StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Chapter 1

Lieutenant Commander Kyle, commander of the third home guard regiment, snapped another power pack into his phaser. He’d had his platoon, now his regiment thanks to the capture of all of his superiors by the Empire, equipped with older type two phasers.

Since starfleet communications had broken down and the only game in town was either the Romulan communications-grid, which one actually had to pay to use. Or the Imperial communications system, which only they could pick up - there had been no replacement for the colonel or the captains when the Empire had taken them prisoner.

There was a patrol of stormtroopers in the valley below. Kyle made a hand gesture, and the remnants of the regiment advanced to the crest of the hill. The armoured figures below had obviously detected them, as they turned as one and laid a hail of blaster fire at the hill, rapidly getting more accurate.

The enemy divided into two squads, the first firing and the second advancing. Kyle aimed his politically incorrect weapon for a moment, firing at one of the stormtroopers on maximum power. The phaser shot a small hole in the stormtrooper’s leg, and the stormtrooper fell to the ground bleeding. A volley of return fire skimmed the crest of the hill, melting it to mica glass where it hit.

“Withdraw!” shouted someone, as the second squad advanced up the hill. The federation troops broke and ran, as they often did, retreating to the beam out point. Two of the Empire’s stormtroopers had been wounded for no losses to the Federation. It was the best that could be hoped for.

‘The worst thing about being a member of the Federation home guard’ reflected Kyle, ‘is that most of the people you were fighting for didn’t want you to win.’ The Imperial propaganda machine was slick and efficient, showing the Empire, and their Romulan protectorate, triumphing against enemies that had defeated starfleet many times, such as the Dominion, and the Borg. Certainly on Vulcan, as he was, that made for a very submissive and compliant population.

The commanding admiral of starfleet, Admiral Porter, looked out of the observation window of the USS Sovereign at the battered fleet orbiting Ba’ku. The Battles of Earth and Vulcan had been brutal, happening within an hour of each other, the same imperial warship, a massive ten kilometre leviathan, had engaged and destroyed two entire federation fleets.

The loss of Vulcan had been particularly devastating, as the empire had simply issued an ultimatum demanding that all Vulcans leave starfleet or their home world would be rendered uninhabitable. And so they had left. He returned to his desk, sitting down.

The weight of responsibility was crushing. In the few weeks since their attack on Risa the Empire had taken control of the Romulan Star Empire, and decimated starfleet. The federation was loosing the war at every turn, and each day brought new defeats.

Admiral Porter looked at the padd bearing the seal of the federation, and lines of text, titled Revocation of General Order Number One. He tapped his fingers on the wooden desk. He knew full well that for the Federation to stand a chance against the enemy it would have to be done.

But it was too much. Even with this the situation was bleak, and then he would be remembered as the man who had betrayed the Prime Directive, and still lost the war.

From the observation deck of His Imperial Majesty’s Starship Imperial Wrath the situation looked better. Kane Koloth Dark Jedi, Hand of the Emperor, and the first Imperial Galactic Viceroy breathed in. He could feel the minds of the humans far below on the planet earth. The turmoil and uncertainty echoed in the dark side of the force.

The decision to ally himself with the Romulans had been fully inspired by that same aspect of the force. They had been leaderless, recently having their leadership assassinated by uprising slaves, whose own leader had died of a mysterious condition. Without him the ‘Remans’ had been easily re-conquered.

A Base Delta Zero bombardment of the planet Remus had succeeded in convincing them to serve the empire. Even now he could see the former Reman ship hovering next to the Federation’s Space dock facility. The radiation device it carried had made the storming of the facility a formality.

Although the device was not capable of penetrating the shields of an imperial ship, as the Romulans had discovered when Admiral Rale had attacked the tidally locked planet, it was more than capable of working around the local shields.

If Koloth had ever troubled with the study of ancient history he would have known that the uses of the weapon were much like those of the archaic neutron bomb. Although it was less powerful than many weapons it possessed a useful ability to leave enemy facilities ripe for Imperial use.

The Romulan Attaché to his fleet, Commander Sela, entered the observation deck. “Lord Koloth” she said, bowing her head respectfully.
‘The protocol droid instructing her in Sith Etiquette seemed to have done its job well.’ Koloth thought. “Yes?” he said.
“Our sensors on the ne- former,” she corrected herself “neutral zone have detected a federation fleet crossing it. We believe they are attempting a retaliatory strike.”

He turned, raising an eyebrow. “And you are unable to deal with it?” he asked.
“Not with so much of our fleet here my lord.” She replied.
“They cannot do much, Your home system has an Imperator stationed there. How many have they sent?”
“Approximately forty ships my lord.”
“What will they do, spit at it?” he asked.
“My lord, they may not strike at Romulus itself. There are numerous colonies nearer the border.”

“Oh, very well. I shall dispatch one of Admiral Rale’s dreadnoughts to deal with them.”
“Thank you my lord.” Sela said, bowing and turning.

She collided with a force wall blocking her way, and stumbled back. Koloth balanced her with the force. “And while they are in that system, they can collect your precious trilithium prototypes." He felt her shock and smiled.

“Don’t delude yourself into thinking that I am unable to read your mind like an open book Commander. I am sure the empire will have more success with this project than your people have enjoyed. It is fortunate that the Federation chose that destination is it not?” he paused “You may leave now.”

The half-human woman left, he could sense her uncertainly and fear as she walked down the corridor. It was most refreshing.