AN: This is the culmination of various ideas I've had for years now, about crossing over my RK stories with OTL SW during, or after the Fall of the Empire. The primary draw for me was the cultural clash, and how people would respectively react and interact with their future or past counterparts, along with the politics of the situation.
This first part will be focused on Legends SW. Eventually, if I find the time and inclination, I would write FG II – an isot of the RK galaxy after the Clone Wars into Disney move canon.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Star Wars movies, shows, books, comics or games. They belong to their respective copyright owners. This story is not for sale, or rent.
Fractured Galaxies I
=FG=
Prologue
=FG=
With Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader dead in the destruction of the second Death Star, the Galactic Empire is burning in the flames of a civil war. Countless Warlords backed by local governments and corporate interests fight like vultures over the Empire's corpse.
At the same time, the freshly proclaimed New Republic strives to unite the galaxy once more, and create order from the chaos of war, based on ancient democratic ideals. Imperial Warlords weaken and destroy each other all over the galaxy. The New Republic is quick to step in. It takes advantage of any perceived weakness and fills the resulting vacuum. The New Republic rapidly brings more and more systems into the fold with the promise of protection, prosperity, and liberty in these chaotic times.
The fight for the fate of the galaxy approaches its turning point. The most competent and lucky Imperial Warlords were able to consolidate a significant amount of military power and territory under their aegis. They're preparing for a final clash to decide who would inherit Palpatine's throne. Meanwhile, the Rebel Alliance has its internal issues – not all of its members want a return of what they perceive as a corrupt and impotent Republic. Several factions and individuals within the Alliance would prefer a reforged New Order, free from corruption, slavery, and cronyism.
It is during these perilous times, that an impossible event changes the Uknown Regions forever. Mere hours after Ysanne Isard flees Coruscant on the SSD Lusankya, a flash of light engulfs the Unknown Regions. The event lasted mere minutes, and as impossible as it is, illuminates the whole galaxy.
Soon thereafter, garbled Holonet transmissions reach the edges of civilized space suddenly bordering a reshaped galaxy…
=FG=
7 ABY
Home One
high orbit above Coruscant
Because of her history in coordinating humanitarian aid, and overseeing the clean-up phase of many disasters, Leia Organa was the perfect fit for the task at hand. The fate of Alderaan was merely the cherry on the top as far as the other New Republic leaders were concerned. She was a symbol now, as much as anything else, and who else would be better able to save a seemingly dying world?
Even hours after their arrival, Leia could see the part of Coruscant burning. With the atrocities committed here, at the beating heart of the galaxy, Isard put her name right beside those of monsters like Tarkin, Vader, and the Emperor himself. If there was any justice left in the galaxy, that madwoman would join those three infamous people in death, soon.
"Princess Organa, we just deployed all available transports, complete with volunteers to the surface." One of Leia's new aides droned out. "At this rate, it would be at least two more days before we're able to distribute the supplies we're carrying."
Leia just nodded numbly. It was going to be too little, too late. That would have been the case, even if they didn't have to rush the Mon Calamari cruiser here, along with a respectable part of the New Republic fleet. They did it in a desperate attempt to intercept Isard's Super Star Destroyer. Sadly, the Republic was unable to concentrate enough numbers and firepower to even slow down such an SSD. All they could do was secure Coruscant's orbitals after the planet had already been burning, and one of its defense stations was little more than a constellation of navigation hazards.
As if that wasn't bad enough, Coruscant still choked from the plague that the Imperial monsters released. Now, one of the most populated worlds in the galaxy was under quarantine the New Republic would struggle to keep in place.
"This is perhaps the most important test our restored democracy will face!" Leia turned around and faced the clutch of aides surrounding her. "We need to show the whole galaxy that we can not only keep our promises but that we are different and better than the Empire! We need to give Coruscant's people all the medical support they need! We need to ensure that no one starves due to the quarantine, and as importantly, we need to make an example of Isard! Such crimes won't go unpunished. The only thing they do is murder innocent people while strengthening our resolve!"
At that point, the universe seemingly decided to accept Leia Organa's challenge. Bright light washed over the MK80 Cruiser, illuminating its observation ports. The same light shone all across the galaxy. It lasted just enough for the initial shock to pass, and for countless spaceship crews and ground observatories to pinpoint the source. It was the Unknown Regions. Not in that unexplored area of space, but in that whole part of the galaxy.
Later, sensor logs would conclude that sheets of blinding light cut off countless cubic light-years. When the impossible faster than light glow faded, the stars in that part of the galaxy would look wrong.
However, that wasn't the first clue anyone had that thing had changed. Everyone with a shred of Force Sensitivity within the illuminated galaxy could feel it. The Force itself shook as gripped by a hurricane of unprecedented power. Soothing light and chilling darkness surged forth and clashed until a new, darker equilibrium emerged.
Leia felt a chilling fist clutch her heart. The little Jedi training Luke managed to give her before their respective duties separated them, had made her more sensitive to this kind of disturbance than ever before. While the storm raged, she could feel Luke's presence shine like a beacon in the Force, standing against the onslaught. Yet, there were too many blotches of inky darkness she could perceive. The storm either awoke them from their slumber or disrupted their camouflage.
While none of them was ever close to the dark power that was Palpatine and Vader, there were too many of them for comfort.
The storm broke as suddenly as it began. The shining light illuminating the compartment faded. And for a moment, Leia could behold the whole galaxy. It was a wrong dark place now. Dark stars were pulsing with malevolent energies – powers that felt no need to hide or camouflage their presence. Smaller constellations of dark stars, intermixed with the odd, much smaller, clusters of bright light dotted half the galaxy. They were all in the Unknown Regions, and they no longer had to hide.
As if that wasn't bad enough, an odd pillar of struggling light and darkness shone through everything. It was both familiar, and soothing in a way Leia could only associate with Luke.
It took all of Leia's training and stubbornness to close her senses to the Force. Then she nearly collapsed in relief, when the vision no longer plagued her.
=FG=
PSN ISD II Star Hunter
Xerton System
Pentastar Alignment
Sending a Star Destroyer, no matter the type, in the middle of nowhere, was something anyone sane would have deemed highly unwise, if not outright idiotic. That was particularly true for a new and fragile conglomerate like the Pentastar Alignment, Captain Jana Varis thought.
As if a few hours ago, the distant and unremarkable Xerton system suddenly significantly increased its importance by merely being at the end of the hyper-lane spur leading from Bastion towards the Unknown Regions.
On the bright side, Moff Kaine proved from the beginning that he was different from most people of his kind. Instead of throwing the untested nation's military into an ill-thought assault on the Core, he chose a wiser strategy. It was one of sustained expansion, defense, and economic stability. That was a choice that recent events proved particularly wise. Many Imperial Moffs and Admirals fighting for the Emperor's empty throne perished, after getting their fleets wasted in pointless bloody battles for the Core. There were fewer and fewer beacons of the New Order remaining, while chaos worse than the Clone Wars burned unchecked.
The unfolding madness allowed the Rebels of all people to capture Imperial Center, giving them an invaluable veneer of credibility as the New Republic. Jana shuddered at that thought. She was just old enough to remember what the Republic used to be – and she was ready to die to see that it would never come back.
"Comms, what do you have for me?" The Captain lightly asked, doing her best to hide her impatience. Things like pointlessly terrorizing her crew, or even just breathing behind their backs in impatience, were counter-productive. That was something Jana had to learn the hard way.
"It's distant Holonet transmissions, Captain. That much we can confirm. However, the protocols and file compression are all kinds of wrong, and the distance isn't helping. We're working on it, ma'am!"
"Navigator?" Jana asked while calmly striding up and down above the pits surrounding the main walkways in the bridge. While the setup gave her a tremendous sense of power, it wasn't ideal as far as commanding went. More often than not, Jana had to step down into one of the pits if she wanted a particularly detailed piece of information, or needed to keep something quiet.
"We're running the new star charts through the navcomputers, Ma'am. Observations from this system and all over the Alignment all match up. Whatever happened, not only radically affected the Unknown Regions, it affected the whole galaxy. I'm willing to bet people see the same thing from all over the galaxy. As for what exactly we're seeing…" The Navigator shook his head at his console and put the image he was looking at into the main holo tank.
"We should be at the end of the charted hyper-lanes here. Beyond us, there are a few agri and primitive industrial worlds, and that is. Everything else should be uncharted and unknown. However…" The Navigator pressed a few buttons, and several stars lit up. Red lines connected them. Then a few more, distant ones followed suit. An oddly, yet somehow familiarly shaped red nebula, that Jana knew had no business being in the region, came next.
"If I didn't know better, and right not, I don't…" The Navigator turned around and pointed at the said nebula. "This looks suspiciously like the Red Nebula, which is on the edge of wild space and the Unknown Regions. It looks almost like a slightly distorted mirror image. Then those stars," He waved at the highlighted ones. "Those look suspiciously like the hyper-lanes leading from Bestine into the middle of nowhere. Those words and objects should be in the Galactic south, on the other side of the Core from us."
The Navigator returned to his console and kept working. Meanwhile, the map of the changed Unknown Regions became clearer and clearer.
"Koda Station, that star object Ryoone… and the hyper-lane Nexus near Bestine," Jana spoke aloud. "If that's indeed the Koda spur, no matter how impossible it sounds…"
"Then we're looking at the Noothoiin Corridor leading to Eriadu, to the East, bisected by the Corellian Trade Spine over there!" The Navigator exclaimed.
At the same time, more and more unknown worlds received tentative, impossible names.
"And the best thing? For us to be getting even distorted Holonet transmissions all the way here, even taking this map as true? Then there must be a hyperlane connecting this system with either Koda Station or Lipsec, and there must be a transmitter station in one of those systems!"
"Comms, compile a file of this map and inform Bastion of what we've found so far, stressing that all we have for the time being are educated guesses based on our sensor logs. Attach them as well and request as many hyperspace capable probes as possible. Tactical, launch our available space probes towards what appears to be Koda Station." The Captain ordered.
=FG=
Chapter 1 Part 1
=FG=
7 ABY/ 4 IC (Imperial Calendar)
FEW PSD Palpatine's Honor
Atrisian Quarantine Zone
Federated Empire
A bright light shone into the CIC of the Palpatine class Star Destroyer. The designers modulated the compartment's illumination in such a way as to make the images projected by the main holo-tank sharper, and the various displays on the crew's workstations, easier to read.
Captain Firmus Piett felt out of place sitting in his command chair, overseeing the work of his crew. Despite everything the Captain had been through during the years-long nightmare that was the Clone Wars, he felt that he was too damn young to command such a ship. The record was clear. Too many young officers had to be promoted past their experience, and abilities caused disasters during the latter years of the war. Yet, even now, after a couple of years of peace, the Imperial military was still in the process of rebuilding and properly training the vast volunteer forces making the bulk of it. It was only now, that both the Navy and Army could afford the luxury of fully training their personnel. Both services were still in a not good enough position to be picky about the officers in charge, provided they had even a shred of combat experience.
In hindsight, one of the reasons the war ended the way it did, was the desperate need for warm bodies to stabilize the fronts all over the galaxy. As a direct consequence, the Republic, and later, the Federated Empire, suffered incredible casualties among its volunteer military, which had to rapidly replace the exhausted Clone Legions.
It wasn't all bad – the peace allowed the Empire's economy to stabilize, and complete a full, uninterrupted construction cycle of state-of-the-art warships. Further, many ships battered throughout the war received sorely needed overhauls and repairs, making the Navy the strongest it was since Operation Star Hammer. And it was only going to grow, restrained by the need to train crews and the officers to command them. Ironically, now the Empire was finally in a position where shipbuilding was no longer the primary bottleneck in military expansion.
Yet, those facts did little to soothe Firmus' fears about kriffing up and getting good people killed. He was the skipper now, there was no one to look up to for advice or orders as far as running his ship went. That was a humbling experience. He briefly wondered if Max felt that way after his latest promotion to a General in charge of an armored division. But then again, Veers had much more direct command and combat experience than Piett. Firmus spent a significant chunk of his career so far as either aide to the General, or a staff officer, working for said man. It was only during Operation Star Hammer, that he got his first independent command. Even then, he enjoyed the luxury of an experienced XO to look after him and the ship.
In contrast, these days, Firmus was the old man, at the tender age of twenty-two.
Then again, that was why his command deployed to the Fondor Exclusion Zone. It was one of the areas where the Navy used to bloody its new officers and crews in relatively controlled circumstances. While the Droid infestations still active in this part of the galaxy were dangerous, the Empire had deployed more than enough ships, and firepower to contain them. It was now only a matter of time until they ground the rogue machines down to dust. As a bonus, the Navy gained invaluable experience in the process. That allowed its officers to ground down their rough edges through learning on the job without risking people and assets too much.
That was nerve-wracking enough.
The "Event", as everyone called it right now, was worse. It was an unknown. In Piett's experience, it was things like that, which got you killed in terrible ways.
"Captain, we've run sensor diagnostics three times, everything is in the green. The stars we're seeing are seventy percent match for the Fariax sector. Accounting for the fact that there should be thousands of light-years and some impressive nebulae between us and that area of space." The XO looked up from the Navigators' station, where he had been stuck for the past two hours. "The signals we keep detecting are a match for Holonet transmissions, however, the compression and encryption protocols are like nothing we've seen in use. They seem significantly more complex than anything the civilians have access to and differ significantly from past or current military protocols."
"Tactical?" Piett asked.
"The more raw date we have to run decryption software on, the faster we'll get results. We already have hours of it on record. It's only a matter of time until we crack it."
"That's good. Any theories on why the stars are now all wrong, or about the light show that got us all excited a few hours ago?" Firmus inquired. He didn't appreciate such impossible nonsense interrupting his already uneasy sleep.
"The Force did it. Consult with either the Imperial Knights, the Emperor, or better the General for good measure?" the XO half-asked, half-suggested.
"If anyone knows for sure it would be the General." Piett nodded.
"You did serve him, sir, didn't you? Can't you call him and ask?" The XO asked.
"I was his aide during the first years of the war." Firmus noted. "However, now he has a nation to run on top of everything else. I can't just call Mandalore to ask if he knows what just happened. I'm sure if he knows, we'll get a briefing from HighCom sooner or later."
"Captain, it's been another two hours." The XO pointed out.
"Send a data dump to Admiral Tigellinus, and inform him that there are no new developments here," Piett ordered.
=FG=
PSN ISD II Star Hunter
Xerton System
Pentastar Alignment
Captain Jana Varis noted a commotion at the pit where her Tactical officer was busy coordinating probe deployment. She slowly walked that way, peering at the busy crew below.
"One of the probes just went out of sensor range. It was supposed to make just a short jump like all the rest. It's either malfunctioning, or we just won the Imperial Lottery!" A young lieutenant giddily proclaimed.
"Hold onto that thought. Pull back a few probes and send them in the same general direction. If we're lucky, we might have just stumbled on a hyperlane here!" The XO pointed out. "Let's make sure one way or another."
Jana walked past the pit, sure that the XO had things in hand there. He would inform her about the moment they had some tangible information. She stalked the bridge until she reached the electronic warfare section. Over there, multiple officers and regular crew members were busy trying to make sense of the scattered transmission coming from what was supposed to be a wasteland part of the Unknown Regions.
"Any progress?" The Captain asked.
"No, ma'am. The data available is both too degraded and oddly formatted to make good use of it. We need more of it to have a chance at cracking whatever protocols are being used to transmit it. At this rate, it will be at least another twelve hours before we have enough raw materials for the computers to begin properly working through it."
"I see. Keep me apprised." Jana ordered and kept pacing.
Due to the strange even and the stars changing, she would be getting reinforcements. They would be primary light ships, older ones at that. Even then, it would be still good if she finally got to have some proper escorts. Once they arrived, she would have more flexibility to act, especially if there was a new hyper-lane here to explore.
=FG=
Chapter 1 Part 2
=FG=
7 ABY/ 4 IC (Imperial Calendar)
FEW PSD Palpatine's Honor
Atrisian Quarantine Zone
Federated Empire
After four more hours of gathering data, the computers finally had enough to work with to brute-force their way into decrypting the odd Holonet transmissions. If only the Honor's crew was on the task, creating the necessary software updates to make reading the incoming streams of data in real-time would take a few days. With slicers and all kinds of assorted computer specialists all the way to Coruscant and beyond working on it, it was inevitable that a breakthrough would happen soon. It was only a matter of time before finding a faster and better way to read the incoming transmissions.
Firmus caught himself leaning forward in his command chair, watching the holographic image of an unfamiliar human woman. Even though her clothes were pristine, including her dark hair bound into a single bun, she appeared tired and harried. Various artifacts left by the brute-force approach to making the recording useful, made her look even worse, Piett concluded. Every few seconds the holographic image flickered, losing colors, before slowly recovering, only for the issue to repeat.
"We now have a confirmation that approximately a week ago, New Republic forces captured Imperial Center after a brief engagement with a cannibalized local garrison. Soon thereafter, we received multiple unconfirmed reports that a biological weapon had been unleashed among the population, targeting nonhumans. New Republic authorities were quick to rename Imperial Center back to coruscant. With its fall, no credible Imperial forces exist in the area to prevent New Republic expansion into the Galactic East from Coruscant. A potential major boon for the re-branded Rebel Alliance would be securing the Inchon Corporation, responsible for the creation of the infamous X-Wing star-fighter, which has been the face of the Rebel Alliance ever since the destruction of the First Death Star..."
"Just to be on the safe side, please, someone check if a bunch of rebels somehow took Coruscant under everyone's noses?" Piett inquired, while critically watching the rest of what had to be a news broadcast.
"There's nothing on the Holonet about fighting on Coruscant or another bio-weapon release there. According to GNN, the Imperial Senate is currently debating if it would be prudent to release emergency funding for full military mobilization. It's either that or waiting until we all have some idea about what happened. There is nothing on the emergency fleet channels, just the all-clear signals we can expect, sir." The Communication officer reported after quickly consulting his console.
"Did we catch a holo-movies instead of something useful?" Firmus wondered aloud.
As more information got decrypted and became readable, a twisted, impossible narrative began to form. Talks about the death of an "Emperor Palpatine" at some backwater called Endor, followed by the announcement that a Sith cos-player called Vader perished there as well. The pictures of those individuals had Firmus simply staring at them. Vader appeared to be a tall mechanical monstrosity stuck into a crude armor. And this Emperor they spoke of had little in common with the murdered Chancellor. If anything the so-called Emperor looked like a disastrously failed clone of the great man.
The Captain still had no idea what a Death Star was. Much less why there were two of them, and why their destruction made even an obvious pro-imperial reporter appear relieved at the prospect.
More importantly, who was everyone talking about a Galactic Empire, and not the Federated Empire?
"Captain, we've got Admiral Tigellinus on the comm."
"Put him on my comm," Piett said and activated the privacy features built into his command chair. A small holographic projector formed a window in front of him, showing a two-dimensional image of the Fleet Admiral. Sound dampeners activated, preventing sound from coming out, but not from the Captain hearing what was happening across the CIC.
"Admiral Tigellinus, sir!" Piett saluted smartly.
"At ease, Captain." The Admiral returned the salute while looking away from the comm's camera. "We've got new orders from High Command prompted by decrypting the transmissions you've been diligently sending us. You're to lead a scouting Task Force, and determine for sure what we're dealing with here. So far everyone's educated guesses verge from the fantastic to the outright impossible." The Admiral let that statement hang in the air for a moment.
Both of them knew that as of late yesterday, the definition of impossible stretched quite a bit more than before.
"Until we're reinforced, I can spare a Reconnaissance Frigate division to act as your eyes. You'll be leading a Star Destroyer task force to give you some teeth as well. Captain Piett, your official orders are to find out what is on the other side, and if at all practical, make peaceful contact. That said, if the natives prove hostile, you're to do your utmost to preserve your command and pull back. Meanwhile, I'll be moving my flag to the Atrisian Quarantine Zone. We will fortify the area and turn it into a logistics base in case we need to conduct long-range military operations. Formal orders from High Command will follow within the next hour, along with orders for the other Star Destroyers you'll be in charge with. You should expect the arrival of a supply convoy to top up your fuel reserves and other supplies. Admiral Tigellinus, out."
Piett rubbed his face and quietly cursed his luck.
=FG=
PSN ISD II Star Hunter
Xerton System
Pentastar Alignment
By the time her escorts arrived and formed a defensive formation around the Star Hunter, Captain Varis knew for a fact, that there was a new hyperlane leading away from Xerton into the unknown. Two dozen wasted probe droids confirmed it. Fortunately, a transport carrying a few hundred more of those droids arrived with the escorts. Jana wasted no time in unleashing them all into the hyperlane. They would map it the hard, expensive, yet safe way. While the probe droids themselves were cheap and easy to mass-produce, the tiny hyperdrives they had, were anything but cheap, or easy to make. They were still more than worth their weight in any precious substance one might care to name.
It took nearly a day for a single probe to get back. At that time, Jana had little to do but wait, suffering boredom. About an hour before the lucky probe returned, the computer specialists finally managed to get something useful from the garbled transmissions. They were based on decades-old and no longer used file formats, compressed and encrypted in unexpected and novel ways. While it would take some time to create proper decryption protocols for real-time data browsing, Varis finally could get a glimpse of the mystery awaiting her.
The first transmission to become useful was garbled, with software filling up bits, yet still full of static and artifacts caused by imperfect decryption. It also proved that what they were detecting for the past day or so were indeed long-range holonet transmissions. While the audio was kriffed too, mostly due to data loss, it didn't matter. Jana had seen more than enough advertisements to fill up most of the blanks.
It was all about a new model of a sleek speeder bike, which was now available for the first time in the Mid-Rim. That was nothing of consequence, or use really. However, the next more or less restored file was something else entirely, well not quite. It was an advertisement as well. Just not about a civilian vehicle, but a big, vicious-looking tank. That was a Duros designed and build heavy assault tank if Jana filled the gaps in the audio properly. Since when did the Duros of all aliens, build such tanks?
More importantly, there was combat footage showing the machine's capabilities, and that got everyone's attention.
"I want a summary of this thing's capabilities, and one of the brief combat clips from our Stormtrooper contingent," Jana ordered, while still watching the advertisement. At a curious glance, the combat was from as far back as the Clone Wars, and why would someone resurrect a design that old? Yet at a closer examination of the combat sections, there was so much wrong with what Jana saw that she wasn't sure where to begin. She was a young girl during the war and grew up watching many news reports and even combat footage, though mostly focused on her passion – space.
The Republic soldiers she could see in the advertisement were wrong – they were too well equipped. They were better equipped than the best Stormtrooper or Imperial army units she could name. And the same was true about the Droids they fought against.
The end of the advertisement left Jana speechless. The combat footage was clearly labeled then – from the liberation of Corellia, and Duro. While she had never been to the alien world, Varis had visited Corellia, Coronet city in particular, more than once. That was why she immediately recognized some places where those Duro's tanks drove straight into the guns of dug-in Droids screened by scarily effective heavy infantry.
When the probe droid returned, Jana watched the same file for the fifth time now, doing her best to analyze what she saw, and its implications. That shifted her attention to aathe data it was quick to transmit. The system on the other side was indeed Koda Station, as impossible as that should have been. Its passive sensors revealed that while the place was still mostly a backwater in the middle of nowhere, now it had a large military installation in orbit. There was also what suspiciously looked like a Star Destroyer squadron on station.
"Send the raw data to Bastion, and ask for orders. Get the droid's navigational data into the nav computer and distribute it to our escorts."
Half an hour later, Jana received orders directly from Moff Kaine himself.
"Captain Varis, you're to proceed to this Koda Station doppelganger system and contact the locals. Find out what we're dealing with, and if whoever is out there can be of use. Do not engage in combat as long as you have another alternative. We can't afford to open another front and be distracted at this time."
=FG=
Chapter 1 Part 3
=FG=
7 ABY/ 4 IC (Imperial Calendar)
PSN ISD II Star Hunter
Xerton System
Pentastar Alignment
"This is Captain Varis," Jana spoke into an encrypted channel connecting her ship with her new escorts. "The plan is simple people. One of the escorts remains in the system, hiding from sensors just in case. If we don't return within the allotted time, if only a damaged ship returns, or worse, a hostile fleet appears, they're to alert Bastion ASAP. Afterward, the remaining ship will monitor the situation while hiding for as long as possible. The rest of us will do our best to play diplomats. If that doesn't pan out, the escorts will execute a deep jump within the mirror system. You will gather as much intelligence as you can while turning around, and making a run for the hyperlane. Meanwhile, we'll provide you with cover and follow-up as soon as we can, if at all possible. As the Moff ordered, we are not to start a shooting war." The Captain stressed the last point. She decided to leave one of the gunships back, retaining the others, including the two relatively large frigates armed for fighter suppression.
A few minutes later, Jana's task force reformed into a dagger formation in front of her Star Destroyer, and the ships entered lightspeed.
Jana decided to return to her ready room beside the bridge for the hours-long journey she expected. Varis nodded at the Stormtrooper detachment Commander waiting for her holding a datapad, and waved him to follow her inside.
"What do you have for me, Commander?" Jana asked after sitting down behind her desk and pointing at one of the two free seats in front of it.
"I have a preliminary analysis of the combat footage. At a first glance, it appears genuine. If that is true, we can make several conclusions based on the evidence at hand." The man sat down and offered her the datapad.
Jana took it and drew her hand over its sensor strip. Its small screen flashed green and unlocked, replacing the Alignment's symbol with a typed report complete with pictures for reference.
"Summarize the report, Commander."
"First the tank, dubbed Liberator MK III. It is a heavy-tracked land combat platform able to pass through many types of ground-based shields. Consequently, it can execute an assault against the shield generators and protected infrastructure. The Duros' tank is protected by a deflector shield, as well as multiple active protection systems. We've seen the latter taking out missiles or cutting down Droid infantry attempting to approach the platform. That by itself makes it a formidable combatant. In a straight-up fight, it might be able to outclass most equivalent hardware we currently have available. In contrast, our available tanks are much faster and more agile. My recommendation would be that if it is at all possible, to bypass and avoid confrontation with such platforms unless doing so is necessary to achieve an objective."
Jana raised her eyebrows at that. It was a public secret within the military that many officers within the Navy saw the ground forces as unnecessary parasites they had to babysit. This reflected in attitudes, in the callous way the Imperial Army and Stormtroopers were often used, and predictably, the equipment they had at their disposal. Except for a few of the Empire's most elite units, like the now destroyed Vader's 501st, the Stormtroopers and Imperial Army had to make do with the cheap kit. That was the kind of equipment that was often far from the best available on the open market. Corruption was partially to blame as well. After all, the Navy could usually make any deficiencies among the ground forces moot by a liberal application of firepower, and the reverse simply wasn't true. Besides, cutting corners on warships could get everyone killed. Doing so with grunts equipment, would only affect the grunts, so who cared?
That was sadly a widespread sentiment that contradicted everything the New Order stood for. It encapsulated the Republic's corruption, which never fully went away. That was why Jana didn't think twice about serving Moff Kaine – he was a true believer and had been doing his best to fix up any deficiencies within the military under his command.
"I'll keep this in mind, Commander. What about the infantry we saw?"
"Many of the supposed Republic soldiers appear to wear heavy, at least semi-powered armor. Considering the size we see the armor come in, and depending on materials used in building it, it has the potential to be both tough, and light enough to be still useful if the power systems run afoul of Ion strikes. The most interesting aspect is that it looks like all heavy suits are shielded. From what we see, any single one of them that gets hit has a deflector an enemy has to overcome before damaging the armor in the first place. Making this practical without a large backpack to hold both the shield generator and its power source would be very expensive. While droids can get away with it, humans can't due to the radiation produced by smaller and more compact shield generators. Further, considering there had been no expense spent in procuring defensive equipment, it is no surprise that everyone is wielding unfamiliar types of heavy blasters, complete with all kinds of useful attachments making them even more expensive."
"Do you see anything we can't replicate if money isn't an issue?" Jana prodded the Commander.
"As far as I can see, that isn't the case. Some of the equipment we see can be bought off the shelf, and while expensive, mass production should lower the price. The only thing I don't think we can get on short notice if credits aren't a bottleneck is the compact shield systems we see."
No one mentioned that while the Galactic Empire could have easily afforded such gear if it wished, the same wasn't necessarily true for the Pentastar Alignment. The same was true for any of the Warlords fighting for the Emperor's vacant throne.
"Thank you, Commander. I want one more thing from you – make contingency plans in case we need to deal with infantry equipped in such a fashion. You're dismissed."
The Stormtrooper saluted and briskly left Jana's ready room. Only now, she allowed herself to frown at the datapad in her hands. If their new neighbors had this on the ground, then what did they have in space?
=FG=
CIC MRAW VSD Peerless
Exclusion Zone West 3-A
Koda System
A blinking orange dot appeared on the tactical display. This was the third probe detected entering the system in the past twelve hours. It was all thanks to a Mandalorian-designed Reconnaissance frigate, which served as a part of Koda's early warning system. Several scout frigates and corvettes augmented an extensive network of low emission satellites scattered all over the system. This significantly decreased the odds of a droid sneak attack. In that regard, the expensive Interdictor platforms protecting the supply depots and the Star Destroyer squadron permanently on station helped as well. During the war, everyone learned the hard way how vital it was to protect logistics assets. The enemy targeting such targets, alongside critical industrial nodes, were two of the major reasons why the Empire was unable to achieve a satisfactory military victory. Of course, the other reason was the astronomical price in blood everyone would have had to pay.
All things considered, Captain Mayi Serdan, was glad the war ended when it did. That was the painful truth, even if she wanted to see the Separatists pay more for what they did to her beloved Naboo. The war, and the countless Separatist atrocities, destroyed the way of life of the Naboo people, often turning them from pacifists to hardened, hateful militarists. Between the Blue Shadow, the battles in orbit, and the surface, Naboo itself wouldn't recover for decades, despite terraforming aid from all across the Mid-Rim Alliance.
In the same vein, if it wasn't for the war, and everything she lost in it, Mayi herself would have never contemplated joining the military. Even thinking about making a career of serving in it would have been unthinkable. She used to be a pacifist who didn't think twice about the rightness of her belief, it all used to be obvious and plain to see.
Yet, here she was, a proud member of the Mid-Rim Alliance's armed forces, doing her best to protect innocent worlds from burning like Naboo.
"Second Hunter Squadron is in place, ready to enter lightspeed at a second's notice." Mayi's XO announced. "Eriadu Regional command will be detaching and sending reinforcements our way as soon as the overall situation becomes clear. The Assembly has approved of limited reserve activation due to the Event, so sooner or later we'll get reinforced."
"That's good to know, Charles. Is the Koda militia mobilized yet?"
The XO looked at the Communication officer, who shook his head. "Fifty percent of the militia has been recalled and arming as we speak. It would take at least another twenty-four hours for the rest to assemble. As their Defense Minister just reminded me, it's the middle of harvest season down there, and that is usually an all-hands exercise."
"It can't be helped then." Mayi nodded. While Koda station profited a lot from harboring a combined MRA/FE garrison, much of the credits they earned had to go into building proper defenses ground side. That included shelters, and a planetary shield generator, which was the big ticked the locals would be still paying for in the years to come. That sadly left little credits available for quick modernization of their agricultural sector, which was the primary source of income for most of the locals. While things down there improved, it was a steady, yet slow and gradual improvement.
To a lesser extent, the same was true for the other backwater systems in the sector, as long as they managed to keep the droid raiders at bay.
"Captain, we've got a major object approaching through hyperspace!" The Sensor operator exclaimed. "According to the Shadow in the Sun's sensors, it's at least a Palpatine class in size."
"Set condition one throughout the battle group. Second Hunter Squadron is to hold the position until we know exactly what we're dealing with."
Soon, eight objects left lightspeed. One large warship stood in the center of a dagger-shaped formation.
"Unknown ships, this is Captain Serdan from the Mid-Rim Alliance Star Destroyer Peerless. You just entered an Imperial exclusion zone. Shut down your engines, declare your allegiance and origin!" Mayi transmitted in the open to the unknown ships. As far as anyone knew, the droids in the region had nothing that even came close to resembling this force's ship composition.
=FG=
Chapter 1 Part 4
=FG=
7 ABY/ 4 IC (Imperial Calendar)
PSN ISD II Star Hunter
Exclusion Zone West 3-A
Koda System
It took Star Hunter's computers uncomfortably long seconds to properly parse the incoming transmission. Jana idly listened to her Communication Officer's narration, while he quickly worked on it. Odd communications protocols and formatting, both similar, yet different enough to old Republic software and hardware handles to be damningly familiar, yet troublesome.
A crackling transmission finally appeared into the main holo tank, showing a brunette woman sitting into a comfortable looking chair with all kinds of built in gadgets. Her black and gold uniform was utilitarian and painfully similar to that of the Stormtrooper corps, or small craft pilots.
"Unknown ships, this is Captain Serdan from the Mid-Rim Alliance Star Destroyer Peerless! You just entered an Imperial exclusion zone. Shut down your engines, declare your allegiance and origin!"
Captain Serdan's accent was smooth, middle to upper class Mid-Rim, if Jana wanted to play a guessing game. The mention of a Mid-Rim Alliance and an Imperial exclusion zone immediately caught her attention. Depending on the meaning, those could be very loaded terms with very different meaning.
"Cut acceleration across the task force. Keep shields up, as well as targeting sensors for now, we're using the passives for the time being. Comms, patch me to the same channel used by the locals." Jana ordered and made her way down into the pit beside the main communication's console. She waited for a nod from the Comms Officer and walked into the camera view.
"This is Captain Jana Varis, commanding the Star Destroyer Star Hunter, and attached escorts. We come in peace. We're here investigating strange holonet transmissions we've been detecting ever since the… event." She put an emphasis on the last word, and gestured off the camera for Lieutenant Kraft to cut off the transmission.
"Sensors, what do we have?" Jana had to almost shout to be heard from where she stood.
"There are signatures consistent with cruiser class ships near Koda Station. They're probably guarding various facilities we're detecting behind them. As an educated guess, I'll call it a forward logistics station."
"The event, yes…" Captain Serdan trailed off. "We did notice it engulfing most of, if not the whole explored galaxy. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, Captain Varis?"
Jana raised an eyebrow at hearing the next transmission. If there was one useful thing about the technical issues, it would be that they didn't quite talk in real time, giving both parties time to digest what the other side said before answering.
"From what we experienced, the event engulfed the Unknown Regions. Soon after the light-show ceased, our outposts closest to that area of space began to receive garbled long range transmissions that we later determined came from the Holonet." Jana sent her response. "Just to confirm, this system is Koda, situated at the end of the Koda Spur, coming from the Corellian Trade Spine?"
The changed stars, how they looked like, the transmissions, what the locals said so far… It was impossible, it should be impossible, yet there they were. In her mind, Jana could almost imagine it! Light engulfing the galaxy, and then replacing the Unknown Regions with something civilized, and dangerous. It was like something of a bad holo-drama, yet here she was, making history!
"Yes, Captain Varis, this is the Koda system, and right now, my battle group is holding position at Koda Station. You are also right about the hyper-lanes leading back into more developed space." Captain Serdan responded. "Who do you represent? What is your allegiance?"
Well, this was the moment of truth, wasn't it? Jana chose her words carefully.
"We're part of the Pentastar Alignment Navy, a defensive alliance formed to weather the collapse of the Galactic Empire and the civil war that caused it. We're sworn to defend the ideals of the New Order, and keep our corner of the galaxy, stable, safe and secure." Jana echoed Palpatine's famous words from the day the New Order came to be.
That was the core promise of the New Order, and until recently, the Empire managed to uphold it much better than that cesspit of corruption, the Republic it replaced!
The response came sooner that before, a testament that the Communications Officers on both sides were doing their best to iron out any and all issues.
"That is a very interesting claim, Captain Varis. Your New Order sounds almost exactly like the New Order that the Federated Empire holds as its core principle, alongside facilitating economic prosperity. May I suggest a basic exchange of history information? Nothing sensitive, of course."
"I believe this can be arranged." Jana allowed, noting that now the conversation was either in real time, or the next best thing. "What year is it in this corner of the galaxy? I am sure you've noticed as well that there are all kinds of oddities that are new for both of us."
"That's a loaded question…" Captain Serdan looked away from the camera and typed something into a panel built into her seat. "Technically, this is year four of the new Imperial Calendar, however, I'm not sure if that tells you anything. It should be year eighteen, or nineteen after the Great ReSynchronization. About sixteen, closer to seventeen years after the Naboo Crisis when the Trade Federation blockaded, and later invaded Naboo?"
The other Captain was right, year four since the establishment of presumably their Federated Empire – that didn't tell Jana much. She was aware of the Great ReSynchronization. She learned about it in school, and before the new order, that was the calendar she grew up using. That, and the reference to the Naboo crisis told her two things. First, it was another confirmation that somehow, two different, yet similar galaxies from different times somehow got stitched together without killing everyone in the process. Second, there were many differences on this side of the mirror, so to speak. For example, over here, it was a Federated, whatever that meant, Empire established, instead of the Galactic Empire. And it happened a few years later at that. And all that, was likely just the tip of the iceberg, yet the Naboo Crisis had happened more or less on schedule. If that was the case, what had changed to birth this different galaxy? What, or who stitched them together?"
"If I got my math right, on our side it is forty-three, or four after the ReSynchronization." Depending on when in the year a calendar got established, and without any more information, all those vague dates could drift in one direction, or the other, up to almost a whole year. However, that was an issue for others to worry about when they had enough information to smash together multiple calendar systems. That wasn't going to be fun for those involved.
"Well, hello to the future, I guess. Just not necessary ours?" Captain Serdan's lips twitched in a brief smile.
"Yes, not necessary yours." Jana nodded. "I'll have a few of my Officers compile a history records containing no sensitive data. For the record, and to ensure we're all on the same page, Captain Serdan. My orders from Moff Kaine were to investigate what was sending odd signals, and establish a peaceful contact if at all possible. Any proper, much less binding negotiations are for people above my pay-grade. I hope it will be all right to send one of my escorts back, bringing news that we found potential new friends?"
"As long as they don't bring in an invasion fleet. That would be highly unwise." Serdan pointed out. "Welcome to Mid-Rim Alliance space, and the Federated Empire, Captain Varis. It is my duty to inform you, that we are in the middle of an Imperial Exclusion space. There are at least two rogue droid raiding groups operating in this region, alongside an industrial node with escorts, we've been hunting. Depending on what exactly your Star Destroyer and escorts pack, a Raider group could be either an existential threat, or little more than target practice with teeth."
"I will keep this information into advisement. However, I believe you'll understand if I don't reveal the technical specifications of the Star Hunter, Captain Serdan." Jana noted.
"I take no offense. No matter if you're from the future, or not, we won't be discussing or demonstrating our capabilities unless we have to either." Serdan responded, then looked away from the camera. "Send it to my console. Excuse me, Captain Varis, we just received a fleet-wide communique from High Command." With those parting words, the view from the other Star Destroyer vanished, replaced by two symbols. The first was a painfully familiar Imperial crest identical to that of the Galactic Empire. The symbol itself was black as expected, on silver background, instead of the typical red. Beside it stood a stylized phoenix, that looked like on fire. A thin string of words in Basic surrounded it.
From the ashes of war, we rise!
That had to be the Mid-Rim's Alliance crest then. It was a curious choice, though the similarity to some of the symbology of the Rebellion mildly concerning. Then again, it was likely just a coincidence.
"Comms, dump our logs to one of our escorts, complete with records of my conversation with Captain Serdan, and have them report back to Bastion. We'll remain here for now, gathering information and making nice with the locals. Inform Moff Kaine that we require a diplomatic party ASAP." Jana ordered.
The two crests and their background vanished, replaced by a professional looking Captain Serdan.
"Captain Varis, the communique I just received from High Command does concern your presence. The powers that be request all Imperial and allied forces stationed at the border to look for unfamiliar transmissions, or ships entering Imperial space. This in light of the Event, and what had happened in the Core. Over there, ships assigned to the Fondor Exclusion zone received transmissions from what I now assume to be your side of Holonet with very interesting content. What do you know about a New Republic and Coruscant potentially falling to them? In the same vein, are you aware of Coruscant, the one on your side, being subjected to a biological weapon release?"
Jana stilled at those questions and facts. This put the whole situation in even more interesting, and dangerous perspective.
"News from the Core have been slow in coming since before the Civil War began in earnest. We didn't even learn about the death of the Emperor, and his right hand, Darth Vader, until months after it happened. What we know for sure is that the Empire fractured in a civil war for the vacant throne. The New Republic is the Rebellion that has been causing chaos across the galaxy for years now, re-branded to sound more respectable." Jana scowled.
"What about the Empress or the Crown Princess?" Captain Serdan blurted out, before blushing lightly and raising a hand. "I apologize. I'm making assumptions about what has been happening in your corner of the galaxy, when it is certain that some things are very different."
If only there had been a clear line of succession enough people were ready to support… Sadly, as far as anyone knew, the Emperor's will had been classified, and with the civil war erupting, it didn't matter. Perhaps if Vader had lived… Jana shook her head. What ifs, well, they did matter, in relation in discussing this other side of the galaxy, not her own past.
"Sadly, Emperor Palpatine wasn't married, and as far as anyone knew, he had no children. I take it this isn't the case on your side?" And as Jana spoke, her eyes widened in a sudden realization. Palpatine, or a doppelganger of him, could be very much alive, and close to his prime right now!
"Well, this is going to put many arguments to rest…" Captain Serdan began. "Many people believe that if Chancellor Palpatine survived the Jedi Uprising, he might have been able to keep the Republic together, and ensured that the war ended years earlier. There are some good arguments backing such theories as well, I take it. Didn't your Palpatine manage to salvage the Republic and had to replace it with an Empire?"
Varis just nodded numbly. Then, over here, the Jedi rebellion had succeeded enough to kill the Emperor, and messed up things enough to prevent the end of the Separatists. As far as Jana knew, the Clone Wars ended when they did, because Vader tracked down the Separatist leaders and killed them. Afterwards, he shut down the bulk of the droid armies with codes retrieved from said leader's bodies. If that didn't happen here, then the war would have continued to rage for years.
"Yes, Chancellor Palpatine survived a Jedi assassination attempt that nevertheless left him scarred for life. Fortunately, on our end, Darth Vader, who was then a covert agent of the Chancellor, managed to track down the Separatist leaders and kill them, shutting down most of their military." Jana summarized.
"We weren't anywhere that lucky. I don't know who that Vader character is, he might have died during the Uprising, or even before." Serdan continued, while Jana merely nodded.
That made sense. No one knew for sure who Vader was, or used to be before he ended stuck into his life-support suit.
"The combination of the Jedi Uprising and the Separatist Grand Offensive that took Corellia coinciding, brought the Republic to its knees, and left most of the loyalist Mid-Rim isolated. Due to the Confederacy cutting off communications channels, we missed seeing first hand what exactly happened on Coruscant. I personally, wasn't that interested in the fine points of Core politics that brought us where we are. The cliff notes are that Ambassador Satine Kenobi, nee Kryze, from Mandalore, somehow ended up as a compromise Chancellor. It only happened after the Senate had been unable to reach a single resolution for more than a month, further harming the war effort. Chancellor Kenobi managed to revitalize the war effort, however her ascension to power further fragmented the Republic. Long story short, by the time the Black Rebellion happened, the Republic was more or less defunct, and the powers that be in the Core, in the Mid-Rim Alliance, and General Veil's Mandalorians, formed the Federated Empire from the ashes of the impotent old order."
Jana stared at her counterpart. Those cliff-notes raised many more questions than they answered.
=FG=
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