Thrashia
21-09-2006, 00:56
Command Center Point, Digor System, Task Force Illuvitar
Captain Arian walked through the paned glass halls of the orbital space station Hyraxes with a humbled feeling in his chest. He was about to embark on the biggest mission of his naval career and perhaps his life. Arian turned a corner and walked past the great 100 meter clear window that exposed open space to passerby. To anyone else who did not work in space constantly, it would have been breath-taking; Captain Arian hardly gave it a glance.
Two junior officers, lieutenants, saluted as they walked past Arian in the opposite direction. He absentmindedly returned it and turned into a side hallway. It had no windows and few doors and most of all fewer people walking it. Arian espied four clone troopers, their insignia marking them as belonging to the 40th Ranger Legion, marching toward him with a high ranking looking individual in tow.
The fifth man wore the dress robes of a politician, ones that anyone could spot from the Imperial Court back on Pol-kamra. Captain Arian simply decided to give them the right of way to avoid any trouble. He had learned early on from his predecessor’s example that it was better not to attract any political attention. The man hardly gave him a thought anyway and the group passed Arian in a quick cadence of marching boots.
Captain Arian walked up to a door at the end of the hallway that was marked with a bright red light above it. Two naval stormtroopers, in their unmarked white armor, came to attention when the captain stopped before them.
“Captain Arian reporting at 14:30 as per orders of the NHC,” he stated to the troopers. One of them lifted a hand to the side of his helmet and spoke quietly into his comlink. After a moment the man nodded and lowered his arm, gently brushing for a moment against the butt of his E-11 blaster rifle, and spoke through his helmet.
“Commander Vellis is waiting inside sir. You may enter.” The stormtroopers voice was monotone and showed no real emotion, just as they were meant to be: cold hearted fighting machines. Captain Arian nodded and went to the door, waited until it automatically slid open, and then stepped inside.
For a moment he thought that he was in a pitch black room. With the light from the corridor cut off with the closing of the door, his eyesight was thrown out of proportion. After a few heartbeats however he soon caught on to a faint light several meters ahead. It came from a holo projection table, used commonly by fleet personnel for briefing officers and soldiers on missions. Next to it in a grey naval uniform stood Commander Vellis, Arian’s commanding officer who commanded a large portion of the Imperial Fleet in the Digor System. Arian came to attention. “Sir!”
Vellis smiled in the dark. “Welcome Captain, no need for formalities as of right now.” He none-the-less responded to Arian’s salute, almost as a natural reaction. “I hope you are your crew aboard the Kirdan have been sufficiently rested after their long tour on the outer rim, scouting.”
Captain Arian nodded and stepped up next to Commander Vellis, leaning gently against the holo-table. “Yes sir, we had needed the R&R. Thank you.” He looked at what it was projecting. A series of systems with several planets, but all of them were unfamiliar with Arian. Vellis noted his slight frown as he studied Arian. He waved his hand to the hologram.
“Here is where your next mission will take you.” Commander Vellis turned to the controls and worked them for a moment. The image began to circle before finally coming to rest on a single quadrant of space. “Here is the Troma System, newly discovered by our intelligence groups.”
“Troma? Never heard of it,” said Captain Arian, not even surprised by the fact. “What’s special about it?”
“Troma, and the two systems that neighbor it, have been slated for possible annexation,” said the commander. “It was first discovered when Section 3 Intelligence came across a reference of the systems in an Old Republic senate briefing. It seems that it had at one time in the distant past been a mining colony of the Old Republic, just before the start of the Clone Wars, about 30 BBY.”
“30 years Before the Battle of Yavin?” Arian whistled. “So what is our mission?”
“Not our mission Captain,” Commander Vellis said, smiling. “-your mission. Your ship along with the Lysander and the Hesione are going to travel there, scout the systems, and make any territorial gains where possible. Once done, and after the time of one year and six months, the time period your operation is being given, then the Kirdan will return.” Vellis put his hands behind his back and stood straight, watching Arian as he manipulated the controls of the hologram and looking at it. Finally the captain nodded and turned to Vellis.
“And I presume that you will be aboard one of the ships, or your adjutant perhaps, for the leadership of this expedition?” asked Arian. He watched as a smile cracked over the commander’s face. Captain Arian stood up straight and set his hands on his hips. “What?” he asked.
“This is your expedition Captain. I am informally giving you the rank of Captain-Major for this operation. Captain Brandei and Captain Pylos, of the Lysander and Hesione, respectively, shall be your subordinates. I’ve already briefed them on this.”
Arian couldn’t believe his ears. He was only ten years out of the academy and had only got command of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer through hard work and a time of seven years aboard a Victory-class. For this kind of promotion to come about so soon was unprecedented, as far as he could think. He spluttered slightly as he tried to come up with the words to thank his commanding officer. In the end he just saluted.
“Thank you for the opportunity sir, I won’t fail you,” said Arian. Commander Vellis returned the salute with a smile, then suddenly turned serious.
“See that you don’t Captain Arian, see that you don’t.” His words were ominous and for a moment Arian faltered. But then Vellis was smiling again and Arian shook such thoughts from his mind.
“When do I start?”
“In three hours. Your ship is already being outfitted for the journey. The Lysander and Hesione have been ready for three days already. I presume that you will want to make sure everything goes smoothly and that you meet with your new subordinates, Captain-Major Arian.” Arian smiled at that. He felt how strange it would be for him to get use to it. Lost in his thoughts he barely noticed as Vellis stepped forward and put a new rank insignia on his chest. Surprised, Arian looked down. It was the naval rank of a captain-major. A rare rank reserved for times of emergency or of a certain required circumstance.
“You’re dismissed Captain-Major,” said Commander Vellis.
Arian saluted and marched to the door. Just as it slid open Vellis called out. “Oh, and Arian, catch!” He tossed over a small metal box. Arian barely caught it and looked down at it in his hands. It had the Corvere Logo on it’s lid, a famous Thrashia cigar company. He looked up at Vellis. “For the victory day, when you get there,” Vellis said. Nodding, Arian left the room and returned to the myriad halls of the Hyraxes Orbital Space Station.
High Orbit, Imperial II Star Destroyer Kirdan command bridge, Digor System
“We have what!?” The half-yell half-shriek of Lieutenant Peleus echoed out over the command bridge. A cowering supply ensign stood in front of him at attention.
“Yes sirs, two of our Tie Interceptor squadrons were off-loaded by Commander Vellis’s supply people. They had the requisition papers and all. And in their place we were given two squadrons of regular Tie Fighters,” said the ensign. He was literally shaking in his boots as he looked at the red faced and very tall officer front of him.
Lieutenant Peleus’s face contorted into different shapes and turned different hues of color. The ensign and the rest of the bridge with him waited for an explosion. But surprisingly it didn’t come.
Peleus got control of himself and his face went back to a normal color. He breathed in heavily and sighed. He could nothing about it if Commander Vellis was the perpetrator. Even so it felt like a stab in the back for their commanding officer to take away valuable resources and replace it with older ones. It was irresponsible, considering where they were heading: a possible, and most likely, battle ground.
“Very well ensign,” said Lieutenant Peleus. “-see to it that all our equipment is stored correctly and that all our provisions are in order.”
“Yes sir,” said the ensign. “But we also have one more thing.”
“What?” asked Peleus, a dangerous tone entering his voice. The ensign gulped.
“We’re do I put Advisor Bregen’s things?”
“Who in the sith is Advisor Bregen?” asked Lieutenant Peleus. He got a quicker answer than he wanted.
“I am Advisor Bregen, lieutenant,” said a voice behind Peleus. The lieutenant turned to see a tall man dressed in Imperial Court robes. He had an air of aristocracy about him. His black goatee and slicked hair marked him as a conniving politician even more so than his robes did. Advisor Bregen walked forward through the doorway onto the command bridge and stood before Lieutenant Peleus.
“I am a member of System Governor Thetis’s personal staff. I have been assigned to join your ship and it’s expedition.” Peleus was flabbergasted for a moment at this pronouncement. The man before him could probably have him taken off to some secret police headquarters and shot for some assumed political affiliation.
“Is that right?” said Peleus carefully.
“I believe you will address me with ‘sir’ don’t you think lieutenant?” asked Bregen, a severe look had entered his eyes.
“No he does not.” Once again the command bridge’s doors slid open and Captain-Major Arian walked in. The entire bridge came to attention and waited as Arian stalked forward to stand before his adjutant and the politician. He waved his hands for at-ease, then faced Bregen.
“My aide is to call you by your rank: advisor. Since you are not military Mr. Bregen, you are not to be given military titles or saluted. Command Vellis has already given me a full briefing as to your purpose here,” said Arian. He had been surprised when he had found out that the man he had passed in the hall was the same that would accompany him. Not only that, but he had been assigned an extra clone regiment, the 9th Regiment of the 40th Ranger Legion; the same that he had seen giving Bregen an honor guard.
“Very well,” said Advisor Bregen, slightly miffed by Arian. “I will simply have my own people find me suitable quarters for me to stay in.”
“Not necessary Advisor,” said the supply ensign. “-we’ve a suite next to the Captain-Majors that will be yours.” All three men looked at the ensign as if he were a bug. The man withered under their looks and swallowed visibly. Peleus smiled.
“You see Advisor, we’ve some quarters for you. I hope you won’t mind if I have Ensign Yamata here take you to your room. Ensign? Off to it,” said Lieutenant Peleus. The ensign saluted and quite happily complied by walked past the group of men and to the door. He motioned Bregen to follow. The political advisor grudgingly followed, but he threw Peleus and Arian a dirty look just as the doors closed behind his back.
Arian and Peleus both sighed. “He’s going to be a real thorn in the old rox hide for us,” commented Peleus. He was a tall man with a graying beard and face. A scar ran from his left eye to his chin and was the source of fear for all lower ranks aboard the Kirdan when something wasn’t up to his perfection. Arian and he had been serving together for four years. Arian smiled ruefully.
“Yes I expect he will. However he has some sway over that regiment from the 40th Legion, and Commander Vellis said we are to ‘treat him with all respect due his station.”
“You mean kick him out the hanger when we get to unknown space?” asked Peleus happily. Arian chuckled.
“No, unfortunately. However it’s time we started this thing. Have you spoken with Captain Brandei and Captain Pylos?” asked Captain-Major Arian. He walked over to a control station and pressed a series of coded buttons. After a few moments his command chair rose up out of the floor and he took a seat in it. Peleus took his usual position next to it and to the Helm controls.
“Yes sir, their waiting off our port bow about 300 kilometers, and they are awaiting your words to begin the jump into hyperspace,” answered Lieutenant Peleus.
“Very well, then let us start,” said Arian. Peleus nodded and turned to the Helm.
“Point turn, five degrees starboard!” he called. “All hands prepare for hyperspace jump!” The bridge began busy quickly as Peleus whipped them into shape.
“Five degree starboard, aye!” called the Helm officer. Peleus went to the comm consul and spoke into the ship-wide band.
“All hands prepare for hyperspace, ETJ – 7 minutes!”
The comm officer was speaking into his mike with his opposites aboard the Lysander and the Hesione. “Jump coordinates being transmitted now. Task force to jump in 7 minutes, on my mark.”
“All hands reported ready for jump Lieutenant,” reported a deck officer. Peleus worked his men with practiced ease of a veteran. Arian sat back in his command chair and took the situation in and watched as his crew worked with precision and care. He was quietly proud of them. They had the honor of being a flagship for once and they weren’t about to spoil it with sloppy work.
“Jump coordinates fixed. Engines ready. Jump in 8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1...launch!”
The three Imperial Star Destroyers jumped into hyperspace, leaving behind the Digor system and all natural civilization. They wouldn’t see it for another year and a half but they would be having one heck of a time with it as well. Their destination a new frontier; the Troma System.
Captain Arian walked through the paned glass halls of the orbital space station Hyraxes with a humbled feeling in his chest. He was about to embark on the biggest mission of his naval career and perhaps his life. Arian turned a corner and walked past the great 100 meter clear window that exposed open space to passerby. To anyone else who did not work in space constantly, it would have been breath-taking; Captain Arian hardly gave it a glance.
Two junior officers, lieutenants, saluted as they walked past Arian in the opposite direction. He absentmindedly returned it and turned into a side hallway. It had no windows and few doors and most of all fewer people walking it. Arian espied four clone troopers, their insignia marking them as belonging to the 40th Ranger Legion, marching toward him with a high ranking looking individual in tow.
The fifth man wore the dress robes of a politician, ones that anyone could spot from the Imperial Court back on Pol-kamra. Captain Arian simply decided to give them the right of way to avoid any trouble. He had learned early on from his predecessor’s example that it was better not to attract any political attention. The man hardly gave him a thought anyway and the group passed Arian in a quick cadence of marching boots.
Captain Arian walked up to a door at the end of the hallway that was marked with a bright red light above it. Two naval stormtroopers, in their unmarked white armor, came to attention when the captain stopped before them.
“Captain Arian reporting at 14:30 as per orders of the NHC,” he stated to the troopers. One of them lifted a hand to the side of his helmet and spoke quietly into his comlink. After a moment the man nodded and lowered his arm, gently brushing for a moment against the butt of his E-11 blaster rifle, and spoke through his helmet.
“Commander Vellis is waiting inside sir. You may enter.” The stormtroopers voice was monotone and showed no real emotion, just as they were meant to be: cold hearted fighting machines. Captain Arian nodded and went to the door, waited until it automatically slid open, and then stepped inside.
For a moment he thought that he was in a pitch black room. With the light from the corridor cut off with the closing of the door, his eyesight was thrown out of proportion. After a few heartbeats however he soon caught on to a faint light several meters ahead. It came from a holo projection table, used commonly by fleet personnel for briefing officers and soldiers on missions. Next to it in a grey naval uniform stood Commander Vellis, Arian’s commanding officer who commanded a large portion of the Imperial Fleet in the Digor System. Arian came to attention. “Sir!”
Vellis smiled in the dark. “Welcome Captain, no need for formalities as of right now.” He none-the-less responded to Arian’s salute, almost as a natural reaction. “I hope you are your crew aboard the Kirdan have been sufficiently rested after their long tour on the outer rim, scouting.”
Captain Arian nodded and stepped up next to Commander Vellis, leaning gently against the holo-table. “Yes sir, we had needed the R&R. Thank you.” He looked at what it was projecting. A series of systems with several planets, but all of them were unfamiliar with Arian. Vellis noted his slight frown as he studied Arian. He waved his hand to the hologram.
“Here is where your next mission will take you.” Commander Vellis turned to the controls and worked them for a moment. The image began to circle before finally coming to rest on a single quadrant of space. “Here is the Troma System, newly discovered by our intelligence groups.”
“Troma? Never heard of it,” said Captain Arian, not even surprised by the fact. “What’s special about it?”
“Troma, and the two systems that neighbor it, have been slated for possible annexation,” said the commander. “It was first discovered when Section 3 Intelligence came across a reference of the systems in an Old Republic senate briefing. It seems that it had at one time in the distant past been a mining colony of the Old Republic, just before the start of the Clone Wars, about 30 BBY.”
“30 years Before the Battle of Yavin?” Arian whistled. “So what is our mission?”
“Not our mission Captain,” Commander Vellis said, smiling. “-your mission. Your ship along with the Lysander and the Hesione are going to travel there, scout the systems, and make any territorial gains where possible. Once done, and after the time of one year and six months, the time period your operation is being given, then the Kirdan will return.” Vellis put his hands behind his back and stood straight, watching Arian as he manipulated the controls of the hologram and looking at it. Finally the captain nodded and turned to Vellis.
“And I presume that you will be aboard one of the ships, or your adjutant perhaps, for the leadership of this expedition?” asked Arian. He watched as a smile cracked over the commander’s face. Captain Arian stood up straight and set his hands on his hips. “What?” he asked.
“This is your expedition Captain. I am informally giving you the rank of Captain-Major for this operation. Captain Brandei and Captain Pylos, of the Lysander and Hesione, respectively, shall be your subordinates. I’ve already briefed them on this.”
Arian couldn’t believe his ears. He was only ten years out of the academy and had only got command of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer through hard work and a time of seven years aboard a Victory-class. For this kind of promotion to come about so soon was unprecedented, as far as he could think. He spluttered slightly as he tried to come up with the words to thank his commanding officer. In the end he just saluted.
“Thank you for the opportunity sir, I won’t fail you,” said Arian. Commander Vellis returned the salute with a smile, then suddenly turned serious.
“See that you don’t Captain Arian, see that you don’t.” His words were ominous and for a moment Arian faltered. But then Vellis was smiling again and Arian shook such thoughts from his mind.
“When do I start?”
“In three hours. Your ship is already being outfitted for the journey. The Lysander and Hesione have been ready for three days already. I presume that you will want to make sure everything goes smoothly and that you meet with your new subordinates, Captain-Major Arian.” Arian smiled at that. He felt how strange it would be for him to get use to it. Lost in his thoughts he barely noticed as Vellis stepped forward and put a new rank insignia on his chest. Surprised, Arian looked down. It was the naval rank of a captain-major. A rare rank reserved for times of emergency or of a certain required circumstance.
“You’re dismissed Captain-Major,” said Commander Vellis.
Arian saluted and marched to the door. Just as it slid open Vellis called out. “Oh, and Arian, catch!” He tossed over a small metal box. Arian barely caught it and looked down at it in his hands. It had the Corvere Logo on it’s lid, a famous Thrashia cigar company. He looked up at Vellis. “For the victory day, when you get there,” Vellis said. Nodding, Arian left the room and returned to the myriad halls of the Hyraxes Orbital Space Station.
High Orbit, Imperial II Star Destroyer Kirdan command bridge, Digor System
“We have what!?” The half-yell half-shriek of Lieutenant Peleus echoed out over the command bridge. A cowering supply ensign stood in front of him at attention.
“Yes sirs, two of our Tie Interceptor squadrons were off-loaded by Commander Vellis’s supply people. They had the requisition papers and all. And in their place we were given two squadrons of regular Tie Fighters,” said the ensign. He was literally shaking in his boots as he looked at the red faced and very tall officer front of him.
Lieutenant Peleus’s face contorted into different shapes and turned different hues of color. The ensign and the rest of the bridge with him waited for an explosion. But surprisingly it didn’t come.
Peleus got control of himself and his face went back to a normal color. He breathed in heavily and sighed. He could nothing about it if Commander Vellis was the perpetrator. Even so it felt like a stab in the back for their commanding officer to take away valuable resources and replace it with older ones. It was irresponsible, considering where they were heading: a possible, and most likely, battle ground.
“Very well ensign,” said Lieutenant Peleus. “-see to it that all our equipment is stored correctly and that all our provisions are in order.”
“Yes sir,” said the ensign. “But we also have one more thing.”
“What?” asked Peleus, a dangerous tone entering his voice. The ensign gulped.
“We’re do I put Advisor Bregen’s things?”
“Who in the sith is Advisor Bregen?” asked Lieutenant Peleus. He got a quicker answer than he wanted.
“I am Advisor Bregen, lieutenant,” said a voice behind Peleus. The lieutenant turned to see a tall man dressed in Imperial Court robes. He had an air of aristocracy about him. His black goatee and slicked hair marked him as a conniving politician even more so than his robes did. Advisor Bregen walked forward through the doorway onto the command bridge and stood before Lieutenant Peleus.
“I am a member of System Governor Thetis’s personal staff. I have been assigned to join your ship and it’s expedition.” Peleus was flabbergasted for a moment at this pronouncement. The man before him could probably have him taken off to some secret police headquarters and shot for some assumed political affiliation.
“Is that right?” said Peleus carefully.
“I believe you will address me with ‘sir’ don’t you think lieutenant?” asked Bregen, a severe look had entered his eyes.
“No he does not.” Once again the command bridge’s doors slid open and Captain-Major Arian walked in. The entire bridge came to attention and waited as Arian stalked forward to stand before his adjutant and the politician. He waved his hands for at-ease, then faced Bregen.
“My aide is to call you by your rank: advisor. Since you are not military Mr. Bregen, you are not to be given military titles or saluted. Command Vellis has already given me a full briefing as to your purpose here,” said Arian. He had been surprised when he had found out that the man he had passed in the hall was the same that would accompany him. Not only that, but he had been assigned an extra clone regiment, the 9th Regiment of the 40th Ranger Legion; the same that he had seen giving Bregen an honor guard.
“Very well,” said Advisor Bregen, slightly miffed by Arian. “I will simply have my own people find me suitable quarters for me to stay in.”
“Not necessary Advisor,” said the supply ensign. “-we’ve a suite next to the Captain-Majors that will be yours.” All three men looked at the ensign as if he were a bug. The man withered under their looks and swallowed visibly. Peleus smiled.
“You see Advisor, we’ve some quarters for you. I hope you won’t mind if I have Ensign Yamata here take you to your room. Ensign? Off to it,” said Lieutenant Peleus. The ensign saluted and quite happily complied by walked past the group of men and to the door. He motioned Bregen to follow. The political advisor grudgingly followed, but he threw Peleus and Arian a dirty look just as the doors closed behind his back.
Arian and Peleus both sighed. “He’s going to be a real thorn in the old rox hide for us,” commented Peleus. He was a tall man with a graying beard and face. A scar ran from his left eye to his chin and was the source of fear for all lower ranks aboard the Kirdan when something wasn’t up to his perfection. Arian and he had been serving together for four years. Arian smiled ruefully.
“Yes I expect he will. However he has some sway over that regiment from the 40th Legion, and Commander Vellis said we are to ‘treat him with all respect due his station.”
“You mean kick him out the hanger when we get to unknown space?” asked Peleus happily. Arian chuckled.
“No, unfortunately. However it’s time we started this thing. Have you spoken with Captain Brandei and Captain Pylos?” asked Captain-Major Arian. He walked over to a control station and pressed a series of coded buttons. After a few moments his command chair rose up out of the floor and he took a seat in it. Peleus took his usual position next to it and to the Helm controls.
“Yes sir, their waiting off our port bow about 300 kilometers, and they are awaiting your words to begin the jump into hyperspace,” answered Lieutenant Peleus.
“Very well, then let us start,” said Arian. Peleus nodded and turned to the Helm.
“Point turn, five degrees starboard!” he called. “All hands prepare for hyperspace jump!” The bridge began busy quickly as Peleus whipped them into shape.
“Five degree starboard, aye!” called the Helm officer. Peleus went to the comm consul and spoke into the ship-wide band.
“All hands prepare for hyperspace, ETJ – 7 minutes!”
The comm officer was speaking into his mike with his opposites aboard the Lysander and the Hesione. “Jump coordinates being transmitted now. Task force to jump in 7 minutes, on my mark.”
“All hands reported ready for jump Lieutenant,” reported a deck officer. Peleus worked his men with practiced ease of a veteran. Arian sat back in his command chair and took the situation in and watched as his crew worked with precision and care. He was quietly proud of them. They had the honor of being a flagship for once and they weren’t about to spoil it with sloppy work.
“Jump coordinates fixed. Engines ready. Jump in 8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1...launch!”
The three Imperial Star Destroyers jumped into hyperspace, leaving behind the Digor system and all natural civilization. They wouldn’t see it for another year and a half but they would be having one heck of a time with it as well. Their destination a new frontier; the Troma System.