Prologue
DocSolarisReich
Esoteric Spaceman
Crossposting from SB, not that I'm desperate for feedback and comments or anything. This is brain-bug, a series of them, that crawled in my head and just. wouldn't. shut up.
What if the Journal of Hanni Schmitt was true and there were Royal Cameron Twins out there? What if BattleTech was even more Dune with giant robots than it already was? What if BattleTech takes place in the Star Wars EU/Legacy Unknown Regions? What if the Sith Empire in Exile, before her triumphant return and the sack of Coruscant came across the Camerons in Exile?
Can you say BattleDroids combat dropping on the Galactic Senate while Coruscant burns? Because I can see it. And then I read Falling Shadows and my brain gave up all resistance. Mecha Dragons needed to live. Why yes, I do like Baroque art, why do you ask?
The Sith in Exile want Vengeance. The Star League in Exile want Vengeance. Who is using whom? Daenerys? Daenerys Targaryen just wants a home. Can the future Darth Tempestari get what she wants?
A possible future for Falling Shadows.
Disclaimer: It is better to ask forgiveness than permission. Doc doesn't own these characters and settings and doesn't have any money, don't sue Doc. Credit to @Jaenera Targaryen for Falling Shadows, go read that first, it's a better story and this will make more sense after.
BattleDroids: Gathering Storm
Prologue
“I felt myself on the edge of the world; peering over the rim into a fathomless chaos of eternal night.” ~ Ancient Terran Poet
The Unknown Regions, dark heart of the galaxy, comprising essentially the Westerly (Galactic North long ago identified as the line of Empress Teta and Coruscant projecting from the Deep Core) third of the galaxy, trailing-wise of the hyper-lane connecting Terminus to Yag'Dhul in the Southerly Western Reaches, spinward-wise of the Bastion-Ord Mantell lane in the Northerly New Territories, largely cut off and isolated from the known, charted, and civilized realms by the vast astro-spatial workings of the Celestials during the mythic War in Heaven. Connected only tenuously to the wider galactic community by transient and ephemeral hyper-routes cutting through that chaotic web of nebulas, quasars, pulsars, darkstars, and stellar nurseries called Wild Space.
Here, quietly, slowly, surely, over decades and centuries of long years, hidden from the despised and degenerate Republic and their hated Jedi lap-dogs, the Reborn Sith Empire bides her time and waxes in strength. The Chiss Ascendancy. The Asari Republics. The Twelve Colonies of Kobol. The Ssi-ruuvi Imperium. The Scarran Hegemony. The Cylon Alliance. And many others besides, too numerous to name here, all have bended knee to the One Sith Emperor, or been made to bend the knee. All send tribute of slaves, weapons, ships, soldiers, and spoils to feed the growing might of the Sith, fuel for an expanding war machine that is aimed at the blithely ignorant Republic that falsely believes the Sith to be extinct at their own hand.
In this vast tapestry of occulted stars, lies a cluster of five marginally habitable systems, to which cling desperately refugees of a great calamity and civil strife some thirteen-hundred light years distant. Here the Star League-in-Exile clings to a fragile peace, eking a living from hostile and barely habitable rocks. Here the remnants of once proud noble houses hope to raise their last scions in some semblance of peace. But this was a peace that was never meant to be and now lies broken, shattered in pieces, but unknowingly so, for while the automated early warning satellites did note an anomalous high energy event, similar to known hyperspace emergences, far out system and away from the usual transit points at zenith and nadir, as several wedge-shaped and rectangular ships jumped out of hyperspace, and launched several low signature stealth probe-droids towards the first hapless world, and the obvious warships orbiting her, the event was quantitatively different enough and far enough outside of expected parameters that no automated alarms tripped and a simple spot report was emailed with low priority to the responsible parties, who were, at this moment, at a party.
“Can you feel it?” the red-skinned, full-blooded brooding Sith Lord standing at parade rest on the observation platform of the ceremonial command dias, gazing out at the black and the points of light suspended therein, asked of his kneeling apprentice and lord-retainer.
“I feel it, my lord, I felt it in my chambers before you ordered the fleet dropped from hyper, there has been an awakening.” The slight, platinum-haired, violet-eyed apprentice answered firmly.
Darth Vindican nodded, the Sith Lord fixing his golden eyes at the distant world, magnifying it in size with a gesture via the smart-glass viewports as their fleet kept wary distance. Beside her, Lord Veradun likewise kneeling in submission to his Lord, reached out in the force, and after a moment the deathly pale, voidborn human narrowed his albino-red eyes. “The Force,” he said softly. “It feels strange. It seems to be new to that world, but… muted as if those who have claimed it are themselves but fledgling prospective learners in their first year trials…”
Veradun trailed off, but Darth Vindican nodded. “Yes.” he agreed. It seems that the Explorators have found us a new race, new in terms of both technical and spiritual development, it is something of a coup, for Empire and for us specifically to have the opportunity of guiding such newcomers to finding a place in the greater galaxy. Under the wise and paternal tutelage of the Sith of course.”
“Once it was my Planetos on a platter before the Sith, now it is their turn" said the gold-silver haired apprentice, violet eyes blazing in a curious mixture of shame and pride.
“Perhaps we just might yet find out your true mettle, Daenerys.” Darth Vindican agreed in a cool tone, as though discussing the weather or the price of spice. “This is your given task Apprentice. You will command this Compliance, Lord Veradun here will be your second and I will advise, but only sparingly. The Dark Council wishes these worlds be brought into the fold of the Sith Empire, and so they shall be. Do not fail them, do not fail me. Success in this task will mark you for greater things my childe, we Sith know that the blood of Kings brings power and madness in equal measure, so do try to live up to our standards.”
“As you command, my lord.” Daenerys said with bowed neck, dipping into a full prostration before her master, tapping her forehead against the deck of the Imperious Will. “Though, from what we know of these worlds, the inhabitants are pre-hyper techno-barbarians. It should not take too much trouble for us to bring their worlds to heel.”
“Indeed it should not, but beware hubris childe, the cosmos and the force never fails to mock those who assume too much.”
Master and apprentices fell silent, looking on as their task force – a modest detachment of three Harrower class Battle Carriers, six Terminus class Escort Cruisers, five Gage class Assault Transports and a further triplex of Delta class Escort Carriers – continued to deploy combat space patrols and further reconnaissance drones shot towards the singular inhabited world deeper in the system and obvious warships orbiting it protectively, currently bearing the unimpressive and entirely forgettable designation of 6408561C-B93D-4430-9FAD-E594515716E4, thanks to the automated mapping and star catalog of the Imperial Explorator Corps. Well, technically, 6408561C-B93D-4430-9FAD-E594515716E4 was the system primary, a hot-burning white-yellow main sequence star of unremarkably average size and composition, the planet in question would actually be 6408561C-B93D-4430-9FAD-E594515716E4-II.
The Galaxy was mind-numbingly vast and unexplored star systems were all too common, this was simply exponentially, logarithmically more so in the eponymous Unknown Regions and for all that the Sith Empire had expended, was continuously expending, considerable resources to dispatch waves after waves of automated probe-droids to chart the stars within the vast volume of space surrounding Dromund Kaas, if only to factor in their gravitational influence on interstellar travel and the ephemeral hyper-lanes going back to wild space and Republic space beyond. It simply wouldn't do to rebuild the Sith Empire if the way back to ultimate and finally total victory was denied by shifting of unreliable hyper-lanes.
And so, despite the existence of manned and unmanned exploration and mapping missions from not just the Sith Empire's Explorator Corps, but also all other known (and presumably unknown) interstellar polities, vastly more star systems were known by strings of random numbers and letters than by proper nouns. This deep abyss of ignorance was compounded by the inability of technological species to simply hold still. For example, this very system had been visiting twice previously in the last five hundred standard cycles and on neither occasion had the surveying probe-droids found evidence of inhabitation, let alone a technic civilization of some aptitude.
Darth Vindican returned his musing back to 6408561C-B93D-4430-9FAD-E594515716E4-II ceasing his wool-gathering, it was unlikely this world, and the others within the local cluster, would retain such unimpressive designations for long. The mysteries surrounding these world's sudden habitation aside, the local cluster was, marginally habitable for most known species, but the surrounding barren rocks, gas giants, and asteroids were rich in untapped minerals, as a satrapy of the Sith Empire each world and system would need proper names.
And as its ultimate conqueror, as the master of apprentice Daenerys, who was unknowingly facing her most severe trial yet, Darth Vindican would have the honor of giving it a name…in time. If his difficult but promising charge conquered it, or at least brought it into compliance. This of course was the hidden danger of the trial. By placing his apprentice in charge of such devastating power, she would be naturally tempted to use it, to smash the eggs in front of her with the hammer provided. But killing the krayt dragon that lays the khyber crystals would be a failing grade, and at this level of her training, failure was generally life threatening.
Not that it should be too difficult, of course. As his apprentice correctly noted, the Explorators which had discovered the cluster of new settlements had also found only pre-hyperspace, techno-primitive information-age Humans inhabiting it. This modest detachment made up of a handful of Battle Carriers and their escorts should be more than enough.
Though there was the question of where exactly these Humans had come from, and just far had they regressed from Galactic standard technics.
But conquering these worlds and bringing it into compliance with the sovereign will of the Sith Emperor came first.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Hours later, and the Sith Fleet still hung in cold oort cloud far above the ecliptic plane of 6408561C-B93D-4430-9FAD-E594515716E4. On the bridge of the Imperial flagship, Imperious Will, Darth Vindican and his apprentices stood at the head of a large holo-table, around which stood ranking spacy and army officers, along with lesser Sith Lords attached to Darth Vindican’s expedition. The holo-table itself displayed a map of the world far, far below, based on information provided by both the recon probe-droid's scans and those conducted in the past by the Explorator Corps stealth-scouts.
“Thanks to intelligence collected by the Imperial Scouts who preceded us once this settlement was detected by probe-droid,” Apprentice Daenerys began. “We know the world below us is a new colony of some human information-age technic civilization located elsewhere. This world seems to be their local locus of control and hypothesized capital world for a the local cluster of five colonies. This potentially makes our task easier or harder. Easier in that should the population be amenable to immediate or easily negotiable compliance with the imperial will, they will be able to communicate with and effectively administer the local region as an effective client state. More difficult in that if they choose to resist, bringing them into compliance without destroying the very technic base and population that makes them potentially valuable subjects in the fist place, becomes that much harder.”
"The good news" Daenerys continued, "Is that since these aren't feudal-age primitives, they have lots of delicious EM-spectra for the intelligence shop to sort through and wash through the droid-brains. After a few thousand cryptographic comp-cycles we cracked their codes and few thousand more we worked out a rough translation of their language, which, according to initial studies by the guild-of-archivists is, and I quote, 'yet another long-lost cousin of Coruscanti-basic mutated by time and distance.' So, we can listen in and we can even talk to them."
"Alright, this is what we know." Daenerys said as she launched into the briefing proper, handing out sheets of data-film and flimsy in cellulose briefing folders of the bland off-yellow colour that was probably universal. "These people are as close to stock-generic human as we can discern with current intelligence, another lost tribe as it were, and they call themselves 'The Star League-in Exile, whatever that means, although Q-shop extrapolates that we're looking at the losing faction of a civil war, which seems plausible. This Star League-in-Exile has settled a cluster five worlds, what they refer to as 'the Pentagon Cluster'. This world is named 'Eden' and there are also 'Circe', 'Dagda', 'Arcadia', and 'Babylon'. The Archivists are researching the names, but at the moment, we don't have a lot of context for them. We can extrapolate that this cluster is over one thousand light-years distant from their homeworld which is a rather long way for a pre-hyperpace, late information-age, early space-age culture. As far as we can tell, they have some sort of primitive hyper-drive that operates in 'jumps' on the order of tens of light-years. This along with their seeming reliance on fusion and fission for surface and space power generation leads us to conclude they do not yet have access to hyper-matter."
"Now, please, don't ask me how they make hyperjumps without hypermatter annihilation to generate tachyons. However, the science-branch memo mentions something about exotic high energy density fusion reactions generating virtual tachyons. And that's as far as I got before my eyes crossed and glazed over."
There were nods and wry grins all around, and then Apprentice Daenerys gestured towards the obvious warships orbiting the thankfully now named, 'Eden'. “Now, the opposing forces brief will be handled by my executive officer for this operation, Lord Veradun, Veradun?” she said.
The severely handsome and deathly pale voidborn human male, albino-red eyes taking careful measure of each attendee as the young man stroked his neat goatee and mustache, worn in obvious imitation of traditional Sith cheek tendrils, naturally bald and pale, hairless pate gleaming under the lights, spoke after clearing his throat. “Ahem, Q-shop is still developing our SIGINT on this Star-League-in-Exile, however here is what we know for certain. This,” Lord Veradun gestured at the holotable where star charts and orbital readouts where replaced with a sleek yet brutal warship of visible menace, if without the aesthetic grace of the Sith's dagger bladed vessels. "This is THV McKenna's Pride, the nameship of the Star League-in-Exile's premier battleship class, the McKenna class. Her displacement mass is one million, nine-hundred thirty thousand tons, her maximal length stem to stern is one thousand, four hundred and five meters. She carries an estimated sixteen hundred tons of slush hydrogen fuel to feed her triplet of fusion torch realspace drives for an estimated max rated thrust of two point five standard gravities before her structural integrity fails. Remember these people are not known to have any gravity or field manipulations, meaning no on board gravy, no suspensor fields, and no shields, not even nav-screens."
The room become respectably silent at this information, the technology was certainly primitive, but the quantity had a quality all of its own and in space, big masses and high velocities mattered.
"Her armour belt ranges from two meters thick to five meters in combat critical areas and is composed of an ablative woven composite of foamed mono-crystallic ferric-carbide, spun carbonite fiber, and depleted uranium lattice designed to maximize the energy dispersed by ablation. Her armament consists of at least twelve forty centimeter class high-velocity autocannon in four triple turrets, two turrets forward, and two aft, twelve five point five centimeter phased-photon guns in independent ball mounts, again focused in fore and aft arcs, six capital missile launchers, two each fo' and aft and two amidships, and forty-eight broadside heavy ion beam clusters, twenty-four port and again starboard. Oh, and her hangar bays are capable of hosting a combined fifty fighter and strike craft, plus miscellaneous shuttles."
"Who the kriff are these people!" one of the spacy officers muttered, rather more loudly than intended.
"People who have fought many wars." Darth Vindican stepped in, glaring at the assembled offices. "People we want fighting for the Empire. This is what they build when they're using two-thirds of their useful volume for fuel and stardrive. Imagine what they could build with just a few key additions from our own technics-base." Again the Darth stared down his officers, before grinning, "Not that we would be dumb enough to give them everything!"
“Perish the thought,” Lord Veradun agreed. “Now, that's their largest dedicated warship and in terms of keel length and displacement mass, she compares not unfavorably in terms of dimension, displacement, and mass with our own Harrower class at eighteen hundred meters of keel and two point five million plus tons of displacement. But obviously our quality of technics remains superior in all respects, starting with shields and artificial gravity, not to mention sensors, e-war, and weapons; our spatial turboblasters are capable of surpassing her raw energy on target by several orders of magnitude sustained.”
"Why do I feel a but coming?" muttered the same officer, Krennic read the nametape.
"But." Snapped Veradun, grinning at the irreverent officer, "we have three Harrowers with our little task force. Based on SIGINT, we believe the Star-League-in-Exile to have approximately twenty such vessels. We have confirmed scans of fourteen unique battleship class emissions spectra, and images of six unique vessels in this system alone. The previously mentioned McKenna's Pride, as well as Kerensky's Revenge, Cameron's Legacy, First Lord's Fist, Brian's Vision, and Ian's Sword. There are a further ten heavy cruisers, fifteen assorted escort destroyers and frigates, and thirty corvettes of varying types. In this system. Not all are presently operational, but we have no way of estimating how long it would take them to make them so. Oh and there's this, an armored orbital battle-station of eight kilometers length hosting armour and weaponry to scale, designated the 'Byzantium Vee,' whatever that means."
"Additionally, SIGINT points to orders of battle for one hundred and five dirtside division sized units of various sorts and another twenty plus independent brigades of various sizes. Intelligence suggest a highly developed heavy fighting vehicle park including several sorts weaponized walkers and battledroids of unusual size."
Again, there were slow and considering nods all around. “Then,” one Sith Lord spoke up, one of the handful of minor free Imperial Knights assigned to Darth Vindican's command for this mission, “a frontal assault is right out?"
“That is correct, Lord Steelix.” Darth Vindican said. “To seize this system directly by force of arms would require us to use force sufficient to glass the surface of this 'Eden' and that would be... counter productive.”
“So what does that leave on the table?.” General Scathac asked.
“It seems the situation calls for that most ancient of tactics.” Admiral Karst replied with a head-scratch, "parley?"
There were nods and murmurs of agreement all around, but Darth Vindican was silent. “What is your opinion, Apprentice Daenerys?” Lord Veradun asked.
“The Dark Side of the Force is strong here.” Apprentice Daenerys said, bringing up a holo of the planet's surface and pointing at the place of heaviest settlement, marked as Novy Moscva. “This must be where the awakening we felt has happened, if the dark side is strong here, we can use it to our advantage. I will require a Fury class Interceptor to transport myself and Lord Veradun and and honour guard, and an additional Dragonfly heavy interface dropper for Balerion.”
This time the temporarily in command Apprentice adjusted the display to show the system again and pointed at the Sith task force. “The Imperious Will will make a tactical in system hyperjump to this point, what the Leaguers call the 'zenith point' and we will begin negotiations by farcomms. As for the rest, we will adopt to the needs of the situation as it develops.”
Darth Vindican nodded and said. “let it be so, dismissed.”
At this the grouping broke up, scattering to attend each particular duty as the Sith war-machine slowly ground into gear.
“Daenerys!” Veradun shouted as Daenerys turned to march away. “You're taking that thing?”
“Of course, he is my servant and my bigger stick.”
Veradun nodded, then glancing around leaned in. “careful luv, Vindican is testing you and you cannot afford to fail.”
Daenerys rolled her eyes were Veradun couldn't see it, why were boys so romantic? “Of course this is a test and of course I will pass laser-brain, you forget, I am a princess, I know how to negotiate a silly alliance.”
“What makes you sure these Leaguers will be receptive to your charms, obvious though they are?”
“Didn't you hear those ship names? Proper nouns with fists, swords, pride, and vengeance? These may be a space-technic people, but at heart, they are feudal, I will speak their language.”
Veradun paused in mid stride then turned to this beautiful pain in his side. “Daenerys,” he said. “Just what is their language?”
The Sith apprentice stroked her shapely chin, and after several moments grinned slowly. “When you play the game of thrones,” she said. “you win, or you die.”
Veradun grunted. “Fine then, keep your secrets you saucy sorceress."
“Race you to the drop hangar?”
“Oh, very mature girl!”
Daenerys laughed then, like a burbling spring and wind chimes tinkling in the spring, "I'll win!"
“Oh no you won't!”
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Darth Vindican knelt in his private quarters before the holocomm as it hummed to life.
“All is proceeding as you have foreseen my Emperor.”
The projected shadowed form loomed but said nothing, only nodding.
"Yes sire, we will bring this lost tribe into compliance with your will or we will die trying."
The dignified and regal shadow form gestured imperiously.
“The young ones Sire? They are well, and shaping up nicely. Not as well as proper full-blooded Sith would of course, but they will both ready before your deadline for Operation Revengence. I suspect young Lord Veradun might be soft on Apprentice Daenerys, but you know children, Sire, these things, they happen."
The kingly shape loomed large over Vindican, over-shadowing him in more ways than one.
"Yes Sire, no Sire, I will nip this in the bud Sire. Her bloodline will be saved for a proper use for the Ebon Throne."
The shape straightened.
“Yes sire, I have every expectation we will succeed in negotiating a favorable alliance that will leave these Leaguers in our debt and irrevocably in our orbit. And I foresee them making fearsome blades to wield against our enemies."
"Good, good." the Emperor finally deigned to speak using everyday words, his grandfatherly face emerging from the shadows.
“We shall keep you informed of all developments by the usual channels.”
“Go forth then, Darth Vindican, and enforce mine will.”
“It will be done, my Emperor.”
“Glory to the Sith!”
"Service to the Empire!"
Darth Vindican once again found himself alone in his room and he smiled.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
What if the Journal of Hanni Schmitt was true and there were Royal Cameron Twins out there? What if BattleTech was even more Dune with giant robots than it already was? What if BattleTech takes place in the Star Wars EU/Legacy Unknown Regions? What if the Sith Empire in Exile, before her triumphant return and the sack of Coruscant came across the Camerons in Exile?
Can you say BattleDroids combat dropping on the Galactic Senate while Coruscant burns? Because I can see it. And then I read Falling Shadows and my brain gave up all resistance. Mecha Dragons needed to live. Why yes, I do like Baroque art, why do you ask?
The Sith in Exile want Vengeance. The Star League in Exile want Vengeance. Who is using whom? Daenerys? Daenerys Targaryen just wants a home. Can the future Darth Tempestari get what she wants?
A possible future for Falling Shadows.
Disclaimer: It is better to ask forgiveness than permission. Doc doesn't own these characters and settings and doesn't have any money, don't sue Doc. Credit to @Jaenera Targaryen for Falling Shadows, go read that first, it's a better story and this will make more sense after.
BattleDroids: Gathering Storm
Prologue
“I felt myself on the edge of the world; peering over the rim into a fathomless chaos of eternal night.” ~ Ancient Terran Poet
The Unknown Regions, dark heart of the galaxy, comprising essentially the Westerly (Galactic North long ago identified as the line of Empress Teta and Coruscant projecting from the Deep Core) third of the galaxy, trailing-wise of the hyper-lane connecting Terminus to Yag'Dhul in the Southerly Western Reaches, spinward-wise of the Bastion-Ord Mantell lane in the Northerly New Territories, largely cut off and isolated from the known, charted, and civilized realms by the vast astro-spatial workings of the Celestials during the mythic War in Heaven. Connected only tenuously to the wider galactic community by transient and ephemeral hyper-routes cutting through that chaotic web of nebulas, quasars, pulsars, darkstars, and stellar nurseries called Wild Space.
Here, quietly, slowly, surely, over decades and centuries of long years, hidden from the despised and degenerate Republic and their hated Jedi lap-dogs, the Reborn Sith Empire bides her time and waxes in strength. The Chiss Ascendancy. The Asari Republics. The Twelve Colonies of Kobol. The Ssi-ruuvi Imperium. The Scarran Hegemony. The Cylon Alliance. And many others besides, too numerous to name here, all have bended knee to the One Sith Emperor, or been made to bend the knee. All send tribute of slaves, weapons, ships, soldiers, and spoils to feed the growing might of the Sith, fuel for an expanding war machine that is aimed at the blithely ignorant Republic that falsely believes the Sith to be extinct at their own hand.
In this vast tapestry of occulted stars, lies a cluster of five marginally habitable systems, to which cling desperately refugees of a great calamity and civil strife some thirteen-hundred light years distant. Here the Star League-in-Exile clings to a fragile peace, eking a living from hostile and barely habitable rocks. Here the remnants of once proud noble houses hope to raise their last scions in some semblance of peace. But this was a peace that was never meant to be and now lies broken, shattered in pieces, but unknowingly so, for while the automated early warning satellites did note an anomalous high energy event, similar to known hyperspace emergences, far out system and away from the usual transit points at zenith and nadir, as several wedge-shaped and rectangular ships jumped out of hyperspace, and launched several low signature stealth probe-droids towards the first hapless world, and the obvious warships orbiting her, the event was quantitatively different enough and far enough outside of expected parameters that no automated alarms tripped and a simple spot report was emailed with low priority to the responsible parties, who were, at this moment, at a party.
“Can you feel it?” the red-skinned, full-blooded brooding Sith Lord standing at parade rest on the observation platform of the ceremonial command dias, gazing out at the black and the points of light suspended therein, asked of his kneeling apprentice and lord-retainer.
“I feel it, my lord, I felt it in my chambers before you ordered the fleet dropped from hyper, there has been an awakening.” The slight, platinum-haired, violet-eyed apprentice answered firmly.
Darth Vindican nodded, the Sith Lord fixing his golden eyes at the distant world, magnifying it in size with a gesture via the smart-glass viewports as their fleet kept wary distance. Beside her, Lord Veradun likewise kneeling in submission to his Lord, reached out in the force, and after a moment the deathly pale, voidborn human narrowed his albino-red eyes. “The Force,” he said softly. “It feels strange. It seems to be new to that world, but… muted as if those who have claimed it are themselves but fledgling prospective learners in their first year trials…”
Veradun trailed off, but Darth Vindican nodded. “Yes.” he agreed. It seems that the Explorators have found us a new race, new in terms of both technical and spiritual development, it is something of a coup, for Empire and for us specifically to have the opportunity of guiding such newcomers to finding a place in the greater galaxy. Under the wise and paternal tutelage of the Sith of course.”
“Once it was my Planetos on a platter before the Sith, now it is their turn" said the gold-silver haired apprentice, violet eyes blazing in a curious mixture of shame and pride.
“Perhaps we just might yet find out your true mettle, Daenerys.” Darth Vindican agreed in a cool tone, as though discussing the weather or the price of spice. “This is your given task Apprentice. You will command this Compliance, Lord Veradun here will be your second and I will advise, but only sparingly. The Dark Council wishes these worlds be brought into the fold of the Sith Empire, and so they shall be. Do not fail them, do not fail me. Success in this task will mark you for greater things my childe, we Sith know that the blood of Kings brings power and madness in equal measure, so do try to live up to our standards.”
“As you command, my lord.” Daenerys said with bowed neck, dipping into a full prostration before her master, tapping her forehead against the deck of the Imperious Will. “Though, from what we know of these worlds, the inhabitants are pre-hyper techno-barbarians. It should not take too much trouble for us to bring their worlds to heel.”
“Indeed it should not, but beware hubris childe, the cosmos and the force never fails to mock those who assume too much.”
Master and apprentices fell silent, looking on as their task force – a modest detachment of three Harrower class Battle Carriers, six Terminus class Escort Cruisers, five Gage class Assault Transports and a further triplex of Delta class Escort Carriers – continued to deploy combat space patrols and further reconnaissance drones shot towards the singular inhabited world deeper in the system and obvious warships orbiting it protectively, currently bearing the unimpressive and entirely forgettable designation of 6408561C-B93D-4430-9FAD-E594515716E4, thanks to the automated mapping and star catalog of the Imperial Explorator Corps. Well, technically, 6408561C-B93D-4430-9FAD-E594515716E4 was the system primary, a hot-burning white-yellow main sequence star of unremarkably average size and composition, the planet in question would actually be 6408561C-B93D-4430-9FAD-E594515716E4-II.
The Galaxy was mind-numbingly vast and unexplored star systems were all too common, this was simply exponentially, logarithmically more so in the eponymous Unknown Regions and for all that the Sith Empire had expended, was continuously expending, considerable resources to dispatch waves after waves of automated probe-droids to chart the stars within the vast volume of space surrounding Dromund Kaas, if only to factor in their gravitational influence on interstellar travel and the ephemeral hyper-lanes going back to wild space and Republic space beyond. It simply wouldn't do to rebuild the Sith Empire if the way back to ultimate and finally total victory was denied by shifting of unreliable hyper-lanes.
And so, despite the existence of manned and unmanned exploration and mapping missions from not just the Sith Empire's Explorator Corps, but also all other known (and presumably unknown) interstellar polities, vastly more star systems were known by strings of random numbers and letters than by proper nouns. This deep abyss of ignorance was compounded by the inability of technological species to simply hold still. For example, this very system had been visiting twice previously in the last five hundred standard cycles and on neither occasion had the surveying probe-droids found evidence of inhabitation, let alone a technic civilization of some aptitude.
Darth Vindican returned his musing back to 6408561C-B93D-4430-9FAD-E594515716E4-II ceasing his wool-gathering, it was unlikely this world, and the others within the local cluster, would retain such unimpressive designations for long. The mysteries surrounding these world's sudden habitation aside, the local cluster was, marginally habitable for most known species, but the surrounding barren rocks, gas giants, and asteroids were rich in untapped minerals, as a satrapy of the Sith Empire each world and system would need proper names.
And as its ultimate conqueror, as the master of apprentice Daenerys, who was unknowingly facing her most severe trial yet, Darth Vindican would have the honor of giving it a name…in time. If his difficult but promising charge conquered it, or at least brought it into compliance. This of course was the hidden danger of the trial. By placing his apprentice in charge of such devastating power, she would be naturally tempted to use it, to smash the eggs in front of her with the hammer provided. But killing the krayt dragon that lays the khyber crystals would be a failing grade, and at this level of her training, failure was generally life threatening.
Not that it should be too difficult, of course. As his apprentice correctly noted, the Explorators which had discovered the cluster of new settlements had also found only pre-hyperspace, techno-primitive information-age Humans inhabiting it. This modest detachment made up of a handful of Battle Carriers and their escorts should be more than enough.
Though there was the question of where exactly these Humans had come from, and just far had they regressed from Galactic standard technics.
But conquering these worlds and bringing it into compliance with the sovereign will of the Sith Emperor came first.
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Hours later, and the Sith Fleet still hung in cold oort cloud far above the ecliptic plane of 6408561C-B93D-4430-9FAD-E594515716E4. On the bridge of the Imperial flagship, Imperious Will, Darth Vindican and his apprentices stood at the head of a large holo-table, around which stood ranking spacy and army officers, along with lesser Sith Lords attached to Darth Vindican’s expedition. The holo-table itself displayed a map of the world far, far below, based on information provided by both the recon probe-droid's scans and those conducted in the past by the Explorator Corps stealth-scouts.
“Thanks to intelligence collected by the Imperial Scouts who preceded us once this settlement was detected by probe-droid,” Apprentice Daenerys began. “We know the world below us is a new colony of some human information-age technic civilization located elsewhere. This world seems to be their local locus of control and hypothesized capital world for a the local cluster of five colonies. This potentially makes our task easier or harder. Easier in that should the population be amenable to immediate or easily negotiable compliance with the imperial will, they will be able to communicate with and effectively administer the local region as an effective client state. More difficult in that if they choose to resist, bringing them into compliance without destroying the very technic base and population that makes them potentially valuable subjects in the fist place, becomes that much harder.”
"The good news" Daenerys continued, "Is that since these aren't feudal-age primitives, they have lots of delicious EM-spectra for the intelligence shop to sort through and wash through the droid-brains. After a few thousand cryptographic comp-cycles we cracked their codes and few thousand more we worked out a rough translation of their language, which, according to initial studies by the guild-of-archivists is, and I quote, 'yet another long-lost cousin of Coruscanti-basic mutated by time and distance.' So, we can listen in and we can even talk to them."
"Alright, this is what we know." Daenerys said as she launched into the briefing proper, handing out sheets of data-film and flimsy in cellulose briefing folders of the bland off-yellow colour that was probably universal. "These people are as close to stock-generic human as we can discern with current intelligence, another lost tribe as it were, and they call themselves 'The Star League-in Exile, whatever that means, although Q-shop extrapolates that we're looking at the losing faction of a civil war, which seems plausible. This Star League-in-Exile has settled a cluster five worlds, what they refer to as 'the Pentagon Cluster'. This world is named 'Eden' and there are also 'Circe', 'Dagda', 'Arcadia', and 'Babylon'. The Archivists are researching the names, but at the moment, we don't have a lot of context for them. We can extrapolate that this cluster is over one thousand light-years distant from their homeworld which is a rather long way for a pre-hyperpace, late information-age, early space-age culture. As far as we can tell, they have some sort of primitive hyper-drive that operates in 'jumps' on the order of tens of light-years. This along with their seeming reliance on fusion and fission for surface and space power generation leads us to conclude they do not yet have access to hyper-matter."
"Now, please, don't ask me how they make hyperjumps without hypermatter annihilation to generate tachyons. However, the science-branch memo mentions something about exotic high energy density fusion reactions generating virtual tachyons. And that's as far as I got before my eyes crossed and glazed over."
There were nods and wry grins all around, and then Apprentice Daenerys gestured towards the obvious warships orbiting the thankfully now named, 'Eden'. “Now, the opposing forces brief will be handled by my executive officer for this operation, Lord Veradun, Veradun?” she said.
The severely handsome and deathly pale voidborn human male, albino-red eyes taking careful measure of each attendee as the young man stroked his neat goatee and mustache, worn in obvious imitation of traditional Sith cheek tendrils, naturally bald and pale, hairless pate gleaming under the lights, spoke after clearing his throat. “Ahem, Q-shop is still developing our SIGINT on this Star-League-in-Exile, however here is what we know for certain. This,” Lord Veradun gestured at the holotable where star charts and orbital readouts where replaced with a sleek yet brutal warship of visible menace, if without the aesthetic grace of the Sith's dagger bladed vessels. "This is THV McKenna's Pride, the nameship of the Star League-in-Exile's premier battleship class, the McKenna class. Her displacement mass is one million, nine-hundred thirty thousand tons, her maximal length stem to stern is one thousand, four hundred and five meters. She carries an estimated sixteen hundred tons of slush hydrogen fuel to feed her triplet of fusion torch realspace drives for an estimated max rated thrust of two point five standard gravities before her structural integrity fails. Remember these people are not known to have any gravity or field manipulations, meaning no on board gravy, no suspensor fields, and no shields, not even nav-screens."
The room become respectably silent at this information, the technology was certainly primitive, but the quantity had a quality all of its own and in space, big masses and high velocities mattered.
"Her armour belt ranges from two meters thick to five meters in combat critical areas and is composed of an ablative woven composite of foamed mono-crystallic ferric-carbide, spun carbonite fiber, and depleted uranium lattice designed to maximize the energy dispersed by ablation. Her armament consists of at least twelve forty centimeter class high-velocity autocannon in four triple turrets, two turrets forward, and two aft, twelve five point five centimeter phased-photon guns in independent ball mounts, again focused in fore and aft arcs, six capital missile launchers, two each fo' and aft and two amidships, and forty-eight broadside heavy ion beam clusters, twenty-four port and again starboard. Oh, and her hangar bays are capable of hosting a combined fifty fighter and strike craft, plus miscellaneous shuttles."
"Who the kriff are these people!" one of the spacy officers muttered, rather more loudly than intended.
"People who have fought many wars." Darth Vindican stepped in, glaring at the assembled offices. "People we want fighting for the Empire. This is what they build when they're using two-thirds of their useful volume for fuel and stardrive. Imagine what they could build with just a few key additions from our own technics-base." Again the Darth stared down his officers, before grinning, "Not that we would be dumb enough to give them everything!"
“Perish the thought,” Lord Veradun agreed. “Now, that's their largest dedicated warship and in terms of keel length and displacement mass, she compares not unfavorably in terms of dimension, displacement, and mass with our own Harrower class at eighteen hundred meters of keel and two point five million plus tons of displacement. But obviously our quality of technics remains superior in all respects, starting with shields and artificial gravity, not to mention sensors, e-war, and weapons; our spatial turboblasters are capable of surpassing her raw energy on target by several orders of magnitude sustained.”
"Why do I feel a but coming?" muttered the same officer, Krennic read the nametape.
"But." Snapped Veradun, grinning at the irreverent officer, "we have three Harrowers with our little task force. Based on SIGINT, we believe the Star-League-in-Exile to have approximately twenty such vessels. We have confirmed scans of fourteen unique battleship class emissions spectra, and images of six unique vessels in this system alone. The previously mentioned McKenna's Pride, as well as Kerensky's Revenge, Cameron's Legacy, First Lord's Fist, Brian's Vision, and Ian's Sword. There are a further ten heavy cruisers, fifteen assorted escort destroyers and frigates, and thirty corvettes of varying types. In this system. Not all are presently operational, but we have no way of estimating how long it would take them to make them so. Oh and there's this, an armored orbital battle-station of eight kilometers length hosting armour and weaponry to scale, designated the 'Byzantium Vee,' whatever that means."
"Additionally, SIGINT points to orders of battle for one hundred and five dirtside division sized units of various sorts and another twenty plus independent brigades of various sizes. Intelligence suggest a highly developed heavy fighting vehicle park including several sorts weaponized walkers and battledroids of unusual size."
Again, there were slow and considering nods all around. “Then,” one Sith Lord spoke up, one of the handful of minor free Imperial Knights assigned to Darth Vindican's command for this mission, “a frontal assault is right out?"
“That is correct, Lord Steelix.” Darth Vindican said. “To seize this system directly by force of arms would require us to use force sufficient to glass the surface of this 'Eden' and that would be... counter productive.”
“So what does that leave on the table?.” General Scathac asked.
“It seems the situation calls for that most ancient of tactics.” Admiral Karst replied with a head-scratch, "parley?"
There were nods and murmurs of agreement all around, but Darth Vindican was silent. “What is your opinion, Apprentice Daenerys?” Lord Veradun asked.
“The Dark Side of the Force is strong here.” Apprentice Daenerys said, bringing up a holo of the planet's surface and pointing at the place of heaviest settlement, marked as Novy Moscva. “This must be where the awakening we felt has happened, if the dark side is strong here, we can use it to our advantage. I will require a Fury class Interceptor to transport myself and Lord Veradun and and honour guard, and an additional Dragonfly heavy interface dropper for Balerion.”
This time the temporarily in command Apprentice adjusted the display to show the system again and pointed at the Sith task force. “The Imperious Will will make a tactical in system hyperjump to this point, what the Leaguers call the 'zenith point' and we will begin negotiations by farcomms. As for the rest, we will adopt to the needs of the situation as it develops.”
Darth Vindican nodded and said. “let it be so, dismissed.”
At this the grouping broke up, scattering to attend each particular duty as the Sith war-machine slowly ground into gear.
“Daenerys!” Veradun shouted as Daenerys turned to march away. “You're taking that thing?”
“Of course, he is my servant and my bigger stick.”
Veradun nodded, then glancing around leaned in. “careful luv, Vindican is testing you and you cannot afford to fail.”
Daenerys rolled her eyes were Veradun couldn't see it, why were boys so romantic? “Of course this is a test and of course I will pass laser-brain, you forget, I am a princess, I know how to negotiate a silly alliance.”
“What makes you sure these Leaguers will be receptive to your charms, obvious though they are?”
“Didn't you hear those ship names? Proper nouns with fists, swords, pride, and vengeance? These may be a space-technic people, but at heart, they are feudal, I will speak their language.”
Veradun paused in mid stride then turned to this beautiful pain in his side. “Daenerys,” he said. “Just what is their language?”
The Sith apprentice stroked her shapely chin, and after several moments grinned slowly. “When you play the game of thrones,” she said. “you win, or you die.”
Veradun grunted. “Fine then, keep your secrets you saucy sorceress."
“Race you to the drop hangar?”
“Oh, very mature girl!”
Daenerys laughed then, like a burbling spring and wind chimes tinkling in the spring, "I'll win!"
“Oh no you won't!”
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Darth Vindican knelt in his private quarters before the holocomm as it hummed to life.
“All is proceeding as you have foreseen my Emperor.”
The projected shadowed form loomed but said nothing, only nodding.
"Yes sire, we will bring this lost tribe into compliance with your will or we will die trying."
The dignified and regal shadow form gestured imperiously.
“The young ones Sire? They are well, and shaping up nicely. Not as well as proper full-blooded Sith would of course, but they will both ready before your deadline for Operation Revengence. I suspect young Lord Veradun might be soft on Apprentice Daenerys, but you know children, Sire, these things, they happen."
The kingly shape loomed large over Vindican, over-shadowing him in more ways than one.
"Yes Sire, no Sire, I will nip this in the bud Sire. Her bloodline will be saved for a proper use for the Ebon Throne."
The shape straightened.
“Yes sire, I have every expectation we will succeed in negotiating a favorable alliance that will leave these Leaguers in our debt and irrevocably in our orbit. And I foresee them making fearsome blades to wield against our enemies."
"Good, good." the Emperor finally deigned to speak using everyday words, his grandfatherly face emerging from the shadows.
“We shall keep you informed of all developments by the usual channels.”
“Go forth then, Darth Vindican, and enforce mine will.”
“It will be done, my Emperor.”
“Glory to the Sith!”
"Service to the Empire!"
Darth Vindican once again found himself alone in his room and he smiled.
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