By the Prefect FM Tarkin

Bulletin No.5

23rd August 1998

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

All the latest news and information about the Hammer's Fist Stormtrooper Legion.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Years after the fall of the physical Emperor Palpatine and the Battle of Endor, a powerful Imperial force, lead by the great Grand Admiral Ronin and known as the Emperor's Hammer, has drawn together with the sole purpose of the defeat of the hated Rebel "New Republic." This powerful force is defended on the ground and onboard its massive vessels by the elite group of soldiers known as stormtroopers. These are the stories of their loyalty in the defense of the Empire and their heroism in battle. These are the stories of the

By Master Sergeant Wildcat

ACCo/MSg Wildcat/Batt. 1/A/Barrack A =S= <CoO> <CSMA>

"Sir, that ship is on a collision course with the Platform!"

Duty Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Kryder was communicating with Field Marshal Tarkin via Holonet from the PLT Declaration.

"Have we established contact with its crew yet?" Tarkin asked from the bridge of the Dreadnought Retribution.

"No sir. Our scans of the ship reveal no biological life forms. Visual contact shows that at least two escape pods are missing. GL Thrawn thinks the ship could have been preprogrammed on its present course then abandoned before it made the jump to light speed. He's assembling the Troops now for boarding."

"Hmmm...how long can we stall the ships position?"

"Well the ship was traveling at about 80% power, we think the tractor beams can hold it for at least a couple of hours before they start losing their capacity. That'll give the troops enough time to board the ship and program a new course."

Tarkin looked at the Dreadnought's monitors. The unidentified vessel was in clear view. If the ship was intended to hit the Declaration why not bring it out of light speed closer to the PLT instead of just beyond the far side of the Geran moon? Maybe it was only intended as some kind of warning?

"Okay Kryder. Tell Thrawn not to waste any more time than necessary redirecting that ship. If the course can't be changed - destroy it."

"Will do sir."

Tarkin looked again at the ship. His troops could easily be walking into some kind of trap. However Thrawn knew what he was doing. If the ship could be identified the Empire would certainly be paying the owners a visit...

* * * * *

First Lieutenant Drakkar pressed the flashing button on his intercom. "Tell Corporal Wildcat he can come in now." Drakkar relaxed and sat back in his chair. He adjusted his shining white stormtrooper armor, and shifted his skull-like helmet on his desk. It stared out into space, soul-less.

The door beeped as Corporal Wildcat marched into the room smartly. He wore his standard armor, with his helmet removed and tucked under his arm. He stopped, clicked his heels, and announced his presence.

"Corporal Wildcat reports as ordered, sir," he stated confidently. Drakkar motioned for him to take a chair. Wildcat pulled a metallic black chair out for him to sit at, then pushed it back in toward the desk. Drakkar picked up a datapad off his desk.

"According to your files, you have been very active lately. You have volunteered for many extra training missions, duties, and other missions. As you know, I am not one to let activity go unnoticed." Drakkar said intently concentrating on the young trooper before him. Wildcat leaned forward slightly, obviously anticipating what the Lieutenant would say next. Drakkar continued. "I have cleared it with Lieutenant General Veers, and you have been promoted to the rank of 3rd Sergeant." Drakkar produced the rank pin from his desk drawer. The pin had exactly what Wildcat had been waiting for... the exalted 3 stripes. He was a non-commissioned officer now, symbol of the hard working stormtrooper. Drakkar handed the pin to Wildcat. Wildcat accepted the pin graciously, grinning as he fastened it magnetically to his shoulder armor piece. "You are dismissed," Drakkar finished.

"Thank you sir," Wildcat said as he got up, grinning. He left the room with a bounce in his step. Day dreams filled Wildcat's head about what he would do with his pay raise. Maybe he would start putting away for a new speeder... or a small ship... he could go in with some of the other guys...

He marched into the NCO's lounge. Nightflyer, Tuojas, and Fishman looked up from their conversation. Surprise and confusion crossed their faces. One of them spoke what the rest were thinking.

"What the hell are you doing in here?!" Nighflyer demanded, a smirk on his face.

Wildcat simply unfastened his rank badge and laid it on the table. The entire group started laughing as Wildcat walked over to an aging snack machine bearing a snack food slogan and shoved in a few credits. Something fell into the pick up slot with a loud bang. Wildcat reached into the machine and pulled out a candy bar, then walked over to the table in the center of the room and plopped down in a chair. The sergeants started offering their congratulations, and Wildcat leaned back, soaking it all in.

"Heh, thanks guys. So ah... what do we do now? Just sit around?" Wildcat asked offhandedly.

Just then, the "All Hands to Battle Stations" alarm whooped to life, and a voice monotonously told all troopers to report to their respective briefing rooms. Wildcat and the other sergeants leaped out of their seats and ran down the hall to the briefing room, expecting the worst.

They trotted down the halls of the Platform Declaration. Seconds later, they were at the Company A section of the platform. They quickly turned down another hall and arrived at the Azreal Platoon Briefing Room. They entered the room. It was similar to a very small auditorium, with rows of seats in a semi circle around a small raised platform. There stood Lieutenant Drakkar and a large view screen, showing schematics of a corvette and several entrance points and paths through the ship. Wildcat and the other sergeants quickly scanned the room and decided to take their seats in the back, so as not to disturb the other troopers. The room was nearly full except for 3 seats, so Drakkar began.

"Ten-shun!" Drakkar called using his well formed command voice. All troopers in the room stood up and came to attention. "Stand at rest." The troopers sat back down. Wildcat and the other sergeants pulled datapads out of their utility belts, knowing that they would be part of the command element of the operation. Drakkar continued. "A modified corvette has entered realspace near the Geran moon. It has resumed its realspace travel at about 80% total power..." he paused momentarily, to gather his thoughts and to emphasize the next point, "And is traveling on a trajectory that will intercept this station." The troopers froze for a moment. This was bad. "Fortunately, we have been able to lock onto it with tractor beams, but we cannot keep enough power going to the beams to hold it. The ship must be boarded. Standard stormtrooper platoons from Phoenix Battalion will be spearheading the procedure. It has been confirmed that there are no life signs on board, but that doesn't mean there won't be trouble. We will be wearing full armor, and we will have two troopers from each squad carrying a light repeating blaster. These troopers will be the first to enter the ship. After we dock with the ship by use of Stormtrooper Transport, we will enter through this airlock." Drakkar pointed to the point on the schematic. "And proceed this direction into the crew's quarters. From there we will proceed along with the other platoon to the bridge. Naval personnel with then take control of the ship and we will dock with the platform." Wildcat quickly made a rough sketch of the schematic and noted the mission goals. We checked his blaster rifle and made sure he had extra cartridges on hand. Drakkar continued. "Dismissed. We will regroup in Transport Theta-1."

The troopers stood up and filtered out of the room. Wildcat lagged behind and waited for Kartena. She caught up to him. "Are you ready for this? This is your first boarding with us, as I remember," he asked, concerned.

She clapped him on the shoulder. "Are you kidding? I live for this kinda stuff. I know what to do. We did the drills over and over back on Carida," she said, confidently.

"Okay," Wildcat agreed. "What position are you?" he asked as they walked to the docking bay."

Kartena glanced down at her datapad. "Looks like... second to last."

"Oh," Wildcat said, sounding somewhat disappointed.

They reached the bay and entered. It was a cavernous space, with several TIEs hanging on racks high above the troopers below. There were several crates stacked in the corners, and the whole place seemed to have a certain smell about it. Wildcat couldn't place it, but it smelled like... burnt fuel. Two transports sat in the bay. Wildcat quickly scanned the markings.

"Ahh... this one," Wildcat pointed to one on the left of where they were.

The pair quickly trotted up to the transport. Drakkar met them at the blast door. He asked them if they were Company A, Wildcat gave the authorization code, and Drakkar waived for them to get in. The pair entered and took their seats. The "seats" were actually small ledges along the inner sides of the transport, with a storage cubby below the seat and a harness hanging from the wall. Wildcat looked for his number and sat down. He buckled himself in tightly, and did a quick check of his equipment. Drakkar gave the signal to the trooper next to the plank release button, and the trooper activated the button to seal the hatch. Drakkar then signaled the transport pilots, and the transport shuttered as it took off.

The transport fired its takeoff repulsors and lifted up a few feet off the deck of the bay. It adjusted its bearing, then activated its forward engines. The transport shot forward out of the docking bay and headed towards the corvette. Seconds later, the second transport shot out of the bay, headed in the same direction.

All troopers on board Theta-1 seemed uncomfortable. Some tried to busy themselves, others sat in prayer, others just seemed to try to think. Wildcat tried to busy himself. He checked and rechecked his ordnance and equipment, made more notes, and ran through the drill with some of the troopers sitting next to him. Once he was sure he knew exactly what he was going to do, he relaxed. He tried to engage in idle conversation with some of the other troopers, but that attempt failed. Eventually, he just opened a comlink with the other sergeants via helmet linkup and talked with them. He made sure he knew what his duties were, that the others knew what they were to do, and then relaxed again. And once again, it wasn't for long. He started trying to get things in order again. A trooper next to him tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yes?" Wildcat asked, turning to face the trooper.

"You should try taking one of these," the trooper said, holding out a small pill. "Helps you calm down. I take 'em all the time before missions like this."

"Thanks," Wildcat said, taking the pill from the trooper. He unfastened a canteen from his utility belt, then took off his helmet. He placed it between his knees and quickly popped the pill in his mouth. He took a swig of water and the pill was on its way through his system. Wildcat screwed the cap back on his canteen, reattached it to his belt, then put his helmet back on. He leaned back against the wall, grinning slightly. It felt good, actually. From that point Wildcat was simply content thinking about what could be on the corvette.

What seemed like hours later, the transports met with the tractor-beam locked corvette. Theta-1's pilots guided the transport slowly, edging towards the airlock that would be the insertion point of the troopers on board. The transport docked with the airlock, jolting to a stop and rattling the troopers on board. The pilots activated the sealer to make another airlock around the corvette's airlock, making it safe for the troopers to board. One of the pilots touched a flashing button in front of him on the dash.

A red light began flashing inside the transport. The troopers began to unlatch themselves from their harnesses. Drakkar stood up.

"All right, everybody, this is your last chance. Get unbuckled and do a quick check of your equipment. I don't want anybody going dry in there in case we get in a bad position," Drakkar commanded.

The troopers did accordingly, standing up and checking their gear, milling about and helping each other get what they needed. Drakkar handed down a small crate filled with blaster cartridges. Each of the troopers took one, whether they already had some or not. Once the crate had circled all the way around, Drakkar signaled the pilots. The flashing red light turned yellow, then green.

The blast door opened at the end of the cabin. What was revealed was yet another blast door. It was the airlock to the corvette. Two troopers stepped forward, clutching a large cutting laser. They set a tripod up and placed the laser on top of it. One of them knelt at the trigger and the other stepped away. The trooper pulled the trigger back, and a whitish-yellow beam lanced out of the barrel of the laser. It began to slice away at the airlock, sparking and smoking. Soon, the airlock was sliced open, and the second trooper placed a charge on the door. The troopers nearest the door scampered away, and the trooper activated the charge, blowing the door inward.

This was it. The troopers stormed in, blasters drawn, and quickly took their positions along the wall. At the end of this hallway was a T-junction, branching off towards the cargo area and the quarters. Once all the troopers had taken positions, the first two advanced, darting quickly into the junction and checking for any traps that might be there. The troopers gave the okay signal, and the rest of the troopers advanced into the hallway leading left. This was the direction to the crew's quarters. In the other end of the ship, Company B's troopers were checking that area, so they didn't have to worry about that section. They advanced forward. Suddenly the point troopers stopped and took a defensive stance, signaling the rest of the platoon to do the same. Everyone took positions. Ahead, there was a squawking sound, followed by many electronic beeps. Wildcat realized that he was trembling terribly. If anything was there that he would have to fight, he was going to be a terrible shot. The point trooper yelled out.

And the small, cylindrical shape of an R-2 unit appeared at the end of the hallway.

"Halt!" the point trooper yelled out to the R-2 unit.

The unit stopped. The troopers quickly advanced and surrounded the little droid. It squarked and squawked and beeped and whistled. It began to try to rock it way forward in a walking - like motion. The troopers in front of it moved out of the way, and it stopped. Something began to whir inside of it. The troopers gasped and tried to get away. But it was too late.

A holographic projection shot out of the little droid. The troopers sighed and gathered around the little droid again. The projection was of an Imperial officer. He looked like he had been in some trouble. His uniform was slightly torn, his hair was mussed, and his cap was missing. The troopers edged in for a better view.

"Greetings. I am Captain Gontol, commander of this corvette which you are currently aboard. I only hope that those who are viewing this are those who I intended. Our ship came under attack after we came out of hyperspace for readjustments near a Rebel supply depot. What we discovered was a massing point of Rebel ships and troops for an attack... an attack that could jeopardize the entire Emperor's Hammer. We unwittingly stumbled into the area and intercepted several transmissions that detailed the plan before they detected us. At that point they realized that we could not be allowed to escape or transmit any of our coordinates, as that would mean the end of their surprise attack. Fortunately, we were fast enough that we could evade until we were able to finish downloading the data into this droid. He contains the ship logs that detail the coordinates and the transmissions we intercepted. Unfortunately, however, it doesn't look like we are going to be able to evade much longer. An MC-80 has been trailing us, and is gaining speed and distance." The captain turned to someone off screen. "Commander, is the course laid in? Evacuate the ship at once." The captain turned back. "The future of the Emperor's Hammer depends on this! Captain Gontol, signing off." Just as the captain finished there was an audible crash and yelling of orders. Then the hologram slowly disappeared.

Drakkar walked over to the communications sergeant and removed a large transmitter from the pack of equipment. He pressed a button. General of the Legion Thrawn's voice answered.

"Yes, go ahead, Lieutenant." Thrawn urged.

"Sir, I think there's something here you might be interested in..."

* * * * *

General Thrawn clicked off his comlink and took a breathe. He was sitting in his office aboard the Platform. He was behind what he loathed most in his job: a desk. He was a soldier deep down, and preferred to be on the field with his troops. He had just been informed by Company A's First Platoon Commander that they had found something that he would "be interested in." He hoped that it was the explanation to all of this. As one of the most senior officers in the Chain of Command, there was a lot of pressure put on him to make his troops complete their missions successfully and quickly regularly, with a very small failure percentage. If there wasn't an explanation to be found on that corvette, this could mark up his failure quotient to an unacceptable amount.. Failure wasn't accepted well in the competitive world of the Emperor's Hammer Strike Fleet, and this was shaping up to be of those situations.

Thrawn leaned forward and keyed up his assistant. "Ready my shuttle, and alert the commanders on board the corvette to prepare for my personal inspection of the situation."

* * * * *

On board the shuttle, the troopers were dispersing throughout the corvette, patrolling for any action on board the ship. Naval personnel had arrived earlier and taken control of the ship, halting it dead in space. It was too dangerous to take the ship into close contact with the platform in case it was in fact a trap.

Wildcat, Nighflyer, and the other sergeants had been given command posts in the war room of the ship. From here they could monitor the activities of their troopers and keep in constant contact with them. For now, "Wildcat's troopers" were the troopers in Squad 1, as he had been given assistant squad leader of it, with Nightflyer in charge. If anything were to happen to their troopers dispersed throughout the ship, it would show up on the monitors instantly and they could order the troopers closest to their position to assist. Being partially in command really was a welcome change from actually being there on the patrol for Wildcat.

He had begun to relax when a hollow, rumbling sound was heard throughout the ship. Indicators began to light up on some of the monitors that the ship was being boarded. Wildcat wondered who could be coming aboard at this point in the operation. His curiosity was quenched when Captain Fugazi's voice came over the intercom from the bridge.

"Attention all stormtroopers and staff. General of the Legion Thrawn is coming aboard, prepare for inspection."

Wildcat looked at Nightflyer, who looked at Tuojas, who looked at Fishman. Fishman looked back at Tuojas who looked at Nightflyer who looked at Wildcat. Wildcat shrugged.

"I guess this operation is bigger than we thought," was all that Wildcat could offer for an explanation.

The sergeants began to rush around, preparing the room, getting it up to standards for the General's inspection. Several minutes later, Wildcat put his hands on his hips and grinned, satisfied at their job of getting the room situated.

"This is good enough. Uhh... now let's look really busy," Wildcat commended.

The troopers went back to their work. Wildcat produced several light pens and passed them around. The troopers each began to outline the paths of their trooper through the ship on their monitor. Lieutenant Drakkar's voice came across the non-com comlink channel.

"Squad Leaders and Assistant Squad Leaders, prepare the War Room for the General. We will be reviewing the data contained in the droid in that room."

Wildcat opened up his link and replied, "Aye, sir," and looked back at his fellow sergeants and smiled. "I think we're done."

Minutes later, the door beeped. Wildcat, being seated closest to the door, stood up and walked over to the door panel. He pressed a large flashing button and the door whooshed open. Wildcat's eyes grew wide when he saw that General of the Legion Thrawn was already there. He stumbled slightly as he called the room to attention.

"Room a-ten-shun!" Wildcat called.

The sergeants popped out of their chairs and into the attention position. General Thrawn entered the room, followed by a pair of other stormtroopers, followed by Lieutenant Drakkar and Captain Fugazi, followed by the R-2 unit surrounded by a pair of Naval technicians. They walked to the middle of the room, and formed a circle around the R-2 unit and the technicians.

"At ease, sergeants." Thrawn finally said, giving the troopers permission to return to their duties. Wildcat sat back down in his chair, monitoring the squad, but didn't pay all that much attention to what his monitors were flashing.

One of the technicians opened an access panel on the droid and manipulated some switches. He plugged a cable into the droid, and some charts began to appear on a monitor in the center of the room. General Thrawn scrutinized each of them, but they seemed incomplete. One of the Naval technicians knelt by the droid and flipped another switch. Suddenly, a narration, came across the droid's speakers.

"-chffft- This is New Republic MC-80B Freedom II, requesting permission to enter secure zone. -chfft-"

"-pfft- This is Platform Muster Point, permission granted. Welcome, Admiral. -fft-"

Minutes passed. There was little remarkable chatter until the Admiral that had been referred to came onto the comm channel.

"-pfft- This is Admiral Breen. Brief me on the situation, Vice Admiral Ghallagher. -ffft-"

"-chhfft- Sir, we have massed a fleet of 11 Mon Calamari Cruisers, 15 Nebulon B Frigates, 14 Modified Frigates, 13 Corvettes, a full compliment of X-Wings, Y-Wings, and B-Wings, and all necessary support and boarding craft. -fft-"

"-fft- Looks like you've gathered quite a little fleet here, Vice Admiral. What do you plan to do with all this equipment? -fft-"

"-chfft- As you know, Carida was destroyed by that lunatic Kyp Durron several years ago. Since then, a large portion of the Empire has regrouped, forming a new strike fleet. They call themselves the Emperor's Hammer. -fft-"

"-fft- Yes, I remember hearing Intelligence reports about that group a few years ago. Not large enough to cause any trouble, though. -fft-"

"-ffft- Sir, those Intelligence agents are obviously incompetent. They have several loyal systems in the Rim now. They have conscripted enough manpower and regrouped enough that they could cause enough damage to throw the Republic into upheaval. And... they have a Grand Admiral. A REAL one.-ffft-"

"-fft- A true Grand Admiral? We must destroy this fleet as soon as possible! -fft-"

"-ffft- Sir, that is exactly what we plan to do. We are planning to first strike at their stormtrooper training center, a planet they have named Carida II. From there, we will move on to the system they have declared their new Imperial Center... a system called Aurora. -ffft-"

"-ffft- A commendable plan, Vice Admiral. Should you complete this campaign successfully... I'm sure New Republic High Command could use a new Fleet Admiral. -ffft-"

"-cchhfftt- Yes, sir. Vice Admiral Ghallagher ou-- an unidentified corvette has entered the system! Unidentified corvette, identify yourself immediately.... Corvette Strike Team 3 break off and intercept the unidentified corvette immediately. -fft-"

Minutes passed again. One of the corvette captains came onto the channel.

"-chfffffftttt- Sir, this is Corvette Breaker. We have closed into firing range and are attempting to de- -chhhhfffffffttttt-"

The transmission stopped abruptly at that point. All that could be heard from that point on was static. A couple more charts and maps flashed on the monitor, and those, too ended. Thrawn looked up from the screen.

"This is quite a discovery that Captain Gontol has made. Captain, take command of the rest of the boarding and retrieval process. I will be contacting the Prefect about this immediately," Thrawn continued as he knelt down beside the little R-2 unit, "And you, my little friend, will be coming with me."

He turned and left the room, his detail and the little droid trailing behind. The Naval technicians left as well. Captain Fugazi and Lieutenant Drakkar pulled seats out for themselves to sit in, the full impact of what they had just seen and heard hitting them. They both blew out some air, sighing.

"All I can say is HEAVY," Drakkar said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Well, I must oversee the rest of the procedures," Fugazi said, glancing around. He nodded a farewell to Drakkar and left the room.

Drakkar walked over to the wall manned by the sergeants. He approached the terminal manned by Nightflyer, and simply commanded, "Recall all of Platoon 1 to the transport. We're leaving," and exited the room.

Nighflyer keyed up his comlink. "Attention all Company A Platoon 1 stormtroopers: You are relieved of patrol duties. Report to your Corporal of the Guard and then retreat to Theta-1 Stormtrooper Transport IMMEDIATELY! Repeat, all Company A Platoon 1 stormtroopers: You are relieved of patrol duties. Report to your Corporal of the Guard and then retreat to Theta-1 Stormtrooper Transport IMMEDIATELY!" Nightflyer clicked his comlink off and stood up from his chair. "Shall we?" he asked with a slight sarcastic grin.

"We shall," Wildcat responded, following suit by standing up and flipping off his terminal. The sergeants all left the room and headed toward their transport.

They got to their transport before most of the other troopers. It gave them some time to talk about what they heard. They, General Thrawn, Captain Fugazi, Lieutenant Drakkar, and the Naval technicians were the only ones (that they knew of... there were always leaks somehow) who were privy to the knowledge of the planned attack. That would change soon, but the fact of the matter was: this was top-secret so far. That idea gave Wildcat a thrill. He knew little secrets, of course, access codes to restricted areas and such, but never anything this BIG. Wildcat grinned behind the safety of his helmet. He decided he had had enough stress for today, so he stepped inside the transport.

Minutes later, all troopers were present and accounted for. The blast door of the transport was closed, and the pilots slowly undocked it from the corvette. As the transport pulled away from the corvette, Wildcat noticed a difference in the way the transport moved and maneuvered, and the difference in the pull of gravity. He relaxed and leaned his head back against the wall.

Half an hour later, the transport was entering the docking bay of the Platform Declaration. It came to a jolting halt in the bay a minute later, and the plank lowered. The troopers in the transport began to unfasten themselves and stand up, stretching and mumbling. Wildcat was getting ready to leave the transport when Kartena came up to him, excited.

"I heard you know what's going on! What's happening?" Kartena questioned, excited.

"This isn't a good place. I'll comm you later, or you'll find out from someone else," Wildcat said matter-of-factly.

"Come on, I can't wait. Tell me now! What harm can it do?" Kartena probed once again.

"All right," Wildcat submitted, "Come with me."

Kartena chuckled slightly. "You know there's nothing you can keep from me. I'll get it from you... one way or another."

"Yes, yes, I know. For now, just keep your mouth shut until we can get to my quarters," Wildcat conceded.

They walked for another three minutes or so until reaching Wildcat's new personal quarters. He tapped in a code on the door panel, and the door beeped before whooshing open. They stepped inside. It wasn't too large, it was simply a non-com's private quarters. Inside there was a bed, a Holonet projector, a small desk, a communications nook, a small bathroom, and a kitchenette with a Fast-Warmer, a sink, and a cooler.

Wildcat showed Kartena in and shut the door, locking it. He walked around, quickly checking for listening devices. When he had completed his rounds, he went to the cooler and pulled out two flavored carbonated beverage refreshment cans. He handed one to Kartena and pulled a chair out for her to sit on before flopping onto the bed. He turned the Holonet projector on, and produced a wide area broadcasting receiver and turned it up.

He crept close to Kartena and began to detail the account of what he had seen in the War Room. Her eyes grew wider with every new detail until it seemed like she would explode with amazement. Wildcat finished his account, turned down the Holonet receiver and the broadcasting receiver, and flopped back onto his bed.

"Pretty deep, huh?" was all that Wildcat could say in conclusion.

Kartena just blinked. Wildcat snickered, then took another swig of his beverage.

* * * * *

Prefect Tarkin sat behind an art-deco desk in his personal quarters aboard the Dreadnought Retribution. Several of his most trusted officers aboard the ship surrounded the desk. They were all listening, watching intently the small holographic projection before them. The projection was a blurry image of General of the Legion Thrawn.

Prefect Tarkin was visibly uncomfortable at what the General was telling him. His eyes narrowed and widened at every detail, every detail of the bone-chilling attack that was planned to take place. It looked like they had amassed enough firepower to level Carida, then move onto any other planet within the entire sector unopposed. And Carida was far enough away from Aurora that the Rebel fleet might be able to reach them before any Imperial reinforcements could arrive and intercept. However... there was a chance that the Fleet may be able to destroy the Rebel fleet at its muster point... perhaps even use the Retribution to ferry some 'troopers to board their flagship. Whatever they were going to do, they had to act now.

General Thrawn finished his report on the situation.

"Thank you, General, I will take care of it from here," Tarkin thanked Thrawn. He turned to his officers. "What you have seen here is to remain top secret. They may have already infiltrated us, and we can't let them know we know. Return to your posts and fulfill your duties as normal. I will inform fleet command of their position. I will inform you of the situation as soon as I have any more information. Dismissed."

The officers filtered out of Tarkin's quarters, and he keyed up the communications officer.

"Get me Grand Admiral Ronin on the Holonet. Emergency Priority Code," Tarkin requested. He adjusted his uniform to make sure that it was presentable for the Grand Admiral, then stepped out from behind his desk, and stepped onto the Holoprojection platform so that his entire body would appear on Ronin's projector. The voice of the communications officer came over his desk comlink.

"Sir, Grand Admiral Ronin's communications officer is responding to our request: request acknowledged, time to first receival of transmission: 43 seconds," the officer briefed Tarkin.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Tarkin said, switching off his comlink to ignore future interruptions.

Tarkin waited for another 40 seconds, and Ronin's image slowly began to materialize from the projector on Tarkin's desk. Tarkin snapped to attention, anticipating how he would present the Grand Admiral with the situation.

"Yes? What is it, Prefect?" Ronin asked.

"Sir, a dire situation is facing us. A large Rebel strike force has somehow gained the knowledge of where our operating centers are... and are planning to attack them. We have received this information from a now assumed dead Corvette captain who accidentally walked in on the Rebels transmitting their numbers and plans. We also have several maps and charts to the Rebels position, and several sensor read outs..." Tarkin went on to detail all the information they had received, expressing his concern with every detail. When he finished, the Grand Admiral turned from intently listening to the details to a very concerned demeanor.

"Prefect, what you have discovered may have saved the Emperor's Hammer from certain destruction. It is very important that we destroy these Rebels before they can mobilize for thier attack... I will summon the fleet for mobilization immediately. Prefect, I would be honored if your stormtroopers would join me on the Sovereign to watch the Rebels' destruction," Ronin finished.

"Sir, we would be obliged to return the honor... but I would rather we contributed by staying on the Dreadnought and using it to compliment your fleet. Thank you for the offer, however," Tarkin explained.

"That is just as good, Prefect. Thank you very much. Please begin transmitting the maps and sensor scans immediately," Ronin accepted. "Grand Admiral Ronin, signing off."

The Grand Admiral's image faded away and disappeard. Tarkin inserted a data disk into his terminal and keyed up the communications officer.

"Lieutenant, prepare to transmit this data to the Soveriegn," Tarkin commanded.

"Yes sir, we are ready," the Lieutenant responded.

Tarkin sat down behind his desk and began to enter in the initiation codes to transmit the data to the Retribution's communications center. Tarkin leaned back in his chair, almost exhausted by the ordeal. As soon as he had gotten comfortable, Tarkin's desktop comlink beeped. He moaned and leaned forward to answer.

"Prefect Tarkin here," Tarkin said, annoyed.

"Prefect," Grand Admiral Ronin's voice said. Tarkin immediately snapped up and changed his tone of voice.

"Yes, sir?" he asked.

"We have determined the site of our rendezvous before journeying to the Rebel's build-up point. We will be rendezvousing in the Dzabin system in five days. Meet you there, Prefect," Grand Admiral Ronin said, signing off.

Tarkin keyed up the bridge. "Set course for the Platform Declaration. We need to be there in two days," Tarkin commanded.

"Yes, sir," the bridge commander paroted.

* * * * *

Obaord the Platform Declaration, it had been an uneventful two days. Naval technicians had looked over the corvette, and apparently turned up nothing more. Azreal Platoon had been given an Honor Unit commendation, but they had really heard nothing more about the event than that.

Wildcat marched down Corridor 34, Octal 1, Deck 9 of the Platform on his usual patrol duty. He was dressed in full standard armor and held his Blastech E-11 at a modified attention position, grip in his left hand and muzzle resting on the bridge of his right thumb, crossing his chest. On his left marched Sergeant Tuojas. On their right was the observation window that spanned most of the circumference of Deck 9.

It had been the usual mostly uneventful patrol. There had been a conflict between some citizens who lived on the platform with their Imperial military husbands and a pair of Naval technicians over their Holonet line going dead. Sergeants Wildcat and Tuojas had responded, finally settling the conflict with a service ledger, but that had been all. They continued their patrol down the octal. Their boots methodically clacked against the metallic deck as the walked, putting Wildcat into a relaxed lull.

Just as his head was about to slacken and nod forward, Wildcat noticed something that woke him up. A Dreadnought entered realspace right next to the plaform, probably about seven clicks out, parallel to the direction they were walking. Dangerously close. Wildcat narrowed his eyes and looked more directly at the ship. Its markings were Imperial. Wildcat tapped Tuojas on the shoulder and pointed at the ship. The pair stopped, and started staring. Wildcat keyed up his comlink with Captain Fugazi.

"Sir, can you ID the Dreadnought that has just entered the area?" Wildcat asked, still staring at the Dreadnought.

"Affirmative, sergeant. That would be the Retribution. I-" Captain Fugazi trailed on. Wildcat didn't hear the rest of it. All he could think was, The Prefect is coming here?

"Thank you, sir," Wildcat cut Fugazi off. Then he began muttering, "It's the Retribution. And the Prefect. He's here. Why is he here?"

"It probably has something to do with the Rebel attack," Tuojas said, the voice of sanity.

Wildcat snapped his fingers. "Of course! I wonder what we're gonna have to do."

"I don't know, but that ship is changing course directly for the plaform," Tuojas said, pointing at the ship. Sure enough, it had changed course.

As soon as Tuojas had finished his sentence, the klaxon alarms all over the ship blared to life. A monotonous voice came over the speakers, repeating "All platoons report to Docking Bay 9 to receive the Prefect. All platoons report to Docking Bay 9 to receive the Prefect."

Without a word Wildcat and Tuojas charged forward to the nearest turbolift. When they reached it, about thirty seconds later, they were faced with eleven 'troopers trying to get on the smae lift at the same time. Wildcat quickly scanned the area for another lift, but they were all crowded. Then, he noticed some Naval techs on a restricted maintenance lift. Wildcat signaled to Tuojas and then ran to it. He tapped a tech on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry but this is an emergency. We must commandeer your turbolift. We are sorry for any inconvenience," he stated.

The Naval tech hardly had time to say "Wait!' before Wildcat had ripped him out and thrown him on the ground. Tuojas ripped the other out. The fell to the floor with a "thud." They sat up, slightly confused as Tuojas and Wildcat jumped in. Tuojas pressed some buttons on a control panel and the turbolift began to descend as Wildcat gave a sarcastic salute to the confused techs.

A few seconds later, the pair had reached the docking bay deck. They leaped out and continued their sprint towards the docking bay. A short time afterwards, they had finally reached docking bay 9. Yellow rotating lights flashed above the huge blast door entrance, which was already open. Stormtroopers from every company streamed in as the sergeants made their way to where Company A was forming up. They quickly fell into parade formation at attention.

Parade formation places the Company Commander at the vertex of a triangle-like formation, with the Platoon Commanders behind and on either side, and their platoons behind and centered on them. They were oriented facing the bay openning, along with the other companies.

In the distance, a glitter appeared from the Retribution. Probably a shuttle, Wildcat thought. He could see his commanders tense. He did so himself, as well. This was the Prefect they were talking about, after all. The shuttle neared the Platform, looming larger and larger the close it got. It was a standard Lambda-class Imperial shuttle, in wide production and use across the galaxy. The shuttle slowed, and its extended wings began to fold upwards. Landing skids began to deploy as the shuttle entered the magnetic fields of the platform. Another alarm went off, but it was quickly silenced. Triumphant music began to play. The shuttle was finally inside the bay, and stopped its forward motion as it fired its landing jets. It slowly descended, making a terrible hissing sound. At last it came to rest on the deck of the bay, steam pouring out from several vents across the hull of the shuttle. The triumphant-sounding music played louder.

The entrance plank hissed loudly as it lowered under the power of pnuematic arms. Several highly decorated Imperial Royal Guards flitered out, taking positions facing inward and flanking the entrance carpet that had been laid out for the Prefect's arrival. Then he came. Slowly, in parade uniform, the highly exalted Prefect descended from his shuttle. General Thrawn appeared from the ranks, flanked by Lieutenant General Veers and Lieutenant Colonel Kryder. They were all dressed in parade uniform, and all highly decorated.

The marched smartly up to the Prefect smartly, stopping the prescribed six feet in front of him and raising their arms in salute and clicking their heels smartly. General Thrawn spoke.

"Sir, we are honored to have you here. However, the matter at hand is very pressing at we must load the 'troopers immediately for departure and rendezvous."

Departure? Rendezvous? What was going on? Wildcat thought. They must be involved in the operation some how, but doing what?

"I agree, General. Give your troops their orders. They will be briefed on the way," Field Marshall Tarkin said, beginning to advance forward. His guards did facing manuever and followed.

General Thrawn turned to the Battalion gathered before him. "'Troopers! Gather your gear and meet at the Docking bay corresponding to your platoon order and number! Move!" he said loudly.

The platoon commanders all did about-faces and gave their orders. The stormtroopers gathered fell out and began to "storm" the docking bay entrance. Wildcat broke off with the other sergeants in his platoon to head toward their personal quarters. Minutes later, Wildcat arrived, charging in to his room. He grabbed his gear from beside his bed and darted out, stopping only to close and lock his door.

He sprinted again for the docking bay. And, again, minutes later, he reached docking bay one. The blast door was already open, and he quickly charged in. There before him was a standard stormtrooper transport, with Azreal Platoon gathering together inside. Drakkar waited a few minutes more, then began to call role.

"Nighflyer?"

"Sir, here, sir!"

"Fishman"

"Sir, here, sir!"

"Tuojas?"

"Sir, here, sir!"

"Wildcat?"

"Sir, here, sir!"

Drakkar went through the role list, and when he was satisfied that everyone was there, he led the platoon into the transport. After they all had settled in, they proceded to the Retribution.

Onboard the Retribution, the troopers were given space in the barracks, and went to hyperspace for about two days. They emerged in a system called Dzabin.

The Reveille whistle sounded on board at 0430. The troopers all leaped out of their bunks and charged into the latrines to get ready for the morning, then formed up for the presentation of the colors. After the colors, all troopers were dispersed for duty throughout the ship. Wildcat and Tuojas were given security duty in the Dreadnought's TIE hangar.

The TIE hangar on the Retribution was small, but it housed several squadrons of TIE fighters and Interceptors, thus it was very busy and crowded. Half the time Wildcat and Tuojas spent dodging pilots and crew chiefs runnin around to their fighters and prepping them for the impending battle. They had never seen the TIE unit of the Retribution so busy. But then they saw the reason. Wildcat caught a glimpse out of the bay openning into the space of the Dzabin system. What he saw shocked him, and shocked him even more that he had never seen it the whole time he had been on duty.

It was a huge fleet of Star Destroyers, Frigates, Corvette, even some Rebel ships from the Infiltrator Wing. Wildcat squinted into the distance. There was a large outline of a dark form in the middle of all the action. He squinted harder. He still couldn't make the ship out, so he walked over to the side of the bay and used one of the stationary high-powered macrobinoculars. No. It couldn't be true.

It was the SSSD Sovereign herself, in all her glory. Wildcat had served on that ship several times, and loved every minute of it. She was the most regal, most beautiful, most powerful ship he had ever known. With the Sovereign in the fleet, there was nothing that could stop them. At least. that's what he thought at the time. And there was something shadowed by her... Wildcat increased the viewing sensitivity of the macrobinoculars. It was the SSD Avenger. These were the two most powerful ships in the entire Empire, and here they were going along with this mission. Whatever the mission was. Wildcat was sure it had something to do with the holomessage on the corvette, but he did not know what their plan was. And he didn't want to have to worry about it, so he didn't want to know. Let the Admirals and Generals take care of that. He turned off the macrobinocular viewers and stepped away, returning to his patrol.

Hours later, Wildcat felt the slight displacement experienced from going to lightspeed, but it soon passed. He looked, and saw that the bay doors had been closed for the TIE bays. He began to wonder what was really going on here. It didn't matter if it would worry him anymore, he just wanted to know. He activated his comlink with Captain Fugazi.

"Sir, what is the current situation?" Wildcat asked, confused.

"Well, sergeant, it looks as if we're going to that Rebel's massing point, and we're gonna beat them at their own game," Fugazi explained.

"Sir?"

"We're gonna destroy where they sit before they can destroy us where we sit," Captain Fugazi explained, slightly annoyed.

"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir," Wildcat said, ending his comlink.

He pondered momentarily what was happening, and returned to his patrol. Such things were not for young stormtroopers to be pondering just, yet, young James "Wildcat" Narw'iick. You must return to your duties, carry out your orders as you are told to and when you are told to, and maybe, just maybe, someday you, too will be making those decisions with the Generals and Admirals. Someday.

* * * * *

Grand Admiral Ronin grinned slightly as he saw that they had emerged from hyperspace close enough to the platform to hit the ships around it quickly with the axial superlaser. He was on the battle bridge with several computer readout monitors all around him displaying the situation and fleet and ship statistics. His Captain stood beside him nervously.

"Power up the axial," Ronin commanded, "And prepare to target the nearest MC-80. Inform the ESD Blake Stone to target the second."

"Aye, sir," the Captains said as he trotted off to attend to the Grand Admiral's wishes.

Ronin openned a channel with the Interdictor Mouse Trap. "Captain Fett, see what you can do about any ships trying to escape. We can't let anyone get away... this time."

The Captain of the Sovereign returned. "Axial superlaser charged and waiting, sir."

Grand Admiral Ronin openned a channel with the Rebel force. "Rebel strike force, this is Grand Admiral Ronin of the Emperor's Hammer strike fleet. Surrender and prepare to be boarded or you will be destroyed."

There was a pause for a few seconds, and then the voice of Admrial Breen came across the com.

"Grand Admiral, I'm afraid that we cannot accept those terms. Leave this area at once," Breen said snottily.

Ronin waited for a moment, then turned to the captain.

"Fire," Ronin said unemotionally.

He watched a a huge laser lanced out from the Sovereign and blasted the nearest Mon Calamari cruiser, turning the hull largely into a molten hulk before exploding in a starburst. The shockwave visibly traveled from the ship and rocked the Sovereign slightly. The shockwave rocked the other Rebel ships close to it, and when it was over, a corvette was badly damaged from being near the blast. The other ships attempted to move away, slowly engaging their sublight drives and powering up weapons. One of the other Mon Cal cruisers was too slow, and was reduced to half of a slagged hulk by the Eclipse-class Star Destroyer Blake Stone. It burned and began to shift its trajectory towards a slowly fleeing Rebel frigate. The frigate tried to manuever away, but the ship's captain had waited too long to be effective. The fiery hulk slammed into the frigate, snapping it in half as its reactors went critical. There was a bright flash, and a shockwave spread from the site, destroying both ships and turning them into millions of tiny shards. By this time some of the Rebel ships had powered up enough to put up a fight. Alphabet fighters began pouring out from the bays of the remaining ships. Grand Admiral Ronin smiled, bearing his teeth. His eyes showed a sadistic glee.

"Order 2/3 of available TIE squadrons to launch immediately," he commanded, and smiled to himself again.

Captain Thanos sat aboard the bridge of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Majestic. The personell around him were in a busy flurry, running back and forth and operating their stations frantically. His commander approached him with an urgent message.

"Ronin has ordered the release of the TIE squadrons immediately," he said, his eyes large. "The Rebels have released all of their available fighters."

Captain Thanos banged his fist on his command chair. "Launch the TIE squadrons, Commander, and see to it that we bring back all those we release."

"Yes, sir," the commander said, visibly uncomfortable.

There would be losses. No matter how good his men were, there would always be someone who could take them somewhere. And he hoped "somewhere" wouldn't be here. With ten successful, no-loss missions, the ISD Majestic had quite a record to live up to. Commander Krutio did a snappy about face, and ordered the launch of the TIEs from a nearby intercomm nook.

Captain Thanos looked closely. The glimmer of fighter engines was visible coming towards the Majestic. Not quite in torpedo range, fortunately, but closing. He found himself fidgeting as he waited for the TIEs to finally launch. It was too late.

"Commander, have the turbolasers off the port bow target those incoming fighters!" he yelled across the room.

The first wave was a series of X-Wings flying a loose formation. They attempted to climb and fly over the bow, but the turbolasers smacked them hard on their underbelly, blowing them away in a quick flash. On escaped, and began to head toward the bridge.

"Look out!" the Captain yelled as everyone on the raised platform hit the deck.

They were saved by a flight of TIE Interceptors that blasted the X-wing into oblivion, then joined the rest of their wing to destroy the incoming Y-Wings attempting to make a torpedo run.

Commander Kratio leaned into a transmitter and ordered the TIEs to attack the remaining Rebel fighters heading toward the other ships. There was a brief, tense dogfight between the clashing fighters, but soon the TIEs emerged victorious with a loss of about fifteen percent. They quickly changed missions from an anti-fighter directive to an anti-ship directive, with TIE bombers making assault runs on the remaining capital ships.

The Sovereign and Blake Stone were powered up again and unleashed their lances of green death upon the Mon Calamari Cruiser Freedom II, disintegrating it instantly. Out of the explosion emerged a force of fleeing stolen Imperial shuttles, transports, and a small escort of Rebel fighters.

Grand Admiral Ronin ordered the Interdictor cruiser Mouse Trap to lock onto the group with gravity wells to prevent their escape while Imperial Gunboats attacked and disabled the fleeing force.

The Interdictor manuevered to lock its gravity wells on the small ships while the Gunboats swooped in and quickly disabled the helpless craft. TIE Interceptors swooped in and dispatched the remaining Rebel fighters quickly. Soon afterwards, stormtrooper transports boarded the disabled transports, only to reveal that those who had orchestrated the massing of these ships, Vice Admiral Ghallagher and Admiral Breen, were onboard the escaping shuttles.

Fires continued to burn across the remaining ships of the previous Rebel fleet. There was still a furious battle continuing. Remaining Rebel ships included the 8 MC-80s, 10 frigates of any description, and 5 corvettes. The Emperor's Hammer force had lost the Carrack-class cruisers Tribute, Black Blade, Malice, and Deadly and Interdictor Roeser, along with the Corellian Corvettes Marimack, Talon, Cavalier, Thunderer and Hellfire, the Frigates Compton and Quicklsilver, and Imperial- class Star Destroyer Monitor. Losses on both sides were obviously heavy as the battle had been fast and furious.

In the ultimate sacrifice, the captain of the Monitor had sent the ship into the center of a large concentration of Rebel ships as its reactors went critical and smashed into a Rebel cruiser. The entire concentration was destroyed, along with the Monitor. Grand Admiral Thrawn noted that the captain of the monitor was promoted to Rear Admiral post-mordem for his sacrifice.

The battle continued to rage. The Sovereign charged up its axial superlaser and coordinated with the Eclipse. At the same moment, they unleashed their blasts on the platform, turning it into slag and pushing it into some loitering corvettes which took on critical hull damage. One of three corvettes in the group had a hull breach and crumpled from the vaccuum sucking all gas out of the ship before it, too had a reactor failure and obliterated the remaining two corvettes.

The remaining two corvettes out of thirteen coordinated to ram into the ISD Death's Head, as they had no hope of escaping. They charged the Head at full speed. At approximately three kilometers to impact, an MC-80 blundered into their path trying to escape from the ISD Iron Fist. It was too late to manuever, and the corvettes colided with the MC-80, destroying themselves and causing hull damage to the MC-80. The Iron Fist was hot on the cruiser's tail, destroying it with ease.

The Sovereign charged up its axial superlaser and blasted another MC-80 into oblivion. The Blake Stone did the same. The Rebel force now stood at two MC-80s and 10 frigates. A frigate began to go critical and rammed the ISD Grey Fist, causing the ships to explode in a bright flash. Large chunks of the Grey Fist were blown away from the crash site as a pair of Imperial class Star Destroyers swooped in to destroy a loitering frigate.

Grand Admiral Ronin squinted and shielded his eyes as an unexpected blast lit up on the starboard side of the Sovereign. It was the Eclipse-class Star Destroyer Blake Stone, taking out another MC-80. The Super Star Destroyer Avenger flew closely over the bridge of the Sovereign, pursuing a formation of frigates.

Ronin watched as the frigates were was quickly overtaken and as they exchanged turbolaser blasts. The huge concentration of turbolaser blasts coming from the Avenger quickly caused one of the ships to go critical and explode in a flash as the others tried to use the disorienting blast to get away by manuevering to the underside of the ship. It was in vein, of course, as the Avenger quikly reoriented its turbolaser fire patterns and aimed at the fleeing ships once again. One tried to evade a large concentration of turbolaser fire and colided with another frigate, causing it to colide with the third remaining frigate. They were going so fast that the first's bridge section snapped off, causing the neck to have its internal gasses suck out and implode. The second and third frigates escaped with minimal damage, but they could not reorient themselves quickly enough before the Avenger's turbolasers blasted the frigates into oblivion. It then charged up its engines and surged forward to take out the rest of the frigates.

Working in tandem with the other Imperial-class Star Destroyers, the Avenger quicky destroyed the few remaining frigates. There was a quiet lull in the battle. One ship remained: the MC-80 Galactic Princess. The Imperial forces manuevered towards the remaining, helpless ship.

Grand Admiral Ronin openned a comm channel with the captain of the Galactic Princess. "Captain, you are fighting against unwinnable odds. Surrender immediately or prepare to be boarded."

The captain immediately came back over the comm. "Grand Admiral, I am not a stupid man. I surrender my ship to the Empire."

Grand Admiral Ronin breathed a sigh of relief, as did everyone else in the entire fleet. It had been a bloody and furious battle, but it was over now. "Captain, prepare to receive Imperial representatives and troops," he said as he signed off.

He turned his attention to the captured Admirals. He called his captain over to him. "I will be in my observation room. Bring the captured Rebel Admirals to me there."

"Yes, sir," the captain said as he turned to go retrieve the captured Rebels.

* * * * *

Wildcat, now the proud Master Sergeant Assistant Company Commander, was called to bring the captured Rebels to Grand Admiral Ronin in his observation room. He excitedly put on his decorations and new chevrons and marched out the door. Tuojas would be taking them as well, along with Fishman and Nightflyer. They were the senior NCOs on board, and would therefore be given the honor of dragging the scum before the Grand Admiral.

They marched smartly in formation to the detention center, where the scum were handed over into their custody by the Naval Security officers there. One was pretty young and lean, with the white uniform and rank badge of a Rebel vice admiral. The other was quite a bit older, worn, and slightly overweight and wore the white uniform and rank badge of a Rebel full admiral. Wildcat grabbed the arm of the vice admiral and motioned for Tuojas to grab the other arm. Nightflyer and Fishman grabbed the full admiral, and the group proceded out the door and towards the Grand Admiral's observation room.

Nightflyer entered first with the admiral and Fishman, and Wildcat and Tuojas followed with the vice admiral. On a raised platform was a large powered swiveling chair. The chair came to life with a loud engaging sound, then a deep whirring sound. The chair swiveled around, and there sat Grand Admiral Ronin.

Ronin smiled slightly and said with a frightening edge in his voice, "Welcome, admirals, I have been expecting you. I have a matter of utmost importance to speak with you with you."

He laughed sadistically and the blast doors slammed shut with a hollow bang.