Star Crossed Fanfic

[Stravo]

OK guys, please enjoy the latest offering in this ongoing (but soon to end?) saga



Chapter 37: Unholy Alliance


Grand Admiral Thrawn listened to the briefing with interest, his glowing red eyes locked on to the speaker, Captain Jerjerrod. Behind Jerjerrod was a vast holographic representation of the Milky Way Galaxy, currently tagged as Galaxy 1089. Jerjerrod moved along the edge of the conference room table as he spoke, a datapad in hand but he hardly looked down at it.

“We have also picked up numerous communications throughout this galaxy making it a fully habitable star cluster however they are not unified as our own home galaxy. At last count we estimate more than 40 individual star empires perhaps more inhabiting this galaxy.”

“What is their technological status?” Vader asked.

“We have been able to ascertain that at least in this local quadrant, power readings do not spike above .6. This indicates a level of power generation technology that has not yet attained hypermatter usage.”

Piett smirked.

“They’re primitives. This will not e a conquest, it will be a slaughter.”

Thrawn’s eyes fluttered slightly, the only betrayal of his utter contempt for the man’s grasp of the tactical and strategic situation. He decided then and there that something had to be done about Piett. The only obstacle was the Sith lord standing behind him. Oddly enough, Vader rarely ever sat, electing to tower over others whenever he got a chance.

“We have also been able to ascertain that this local quadrant has seen quite a bit of Imperial activity. There are signs of hyperspace distortions riddled throughout this quadrant.”

“How have we been able to determine this fact? Imperial hyperdrives do not function any differently than other hyperdrives. You cannot possibly distinguish them from the native hyperdrives.” Piett sneered.

“Simple. The natives of this galaxy do not use hyperdrive.”

The gathered officers suddenly grew silent, all save the slow mechanical breathing of Lord Vader.

“No hyperdrive? How do they travel?” Piett gasped.

“We have yet been able to determine that but there is no doubt that no empire in this galaxy utilizes hyperdrive travel. There are vast portions of this galaxy that show absolutely no sign of hyperspace travel. No hyperspace disturbance, no quantum particle disruption, nothing. Virgin space, devoid of any sign of hyperspace travel. It truly is remarkable, I don’t think that such territory exists anywhere in our galaxy.” Jerjerrod commented with a weak smile.

“Go on, Captain.” Thrawn gently pushed.

“Yes, sir.” Jerjerrod cleared his throat. He pointed to a highlighted part of the galaxy.

“The heart of hyperdrive activity is located in this portion of the galaxy. Judging from the amount of hyperspace disturbance in this space, we can estimate that the Imperial held territory is probably here.” Jerjerrod’s finger touched a portion of the high lighted section and the rest of the galaxy dropped away and the holoimage settled on that galactic arm.

“That’s all they hold?” Piett wondered aloud.

“Admiral, we have absolutely no idea what sort of resistance the Imperial forces here have met, we also have no idea whether the Imperial forces here have remained intact, whether they have access to resources that we have. Let us keep blind suppositions out of a strategic briefing shall we?” Thrawn interjected icily.

Piett nodded hesitantly and sat back with a scowl on his face.

“Can we set a course for that area of space?”

“It should not prove difficult. The nav computers are currently scanning star positions and mapping local gravity shadows. We should be able to jump to hyperspace safely in the next few hours.”

“You mentioned earlier strange energy readings on long range sensors?”

“Yes sir. We have picked up enormous energy spikes on the extreme edge of our detection nets. It is consistent with a heavy fleet engagement.”

“Yet it is not in Imperial held space?” Thrawn asked curiously.

“No, sir. It is centered in another quadrant of the galaxy.” Jerjerrod replied.

Thrawn sat back and slowly rubbed his chin with one hand as he seemed to stare right into the holoimage of the galaxy.

“We have accomplished nothing simply sitting here Admiral. It would be best if we begin searching for the Imperial fleet and they are there.” Vader said and stretched out his black gloved hand and pointed right at the section of the galaxy where the energy readings were coming from.

“Your reasons for saying so, Lord Vader?” Thrawn asked neutrally.

Piett’s eyes widened slightly. He would never even think of questioning the towering dark lord.

“Lord nemesis is there and so is the fleet. Don’t allow yourself to be led by the nose with these technological instruments, Grand Admiral. You will find, as most other commanders that have served with me that the Force is our strongest ally.”

“Ah, yes…the force.” Thrawn replied. He nodded to himself. “Yes, Lord Vader, you may be correct, but I will not commit a single unit, until we are ready.”

Vader glanced down sharply.

“We have spent the last two weeks preparing Grand Admiral.” Vader’s voice dripped with menace and his right hand tightened, the sound of the leather glove creaked loudly in the room and Thrawn felt his throat begin tightening.

“Lord Vader how can we relieve Lord Nemesis’ forces if we cannot make the jump to light speed? This is not the time to act rashly. We are far from home, with absolutely no support. One misstep could be disastrous. We must be patient. Once we are ready, I assure you, thus galaxy will fall in short order. But if we act rashly we will become bogged down in this galaxy as Lord Nemesis has obviously become.”

Vader stared hard at Thrawn. The Grand Admiral did not flinch under the gaze. There was only the sound of the mechanical respirator. Vader’s tightened fist suddenly loosened.

“I expect us to be underway shortly Grand Admiral.” Vader replied and turned and strode out of the room, his black cape flowing behind him.

The assembled officers looked uncomfortable.

Thrawn tried not to show his own annoyance at the situation. In Wild Space he had free reign to do as he wanted. He was far from the prying eyes of the Emperor’s lackeys and minions. But this mission had thrust him right into the center of the Emperor’s right hand’s obsession with the young Sith Lord. Thrawn knew better than to think that in the end he could simply ignore or kill the Sith Lord. Vader was renown for his power and his insight. There was a reason why he was the Emperor’s right hand and heir apparent to the Empire.

But none of this changed the fact that Vader had all the subtlety of a BDZ.

The mission had many parameters for him to keep track of.

“Sir, we’ve received a transmission from the shuttle.” A voice chimed in on the conference room table. Piett casually flipped a com panel.

“Go on.”

“They report that there is a wreck of a freighter on the surface, the automated signal was discovered inside the freighter. It looked as if it had been active for some time. The wreckage appears years old. A standard search pattern turned up no signs of life. Whatever was alive down there is no longer there sir.”

“Very well. Have the shuttle return and debrief the men.” Piett replied nonchalantly.

Thrawn’s crimson eyes narrowed slightly.

“Don’t you think that a little odd?” Thrawn commented.

“Odd? There’s plenty of wrecks scattered around the galaxy, Grand Admiral. We just happened to stumble across one that has been abandoned for some time. A shame, considering what we could have learned if we interrogated the survivors.”

Thrawn steepled his fingers under his chin and stared down at the table top for a moment.

“Any success in recovering representations of their art work, Captain?” Thrawn asked, but his eyes seemed lost in thought, as if focusing on another issue altogether.

“Uh, no sir. We have yet been able to gather any good representations of the artwork of the surrounding Empires. It will take some time.”

“May I ask why fleet elements are being tasked with such a duty, sir?” Piett asked.

Thrawn spared the Admiral a glance.

“It is a habit of mine. The artwork of a species is a window to their inner thoughts and psychology. A military commander that knows how his enemy thinks has already won half the battle, the other half is won in the execution. The key here, Piett is knowing what your enemy is going to do before he even knows what he is going to do. If you plan out a battle knowing all the contingencies and responses your enemy will make then you have won that battle before it is even fought.”

Piett nodded but in his mind he was completely skeptical of this claim. How could a military mind be reflected in pathetic works of art?

“Please try to secure some art as soon as possible, captain. It is essential that I have some grasp of what we face here.”
“I shall redouble my efforts.” Jerjerrod replied enthusiastically.

“Excellent.” Thrawn replied then paused as if in mid-thought and turned his head to Piett.

“Did you find anything odd about that last transmission?”

“Sir?”

“The shuttle, Piett. Did you find anything odd about that last transmission?”

“No sir.”

“Perhaps the fact that you did not speak directly to the shuttle commander. Patch us through.” Thrawn ordered.

“Of course, sir.” Piett replied hesitantly. What did it matter what a squad of stormtroopers had to say? They would be debriefed. Why the sudden interest?

“Communications, patch us through to the shuttle.”

“Aye sir.”

There was a long pause.

“They are taking a long time to reply.” Jerjerrod noted with some curiosity.

“Indeed.” Thrawn added softly.

A voice filtered through.

“Shuttle Frydium reporting.”

“Shuttle Frydium this is Grand Admiral Thrawn, what did you find down there?”

Thrawn listened intently. He did not care about what they were saying, but how they were saying it.

“Sir, there was nothing there but a wreck of what we believe is a freighter. After a standard search pattern we found no signs of life.”

“And the distress call?”

“It was fully automated, the battery was nearly dead, the signal was extremely localized sir. I doubt it could be picked up beyond this system.”

Piett nodded.

“Good work commander.” Piett replied.

“Thank you sir.”

“Yes, commander, you have revealed much to us.” Thrawn added coolly.

“Shuttle out.”

Thrawn sat back in his chair and nodded to himself as if settling a debate. He leaned forward and slapped his com panel.

“Navigation, is the incoming shuttle on the standard approach pattern?” he asked but the tone of his voice indicated that he already knew the answer.

“No sir, it is not.” Came the confused reply.

“Carry on.” Thrawn replied and switched channels. “Security, I want a platoon of stormtroopers in the hangar deck right now. The incoming shuttle is to be received and positioned in a secure portion of the hangar bay. The platoon is to surround the shuttle.”

“Yes sir.”

Thrawn stood up and nodded to the others.

“Come with me.”

“Grand Admiral, what are you insinuating?” Piett asked as he quickly rose to follow Thrawn and Jerjerrod out of the conference room.

“Merely that the shuttle has most likely been hijacked by whatever was done there.”

“Hijacked?! Grand Admiral there was a squad of stormtroopers and an officer. Who could overpower that?”

Thrawn nodded.

“Whoever has must be commended. We had no warning from our own men so they must have been ambushed and overpowered before they could get a message off. This enemy has also exhibited strong technical aptitude since they learned to fly and operate our shuttles in – how long were they down there?” he suddenly asked Jerjerrod. Jerjerrod quickly glanced down at a datapad.

“Twenty minutes.”

“They learned to fly and operate one of our shuttles in twenty minutes. This is not a standard enemy, nor is it a stranded freighter crew. This could be the reason why the Imperial forces here may have met stiffer resistance than our initial scans indicated.”

“You are seriously considering the fact that our team may have been hijacked on a mere suspicion?” Piett exclaimed as they entered the turbolift that would take them down to the hangar deck.

“The accent, Piett. I have never heard that accent in all my travels, and in case you never noticed, our stormtroopers all have the same voices and accents.” Thrawn replied as the doors to the turbolift shut.





The shuttle was slowly tractored into the massive hangar bay of the Executor. The lambda class shuttle hovered for a moment as a new guidance system took over and sent the shuttle towards the rear of the hangar bay, over seemingly endless racks of TIE Interceptors and assorted craft neatly stowed away for use.

The shuttle finally stopped over an isolated hangar deck reserved for VIPS and secret missions embarking from the command ship. The shuttle descended slowly and as it did numerous stormtroopers waited patiently by the landing pad, some lined the levels above, each carrying heavy antipersonnel weapons and one was manning an E-Web repeater blaster set up on the secondary gantry giving the gunner and his team the widest possible field of fire.

The shuttle settled down without a sound and soon exhaust gasses were venting and technical crews that usually rushed over to check the ship and refuel her or prepare her for stowage were held back by the stormtrooper cordon.

A door hissed open at the foot of the landing pad and Thrawn strode out flanked by Jerjerrod, Piett and a pair of stormtroopers.

Thrawn stood patiently, hands clasped behind his back and watched the shuttle. Piett was aghast at the thought that there could have been such a security breach but secretly hoped that his squad would walk out of the shuttle and wonder what all the fuss was about. Perhaps then Thrawn’s much vaunted ‘feelings’ and ‘intuition’ would take its rightful place as an idiosyncrasy of character and not an invaluable skill that many labeled it.

He was fairly confident that if he were careful, patient and calm, he would come away with this assignment wearing that very same white pressed uniform…as for Thrawn. A soft smile tugged at the edges of his lips. He could go the way of Ozzel. With Vader on this mission, he knew that all it would take would be some carefully plotted out insinuations and the Sith Lord’s terrible anger would be the arrogant ALIEN Grand Admiral’s demise.

Jerjerrod may have hitched his hopes to the Grand Admiral, but Piett knew who wielded true power in this Empire. He most certainly did not wear white.

“They’re not coming out.” Jerjerrod commented.

“Watch and learn, Jerjerrod. This man is no fool. He realizes we are on to him but he will bide his time. He knows that he has no other option now but follow through with his plan.”

“And what plan is that?”

“We will find out, but I daresay he did not expect this.”

Suddenly the hatch to the shuttle began to lower and several of the assembled stormtroopers tensed, some raising their weapons at the ready.

“Watch, Jerjerrod. Everything in life is a lesson, we just have to be aware of what is being taught.” Thrawn whispered to the young Captain.

Several stormtroopers descended the stairs led by a young man with blonde hair. He looked very intense as he approached them, the stormtroopers were marching in perfect military precision.

“His first mistake.” Thrawn noted with a nod.

“I don’t understand?” Jerjerrod began but saw it too now that Thrawn had made it clear. The stormtroopers were not equal in height, one was several inches taller and the armor seemed a little tight along the shoulders and leg guards.

The officer stopped and snapped a crisp salute.

“We did not expect such an honor sir.” He said with just the right touch of nervousness. Thrawn’s eyes narrowed on the young officer. He was good, very good.

“Interesting lieutenant, you are the first Imperial officer from this fleet to set foot on an alien world of this galaxy, I simply wanted to personally welcome you back.

The young man nodded and smiled graciously.

“Of course, Admiral. However my men are tired and the planet below was filthy and arid, that damned sand has gotten into everything including our uniforms. We will need some time to freshen up before the debriefing.

Brilliant actor, he even feigned the discomfort of the sand in his uniform with a subconscious roll of the shoulders. Whoever they were he was impressed for the first time in a long while. The audacity to try and pass themselves off now, it was either reckless or fearless. But Thrawn detected something else.

This was not their leader.

There was something about the eyes that betrayed this.

“I’m sure that’s true, Lieutenant, but I do have one question.”

“Sir?”

“Just how in the name of the Emperor did you even think for a solitary nanosecond that you could have pulled off this masquerade?”

The young man seemed frazzled.

“Sir? I’m not sure what you mean?”

“I congratulate you on your performance, young man but my patience is at an end.” Thrawn replied with a heavy sigh. He turned his head to the Stormtrooper commander. “Kill them.”

Suddenly one of the stormtroopers whipped his hand up holding a thermal detonator.

“Perhaps the Grand Admiral would like to reconsider his order?” the voice was the same one from the shuttle. It had an air of regal command to it.

“If I am shot the dead man’s switch goes off and I will paint the walls of this impressive technological terror with your blood. If you do not stand down I will hit the switch and paint the walls of this technological terror with your blood. If you stand down then we can have a discussion, one that I believe will be most fruitful for both of us.”

Thrawn and the anonymous Stormtrooper stared at each other for a long moment, the only sound was the clang of heavy machinery and the hiss of gasses and venting exhaust.

“I will only stand down to a leader of men. Are you that man?” Thrawn asked quietly. There was death in that voice. Jerjerrod was rooted in place.

The stormtrooper slowly nodded.

“I am that man.”

“A true leader does not hide behind a mask.” Thrawn replied.

The stormtrooper locked eyes with him in another stare down of wills and he suddenly lifted one hand and whipped off the helmet in a clean snap. His long black hair cascaded down his broad shoulders as he revealed his face.

It was a proud aristocratic face, one that should be on busts of great leaders decorating a hall or museum. His dark skin contrasted against the pearly white armor he wore.

“I am Kahn Noonien Soongh. And you are?”

“Grand Admiral Thrawn.” Thrawn replied without hesitation.

“Well, Grand Admiral, it seems we are at an impasse. I am feeling gracious today and so I am willing to offer you a truce.”

“A truce? Are you mad?” Piett sputtered in outrage.

Kahn frowned heavily.

“Who is this person that he interrupts a meeting of men?” Kahn asked with a sneer.

“He is an admiral under my command and he will now remain silent. This is a meeting between myself and Mr. Soongh.”

“Call me Kahn, Grand Admiral.”

“Very well. Piett.”

“Sir?” Piett replied stung by Thrawn’s comment.

“Return to the bridge and prepare the conference room for a debriefing.”

“But.”

“Shall I have Captain Jerjerrod do it?” Thrawn asked darkly.

“Right away, SIR.” Piett replied and glared at the newcomer. Kahn returned the glare with a shadow of a smile.

The assembled troops in the hangar bay relaxed slightly. Thrawn and Kahn did not as Piett left.

“You will stand down, Kahn.”

“I still see weapons trained on my men.”

“You will stand down because I do not negotiate with terrorists. I kill them. Now unless you want to learn the hard way what it means to face the full force and might of the Empire I strongly suggest you stand down and realize that if I wanted you dead you would be.”

Kahn’s eyes narrowed as he examined the Grand Admiral closely. His crimson eyes made it difficult to read him but Kahn knew leaders, he knew commanders of men and warlords, for he had fought them all in his bid for total world domination. A quarter of the world had been under his rule at one time or another but there were always others, rivals, killers, allies. This Thrawn was such a man.

He also knew that despite his best planning, Thrawn was right. If he were pressed, he would kill Kahn. And there was so much work to do. Besides he had the assurances of his mysterious benefactor.

“You will have your revenge, Kahn. I will simply put you on that road. The rest is up to you.”

Kahn knew that fighting this battle now was pointless and futile.

He slowly lowered his hand and there was an audible click from the detonator as it was deactivated.

“I have shown you the respect you demanded, now show me mine. My people have been marooned on this world for many years.”

Thrawn nodded slowly.

“Your men will be given shelter and food but we have much to discuss do we not?”

“Yes, indeed we do. Let us discuss this as leaders of men do, myself and my second, Joachim.” He nodded to the blonde young man who had been masquerading as the lieutenant.

“I commend you, to send your second into the fray while watching your enemy for weakness.”

“I learned this lesson from a man you and I may grow to know more intimately.”

Thrawn did not betray any surprise.

Kahn began to see why his benefactor had been adamant about telling him everything he could about Kirk and the current conflict burning through the galaxy. Thrawn was obviously not aware of much of this information. That made Kahn a valuable ally and not just a pawn. Kahn would not allow himself to ever be a pawn. He was biding his time for when he would seize control, Thrawn was obviously a commander with strong will and perceptive mind. But he was not human and he had not led nations. Kahn Noonien Soongh saw himself at the helm of this war machine and he would write his name across the galaxy in fire.

But first things were first.

“His name will be burned into your memory soon as it is burned into mine. We will have to hunt him down and kill him.”

“This sounds personal.” Jerjerrod added.

“Death is always personal.” Kahn replied icily.

“Why do you think we need to hunt him down and kill him? His wrongs against you have nothing to do with me.”

“IF I were to believe you, Grand Admiral, then let me inform you of a fact that you may not be aware of. This man is currently leading the opposition to your Imperial forces. He is doing quite well as I understand it. I expect no less from him. He will be a difficult man to kill…so much the better.”

Thrawn saw it. He had been watching him intently, seeing the iron will and resolve in those eyes. But he saw something else too. There was something…dark fluttering behind those dark eyes and just now as he spoke those last lines with such pleasure and anger he saw it revealed in those eyes.

Madness.

Kahn Noonien Soongh was quite mad.

“Well then, Kahn, have your men follow mine out. You and I will meet now and discuss this matter in more appropriate surroundings.” Thrawn stated evenly and indicated for Kahn to follow him.

“I will only take one more step on your vessel if we come to an understanding right now.”

Thrawn arched an eyebrow.

“And that understanding would be what?”

Kahn face was a grim mask as he spoke.

“That we will kill James T. Kirk.”

“I don’t think that there is any doubt of that.” Thrawn replied.

“Then it is done.” Kahn said with a nod and followed Thrawn out of the hangar.








“There she is.” Tarsi said and pointed at the Relentless in the center of a sea of cubes.

“Scanning indicates no activity aboard any of the cubes in this sector. Seems like their entire fleet has simply shut down.” His XO reported incredulously.

“Lord Nemesis was right. The heart of the Borg was on that world. How can they have survived this long being so centralized?” Tarsi wondered.

“Sir, there are positive reading life readings on the Relentless. She’s pretty banged up but still functioning. Also reading several thousand drones within her, all inactive.”

“I want communications established as soon as possible with Captain Belladonna.” Tarsi snapped.

The triumvirate moved through the armada of Borg ships that were now completely inactive. The sickly green lights that seemed to illuminate all Borg vessels and facilities were dimmed or simply out. Thousands of cubes, spheres and tactical cubes floated in clusters in the void, now completely dead, the chorus of the Collective many voices as one was silent.

This was no longer a battle ground but a graveyard.

Tarsi waited impatiently as they closed with the Relentless. The shattered hulks of Borg cubes orbited her like attendant moons and the corpses of Borg drones rained around them, bouncing harmlessly off their shields or spinning madly off into the depths.

“Come on.” He muttered.

“Sir, picking up a transmission from the Relentless.”

“Put it through.”

Tarsi stood before the holonet receiver, fully expecting the worse. He closed his eyes for a moment and braced himself.

“You certainly know where to take a girl for a wild time, tarsi.” Belladonna said with a sarcastic grin as she appeared on his receiver disk. Tarsi did not bother to hide the huge grin that split his face as he saw her now, hair in disarray, blood and dirt smudged on her cheeks and she was flush with exertion, sweat drenched the front of her uniform making it cling to her body.

“Only the best for you, Captain.”

“DO you want to let me in on the secret or do I have to drag it out of you?”

“What secret?”

“One minute I’m hips deep in Borg drones trying to assimilate me, the next they all let out this awful scream and collapsed on my deck.”

“Lord Nemesis has destroyed their unimatrix. The Collective has been silenced for good.” Tarsi’s smile became a victorious grin. “The Borg are dead.”

“Well, its good to know that we did our part for Emperor and Empire.” She replied wanly.

“I’m coming over on a transport right now.”

“Tarsi, how’s it going to look-“”

“Illith.” He interrupted her and slowly reached out and touched her holographic face, his fingertips passing though the field causing a slight distortion where they touched. “I’m passed caring how it looks. What I told you before is true now as it was when we sat together in the Emperor’s Will’s sickbay. Duty is no longer as important to me as it once was. I came to the realization of what is truly important and it was confirmed today when I was in the thick of mortal combat and all I could think about was you.” He replied softly.

“Come.” She urged.

Tarsi nodded and switched off the holonet. He turned to speak when his XO smiled.

“I have the con, aye, aye sir.”

Tarsi smiled and gripped his XO’s shoulder before striding off the bridge.








“And that is all?”

“Not other signs of active energy on the planet. The destruction of the Collective has all but destroyed every working system on the planet.” Kittaine replied.

Nemesis nodded and looked out the view port to regard the dead unimatrix world beneath him. A large angry red stared back at him. The crust of the target area had been completely blown away revealing the molten mantle beneath. The rest of the world was now dark and still. Billions of drones on the surface had simply ground to a halt as soon as the Collective had been vaporized by the super laser.

“And so it has ended. The greatest threat to our New Empire has been squashed.”

“Now we turn our attentions to that insignificant Federation rebellion and crush them as easily.” Branna added.

Kittaine looked out at the field of dead Borg ships.

“It will take time to clean up this mess. We’ll have to bring in ships form across the Romulan provinces to start salvage and disposal operations.”

“There will be no salvage and disposal operations.” Nemesis replied evenly as he looked out at the vanquished foe but felt no surge of victorious joy. Instead he felt something else, a growing sense of dread.

“My Lord?”

“Look out at this with vision Admiral. You see this now as an obstacle, something that needs to be cleaned up and swept away. I see it as an eternal monument to the might and majesty of our New Empire.”

Kittaine looked at the vanquished fleet.

“They were the most powerful force in this galaxy. To say the name Borg would inspire fear in all the races and empires of this galaxy. Now they are destroyed and their corpses and wrecked hulls will be a sign for all time of our power. This is the foundation upon which the New Empire will grow, it is upon the shattered inhuman Collective that we set ourselves to unite the rest of this chaotic galaxy under our New Order.” Nemesis declared.

Kittaine could not help but smile.

“My Lord, your will be done.” He replied without hesitation.

Nemesis smiled as well and clapped Kittaine on the shoulder.

“And you have done well Grand Admiral.”

“Grand Admiral?” Kittaine replied in confusion.

“Yes, I believe that on this, the day of our greatest victory yet it is fine time to promote you Grand Admiral Kittaine. You have served me faithfully and unfailingly since the moment I stepped aboard the Emperor’s Will.”

Kittaine did not know what to say.

“Sir, I have always endeavored to serve the Empire as well as I could. But I am no Grand Admiral.” He protested.

“No, Kittaine you are precisely the man I want for that post, because you have had several opportunities to lose your faith in both me and our mission and you have not. You have had opportunities to align yourself with others who may not have shared my vision of a united galaxy and wanted me…removed.”

Kittaine began to protest but Nemesis held up a hand.

“And most importantly of all, because you have never lost hope even in our darkest hours and for this you have been given absolute control over the entire fleet of all the New Empire.”

“Congratulations, sir. If anyone deserves this, its you.”

Kittaine smiled softly.

“I will accept on one condition.”

“Name it.” Nemesis replied with a bemused expression.

“I don’t want to wear one of those white uniforms, they truly are gaudy affairs.”

“We shall see, Grand Admiral we shal-” Nemesis stopped and listened. The growing sense of dread that had been gnawing at him had bloomed. There was something wrong, a disturbance that rippled along the force like a wave on the ocean.

“Alert all commands.” He hissed and grabbed a firm hold of his cape and whipped it around him. “Set course for Romulus immediately!”

“My Lord?”

“We must get to Romulus immediately. It seems that Captain Kirk wants to challenge us directly and perhaps now is the time to finally settle this. Now may be the time that we crush all our enemies.” Nemesis snarled.

“At once my lord.” Kittaine snapped.

Nemesis stood alone, wrapped in his cape staring into the stars. He could feel it now. Things were turning. He could feel it in his bones. There was a storm gathering out there, events were spinning out of control and coming to a head.

There was a great reckoning coming and he was in the center of it.

“Let it come.” He whispered as the Emperor’s Will slowly pulled away from the dead Unimatrix and prepared to enter yet another battle.








“This is more than a disappointment.” Picard sighed as he looked over the report on his computer. R-7 sat across from him in his ready room.

“This is only a break in the negotiations.” R-7 replied helpfully.

Picard frowned.

“We’ve been negotiating now for nearly two weeks. The only thing we’ve been able to agree to is that the Tholians will stop referring to the Gorn as Simpleton sauroids, and the Gorn will not curse the Tholians with a thousand deaths. Other than that we are simply agreeing to continue the dialogue. Meanwhile the Empire continues to seize territory and the Federation resistance is looking more and more over matched.”

“Considering that the Gorn and Tholians have never spent this much time in close proximity without going to war it is an accomplishment of a sort.”

Picard smiled ruefully at the android.

“Sometimes I think that you’re fooling us all and you are far more intelligent than we give you credit for.” Picard commented.

R-7 shrugged.

“The fact remains that we have been charged with trying to bring the minor powers into this war and so far we have not failed.” R-7 noted.

“Well, I’ve been negotiating most of my life and usually by now there is some sign, some small light aty the end of the tunnel. I don’t see it.” Picard stated grimly and switched the computer off. As he did so he heard it. A scream that tore into his mind like a knife. Picard stiffened at the table and slid out of the chair onto the floor as his world swirled around him in crimson pain.

He could hear millions of voices screaming in agony and he could not stop it.

“No!” He screamed and clapped his hands over his ears. There was no relent and he felt as if he were going to simply implode but then as suddenly as it came the scream was silenced and he remained on the floor clutching his ears.

“Captain?” R-7 asked without any sign of concern on his face.

Picard sat up right and stared straight ahead for a moment. There were echoes still n his mind, echoes that were slowly fading away.

“Unimatrix 001.”

“Sir?”

“Set course for Unimatrix 001.”

“That is inadvisable sir, the Unimatrix is deep in the heart of Borg space. We would be intercepted before arriving there.”

“I am giving you a direct order, R-7. We need to get to the Unimatrix now!” Picard replied tersely.

“Yes sir.” R-7 replied and helped the Captain up on to his feet. “May I at least ask why?”

“It’s as if a million voices in the Collective all cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I feel that something terrible has happened.” Picard replied.









Wesley shook his head and suddenly glanced around sharply. Had he been sleeping?

Sometimes he felt that things were like a dream, as if he were watching himself do and say things and sometimes he felt that the things he said and did were nothing more than a dream, smoke and memories. It was becoming difficult to ascertain whether he was awake or asleep and that disturbed him.

Wesley had always prided himself in having a very deliberate and powerful sense of what was real and what was not. He was not prone to hallucinations and phantoms of the mind.

He felt as if he were moving through a perpetual fog.

“You Ok there Wes?” Geordie asked.

Wesley turned sharply and glared at Geordie.

“What?” he snapped.

“I said are you OK? You don’t seem well. You’re acting weird.” Geordie replied, frowning slightly at his young friend’s change of attitude of late.

“I’m OK.” Wesley replied weakly as he turned back to regard the readouts on the engineering display. He paused for a moment.

“Geordie?”

“Yes, Wes?”

“Have I said anything lately that’s…weird?”

Geordie smiled softly. “Wes. You’ve been an all around jerk lately. But considering what happened to Kelly, I can understand that.”

“Kelly, that’s right.” He muttered, ignoring the stab of remorse in his heart.

“But you have been short tempered lately and you were hard on my night crew yesterday.”

“What?” he asked feeling a sudden sense of panic.

“Yesterday, they said you were pretty harsh, even using some foul language.” Geordie’s eyes widened at the mention of foul language and smiled good naturedly.

“I..see.” Wesley replied. Panic became terror.

“Wes?” Wesley stormed out of the engineering section. Geordie started to go after Wesley and stopped short. Instead he shouted after him. “Wes! We’re jumping out into battle in a few minutes! We need you!”

Wesley ignored the calls and raced through the mazelike conduits and wanted desperately to lose himself. To not think about what Geordie had said. Because it would mean so much was happening that he could not guess, that he could not control. For in seeking power he may have lost his freedom.

The thoughts tormented him like circling vultures, always pecking at him, reminding him of one awful truth.

He had been asleep last night during the nightshift.







The forest moon of Endor exploded in a conflagration of fire and debris as the green superlaser lanced through the planet like a hammer. The shockwaves ripped through the void in rings of fire and energy that shifted partially into hyperspace. The Death star withered a rain of fire and plasma and slowly rotated away from the suddenly vanished forest moon.

“The Death star has performed exactly to specifications.” The commander reported proudly.

“Excellent commander. Now set a course for the Sluis sector.”

“Yes, My Emperor.” The commander stated and bowed lowly as he stepped away from the throne and walked out. The royal guard stood stoically around the throne room as the Emperor turned in his throne and regarded the ruins of the dead world expanding out in a cloud of fire and ash.

“A beautiful sight is it not?” The emperor commented in his low raspy voice. He watched the death, its fires lighting up the dark shadows under the cowl of his cloak.

“Soon this little drama will replay across the universe and there will be nowhere left to go, nowhere left to run. But battle is joined and the New Order is eclipsing the last rays of hope.”

A figure slowly melted out of the shadows beside the Emperor’s throne and rested a hand on top of the throne in a casual gesture.

“The end is near. All the pieces are falling into places, even gods look up at the dark horizon and fear the inevitable.”

The shadowy figure nodded slowly, watching the dead planet with the interest one shows a dying insect.

“All is proceeding as we have foreseen.”

The Emperor cackled with glee as the planet drifted out of view the enormous battle station moved out of sight of Endor’s end and prepared to jump to light speed.

The figure smiled, the only sign that he was in total agreement, in the shadows his gold uniform was dark and the silver glint from the eyes was muted, lit only by the final dying fires of the Sanctuary moon.

[Vympel]

FIRST POST!!!!1

[Ghost Rider]

Curse you Vympel

Wow...this does get better and better...damn man, and this is your first?Seriously this is awesome.

[Vympel]

For a second I thought Thrawn was taking the Death Star II with him- but it appears that's the Emperor's ... shit.

[Ghost Rider]

The way things are going the words Stacked deck are ringing in my ears...Khan, Thrawn, Vader, Palp, and Nemesis all basically coming at Kirk, Picard and Leia....yow.

[Ender]

YAY! MORE CRACK!

EDIT: Whyis it the Death Star is brought into the Milky way in every crossover? That needs to go on the eviloverlord list "Will not bring my weapon of ultimate destruction into my enemies home village becaue it will certainly be defeated, and me with it" or something

[Illuminatus Primus]

Did I miss them traveling to the Milky Way and through time somewhere?

There's somesort of Imperial-constructed wormhole in the Sluis Van system they used, right?

[Rightous Fist Of Heaven]

Oh boy it will be fun to see what happens to Kahn if he tries to screw over Thrawn.

[Pcm979]

Exellent chapter, but I see that poor Thrawn is going to be stuck with an alternative (to C'Baoth) insane evil badguy who wears clothes that expose his chest.

[Col. Crackpot]

wow

just about the only thing i can say is a cheezy line i'll steal from the spanish channel.... Quien mas macho? Thrawn or Ricardo Montalban? ay dios mio!

[Pcm979]

Points:
1. Does Thrawn have a DS or not?
2. Are the Emperor and Gary in this together? I refuse to go on if Gary's controlling Palpy.
3. You've got an awful lot of storylines to tie together, if you really are nearing the end.
4. I notice that Thrawn doesn't know about the weird mind controlling worm things...
5. As said above, poor Thrawn seems to get saddled with a aged insane megalomaniac no matter what reality he's in.
6. Why didn't the Borg all seperate into little Hugh-style groups?
7. Why can't this be considerd Canon?!

[Mr Flibble]

Excellent chapter Stravo. I especially liked how the part imediately following Thrawn and Kahn starts with:

“There she is.” Tarsi said and pointed at the Relentless in the center of a sea of cubes.

The reference to Wrath of Kahn, with Tarsi no less, who is of course already out for his own 'Wrath' against Kirk.

But my favourite line had to be:

“It’s as if a million voices in the Collective all cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I feel that something terrible has happened.” Picard replied.

I just love your tribute lines from the shows. As I said excellent chapter, keep up the great work.

[Kelly Antilles]

Holy fuck! That was a great chapter. Man, what a combination, Thrawn and Kahn. And the Picard scene was truly perfect. The whole Wesley thing is getting interesting too. Bravo, Stravo. Keep up the excellent work!

[Kuja]

The Imperial March started up and played over and over while I read that chapter. It was absolutely beautiful.

[NecronLord]

So it begins...

(Only this time the mad hippy has the bizzare critter advantage )

[kheegster]

*Drool...*

Must....have....more.......

[Stravo]

Points:
1. Does Thrawn have a DS or not?

NO. Thrawn has Death Squadron plus a few other ships to round out his fleet.

2. Are the Emperor and Gary in this together? I refuse to go on if Gary's controlling Palpy.

I promise, Gary is not controlling palpy. Think of it as a partnership and Gary is simply a silent partner (for now) They've been planning something that only now is coming to fruition.....


3. You've got an awful lot of storylines to tie together, if you really are nearing the end.

Well, by end its relative, this will not end in two or three chapters, but the end is in sight. We are winding up for the climax so expect subplots to start coming to an end and final positions taken for the BIG BATTLE that is undoubtably to come...

4. I notice that Thrawn doesn't know about the weird mind controlling worm things...

No, he doesn't

5. As said above, poor Thrawn seems to get saddled with a aged insane megalomaniac no matter what reality he's in.

I had not thought about that until you mentioned it and it is rather funny and sad for poor old Thrawn. maybe its the fact that he is so coldly rational that you need to introduce barechested crazy men to balance him out.

6. Why didn't the Borg all seperate into little Hugh-style groups?

They were tied directly to the Collective at this point since the Unimatrix itself was under attack, when Hugh had his problem he was simply severed from the Collective before he could infect anyone else, but here the Collective was severed from the drones, leaving them in a sort of deep coma.

7. Why can't this be considerd Canon?!

Don't I wish...

[The Silence and I]

Wow! Another great chapter goes down in history!! I can't wait to see what Kirk can/can't possibly do against, well, darn near everything!!

[XaLEv]

Absolutely beautiful, Stravo.

[Luke Starkiller]

Kirk IS going for Romulus, woohoo. Looks like Tarsi is going to be in some trouble soon.

[Xon]

Points:
... here the Collective was severed from the drones, leaving them in a sort of deep coma. [/color]

Is it just me or does this line allow for the Borg to come back(since Unimatrix 001 is now a graveyard)?

[consequences]

Of course the Borg can come back, possibly with Picard as their king. The question is how much internecine Imperial fighting we are likely to see before the end. *crosses fingers* Don't let Thrawn die, don't kill Kirk, aw, hell, I'm probably going to have to pick just one of those and stick with it.

[desertjedi]

I can't wait to see what the newly arriving Imperial Fleet is going to say when they see Nemesis has carved himself a nice little empire with him as Emperor. Will Vader join Luke and rule the galaxy as father and son? Will Mara betray her love in the name of Palpy? Will Thrawn beat up Kittaine for calling the Grand Admiral uniforms gaudy? All this and more in future chapters of this most excellent fanfic!!! I can't wait!

[Captain Cyran]

Once again Stravo, an amazing chapter. Loved the Thrawn part and I can't wait for more. I think I know what is gonna happen with the Borg and all I'm gonna say is "The queen lives on".

But I do have one nitpick. Not all Stormtroopers are clones, if I am correct in what you were insinuating when Thrawn said.

“The accent, Piett. I have never heard that accent in all my travels, and in case you never noticed, our stormtroopers all have the same voices and accents.” Thrawn replied as the doors to the turbolift shut.

Stormtroopers are not all clones as has been seen in the movies a few times, mostly in ANH.

A.) Luke's voice does NOT sound like a stormies, he spoke once and someone else was around, they would have noticed something fishy.
B.) The embarrising 'StormTrooper hits his head on the door scene'
C.) It doesn't sound to me like Stormies have the same voices and accents.

[Stravo]

Ahhh...but I did jump the gun a bit because good ol GL in the search for yet more ways to milk us...uh...I mean complete his vision will now redub the stormtrooper's voices with Jango's in the DVD release of the trilogies. So I'm just keeping up with the times and putting my own stamp on the debate currently raging on whether Stormies are clones and EU be damned, AOTC says Stormies are clones, I like the idea, so it is in my tale.