Governor's Gambit - Star Wars SI into Imperial Governor

[Freefaller]

Governor's Gambit

Chp-1: Fuckin' Nepo-Baby's

"No, we will not be burning a quarter of the city to… "send a message"... as you put it".

"But if nothing is done then the protests will continue, Sir!

I resisted the ever-growing urges to sink my face into my hands and scream. Instead, I straightened my back, looked the Imperial Garrison's commander in the eye and told her that under no circumstances was she allowed to burn a quarter of the city just to stop protests.

Never before have I seen a grown woman pout.

After he was dismissed from his duties, I took the opportunity to stand up and walk over to the window at the end of my office. It overlooked the city that sprawled out before the Capitol Building my office sat at the top of, giving me quite the view.

The city itself was not very large, 40,000 people at most, and that was only because it was the capital of the planet. The building I was in was a 5 story building that functioned as both my home, office, and center of bureaucracy for both the city and the planet as a whole.

The view was one of the few things that calmed me down, the wonder of being able to see a sci-fi city with my own two eyes. When I woke up in this new body of mine, I had an understandable freakout. Thankfully, I had been alone in my office and the view out the window had been enough to calm me down.

My situation is thus. I have found myself reborn as the Imperial Governor of a minor planet by the name of Minda 3. This outer rim backwater was primarily an agricultural export, though there was little to export in the first place. As governor, I technically had control over the entire system, but Minda 3, out of the 4 planets in the system, was the only easily colonizable one here.

Make no mistake, this system is resource rich. The other livable planet, Minda 5, is chock full of trees and life, while the remaining planets are bound to have something worthwhile, not to mention the asteroid belts. However, Minda 5 is a jungle hellhole that would make Catachan look like the suburbs, making colonization near impossible without heavy duty equipment. Even then, the natives would not look kindly on any attempted invasion.

"But Las" I hear you pester "the other 2 planets would be perfect for strip mining". And you would be correct, little snotling, and Imperial mining operations here could gain quite a lot of material. However, the Empire being the bundle of incompetence that it is, won't allow it because of politics.

You see, there are 1,024 sectors of the Galactic Empire. Each sector is governed by a Moff. Each Moff is given a sector group of 24 ISD's and varying accompanying escort ships to patrol their sector, along with whatever they can scrounge up for themselves. The Minda system is situated in the Myto sector, which you may or may not recognize as the home of the Dubrillion system, where Lando Calrissian lived as the administrator of the planet Dubrillion.
Now, why is this important? Well, the Moff of the Myto sector also lives on Dubrillion, and spends all of his time in some nice penthouse, doing fuck all, giving all the easy jobs to nepotistic lackeys. This means that when the Minda system was initially colonized by Imperial efforts, it was to fulfil a quota. A 4 planet system, only one of which is easily colonizable, isn't the type of system to provide short-term benefits, and so it was overlooked.

I don't really mind all of this, to be honest. A fairly easy life, with decent luxury on a fairly idyllic planet, with enough money and a starship to escape if/when things go to shit. At least, that's what I thought until I had time to dig through the dearly departed governors memories.

Las Mola was a Coruscanti rich kid, and a disgrace. His mother, Commandant Jir Mola, had moved their family from Coruscant when Las was only 10 to Eriadu, homeworld of Grand Moff Tarkin, to become the Overseer of the Imperial Academy of Eriadu. Such a position was only possible due to her experience as one of Tarkin's more competent underlings.

Las was a rather pesky kid, and considering his mother's position he was a clear fit for the arrogant young master stereotype of wuxia fiction. He had been driven to this attitude as a result of his family.

His mothers prestigious position and achievements aside, all 3 of his older sisters had accomplished much. The oldest, Shal, was 30, and yet already the Captain of an ISD in the Abrion sector (where Scarif is), the second oldest, Zyx, was only 27, but was a decorated agent of Imperial Intelligence, and the youngest, Alvi, was an ace Tie pilot at 25.

Meanwhile, Las, lazy ass that he was, flunked out of the Eriadu Academy, and, not wanting to deal with her embarrassment of a son, Jir had him set up as the governor of the Minda system. While that seems like an honor, the state of the Minda system as an undeveloped, poor agricultural community meant that there was no prestige or advancement to be had, and it was in a forgotten and near barren sector of the galaxy where Las could not bring shame to the Mola name.

"Again", I hear your disgusting voice snort, "I don't see what's so bad about that, just don't cause a ruckus and you'll be fine". And you would be right, bloat-bag, but there's one detail I failed to mention. Mother dearest had tasked Las with making something of this backwater system in 2 years, else she would have him tossed into the meat-grinder that is the regular Imperial Infantry, sent to die on some shithole against some natives like that mess that happened on Mimban.

Of course, now that I'M Las Mola, that meant that by 0BBY I had to make Minda worth a damn, or at least not a complete shithole, or run the fuck away and hope that I can hack it in the wider galaxy.

As I'm reminiscing on the sorry state my life now is, I look down out of the window to see the protestors at the foot of the building.

According to Los's memories, the farmers were protesting over the increased taxes instituted onto them by Los upon his arrival. It had been an attempt to squeeze the people, and gain some cash to then escape with.

Not the worst plan, all things considered, except for the fact that Zyx is basically a super-spy, and would certainly find him in whatever hovel he hid in. That meant only one thing for me. One horrible thing.

I would have to actually do work.

Fuck.

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Hi there everyone, first time Fan-Fic author here. Always wanted to write sci-fi and the like, but now that I'm 3 years into college without ever having written shit I've started to realize that I have zero experience in fiction writing and should really put in the work.

I therefore decided to put this up, the type of fic I've always wanted to see, as a way to practice. I encourage all kinds of constructive criticism, including lore corrections and ideas on where to take the story

I'll also be cross-posting on QQ and SV under the same name.

And since I have college, expect weekly updates at best, with some interruptions for finals, big projects, and the like.

Thank you so much for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-2: I will Criminalize Paperwork

Looking down at the protesters, I pondered on my potential courses of action.

This bodies previous owner had already fucked the dog in regards to the people of Minda 3 with his absurdly high taxes, and therefore had ruined his(and by extension my) reputation before I had the chance to win some popularity.

Now, just reducing the taxes back wouldn't be enough, as people would remember me as the governor that hiked taxes, no matter what I do.

Stepping out of the elevator into the foyer of the building, my personal guard met me with a salute, the white plastoid armor of the troopers gleaming under the lights. These 10 Stormtroopers were some of the 225 that were assigned to Minda 3 as my personal guard/shock troops. More populated/advanced/rebellious planets usually get larger amounts of these elite shock-troops, but as a backwater, Minda got a single company of 225, on top of the 5 companies of regular troopers and the like.

Standing nearby, speaking to another officer was the Garrison Commander, Kraela Grant. Upon noticing me, she immediately saluted me.

When she was like this, she actually looked respectable. She was a tanned skinned blonde, with high cheekbones that gave her an air of authority, enhanced by her sharp green eyes and sharper military uniform. All of which is immediately ruined the moment she opens her mouth.

"Sir! The protesters grow more treacherous with every second! I request permission to suppress them with extreme prejudice!"

Her eyes now gleam with an unnerving bloodlust. I don't even think this is excessive loyalty to the Empire, I'm pretty sure she's just insane.

"Aren't you Alderaanian, Commander?"

"And?"

"...I was under the impression Alderaanian culture valued pacifism."

"It does."

I blinked. "Ah…understood…my answer is still no"

From there I turned away, avoiding her incoming puppy eyes, and made my way to the entrance of the building, my guards following close by.

"What's the plan, sir?" a trooper who's name I couldn't remember asked.

"I'm going to negotiate"

"That sounds dangerous, sir. Couldn't you send a planet-wide holo-message instead?"

"I could. But then they'd see me as a coward. That's bad for business."
"Business sir?"

"Yes. The business of living"

I exited the building, walked across the courtyard as the noise of the protestors got louder and louder, and made my way to one of the guard towers on the wall.

An army trooper, clad in the stark black of common imperial infantry, was on the wall, screaming at the crowd through some sort of voice amplification device.

I climbed up the tower, and snatched it from his hands.

I then proceeded to do what all politicians are practically born to do.

I spewed absolute bullshit.

"Good people of Minda 3! My name is Las Mola, your governor, and I'm here to speak to you regarding the recent changes!"

I was, predictably, met with screaming, anger, and general discontent. Thankfully, the one armored company I had came with some At-ST's. While I have made and will continued to make my dislike of the chicken walkers clear, their intimidate factor in this situation made certain that the protestors wouldn't start throwing rocks or thermal detonators my way.

"To clarify regarding the increased taxes! That was a mistake based on faulty information! I had been under the impression that Minda 3 had larger manufacturing capabilities! I apologize for this inconvenience, rest assured that taxes will return to their normal rates, and those responsible for the faulty info have been dealt with!"

Of course, this was not at all true. Las had pumped up taxes because of his own stupidity, then dropped the bag and left me to deal with it. I suppose in that sense, the one responsible has been dealt with, but telling the people here that I'm not at fault because I'm a reincarnator. That would just get me tossed in an asylum. Or shot. Or both. Probably both.
"To those who have already paid the increased tax, the difference will be sent back to you. To those who haven't, you are being given an extra week to pay. That is all."

Short, direct, with no grandstanding. I figure the more rough and tumble farming populace would be happier with that, rather than me going on and on.

With the tax problem out of the way for now, I headed back to my office. As much as I would like to lay down and never wake up, for better or worse(for sure worse) I ran a solar system, and had a sword of damocles hanging over my head. That means I have to do work. A lot of it.

As soon as I sat in my chair, I hit the intercom button and called my secretary. A blue skinned Twi'lek woman by the name of Darna Sabrir that Las had chosen for the position purely because of her looks. Thankfully, she's actually fairly competent at her job.

"How may I assist you, Governor?"

"Could you please compile a report for me on the population centers, major infrastructure, military forces, and general heavy equipment we have?"

"...Of course sir. Will that be all?"

"Yes, thank you."

She was for sure surprised. Why else would she pause? I had just asked for paperwork. Paperwork! The one thing that the original Las and I share in common is our utter disdain for paperwork. God-awful stuff. Unfortunately I actually need a comprehensive list of Minda 3's population centers, infrastructure, military forces, and all heavy equipment we have if I'm to actually make something of this rat-shit ball of dirt.

You see, now that I've dealt with the taxes, I had to make this system profitable. To do that, my first thought was population. Planets are big, but with Minda 3 having what I can only assume is a small population, there's no way the full potential of the planet is being utilized. How many fields go unplanted? Forests not being razed to the ground? Wells of natural resources not being plundered? All because there aren't enough people?

These thoughts consume me for the next hour and a half, a million half baked ideas hastily typing these out onto my personal datapad. Everything from expanded farming to strip-mining to asteroid mining to mass deforestation. If I thought it might work, it went on the list.

That's when the terminal on my desk chimed, indicating that I had received a message. Opening it I found a fairly comprehensive list of all the things I asked for. While it was filled with quite a lot, the basics could be boiled down into this.

• Population: 200,000 - 40,000 in Accordia(Capital), 15,000 in Rolling Green's(Biggest farming city), 10,000 in Augir(Mining city), with the rest spread amongst small villages and farming towns, none reaching above 1,000.
• Military: 1 company of 200 StormTroopers(50 of which are my personal guard)+support personnel stationed in the capital. 35,000 assorted general troops and support personnel. 1 armored company of 232 personnel, with 10 medium tanks, 10 light tanks, 8 heavy tanks, 9 heavy weapons repulsor lifts, and 4 AT-ST. 2 squadrons of 12 Tie fighters each, 1 Arquitens light cruiser, and 5 cargo-oriented Gozanti Class cruisers.
• Infrastructure: the capital city stands at the center of a large plain on one of the 3 continents found on Minda 3, and the only populated continent. Stretching from the capital are a series of roads which connect with every nearby city of 500 residents or more. These towns then have rougher paths that connect to even smaller nearby towns and villages, creating a spider web like effect. Rolling Green's is located some 200 miles north of the capital, and also acts as a central node for the spiderweb roads, and is also home to the largest grain refinery on the planet. Augir, on the other hand, sits some 330 miles to the southwest, and also acts like a road node. It holds the majority of the mining equipment on the planet, but does not have an ore refinery.

Looking over this, I can tell that I have my work cut out for me. Relatively low population means expansion is difficult, and relocating people in the smaller villages and towns would likely be a mistake, considering the fact that this place seems to be inhabited by the types of folk who would kill for their land. It would also invite the wrong kind of reputation to befall me.

So, instead of looking towards the individuals, I looked towards the organizations.

• FieldTec Agricultural Concern: Largest company on the planet, owns 45% of the farms in Rolling Green's
• Minda Plains Union: Union consisting of a large portion of non-corporate farmers in Rolling Green's and other large farming towns and cities.
• YewCast: Largest of the few tech companies on Minda, they sell mostly home appliances to those living in the large cities, though they have been looking to expand.
• KhaganMotors: Only decently sized vehicle manufacturing industry, relies mostly on imported parts to make frankenstein farming vehicles and the like.
• Drillers United: Mining union that worked the mines of Augir and other mining towns.
• Finally, there are the many family owned businesses that dot the planet, be they small farming companies, transport companies, repair/mechanics, and many more.

With all this in mind, I started to concoct a plan.

I needed support. I needed people to like me. That means I have to start from the top.

Looking over what I had, I made a decision. After speaking to my secretary, I waited for a few minutes. Eventually, my holopad built into my desk lit up.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Captain Ife Veer
Arquitens-Class Light Cruiser Gauntlet

Captain Ife Veer was bored.

This was an unfortunately common issue for her. Being assigned to Minda 3 had seemed like an opportunity for her. Sure, it's a backwater, but the outer rim is filled chock full of pirates, rebels, and other ne'er-do-wells that infest these savage reaches.

But here she is, bored out of her mind, bouncing a small rubber ball against the wall of her office onboard the Gauntlet, floating in geosynchronous orbit above Accordia. Stuck in a dead end position, never to see the glory of combat.

Suddenly, her intercom chimes, messing up her throw and sending the ball careening into her jaw.

Wincing, she answered, and was incredibly surprised to see the face of the Governor, Las Mola, on the holo. He was quite young, at only 21 years of age, sporting a mop of scraggly black hair hidden under his cap, and a youthful face with slightly rounded cheeks. His skin was very lightly tanned, and his eyes were a muddy brown. Of course, none of these colors came through on the holo, but they were dragged from the depths of her memories when he called.

"Captain"

She snapped off a quick salute. "Governor, sir. How can I be of service?"

He studied her with sharp eyes and more intelligence than she thought he was capable of.

"What scanning capabilities does the Gauntlet have?"

"...Decent, sir. Enough to cover any attempts to land on the capital continent, at the very least"

"What other capabilities?"

"Basic military scan capabilities include high-frequency scanning, so the Gauntlet is a step above most civilian ships"

"Could the Gauntlet scan for wrecks and debris?"

She paused for a minute, debating the question. Finally, she answered.

"Unless they are buried deep, it's possible."
His eyes seemed to shine.

"Good. I want full scans of the other major landmasses of Minda 3, along with scans of the other planets in the system. Once finished, report your findings back to me."

"Apologies for questioning your orders, sir, but that would leave the capital undefended!"

"Correct Captain. Thankfully, there's not much of worth here. Something I wish to rectify. So get to it." With that, he shut the holo off. Rude, but that was the last thing on Ife's mind.

Scanning for wreckage? Minda had always been a pass-through system at best, but it had been the site of some CIS and Republic sites and skirmishes. Any wreckage, while old, might still hold value.

Ife smiled, a terrifying thing. The governor finally seemed to be doing something interesting. She only hoped it might lead to some fun.

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Governor Las Mola
Capitol Building, Accordia

As I closed the holo call and moved onto my next set of actions, I shivered slightly. As if a great beast had just started to awaken.

Regardless, I put those thoughts, and their potential consequences aside, and prayed that they would never resurface.

After my bout of self-delusion, I made another call, this time to the leader of Drillers United.

The holo powered up, and there stood the visage of what I could only call a stereotype. A grizzled man with a large beard, wrinkles, and what could only the stains of dust and soot clinging to his uniform answered.

A gruff voice blared from the call.

"Governor. Whaddya want?"

The tone was disrespectful, but I think I can change that. Just can't show him that I'm legitimately intimidated. And through a holo-call? That would be embarrassing.

"President Kree, I have a business proposition for you."

"I don't take bribes"

Good. Not what I was saying, but good.

"I assure you, it's nothing of the sort. I was instead hoping to utilize your connections to
improve and expand Minda's mining industry, creating more jobs and expanding the economy. Do you happen to have any contacts in the asteroid mining business?"

"…I'm listening."

Fuck yeah.

Let's get this bread.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Author's note: Hi there, its me, the author. Just wanted to say thanks to all the wonderful comments I've received, and how many have read the 1st chapter(1,020 on QQ!!!).

I, of course, continue to welcome any and all constructive criticism regarding my writing, Star Wars lore inconsistencies, and your thoughts on where the story is going/should go.

Thanks so much for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Minda 1
- Population: 0
- Military Forces: 0
- Planet Type: Volcanic World
Minda 1-A
- Population: 0
- Military Forces: 0
- Moon Type: Barren

Minda 2
- Population: Undetermined number of primitives
- Military Forces: Undetermined number of primitives
- Planet Type: Hyper-Dense Jungle
Minda 2-A
- Population: 0
- Military Forces: 0
- Moon Type: Archipelago Filled Ocean

Minda 3
- Population: 200,000 Imperial Citizens(mixed species)
- Military Forces: ~3600
- Planet Type: Flat Plains
Minda 3-A
- Population: 0
- Military Forces: 0
- Moon Type: Barren
Minda 3-B
- Population: 0
- Military Forces: 0
- Moon Type: Barren

Minda 4
- Population: 0
- Military Forces: 0
- Planet Type: Ringed Barren Desert

Minda 0-A
- Population: 0
-Military Forces: 0
-Asteroid Belt Type: Super-Asteroids, many of which are dwarf-planet sized.

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Hi there, just wanted to create some sort of comprehensive list of things here. There will be another informational with a more detailed breakdown of Las's available military forces, but this is just an overview and a way for me to keep things organized.

As always, I'm open to suggestions, and thank you for reading. The response has been incredible, across all platforms('cept for SV, mods have to clear Cap 2 there first).

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Military Strength Overview ( as of Jan 29, 2025, 1:04pm, PST)

• 1 StormTrooper Company: 200 Troopers, 50 personal guard, 100 Support Personnel
• 195 Imperial Army Line Companies: 152 troopers per company, 180 personnel total
• 1 Imperial Attack Armor Company: 232 troopers, 100 Support Personnel, 10 Medium Imperial Assault Tanks, 10 Light Imperial-Class Repulsor Tank 1-L's, 8 Heavy Imperial Class Repulsor Tank 1-H's, 9 Assorted Heavy Weapons Repulsor Lifts, and 4 AT-ST's.
• 2 Tie Squadron's: 24 Tie Pilots, 50 Support Personnel, 24 Tie Fighters.
• 1 Arquitens Class Light-Cruisers: 100 assorted personnel.
• 5 Cargo-Oriented Gozanti Class Cruisers: 60 total crew(12 per) and 50 assorted planetside support personnel.
• 4 CR92a Assassin-Class Corvettes: 320 total crew(80 per)
• 15 ARC-170's: 30 crew(2 per)
• 10 V-Wings: 10 Crew

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Hi there, just wanted to toss this out before the next chapter. Mostly just here to give both myself and all y'all a concise list of Las's military forces for easy reference. Will try to update this as the story progresses, but feel free to remind me if I seem to have forgotten.

As always, constructive criticism regarding my writing, and in the case of this post, especially my lore-accuracy, along with ways to move the story forward are always welcome.

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-3: Love Dat Trash
I was sat in my office, doing Very Important Work. I was brute force calculating the precise necessary trajectories needed to maximize potential profit and secure overwhelming victory.

"Kobe!"

The rubber ball missed wildly, bouncing throughout the room, forcing me to cower bravely take cover behind my desk.

From my hiding place fortress steel, I heard the hiss of the doors to my office. Immediately, I jumped into my seat and flattened my uniform just in time for Darna to walk into my office. Clad in the stark grey uniform most imperial bureaucrats wear which contrasted nicely with her teal blue skin, she cut a sharp, professional figure. The type of office worker you know gets shit done.

"Hello Darna, what hav-" Before I could greet her, my totally calculated high velocity projectile rebounded off a wall, smacked the top of my skull, and went flying right into Darna's waiting hand.

I withered under her glare as I rubbed the top of my head.

"I see you're working hard" she says in a clearly unamused tone.

"I was brute force calculating the precise necessary-"

"You were playing with a ball"

"I was playing with a ball"

A silence stretched between us, one that Las's memories told me were not unlike those suffered under his mothers wrath.

With a sigh, she placed a datapad on my desk. Taking the opportunity for what it is, I quickly engrossed myself in the numbers. Whatever makes her stop looking at me like a disappointment.

"The prospectors from Eckshi Mining have reported that the asteroid belts are filled not only with a bevy of dwarf planet sized asteroids, but there seem to be some fairly considerable possible resource deposits. They're asking to buy the rights to portions of the belt."

"Absolutely not. I'm willing to rent out portions of the belt for mining claims, but no permanent ownership"

Hopefully, this system would allow me to make some solid cash. Enough, and I could fund some new infrastructure. I was thinking of setting up a refinery/mining base on one of the super-asteroids, which could fund other expansions, which would fund other expansions, and so on and so forth.

Then I realized something.

"Darna, why are you here in person? This could have been sent directly to my terminal"

She seemed to pause, like a deer caught in headlights. A clear nervousness in her body language told me that whatever she was about to say, it couldn't be good.

"...I just wanted to ask about your plans moving forward"

Odd, but I doubt this is the crux of the issue. "What about them?"

"...I wanted to know where you are going to source the…labor for your upcoming infrastructure projects."

Labor…oh! "Don't worry about it, I don't do that slavery shit."

My crude language seems to surprise her, almost as much as my declaration. "But wouldn't it be easier…?"

"First of all, slavery is for braindead social climbers who can't comprehend the real worth of sentient capital. Secondly, if I bring slaves into the system, that means slave labor businesses will start setting up shop, taking work from the locals. Not only will that inevitably invite more crime(the Hutt's terrify me, though I won't tell her that), but it's bound to get my office firebombed by protesters and my mailbox pumped chock full of anthrax! Also slavery is just bad for local businesses, including me, so…"

Darna just stands there, frozen in what must be complete awe of my incredible speechifying skills.

"...you don't support slavery…because it's bad for business?"

"And because I can comprehend the worth of sentient capital, yes."

She just stares at me in confusion. I sigh, wishing I had a whiteboard or something(investment idea? Don't know who would buy one with holograms around but maybe?).

"Okay, so think of it like this. People, that is sentients, produce value. They do this by getting an education, working a job, buying things, paying taxes. While cheap labor can produce shit real cheap, those slaves aren't producing as much value for the economy and society as they would if they were free, educated, and working better jobs. With more people engaging in the economy, more companies spring up, more inventors, more investments, more new technology, etc… This allows the society as a whole to grow. All slavery really does is produce cheap labor, and throws away all the potential those slaves might have. How many might become doctors, decorated war heroes, hyper-skilled scientists and inventors? How many of them might change the world? It's a waste I tell you, complete and utter waste. Not only that, but slaves are people, with emotions, a will to live, etc… that means that by enslaving people, I would be inviting their hatred onto myself. I'm trying to MINIMIZE the number of enemies I make, and slavery would mean a whole CASTE of people would hate my guts. That's not worth it to me, no siree."

Confusion and wide eyes. Does she not get it? "Ahh, whatever, you don't gotta get it. Anyways, while you're here, has Captain Veer sent any reports?"

The query seemed to rile her from within her mind, and she snapped straight back into secretary mode.

"Ah, yes sir. Captain Veer has already done scans of both remaining continents planet-side, along with both moons, and is currently in the process of scanning Minda 2. Apparently, the other continents are more diverse in regards to biomes, while both moons have some deep canyons that could hold both mining facilities or hidden defense hangars. Also, the wreckage of an old Republic Acclimator has been identified on Minda 3-A, though due to the precarious positioning of the wreck, the Captain thought it too dangerous to investigate."

An Acclamator? I slid my datapad over to me as Darna sent the files. Opening the scan results up, it took me a few seconds to find the Acclamator. Looking at it, it was certainly in a bad position. Dangling over a ravine, the only reason it hadn't fallen was because it hit the ravine at an angle, and the nose seemed to be stuck in the opposite wall, stopping it from sliding further. It would certainly be tough to recover, but it looked to be in decent shape.

Scorch marks marred the hull, but otherwise there seemed to be few penetrations, and no missing pieces or armor panels.

"Call up the Sector Office at Dubrillion, see if they can't send some heavy-duty tractor-tugs out here. If we can restore this thing, it'll make for a great cargo ship."

"Cargo? I was under the impression it was a troop transport."

"Was. The Greater Empire doesn't take well to Republic symbology. One of the reasons they phased out LAAT's. Using it as a troop transport might rub some fanatics the wrong way. Also, we don't need mass troop transport. Might as well make a profit on this"

God I love money.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there. Once again, thank you for reading. Not as much going on during this chapter, mostly set up for future actions.

As always, feedback about my writing, lore accuracy, and where the story could go is always appreciated.

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-4: Darna Interlude
Secretary Darna Sabrir
Capitol Building, Accordia, Minda-3

What the fuck. WHAT THE FUCK!?!? An Imperial Governor that doesn't immediately pivot into slavery?

Thought's along these lines ran amok throughout Darna's mind as she sat at her desk a day later, bouncing a rubber ball against her desk, accompanied by a sense of sheer disbelief.

Ever since her childhood, Darna had, like many Twi'leks, been a victim. Her mother had been an unnamed pleasure slave on the Wheel, an ancient den of sin space station out on the Perlemian trade route.

She had felt a collar around her neck since childhood, and only due to her wit and willingness to learn had she escaped before she suffered the same fate as her mother. Ever since then, she had run across the galaxy, trying to find a place she could call home.

She tried everywhere. From the deserts of Tatoinne to the bustling metropolis of Corellia, from the camaraderie of the Rebellion to Ryloth itself. Yet, the deserts held Hutt's, the cities disdained her for being alien, the Rebellion brought constant risk, and Ryloth was filled with slavers, preying on her kind.

Who could've known that taking the position of secretary to a governor on a backwater planet in a backwater system would make her feel at home. The people here were too rural to care about species. Even the soldiers, brought from across the galaxy, seemed to have adapted to this culture. She was able to have conversations with fellow office workers without feeling like she was being eyed up, a price tag being attached to her within their minds.

And the governor himself. At first, he seemed to be just another spoiled rich kid given a comfy position. And he was certainly still childish, if that bit with the ball had taught her anything. Yet, with all that he was doing, and especially with that rant of his… she couldn't help but feel hopeful. That Minda might end up being an island of peace in a galaxy of hate.

Before she could daydream any longer, a ding alerted her to a message. Looking down at her terminal, she realized it was a bevy of messages.

Some were mining companies asking to rent licenses. She, as per the governor's orders, only approved a few of the smaller companies, and steered clear of the megacorporations. Didn't want to big a business moving in and crushing local competition.

One was another report from Captain Veer, confirming the wreckage of a destroyed Venator and 2 wrecked Munificents on Minda-4, the pictures did not give her hope of reconstruction. However, she quickly forwarded the message to the governor. Who would have thought that the only daughter of the esteemed Colonel Veers would not only be in the Navy, unlike her Army father, but also be stationed in the middle of nowhere.

The next message was a return from Dubrillion, approving the request for a heavy tug squad to be sent for the Acclamator, and stating that a prospecting and mining team was being sent to Minda now that the asteroid belts have proven profitable. Thankfully, Acclamators were equipped with the ability to land and take off from planets, so there was no need for specialist shipyards.

After that were return messages from various construction companies. All were smaller companies that had little going for them, so the governor had ordered offers to be made for them to set up shop on Minda 3. The idea was that their equipment holdings would be sold in exchange for both credits and some land claims on Minda 3, which the ex-owners could retire on. The companies would then be merged under the governor and used to build planet-side infrastructure. Along with these was a return letter from Takshun Orbital, agreeing to a contract to build a refinery on the largest of the dwarf-planet asteroids, along with the blueprints for an orbital station they had been contracted to draw up for the future.

Second to last were return messages from YewCast and KhaganMotors. YewCast had accepted the contract to create a basic communication infrastructure(though only if they got a percentage of the tax on it for a few years) and some new sort of communicator that was compatible with terminal and holonet tech. KhaganMotors, on the other hand, had accepted a contract to repair or salvage the vehicles found in the Acclamator once it was retrieved in exchange for both credits and the ability to keep some for themselves(without the weapons, of course)

Frankly speaking, Darna was worried. While all these projects were useful and potentially even vital, the governor was spending the Capitols savings quickly, and would be left with little currency in case of emergency. She could only hope that

These were all sent ahead to the governor in a compact form, but it was the final message that shocked her, sending the rubber ball flying right into her lekku, but she ignored the pain in favor of the message. It was on her datapad, what seemed like junk mail. But, with her past experience, she knew it was code. Rebel code used by the cell she had run with.

Quickly deciphered, it revealed a meeting point in Accordia.

Nervousness exploded in her chest. She had run with a Rebel cell for 2 years of her life before the constant death-defying odd's finally got to her, and she left.

And if Rebels were here, what did that mean for her new position? She had it pretty good, all things considered. A decent boss, nice coworkers, good pay, hell, she even had insurance. If she reported the code, she could get the Rebels arrested and insure that her life here isn't turned upside-down.

On the other hand, while the Rebellion hadn't been the best fit, she had made good friends, the type she didn't want executed.

Stealing herself, she deleted the message, and checked the time. Work was basically over, and she had a decent amount of time to get to the spot. She would go there, see what they wanted, then make her decision.

She could only hope that this didn't spiral out of control.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there, thanks for reading!

Been wanting to do a proper interlude/alternate pov chapter for a while. It's prolly a little shorter than usual, but the entire thing is just Darna checking messages and being confused, so that's fair.

Also, for those of you reading this on QQ. I am not doing smut, you degenerates. Make no mistake, I'm no pure soul myself, but this is, for all intents and purposes, my first real story. I, frankly speaking, don't trust myself to write even half-decent smut. I cross-posted on QQ because I wanted to expand my reader base and gain more feedback.

Regardless of that, thank you again for reading. As always, I'm open to feedback regarding my writing, lore accuracy, and possible directions for the story.

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Organization List
FieldTec Agricultural Concern: Largest company on the planet, owns 45% of the farms in Rolling Green's
Minda Plains Union: Union consisting of a large portion of non-corporate farmers in Rolling Green's and other large farming towns and cities.

YewCast: Largest of the few tech companies on Minda, they sell mostly home appliances to those living in the large cities, though they have been looking to expand.

KhaganMotors: Only decently sized vehicle manufacturing industry, relies mostly on imported parts to make frankenstein farming vehicles and the like.

Drillers United: Mining union that worked the mines of Augir and other mining towns.

Finally, there are the many family owned businesses that dot the planet, be they small farming companies, transport companies, repair/mechanics, and many more.

Takshun Orbital: A relatively minor orbital company from Ord Mantell. "Relative" of course being relative to the massive giants that built and maintained the Imperial deep docks there, meaning the Takshun, for a outer rim backwater like Minda, is quite large.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi there!

Just another organizational piece meant to quickly summarize the various companies that have been mentioned so far. Will try and update as the story progresses. Feel free to remind me if I seem to miss one or two companies.

Thanks for reading! All feedback accepted!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Hi there everyone, just wanted y'alls opinion on this. There are a variety of great anti-piracy patrol craft, but the cost varies(some are technically free), as does effectiveness, crew requirements, etc...

So I'm going to toss my top picks down here for y'all to discuss, along with links for each one. I'd open it for voting, but I have no idea how that works. Feel free to comment your own ideas though. Always looking for feedback!

Marauder-Class Assault Corvette

Raider I-Class Corvette

CR90 Corvette

Imperial Customs Corvette

IR-3F-Class Light Frigate

Lancer-Class Frigate

EF76 Nebulon-B Escort Frigate

Imperial II-Class Frigate

Tartan-Class Patrol Cruiser

Carrack-Class Light Cruiser

If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear them. I'm always combing over the replies to see what's new and what y'all are saying.

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-5: Deal Time Babyyyyy
I once again was standing in my office, overlooking the city from one of the windows of my office. It's not even a particularly large office, so I don't get those same window walls that Palpatine got when he was Chancellor. The lighting is nice though. And the chair. Very comfortable.

Accordia wasn't a particularly large city, all things considered. The capitol building was the largest there, standing at around 5 stories. Just above my office was a security corridor that led to the rooftop, where there were 2 landing pads, one directly on the rooftop and one attached to the side with supports. Also on the roof were 2 quad barreled AA laser repeaters for anti-fighter screening. Aside from the TIE fighters and some assorted AA repulsorlift weapons platforms, they were the only AA defenses the city had.

The city itself was fairly low standing, with the tallest building aside from the capitol being the central comms tower a block down the street. Standing at 4 stories, it worked as a data processing center, comms tower/relay, and air/space traffic control.

The rest of the city didn't breach 3 stories, and was mostly a combination of small office buildings/apartments, with the ground level being leased out to businesses. The material type of buildings actually changed outward in roughly concentric circles. In the center was the capitol building made of Ferrocrete with durasteel plating. Around the capitol building were other government buildings also made of Ferrocrete, including the comms tower, the downtown barracks, the military spaceport, etc… Going away from there are the business districts filled with office buildings and the like, mostly made of steel and concrete. Another ring away from them is where you get into pre-fab pourstone buildings. After that is where you get more locally made wooden buildings, though pourstone is still fairly common considering its durability and ease of use.

I turned from the window to go mope at my desk. It was a nice, if simple, steel desk with a terminal sitting at an angle on one side, and an intercom built into the desk on the other. 2 chairs sat opposite my own for guests. The rest of the office was a fairly small space, longer than it was wide. On both sides leading up to the door were fitted with filing cabinets, installed at my order. Within those cabinets were official, physicalized reports of materials, military strength, and other important statistics. While I miss the nice drawers and monitors that were there, these cabinets are better, and allow me to secure important documents like contracts in a place that can't be hacked.

Unfortunately, that means I now have paperwork. And not just the messages on my terminal, but physicalized paperwork.

God truly is dead.

Regardless of my existential musings, I sat down at my terminal and began my day's work with a cup of some local milk and pastries. The pastries were kinda like a poptart if they were made of fluffier bread and filled with a lemon like custard of sorts. Pretty good. The milk was bitter though. Going to have to ask Darna to source a different drink.

Flicking through the day's messages, I ruminated on the progress made so far.

Already, a third of the asteroid belt had been rented out to a variety of small mining companies, and with the refinery on Minda 0-A-5(dwarf-planet asteroid) almost complete(Takshun works fast when they don't have to fight for space) they would be paying me-sorry, the Empire, to have their resources refined to sell, or just selling to us directly.

Aside from that, the Imperial mining groups that had been approved were already setting up shop, mining on Minda 0-A-3 and prospecting other areas of the belt. This meant more ore for the refinery, which upon competition would start loading up the Gozantis and the Acclamator with refined ore to be sold to factories in neighboring systems.

Speaking of the Acclamator, it was…functional. The reactor and other vital systems had remained undamaged, and it stayed in a low power mode. This was nice, as it kept the internals breathable and the stored goods usable. Bad because now I had to fill its fuel cells. Expensive.

Within its hull was a number of goodies. This included a full complement of 80 LAAT's(66 gunships, 14 transport), 5 of which were handed over to KhaganMotors so they could more easily deliver their products planet-wide. Aside from those, there were a smattering of speeder-bikes that were given to Commander Grant to distribute as she saw fit. If she happened to take a joyride or two, I was willing to look the other way. So long as she wasn't out to kill, I was happy.

The last things in the hull were some crates of military equipment and some starfighters. The guns were outdated, to say the least. DC-15 A's were nice, with long range, and plenty of ammo, but suffered from weight and sustained fire problems, making them unwieldy in smaller spaces and short-medium ranged conflicts. They would also be handed over to Kaela, because despite what I can only assume is insanity, she is scarily competent and would know how to use them well. The starfighters, on the other hand, were odd. 10 or so V wings, the Clone interceptor, and 15 or so ARC-170's, the Clone heavy fighters. All of these would be sent to the small starfighter emplacement here, to be trained in their use. While the V-Wings lacked life support, TIEs are similar, so we already have flight suits.

The biggest thing was a single starfighter. A Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor. A Jedi Starfighter. On one hand, having a pilot fly this thing well would be a massive boon to our air/space defense, as these things are incredibly agile. On the other hand, their internals are massively stripped of pilot assistance tools because its made specifically for Jedi to navigate with the help of the Force, meaning unless I risked the attention of the Inquisition and harbored a Jedi or other Force sensitive, I was gonna have to get rid of this ship.

Best way to do that? Sell it. Cause profit. And the best person to sell it to? Grakkus Jahibakti Tingi. A Hutt, crime lord of Nar Shaddaa, and prolific collector of Jedi artifacts, from lightsabers to holocrons to, in this case, starfighters. If I could sell to him, I could make a killing. Better yet, if I could sell this thing at auction on Nar Shaddaa that he's attending, I could make even more! Some other Hutt's might try to one-up him out of spite or whatever, but considering he has a vault dedicated to Jedi memorabilia, he'll for sure out bid them. And even if he fails, I still get paid! Absolute victory!

Now I just have to figure out how to do that… Ah I'll just send a message to Darna and see if she can turn up anything useful.

Moving on, I got to the worst part of my day. Spending money. And not on nice things, but on …public safety. Fuck(frak now, right?), I just want a space yacht and a sexy space wife and more money than I can conceive of, but instead I gotta worry about the public!?

I sighed. "Just 2 years. Just gotta do this shit decent for two years, then you can fake your death as the Empire collapses and jet away to some resort for the rest of your life." My self-assurance complete, I returned to work.

On the list today were patrol craft. What with all the increasing industry, that meant that there was an increased chance at piracy. Those pesky profit takers have yet to make an appearance, so it's best to have some deterrents in place sooner rather than later. The entrepreneurs of violence will show up eventually, but if I have a decent defense, that'll ensure that only the stupid(or crazy) show up, therefore passively reducing pirate numbers. They're opportunists after all. Most smaller pirate crew's won't bother in more defended systems, because they're too afraid. Only the ones with big ships and bigger ego's will try something, and get fucking blasted out of orbit. But I digress.
There were many ships that I could purchase. The problem was three-fold. Acquisition, Cost, and Labor. Not all the ships I was thinking about were accessible, either because they weren't sold, weren't finished, or haven't been conceived of yet. On top of that, while I was solidly in the black now that those contracts and ore hauling had started to pay off, I wasn't swimming in credits. And finally, even with an influx of new businesses and the gears of economy chugging away, I still lacked all that many people. The population of Minda 3 had only gone up by some 3,000 people(excluding births, that is).

Then I came upon a solid choice. I needed something powerful enough to scare pirates, fast enough to respond to emergencies, small enough to man it, and cheap enough to buy them. What I found, was the CR92a Assasin-class Corvette. Standing at 139 meters in length, it was stronger in both armament and armor than its CR90 cousin. It boasted 6 dual turbolaser batteries, 2 quad laser cannons, a proton torpedo launcher, and a tractor beam projector. Put in groups with the ARC-170's and V-Wing's that were found in the Acclamator, and there was a solid anti-piracy squad.

The CR92a would act as a powerful center-line, raining turbolaser fire on enemies, while 2 ARC-170's could both engage the enemy and keep fire off the CR92a with their rear mounted turret.. The V-Wings would utilize their mobility to flank and harass the enemy. Pirate's wouldn't have a chance, and the profit margins would stay healthy!

With all that done, I sent out the orders for 4 CR92a's, costing me a heft 10 million credits, leaving only 5 mil for emergencies of the state(If/When I need to cut my losses and take off).

Now that I had finished all the grueling work, I decided to lean back and doze off for a minute.

Just as I was about to fall asleep, the whirring of my door jolted me away.

Clearing my eyes, I blinked them open just in time to see Darna walk through the door lookin mighty nervous.

"You alright there? Look like you saw a ghost?"

"...no sir. Just met with some…old friends. Told them you were more of an enterprising type, and that they might get something out of dealing with you."

She shuffled around, and I now understood what was happening with perfect clarity.

She's embarrassed! She was chatting with some friends and had a few too many and accidentally promised she would introduce them to her boss! Of course, I won't say anything, so as to not embarrass her any further. Instead I just nodded.

"I understand. When would they be willing to meet?"

Her eyes seemed to shine.

"I can have them here in 15 minutes sir!"

I could feel my eyebrows shoot up into my hat. That's fast, what are they doing, camping across the street?

"Ok then, I'll trust you on this."

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sidheth T'vor
Minda 3, Accordia

As Sidheth waited anxiously for the elevator to climb, she thought back to how this whole debacle began.

She and the leader of Phyto Cell, Vilil, had been working on establishing a base/outpost somewhere in the outer rim. Dubrillion, the richest world in the sector wasn't to far, bringing with it plenty of targets of opportunity.

Minda had seemed like the perfect system. Near-empty, plenty of places to hide, etc…

Then she remembered something. An old friend of hers who had left Phyto Cell some years ago had taken up a job in the Capital of Minda 3, Accordia, as a secretary. So, when Phyto Cell came looking for spots, she and Vilil decided to go meet up with Darna, see how she was doing, and ask if she had any decent intel, considering she had been there longer than them.

It was to their surprise when she revealed that she was the secretary for the Imperial Governor of Minda. Apparently he was a cut above the rest of the Imps in regards to public policy and the like, and actually improved the state of the system he ruled.

She had scoffed at the idea, but here she was, a week later, in an elevator on the way to meet him as a potential "business partner". Darna had said that he was more profit driven, and that they could probably hide their rebel business by just disguising it as legitimate and approaching him as if they were looking to buy land.

Walking into the office, she paused when she noticed the space. Or lack thereof. The office was fairly bland, the walls lined with cabinets, and a simple desk decorating the end of the room, situated near some windows.

Behind the desk sat a somewhat lean, pale skinned and brown haired man in his early twenties, though the bag's under his eyes seemed to age him a whole decade.

"Ah, hello, hello, please, take a seat. Talia Fortath, correct?"

"That would be me." She replied. Her cover story was as such. She was an entrepreneur that had contacted her old friend Darna to see about buying a license for development of orbital facilities in the asteroid ring. While these facilities would exist(thanks to the generous financial donations of some unnamed sympathetic senator), they would exist almost solely to disguise the fact that within would be rebel activity. The facility would conduct regular business, and if a package or data chip slipped or was forgotten every now and again, no one would take notice. And if there were some hangars that were never open to customers, that happens occasionally.

"So, you want a license to build a station here in the belt. From the forms submitted here, I can see that it would be an R&R general station. Light refit capabilities, some repairs, refuel, etc… While all that seems in order, I have you here for two reasons. The first is that you're Darna's friend, so doing this over terminal might be a bit rude considering the effort she went through to get you here. The second is that I have a proposal for you."

Sidheth went still as soon as she heard him say he had her, loosened up as he continued, and stiffened again at the end. A proposal? Was this the part where StormTroopers march in as he laughs maniacally and says "I propose you die, rebel scum!!! HAHAHAHAHAHA". So she was pleasantly confused when he continued.

"You see, not too long ago I contracted a company by the name of Takshun Orbital from Ord Mantell to build the refinery complex out on the belt, and to draw up plans for an orbital station around Minda-3. This, when completed, would make your R&R station more or less obsolete. Instead, I wanted to talk to you about creating a refit station. You see, while the new station will have a great many facilities, it won't have any way of refitting/repairing ships larger than light freighters. I'd like to instead create a joint project with you. I would provide a portion of the funding and control some docks of the yard for Imperial use only, while the other docks would be yours to do with, though we would still be taxing the whole operation. What do you say?"

Overwhelmed. That was an appropriate word. The governor had talked, and talked, and talked, and by the end of it she was actually fairly convinced. While the original station was definitely more hidden and secretive, it lacked the facilities to support any larger rebel activity in the area. With a scrap/refit/repair yard, they would be able to scrap ships for parts, then send those parts to cells who need them, right under the Imperial's noses.

Sure they would be in a fairly precarious position, but this had the potential to help the rebellion in way's Phyto Cell had never before been able to. The scale, which was something the rebellion lacked, was great.

"I would have to speak with my team on this, but it is certainly promising."

A smile bloomed onto his face. It seemed to glow like a golden credit chit.

"That's wonderful. I hope to see you very soon!"

With that slightly ominous message, Sidheth left, sparing only a glance at Darna, who was busy on the comms, before heading to the elevator, and returning to base.

There was a lot of work to be done.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hell yeah! While she didn't confirm anything, the potential for a mixed scrap/repair/refit yard would be huge!

Sure, it wouldn't pull numbers like planet side scrap yards, but it would allow me to scrap those wreck Clone Wars ships in system instead of selling them, along with any future pirate vessels. It would let miners refit new equipment onto their ships, or repair damage from asteroids. It would let me upgrade/repair the ships in my slowly growing defense force. And the money! Fuck Yeah! I would for sure be charging people extra for repairs in an Imperial yard if the others were full!

Not to mention the taxes! Taxing the sales, the services, shuttle rides to the surface or the other station when built, the fucking snacks bought by people waiting for their repairs to be finished, Never in my life did I ever think I was gonna love taxes, yet here I am, the TaxMan himself.

However, I still had a problem. Population. There was a decent solution to this, however. Clones. And not new ones. I ain't got the money for that. What I do have though, is a trade fleet of an Acclamator and 5 Gozantis flying about the galaxy selling ore. All it takes is a message, and they can start putting up posters and shit advertising a place for clones after they were displaced from the empire.

And they would still be in decent shape as well, as the only accelerated growth occurred during the initial stages. And by now, the chips in their heads either don't work, were removed, or simply have no reason to be activated. This means that I get a solid population willing and eager to work, with prior military experience, and a solid loyalty if earned.

Honestly, it's so hard not to win at this life thing.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks. Famous last words up there, huh?

Anyways, here to say thanks for reading, and to answer some questions/concerns.

1. I am doing a mix of canon and legends/eu. This is because I like parts of both of them, and feel like while legends has more stuff to pull from, canon has some cool ideas that can be better utilized if mixed with legends.
2. For QQ readers, I put this story under NSFW for two reasons, those being that the SFW page is dryer than your girlfriend(imaginary) and that this fic will contain gore, viscera, and some depictions of sexual slavery.
3. I think this must have been lost in translation somewhere, but I keep seeing people say that Las has an older brother in Imperial Intelligence. He doesn't. He has 3 older sisters; an ISD captain, an ace TIE pilot, and a II agent. For a group of super nerds on a decades old forum, you'd think you get this right.

Aside from allat, as you guys know, I love your comments. They make my day, especially the theorycrafting about ships, tactics, diplomacy, and where the story will go, so rock on with that shit.

-Freefaller

 

[Nikoli]

Omake

Scene opens. MC is in bed recovering from magic space flu. Doors are thrown open and Darna rushes in with what seems to be half the stormtroopers and several of her aides.

Darna, "Governor, we have to get you to the secure bunker. Right now!"

MC, "Darna?.. What's going on?"

Darna, "No time to explain you may be in danger."

MC, "Say no more!" throws off the remaining sickness and quickly leaves with the guards.

Scene closes.

Next scene opens into a very active command and control bunker underneath the Air Traffic Control tower.

MC, "Alright, now that I am here, what is going on?"

Garrison Commander, "Governor, we are in the process of locking down the system and grounding all traffic until the fleet arrives. Their ETA is within the next 30 minutes."

Darna, "No worries, we are well protected here until then."

Commodore of the fleet, "Governor, I am pleased to report that we have activated the reserves and are in the process of launching our fighter and bombers. The various mining operations have been informed of the situation and ordered to remain grounded at their current locations until after the fleet arrives."

MC slowly looks around, "This is all very interesting but no one has yet to inform me what is going on!!"

Command staff looks around at one another, finally Darna steps forward. "Governor, we received the emergency communication one hour ago from the Imperial Prateorian Guard. The Emperor is dead, along with Lord Vader, all of the Grand Moffs, Moffs, and planetary governors, who were attending a ball on the Death Star. Per Imperial Contengency Order No. 69, Imperial Succession Lists, you are the next highest ranking civilian authority left." Darna kneels, "The Emperor is dead. Long Live the Emperor!" Entire command staff repeats gesture, exclaiming, "The Emperor is dead. Long Live the Emperor!"

MC sort of just stands there in shock. Then rallies, "Very well, if this is the will of the people. Then I have no choice but to answer this unlooked for call."

In the background, Sensor operator calls out, "Emperor, the fleet has arrived!" Cue cut away to the holoprojector showing arrival of the Sector Fleet and Death Squadron with the Executor at the head.

MC, "Contact the Fleet, we have work to do." Close up of MC's face (Chiseled Jaw Line) showing steely determination and resolve for what is to come.

Excerpt from "Rise and Fall of the Republic, Empire, and back to the Republic" Holovid. A dramatic historical reenactment of the True Story of the life of the Emperor from his humble origins on Corusant to his eventual death at the venerable age of 122. He stewarded the Empire after the death of the beloved Emperor Palpatine and the subsequent police actions taken to bring stability to a galaxy teetering on the edge of full scale war again.

Also, the Imperial Archivists would like us to remind our viewers that at no time did the Emperor's mother threaten to send him to the infantry if he didn't accept the position, do a good job as Emperor, and make progress in the next two years toward stability and prosperity. That is strictly propaganda used by his detractors.

Joining us today to discuss this important time is Dr….
(Rest is for you to fill in and add to the next scene of the Omake).

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-6: Immigration Easy! No Green Card Needed!
For once, I am not coming to you from the safety of my office. Instead, I am standing in a refurbished LAAT gunship, one that had been repainted in Imperial colors.

The ship is flying fairly fast, the wind whipping across the bulkhead doors. We are enroute to the continent east of the main settlements, for the inauguration of the first real city there.

It has been a solid month since meeting with the entrepreneurs, and things were actually looking up. As jobs opened up on both the refinery station and across the planet, more and more colonists were streaming in, courtesy of the ad's we put out. Apparently, people had been asking if they could get a ride on the trade fleet to Minda even if they weren't clones, and with so much space, the captains had no reason to say no.

With all of that happening, the Minda system had seen an influx of nearly ten-thousand new people, with nearly two-thousand of those being clones. While the colonists had spread about the various towns and cities, a good portion flocked to a new factory being built by YewCast. After scouting was done, I had begun selling land to various companies and individuals on the other continents of Minda 3.

We had eventually decided that it was a good idea to actually name both Minda-3 and the continents within. Therefore, Minda-3 was now officially known as Ugea, the central capital continent, was called Shubeon, while the northern and eastern continents were Mukrix and Alhea respectively.

Alhea was found to have an abundance of metals in its mountains that, once refined, were useful in small electronic parts. YewCast had paid for a decent chunk of land around there for a factory and mining facility they wanted to build, in an attempt to consolidate their own supply-chain. I allowed it, on the condition that they helped with the setup of the city that was bound to spring up around there. And when the colonists came knocking, looking for work, there was a whole prebuilt city, ready for action.

In fact, once things had calmed down in the newly named city of Vrectin, I had let the people hold an election to determine their mayor for the next five years. It was a test-bed for introducing democracy to the people of the Minda system in slow doses. The hope was that, if I was able to ensure that the candidates were qualified, then these cities would be able to govern themselves, and sort out corruption themselves, therefore reducing the amount of paperwork I have to do.

After their first election, the new mayor had insisted that I come down and cut the ribbon of the Vrectin city hall, and have dinner with her and her wife.

So here I was, flying over to a cold shithole of four-thousand people, to cut a ribbon and politely decline dinner. Fuck.

At least the clones seemed to be doing well. In fact, the pilots of the LAAT that I was in were clones. The clones had taken fairly well to being treated like actual people once they arrived. Like the other colonists, they had been given tax cuts and the possibility of land grants/low interest loans to start businesses. The majority, however, fell right back into military positions. While some found their place in the army, or the system defense fleet, or as pilots, the majority wanted little to do with military conflicts. Those clones opted instead for joining the planetary police force. They patrolled streets, checked id at checkpoints, patrolled the roads between cities, and so on. There they fit right in, working in roles they were used to that didn't treat them like slaves or meat shields.

I am pulled from my musings to the pilots announcing our approach of the city. While the windows on the LAAT were small, I caught glimpses of cranes, smokestacks, and ferrocrete/pourstone roof's. The ship shuddered as it made its landing, and the doors swung open to show a stark black landing pad, rimmed with yellow warning markers that matched the color of the YewCast logo emblazoned on the ground.

As I stepped out, my personal guard encircling me and checking the area, I was met by a Pantoran women of about fifty years or so. She sported a beige suit with ash colored linings and a badge above her heart in the shape of an eight-pointed star, while the center held the Imperial insignia and aurebesh inscriptions for wisdom, leadership, loyalty, surrounding the center. At the bottom of the badge was the simple title of Mayor of Vrectin. I had instituted these badges as simple identifiers. They weren't overly flashy, but there was only one per city, so they had to be symbolically passed down from mayor to mayor. The hope was that this would help ease tensions between candidates, like how U.S presidents used to welcome the new president into office when they lost the reelection campaign.

"Hello Governor, it's so nice to meet you, my name is…

At that point, I was just going through the motions. Shake hands, say pleasantries, walk, shake hands, etc… as I met with the mayor and her staff whose names I couldn't be bothered to remember. My attention was primarily focused on the buildings as we stepped into a landspeeder and took a tour of the city.

The biggest was certainly the YewCast complex, towering over the rest of the town, situated further up the mountainside. The factory was large, and seemingly built into the mountain, while long tracks stretched further up to the various mining facilities, their trains sending materials and workers and other sorts up and down. The rest of the city was mostly drab in its construction, with boring grays and beiges of ferrocrete and pourstone being the primary colors.

The most interesting thing wasn't the city, but the people. Not only were there more non-humans here than in most other places, but everyone seemed to be utilizing a phone-like device.

It clearly isn't a smartphone, but something more like a PDA. Tablet-like, many were carrying them in arm-mounted holsters, or smaller versions slid into pockets. They were the first generation YewCast IntraLink PDA's, the big phone project that I had paid for.

The IntraLink was incredibly useful. It connected to the still growing planetary comms network so you could access your home/work terminal from afar(assuming you had the credentials), it had picture/recording features, and many of the basic functions you would expect out of a smartphone. The more advanced IntraLink/Av was more expensive, and the one that I held in my breast pocket, which came with an embedded holo-system for holo-calls/recordings. It could also expand to fit more things on screen, though I wouldn't be using it for long, as I had charged YewCast with making a military specific version in semi-secret(tighter lips, but not death-star secret). It would have better cyber-security and extra military specific-functions like tactical maps, easier connection to superiors, and more. I was hoping to expand production and see if I can't sell them to other governors or military commanders for that extra bit of cash.

Some people were even playing the games that were developed for it! Real gaming consoles and the like were still a way's off, but little mobile games were the start. The idea of course, being that since the Empire owns the communications system used to download things, people who make games will have to pay a tax to let people download the game, which means that they have to charge to buy the games, etc… Obviously the games currently available on the limited network are free, and work more as proof of concept for potential future companies, but it's a work in progress, and was fairly easy to implement at this level considering how much it might make in the future. The games market back on Earth was one of, if not the largest entertainment industry in the world, so imagine the profits on a galactic scale? Millions of loot boxes!!!

I'm once again pulled from my greed-filled musings as we finally land at City hall, I prepare to make a silly five minute speech and cut a ribbon.

I am so bored.

Just kill me.

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alvi Mola
Imperial Factory, Experimental Wing, Lothal

Alvi was bored. So bored, she had resorted to bouncing a rubber ball against the wall for the better part of an hour while she waited.

She had done incredibly well in all of her tests back home, and had served for two years as an ace TIE pilot on the borders of Hutt space. She had even gone on a joint mission with some of the aces from Lord Vader's personal Death Squadron. She was one of the best!

So, naturally, when she had been voluntold to test a new TIE prototype, she had been ecstatic! Few ever tried to innovate on the TIE design, because it was already well made and cost-effective, so to get to test state of the art TIE prototypes? It was a dream come true.

Problem is, ever since she got to Lothal, all she's done is sit in simulators and fill out surveys for weeks! Not even some R&R! Her hair had been stuck in the regulation tight bun, and she wanted to flaunt her signature pigtails, and it sucked. Not for the last time she felt envy for her siblings. Shal was the captain of an ISD, so she could style her hair however she wished on her ship, and Zyx was a spy, she probably changed clothes and hairstyles all the time.

Even Las probably got to choose his hairstyle, since he was a governor and all. She sighed, as her thoughts turned to the youngest and only boy of the family. Las and her had been inseparable during childhood, but had drifted apart during their time at the Eriadu Academy. He had struggled with the subjects, and was almost always in trouble for contradicting the teachers opinions, or questioning orders, all while she had shot ahead straight into the pilot program.

And the dressing down Mom gave him was horrific. She didn't say much, but the disappointment and disgust was visceral in a way only Commandant Mola could ever do. Las hadn't just been booted from the academy, he had been stuck as a governor on a backwater. While governor was a good position, to be the governor of an outer-rim system was basically asking to either stagnate or get killed by pirates. If that wasn't enough, he had to improve the system in real and tangible ways?

Honestly, it was horrible. Alvi understood why her mother had done it, Las couldn't stay at the academy, or anywhere where he could further bring shame to the Mola family. But to threaten him with infantry service? She shuddered. To fight in the Imperial Infantry front lines was to be part of an unstoppable force that would toss as many bodies into a pit just to walk over the corpses instead of going around. Of course, she would never publicly say this, as disparaging the Emperor's armed forces wasn't a good look, and she hadn't gotten this far without some understanding of etiquette.

As she sighed deeply once more, ruminating on the fate of her brother, her com bead blared static for a second, startling her. She answered as the rubber ball went flying across the room, bouncing all over the place.

"Squadron Commander Mola, report to testing bay 12-C immediately, be ready for testing"
"Understood, Squadron Commander Mola en route."

She quickly threw her flight suit on, but just as she put her helmet on, the rubber ball smacked into her cheek.

Rubbing the pain away, she put her helmet on and made her way out of the barracks.

Walking down the hallways, she passed a number of staff and droids, some of which gave her pitying looks as she passed. Clearly, they were worried she would die in testing. HA! As if, Alvi was one of the best!

With that self-assurance warming her chest, she entered the testing bay, only to pause in shock.

Before her, speaking with some officers and technicians, was a blue skinned Chiss man in a sharp white uniform. The badge on his chest indicated he was a Grand Admiral. And there was only one Chiss Grand Admiral in the Empire. As he turned to her, she did the only thing she could. She removed her helmet.

"Grand Admiral, Sir! Squadron Commander Alvi Mola, reporting for duty, Sir!" she saluted, a definite nervousness pervading her mind.

"At ease, Commander." He said in a deep, somewhat gravelly voice. It sent shivers up her spine, and not the good kind. "Just the person I was looking for"

He turned, and gestures for her to approach.

"I've seen your scores, Commander. Quite impressive. Top 10 at your academy, top 5 of those here. Tell me, why haven't you managed to make first place yet?"

Alvi was caught off guard for a moment. From a compliment to an insult? "...I like the TIE, sir, but it always felt… naked. I like a good adrenaline rush, don't get me wrong, but the standard TIE is wildly dangerous, and I've never felt like I could give the Empire my all with it as my fighter. I always performed better in the sims when flying ships like the old republic V-Wing, since I felt like it had more to give."

Thrawn seemed to study her face with his blood red eyes, staring into her soul. He smiled.

He then gestured down the hangar to a repulsorlift carrying in a ship. Her eyes widened, and a feral grin stretched across her face.

"Then commander, you will certainly be happy…

…with this."
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks, I'm back with another episode of man v.s bureaucracy. There is, as always, no winner!

Now I'd like to address some questions and concerns I've seen floating about, along with clarifying some things.

1. The current year is 2BBY, specifically around the star wars equivalent of late march.
2. While 15,000 may seem like a lot of troops, that's because it is. I have yet to properly work this fact into the story, but Minda is a backwater among backwater, and troops/officers/companies that were either shit at their jobs, or pissed off the wrong nepo-baby got sent to Minda, amongst other places. It's the dead end station of the Myto sector.
3. I don't think I made this clear in the last chapter, but Las does not know that Darna has rebel sympathies, or that the scrapyard is a rebel run operation. For all that he is fairly intelligent and business minded, this spy shit is new to him. If he had known, he would have denied their request because rebels means attention which is exactly the kind of thing he wants to avoid, which also leads well into the next point.
4. Las is neither rich nor ambitious. While a lot of you have given great points, from Gladiator's to turning Minda 2 into a training ground for stealth troopers, or Academies, and so on and so forth, fact remains that Las doesn't have the cash or will to do that. All the initial investments in mining, stations, refineries, and the like are all gambles, where he tosses a lot of money, and rolls the dice to see if he gets a great return(which he so far has) but he knows this isn't sustainable, and now that things are evening out, he's gonna start slowing down. Even if he does get to that level of richness, it's not likely he'll invest into such resource and attention heavy projects like those would bring him. His goal is make the system decent, pass his mother's inspection, then either huddle down in Minda, or if things start looking bad, have a decent escape ship and plan ready and waiting. Tatooine is lovely this time of year, right?

That aside, it's been a pleasure. Any feedback on writing, lore, or ways the story could move forward are, as always, greatly appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-7: Upgrades People, Upgrades!

My terminal hummed quietly as I surveyed the statistics of the Minda system. Three and a half months into this backwater position and I was doing pretty well for myself. A refinery in the belt, a scrapyard being built, new cities springing up, more colonists… Frankly speaking things are looking good.

And so, I turn my vision to the future. While things are good, they aren't what I expect Las's mother to consider adequate. While digging through his memories is a foggy experience, the general sense I get from Commandant Mola is harshness. The kind of person that sets high standards because she herself is capable of achieving them. Very much like Tarkin. Probably why he promoted her to Commandant.

In terms of further improvements, I have some options, which I have condensed into a plan of sorts. That plan was to invest, invest, invest! That is to say, invest in the people of the Minda system. After all, what is an economy if not the collective actions of a shit ton of people? And if those people are educated and the like, that means they are getting better paying jobs(income tax!), buying expensive things(sales tax!), purchasing land(property tax!), and more.

The first step was education. Simple enough, all things considered. Try and poach teachers from neighboring systems with tax breaks and higher government salaries. If I could one day build a university that would do very well, but that's for later.

The second step is expansion. By expanding the colonies, more jobs open up with the newly founded industries, which attract workers and their families, which expand the population, therefore allowing for the expansion of the colonies, etc… This includes setting up mining colonies on Minda-1 and 4, in the hopes that there are valuable resources there.

The third step is trade. With all these new resources, if I expand the trade fleets, and when the capitol station is set up in orbit, that will allow for both myself and independents to export their ore. This will in turn attract more companies, entrepreneurs, and independents to Minda looking to get a piece of the pie. All this fuels a growing economy, bringing in more settlers, who get fed through steps 1 and 2.

The fourth step is less of a step and more of a guide throughout the whole process. Moderate yourself. If all this expansion happens to fast, not only do I risk bankruptcy, which might force me to beg the sector moff for money(not happening) or Las's family(just kill me), but if I bring to much prosperity in a short time frame I get the wrong kind of attention, which could get me killed for someone else's ego.

City infrastructure had been improving as well, with better public transportation, housing, and education, the people had been very happy, especially because I had only slightly raised taxes for short periods of time to pay for some of these. Most of the budget came from government run installations in space. With the spider-web idea really coming into fruition, each region of Ugea, even the oceans, were designated with a number, Accordia being Region 1. Each region that was inhabited would have a Nexus, that being the largest city in the region, and then multiple sub-Nexus's that connected to the smaller towns/villages that were spread about. This allowed for resources, developments, infrastructure and more to follow a route that makes sense, spreading from the most populated places down to the boonies.

Now, there are some other measures I have been planning that would be beneficial, but nothing particularly major, as they were mostly administrative measures.

These included the formation of planetary councils, groups of people elected by the citizens to represent the area they lived in at a higher level, like U.S Senators. These representatives would number at 3 per region, and could only hold office for 5 years, after which they had to step down, and could not be re-elected. These representatives would be chosen based on a tiered voting system. Towns/villages with a population exceeding 300 would vote for their choice of 3, after which those teams would be sent to the sub-nexus cities in their region to be voted on again by both the people of the city and all the towns that sub-nexus was connected to. The team that won that vote would then go on to their region's Nexus, at which point all citizens of that region would vote on the team of 3 that would represent them for the next 5 years.

This system would give the people a sense of choice and control, and create a bridge between them and me. The most important effect, however, is that it reduces the amount of work I have to do! With this in place, the problems of the people of Minda will be condensed down, instead of me having to go flying all around the planet meeting with locals to find out what the problem is. And, with only one go in office, and rules that insure these representatives can't make any money aside from a government salary, the chances of corruption were very low! Not only that, but these representatives don't actually have power, they just yap and yap and then give me a paper that tells me what they were yapping about and why I should fix it for them. They can't actually pass laws. It's incredible!

I lean back into my chair, enjoying a nice cup of some hot chocolate equivalent. It had an odd tang to it, but was close enough that I didn't mind.

Taking a long sip, I look out the window of my office, taking in the view. The capitol building had been remodeled some weeks ago, to stay the tallest building in the city, due to the rise of larger commercial and residential buildings in the city. Currently, my office sat at the top of the now 10 story tall monolith of ferrocrete and durasteel, while the comms tower was raised to an appropriate height. The other Imperial facilities were improved and heightened as well, but not to the same extent.

Accordia had grown, that was an undoubtable truth. From a city of 40,000 to nearly 70,000, Accordia held the HQ's of most of the major corps in the system, along with a newly improved space-port.

One building in particular caught my eye. Right down the main road that led to the capitol building, was a sharp, angled building, with rust colored signage contrasting the imperial black and white. The Minda Imperial Guild of Industry and Commerce , or The Guild, as it was more commonly called, was an organization I had started to ensure that the bevy of miners, entrepreneurs, and all kinds of companies and independents coming into the system had a way to organize. The refinery in the belt had a branch office, as would the orbital station once built, but it was here, at the capital, where the heavy lifting happened. The Guild offered these independents a way to be organized, connect with the government directly, get the correct permits, obtain loans, request escorts, and more. It funneled new businesses into an easy to follow path to getting started, the convenience of which attracted more people as things started to ramp up. This was all accounted for, with new, empty apartment buildings ready for colonists, better road, energy and comms infrastructure that was great for the PDA's. Especially considering new models had been added for workers, from mining ones that could connect to ships sensors, to engineering variants that could store blueprints and help troubleshoot diagnostics.

I'll admit, I had been inspired by the fantasy/isekai trope of the adventurers guild. While it was kinda expected in a fantasy isekai, the idea of this organization that exists to support this line of work was interesting, and I figured that if a country with an adventurers guild could get business, then a system with an industrial guild could get even more business. Of course, I had it regulated so that it did not spread to other systems and the like. If a Guild I made spread far, and caught people's attention, that could bring the wrong kind of eyes on me, especially without my escape plan ready.

Speaking of my escape plans, I…kinda had one? That is to say, I had a plan in the works. You see, I couldn't just buy a ship, because then it would be registered and everything. So, I squirreled away some of the whopping 50 MILLION FORCE-DAMNED CREDITS I made by auctioning off that Aethersprite on Nar Shaddaa. Clearly, Grakkus appreciated the goods. So, with some of that money, I discreetly hired a middle man to hire a middle man to… well, you get the idea. Somewhere down a line that cost 50,000 credits, a YV-560 was purchased brand new for an additional 90,000 credits. A CEC light-freighter that was decently fast, maneuverable, looked good(the YT-1300 side cockpit is kinda meh) and was inconspicuous. This wasn't a rare, expensive or super old ship that would look out of place on any trade route.

The ship, which I had yet to name, was sitting in a dry dock in Nar Shaddaa being upgraded extensively at the cost of 170,000 credits. It usually wouldn't be that much, but I paid extra for both discretion and for the mechanics to not just take my shit. An extra 50,000 was waiting for them if they followed through. The ship would be upgraded with better specs(hyperdrive, sunlight, weapons, systems, generator, etc…) but that would take time. When ready in another 5 months or so, it would be hidden in an old hangar built into one of the hills not too far from Accordia. If I needed to jet, I could use the emergency escape tunnel built into the newly improved capital building, rush to the sewers, and escape out a release hatch far from the city. It wasn't glamorous, in fact it's really gross, and I had to keep updating my PDA's tac-map everytime the sewage system was expanded, but it would get me out of the city undetected(since I wouldn't use a speeder or shuttle, which are more easily tracked) and to a ship that is registered under a new identity from a different planet. Hell, I even had a whole set of outfits that came with voice modulators disguised in their helmets so I could hide my voice as well as my face. It was a pretty solid plan, if I do say so myself.

If I had to escape, assuming I made it to the ship and out of orbit, the immediate plan would be to head in the direction of one of the 3 hyperlanes that ran to Dubrillion. There were some convoluted and frankly dangerous old paths that circumvented the need to go to the sector capital that would allow me to head over to Bescane, and start moving coreward through the hyperlanes until I pivot, and start moving towards the galactic east. Eventually, my plan was to hide away in the corporate sector, Cantonica specifically. This is because of the city there by the name of Canto Blight. A hedonistic shithole for rich crimelords, war profiteers, and other such wealthy people, it was the perfect place to hide, as it was rich enough that the Empire didn't interfere. The corporate sector it was located in is basically a fiefdom, with its own patrol fleets, laws, etc… While the Empire nominally controlled the area, realistically it was a haven for former Separatists and whoever else sought to hide from Palpatine's eyes. And, being the corporate sector, there were bound to be plenty of opportunities to haul cargo around.

I did have backups for my back ups, of course. Savareen was a prime spot if Cantonica didn't work out. Tatooine was also on the list, though certainly last, right next to Nar Shaddaa and Nal Hutta. Easy to hide, easier to die.

Now, I'm no monster. While I spent a chunk of the auction money on my own security(and a nice L-99 executive transport shuttle…what, I can have nice things, right?) I invested 25 of the 49 or so million remaining right back into Minda, the 24 mil going into a vault for emergencies and the like. With that money, many of the previously mentioned improvements were made, including the purchase of 3 Baleen-Class Heavy Freighters that fully replaced the Acclamator as a trade ship, along with 5 Imperial Nebulon-B Escort Frigates(three of which were to stay in Minda) to go along with them, each filled with their own complements of TIE's. The Acclamator was refitted, and an Imperial Arquitens-class command cruiser was ordered to replace Captain Veer's aging republic version. Once these ships arrived/were refitted, things would start looking up in terms of protection and commerce.

The remaining money? Spread about. Make no mistake, I really wanted to just buy more ships, build new colonies, start spreading out to the other planets in the system, but I was already kinda stretching things with the strides I had made. So, the money was tossed out to various programs that needed them. Schools, infrastructure, The Guild, etc… along with the creation of an in-house R&D lab. While I was more than happy to contract local companies for the creation of new products that I wanted/needed, the fact of the matter remains that they have other customers, and are more prone to information leaks. Therefore, a small but well funded R&D team was started to research the small stuff. The kinds of items and upgrades that usually went unnoticed, but that would increase efficiency across the board. Better cyber-security, better targeting software for StormTrooper helmets, better body armor, improvements to policing tech and vehicles, etc… Nothing that on its own would be huge, but things that would add up over time.

I'm snapped out of my thought's by the sound of Darna rushing in through the door, a frantic look in her eyes.

"Sir, we just got a report from a Guild Miner! A pirate raiding fleet has entered the system!"

"...Can't have SHIT!"

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks! Las can't seem to catch a break, huh?

I finally decided to try some combat, spice up the POV's and add some action, cause fleet building is fun, but ya gotta use the fleet at one point, right?

I also included some fanon ships, solely because EcHenry does great work, and cause the L-99 and Imperial Nebulon-B's he came up with are sick as fuck.

As always, feedback and comments are welcome!

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Nikoli]

Omake "2". Collector's Edition.

Today we take a behind the scenes look at interviews from the various members of Minda's population who lived through the great Pirate raid of 2 BBY. The Imperial Archivists would like us to remind our viewers that these are first accounts and have not been edited. Viewer discretion is advised for younger sentients.


The following is a reaction to the recently published Imperial News bulletin. "If a Pirate Attack Is Imminent.

For maritime employers and shipowners, a well-defined protocol for managing pirate attacks is crucial for the safety of the crew and the security of the vessel.

In the event of an imminent pirate attack, the following steps should be implemented:

• Alert Imperial System Security: Immediately inform the nearest coastal security authority about the approaching pirates to initiate a timely response.
• Maximize Ship Speed: Increase the ship's speed to its maximum sublight, making it more difficult for pirates to approach.
• Aggressive Maneuvering: Employ aggressive piloting techniques to disrupt the pirates' approach and aim.
• Safety Measures for Crew: Instruct the crew to stay away from the outer hull locations to minimize the risk of injury from weapons used by the pirates or from hull breaches.
• Designate a Safe Room: Should pirates begin boarding, have a protocol for all crew members to retreat to a predetermined safe room, preferably a choke point with an automated heavy weapon or repeating blaster.

Guild accountant, John Smith, "This right here is an excellent common sense protocol that most already have in practice. None of this pie in the sky or woke nonsense that's you see some radicals try to push. Especially that crazy senator that wants to demilitarize the galaxy, who would protect us from the pirates then? I for one am glad the governor had taken measures to bolster the system defenses against any type of incursion.

Independent Asteroid Miner, Jane Smith, "This is pretty much the bare bones of our policy as it is. We get attempted claim jumpers all the time out here. The Guild that the governor set up allows for the rental of ground (asteroid) based defenses for our claim. Those pirates were certainly not expecting to have to deal with a few hundred extra laser and turbo laser batteries in the asteroid field. Lucy here even managed to shoot down a Gozanti class. It managed to land fairly intact. (Jane smirks to the holocamera) It is a shame there were no survivors though. We even got a bonus from the governor and 2 months free on our lease when we turned it over to be used by the system defenses fleet, after we heard about the governor's court ruling regarding the pirates. I hear it was part of the anti-pirate task force the governor sends out to keep the nearby uninhabited systems free of pirates."


(Retired) Dread Privateer Jaune Lafite, "I remember it like it was yesterday. (Interviewer, "It was.") There I was thinking about my lady, that's my ship btw, when suddenly I received an alert from the system fleet that pirates had jumped in. Now, I choose this system because I have certain understanding with the Privateers Guild that it was mine and that no one else could patrol it without my permission. Which I obviously did not give. So I did what any self respecting privateer would do in my situation. I called up a few friends and we decided to give them a nice Cajun welcome… (inaudible comment from offscreen) Oh you wanted to know my reaction to the news article? That's simple that is for "civilians," the governor gave us a different set of protocols when we were under his letters of marque. Maybe, I will show you them next time, the governor always had a way with words for our type." A copy is linked here for our viewership:

Spoiler: Letter of Marque

Imperial Stormtrooper, CT-01234-A, "…"
(officer speaks from off screen, "You are off duty you can say whatever you want, and the governor has already written an amnesty.)

"I like working for the governor, he makes sure we get enough range time that we can actually hit what we aim at."

(Interviewer, "Anything else?")

"Yea, he let me press the button to space the pirates after their trial in abstention. I remember he convicted all the pirates to death and their assets forfeited in 2 minutes after he was informed they entered the system. That is a very fast turn around time for most Imperial courts; most systems takes months to hear a case. Also, I hear we got several new ships and star fighters a few weeks later. They didn't even have blood stains in them that our newest acquisitions did. Let me tell you cleaning out blood from the air circulation system when the gravity platings fail are a punishment detail you do not want."


Independent Farmer, Oldson McDonald, "That news piece is for the spacers, everyone groundside knows that when pirates show up, there is only two responses. 1) Open Fire and 2) Reload. (Question from offscreen) Oh the governor? Never had an issue with him. That tax hike when he first entered office was of course a big issue at the time but when me and my friends went to talk about it. He saw the issue right away, I wasn't even away from home 2 days before he had the issue fixed. I swear there is an accountant somewhere that probably got fired or got shot because of that error. But The governor fixed it right up. Now most of us don't like government interference, it's why we moved here. But the governor is a very hands off person, we like that, he has my vote for reelection, you know if he decided to run."

Excerpt from "Rise and Fall of the Republic, Empire, and back to the Republic" Holovid. A dramatic historical reenactment of the True Story of the life of the Emperor from his humble origins on Corusant to his eventual death at the venerable age of 122. He stewarded the Empire after the death of the beloved Emperor Palpatine and the subsequent police actions taken to bring stability to a galaxy teetering on the edge of full scale war again.

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-8: Resolve

Tomar Eirie
Minda System, CR92A Assassin-Class Corvette Mindan Courage
He rushed through the bowels of the Mindan Courage as the alarms blared, heading towards his gunnery position as he passed the rest of the crew, all scrambling into their positions.

A pirate fleet had entered, and was making a beeline for the capital. However, a splinter had broken off and was heading towards The Bore, the refinery in the belt, and the Courage was being dispatched to help defend, along with 3 TIE's. Small, but it was all that could be spared. He could only hope that the Bore's defenses could make up the difference.

As he strapped himself into his turret seat, he could only reminisce on all the things that had brought him here. He had been born on Ord Mantell, and gone through Imperial Navy training there as well. He had grown used to how the Empire did things. Cold, dark streets. The looks of people as he passed by in uniform, not respect, but fear. Not as much as a trooper might get, but it had made him feel isolated.

Then, he was transferred to this corvette, sent to a backwater system because some governor had requested some extra personnel along with the ship he ordered. Tamar could've refused the transfer, the officer in charge of those things was a family friend, after all. But… a part of him wanted to get away from it all. The stares, the fear. He thought that being in the Empire was glorious, but it just felt cold.

When he had arrived in Minda, he found not cold stares and fear filled eyes, but respect. The people of Minda respected the Imperial military. Troopers conversed with people in the streets, kids got to pretend to ride security speeders, hell a tour of the old clone wars Acclamator was done a few times, like a museum that could fly.

Minda felt different. Sure, the Imperial symbols were everywhere, but things felt… alive.

For the first time since he completed the academy, Tamar Eirie felt like a true soldier.

And so, as the Courage dropped out of sublight acceleration above the refinery, he trained his quad laser cannon on the nearest pirate junk-ship, and opened fired.

He could only smile as the enemy went up in flames, and the TIE's screamed past his camera port.

Minda was a place he felt he belonged, and Tamar would be damned if some pirate scum took it from him.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Luka Yridman
Minda System, Minda-0-A, The Bore
The Bore was a fairly large asteroid refinery, though not the largest Luka had ever worked in. It was called as such, because it was mostly an underground base, built into a large hole in the dwarf-planet sized asteroid that made it look like it was boring into the ground.

Again, it wasn't the largest facility Luka had ever worked in, but it was the one he enjoyed the most. The pay, courtesy of the Empire, was quite good. He got benefits, retirement, and a good set of days off a year. Not only that, but the working conditions were very good.

The Bore was kept clean by a combination of droids and janitorial staff, along with a very strict set of safety measures, from handrails to fire suppression systems to disposable B-1 droids meant to investigate potential dangerous malfunctions, and could be remote controlled to do remote repairs.

Suffice to say, this was the best Imperial job Luka had ever worked, if not the best he had ever worked.

Which is why he was so pissed. Pirates!? Frakking pirates!?

As he fumed while on the way to one of the safety bunkers, the intercom blared to life.

"All personnel, be warned, pirate boarding craft have landed in the hangar bay. Evacuate to the bunkers immediately! Security will take care of them, but until then, hunker down, and stay safe."

With that announcement running through his mind, he started speeding up his gait, passing by a group of security personnel, a group of mixed species, clones included, carrying a laser sentry towards the hangars.

By the time he reached the bunker, his anger had turned to fear. He could only hope things went well.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Burst Hopkin's
Ugea, Accordia, Imperial Garrison

When Burst had heard of Minda, he had been sceptical. A place where clones would be accepted? In the Empire! HAH! It sounded like a joke. But then he saw the Acclamator, and he decided that he had to make a choice. Stay homeless, or take a chance with a backwater system.

Now, here he stood, wearing refurbished clone armor, standing in front of the assembled Imperial Infantry he had been training for the last two and a half months.

It was there that he started his speech.

"Soldiers, never before did I think that I would one day be standing here again, wearing this armor again, going to war again. I, like most clones, was cast out. Obsolete in the face of the new Empire. Yet, here I stand, taken in by the people of Minda. For the first time since the Clone Wars, I have a place I can call home. I am proud of my home, and of all of you, who I have trained to the best of my ability."

He pauses, looking out over the faces of those he has trained. Etching them into memory, so that he may remember those that fall.

"And now, that training is to be put to use. Pirates have entered the system with a considerable force. They seek to land here, at the capital, and force the governor to hand over all that the people of Minda have built, that you protect! While the honourable Captain Veers and her compatriots in the Navy will hold the majority of the pirate fleet in space, they will almost certainly fire drop pods and send landing craft. It will be up to us, the Mindan Planetary Defense Force, to take up arms, and protect that which we have worked so hard for! So, arm yourselves, for soon, we will do our duty! For the Empire, for prosperity, for MINDA!"

"FOR MINDA!" was a cry that echoed across the entire garrison, bringing a nostalgic joy to Bursts heart. He could almost see his clone brothers, lined up in formation, chanting "FOR THE REPUBLIC!".

Burst smiled under his helmet as his troops began to prepare themselves. His new home had given him a job, a life, even a name. He would not allow that to be taken from him, certainly not by pirates.

And so, he slings his DC-15A blaster rifle over his shoulder, and begins the march.

Minda would not fall. Not while he still lived.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Darna Sabrir
Ugea, Accordia, Capital Command Bunker

Darna was scared. Not the most scared she had ever been. Little could top the sheer fear of the rebel work she used to take part in. But a pirate fleet? Not a small flotilla, not some claim jumpers or smugglers like they were used to dealing with, but a proper fleet?

Well, to call a three Cumulus-class corsairs, some cobbled together gunships and fighters, a fleet, is a bit much. More like a flotilla. Still, it was formidable considering the extent of Minda's current defenses.

Hopefully, the military command could come up with a solution.

"Options people, what are they, and how well could they work?"

Governor Mola was standing around the holo table at the center of the bunkers command center, holo images of Commander Grant, Captain Veers, and various other military personnel projected around the table.


"Sir" Captain Veers started, "The pirate flotilla is moving too fast, they'll reach Ugea at least an hour before I can get there with the Gauntlet and the other Assassins. The trade fleet and its Nebulon's are days away, the remaining Nebulons and the new Arquitens are at least two systems from here… it would take at least 24 hours for any reinforcements to arrive from out of Minda"

Commander Grant seemed to radiate a bloodlust that unnerved Darna even across the holo. "We'll be waiting for them… can't wait to finally see some action!"

"...I suppose you will," said the governor in a calm voice. His ability to stay calm, even in this scenario, was incredible! (she couldn't tell he was about to shit himself)

"Of course!" Commander Grant was exuberant "We're already mobilizing our troops, setting up chokepoints in the city…" The holo's quality was shaky, but was she blushing? "… we will bathe the streets with pirate blood!"

The governor was once again perfectly calm, studying the holo-table with serious eyes(his hands were shaking, not that she could see).

Then, he spoke. "We are clearly outgunned, but we aren't out-manned. We most certainly have more and better troops. If the pirates figure this out, they'll just bombard the city from above. So, we pretend to have evacuated. Every civilian goes to the emergency bunkers, and we ensure that every door, window, shop, is closed. I don't want a single sentient organism to be out and about. Most importantly, we leave the cargo crates of surplus weapons and ship parts out and about around the space-port, luring them there. If this works, it's very likely that the ships will get lower to the ground, and start to load the cargo crates. If we hide, say, some troopers and droidekas in said crates, well…"

Both the Commander and Captain stopped for a second. "It would be risky… but it could work. If we time it correctly, we could clear out one of their ships just as Captain Veers arrives, and if we have some on leave Navy Personnel on standby, we could load them up in the LAAT's and catch the remaining ships in a pincer. After all, while they might approach with all three ships, they'll probably only start loading one ship, and leave it behind to confront the Captain."

The governor stares into the Commander's projected eyes. "Can you pull it off?"

There's a second of silence before a terrifying look of pure excitement grows onto the Commander's face.

"Of course. I'll have their heads on pikes by the end of the day for you, governor!"

As the meeting wrapped up, Darna missed the governor mumbling.

"Why can't the women in my life be normal?"
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi folks. Things are about to go down, huh?

I decided that y'all were right, and I should include more alternate perspectives in my chapters. This was a bunch of them, but going forward there should be a small alternate POV in most chapters, to help flesh out the story.

Also, in terms of my use of the Cumulus-Class Corsair, I know that canonically it only appears once, in 9ABY I think, but its production date is never directly stated, and given that its used by pirates I assume that it's an older model of ship.

Another thing, before I go. Some people have been confused about Minda's position in the galaxy. Now, Minda is a purely fictional system, but I chose to place it in a canonical sector, the Myto sector. You can find a great Star Wars map here, and the position of the Minda system here.

Regardless, as always, feedback, comments, interaction, it's all welcome. This is a great way to improve my writing and storytelling, and y'all's comments are a big part of that!

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Questions for the Audience

This post exists solely to ask for recommendations/advice on various parts of the story. While I am open to suggestions regarding just about every aspect of the story, there are some that I am particularly looking for.

1. Politics: the council voting system I cooked up was a rush job, and upon further inspection kinda shit, as it overwhelms voters with teams from the boonies that will never get voted for, due to cities' overwhelming advantages in population . Obviously, there is no perfect political system, but any advice/recommendations regarding a voting system and the greater council system will be taken into consideration. However, please keep the discussion civil, cause I've seen some stories with 2 chapters get locked cause people couldn't stop yapping for five fucking minutes.
2. Expansion: Where should the MC go from here? Should he slow things down, speed things up, get down low or make a big splash? There are many paths, and I want to know your opinions.
3. Military: Assuming the Minda System recovers from this attack easily in the near future, and gains a minimum of 50 million credits to spend on ships, attack craft, etc… along with the manpower to crew them, what fleets would you build? How would you organize the defense and trade fleets of the Minda System? This is a hypothetical, because there is a damn good chance the MC never gets there, but theoretical fleet building is fun. What dangers might said fleet encounter in the future? These kinds of questions are fun to answer, so go ham.
4. Allegiance: While I already more or less have a plan for how the MC will steer the Minda system allegiance wise(Empire/Rebel/Republic/Pentastar/Independent, etc…) I want to know what direction you think he should lean and why. Anything from moral arguments to pushing profit margins, who should he side with, and why?

This is mostly just a rush post, cause I have literally nothing else to do. No homework, and no games, since my house burned down in the Eaton Canyon fire earlier this month, so I only have the macbook I use for college.

Speaking of college, winter semester or not, I gotta lock in, so while I will still update frequently, most of the new chapters will still be weekend releases.

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Nikoli]

Omake #3

Imperial Archivist, Jeffery Sinclair, "(Retired) Commissar Ciaphas Cain, Shield of the People, Hero of the Minda Blitz. Thank you for joining us today."

Cain (wearing public relation smile No. 4), "It is always a pleasure meeting with the Archivists."

Jeffery, "In our last interview, you had regaled us in your storied defense of Cadia against the Death Cults. Today we would like to discuss the time before that when you were a new recruit from your homeworld of Minda. Specifically, your part in the Emperor's (then governor) plan to counter the pirate invasion."

Cain (wearing serious face No.2), "Ah, not my proudest moment. Between you and me, I thought it was a crazy plan the Emperor had come up with. When our officer asked for volunteers to get locked into a shipping container full of thermal detonators at the front to discourage the pirates from looking deeper. When they would load it into their ship, we would then attack the ships crew to seize control, from the inside. Well, I knew that it was likely a suicide mission if any one thing went wrong, but the Emperor commanded and I obeyed."

Archivist, "So the 100,000 credit bounty for the squad who volunteered and was successful in capturing the ship had nothing to do with your decision? Or the fact that there were rumors about a blaster wedding in your future?"

Cain (wearing sheepish grin No.9), "Nope, I would have done so without it. As for the wedding, well Dilalia was my childhood sweetheart. We had been putting off on getting officially married until we had enough saved up. It's one of the reason I joined the MPDF, the Emperor, even back then, knew how to take care of his soldiers and people. Full healthcare, pension, and death benefits to next of kin was unheard of for new recruits. But let me tell you, there is not an infantryman in the Empire which does not thank the Emperor every day for his support and belief in us!"

Cain, "Now getting back to the infiltration part of this story. I was carrying the new man portable E-Web repeater blaster. There we were…"



Publisher, "For a full accounting of Cain's adventures and achievements in his service to the Emperor and Empire, see his published autobiography. Also available in graphic Novels format NOW and preorder the live action holovid series, currently planned for release in ABY 161. A full listing is provided to our viewership below.

The first three novels, as well as the short stories Fight or Flight, Echoes of the Tomb and The Beguiling, were collected into a single omnibus entitled Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Empire in ABY 137.

The fourth, fifth, and sixth novels, as well as the short stories Sector 13 and Traitor's Gambit, were collected into a second omnibus entitled Ciaphas Cain: Defender of the Empire in ABY 140

The seventh, eighth, and ninth novels, were collected into a third omnibus entitled Ciaphas Cain: Saviour of the Empire in ABY 142

The tenth novel, Choose Your Enemies, was released in ABY 148

The original audio dramas, Dead in the Water and The Devil You Know were released in June, ABY 152 and April, ABY 153, respectively.

A limited release novella, Old Soldiers Never Die, was released in November, ABY 153, during Black Library Weekender event, and collected into Ciaphas Cain: Saviour of the Empire.


(@Freefaller ) Got another Omake for you to link.

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-9: Brutal Finish

Burst Hopkins
Minda system, Ugea, Accordia, Accordian Spaceport, Imperial Guild Cargo Container

Burst was tired, cramped, cold, and old. And yet, he hadn't felt this alive in years. He was huddled in a Guild container in the spaceport, shoved together with a small number of StormTroopers. They had their helmets slightly remodeled, and in addition to the updated targeting software, they actually held up to the image of the Empires elite they were supposed to convey.

The part that made Burst uncomfortable was the two Q-Series Droideka's. Equipped with two twin rapid fire light laser cannons and personal shields that made them beasts on the battlefield, these metal creatures unnerved him.

Make no mistake, Burst was fully aware that they were his allies, considering the PDA he had strapped to the underside of his left arm allowed him to control them directly, or give more complicated orders. That didn't mean he wasn't wary. Too many brothers of his had been cut down by the relentless barrage of fire the droidekas could send down range, all without being able to retaliate.

Still, he steeled himself. He had a mission to accomplish. The container he was in was one of 3, filled almost entirely with valuable ores, parts, weapons, and more. Everything a pirate would want to sell, the containers were chock-full of. So full in fact, that no pirate would bother digging through the piles to find the enemies hidden in the back. And, to ensure that the pirates wouldn't just open the crates from the back while they were still on the ground, the containers had been pushed against a wall of the spaceport. Nothing unusual, just a series of coincidences that looked perfectly normal to those outside the loop.

The other two containers held another squad of troopers with a clone commander, while the third held one commander along with 2 more droidekas and a droideka mark 2, the only one found on the crashed seppy ships. They had been relegated to MPDF use, but never had a reason to be taken out of storage until now. Burst had never fought one himself, but he had heard the stories. Bigger, badder, more guns, the MkII didn't move during combat, becoming a stationary turret of death that promised a plasma filled death to all those who came close.
It was imperative to the success of their strategy. Once they were loaded into the cargo bay/hangar of the enemy ship, the MkII would be able to hold the entire area on its own while the rest of the ship was cleared. While Burst would have preferred organic troopers to hold the bay, the fact of the matter remained that there just weren't enough skilled troopers. Sure, there were 200 StormTroopers on the planet, but of those only a select few have enough experience to pull something like this off.

His thoughts jumbled like this while he and his team sat in silence, checking and rechecking their PDA's, weapons, and other gear.

It was then that he received a message. Checking his arm, he saw it was confirmation of an incoming enemy Cumulus Class. The other two were hovering in orbit above the city while this one lowered itself to load the offered cargo.

He smirked under his helmet, previous worries forgotten as the anticipation of a battle surged through his veins.

Nudging the others, he spoke.

"Enemy ship incoming. Remember, stay quiet, don't move, and when we breach, stay behind the droidekas. Their shields can take far more than your armor."

Receiving affirmations, he nodded, just as the sound of the pirates opening the other doors echoed throughout the container.

It was time to get to work.
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tomar Eirie
Minda System, Minda 0-A, The Bore, CR92a Assassin-Class Corvette Mindan Courage

His gun turret swiveled almost violently as he tracked the YT-1930 that seemed to be made more of rust than actual armor plating.

Honestly, if he wasn't controlling the turret from an interior console, he might've felt sick. Hell, he might feel sick just looking at this camera.

The light freighter slowed to make a turn, aiming to line up its shoddily attached missile pods, when one of the TIE's screamed past it. Its attack run filled the freighter with a barrage of laser bolts, breaking through the YT's shields. Tomar held down the trigger, the quad laser cannon sending a stream of death at the freighter. Its armor held, but the death blow came from some bolts penetrating the missile casings while they were still held in the pods, making the entire thing go up in flames.

That made the second of five light freighters to go down in this battle, along with nearly half a dozen fighters. He once again swiveled the turret, looking for targets as the ship around him shook from the repeated attacks. He almost locked onto another freighter before the turbolaser battery got a lucky shot and turned it into dust in a single barrage.

"Enemies are attempting retreat! Put everything you have down range!" The voice of the fire command officer screamed over the intercom as the Courage turned to face the fleeing pirates. Every gun on the ship was capable of aiming directly ahead, giving the Assassin Class formidable firepower for its relative size.

Tomar witnessed this first hand as every gun on the ship opened fire at once, himself included. He wasn't sure if he even hit an enemy, but the sheer volume of fire destroyed two more fighters and blew out the engines of a freighter. Seems the boarding crews will get their fair share of blood after all.

He turned the laser cannon towards the Bore, checking if any of the freighters that had landed were attempting an escape. Looking at the hangar bay, he could only see smoke from a destroyed freighter. Looks like the security crew was earning their pay.

"Enemy has entered hyperspace. No incoming ships."

That sent a cheer through the crew, and Tomar couldn't help but cheer with them. The first real naval battle that didn't involve claim jumpers and smugglers. It was a good day.

Before the celebration could really start, the captain got back on comms.

"Don't go screaming just yet. We're to rendezvous with Captain Veers. The capitol is under siege. This fight isn't over yet."

All around him, the crew seemed to calm down and steel themselves. They had won this battle, but there was more to come.

Tomar followed his comrades' example. His home was under siege, and he could do something about it. And so, he swore to himself that no matter what, he would spill pirate blood this day
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Commander Kaela Grant
Minda System, Ugea, Accordia, Cumulus-Class Corsair Dreadbow, Imperial Guild Cargo Container

Kaela was excited. Super excited. The most excited she had been in months. It had been difficult to convince the governor to let her come on this mission, but since she was one of the most highly skilled people available and there was little space in the containers, there was little choice.

She was packed in with half of the governor's personal guard, who she had trained herself. They, like herself, were armed with E-11 Carbines, which, while weaker than the standard E-11, had a noticeably higher rate of fire which was invaluable in the closer quarters of a starship. And it wasn't like pirates would be particularly heavily armed. Kaela would've preferred a slug-thrower, so she could witness the enemies of the Empire being turned into jagged chunks of meat, but good slugthrowers were expensive.

Her smile widened under her helmet as she saw the message flash across the screen of her PDA. Captain Veers had arrived with the Gauntlet and the rest of the system defense fleet, and was engaging the other two pirate corsairs.

With the containers already loaded up, the corsair jerked as its engines roared, boosting it into the sky to assist its allies in orbit. As this occurred, Kaela flicked a switch on her PDA, activating the heat scanning function. It was still in its early stages, so her PDA was bulkier than she would've liked, but it allowed her to scan for nearby heat signatures. Aside from the ones bundled together, which were clearly the other troopers, she saw scattered signatures around the hangar. Most seemed pilots rushing towards their fighters, preparing for the engagement

It was the perfect time to strike.

Sending the signal, all three containers door's burst open, and the troops flooded out. A total of 30 troopers, they all took cover behind the containers and opened fire on the surprised hangar crew.

The MkII droideka and its smaller siblings rolled out, activating their shields and raining death amongst the enemy. The big droid sat itself down, locking its feet magnetically to the floor of the hangar. Its shields hummer to life, and it turned its twin ion cannons on the fighters, stopping them from lifting off.

In a mere thirty seconds, the entire hangar bay had been cleared, and they started moving forward, droidekas rolling ahead of them.

As they turned the first corridor of the hangar into the main corridor, they were immediately met with enemies.

Basterbolts flew left and right, pirates dropping like flies. She reveled in the way their unprotected flesh burned as her bolts landed, how they fell limp, the light leaving their eyes.

This continued for minutes on end as they slaughtered their way to the bridge, burnt bodies littering the floor, some crushed by the weight of the droidekas rolling over the corpses.

As she turned a corner, Kaela grabbed the pirate attempting to stab her by the neck and arm, disarmed him, opened the weapons locker next to her and tossed him in the head first. She then slammed the door on his head until all that was left was a bloody paste.

It was only when she was done, bits of brain and bone covering her chest plate that she realized her little playtime had stopped their advance. The troopers' helmets hid their faces, but not the sound of some of them dry retching. Thankfully, she was the Commander, so they couldn't reprimand her for "unnecessary cruelty". Instead of commenting on it, she unslung her carbine, and continued the march.

Her job is awesome!
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
TK-582, Okto Perker
Minda System, Ugean Orbit, Cumulus-Class Corsari Dreadbow

Okto was glad he hadn't eaten anything before the mission, because if he had his helmet would be absolutely filled with vomit.

He'd known that this would be a brutal mission. Already the corridor behind them was filled to the brim with bodies, and even now the droideka's covering their flanks were still firing, gunning down pirates who thought they could catch them by surprise.

But what he just witnessed? Commander Grant had always been…odd, to say the least. She seemed to want to fight, and now that he had seen her beat a man's skull into paste with a door, with the helmet still on.

Terrifying. He hoped that she never decided to go rebel, for that would surely be the end of them all.

Regardless, he shouldered his weapon and moved on, clearing corners, gunning down pirates, and breaching doors. He fell into a sort of trance, covering, firing, breaching, checking, and so on. A sense of synchronicity was felt amongst the troopers there, as if they were all part of the same assembly line, each of them fully aware of the part they have to play, with minimal communication required.

It was during this time that he thought back on his arrival to the Minda system. His company had been shamed during the pacification campaign on Mimban, all because his company's captain had bad blood with a different company's major. Their equipment had been sabotaged from within, leading to their failure in a critical mission. While it wasn't enough to have them executed, with the captain's political ties protecting them, it was enough to get them reassigned to the outer rim.

The company had been tossed about backwaters, from boonie to boonie, never quite fitting in. They would be sent to clean up rabble, hunt small-time rebels, and were even relegated to acting as a police force at times. Eventually, after years of this monotony, they were assigned to act as the personal force of a new governor.

At first, Okto thought it would be another boring, if stable posting. Hell, there might even be some excitement considering how young and arrogant the governor was at the time.

But then the protests happened. And instead of being told to open fire, like they had many times before, the governor spoke. TO the people, instead of AT them. Improvements were made, rapid scaling of infrastructure, housing, operations.

The garrison they were a part of was being trained by CLONES of all people. Okto had only ever seen one clone, and that had been an instructor he had passed when guarding an academy.

Everyday, he escorted the governor around, watching as he relentlessly filed paperwork, made deals with local organizations, and hell, even got to watch as the Garrison Commander taught him self-defense, blaster skills and more. Though he wasn't very good at the moment, the dedication was real.

More and more was done, and Okto came to realize that this backwater could be something more. Something better. It was a rim world that didn't see people cowering from the mere sight of his helmet. It was a place where the people truly loved the Empire so much, that there had been zero rebel presences detected, despite Commander Grants inspections.

His inner musings were cut short as they approached the doors to the bridge. He moved to the side, covering a right angle as another trooper started slicing the door using a port built into their PDAs. Wonderful technology, with so many applications that made things easier for him. Though he would never admit out loud how much he had gambled in some of those games. The characters are just so pretty!

Then the door opened, and there was chaos. The droidekas stomped forwards, shields absorbing the intense amount of blasterfire, their shields flickering and wavering under the assault. The crazy bastards had set up a shielded blaster turret and were forcing them to stay in the corridor.

They were at a disadvantage. Right up until Okto threw a stun grenade, yelling through the comms "Stunner out".

He turned his head, and for a brief second the world went wild, before his helmet's noise suppression kicked in.

Then, he and his fellows turned back, raised their weapons, and opened fire.

There were no survivors
—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Captain Ife Veers
Minda System, Ugean Orbit, Arquitens-Class Light Cruiser Gauntlet

Ife was quite happy, even as her ships engaged the pirate fleet. Despite the technological superiority of her flotilla, the two corsairs were heavily armed, and their veritable swarm of light freighters and junk fighters meant that she was very heavily outnumbered. However, victory here would add to her record. If she could prove her worth, she could get reassigned to a bigger, better ship, with more opportunities for action.

"Open fire! And inform all allied ships, do not get on the broadside or below the enemy corsairs. That's where the majority of their firepower is concentrated."

"Yes, Captain!" the comms officer responded, already sending the messages out to the fleet.

Ife looked out over the battlefield. TIE's, ARC-170's and V-Wings all screamed this way and that, filling the battlefield with a plethora of blaster bolts and concussion missiles. The two enemy corsairs advanced upwards, their twin quad laser cannons opening fire on the Gauntlet and its allies. The hope was to keep them down there through the use of superior firepower.

While the cumulus class lacked any turbo lasers, it did come outfitted with 14 gunwales, each sporting twin laser cannons. Such concentrated firepower would be equivalent to a smattering of turbolasers and could prove to be an actual threat.

The battle raged, and the fighter count started to go down one by one. About five minutes in, and the first ARC-170 went down, the pilots going up in flames. In retaliation, the closest CR92a turned two heavily modified light freighters into scrap.

This back and forth continued for some time, fighters and freighters and what amounted to engines with guns and a cockpit were disabled, damaged or destroyed outright, before one of the corsairs started to open its hangar bay. Instead of fighters or bombers, a large, poorly built set of missile tubes were raised on an improvised turret. Despite the rust and clearly poor engineering, Ife immediately recognized the danger.

"All ships, evasive maneuvers immediately! Get out of the way of those missile pods!" she yelled out, the comms officers rushing to get the message out.

But it was too late. Even as the Gauntlet and her escorts burned their engines and gunned it out of formation, the ad hoc weapons platform fired a fusillade of ion torpedoes, screaming towards the ships.

Ife cursed. She had packed the fleet too close together, and now she was paying for it.

The torpedoes slammed into the hull, ion energy moving in waves throughout the ship. Subsystem after subsystem shut down, until only lights, gravity and life support still functioned.

"Status report!"

"Most systems offline Ma'am! Backup generator is doing what it can, but it'll be a few minutes before the reactor can be reactivated!"

"FRAKK!" she cursed, letting out her frustration. "Are comms functioning?" Upon receiving a negative, she sighed. Deeply. This was not how she wanted her career to go. She had wanted to prove her family wrong, prove that she could make it in the Navy, yet here she was, about to retreat on her first real sortie.

"Ma'am, sensors are back online! We're reading a hyperspace signature closing in!"

Before she could ask for more details, a ship appeared out of hyperspace right outside the battlefield. As it cut through the void, she saw it's distinctive hull shape and couldn't help but feel a sense of relief.

As the comms came back online, a voice crackled through the intercom.

"This is the Arquitens-Class Command Cruiser Rationale, engaging hostiles. Glad to have a welcoming party. More interesting than this rubber ball I have-ouch!".
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks. This one took a smidge longer than usual on account of all the POV switching. I decided to keep this chapter a purely alt-pov chapter, since Las's pov wouldn't be all that interesting. Just him quietly trying not to shit himself in fear.

It's also the first real combat I've ever really written. The only other time I've ever written combat was a quick scene in my original universe work Divided Horizons, and that was more of a gang shootout that ended very quickly. This was a full blown fleet battle and boarding action? Not sure if sneaking onto an enemy ship in a crate is a boarding action but I suppose it doesn't matter.

As always, feedback and commentary is encouraged. My friends are all too busy also going through college, and none of them are as into this weird sci-fi fringe worldbuilding shit as you random internet weirdo's are, so I basically get all of my social interaction by reading y'all comments. So please comment. I am very lonely.

Thank you for reading!

- Freefaller

 

[Nikoli]

Omake 4:

Executor of Emperor Palpatine's Will, "All are present and accounted for the reading of the late Emperor's Will on this day 4ABY." (I won't make future scholars read the strange language known as legalese, so this will be covering the main points.)

Article 1: I grant my slightly used Empire to my son, Steven Palpatine, Jr., who has been raised under the false name Las Mola by his mother, Jir Mola. This was for your protection against my enemies. All the security reports I have read have had no major issues with his governorship. As such, I have no issue granting him more responsibilities due to his dedication to the lives and well being of his people, like me.

Article 2: I hereby grant my great friend and commander of the Imperial Military, Darth Vader Skywalker and his family, Luke and Leia, his retirement planet Naboo.

Article 3: I hereby promote Grand Admiral Thrawn as commander of my son's military forces and empower him to ensure the stability and security of his reign from all enemies foreign and domestic.

Article 4: I ask my hand, alias Mara Jade, to continue in her current role for my son.

Article 5: I hereby place a bounty of 10,000,000,000,000 credits collectively on the heads of (proceeds to list every incompetent and disloyal Imperial admiral, captain, commandant, general, governor, moff, grand moff) to be paid out in the above %s upon confirmation of their head being removed from their shoulders. I could not clean house while I was alive but this is a last gift I can give to the people of the galaxy.

Article 6: I confirm Director Ysanne Isard nee Mola as…

Selected Excerpts from the Holo Drama, "Order Even From Beyond the Grave." This drama purports to cover the actual articles of the First Emperor's will and proceeds to follow their consequences on the galaxy already reeling from the death of its beloved Emperor.

Imperial Archivists would like to remind our viewers that the actual will remains classified due to the number of Top Secret information provided in said will. Furthermore, Emperor Steven's press secretary reminds our viewers that speculation about his parentage is not necessary and to trust his office that he is the legitimate successor to Emperor Palpatine through his last will and testament.

Collector's Edition Special Interviews

Interview No. 1: Joining us today is retired Director of the Imperial Service Bureau who ensured the proper reading of the will Ysanne Isard nee Mola. Director can you shed some light on why after the Emperor's death you had to personally intervene with the Will reading?

Director, "Thank you for having me. In response to your question, while I am still under a number of NDAs, I can say it was necessary. There were forces high in the Imperial bureaucracy which were attempting to change the will to have themselves listed as the Heir. As such, I did what any loyal son or daughter of the Emperor would do. Ensure the proper reading occurred."

Interview No. 89: Joining us tonight is famed investigative historian and archaeologist Indiana Jones, "Dr. Jones, in your recent expedition to Biss, where Emperor Palpatine was building a new throne world you found evidence that….

For the full coverage of the Collected Interviews remember to buy this Collector's Edition.

(@Freefaller ) Got another Omake for you to link.

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-10: New Reforms, Old Friends

Holy shit, I'm not dead.

I was sitting in my office a week after the pirate attack, still having the occasional panic attacks. Pirates were a foregone conclusion out here, and their attacks were expected at one point or another, but I expected something smaller.

Maybe a few modified cargo ships, not actual fucking warships. Thankfully, none of them had turbolasers, but with roughly thirty-six laser cannons the Cumulus class is nothing to scoff at for a ship of its size.

It was the closest I had come to death in either life, and it scared me. The whole time I was in the bunker, I was contemplating running the fuck away. I had my escape plan all ready, I could've done it, but the odds were just enough in our favor for me to stay. Just barely.

The aftermath had been a significantly easier time for me. I had a memorial site built in one of the new public parks, a pillar of mismatched metal plates and melted plastoid armor, the only remnants of the starfighters and armor plates of those that had fallen, their names engraved into the metal with gold lettering.

I gave a speech at the memorials reveal, about the sanctity of life, unity, and so on and so forth. It was a solemn affair, and the first time I had ever put effort into a speech that didn't involve saving my own skin in some way.

After all that though, came the fun part. Of the three corsairs, two were captured. The originally boarded one, and the one that had jury-rigged an ion torpedo missile tube. The latter had its shields broken and a stray shot detonated the remaining ion torpedoes, frying its systems. After that, its friend tried to run.

Emphasis on tried.

It was annihilated by the Resolution's assault, its engines destroyed by the proton torpedoes of an ARC-170 and leaving it unable to escape. The escape pods it launched were all retrieved, and many pirates were captured.

The two corsairs were currently sitting in the Imperial Yards in orbit, being slowly repaired and refitted. They would make good patrol ships, if nothing else. The light freighters that were captured held little use, and so I had them cleaned, repaired, and put them up for sale.

There were always merchants coming through the system, so there might be someone willing to buy. If they aren't all gone by the end of the year, I can just have them scrapped for parts anyways.

As for the captured pirates? Well, there weren't that many, but it seems that Commander Grant had the presence of mind to not immediately rip the Twi'leks lekku off and hang his corpse with it. Instead, he was taken into a deep, dark room in the garrison, and no one in the garrison had a good night's sleep for three days. After that, the only things that came out of that room were Grant, and a foul smelling bag that was disposed of shortly after.

From what I can only assume to have been a horrible length of torture, information was dredged up. The marauders had been contracted to raid Minda for its resources and deliver them to their employers. While the average grunt was unaware of who had hired them, and was just there for the creds, the captains had been contacted by some people who were paying them for a job done for the will of their "Lady". There's only one "Lady" I know of that is also a crime lord of sorts.

Crimson Dawn. Fuck.

They had been a fairly powerful organization under Maul, but after his death they were believed to have been defeated for good. Thing is, that's not entirely true. Lady Qi'ra, former lover of Han Solo himself, had become the leader of the Dawn after Maul's death and was planning a resurgence. Her ultimate goal? The destruction of the Sith.

Normally I wouldn't have cared for some Sith hating crime lord. Sith are generally bad news for everyone. Sure, I had my problems with how the Jedi worked, but they weren't trying to kill everything all the time. The problem is that the Empire is run by Sith, and therefore I am a Sith lackey, and therefore an appropriate target for the Dawn.

The pirates had been contracted to cause chaos, but also to secure more resources for the Dawn. And what better system to do that than a lightly defended backwater Imperial planet.

Luckily, I doubted that a retaliatory strike was going to happen. Not only is this a backwater, but it was currently 2BBY, meaning that Qi'ra had not been in control of the Dawn for long, with the planned resurgence happening around 3ABY, and their defeat not long after. This means that the Dawn is still in hiding, and this strike is one of many that are happening across the galaxy, all of them looking like standard pirate raids, all of them funneling resources to the Crimson Dawn.

Now, did I have hard proof that this was Crimson Dawn? No, I don't. But the timeline fits, so the chance is higher than average.

Regardless, I try to push it out of my mind. With the arrival of the Rationale, along with the three Imperial Nebulons to help reinforce the system, the chance of such an attack happening again is rare.

Instead, I focused on the future. Specifically, expansion.

I was currently within my office, looking over the stacks of papers that had been delivered to me. They were my copies of the new reforms that were being put into place. The political system I had set up was being revamped, with minor and major councils in each region. The minor councils would be held in the sub-nexus cities to manage it and its area, with a minor council in the Nexus city proper to manage the city as a whole(each councilor of a Nexus city is chosen from its various districts). Major councils would be made up of representatives that were voted on by the minor councils and sent to the Nexus to represent their sub-nexus in the greater decision making process. Finally, each of these Major councils will send a representative to Accordia, where I speak with them once a week to announce new changes, gain a better understanding of the problems each region faces, etc…

Thankfully, politics weren't the only thing I was reforming. I had instituted various longer-term projects. None of them would be costing much right now, and in fact many were not going to be started for some time, as to ensure that the build up is slower.

These projects were varied, and included things such as:

• A network of trains, both passenger and cargo, to simplify inter/intracontinental transport and keep the number of ships flying about to a minimum.
• An expansion to the Guild, turning into the Imperial Guild of Industry, Commerce and Protection, which now allows mercenaries to sign up, post their services so that miners, cargo haulers and the like can more easily hire them. It also comes with a rating system and review board, so mercenaries have an easier time cultivating a reputation and people can find reliable protection. It even comes with a selection of courses that can be attended for a small fee, offering insight into how mercenary work within the guild and the Mindan system functions.
• An "academy". Not a real Imperial Academy that trains StormTroopers and the like, but a militia academy that allowed people to volunteer to join the MPDF or MSDF(Mindan System Defense Fleet). It offered training, classes, with both retired clone officers and the occasional active duty officer teaching classes, giving seminars, and more. It was a way to increase the amount of active duty Navy/Army personnel, without actually having to requisition more personnel from the Navy proper.
• Cities were being expanded with new apartment complexes and the like, specifically to handle the more steady influx of colonists that were being ported in.
• The Acclamator, which had finally been named to the Beacon of Minda, finished it's retrofits and was now a pure passenger ship, with the sole purpose of picking up new colonists from various planets who wanted a new life. It could carry up to 30,000 passengers, but I had ordered the number restricted to only 5,000 per trip, the rest of the space used for cargo. While I need more people, if the population grows faster than I can manage I'll end up with substantial problems.
• Contracts with the major farming companies and unions across Ugea were signed, for the express purpose of helping develop more land for farming. Much of it was going to be farmed by some of the incoming colonists, who I was paying the companies/unions to train in farming. This would increase food supply, allowing population growth to increase.
• The R&D department was also increased by a decent margin, and focused mostly on software updates. Upgrades to the PDAs, better software for the ARCs and V-Wings, and most importantly, a proper fucking update to my terminal so I could organize things better. Never thought I would cry when seeing Microsoft Excel.

There were more projects, but they were for the future. These were the projects that could be started now with a lower cost, and later help fund the bigger pieces, like the proposed manufacturing plants, new colonies, and more.

A beep on my data pad alerted me. I checked it, and sighed. I had to fly out to the refinery to give a congratulatory speech for the security forces there. Apparently they had locked down the hangar, closed the doors, and trapped the pirates in there while they had a repulsorlift laser cannon gun them down. Absolutely no casualties, quite impressive.

And so, I sent my affirmative signal and threw on my coat, heading towards the landing pad where my L-99 was waiting. At least I could fly in style.

Now, if only I could get a vacation.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Darna Sabrir
Minda System, Ugea, Accordia, Rusty Refit Orbital Yard

Darna was exhausted.

Ever since the Mindan Raid, the governor's office had been inundated with requests for meetings, speeches, memorials, interviews, and more. Not to mention the multitude of companies asking about increased security and such

Honestly, it was a testament to the governor's abilities that the people were comfortable enough to ask him for things this way. Any other system might see petitioners shot.

Thankfully, the new Nebulon-Bs along with the mercenary section of the Guild opening seemed to address most of the concerns, and a touching speech from the governor about the importance of living a good life to honor those who died in the defense of Minda was enough to assuage the remaining questions and complaints. Aside from the journalists. They were relentless.

The governor had approved her day off, and she was trying to enjoy it. She had decided to visit her friend Sidheth up in the orbital scrap yard.

So, as she stepped off the shuttle and into the common area of the station, she scanned her surroundings. The place was kept clean, with signs indicating the directions of things like admin, lodgings, food court, and more.

As she did that, she heard a voice call out.

"Darna!"

She turned, and spotted her friend approaching her. Dark skinned and bushy haired, her human compatriot always seemed to have a spark of life in her eyes.

"Sid-"she paused, then "Talia! How are you!" Sidheth clearly noted her slip up, but shrugged it off.

As they hugged, Darna heard her whisper "Follow me. My room is secure"

And to her room they went, passing by a bevy of people throughout the station. The orbital station itself was equipped with 12 bays, each of them corresponding with a size designation, those being small, medium and large. Small bays could fit fighters, mediums were meant for light and medium freighters, while large bays dealt with bulk freighters and frigates. Three of the bays, one of each type, were reserved solely for Imperial use, with that section of the yard being staffed solely by Imperial personnel.

Entering an elevator, they were taken further up the yard's rings. It was split into three rings. The bottom ring managed all the light and medium bays, and the middle ring was for the large bays, along with the area visitors had access to. The top ring was where station personnel lived, and was the smallest of the rings.

Finally, they reached Sidheth's suite, located at the very top of the central tower that connected the rings together. As the owner and administrator of the building, she had the nicest accommodations on board.

Despite that, her quarters were not all that lavish. Being a tad larger than Darna's quarters in the Capitol, the apartment was nicely decorated. A nice central area was fitted with a kitchen, large L shaped couch with a holo table in front, and a decently large viewscreen mounted on the wall. The floor was a stark grey metal floor, but there were tasteful orange and black rugs that made up for it.

Branching off from the center room were three doors. One led in a hallway, which itself led to the master bedroom and a guest bedroom, along with the bathroom. The other door led to an office space, while the last led to a large walk-in closet.

Darna whistled. "You have yourself quite the nice room here, Sidheth. How did you get something this nice?"

Her friend flashed her a sheepish smile. "Honestly, things moved very quickly, and with the additional funding we were able to buy a prebuilt modular station. It came with this room for the lead administrator, and since I'm technically the owner…"

Darna smirked. "So you just happened to luck into the nicest suite in orbit?"

"It wasn't on purpose, I swear!"

"I thought you were more frugal? What would Vilil say if he saw you living the life?"

"Darnaaaaa…" she whined. "Please don't tell Vilil, he'll give me that look, and then I'll feel guilty!"

"Then start slumming it, sister."

They looked at each other, before bursting out into laughter. Darna hadn't missed much from her stint in the Rebellion, but she had missed her friend.

As they sat down on the couch, the conversation turned to work.

"...and he turns to me, looking dead tired, and said "there's more?!" as I handed him another stack of paperwork! Never seen the governor look so fed up!"

They had been talking about their respective lives for hours, when Darnas positino actually came into question.

"So, you seem to like your job."

Darna sighed. She saw this coming. "Yes, Sidheth, I do. And I'm not joining the rebellion again. I already risked my job referring you to the governor. On top of that, this is one of the few places where there isn't a reason to rebel! No oppressive regime, no human centrism, no beatings. Just… progress."

"I'm not denying that" said Sidheth, "Even Vilil agrees. Minda is stable, too stable for an effective rebellion. Any attacks here would just turn the populace against us. And with this scrap yard here, we're actually able to make a difference for the wider rebellion. We just want you to be a part of that difference."

Darna scoffed. "And what would you have me do? Spy on my boss, my coworkers, my friends? I've finally, after so long, found a place that accepts me, treats me well, trusts me. A place I can call home. I won't betray that trust."

Sidheths eyes seemed to glimmer with pain. "We trust you, Darna. The rebellion trusts you."

"Only long enough to put a blaster in my hand and tell me to shoot"

"You know there's more to it than that!"

She shook her head. "Just barely, Sidheth. Just barely. But here? In Minda? I don't have to fight for my life every day just to be treated with dignity and respect. I'm done, Sidheth. I've been done for years, and I refuse to get roped back in when my life is going well."

Sidheth winced, but didn't say anything for a while. Finally, she spoke up.

"I know things are good here, and I'm not really asking you to join back up. I'm not even asking you to spy! Not really. Vilil wanted me to get that, for sure, but I know you're not about that life anymore. All I ask is that if you hear something, something big, that won't get you in trouble, give us a heads up? Please? It's all I ask."

Darna sighed again. What was this, the third sigh? Fourth? Now way was that healthy.

"Fine. If something comes up that is really important, and won't risk me, I'll pass a message along. But don't expect much. Like I said, I'm done."

Sidheth smiled, but it was a weak thing. "Thanks, Darna… I missed you. We all did."

Darna couldn't help but return the smile. "I missed you too, Sidheth."

The rest of the night was spent in a more comfortable silence, the two making sure to steer clear of the topic of rebellion.

Eventually, Darna left, and found herself back in her quarters in the capitol building. Situated right below the governor's penthouse, it was fairly spacious.

As she flopped into what had to be the nicest bed she had ever owned, sleep found her quickly.

Her last thought?

"I won't let my new life be taken from me. Not again."
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks. This was my first real attempt at writing a full conversation between two friends, banter included. It feels a little awkward, I think, but let me know.

Also, for those of you incels asking for a harem. While I get the urge, I don't plan for there to be any romance in this fic as of yet. While a romance can really add layers to a story, and truly enhance it, I'm nowhere near that level of skill. How can I write a convincing romance if I'm 19 and have never been on a date? Also, for harems, I don't think they work. While you could argue about polycules for days, harems specifically are top-down structures that are inherently narcissistic, and only value the person at the top. I invite you to watch Zhang Yimou's incredible 1991 film Raise the Red Lantern, which covers the harmful effects of such a relationship. And I think harems are cliche hentai bullshit.

On top of that, I recently went down a mini rabbit-hole looking for trains for the rail system. Even after I realized that I didn't really need to specify what train engines were used specifically, I had looked around and realized that there are pitifully few trains in Star Wars. At least named ones with specs and such. So any lore on Star Wars trains, and other niche vehicles and tech is widely appreciated. I dig around the wiki alot, cause I want to find the small stuff and try to use it more often than just grabbing whatever I can find from the movies and throwing it in. One of your guys' comments is what led me to choose the CR92a, so yeah.

Anyways, thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Minda City List

Ugea

• Shubeon
  • Accordia - Capital
  • Rolling Green's - Nexus City - Farming
  • Augir - Nexus City - Mining
  • Roxatory - Nexus City - Production
• Alhea
  • Vrectin - Nexus City - Production
• Mukrix
  • No Nexus Cities

Just a little organizational tool to have a place to put all the cities names and such. I don't want to keep jumping around my 60 page google doc just to find a name.

Also, any future city name suggestions are always welcome. FantasyNameGenerators is great but it can only do so much.

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-11: Various Interludes

Captain Ife Veers
Minda System, Ugean Orbit, Arquitens-Class Command Cruiser Rationale

As the crew rushed about the bridge, communicating orders, coordinating the defense fleet, and all the other things a bridge crew does, Ife immersed herself in the noise. It sounded like success.

She had been devastated when she had been assigned to Minda. After all the hard work and discrimination she had faced, she was tossed into a backwater. Sure, the Empire didn't officially discriminate against women, and to most it is a ridiculous thing, but especially in the higher ranks women are not common, and often kept down by higher officers. Not only that, but interservice rivalries plagued her rise.

All because of her father. Maximilian Veers, now a General in the Imperial Army, had raised her to be a part of the machine. She had joined the Army's Youth program when she was young, but then her mother died. A rare disease caught while on vacation.

It broke her father. He threw himself into his work, and pushed her and her brother further into their programs. While her brother was pushed into the COMPNOR youth program, he also tried to push her further in the Army. At first, she hadn't cared, but then nepotism started happening. Scores that she knew were higher than she scored. Trainees throwing matches. It was insulting

Ife would be damned if she let all her hard work go to waste because her father was a General. So she transferred into the Navy. The only reason she even got in was because an Admiral caught wind and approved the transfer solely for the purpose of spiteing her father.

Once in the Navy, she faced the opposite of nepotism. She was looked down on for being the daughter of a General. The Empire was a competitive place, and those in higher ranks were often closer to politicians than military officers. That meant that there was constant scheming and political power moves both within and between the various branches of the military, and her fathers position made her the perfect target.

Despite all that, she had persevered. She would no matter what, carve out her own future. Prove, to the Empire and to herself, that she could succeed on her own efforts.

Her scores were top ten in her class, she consistently did very well in all her courses and exercises, and in the end she was assigned to Minda. It should have been an honour to be given a Captaincy right out of the Academy, but it was in reality an insult. Captaincy of an outdated clone-wars era Arquitens, in a backwater system, relegated to fighting smugglers and small-time pirates for the rest of her career.

Then the new governor came to power. Reforms started happening. Prospecting, expansion, new ships, and so much more. She had often found Accordia to be a bland city, and rarely left the Gauntlet unless necessary, and yet now she actually enjoyed her shore leave. Not only that, but she had been given command of a far more advanced Arquitens-class Command Cruiser, from which she would command a much larger flotilla in the defense of the system.

She even found something in common with that cur Grant! Admittedly, tutoring the governor on starship command and flight wasn't something she thought she would find particularly interesting, but he was very attentive and studious, and it gave her a way to subtly one-up the Commander every now and again. Lesson planning with Kaela was a surprisingly relaxing task, and one of the only times they weren't shooting dirty looks and veiled insults at each other.

Life was finally looking up. Her career seemed to have a way up, after years of being stuck unmoving. If she did well enough, she might get noticed by the sector moff. Command of an ISD didn't look so far off.

Ife looks down at her PDA, scanning over the incoming stream of information. It seems like some smugglers thought they could sneak into Accordia. Not on her watch. She turned to her newest aide, and young girl who had just graduated from the militia academy. Her scores had been top-notch, and the fire in her eyes reminded her of herself.

"Align our movement vector, engage sublight engines, and make ready the ion cannons. I want them alive."

The aide saluted, then repeated the command across the deck. Ife received a collective response in return.

""""Yes Ma'am!""""

Ah. The sweet sound of command.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ebiam Fik
Minda System, Ugea, Shubeon, Roxatory Outskirts

Ebiam fiddled with the controls for a few seconds aiming to line the tracks as easily as possible. Once the computer beeped, he hit the correct sequence and watched the beams attach themselves to the supports.

He was some ten or so kilometers from Roxatory as an employee of the Imperial Construction Agency. He and his team were laying tracks for the new inter/intracontinental rail system.

"Three months," he grumbled. "Three frakking months of this mind-numbing work".

His co-pilot, Arkia, laughed. Her voice was scratchy, as if her throat was lined with sand.

"You complain now, but I've seen your face on payday. Like a kid seeing a sloop race for the first time."

"Well yeah, I love money" he grumbled, "it's just that this track laying is boring as hell"

She nodded. "Can't fault ya there. The worst part is the back and forth. We lay track for a week, then we get transferred back to apartment construction because it takes another two weeks for more track to arrive, then we lay track again. Wish they would just bring it all in one go."

"Same here" he muttered, already aligning the next track while she adjusted the settings and alerted the rail system. "But the budget is split between this, the militia academy, and the farming and apartment expansions. Also, I heard from one of the higher ups that they can't use all the space in the bulk freighters for tracks because then they wouldn't be able to store the fuel they buy for the MSDF."

The track was aligned, the buttons pressed, and another section added. Behind them, they could hear the second repulsorlift crane securing the tracks and ensuring they were functioning.

"Anyway's" Arkia said "How're your kids doing? Heard Hrax got into the MSDF."

A rare smile slid across Ebiam's face. "Heh, yeah. Her scores were so good, she was assigned as an aide to -get this- the Captain of the MSDF's command ship, the Rationale!"

Arkia whistled, a look of surprise etched across her face. "Your baby girl is up there with one of the head honchos? Captain Veers is one of the governor's advisors, right?"

"Not just that, she's in command of the entire MSDF! Hrax is going places I tell ya!"

"She sure is. But… how is Vulo taking it? He's pretty protective, isn't he?"

Ebiam sighed. "Yeah. I love him, I do. But Vulo has always been the overprotective sort. I think that once he realizes she's strong now, he'll be more supportive."

Arkia wiggled her eyebrows, the action causing her bright pink hair to almost sway from her safety cap. "Maybe you need to do something to…get him to loose-ouch! Come on!"

Ebiam retracted his hand, the nose flick of justice completed. "Me and my husband's sex life is perfectly normal and private. Thank you very much."

She whined, an odd sound to pair with her voice. "Fine. At least adopt another welp then. Kept him busy this long, right?"

Chuckling, he responded. "Maybe once JoJo is an adult. And has stopped calling people "Enemy stand users" and throwing rocks at them."
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Garrison Commander Kaela Grant
Minda System, Ugea, Accordia, Imperial Garrison Firing Range

Kaela was happy. Happier than she had been in a long time. Finally! She got a job that let her do what she did best.

The sound barrier shattered as she watched a solid chunk of metal accelerate down the repulsor rails of the weapon. It pierced the durasteel plating at the end, and went through

This beast of a turret was developed as a pet project by some of the R&D people on the side. It used many easy, conventionally sourced materials like the small repulsorlifts that lined the barrels, and leftover durasteel for the projectiles, and had been approved for limited research. While she was sure the governor saw the use in these, the fact was that many projects were being sponsored by him, and the budget as it was, didn't allow for much leeway, though she sorely wished it did.

They were calling it the RSTT-00(Repulsor Slug Thrower Turret ), and upon completion, multiple units would be fitted around key points of the capital as AA weapons, with others being sent to The Bore, as it was the most likely target for pirates not suicidal enough to attack the capital.

Projectiles fired from the RST-01 were shown to be able to pierce up to a quarter meter of durasteel. Not nearly enough to pierce warship armor, nor can it break through most deflector shields. However, the speed of the projectiles fired was faster than any blaster bolt. Combined with its power, it could destroy fighters in one shot. Two, if the deflector shields were strong enough. It could even tear through light freighters in a few shots. This was the perfect defense against pirates, which were the most likely enemy to be faced.

Kaelas excitement cooled, however, when the barrels of the weapon had to be removed. While small sized repulsor lifts could launch the projectiles faster than standard magnetic rail guns could, they both used a great deal of power, and were more delicate, leading to internal damage from overheating and recoil.

As the testing team took over the range, examining the turret for any further damage, Kaela left, having seen enough, and knowing she had paperwork to accomplish. Thankfully, that new terminal system R&D made was great for organization. That, and she had more aides and other number crunchers thanks to the better schooling system. Also meant more work for her, but she knew it would be worth it. At this rate of expansion, it wouldn't be long before she was burning the jungles of Minda 2 and engaging in some slaughter. She heard the beasties over there were particularly vicious, and she wanted to test that. Personally.

—--------------------------

Three hours later saw her in her quarters, gearing up for a private training session with Governor Mola. A month before the Mindan Raid, he had requested for after hours private training. Apparently, his schooling in the Academy had leaned more towards bureaucracy rather than self defense.

It excited her, to be honest. He had no real basis for combat, and so she could shape his fighting style herself. Guide him, with no pre-trained biases holding him back. It was like playing with clay.

Every other trooper she trained had been taught how to fight by Imperial Bootcamp. They, especially the standard Infantry, had been taught how to be effective cannon fodder instead of soldiers. It was pitiful, and both she and the clone teachers under her(who were very effective, and told good stories) spent half their time retraining troops to actually fight effectively.

But with the Governor? She could build him into the perfect killing machine, if only he didn't have all that work to do. So she resigned herself to making him a decent killing machine instead.

The sessions often covered a variety of topics. They started with hand to hand, then went onto blaster training, gear safety, and ended with vehicle handling. Occasionally, Captain Veers volunteered to teach the Governor how to fly. For a career officer, Kaela had been surprised at how skilled Veers was in fighters and other lighter ships. She was then immediately angry at that smug smile Veers would shoot her when the Governor wasn't looking.

Before she could descend into an internal tirade about her sworn enemy officer, her PDA dinged with a notification.

Sighing, she composed herself, picked up her gear(she always kept special made training gear in her quarters) and left for the emptied training center.

If nothing else, this was the highlight of her week.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zyx Mola
Nar Shaddaa

No sound came from the creeping of her feet, or the drawing of her blade.

As Zyx silently prowled through the room, she focused on the target ahead of her. A pantoran, dressed in fine silks, laying in an expensive chair, clearly just having gotten out of his bath..

Readying her blade, Zyx stepped to the side of the bookshelf. Her pitch black bodysuit allowed her to blend in perfectly, but it was really the stealth field generator around her waist that did the heavy lifting.

She pointed her weapon, its thin, almost invisible blade reflecting a mere modicum of light. As soon as the button on the handle was pressed, the blade shot out, extending the remaining distance between her and the pantoran.

Perfectly positioned as she was, the blade nicked the man so lightly he didn't even feel it.

Her current objective accomplished, she backed away, before slinking off into the darkness, heading towards her exit point. As she dodged guards and security cameras alike, not wanting to rely on the generator more than she had to, she marveled at the ingenuity of her plan.

That man, Hlira was a rich weapons dealer, and was here on Nar Shaddaa to meet with one of the Hutts, and negotiate a deal to supply ion and proton torpedoes to the Hutts. The one he was meeting with was Prattu. He was a collector, like many Hutts, and enjoyed collecting rare beasts and animals from across the galaxy.

His most favored pet was a Qakuh, a rare creature found on what can only be called a death world. Said world was under Imperial control, with which he named Cheeskar Killie, which roughly translated to Betrayer Killer. Great pet name, very nice taste in beasts, bad choice for Hlira.

You see, Prattu had trained his pet very well, and liked to scare newcomers by showing it off. If they displeased him, his pet got a little treat. If not, nothing happened. It was a classic.

The very tip of her blade had been covered in miniscule amount of a pheromone produced only by male Qakuh when they were challenging another to a battle for a mate. And considering the incredible sense of smell the creatures have, it was very likely that come tomorrow, when Hlira enters Prattus chambers, Cheeskar Killie is going to have himself a nice little snack.

Leaving the spot of torpedo supplier open. Conveniently, there was another supplier petitioning for the position tomorrow. Who just so happens to be an Imperial Agent.

Make no mistake, the Hutts and the Empire had come to an understanding, and the Hutts were allowed mostly free reign of their space, so long as they didn't frakk things up. But having infiltrators within their ranks was always a benefit to the Empire, so MI had sent Zyx to insure that it all went according to plan.

Arriving back at her hideout, she decloaked and took a breather, before beginning her report. As she typed, she noticed the files she had requested. A series of memos detailing the going ons of the Minda system, where her dear younger brother had been sent off to.

She had read through them all, and was surprised. Las had actually done something good, for once. Minda's economy was increasing, with colonists from nearby systems steadily flowing in, and a stream of resources steadily flowing out.

From what she could tell from the admittedly sparse reports(they weren't going to send an agent out on just her request, after all), he was actually trying to accomplish the goal Mother had set on his shoulders.

Zyx had expected to be tracking him down as he fled by this point, but they were almost seven months in and he was making a legitimate attempt. That… didn't sound like Las. She loved her brother, truly, but she also knew that he was lazy, prone to argument, and jumped from hobby to hobby, leaving one as soon as he had to put in the work to get good.

So for him to be actively working to improve the system was a surprise. Either the threat of service in the army was that bad, or someone was backing him.

Regardless, she had accrued much leave that she never used, and decided that she might as well check in on her little brother, and whoever might be pulling his strings.

Even if there wasn't anyone, it would be fun to poke around the system. Might be something interesting to find.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks. Decided to try a full barrage of alt POVs. Wanted to try and slow things down and take a look at Minda from higher ups and groundlevel folks. I also finally got around to introducing the second sister! Zyx is going to be interesting to write, and will most certainly play quite the role in the story going forward.

Also, I wasn't able to find that much on MI(Military Intelligence) stealth tech, and just went with something basic I found on Wookieepedia. Though the blade Zyx used was an original idea. Meant to be less of a blade and more of a way to apply poison directly onto the skin or into the blood with minimal chance of detection, though it can be used as an incredible deadly whip/sword combo. Not shown here, obviously.

As always, feedback, tips, lore tidbits, and general commentary is appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-12: Creatures and Covert Operations

I was scheming. Plotting. On my evil mastermind shit. Why? Ironically enough, the same reason most evil masterminds plot. Fear.

Honestly, my paranoia was getting exhausting. Makes me glad I'm not Sith. I'd be too tired; wouldn't hit the weekly puppy torture quota or some equally inane shit.

What was I plotting? My own safety, of course. You see, I just realized something. I have no defense against force users. At all.

I have zero clue whether or not I'd be able to resist mind tricks, illusions, mind reading, and a million other things. Sure, it isn't exactly the biggest fear I have, not by a long shot. But the force is fucking terrifying, and I don't want to deal with it at all.

That's when I remembered a little planet called Myrkr. On this planet, there lives a species of lizard called the Ysalamiri. These little buggers can create a field that negates the use of the force around them. While the effect is similar to that of the Shirr Ka Rai, the latter actually eats the force around them, while the Ysalamiri simply ensure that the force within their radius cannot be controlled.

Now, I want one. These little buggers would guarantee my safety. The problem? They were stubborn. For nutrients the lizards sink their claws into a specific type of tree and absorb the nutrients from there. Trying to remove them will almost certainly guarantee the creature's death.

Thankfully, certain smugglers had figured out how to do this safely. Unfortunately, such people are rare, and the lizards rarer. So it would take some time for the queries I had tossed out into the underworld to come up with an answer.

I say tossed, but what I really mean is that a droid was sent to buy a droid who was sent to buy a droid who was sent to pay a middleman who was sent to pay an information broker who would send out their feelers, and place the information gathered at a predetermined drop point that changed every week depending on a random number generator built into the datapad that contained the orders.

It was a fairly complex plan, and one I'm quite proud of. This many proxies would hide my involvement from most. MI could probably track it back to me, but would have no real reason to do so.

Suffice to say, I would be getting my own little force negating buddy who could sit on a backpack I would get to wear. Very nice.

Putting my sinister schemes to the side, I turned to the task at hand.

A few merchants had decided to stop by Ugea. Nothing particularly special, save for their cargo.

They weren't smugglers, but instead traders of animals. Specifically, farm animals. They had heard about Minda's growing farming industry and decided to try their luck at selling cattle here.

So there I was, standing at the Accordian Spaceport alongside my personal detail, inspecting the various animals with Ulre Iglad, the head of the local agriculture department. He was sporting a light bruise on his forehead, what he called a "rubber wound".

"So" I said, "Which ones do you think would be best suited for Ugea?"

He scanned over the animals, before settling on one.

"The Shaak will probably be our best bet. Ugea doesn't have any animals suited to cattle work. Most of them are either too small, or too vicious."

"Ah, but the shaak is both large and docile. How will it impact the ecosystem, however? I don't want an ecological collapse just because we wanted to stop importing meat." I said, taking another bite out of my sandwich. Damn, this thing is good, the techs at R&D really nailed the BBQ sauce flavor. Gotta give them a raise.

He shook his head. "Shaak are fairly widespread across the galaxy, so the chances of a major ecological collapse from their presence is unlikely. Regardless, we'll be conducting extensive tests."

I sighed in relief. "Good. Anything else here that could be of use to us?"

While Ulre looked around, scanning the various animals for anything of use, a cage in the back caught my eye. It was completely shuttered, unlike the other animals' cages which were more open, and looked large enough to fit a great dane.

Turning to the devaronian captain, I pointed at the object of interest.

"What's that?"

He looked surprised, then rushed to explain.

"That's an animal that seemed to have snuck on board when we were refueling a system over. It was skittish, and lashed out so we hit it with a stunner and tossed it in that cage with some feed and a water bowl. It's been in there for a few days, and has been awfully quiet."

I hummed while I chewed, then swallowed. Not quite beef, but Bantha was close enough. "Can you unshutter the cage? I'd like to take a look." He nodded, and quickly pressed a few buttons on the cage's control panel. As panels slid back, I got a look at it.

The animal was lithe, and most certainly carried with it a sense of danger. However, I could tell it was scared, based on all the hissing it was doing. It had the remnants of whatever kibble the merchants had given it tossed around, and a small water bowl that was nearly empty.

Despite its clear fear, its eyes clearly tracked my sandwich. Taking a gamble(I gotta stop doing this), I ordered the cage opened. As soon as it opened, I tossed the sandwich at the opening just as the creature tried to dart out.

I almost laughed as my sandwich smacked the animal in its head, dazing the poor thing. It took a moment to sniff at the meat and bread, before quickly gobbling it up. Immediately after it snaked over to me and started to lick at my fingers.

A raised hand stopped my detail from gunning it down, as the creature was clearly friendly. So long as it got food, that is.

It walked on all fours, but was clearly capable of utilising its hind legs.

"Hah! Hungry, eh? I think I'll take em. What is it?"

The captain's face was a mix of confusion and relief. "I don't know, I've never encountered one of these before."

Regardless, I smiled. This buddy was fast. If trained correctly, not only would I have a cool pet alien, but one that could very well end up as a bodyguard of sorts.

I reached down, slowly of course, and let it sniff my hands, before it let me touch its head. It seemed to coo. Light scratches under its chin left it practically melting in my hands.

Oh yeah baby.

Alien cat time!
--------------------------------------------------

Now back at the capitol building, which I was really thinking of giving an official name at this point, I was sitting in a conference room.

Specifically, the conference room. The one that was built in the remodeling of the building with as many anti-spy safeties that the budget could afford. Which was a surprising amount, all things considered.

There were the three big leaders of Minda. Myself, Commander Kaela, who controlled the system's army forces, and Captain Veers, leader of the MSDF.

We were there because Captain Veers had asked us to meet. Only the Captain herself wasn't physically present, as she was still aboard the Rationale in orbit.

"So, Commander. Care to tell us why you called this meeting?" I asked, trying to ignore my newest friend's attempts to get me to play with them.

Giving no notice to the creature, the Captain activated the holo table from her terminal, a serious look etched across her face.

"We have a problem." She brought up an image, some sort of space buoy. One of the ones that were being spread across the system to allow the new network we were building to spread. This buoy was different though. While it was clearly one of ours, it had a myriad of extra tech slapped across it.

"This is Relay 5-2-3. It's one of our farther out relays, and covers a few of the farther out mining claims. One of those mining teams approached the relay to get a better signal and send their findings back to their HQ on Ugea when they noticed the clear modifications."

I studied the relay a little closer. The extra tech was shoddy, to say the least.

"After dismantling the relay, we discovered a few things. This extra technology was a slapdash listening post. It seems that whoever implemented such a thing did it in a rush. Probably intended to be a temporary measure, which is why it was placed on the furthest relay."

Shit. People are trying to spy on my fucking system!? This sounds bad, to say the least. "Any possible leads as to the perpetrators? Rebels, perhaps?"

Veers shakes her head. "No, though the rebellion is unlikely. They thrive off of secrecy and sympathy. Such a sloppy job was bound to be discovered. This reeks of a different stench of evil. Criminals."

I raised an eyebrow. "I was under the assumption that rebels are criminals."

"They are" she said, "But rebels fight for a cause they believe in, however misplaced. They have a reason to battle, and therefore are more careful in their actions. Common criminals however, are sloppy. They succeed a few times, and get arrogant. The problem here, however, is that these criminals are far too arrogant. They must be found, and crushed."

"All right. First, have every relay checked out. They may have tampered with others. Bring the spare relays out and check the internals of all the relays as well. It'll take time, but they may have taken a more subtle approach for the relays in more traveled sectors."

"Of course," replied the Captain. "My people are already on it".

I turned to the Commander. "As for you, work with the people in R&D. They should be able to identify the components used in the tech and tell you where they can be found in the system. I want a full investigation into wherever these components originated. It could lead us to the perpetrators."

She saluted. "Yes, governor. At your command!".

Captain Veers turned to me. "What if the components are from out of the system? What then?"

I sigh. "Then I'd have to contact the sector moff. Which I'd rather not do."

Las's memories showed me the brief exchange he had with the sector moff. A rotund old man, Moff Tarry was a party animal, constantly drinking, eating, and wasting away in Dubrillion. He was also incredibly lazy, and getting him to send resources and assistance to Minda, or assist in an investigation would be…difficult. Not impossible, the man was the type with a myriad of exploitable weaknesses after all. It would just be a major pain in the ass.

Hopefully this could be resolved in-house. I didn't want this to explode out of my control.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zyx Mola
Minda System, Minda-0, The Bore

Zyx was… impressed, to say the least. A fully functioning mining and refinery asteroid base. That had been built in but a month? Sure, it was completely possible, technology allowed for modular, pre-built structures to be fully functional within mere weeks, but in systems like these such constructions were usually impossible because of local officials just pocketing the money that might go to such things.

And yet here she was, stepping out of her HWK-290, Humble Darkness. It was an older ship that she had picked out of the yard for her personal transportation. It had been extensively upgraded, of course. Better thrusters, class 1 hyperdrive, improved weapons, shielding, etc… The only thing that hadn't changed was its appearance. The older look and weathering was perfect cover for her. A lone mercenary jumping around. The kind of ship and person you didn't look at twice.

Currently, she was situated in the visiting section of The Bore. As the furthest station from the central star, it was often the first stop for visitors.

As she looked around, she took note of the clean hallways, and happy employees. The Bore is an Imperial facility, this she knows. But for the average worker to seem as healthy as they are is odd. Most refineries and the like, especially those situated in space, are dangerous. Workers are often considered disposable, as there are always more people to fill in the spots.

Not only that, but the amount of non-humans was… unusual. Especially the intermingling between them and regular humans. Now, she didn't particularly care whether or not someone was human, it was irrelevant to her. But it was relevant to many other Imperials, so she kept her mouth shut about her opinions. Here though? The acceptance was odd.

Quietly, she slunk about, subtly hiding in the camera's blindspots. She made her way over to the administrators office, and tossed a small disk onto the camera across from it, temporarily looping the footage. Next, a quick slice and the door unlocked, her footsteps quiet as she crouched low to the ground. A few more camera looping discs were scattered around the office, while the occasional toss of a credit coin distracted the few workers within. Most were on break, as she had seen in the cafeteria.

All it took was a quick slice of a data port, and the entire database of the Bore was downloaded into her personal database. It would normally take far longer, and far more space, but MI let their agents have a few of the nicer toys.

After that, it was child's play to retreat. The discs would degrade on their own within minutes, leaving no evidence of her tampering save for a thin layer of dust.

From there, she retreated to her ship, the refueling finished by then. A light smirk graced her features as she sat in the cockpit of the Humble Darkness. Another successful infiltration. Sure, it wasn't an official job, but she still loved it. The thrill of it all, the feeling of digging up secrets, of knowing more than others, holding that knowledge, it was exciting.

And now, she knew a great deal about her brother's operations on The Bore. There were more places to stop by, but it was just the beginning.

She was going to have so much fun teasing him with all of this information.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks! Decided to start on the next threats and such, along with advancing Zyx's side of the story. Things are going to be heating up in the coming chapters, with new threats, allies, and all that lies between. Also, pets. I liked the design of that creature from Hardy Fowler so much when I was looking for the design of the Qakuh that I felt I needed to include that beautiful creature somehow.

On that note, I need name suggestions! I couldn't think of anything that fit this catlike snake thingie, and I didn't want to do them an injustice.

Aside from that, as usual, feedback and comments are appreciated!

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-13: Sibling Trickery

I sat in my office chair. Newly named Mugwuffin was laying across my desk, purring as I scratched her smooth skin. It had taken quite the battery of tests, and a veritable bucket load of BBQ covered Shaak meat to keep her happy throughout, but it was determined that she was female. Though what she is has yet to be determined.

None of that is important, however. What is important is the person sitting across from me with her arm in a sling and a black eye, pouting in her chair while I was signing documents.

"I think you're a little too old to be acting like a toddler, Zyx. You're 27. Grow up."

Her pout only deepened. "Your garrison commander is a monster, you know that?"

"I know that" I smirked. "It's why I keep her on the payroll. Anyways, I'm surprised to see that you were beat. The decorated Agent Mola, caught red handed sneaking into the R&D labs."

"I just wanted to know what you were researching in there! It's not my fault the money trick didn't work on this beast of a woman."

Commander Grant eyed her warily. "Do you… know this insurgent governor?"

I sighed as I signed another paper. "Yes. She's my sister. And she's not an insurgent. Far too incompetent for that."

Zyx pouted again, but her eyes sparkled with a twinkle of mischief. "Correct, least favorite brother! I am a proud member of Imperial Intelligence!"

"I'm your only brother."

"And?"

Grant once again looks to me for affirmation, and again I sigh. "Yes, this toddler of a woman is indeed a decorated agent of Imperial Intelligence. So, Commander, I both ask that you release her, and commend you for your actions. Not only did you capture a spy in our midst(allied though they might be) but you were able to physically subdue a member of MI, which is no small feat."

The Commander preened under the praise, then released Zyx's arm to salute. "You're praising her!? But what about my arm?"

I shrugged, a sense of mirth emanating from Las's memories that I tried to convey. "You tried to bribe her. Frankly speaking, I'm not sure why you thought that would work." As I say this, I grab another document with a sticky note hidden just under it(god I love the R&D team).

"It wasn't meant to be a bribe" she retorted "It was meant to be a distraction. The clinking sound makes people turn their heads away just long enough for me to get by."

I stared at her, contemplating how unimaginably stupid that sounded. Then I laughed. Long and hard, as the frown on her face just deepened. Even Mugwuffin joined in, sounding out little trills from her mandible covered mouth. With Zyx focused on my laughter, I made sure to hide the paper and its sticky note behind Mugwuffins body.

"Ah… haven't had a good laugh like that in months." I got myself under control, before sitting up straighter, right into Business Mode™. "What are you here for, Zyx? I still have over a year before the Commandant comes by to inspect my work."

Her put disappeared, the little sibling act dissipating. A dangerous smirk crossed her face. "Well, dear brother. I wanted to check up on you. See how it is your faring."

"And?"

She hummed. "Better than I thought, though not quite up to mothers standards."

I snorted. Las's memories told me all I needed to know about his mothers 'standards'.

She gave a quick laugh. "Yes, that's what I was thinking as well. We both know that giving you this position was really just a way to get rid of you. The only reason she didn't throw you directly into the infantry-"

"-was because if she did it on Eriadu everyone would know. I get it, it's always a political ploy with her. No need to remind me."

I fix her with a stare. "Now, Zyx. What. Do. You. Want."

"I can't just be visiting my little brother?"

"No."

For a second I think I see a flash of legitimate hurt flash across her face before she schools herself. "Well it's the truth. I had a great deal of leave, and decided to burn some to come and visit."

"I don't believe you."

"You don't have to."

"Fair enough."

From there, an awkward silence stretches across the room while I continue to sign that document, a few orders written onto the sticky note disguised as me modifying the document for further review.

The only one who seems unaffected by the vibe being off is Mugwuffin, who just paws at me until I give in and toss her one of her treats. BBQ flavored, of course.

And then I can't take it anymore. I refuse to sit in silence with my officers and soldiers watching me be awkward with my not-sister. I stand up, and start walking towards the door, the document folded in half to hide the sticky note on the underside.

"Come on, I'll show you the R&D lab."

She raises an eyebrow "I thought you didn't want me in there?"

"Not only do I have nothing to hide there, but we both know that if MI wanted, I wouldn't be able to hide anything in there anyways"

As she contemplated my words, I turned to the Commander. "You will be accompanying us, to ensure that she doesn't toss bugs or trackers around." As Grant nodded, my mind turned inwards.

While all this banter with Zyx was entertaining, it was driven by Las's memories rather than my own emotions. Like putting on a mask, it was actually pretty easy to just immerse myself in his memories. While my charade wasn't perfect, as attempting to get his emotions right was a little outside of my skill, any differences could be attributed to the eight months apart.

As we exited my office, I stopped by Darna's desk, handing her the paper. She simply affirms with a nod. As I do this, a quick hand motion has Mugwuffin curling herself around Zyx's leg, keeping her attention away from my actions. Just to ensure she didn't look too closely at the document I was passing over.

On a side note, Mugwuffin was strangely easy to train.

Anyways, we pressed on, making our way to the R&D lab. It was a large, squat building, with most of its facilities being underground for safety reasons. It's interior was sterile and white, with clear signage and arrows indicating the various departments.

As we walked through, there were copious stations that held gas masks, fire extinguishers, and emergency releases for doors. This place had been built with safety in mind.

Finally, we reached the section Zyx had been attempting to infiltrate.

"Here we have it." I said, pointing at the weapon. "The RSTT-00. An attempt at a anti-air rail cannon."

She hummed, studying the turret. "And why are you developing this?"

"Because it's actually cheaper to build the spikes for this in system than it is to import the gasses necessary for our AA turrets. The only reason we aren't making some for our defense fleet is because it would be incredibly expensive, and they aren't really effective against larger ships."

"Ah, because of the particle shields I imagine. Still, if made correctly, such a weapon could tear through starfighters."

"Correct. Combine that with the fact that, unlike most weapons, this is not a subsonic weapon, and with some basic targeting software it would be quite the anti air weapon." I responded.

She turned to me with a serious look. "And why are you building this?"

"Honestly? I didn't ask for this to be built. Some of the R&D personnel had some spare parts and were experimenting when this popped up. When they realized the potential for anti air and anti armor applications, they sent it up for my approval. I decided they could go in for limited testing. Not much is being applied to the project, and it's more like a state funded hobby for some of the engineers here more than anything else."


"State funded." She says, quirking an eyebrow. "You use government funds to pay for your R&D team's hobby?"

"Well, to be fair, in attempting to make this whole thing work they've made some discoveries. The miniaturized repulsorlifts that are meant to replace the magnetic rails and give the weapon more power are becoming very energy efficient. We've applied the same technology to our repulsorlift vehicles and weapons. Energy consumption is down 8% across the board."

Humming, she circles the turret, but refrains from touching it due to the Commanders imposing stare.

"Anything else?" She asked, looking back at me.

I refrain from sighing. While I never intended to hide anything around here, it is an earlier reveal than I would have wished. Regardless, I know that not showing her everything is going to bring up some uncomfortable questions down the line.

So, we continue the tour. I take her through the rest of the weapons division, showing off things like the minor improvements made to the E-11 that, while entirely possible for the original manufacturer, would push prices a little further up than the Empire is willing to pay.

We also pass by the armor division, speaking on the attempts to upgrade both standard infantry, police and stormtrooper armor to be better than just a thin piece of plastoid. While infantry and police armor was mostly unchanged save for basic upgrades in durability, there was a new stormtrooper armor still in the design stage. At the current stage, it was still being improved upon and tested, and even then would likely only be given to elites and officers due to costs. Still, its added protection, helmet integrated PDA functions/commands, and a myriad of other toys were of great benefit. Now if only they could make it lighter. And cheaper too. Very costly.

Surprisingly, it wasn't the armor that caught Zyx's attention(though I'm sure it would be reported to her superiors) but the PDA's.

"These devices, they are quite intriguing. Why did you have them made?"

I suppose I should have seen this coming. "Well, I had wanted a way to do what I did on my terminal with a datapad, but datapads lack the functionality. Now, I don't actually have a wireless connection to my terminal, that would be bad for information security, but it has a great deal of uses. After I had one made, I decided that it would be a decent product to sell to the populace. Eventually that expanded to military versions."

"And you didn't think to inform high command of this?"

"Do I look like I can talk to high command? I think all those promotions got to your head."

She pouted again. Again! This is like the fifth time! She's close to thirty and she pouts like a baby. I tell her as much. She pouts even more.

"Pathetic."

More pouting. "I'm going to report this, you know? It'll probably enter production if approved."

Containing my surprise, I turned to her. "You think these would be approved for production?"

"Well, yes. Probably only for officers and elites on the military side, but I don't see why not. You might even get some credit!"

I winced. "I'd…rather not."

The room went silent. Zyx, the Commander, all my guards, even the mouse droids cleaning the floors.

She turned to stare at me, eyes wide. "...What?"

I faced her, took a deep breath, and started explaining my personal ideology for the first time in either life to a bunch of people who had been raised with the idea that pushing for career advancement was the only worthwhile thing to do in the Empire.

"So, my job here is to turn Minda into a decent system within two years or be carted off to the Infantry frontlines to die in some pacification campaign. I don't want that, obviously, so I'm working hard to make the Minda system worthwhile. The problem with all that is that if I improve too many things, or the wrong things, or make too much noise and draw a lot of attention, then I'm going to get the attention of people higher up. I don't want that kind of attention, because it means more work, more danger, all while I just want to spend my time working to improve the system. Being a part of the Imperial bureaucracy, especially at this level, is a cutthroat game of politics more than it is about actually doing your job. I have absolutely zero interest in being a part of that game. I just want to do my job and avoid my death. So no, I don't want the credit. It would bring undue attention to me. Just let one of your bosses take the credit or something, I don't care. So long as it doesn't come crashing down on me it won't matter."

As I witnessed the shock on the faces of both her and the Commander, I sighed. "Ok, just because you don't get it doesn't mean I don't."

I gesture for one of the techs, and a minute later I have a data chip in my hand. I pass it to Zyx, pat her on the back, then look at the Commander.

"Please escort Ms. Mola to her ship, and contact the Captain to ensure she leaves the system without incident."

The Commander seems to salute purely on instinct as I turn away and walk deeper into the lab. I still have some engineers to talk to about new security features I'd like to put into production. Zyx's appearance here scared me more than I've let on. I had to stick my hands in my pockets to hide the fact that they were shaking.

Sure, she didn't threaten me, and it was comical how she was caught, but the fact that she made it that far down was terrifying. If this had been an official mission, and she had official gear? Who knows how far she could've gone.

In the back of my mind, I note down that I should contact the Navy HQ to ask for Captain Veers to be promoted to Commodore. It's odd to have a Captain in charge of a defense flotilla.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks! I worked a little harder than usual on this one, solely to try and figure out how to hide stuff from the spy sister. That little thing with the sticky note and paper was an attempt to try out this smart character stuff. I figure that using natural movements to conceal hidden plans, along with things like laughter or a pet alien drawing the attention of his sister so that she doesn't notice his minute movements is something that might work.

And yes, I did name the Creature Mugwuffin. Saw someone's comment to name it Mr. Muffins or something along those lines, and I was thinking of McDonalds at the time and it all sorta combined.

Anyway, as always, comments, feedback, lore and more are wanted!

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-14: Sisterly Views

Alvi Mola
Lothal, Imperial Factory, Experimental Wing

"It's maneuvering is too slow."

Olrat looks up from his datapad as Alvi steps down from the prototype.

"What?"

"I said, the maneuvering is too slow. This thing is heavy, and that means that its maneuvering thrusters are doing far more work in-atmosphere."

He gives her a pointed look. "This isn't an atmospheric fighter. We're not trying to build the TIE/sk here."

"No" she shot back as she removed her helmet. "We're building a multirole starfighter. Multirole means it should excel everywhere, not just space. Just add it to the list"

The engineer thinks for a second as he marks the issue down on his terminal, navigating his newly updated terminal software. "Could we make the regular thruster larger? That would mitigate the stress."

Bottled water was chugged as Alvi wiped the sweat off her face and shook her head. "That would be expensive, wouldn't it? Also, that thing is already hot enough as it is. Aren't there supposed to be life support systems in there?"

Olrat sighed. "No, not yet. Those come in later. And will take up even more space. At this rate, we'll be stuck with either an oversized or overpriced TIE variant. Neither of which are good for us."

And so they sat there, contemplating and discussing the possible modifications to the prototype. Olrat's engineering expertise and Alvi's piloting skills allowed for a good back and forth problem solving talk.

So engrossed were they in trying to figure out how to get the Defender up to standards, that they failed to notice Grand Admiral Thrawn until he was already upon them.

"Greetings." He said in that signature gravely tone of his. "I see you two are quite enthusiastic about your roles."

The two quickly stood and saluted. ""Yes Sir!"".

"Good…now, what's wrong with the prototype?"

Olrat and Alvi shared a look, a silent battle of the eyes to determine who would have the displeasure of reporting bad news to the big boss. Alvi seemed to lose that battle.

"The maneuvering thrusters are too weak in the atmosphere to accomplish the necessary turning speeds. The only ways we've been able to theoretically solve the problem is either with maneuvering flaps in the s-foils, which will increase mechanical complexity and make the pieces even less compatible with other TIE lines, or increase the size of the thrusters themselves. None of the solutions we've come up with will allow the prototype to stay cheap enough to be a viable replacement for the basic TIE. Sir."

Thrawn humms. It's a distinctly dangerous sound, and everyone around him, from Olrat to Thrawn's own aides seem to break out into a sweat. As if they were all suddenly aware that there was a rancor in the room, and any sudden movement might seem them dead.

"The project has been turned in a…different direction. These fighters will no longer be replacements to the standard TIE line, and are to be relegated solely to ace pilots and other elites. Cost is now less of an obstacle."

Olrat's eyes seemed to shine, and as he and Alvi looked at one another, pure glee in their eyes.

"If that's the case, sir, then we have various alternative designs that are feasible that we could show you right now, if you wish."

The Chiss man quirked an eyebrow, but gestured for the engineer to continue. Olrat activated his terminal and navigated through his myriad files before settling on a few. Before he could continue, the Grand Admiral spoke up. "What kind of program is this?"

Olrat was speechless for a second. "Umm…it's a program Alvi gave me, sir. I ran it through an independent machine, and there were no viruses. It's just a good organizational program, sir."

Thrawn turned to Alvi, who felt incredibly exposed now that she was in the spotlight. "I-its a program my older sister sent me. Said that it was the only thing she could share about my brother's developments over holonet. I don't have a use for it, but I figured Olrat would."

"Have a copy prepared for me before the day's end. Now continue."

Olrat startled. "O-oh, yes, understood. Of the TIE variants we've concocted, the current Defender is the most easily constructible and fits the best within the parameters of the goals we're attempting to accomplish. While variants like the Seeker, Protector and Destroyer are more than possible, they are more specialized instead of being more multi-role like you asked. The Seeker is a more armed Interceptor, the Protector is a multi-role that's too large for it to fit in most TIE docking spaces, and the Destroyer is a purely heavy fighter that is too slow for the project parameters."

"The TRN also comes close to fitting the parameters, but is even more expensive as it requires an astromech droid and custom underslung laser cannons. Its smaller s-foils means increased durability, but at a steeper credit cost due to extra durasteel and a small generator to maintain power output.

"The closest we have is the TIE-X, which has a small enough frame, shields, hyperdrive, life support, increased maneuverability and firepower, and many of its internals are interchangeable with the rest of the TIE line. The problem is that it's theorized that the production of such a TIE would cost around 400,000 credits minimum, 100,000 more than the current Defender estimates."

Another humm. Another tense room. "Produce working prototypes of each of these. Theoreticals are not representative of reality. We will see how these ships truly fare."

And with that, Thrawn turned and left without ceremony. His mind was filled with possibility. Even if the multi-role fighter plan didn't work out, these variants had great potential for future use. And that program. It looked incredibly efficient.

A note was made in the back of his mind to look into Alvi's family further.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zyx Mola
Muunilinst System, HWK-290 Humble Darkness

She sat in the small communal space aboard her ship while it was being refueled, going over the things she had gotten from her trip to Minda.

Unfortunately, precious little had been brought back with her. That monster of a garrison commander had kept Zyx on her toes the entire time, leaving her unable to snatch any little bits or bobs from the labs.

What she had kept, however, was a recorder stashed in the lining of her pants. As she fished it out, she contemplated what she would do with it. That rant Las had made at the end of her visit intrigued her. It was so…like him, and yet at the same time not at all.

Las was no genius, that's for certain. Not like the rest of the family. He had jumped from subject to subject, hobby to hobby. After the initial success wore off, he would realize he had no natural talent in it and would drop it. So him actually putting in the work was not something she had seriously considered before now.

And it was actual hard work. None of the stations or terminals she had sliced indicated any outside help. Not a single odd cargo manifest. Not only that, but if he was naturally talented or had some secret backer, his eyes would not have bags like they did, nor would his office be filled with files and actual, physical paperwork instead of luxuries and niceties abound.

His little meltdown helped shed some light on him. The fear of death in the Infantry had led him to actually work hard in his new duties because he had no choice. As he got better and worked harder, he came to understand both his position and that he actually enjoyed his job. But then he realized that his now enjoyable position was in jeopardy because of the timeline mother dearest had given him. It made sense, in a way.

It also helped explain why he was acting so cold. Her being there must have seemed like one of mothers ploys. And considering his newfound love of his job, he saw her as a threat to that.

Doesn't make it hurt any less.

Regardless, she had to report this. All agents had to report what they got up to in their spare time. Price of the job and all.

Finally, she managed to get the recorder free. She would have words with the designer who made it such a tight fit.

However, when she tried to activate it, it didn't work. Multiple times, she tried to activate it, to no avail.

Then she remembered. When she was being escorted into the labs, she, like all the members of the party, was scanned by a trooper with an odd, paddle shaped device. It was apparently meant to check for explosives and possible contaminants. Instead, it was likely meant to quietly fry communication and recording devices.

She smiled. Las must have sent word ahead. The paper! He had gotten out of her chair with a document in hand, and it had been folded. He didn't have it in the elevator, so he must've given it to his secretary. It probably contained instructions that were sent to the labs before they got there.

Zyx smirked. Her little brother was growing up. Though she would have to pay him back for this someday. Just not today.

For today, she decided not to report his little rant.

Couldn't hurt.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks. Shorter chapter here, just cause I felt like I needed to keep writing so I churned this out. Was planning a third POV section from Las but it's past midnight and my ear hurts for some reason so I decided to toss it out like this. Next alt POV will prolly be the oldest sister. Gotta complete the trifecta, after all.

As always, feedback and commentary is appreciated.

Also, since I forgot to do this, I want to extend credit to all the amazing artists over on ArtStation who's designs I keep yoinking. I know that by linking the website proper I don't actually have to do this, but I felt like it anyways. The stuff over there is legitimately incredible. My dreams of drawing spaceships are currently in the 'boxes slapped together' stage, so I admire the time and skill it must've taken for the folks over there to get where they are today.

And of course, fan designs you want to toss my way are welcome. Just remember to credit the artist(s).

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-15: Plans and Parental Slander!

It had been a few months since Zyx had stopped by, and things had been going fairly well. Infrastructure was blooming, the population was steadily increasing. Cities were being designed for walkability and public transport in mind. Most buildings were multiple stories, with the first two to three being ground level businesses, and the rest being a mix between office space and apartments.

The new neighborhoods in Accordia, for example, were built around community center complexes. These centers held the local police building, clinics, emergency services, and raid shelter. They also had large parks surrounding them. Around these centers stood many businesses. Branching out from these central areas, much like the Nexus and Sub-Nexus cities, were smaller parks. Usually containing a security center with a few officers and a park, these were the more residential areas. The larger centers were where the metro accessways were.

Other cities across Ugea were adopting this method as well, and combined with the intra/intercontinental railways that had finished, ship and speeder use was down massively, clearing up the skies and allowing people to more freely walk the roads. In fact, much of the speeder and cargo traffic that happened occurred underground. A series of roads had been built above the subway during construction that allowed resources to be delivered across the city, and for larger cargo speeders to move without the restraint of the city. Many buildings across the city had access to this area for restocking, such as warehouses.

Through the center of the city ran a large river called the Midnight Accord. The latter part of the name is obvious, but the former isn't. Unless you see the river at night. It is, undeniably, my favorite sight. Due to certain mineral formations, the many rocks that make up the riverbed reflect only a mixture of purples and whites, creating a scene like the midnight sky.

Situated within this river, dead center of the city, is the capitol island. It was about the size of Roosevelt Island, and it held the Mindan Militia Academy, the Capitol Building, the Imperial Garrison HQ, the Communications Center, along with a private government-only spaceport.

The capitol building had undergone renovations once again, because apparently according to just about all my staff, it has to be the tallest building in the city, bar none.

Complete bullshit, but I won't complain. The view is killer.

Unfortunately I could enjoy neither the view nor my newly redecorated office(but with star wars baubles instead of classical sculptures and the like) because of the messages I have to send.

Mugwuffin rubbed her head against my leg, somehow sensing my growing dread.

Sighing, I reached down to pet her.

"Don't worry, buddy. I got it handled. Just hate to have to call up the Sector Moff for this."

Because that was what I was doing. The message was half-written on my terminal, a request for an investigation into the increased pirate and marauder attacks on my system.

While the listening tech that was found on the relay was yet to be tracked, it was suspected that it was a listening post for a criminal syndicate. At first I had suspected the Crimson Dawn, but just like the last time, their involvement was likely minimal at best. The Mindan Raid had been a resource operation and with its failure Lady Qi'ra was unlikely to attempt a follow up in the same sector, much less the same system. The Dawn was still in the early stages of reforming itself and couldn't afford Imperial attention.

While other organizations could have done it, this is off. The pykes would've just started smuggling spice, the Hutts would've tried to negotiate since they have a working relationship with the Empire, and the Black Sun… ok, I have no idea what they would do. Don't know much about them.

I quickly called up Darna. "Darna, could you please have a dossier made about the Black Sun, please?"

"Yes sir"

"Thank you, Darna"

"No problem, sir"

As I release the intercom, I make note to check when Darna last got a raise. She puts up with my shit all the time and never seems fazed. Should also look into her birthday. Don't want to seem like a bad boss.

Anyways, the chances of this being a major cartel are low. So chances are it's some kind of pirate sovereign. You know the type. They show up, calling themselves some sort of pirate king or whatever, rally a bunch of ne'er do wells together to do some raiding, get their ass killed then the whole thing devolves immediately afterwards.

It would explain a great deal. A smarter pirate sovereign who decided to slowly encroach on a system. Instead of a massive invasion that would most certainly get the sector fleet called, by tapping comms they could coordinate smaller, quicker attacks. Less likely to get killed or caught.

Smart. Too smart for my liking.

Which was why I was sending a message to the sector capital asking for an investigation to be launched. Sweeps of the system had revealed no bases, so the culprit likely originated from outside the system.

As the message was sent, I sighed and sat back, Mugwuffin jumping into my lap and curling up against me like an oversized cat.

"Huh… yeah buddy. They'll probably deny my request. Wouldn't be surprised if this pirate king or whatever was funded by another governor. Can't catch a break."

She purred as I scratched her chin.

Why couldn't life always be this chill?
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shal Mola
Abrion Sector, Imperial Navy Exclusion Zone, Scarif System Orbit, Imperial II-Class Star Destroyer Heavy Judgement

As Captain Shal Mola sat in her office, she bounced a small black rubber ball imprinted with the Imperial Crest on its side against the wall.

She had been told by a comms officer that an MI agent had wished to speak with her about something over a private holo-call. After a quick check of codes, there was only one possible person who could've called.

"Heyyyyy! How're you doing big sis!"

"Hello Zyx." She said, "Why are you calling? You know I'm in an exclusion zone. To make this call must've taken quite the effort on your part."

Zyx pouted like she wasn't twenty-seven years of age. It was a habit she had picked up since she was young, and it never truly wore off. Or it was just her acting. With Zyx, you could never truly tell what was real and what wasn't.

"Everyones saying that lately! 'What do you want Zyx? Why are you here? What's the mission?' Can't I just be a girl wanting to call her siblings!"

"No"

The pout intensified, making Shal sigh. Zyx had been an enigma for a long time now. The little sister she once knew was now hidden under layers of deception and trickery.

"Just…what is it, Zyx?"

Zyx composed herself. "Fine. I paid a little visit to our dear brother."

An eyebrow was raised. "Las? He was put out in the Bright Jewel Oversector correct? Myto sector I believe."

Her sister nodded. "Yup. The Minda system is where he governs. Thing is, he's doing quite the good job. Much better than anyone expected."

Shal chewed on the inside of her lip. Her relationship with her youngest sibling was…distant, to say the least. They were born nearly a decade apart, and by the time he was able to walk and talk she was already being trained. They had seen precious little of each other, and when they had finally met for his entrance into the Eriadu Academy, he had not recognized her. At all.

Still, he was her little brother, and their lack of connection was one of her few regrets in life, along with not standing up to her mother more often, and not learning how to cook.

Zyx continued, either not noticing or, more likely, not caring about Shal's silence.

"The system's population is nearing 400,000 people, double the initial. His capital city is clean, efficient and prosperous. There are multiple mining outposts, a large asteroid refinery, and ship refit/repair/scrap yard, and a well sized defense fleet. On top of all that, he's got an R&D department!"

Shal processed the information. An improving system, asteroid mining, shipyards, and more. If Zyx was to be believed, then her little brother was actually succeeding. In fact, he was surpassing mothers expectations by quite a large margin.

"It hasn't even been a year, yet he's already done this much. Why is he moving so fast?"

Zyx looked her dead in the eyes, and Shal understood.

Mother.

Commandant Mola was a harsh taskmaster, who expected greater and greater things from her children. For Shal, it took her becoming not just an ISD captain, but one assigned to a top secret exclusion zone like Scarif. For Zyx, joining MI was the only way for her to escape, by becoming part of an organization that their Mother could never touch. Alvi was just barely out of her grasp, having been pushed to be not just top ten of her class, and one of the best of the pilot program, but to become an ace. Only once she was flying a TIE interceptor and not the basic version was she satisfied.

But with Las, it was different. Las had been raised primarily by their father in his earlier years, in a different estate on Eriadu. He only met his mother and sisters sparingly, and so once he was part of the academy and fully under mothers gaze, he was not used to the pressure.

She remembered hearing the reports of disorderly conduct, insubordination, and more. It was a mess. While her and her sisters had grown used to the pressure, he had not.

Finally, it led to this. Exile, a death sentence in all but name. If he wasn't killed by pirates or rebels, then when he inevitably failed he would be sent to the frontlines. A way for their mother to rid the family of a stain on its banner. Though she never said these things out loud, nor did she ever voice her expectations, there was a cadence to her tone. The subtle way her eyes raked over you, as if analyzing every atom.

Only when she was proud did her gaze feel less intense. It was what drew them all to push themselves.

Of course, now that Shal was away from her, she had cooled. Her heart still burned with ambition, but it was now driven less by her mother and more by her own wishes.

Thing is, Las didn't know that he had most likely exceeded their mothers expectations. She had likely not expected anything, and if he truly has made Minda into a successful system, then she will lack the political capital to get him tossed away. So long as Minda becomes valuable to the sector, then Moff Tarry won't toss him aside, no matter the favors promised. Mother, for all her grandeur, is still only a Commandant.

"So" she said, "He's pushing because he fears mother, and has yet to realize that at this point she can't do anything?"

"Something along those lines. He's also got some scary subordinates! His garrison commander caught me sneaking into the R&D labs and broke my arm! Super fast."

"Caught you?" Shal laughed. "Aren't you supposed to be the superspy of the family? How can you go around getting caught by a mere commander?"

"You don't understand! She was terrifying! Not only that, but Las has gotten trickier too! He snuck orders ahead to have me scanned before leaving, but instead of actually scanning me they just pretended and instead their machines wiped my hidden recorders!"

Shal just kept laughing, and Zyx kept pouting. But behind the laughter there were thoughts flowing around her head. What has changed? Did the fear of death truly push Las to these heights? And when would his paranoia come crashing down around him? She wasn't anywhere close enough to protect him if that happened.

Her and Zyx continued their conversation, swapping stories(that weren't classified) and speaking about Las's system. It was quite sophisticated, and Shal wished she could visit it one day.

Once Zyx left, Shal stood to go back to the bridge, only to wince as she lost control and the rubber ball smacked her in the back of the head.

Before she could complain, her comm bead blinked and she knew she was needed.

Duty never ended out here.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks. Sorry for the late chapter. I was stuck on where and how to move the story forward. The only other story that I am writing is an original project that has a more episodic feel to its adventures rather than the more stationary arcs that are found here. Also, I haven't been able to play any games since my pc got turned to ash in the Eaton fire, and my macbook can't run Vampire Survivors without overheating.

Why is this relevant? Well, aside from missing my games(monster hunter, my beloved!), a friend of the family gifted us an Xbox 1 and a Nintendo switch that their kids don't use. While my brother has done nothing but play Dead by Daylight like the sweatswamp try-hard that he is, I had the time of my life yesterday with Tears of the Kingdom. It was only when I saw the clock that I realized that I hadn't written shit all day. So again, apologies.

Aside from that, this is more of an intermediate chapter, so not much going on. Felt like I should've introduced Shal in the last chapter but forgot to. Also, while mummy dearest will get her POV section, that's for the future. I'm trying to set up some real family drama, and I think I'll get more out of it if I hold onto the Commandants perspective for now.

And like always, feedback, comments, and more are appreciated. I have had a blast reading through your guys' comments, and love your suggestions. Also, I have been fiending over ArtStation. The shit they got over there is incredible, and you'll notice that I use just about all of my new ships and shit from there. Any recommendations from there or other sites for fan-designed ships, weapons, armor, cities, and more are welcome.

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-16: Plots and Plans

The attacks were getting worse.

Just an hour ago, one of the security stations was attacked. The stations were small facilities that dotted the system. They contained a small amount of personnel and each managed around four Gat-18 Imperial Blastboats that patrolled the areas around them. The blast boats had been a more recent addition, as they were perfect for monitoring lower traffic areas and responding to threats faster than the larger corvettes and frigates of the defence fleet could.

Except at about two in the morning capitol time, I woke up because Mugwuffin was pawing at my face to answer my PDA. That cat-thing is smart. Suspiciously so.

And now here I was, in the main conference room of the capitol building, which I had named the Imperial Tower, because it was the center of the local imperial government, and because it's a tower. Very creative, I know. I miss name generators man.

I sat down in a chair next to the holo-table, wearing a nice warm robe over my pajamas while sipping on a mug of a locally made hot chocolate type drink as Commodore Veers and Commander Grant spoke about the incident.

"They've been getting far too brazen. This must end!" said Veers, annoyance written across her face. "They attacked not some miners or mercenaries, but one of ours!"

"If only I could get my hands on them, maybe I could wring out some information from their putrid lips!" snarled the Commander.

Her eyes lit up. "What if we capture a crew, and have them executed publicly! That would send a message, wouldn't it? Then they would fear us more than they envy our prosperity!"

"Yeah, no." I sip from my cup as the two look at me.

"No executions. I haven't spent all this time and effort uplifting this system just to dive straight into some warlord type shit by holding a public execution. Instead, we're going to play this smart."

I point at the Commodore. "How organized do these attacks seem to you?"

She considered my question for a second before her eyes light up in realization. "Far too organized. Not on the level of professionals, no…but more than the average disparate pirates and raiders. You believe someone is leading them, sir?"

I take another sip. Good stuff, little on the bitter side. Gotta ask Darna for more sugar next time. "I suspect it, yes. Some flavor of pirate monarch. They pop up occasionally, right? Someone with a modicum more smarts and charisma gathers a bunch of lowlifes and convinces them that they can raid and pillage all they want so long as they listen. Never last long, of course, because they shatter as soon as the leader dies."

I take another sip. "Unless we're talking about the Nihil, who lasted a good while. Still got their shit kicked in by the High Republic eventually but they certainly lasted longer than most. Regardless, chances are that someone is leading a bunch of pirates around the sector raiding and the like. I've gotten reports confirming that other systems in the sector have been under attack as well. I also sent a request to the sector fleet to investigate, but have yet to receive a response."

Veers winces, a look of annoyance crossing her face. I look at her with a raised eyebrow, sipping on my drink.

"...permission to speak freely, sir?"

"Granted." Long sip. I should see if I can nationalize the chocolate business..

"The Admiral of the sector fleet, Admiral Wasti, is…incompetent at best. He is ambitious, but lacks the willpower or the skill of cunning necessary to climb the ladder farther than his family name allowed. He embarrassed himself during a pacification campaign in a different Oversector and was thrown here as a result. It's likely he intends to allow the threat to fester until he believes it worthy of his attention, after which he will take action and all the credit for himself."

"Ah." My fist clenches around my mug tighter than usual, before Mugwuffin lays her head on my lap. Petting her, I calm down.

"Okay. So, we're on our own for the foreseeable future. No backup, pirate king running around. What're our options?"

Commander Grant steps up. "I believe that interrogation will allow us to gain access to information that will lead us to the enemy, sir!"

Commodore Veers nods. "We'll attempt to capture enemy craft more often, see if we can grab some captains and the like."

"Good. Get what you can from the captives. They are bound to have a homebase somewhere. Also, while we're at it, we need an upgrade to the defense fleet in the meanwhile. Commodore, send me a list of what you think we need, split into the categories of preferred, possible, and necessary. I'll see what I can do from there. "

I make my way towards the exit. "Anyways, I'm dead on my feet, so I'll see you two in a few hours."

Behind me, I can hear them sending out orders and coordinating with each other about plans of action and the like.

By the time I reach my room, I can't be bothered to care. As I pass out on my bed, Mugwuffin using my legs as a pillow, I can only think of one thing.

Tomorrow's problems for tomorrow's me.
------------------------------------------------

Past me was a massive prick. And not in a good way. In a bad way.

Because here I am, in my office, looking at the list of ships that Veers had sent in. It was…extensive to say the least. At least she kept to the categories.

Preferred:

• 3 Imperial II-Class Star Destroyers
  • 2 Lancer-Class Frigates per ISD
  • 2 Gladiator-Class Star Destroyers per ISD
• 3 Interdictor-Class Cruisers
  • 2 Vindicator-Class Heavy Cruisers per Interdictor

Possible

• 3 Vindicator-Class Heavy Cruisers
  • 2 Lancer-Class Frigates per Vindicator
• 2 Gladiator-Class Star Destroyers

Necessary

• 1 Vindicator-Class Heavy Cruiser
  • 3 Lancer-Class Frigates

God damn. She wanted a fuckin fleet.

After looking the list over, and sighing in exasperation more times than I think is healthy, I make a decision. Or half of one, at least.

The Gladiator-Class Star Destroyer was the only one on this list that I was convinced was actually viable here. While the Vindicator was a good ship, it was more geared towards brawling rather than towards anti-piracy. Same with the ISDs, not to mention that getting an Interdictor would be basically impossible considering the fact that they're fairly new. Surprised she didn't just ask for the fucking ExecutorI. Cool name though. Very badass. If only its owner wasn't such a massive ass.

Gladiators, on the other hand, were much better for that. They had longer range capabilities, meaning that they could lock down entire systems for up to two years with the supplies they had. All things considered, they had the best chance to combat the pirate threat by simultaneously having good firepower, large hangar capacity, and long range. They're versatility also meant that it would be viable for system defense even after this whole debacle was over. It might even allow for an attempt on the jungle hellhole that is Minda 2.

Now, I just had to choose what other ships would fit into this anti-pirate flotilla. The system defense fleet would have to stay behind, it was already stretched thin dealing with the myriad of pirate attacks, so I would need a versatile flotilla that could center around a Gladiator, but also not get Imperial High Command on my ass for buying a shit ton of capital ships and the like.

As I was considering how to burn my hard earned tax credits(my soul weeps) I received a ding on my terminal.

Seems like Veers was right. On my terminal is a curt and professional message from Admiral Wasti that more or less just told me to fuck off and get gud.

Even Mugwuffin was growling, and she didn't even know he existed.

Putting the fleet list to the side, I instead sent a quick request for further explanation and support, then pulled up the dossier Darna had made for me about the Black Sun.

Sure, they probably weren't involved, but it would be an interesting read.

Not like I have anything else to do.

(I have so much work I want to die)
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Admiral Geral Wasti
Dubrillion System, Dubrillion Orbit, Imperial I-Class Star Destroyer Crushing Blow

As Wasti looked out over a map of the sector, he smiled.

The increased level of pirates had been an unexpected windfall for him. They were concentrated in the southwestern and western portions of the sector, and therefore could be mostly ignored for now. He had the fleet occasionally destroy some pirates to keep up the illusion that he was doing anything, but really he was just waiting. Biding his time.

The pirate threat was growing. Sooner or later the sewer scum would congregate in one way or another, and his fleet would be ready. A swift, decisive victory that would boost his career, and put him squarely back on the path to achieving greatness.

He turned to his side, looking at his terminal. An automated message from the Moffs office thanking him for his gift of exotic wines told him all he needed to know. That Moff Tarry was either too drunk, too lazy, or too sleepy to respond himself.

Good.

So long as the fat slob was happy, he would ignore Geral's actions, if he even knew pirates were about at all. Moff Tarry had utterly failed the political game before the Empire even came into existence, and was lucky he got the position of Moff at all.

Hell, the only reason some of these star systems were still bothering to pay taxes was because Geral still had control of the fleet. It was proof that Tarry did not deserve his position.

If the pirate threat got big enough, and Tarry failed to respond, it would be up to the great Admiral Wasti to save the day. It would be proof of Tarrys incompetence and could get him a great deal of fame and political sway.

He might even get to replace Tarry as Moff!

The ideas excited him so much, he didn't notice the little black rubber ball he accidently kicked until it was too late.

His mood was ruined by the black eye it gave him, and the embarrassing journey to the med bay.

When he was Moff, rubber balls were banned!
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Hi there folks! Good news! I finally got my shit together and made a real plan. Evey chapter before this had basically been me flying by the seat of my pants and hoping to god it would all work out. But now, I have an actual plan! I drew a timeline of events and characters and twists and everything for this arc, which I'm calling the Pirate King Arc(no relation to one piece). Obviously, I won't be revealing the plans for this arc, but suffice to say that this chapter was a big set up chapter for the rest of the arc.

Another thing. I'm sure you mega nerds noticed the fleet list I smacked into the middle of the chapter. And the fact that I didn't finish fleshing out the fleet. That's because I'm going to do the lazy thing and foist that responsibility onto you schmucks! It's currently 9:30 PM here in forest fire filled Los Angeles and when I wake up tomorrow and 8 for some grand ol community college I expect to have a veritable cornucopia of answers to sift through instead of paying attention in class. Please keep in mind that the budget Las is working with is around 40 Mil after buying the Gladiator. Fan designs are welcome.

As always, feedback, commentary, and the like are my crack. Speaking of, Roey over on QQ commented twice on my last chapter with great advice and a very useful educational video that not only pushed me to purposefully plan out the whole arc, but has motivated me to do better with my writing. So, sincerely, thank you.

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-17: Plotting and Brokies

The final flotilla choices had been made. While a Vindicator was a great option(and cheaper) it ended up being the kind of choice that could bring attention.

The bad kind of attention.

Vindicator-Class Heavy Cruisers are anti-capital ship supports. They flank ISD's and have more than enough firepower to chew through enemy capital ships in small groups.

A Gladiator, on the other hand, is more lightly armed and built more for expeditions and scouting. Considering the jungle hell planet I have in the system, it's a decent choice that might raise some eyebrows but ultimately I doubted it would cause that big a ruckus. Even if it was the more heavily armored and upgraded Gladiator-II. Not that much better, but more armor, hangar space, and ion cannons is always welcome.

As for the total fleet, it went something like this.

• Gladiator-II-Class Star Destroyer(50 Mil, already bought)
• 4 Tartan-Class Patrol Cruisers(16.8 Mil)
• 2 Arquitens-Class Light Cruisers(8 Mil)
• 2 Quasar Fire-Class Cruiser-Carriers(3.5 Mil)
• 10 Imperial Gozanti-Class Cruisers(2 Mil)

For a total of 30,300,000 credits, it was under the allotted budget for sure. However, it also fits the populace constraint. While the TIE pilots were a dime a dozen and shelled out to whoever had the credits to buy the TIE's, the ships had to be crewed by local forces. The combined crew of this fleet, not counting boarding troops, was 2,355.

The biggest expense was the Gladiator, not just because of its price but because I had to get the Sector Moff to approve its purchase, as it is considered a Star Destroyer and is therefore a little larger than I'd like. So, I had to send an extra 16mil down the drain as 'incentive' to allow the purchase to go through. What a waste. It also created a larger paper trail that I could only hope didn't bite me in the ass one day.

Mugwuffin gives me a look. "Shut up! I'm an adult. I can lie to myself all I want!" She huffs, as if saying "Sure" sarcastically, and goes back to sleep. Smug alien cat. Shouda left you in that cage.

In terms of naval personnel, that was a lot for a system like this, especially considering that most of them were tied up in the defense fleet. While some people were poached for the new anti-pirate fleet, most of the personnel were right out of the militia academy.

That meant it was time for training. A lot of training. Thankfully, the pirates were wonderful enough to give us plenty of target practice.

I watched the reports stream in about the new crews taking on pirate forces throughout the system. No losses, plenty of experience.

Of course, when Commodore Veers called, I could tell how happy she was to be in command of a Star Destroyer, even if it was a Gladiator and not something like a Victory or Imperial. Then again, I doubt she would be truly fulfilled until she sat in the captain's chair of a Star Dreadnought or something like that.

I am surrounded by giddy psychos. I'd pray for God to help me, but if he exists then he for sure put me here. Rat bastard.

While the new fleet most certainly helped lower the pirate presence in Minda, I had been getting reports of nearby systems being practically flooded by pirates.

Which was why I was drafting a series of messages to these nearby systems governors. I normally wouldn't have cared at all for them, but we faced a common enemy and I'd rather not do this all by myself. So long as the burden isn't totally mine, I'll be fine.

With that said, the messages were sent to my two neighboring systems. Those being Clok and Edin.

Clok was the closest, and used to be just like Minda. Small population agricultural community. The biggest thing was this Old Republic Era refueling station in orbit of the only planet in the system.

Since I had started improving Minda, Clok had been one of the main thoroughfares that our trade fleet and various merchants made use of. Because of this, Clok had seen some improvements. The station had been modernized and somewhat expanded to service more and larger ships. The extra income from this allowed Clok to start more industries planet side. While their population was still only around 150k, they were doing well for themselves.

Edin was different. That system was kind of the worst, and the biggest suspect location of the Pirate King. Edin was a fairly sized system with four planets and a half-dozen moons between them, along with a small asteroid belt. Only one planet was habitable, but it was a hive of piracy. The Empire had little control save for a few cities, with the rest being independent farmers and criminal holdouts. There was also an old asteroid base that was now a pirate holdout by the name of Belt Haven, massive thrusters that had been attached to the thing allowed it to move around the system and escape detection, not that anyone ever bothered to root them out.

Whoever controlled that station most certainly had a deal going with Edin's governor, and was probably where the Pirate King was hiding or recruiting from. Regardless, I couldn't send the new flotilla in to go turn them to paste. That would get the governor up in arms, and then other governors might get scared that I'm encroaching, and then the Sector Moff is going to have to get involved and no one wants that.

Hell, the only reason I was sending a message to Edin was to be able to say that I did so if things ever went bad. Proof of the message having been sent was great to have on my side in case of any complaints. It's not like the messages even hinted that I had a flotilla, and instead were requests to meet for a discussion on anti-piracy policies and measures.

The thing I was most interested in were the reports that Commander Grant was sending me. She had been for the past few weeks training up a small squad for the purposes of infiltration. These people weren't just locals, but some had been mercenaries at some points in their lives. They understood the rough and tumble nature of criminal life, and could more easily hide away amongst the pirate scum.

And it was time to send them out. A light freighter had been bought from the scrapyard after some merchant wanted to get it out of the way. It was slightly refitted for more pirate related activities, but the rust was made to stay there. They would use it as cover for them to infiltrate the Belt Haven as some down on their luck mercenaries, looking for work. Hopefully, they would be able to discreetly look for the Pirate King and find out what's going on. If possible, an infiltration of the Pirate Kings home base is warranted.

Hopefully the training they received would help them through this.

It's around this time that I receive a call from Commander Grant, as I pull her up on my PDA I hold back my wince at seeing the blood she has yet to remove from her face.

"Before we begin, Commander, please remember to wear a face mask and other protective gear when interrogating prisoners. If that blood got in your mouth or eyes it could cause serious problems."

She looks surprised at my statement, but quickly follows up. "Understood sir. I'm familiar with how different arteries work in a number of species so I had predict blood splatter fairly well, but I was not aware of this pirate's irregular veins due to being cybernetically enhanced. I will endeavor to be safer and more hygienic in my future interrogations."

"Thank you, Commander. Now, what is it that you called me for?"

Her eyes lit up a little. "Well, after interrogating a number of prisoners, we have gathered data on this so-called "Pirate King". It is not a single individual but instead a couple. The husband and wife due go by the names of Grax and Shurie, the two apparently rarely make an appearance. The bigger news is that they are not stationed at Belt Haven. They make use of an old refitted LucreHulk as their base of operations."

I humm, petting Mugwuffin as I contemplate this. "It's perfect. Large cargo hold, droid workforce, and it's mobile. Beefy enough to hold out until the hyperdrives are charged."

"I was thinking the same, sir. I don't believe that we have the forces to destroy such a ship, even with the new flotilla that just arrived."

"You are correct. And it's unlikely that Admiral Wasti will do anything until he feels he will gain the most credit for it. Do we know where the ship is?"

"No sir" she responded with a wince, "They hide in dark space, and only the captains of a few carriers know the coordinates. They pick up the other pirates and fly them out there for meetings and splitting the rewards"

Sighing, I press down on the intercom button. "Darna, can you have a cup of hot cocoa made for me? Oh, and see if we can't get a small machine and the supplies to make it in my office."

"Of course, sir. Anything else?"

"No, thank you Darna, you're the best."

Turning back to the Commander, I give my orders. "Have the infiltrators attempt to gain access to one of these pirate crews, or at least seem to make a name for themselves. We can feed them cargo and make it look like they have been successfully raiding, that's bound to catch the attention of the recruiters. Just…don't make it too obvious. We want them to be faces in the crowd who can slip away unnoticed, not champions of the pirate cause."

"Understood sir. I'll contact the Commodore and get the plan underway. I'll make sure they're equipped and trained properly, sir. But…before I go, sir, I wished to ask how the other part of the plan is going. If it's not to forward of me, sir."

I let out a light chuckle. "Don't worry, Commander. I trust you, and you are one of my closest advisors. You shouldn't fear asking me questions if you think it's important. Also, the plan is going well."

She seemed to perk up at that. Basic trust goes a long way in the Empire, apparently. "Thank you sir, I'll complete my mission."

"Of course, Commander. I trust you will do your best. Good day"

She saluted, and the call went off just as Darna walked in with my hot cocoa.

Sweet ambrosia. My only anchor in this world.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kay Loyu
Fath Sector, Wistril System, Wistril City

Kay was bored. All the decent bounties in Wistril had dried up. Which was unusual, to say the least. Wistril was a den of smugglers and criminals, there should be plenty of juicy contracts, but nope.

There were plenty of bounties abound, make no mistake. Problem was, Kay ran a cadre of bounty hunters. It was her, her brother Kai, and her sister Kel. The three of them needed bigger bounties to provide for the three of them.

And so they sat there, in a small bar hidden under a bridge, sipping on drinks at a corner table and talking about their next move.

"There are no bounties within three systems of here. What the kriff is going on?" said Kai in an irritated voice. His black hair hung low when he wasn't wearing his helmet, and his gaunt cheeks made him look almost malnourished, no matter how much he ate.

"Relax, Kai, I'm sure it'll work out. After all, we're Mandolorian bounty hunters! Someone is always going to want our skillset" She responded.

"Or our beskar" voiced Kel. The oldest of the three, and the leader of their little gang, Kel was tall. Like, 6'6 tall. Without the armor. With it, she was easily 6'10. Her terrifying presence was accompanied by her muscular body and high cheekbones. Her hair was different from Kay and Kai's. They both sported black hair, but due to a rare genetic defect, Kel had been born with bone white hair. It contrasted her dark skin in a striking manner, making her all the more imposing.

"We need more stable work" continued Kel. "The kind that doesn't toss us out when all's said and done, nor the type that turns on us for the metal on our backs."

Kai scoffs. "You won't find a place like that on this side of the galaxy. The Imps want it all to themselves, the Rebels can't pay decent wages and are always yapping about the 'doing the right thing' and everyone else wants to sell the beskar back to the Imps. The only one of use that manages to do this job well is Fett, and he wasn't even raised Mandalorian!"

"Calm yourself," said Kel

Before she could continue, Kay jumped in. "Yeah, calm down, cause I got us something!"

The two of them looked at her like she was crazy. Despite that, she marched on.

"Yeah, so, with all the pirates moving, I decided to see where they're moving to. And I found out that in the Myto Sector there is a Pirate King of sorts gathering and raiding everywhere over there. Apparently the Sector Fleet isn't doing anything, so the governors are desperate. That means that they would want to pay us more than kill us, right?"

Kel seemed to consider it, before nodding. "You are correct. While it is not permanent employment, the governors of that region would likely be desperate for assistance with the threat. Chances are they will not betray us, as we hold a higher chance of ending the threat. Good job, Kay.

Kay preened. She was usually just the best shot of the group, but it was nice to be the planner for once.

As they finished their drinks, they put on their helmets and made their way back to the ship.

Payday, here comes the Loyu family. Say your goodbyes.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks. Plot is finally moving, and I get to introduce some Mandos for the first time, huh? While I originally planned for Mandos to play a bigger part in a separate story that will be made after this one is finished, since I want to actually finish this story rather than leave it an unfinished mess like most fanfic authors, I decided to add them in since it makes sense for plot reasons.

Also, freighter_factory is where I got that ship design, and holy shit do they make some incredible stuff. Looks and feels like a real ship that could exist in-universe.

As always, feedback and comments are appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-18: Various Interludes 2

Koran Bulgo
Edin System, Belt Haven, Duros Dugout

Koran sipped on his drink, a mediocre attempt at one of the newer Mindan brandies that was far too sour, and tried not to show how nervous he was. He and his five other crewmates had just finished selling the cargo they had 'stolen' from the Minda system.

It was a ploy, and a risky one at that. The idea being that if they could pull that off, they might be invited to the Pirate Sovereigns ship.

And so, here they were, taking small sips of low alcohol drinks hoping they would be approached. The crew were scattered around the bar, sitting in their own corners trying to gather information.

Belt Haven was trashy, to say the least. It was a wonder the place somehow managed not to fall apart under the weight of its poor construction and shoddy repairs. Every level held countless small alleyways and hideyholes. It somehow manages to have a homeless population.

It was the most stressful mission he had ever been on, and he'd worked for the Crimson Dawn back in their heyday. Admittedly, he hadn't been more than a low level merc, so there wasn't much to compare to, but still.

He stroked one of his chin horns, well groomed as was Weequay practice. While there were others of his kind in the bar, none sent pheromones his way, and so he did the same.

It was as he was reading about the Edin governors latest speech, lie filled lothcat dung about unity and the like, he heard some footsteps approaching him.

Turning off his PDA, which had been purposely scuffed to maintain cover, he turned to meet the new arrivals. This was the moment, the roll of the dice that determined whether he would be invited to the new pirate hierarchy or if he was about to get killed for outdoing some raider scum.

"You the new guys?" said the leader in a dry voice. He was a well built, and quite tall Nikto. His reptilian skin was scarred around the mouth, where a breathing apparatus was attached. Koran noted the small patch sewn into the bandana around his neck. The image of a human skull with two crowns sitting atop it.

"That depends" drawled Koran, quirking a brow at him "Who's asking?".

The man sat across from him. "Vulite, agent for The Crowns, that's who."

"Who are they?"

Vulite seemed taken aback for a second, before a low, raspy chuckle reverberated through his throat. "You new here?"

"Got into the sector just a week ago, found some luck in Minda and heard that this was the place to sell"

"Mmm…Minda is a gold mine recently. Lotta ore, lotta merchants. Lotta mercs too. You got anything good?"

Koran hummed. "Sold pretty good. Coulda gotten more, but the crew was antsy for a real drink and, like you said, lotta mercs. You here for something?"

"A deal. An offer, if you will. The Crowns are growing, and we need all the raiders we can get. Rewards are split between all members, but the more you take the bigger your bonus."

Koran raised an eyebrow. "We've been here all of a few days, and your already offering a job? Seems…rushed. And rushed jobs are bad jobs."

"Hah! I like you. But no, the jobs are not rushed. This isn't an offer as much as it's a…interview of sorts. Your crew did well, but not well enough to get a day one offer. Keep up the good work, and we'll see if you have a place in The Crowns."

"Nice to know y'all have standards, at least." He replied. "Hope we make a good impression."

"At this rate, we'll be seeing each other real soon." As the Nikto stood up and made for the door, Koran sent a discrete message to his team through a hidden button on his suit. The team knew that meant to get to the ship without drawing attention.

They had their foot in the door. Now it was time to slip in.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Darna Sabrir
Minda System, Ugea, Accordia

As Darna was packing up for the day, tossing her PDA and thermos into her bag, she thought over the past few months. Ever since the Governors rant about slavery nearly a year ago now, a debate had raged within her. It had only grown throughout her time here.

The Rebellion.

She'd left because the risk to her life was not worth the miniscule difference she felt she was making. All the raids, attacks, sabotage, and propaganda, yet the Imperial machine kept on moving.

And yet, she still held sympathy. How could she not, after all she had seen and experienced. But despite that, she was hesitant to engage with her old friends in orbit. Multiple times she had been invited to go back to the orbital yard, but every time she had made an excuse.

She didn't want to face Sid, knowing that she couldn't support her. Minda had become home, and the Empire here didn't feel like the Empire she knew. When the flags weren't up, it felt like the stories that she had heard about the High Republic. A place of prosperity and peace.

It was with thoughts like these that she made her way towards the Governor's office, to tell him goodnight and ask him if he needed anything.

As she knocked on the door, a faint "come in" was heard. Entering, she saw Governor Mola at his desk going over paperwork, a cup of his favorite hot cocoa cooling on his desk. Mugwuffin was asleep on her tree shaped bed just behind him, but popped an eye open as she entered, as though scanning her, judging her.

Mugwuffin could be scary sometimes.

The Governor himself looked dead tired. Bags under his eyes, he had been working a lot of overtime due to the recent pirate attacks. Mining companies had begun to complain about the constant pirate attacks, especially since the new promised anti-pirate flotilla was slowed down. It had been slated to arrive a week ago, but an incident with a series of faulty fuses in the Gladiator meant that when it arrived in Muunilinst, it was put directly into a dock and would be delayed by another week.

Looking up, he greeted her. "Hey, Darna, what is it?"

"Late, sir. It's late. You should go to bed, like I am."

He looked at her with confusion, before looking out his window and realizing the time. He shot an accusing glare at Mugwuffin.

"Why didn't you tell me the time?"

A light purr.

"That's no excuse."

The creature trills.

"Oh, so you want me to drop dead of exhaustion."

A yip.

"You know that means no more BBQ treats, right?"

Mugwuffin immediately jumps down from her little bed tree and grabs the Governors sleeve, tugging him towards the door.

"Oh, so NOW you care. What a rat."

As he seemingly bickers with an animal, Darna can't help but be reminded of her own conviction. Of why she worked here. She wasn't here for the Rebellion, nor the Empire, not even for the Governor, no matter how good a boss he was.

She was here to find a home. Accordia, no, Minda, was that home. And she would protect it from whoever sought to bring chaos.

It was with that thought in her mind that she said goodbye and left for her quarters, a million half baked plans running through her mind, slowly but surely being pieced together.

Minda would stand strong. She was sure of it. Because she would ensure it.

No matter what.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kel Loyu
Muunilinst System, Muunilinst Orbital Dockyards

The Muunilinst Dockyards were large. Not as large as Fondor or Kuat, but larger than most. It was a testament to the Muun's economic power that they were able to afford dockyards like this all the way in the outer rim.

She looked out from the window of her ship as Kai docked in the refueling station. Kay was dressed in plainclothes, ready to go out and pay for the fuel while they stayed inside. Someone had to keep an eye on their beskar, and Kay was the most personable of the three, best suited to interactions. She negotiated most of their contracts, actually. Very persuasive.

So Kel stood there, on the bridge with Kai in the pilot's seat, facing out of the hangar they were docked in. The shipyards stretched in front of them, large disconnect platforms with so many ships flying between them they looked like they were tied together with ropes.

"You sure about this plan, Kel?"

"...No."

He looked up at her, the question clear in his eyes.

She refrained from letting out a sigh. For all that she tried to be honest with them about the state of affairs, she rarely showed her own weakness. They looked up to her, and she could not allow them to believe that she wasn't ready.

"While I am not sure of the course we are taking, it is the only one that has presented itself to us. We have few other choices, and while it's a long shot, it's better than taking no shot."

"So we're just flying blind, huh?"

"Everything is going to be okay. I'll make sure of it." She said.

Kai looked at her again, this time with a sadness in his eyes that she didn't quite understand.

Before he could say anything, Kay came barging in, excitedly waving her hands.

She bounced up and down, sending her short curls flying as she pointed out of the cockpit window.

"Look, look! It's huge!"

As they both turned, both Kel and Kai's eyes widened. Engines burning upwards and away from the dockyard was a massive, six hundred meter Gladiator-II-Class Star Destroyer. The beast of a ship was escorted by almost twenty other ships of varying shapes and sizes.

An Imperial Flotilla.

Kay continued to speak, either not noticing or not caring about her siblings' shocked states.

"I talked to the dock workers, apparently that fleet is heading for Minda! That's where all the pirate attacks are happening!"

"Flotilla, not fleet" Kai corrected automatically.

"Whatever, it's still awesome! If Minda needs that kind of firepower, then there has to be plenty of work, right?"

Smiling as she slipped into the co-pilot's seat, Kel was feeling good. A bounty rich system was perfect for them. Might even be able to snag some longer term contracts.

Life might be going in their direction after all.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there folks! Saw some people saying that Las's POV was good, but lacked a lot of interaction or interest. Considering that he won't be leaving the office for most of the story, since it's where he does his work, I decided that expanding on alternate characters would help flesh things out.

And for those degens over on QQ, yes, I did want to include a muscle mommy, for I am a man of culture. The Adeptus Sororitas vibe was unintentional, I just like white hair.

Also, wanted to know whether or not it's worth it to continue to post on Sufficient Velocity, and instead just stick to SpaceBattles and Questionable Questing. I rely on reader commentary to improve my writing, understand the lore better, and in general guide the story in a way I find interesting. I don't get more than 4-5 comments on a chapter over on SV, and I'm not sure if it's worth it to post there. Let me know what you think.

As always, feedback and commentary are appreciated.

Thank you for reading!

-Freefaller

 

[Nikoli]

Omake 5

Imperial News Bulletin

Governor of Minda offers Special Bounty

In an address today, the Imperial Governor of Minda offered a Special Bounty for the capture of the "Twin Crowns" Pirate Group's Lucrehulk. In exchange for the ship, he has authorized the granting of an Imperial Remit. Said Imperial Remit will authorize the acknowledgment of existing Beskar ownership sufficient to armor 2,500 Mandolorians infantry armor. Those Mandolorians who have not yet had a chance to declare their beskar ownership to Imperial Forces will instead be granted ownership of their current beskar armor in place of any beskar being paid out of Imperial reserves, while supply lasts. Additional payments are available for each ship captured above a Frigate weight class.

End of Imperial News Bulletin


20 days after first Imperial News broadcast about the bounty.

Imperial Sensor operator, "Commodore, sensors are reading a massive fleet exiting hyperspace. Sensors confirm the Lucrehulk is with the fleet. We are still trying to get an accurate count but it looks like over 18,600 vessels!"

Comms officer, "Commodore, we are being hailed."

Commodore, "Open channel."

"This is Kel of the Mandolorian Bounty Hunter's association. We are here to turn in our bounty. We have captured the Lucrehulk intact and another 300 vessels engaged in pirate operations. We expect acknowledgement by the Imperial governor of our ownership of the beskar currently in our possession."

Governor, "Well this worked a bit too well. But an agreement is an agreement. Be aware that I can only guarantee this acknowledgement will be followed within my own domain. How many beskar suits are you declaring?"

Kel, "52,450,500 armor suits with beskar portions, and another 345,000 tons of beskar ignots."

Governor, "The current ships delivered will only cover acknowledgement of 28,500 suits. Would you care to work out a payment plan for acknowledgement of the rest? I accept ships and vehicles in good condition, especially those from pirate and slavers, along with their heads."

Kel, "Governor, I believe this is the beginning of a wonderful relationship."

Thus the founding of New Mandalor occurred on the death world in the Minda system. It would come to pass that over time the governor would go onto greater postings but his influence would remain. This is especially true with New Manadalor and the Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Association at their new Headquarters in the Minda system. Along with, Minda's Refurbished Starship Lot, which continues to this day to offer rock bottom prices for ships recovered from pirates and slaver scum. All proceeds go to keeping the fight going against the pirates and slaver scum of the galaxy.

Joining us tonight to discuss the impact this event had on the decline of the pirate and slave menance. With further discussion on the political problems faced by the governor and opportunities granted by his association with the Manadolorians. Also in discussion is whether or not the Mandalorians were responsible for the rapid rise of the governor to his position as Emperor. Speculation has always been there in part due to the number of Imperial Moffs, governors, admirals, and other government officials who were found dead over the coming years. Joining us tonight is Dr…

@Freefaller
Got another Omake for you to link.
Also feel free to re-post these omakes on the other sites you are posting this story on.

 

[Freefaller]

Chp-19: Family Time!(violence edition)

Gortaz Bullhorn
Minda System, ZH-40 Tribune-Class Light Freighter Godly Greed

The times were good! Profits were up, and for all that Minda was a prickly fruit of a star system, it was a sweet one as well.

He swiveled around the gunner's turret, looking for the target. As members of The Crowns, the crew he was a part of, the Golden Eyes, were sent to intercept some miners in a far off claim.

"Ships entering sensor range, ratheads! Get yer eyes and guns ready!"

Gortaz hollered into the comms alongside the rest of the crew when he heard the captain get on the mic. He activated the gunnery station, and swiveled the turret in the indicated direction.

The Godly Greed throttled its engines, burning for the miners' positions. Three undefended ships, two miners and one cargo. This would be easy, since the miners would most likely abandon the cargo. All the better for him.

As he opened fire with the ion cannons, he imagined what he would do with his upcoming share. Maybe there was a fine woman aboard the ship, ey? Might take her.

He just shook his head instead, throwing away the fantasies.The Captain got first right, and the seconds she left behind weren't even sloppy, they were just disgusting.

His Captain was an ugly woman, and he'd met his mother, so she had developed a complex of sorts. Was real rough with the newest slaves. Had a…thing… for breaking new slaves in personally.

Not his preferred method, he just wanted a hole and a face. But who was he to judge? Gortaz is a pirate, not a prude.

He's shaken from his thoughts as the ship shakes. Not the normal shakes, from turbulence and fast turns. No, he turns his guns up as a new ship flies into range, firing ion blasts in his direction.

"What the!? Enemy ship! Shoot it down!" He screams into the comms, opening fire as the ship launches ion torpedoes. At this range, he manages to hit one on accident, before the remaining two slam into the hull.

He holds down on the trigger to no avail, cursing as the gunnery system shuts down around him. This thing is barely held together as it is, he's lucky it didn't snap and send him flying into the void.

As he struggles with the emergency release straps, cursing all the way about the many colorful things he'd like to do to the enemy ship, a thump resounds from outside the turret ball.

Looking up, the only thing he saw was the vast expanse of space, and the helmeted head of a Mandolorian.

Oh kriff.
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kai Loyu
Minda System, RD-800 StarSkipper Basilisk Hound

Having deposited his two more martially inclined sisters on the hull of the enemy ship, Kai turned the Basilisk Hound away towards the Miners. They had been contracted to deal with any pirates in the claim by the small company, and the only reason he hadn't blasted that Tribune out of the sky was because the Mindan government had put out a call for captured pirate ships.

They could end this job with a little more scratch than before. If the ship was good enough, however, they could get some tax cuts in their mercenary dealings while in the system. The Guild was doing well by them, if nothing else.

As he neared the miners, he commed them. "This is Captain Loyu of the Basilisk Hound. You should have gotten notice of our presence in the area, as we were contracted by Drillers United for protection detail around these parts. You folks ok?"

"Yes, thank you." Sounded a voice from the other end, static filling the channel. "We seem to have taken some damage to the comms of our freighter, so we'll be heading back. Could we bother you for an escort?"

Kai shook his head, despite knowing they couldn't see him. "We alerted the authorities as soon as we spotted them. Our shift is over, but the next crew should be here in a minute or so, they have more ships so they'll escort you out"

"Ah, thank you. Have a nice day then." Phew, thankfully, they didn't insist.

"You too," replied Kai, already tired of this conversation. Small talk. The one part of this job that he doesn't like.

As he turns back towards the pirate ship, he connects to his sister's channel.

There is naught but blaster fire, the constant screaming of both Kay and the pirates, and the quiet sighs of Kel.

He turns the channel off.

The pay better be good.
—--------------------------------

An unnecessarily copious amount of blood covered the inside of the pirate ship. And Kel. A fact she did not voice, due to Kay's current…predicament. Stuck, trying to pry her busted weapon from a Twi'leks skull.

She had decided that, for this job, she wanted to go all melee. A club covered with rotating blades, some hellish thing she had conjured up from a scrapheap a few planets back.

It had done the job, killing its targets effectively. It just so happened to effectively splatter said targets over everyone and thing in the vicinity.

That's why Kel was wiping her visor as she walked over to the cockpit, double tapping every corpse she saw along the way. The Nal Hutta job taught her that.

Tossing the pilot's corpse aside, she sat down and started the reboot sequence. It only took a few seconds for the generator to come online, after which she made contact with Kai.

"Everything good on your end?"

"...Yeah."

She gave a little smile under her helmet. "Had to talk to people?"

"...Yeah."

Not wanting to hurt his feelings, she held back her chuckle. "You'll get the hang of it. Regardless, for all that I like Minda, I'm not sure we'll be staying here for long.

He latched onto the new topic with enthusiasm. Well, Kai's version of enthusiasm. "Unfortunate. The Guild is quite a nice system. Though, we might want to slow down. This will be our tenth captured ship after being in system for just two weeks. Don't want to make a splash."

Kel hummed. He wasn't wrong, but still…"This pirate craze won't last long. Either Minda falls and the number of good contracts goes down, or the pirates are taken care of and the same thing happens. With this ship turn in system, we can milk this area for all we can get, then leave."

"...I suppose. You're the boss, anyways."

She repressed a sigh. Their team wasn't perfect, but they were family. They'd make it through this rough patch, like all the others.

As she turned the pirate ship to align with Ugea, she could only hope to one day not fear for her family again.

Only, later that day, when they left the Guild after completing their bounty and turning in the ship they captured, did they get a surprise. The Guild Girl at the desk told them they had an appointment in the Imperial Tower.

As Kai looked at her with a smug face, she sorely wished they didn't have to hide their armor on the ship, so she could hide her grimace.

Not one smooth job, huh?
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was piloting my L-99 into Ugean atmosphere, Commodore Veers sitting in the copilot's seat as she taught me how to fly. Finding out that she actually knew how to pilot on a professional level was impressive, as most Navy officers don't bother learning more than the basics. What's the point, when you're going to be giving commands to the pilots instead of sitting in their seats.

It also kinda scared me. Just another point towards her being ambitious as hell. The drive of this woman was insane, and I could only hope that I didn't end up in her path one day.

For now though, she was my flight instructor. And a good one at that. Very calm and understanding. Though that's probably because I'm her boss.

"Now" she said, "hit the comms button and signal Ugean Traffic Control"

I started to tilt my head before - "Without looking" - I tilt my head back down and cautiously lift my hand.

Feeling around the buttons, I settle on one.

"That's the headlights"

I shift my hand slightly.

"Flares"

Odd position for flares.

"Ejection seat"

God awful placement, I should get a refund.

"Correct"

Pressing the button, a bored voice filters in through the comms.

"This is Ugean Traffic Control. Please state your name, ship type and reason for visit."

"My name is Las Mola, my ship is an Incom L-99 Executive Transport, and I'm returning to work"

"Understood. Your transponder checks out with Imperial codes. You're free to land on the Islands pad. Good day governor."

Huh. They maintained that bored tone the entire time, even after finding out I was the governor. Good man. Should get him a raise for being so impartial.

It was as I was making the descent that my personal PDA rang with a notification. It was a Priority 1 ping, which meant that it was important, and I should pick up immediately.

Shifting control over to the Commodore, I get out of the pilot's seat, and move towards the cabin proper while I respond to the ping.

Sitting down in the luxury seats, I look through the info, reading through a few small messages before getting to the big one. I then toss the PDA onto the coffee table, and pour myself a mug of hot cocoa. It is the only time I regret not having alcohol here, even though I never drink.

"Are you ok, sir?" Veers calls back.

"I'm fine. Just more work." I respond, though internally I know that she will be thrilled. All the more opportunities to move up the chain.

A small family of Mandolorians were found doing merc work in the system. While their beskar was technically forfeit by Imperial law, I didn't care much. I would probably still hire them for the job I had in mind.

Then came the last message, the actually important part. The infiltration team had succeeded in gaining access to The Crowns Lucrehulk, a ship called The Duet's Dominion, and had been able to slice a panel, gaining access to their internal files(pirates have shit cybersecurity). Apparently they somehow managed to get the whole exterior painted gold.

Probably because of their backers. The fuckers known as the Zann Consortium. I never played Empire At War, on account of the fact that I was born a year before it was released, but I had done my fair share of wiki diving. They were a smuggling ring of sorts, with their leader being fucking insane enough to hijack Old Man Palpies personal Star Dreadnought, then just give it back. They also don't operate on this side of the galaxy. In fact, none of the major crime syndicates operate much on this side of the galaxy. Yet Tyber Zann and his people decided to expand.

By funding the fucking Crowns.
?
Can't have shit!
—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hi there, folks! Sorry for the late chapter, but today was the last day of PCC's winter semester so I was taking a final. Of course, the spring semester starts next monday, but that's what I get for not talking to a counselor at the start of college and wasting two and a half semesters on useless classes.

Now, to address some things I have seen in the comments, because I read all of them. It's a hobby now. Anyway, I saw that some of you had an interesting discussion about the morality of torture over on QQ. Riveting stuff, I assure you, but I'll clarify some things since my writing failed to do so.

In the scene where Las gets on video call with Kaela, and he holds back a wince at her appearance, then suggests better torture hygiene? That's not him wincing at her being dirty, that's him wincing because he has once again been reminded that his top Army officer is insane.

Does that mean he cares about the person who got tortured? No. To Las, he only cares that Kaela is both capable, willing, and downright eager to torture people. It scares him, which is in line with the fact that he is driven almost entirely by fear. The only reason he hasn't run yet is because he fears being tracked down and killed.

Regardless, it's not as if he can't feel sympathy or empathy. He can, for sure. I am not writing a sociopath. But again, he doesn't care for the person that Kaela messed up. To him, that person barely exists, as the only evidence of their existence to him is the blood on Kaela's face. He has seen no video, heard no screams, hell, he never even saw a bodybag.

To top it all off, it was a pirate. A person actively working in such a way as to make his life harder, therefore increasing his chances of dying. If he had spared it any more than a passing thought, he would have dismissed it as a benefit to his chances of survival, which to him are priority No. 1.

With that finished, I got a question for y'all. While it's still a ways away, since the Pirate Arc is still in it's beginning stages, I want to know what kinds of natives you want to see on Minda 2. I have yet to decide, so any submissions for culture, appearance, unique traits/artifacts/abilities are all the more likely to be taken into consideration.

And finally, while I have been using this site for around a year now, maybe a bit less, this story is my first time posting. Ever. Never even commented before this, or liked either. So any information on how the site works, tips and tricks, and patience when I inevitably make mistakes is appreciated.

Thanks for reading!

-Freefaller