flew a CAP, with the TIE-Interceptor squadron straddling the edge of the atmosphere.
Piett's first impression of the place was that whoever designed it, loved utilitarian gray. That only made the small greeting committee stick up even more like a sore thumb. There was a platoon's worth of soldiers in bone-white armor polished enough it shine. At a closer look, Firmus could see a black under-suit showing below the armored plates.
Three Humans stood in front of the soldiers. Two were military officers – a relatively short man in black and silver uniform was to the right, standing at rigid attention two steps behind a man in a drab green uniform vaguely similar to Piett's own. The third was a woman, wearing a simple blue dress and knee-long skirt in a lighter blue.
The Man in front saluted. "I am Commandant Gregory Jaxx." He introduced himself.
"I'm Colonel Zak Vigil." The Regimental commander returned the salute after introducing himself as well.
"Captain Firmus Piett. Stand at ease." Piett followed suit. "I've been authorized by Her Imperial Majesty, Empress Satine Kenobi, and His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Obi-Wan Kenobi, to formally accept your request for protection and membership into the Federated Empire," Piett announced calmly.
"That is a relief." Jaxx, who was anything but a small man, visibly almost collapsed on himself in relief, before straightening up. "How exactly are we going to do this?" He asked in a much more upbeat tone than Firmus had ever heard him use before.
"I have a datapad with the required documents. They need your bio-metrics and signature as the Ranking Representative of the Galactic Empire military on the planet. The same goes for the senior civilian leader of Cal-Seti.
"That's me." The woman whispered. "I'm Administrator Sylvia Rogan."
"Ma'am." Piett nodded. "Do you want to do it out here, or somewhere inside?"
"The sooner we get the red tape out of the way, the better," Jaxx said.
Piett silently offered him a datapad, while behind him, the composite Regiment kept disembarking. Cargo ships pulled up with how of running engines and headed back to their hangars after deploying their charges.
Jaxx fiddled, with the datapad for a few seconds, before finding the necessary documents, and quickly scrolling through them. For a formal annexation of a whole system, those were likely the simplest and shortest legal documents in two galaxies now.
The Commodore hummed happily and allowed the datapad to scan him, before placing his thumb onto the scanner. His expression didn't change as the device drew blood, and sealed an image of his thumb into its memory. Soon, the administrator followed suit, and the datapad found its way back into Piett's hands.
"You'll receive your copies of the documents momentarily." Piett handed the device to his aide, who ran back into the assault shuttle that brought them down.
If anyone from the diplomatic corps saw how informally they did it, Firmus was sure they might just die out of apoplexy.
"Welcome to the Federated Empire!" Piett announced aloud. "Now, shall we retire to a more private location to discuss how we shall proceed from now on?"
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Interlude: FE infantry equipment
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As the Clone Wars escalated, various Republic R&D efforts were successful.
Under Project: Code-name Phalanx, the Republic made various breakthroughs, and succeeded in re-creating defensive technologies being lost, or previously rendered ineffective for various reasons.
In regards to infantry, the first relevant success was the completion of Project Spartan, Phase 1. This project produced three types of new modular armor for the Grand Army of the Republic.
1. Light armor. It is meant for scouts, and infiltrators sent deep behind enemy lines. Incorporates an advanced stealth generator, offering active thermo-optical camouflage, rendering the wearer invisible to most cameras and sensors. The light-weave of the armor incorporates various materials to help reduce noise, and the sensor signature of the wearer, including the newest version of Smart Paint, mimics the surrounding area. While the light armor is equipped with a shield, drawing power from the same compact power pack powering the stealth generator, its effectiveness is limited. The best protection of this line of armor is not being seen.
The most notable advantage is the armor incorporates a combination of cooling and power-recharge system. It was based on warship active heat-sinks. Instead of radiating heat, like ships in the distant past had to, modern heat-sinks turn it into electricity, to provide additional energy to the ship. In practical terms, this mostly makes heat buildup a non-issue for a modern ship in general. This system is the single most expensive, and hardest to produce element of the light armor line, due to the huge expense of building the miniaturized heat sinks.
2. Medium Armor – the standard armor for the GAR during the Clone Wars, and later of the Imperial Army's infantry formations.
This is a modular armor, offering significant active and passive protection to the wearer. Smart paint, shields, and advanced alloy plating combined with armored weave mesh, ensure the superior protection of the soldier. Available modules to augment specific missions and tasks include active stealth systems, and back-pack-sized power-packs to increase the strength and recharge rate of the shields and power secondary systems. A repulsorlift mobility system is available, allowing the operator to jump over obstacles, or even glide.
3. Heavy armor: This is the suit preferred by GAR, and later, Imperial heavy infantry, and tank hunter units. It offers the best possible compromise of heavy armor, while still allowing the wearer some range of movement if the powered movement assist systems are disabled by Ion weaponry. The heavy armor comes with an integrated repulsorlift mobility system and light power-generator able to power various heavy weapons as a matter of course. While a stealth module is available, its capability in concealing the armor's signature is limited.
Troopers wearing this type of armor are usually deployed in during heavy assault scenarios. Their job is to neutralize enemy strong points, and tanks, opening the way for rapid armor and mechanized assault.
Late in the war, GAR R&D managed to complete Project Spartan, Phase 2. It was based on Project: Code-name Stalker, the reverse engineering of a captured example of ORR Power Armour deployed on Naboo. The prototypes of Republic light power armor entered the testing phase during the Campaign to liberate the Corellian system. The vicious city fighting, and the heavy casualties suffered by Republic volunteer infantry forces, resulted in emergency funding being released to complete the trials of the PA prototypes. When the trials were completed, the Republic did its best to rush its new PA into mass production. The reason for this was simple. Even with the light PA the Republic was able to produce an initial increase in survivability better by an order of magnitude compared to the best the then best armors could. That was in a large part due to novel protection technologies, including a gel layer with the novel property to absorb and disperse kinetic energy, greatly reducing shock-wave and over-pressure damage from explosions. This was notable, because, despite the increased protection offered by the Spartan Phase I armors, the primary casualties the GAR suffered were still from artillery, missile strikes, and grenades, with tank weaponry, and infantry small arms being significantly less-lethal according to statistics.
Besides defensive technologies, Republic R&D also worked on novel ways to insert infantry formations on contested battlefields, as well as improving the capabilities of Republic soldiers.
First, we'll take a brief look into the project Helldiver. Its purpose was ambitious and arguably insane – the deployment of shock troopers through the orbital drop, significantly reducing the vulnerability, and speed necessary to reach the ground. Project Helldiver was wildly successful. This was proven without a doubt during its first combat deployment on Geonosis, where it managed to land a whole Shock Trooper regiment in the area of the planetary shields. This successful drop allowed Republic forces led by Generals Shaak-Ti, and Commander Ahsoka Tano, to neutralize the Geonosis shield generator complex. As a consequence, further GAR operations on the surface became much easier and cheaper to execute.
The two most controversial declassified projects undertaken by GAR R&D, then continued by Imperial research groups, were Ascension and Rebirth. Their purpose was the creation of the ultimate soldier using cybernetics and genetic engineering.
Both projects proved successful, completing their first phase before the formation of the Federated Empire, during the third year of the war.
Project Ascension Phase One used various time-tested, and novel ways to splice and rewrite genes, to offer a genetic modification to troops that slightly increased speed, better reaction times, and endurance. The result was that participants could consistently reach and maintain a shape that was a little above their respective species' peak performance. Another, the more invasive achievement was the creation of better blood, and the means for the body to naturally produce it. Said blood offered much better oxidation, that in turn was very useful in conjunction with other mods. The only notable side-effect at the time was the need for more caloric intake to feed the superior performance allowed by the mods.
Phase II continued development under the empire with promising results. Its aim was mods allowing people to become up to four times stronger, two to three times faster, further increase reflexes, natural sub-dermal armor, etc…
Project Rebirth, on the other hand, focused on developing bleeding-edge cybernetics. Phase I succeeded in producing cybernetic limbs increasing the strength of the user up to four times, with practical limits being the joints and connection ports with the blood and flesh parts of the human body. It was possible to replace up to twenty percent of the bones in the body with ceramic alloy, significantly reinforcing the sturdiness of the skeleton, and its ability to handle the load of various cybernetic implants. A more radical procedure was the possibility to enhance the nervous system in various ways, significantly increasing reaction times. The development of synthetic blood to improve the performance of the body and various implants would lead to further future developments.
Rebirth Phase I further offered more conventional reinforcement of the skull and spine, as well as the option of sub-dermal armor.
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Interlude: FE ground vehicles
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The Federated Empire uses a relatively small number of models in its ground vehicle inventory to simplify and streamline logistics.
The two heaviest vehicles in the Imperial inventory are the latest model of the combat tested AT-TE walker, the MK V variant, and the Chimera main battle tank.
Compared to its predecessors, the AT-TE MK V, is a shielded, up-armored and armed behemoth, primarily meant for deployment in mountain areas and on asteroids, to aid in assaulting asteroid bases. It enjoys a variety of passive and active defenses and a respectable speed across all terrains with the notable exception of soft soil and swamps.
Chimera MBT is used by the Federated Empire, Mandalorian Freehold, and Mid-Rim Alliance; it is a tracked, 100-ton vehicle, boasting heavy armor, and shield systems powered by a fusion reactor. Its main firepower comes in the form of a direct fire turbo-laser cannon, and an integrated missile system with a large choice of warheads. Repeater blasters offer limited protection against infantry. Multiple Anti-missile systems and advanced ECM protects the tank from missile strikes. It also possesses an integrated mortar for indirect fire support. The tank has a light integrated repulsorlift system, that allows it to greatly reduce its ground pressure and move on soft ground and through swampy terrain with little issue.
The Hunter IFV is a heavy combat vehicle built on the Chimera chassis. It sacrifices much of the MBT's offensive power for crew and cargo space, being able to carry a squad of power-armored infantry, alongside a two-man crew. It boasts similar defensive capabilities to the Chimera. However, offensively it only has a rapid firing, twin-linked laser cannon, and two missile racks with a mix of anti-tank, high-explosive, and AA missiles.
The AT-TE MK V, Chimera, and Hunter represent the heavy assault core of Imperial Army formations. They're specialized for assaulting heavily defended positions, city fighting, and breaching shield screens.
While still useful in mobile warfare, the Empire prefers to fix the enemy in the open using the much faster Wraith repulsorlift IFV, then destroy them with a combination of air and orbital strikes, instead of risking a direct engagement. That is especially true when facing highly mobile enemy forces, able to outpace Imperial heavy armor formations.
The Wraith IFV sacrifices armor and protection for speed. It can still carry a squad of infantry. Its primary weapon is an advanced laser cannon which can switch from slow-firing "siege" mode for taking out hardened targets and rapid-fire "pulse" mode. It also carries four missiles in two box launchers fixed to the sides of the remote-controlled turret. The primary defenses of the Wraith are its speed, shield, ECM pod, and anti-missile system.
The Challenger APC comes in tracked and repulsorlift variants which share a large parts commonality for easier logistics. Its primary weapon is a heavy repeater meant to deal with infantry and light vehicles. The defenses include a light shield, ECM, and AMS. It can carry two squads of power-armored infantry.
All FE ground units have multi-spectral smoke dispensers, which do work against almost all sensors, however, are nasty if inhaled by people so are not to be deployed unless the infantry is in fully environmentally sealed armors or they're about to die anyway due to direct enemy fire.
Specialist vehicles include various small scout droids, and speeder bikes offering high mobility at the cost of speed and concealment being the only real defenses.
The only artillery the FE employs as a matter, of course, is tracked, or repulsorlift variants of direct-fire SPHA systems used from the start of the war. The prevalence of Shield use on the ground by CIS forces neutralizes all practical advantages of long-range indirect artillery. While the FE has spent time, and resources exploring indirect firing options, the practical reality on the ground as the war escalated was that they were generally a waste of resources. That was due to the mass deployment of various shield systems by the CIS and Black Rebellion elements. On the rare occasions when practical, the GAR, and later FE military would supply heavy fire support through either airstrikes or orbital strikes.
For short-range fire support, when viable, Power Armored infantry usually uses automatic grenade launchers with multiple ammunition options and light mortars. Chimera tanks can provide heavier fire support if needed.
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