ISD Faithless
Hyperspace en route to Fleet Rally Point
Tanya Zsinj
As Tanya watched her ship enter hyperspace from her command bridge and the rest of the crew started celebrating, she sighed deeply. Though the rest of the bridge crew could celebrate, she knew that her life had once again gotten much more complex and dangerous with all the war maniacs looking to her instead of her dead Father for leadership. She couldn't even run because the famous new republic war heroes saw her face, and she would end up being hunted down by every group in the Galaxy. Why did she think showing her face was a good idea? Sure, if she showed her face, they would be more likely to believe her about the bomb because her poker face was still on point, but then Mr. Freaking Jedi had to step in and see through everything.
Turning to her XO Commander Eliser, a short older female human with brunette hair and green eyes, spoke, "Commander, Tell the crew that I am proud of them for their actions today, then Secure battle stations and have Section Rancor relieve the watch, till the Officer of the Deck shows up you have the Conn I will be returning to my quarters send a runner to get me within an hour of transition back to real space until then unless the ship is about to be destroyed do not disturb me. Understood?"
Commander Eliser, always quick on the upkeep, saluted her Captain and new warlord, "Understood, ma'am. I will get the crew on it right away." Turning back to the bridge crew and grabbing the Ships Intercom, and announced, "All Hands. The Captain congratulates you for your actions today. You all performed spectacularly. Secure from General Emergency and battle stations. Section Rancor Relieve the Watch."
Nodding to her XO, Tanya left the bridge with her ever-present bodyguards, two members of her raptor squad, Lieutenant Kham Haren, and Sgt. Kahlen Rahl. Marching through the halls of her star destroyer, she pondered how fast things can change where just a year ago, she had just been the Squad Leader of Raptor One and was one of her Father's most elite Raptor commandos. She was going on more and more missions to spread her Father's influence and stabilize his nascent Empire while building her contacts for when everything went pear-shaped—instead of everything going pear-shaped for her Father, the Captain of the Faithless decided to sell out Zsinj's daughter to the Imperial remnant and Admiral Rogriss. She made him pay for it, but the cost was too high in her mind. Almost all of Raptor One had been eradicated, and looking down at her gloved hand, she had to admit that even she hadn't managed to make it out in one piece.
Coming out of her brooding as she reached the door to her quarters, she stood back. At the same time, Lieutenant Kham Haren entered first and swept her room for any traps, listening devices, or uninvited guests that could have entered her quarters since the last time she had been inside her quarters. It usually took only 2 minutes for him to finish the first sweep and report all he found, but she had been waiting for over 20 minutes before he exited her room.
Turning to him, Tanya snapped, "Finally, Lieutenant Haren, how many did you find this time if the sweep took this long? You think saving all the spies on this vessel would mean that they would leave me alone for once."
Lieutenant Haren looking up to meet Tanya's eyes, started to speak, making him sound like he was gargling rocks after the vibroblade injury he suffered during their first mission. "Ma'am, that's just it. I could not find anything in your quarters. The sweep was clear, with no bombs, no spying devices, and no graffiti for once.
Sighing, Tanya replied, "Just great they have gotten better at hiding the surveillance devices. I hoped to lay down for a bit; all right, Sgt. Rahl, your turn; go check it out. If she finds anything, you will be on extra guard duty and have to sift through paperwork for the recruits for Raptor 1 as my elite bodyguards. Raptor 1 can no longer be at this low strength now that I am taking over for my Father."
The Raptors Saluted and Rahl took the scanner and began scanning the room. When she reported back 30 minutes later, Tanya's patience was at its end, and then she gave the same report as Haren. It was the same, no devices.
Tanya had been awake for 48 hours and just wanted to use the refresher and sleep. She was thoroughly done with all of it. So turning to her commandos, She spoke, "Well, it seems for once the crew doesn't want to spy on me or murder me in my sleep, so I am going to use the refresher and go to sleep. Rahl, you will come with me, guard my quarters while I use the refreshers and Haren, you will get the reliefs for you and Rahl. Once they arrive, get some sleep. I better not find out that you both decided to work and train again instead of sleeping. You are both my bodyguards and need to be in top shape, is that understood."
Haren and Rahl saluted, and Tanya entered her quarters, with Rahl following her while Haren went to get their reliefs from the barracks. Once she entered her quarters and Rahl shut the door behind them, Tanya sat down and began removing her cybernetics so she could take her refresher. First, she sat down on her bed, undressed, and removed her cybernetic leg from right below her knee, then placed it on the repair station to fix once she was out of the refresher. Once she adjusted to the ghost limb feeling from removing her cybernetic, she grabbed her crutches and limped over to the refresher to decompress after this shitshow of a day.
Dathomir
Singing Mountain Clan Village
One day following the battle of Dathomir
Victory celebration for the liberation of Dathomir
Luke Skywalker
After she had tried to manipulate him and ordered the assassination of his sister just because her son wanted to court Leia, taking Queen Mother Ta'a Chume down a peg, exposing her true self to her son, watching her son's new fiancé Teneniel Djo threatening her mother in law how she would one day inherit the throne from Ta'a Chume, forcing the Queen Mother to make the best of a bad situation was very gratifying. Still, the follow-up where she realized that her grandkids would be strong in the force. A "spoon bender", as she put it, was icing on the cake. While Luke was content with how things had turned out so far today, he knew, based on the prince's personality and how the force had shifted, that the next thing the prince would say would make his mother happy and devastate Leia.
As the Queen Mother left to return to Star Home, Leia turned to the prince and raised the question Luke knew she had been dreading asking since the previous day following the battle with Zsinj. "Isolder, I know our courtship did not go how you wanted, but do you still intend to have your mother push for an alliance with the New Republic?"
With a grimace marring his features, Isolder listened to Leia and replied, "Leia though I believe in the Republic and what it stands for, I promised Tanya that I would not assist the Republic in any way from attacking her Empire. With the fact that the Ion bomb she detonated in the middle of the Hapan fleet was so powerful that all of our electronics on our ships were utterly burned out, to go against that after she let us go would just mean that the next time, they would not be so inclined to allow us to surrender if I broke my word now. The losses the Hapan forces suffered yesterday were devastating enough that my mother would never agree to an alliance, and that's not even counting the reaction of the noble houses if I broke my word with Tanya and pushed to join against her after you chose Han Solo over me which was the main reason the nobility was even entertaining the idea of joining the new Republic was our possible marriage."
After hearing the prince's expected answer, Leia's shoulders slumped, and Han put a hand on her shoulder to comfort her because though they had rekindled their love for each other, his actions still led to this situation anyway. "Don't worry about it Leia, the Republic managed to corner one Zsinj without support from the Hapans. We can also take down this Zsinj without the Hapan support."
Turning to Han, Leia flashed him a quick smile which increased, after a second, "Thanks, Han. You know just what to say at the perfect moment." Turning to Isolder, Leia spoke with much more conviction now that she had a plan forward while Han smiled, not sure what he said to bring back her determination, but like always was ready to roll with it.
Turning back to Isolder, Leia spoke to him again, "I know you agreed to Tanya's terms during the surrender Isolder and that to go against that would damage your position and the position of your family in hapan society, but she only specified that you couldn't support any fighting against her Empire; she never said anything about the Hapans allying with the New Republic against other forces of the Empire. You could even use the loss of your Royal fleet as a rallying cry of how dangerous the Empire could be. By helping The New Republic take down the other Imperials in the Galaxy, you are isolating and weakening her Empire while allowing the Republic to grow to better assist the Hapes Cluster when she Inevitably breaks her promise and tries to invade the Hapes Cluster. As a trusted ally, the Republic would more likely support Hapan forces in defending the cluster. With these alliances, the Republic might also pass on military technology to Hapes, allowing you to upgrade your fleet so that they would never be able to sneak in a bomb as they did during the last battle."
Smiling Isolder, while thinking about what Leia said, Isolder replied, "That might be challenging, and Teneniel and I will need to leave tomorrow, so how about you and Han come with us so we can discuss what we will need to do to convince everyone of this." Turning to Luke, Isolder spoke as well. "Of course, Luke, you are also welcome to join us in discussions. You seemed to understand her the best anyways."
Looking up, Luke replied, "No thanks, I'm sure most people would love to talk politics, but I have other plans for tonight. If you excuse me, I will bid you all a goodnight." Silently wishing them luck with their scheming Luke went to find out more about the Jedi ship that had crashed in the desert.
ISD Faithless
Undisclosed Rally point 4 days following the Battle over Dathomir
Tanya Zsinj
Tanya knew that the next few hours were going to be unpleasant. She hated dealing with all the war maniacs that captained her Father's ships. Still, they were primarily loyal, at least to her Father, and now she had to give them a reason to stay loyal if she wanted to have any chance at saving her Father's Empire and avoiding the firing squad. Taking her seat at the head of the Table, her Lieutenant activated the holoprojector and connected all the different captains from the other star destroyers present at the rally point to her call.
Once all the different captains faded into view, Tanya spoke, "What happened at Dathomir was a tragedy. Not only did we lose one of our shipyards along with further damage to the Iron Fist, most tragic of all, but we also lost the genius of my Father after he was killed during the battle. Now this is a trying time, so I will allow you this one time to ask the questions that you all must have but only one at a time understood."
It wasn't long before the first Captain spoke up, "Ma'am, with all due respect, while turning that battle around with the sneak attack was a beautiful maneuver, why did you retreat with such paltry negotiations with the defeat of the fleet we had them at our mercy we could have destroyed the rebellions greatest heroes. We would still be holding Dathomir at this point. Why would you give them the planet and run right after they killed Warlord Zsinj and General Melvar."
Once the Captain finished his rant, Tanya turned to the junior officer next to her. She spoke: "Lieutenant would kindly put on the recording from the Privateer about 20 minutes after we jumped. I believe that would explain what Captain Blargs wants to know on why we jumped and didn't destroy the rebels, as he put it."
Hitting a few keys on her datapad, the Lieutenant put on the camera feed from the Privateer, which focused on the Dathomir system as the Imperial Fleet began jumping out of the system and had the footage speed up till the 20-minute mark. At this, Hapan ships started jumping into the system. At first, it was just a few at a time and was staggered, but then it came in more and more until the Hapan fleet, initially around one hundred ships when the Iron Fist had been destroyed, had swelled to over 400 vessels.
The Imperials began sweating and shifting nervously as they realized how close their fleet had come to destruction. Tanya turned back from where she had also been watching the recording to face Captain Blargs. "That Captain is why we retreated instead of staying and fighting. When a Hapan Battle Dragon appeared over Dathomir a week ago, my Father realized that the rest of the Hapan Royal Fleet was coming, so he recalled more of the fleet to Dathomir to prepare for a battle with the Royal Fleet. He then put out feelers to his spies so that he would know when they left and how long we had to build up the defenses of Dathomir based on their location and the hyperdrives that the Hapans had equipped on their ships. When they left for Dathomir, we should have had another week to prepare for their arrival. That was not what happened. When the first vanguard jumped into the system, I knew the rest of the fleet would be behind them shortly. So I detonated our only Ion Bomb and gave some bullshit demands so that they would believe that we had all of the power and had the fleet retreat. And if any of the demands are met, we still come out ahead of the alternative, which is what you wanted to do and surrender to the Hapans."
This shut up Captain Blarg, who, along with the others that had tried to surrender, began to worry about the security of their position after the battle now that they couldn't blame it on Zsinj or his daughter. While those who had thought to surrender were panicking and those who were willing to fight to the death, the other hero of the battle Captain Tryanda who had saved the Iron Fist from certain destruction, spoke, "Warlord Zsinj, you said that was our only Ion bomb a weapon like that could be a real game changer why did we only have one and have not built more yet."
At this, Tanya sighed and explained, "Well, Captain, the reason is that the Ion bomb was an experimental weapon that was highly flawed, and the only person who truly understood how to build and design it was killed at Dathomir along with all his research notes. The cost to create just one working example was enough that my Father could have built 5-star destroyers. But now that the only bomb is gone and its creator's death destroyed all the research, we will just have to continue without the bomb. Now, Gentlemen, there will be changes to how the Empire is run going forward, but I know we will succeed if you don't betray me to our enemies; otherwise, your death will be a traitor's death. To prove my point, Lieutenant, bring in Gara Petothel."
At this point, two Raptors standing outside the holo call dragged a weak and broken woman into view of the transmitter and locked her into one of the chairs. They then handed a weird-looking blaster to Tanya before backing off. After accepting the blaster looked at the different Captains and began to explain. "You see here we have one Gara Petothel, a member of imperial intelligence, or when she was working under Wedge Antilles Lara Notsil, a member of Wraith squadron. She was always a rebel plant from the start, and to give my Father the belief that she was on his side Wedge Antilles had her leak the location of Talon squadron as a sacrificial pawn. Then they proceeded to have her cozy up to my Father. My father thought he had gained an agent inside the New Republic Wraith squadron, but little did he know she had been working with Wedge Antilles the whole time. She is the person who sold out the mission to steal the Razer Kiss; she sabotaged the Iron Fist over the Battle of Selaggis and almost resulted in its destruction, and when our trap almost killed the famed Wedge Antilles, she shot down our pilots and faked her death so that she could no doubt infiltrate another imperial faction for the Rebels. Unluckily for her, my forces captured her following her supposed death and convinced her to tell the truth. So I, Tanya Zsinj, now order the execution of Gara Petothel for the crimes against the Empire and being a traitor of the highest order."
Turning to Gara and raising the blaster, Tanya spoke to Gara, "Do you have any last words, traitor?" At this point, Gara was finally coming around and groaned. "I thought not." Tanya pointed the blaster at her head and pulled the trigger. A loud retort sounded along with a flash at the muzzle, and all the imperials realized that Their new Warlord had shot the woman with not a blaster but a slug thrower. As Gara slumped over in the chair with most of her head missing and bleeding profusely, Tanya turned back to the Captains and spoke to them, "You see, a blaster is too good for her. Never betray me, or I will do much worse to you, do you understand."
Turning to the Raptors, Tanya ordered them, "Take her to the incinerator and clean up this room. Now, gentleman, remember, traitors will not have a dignified death."
As the captains grimaced, Tanya knew she had to act now to end this on a positive note; otherwise, they would only think negatively of her, so she spoke, "But gentlemen, not everything is all doom and gloom for your actions during the battle managed to preserve the majority of the fleet and prevented it from being a complete rout along with the destruction of all our forces. You have my thanks for that, and don't let it stand at that. I have also ordered that your commands be given the first pick of the all-new tie Raptors and your choice of the new graduates from our academies. There will be changes, and more once we reach Serenno. You all will receive your awards once we arrive. I will see you there, gentlemen."
With that, Tanya turned around and left the room while the Raptors loaded the corpse of Gara and began to take her to the incinerator. The Captains looked at each other and shut down the comms.