Imperial Vendetta

[Braden Dar]

Hello ladies and gentlemen. I have decided to completely restart this little FanFic and to try to get somewhere this time. I had Master Magnus delete the previous thread (thank you Magnus) so that I could reinsert the story with the changes I have made.
Primarily, I added some more depth to some areas, and deleted segments that seemed to me to be pointless or ultimately counterproductive to where I see the story going. My original intent was a story from the Imperial perspective, but this venture is more traditional in that it will feature the "good guys" more and center around where they are going.
To be fair, my original story had no real plot beyond the first few entries I had made. I really was just making it up as I went along. This time, however, I have a purpose. And I am doing research for the things I want on an on-again-off-again basis. Please see the General Discussion thread to see where I post some needs for furthering the story.

Please direct comments to me via PM, so as to keep the story flowing. Thanks, and be patient.



HARBINGER INFO

Personas

Alliance

Wing Commander Tay Hondo, human male from Coruscant, commander of Nomad Squadron (X-Wing)
Commander (XO) Drebin Wayfarer, human male from Commenor, commander of Raider Squadron (X-Wing)
Commander Tobias Chek, Chevin human male from Vinsoth, commander of Bowcaster Squadron (Y-Wing)
Captain Irada Vrie, Twi’lek female from Ryloth, captain of the Solarium
Captain Ulok Thrin, Twi’lek male from Ryloth, captain of the Collateral
Captain Som, Sullustan male from Sullust, captain of Sweet Entropy
Captain Ef Efossa , ZeHethbra female from ZeHeth, captain of Beautiful Nova
Grunrocca, Wookie male from Kashyyyk, captain of the Ororo
Captain Maaken, Duros male from Duro, captain of Heaven’s Quest
Captain Lana Brennil, human female from Tralus, captain of Double Trouble
Freeman Delta, human male from Corellia, captain of The Delta Edge

Imperial

Captain Jeris Hethespron, Imperial Star Destroyer Catastrophe
Commander Teedin Parth, Imperial Star Destroyer Catastrophe
Major Ando Tarsk, Imperial Army, Iatan Station
Miss Yashin Rinna, assistant to Captain Hethespron
Avir Tholor, chief engineer, Iatan Station

[Braden Dar]

HARBINGER

Chapter One

As he watched the Imperial heavy transport jump to lightspeed, Avir Tholor felt more like the captain of a battle group than a technical advisor and engineer. From his vantage point, high atop Iatan Station in its command bridge, Avir could gage the progress on the current run of new and repaired vessels. The only lighting came from the Station’s batteries of high-intensity floodlights that adorned the space dock like the jewels in a crown. Not that there was much beauty to be seen in the Station, itself. The free floating repair yard was made from prefabricated sections in the standard Imperial grey, with only the warships and the construction berths being any different in color. The ships wore the typical white casting of hull plates while the berths had been made from a darker, almost black metal. The durasteel had been treated with a special low-reflective coating that would make it more difficult for incoming fighters and battle groups to isolate the berths and damage the Empire’s ability to create their war making crafts.

As the various metal workers and engineers went about their duties in zero-g, Avir considered the timetable that had been displayed on the viewscreen before him. The schedule called for two Star Destroyers to be well into their retrofitting. However, one of the stations two heavy berths was filled with the battle scarred Impervious. The repairs were taking far too long. He felt the beginings of a horrible knot in his stomach, again. The Empire did not tolerate failure.

The Impervious had been on escort duty along the Rimma Trade Route when she was felled upon by a sizable enough fleet to bruise the Imperial war machine. She had been hit hard by a Rebel force that was supposed to be weakened and disorganized after their escape from Hoth. Her body now ached. They had melted a large amount of the armor from her starboard bow. The technicians had to rip most of her side open before they could repair the damage. The bridge, too, had suffered in the fight. One of the shield domes had been destroyed, and the bridge itself had taken a few direct hits. The forward viewports were so charred that she looked as if she wore a black eye.

At least the stations second berth was nearing completion of the Empire's new prize. Avir had been informed only a few days earlier that this marvelous ship would be known as Harbinger. An Imperial-classStar Destroyer with a new weapon in place of several of the older turbolaser emplacements. A redesign of the standing platform that the Emperor finds so very appealing. She was an updated model bristling with more firepower than her older siblings, thanks to Avir Tholor‘s ingenius creation. She would bring the Rebellion against the sovereign Empire crashing down.

'Finally,' he thought, 'I will have a measure of revenge against those murderers!'

Avir clinched his right hand and pressed his fist to the transparisteel viewport. He leaned forward, resting his head upon his hand. Despite the thickness of the clear armor, Avir could feel the coldness of deep space on the other side. It soothed him. He didn’t even mind the odd stares from the technicians hovering over their workstations. All that concerned Avir Tholor was furthering the Empire’s stranglehold over this pitiful rebellion.

His memories came flooding back in from the last day his family took breath. The day that the Rebel Alliance brought devastation to his homeworld and rained down fire from the heavens, laying waste to cities and fields full of crops. On that fateful day, Avir Tholor turned from a man of science and technology, into a man of rage and bloodlust. On that fateful day, Avir Tholor swore the deaths of everyone to ever claim the ideals of those rebels. The ideals that would allow them to slaughter a planet full of men and women, small children, and elders alike, without any discretion.

‘Thanks be to whatever powers there are in this universe that the Empire arrived so promptly to aid us,’ he thought with a queer smirk marking his features. ‘They restored order in the chaos and rescued so many of my countrymen. They will reap the rewards for their good deeds.’

Avir turned from the transparisteel, gloating under his stern appearance, and made for the lift that would take him down to the construction levels of the Station. He would personally oversee the software needs of this new Destroyer. He would make certain that it could lash out with his own fury at those hated cowards that cost him his very soul. Avir Tholor would have his revenge.

[Braden Dar]

On the bridge of the Star Destroyer Catastrophe, his Star Destroyer, Captain Jeris Hethespron stared obliviously as the construction of the new warship was carried out. He could gage the work at hand and thought of the opportunities to gain a higher commission if he were to have this Harbinger. His thoughts drifted. His mind on the battles of his previous posts. His life was so dull now. Guarding a deep space dock that was lightyears from any inhabited system was certainly not his idea of a good post.

He paid little attention to the hustle of construction droids and technicians as they plied their skills and built the next generation of warship for the Galactic Empire. The meager floodlights glowed intensely against the bleak black backdrop of deep space. Few stars were visible from this empty stretch of the galaxy. Fewer stars possessed any planets. Fewer still could support life. This region was ideal for the development and testing of weapons, as well as the repairing of damaged ships already in service.

Hethespron’s rise from mediocrity aboard an escort cruiser had been a steady, if not tedious process. Every skirmish was a chance to distinguish himself above his peers. He had even had the gall to elevate himself above his commanding officers. Now, he was a commanding officer. He did not answer to another being on the Destroyer. Nor did he answer to any individual onboard Iatan Station. But what good was being in command if you were relegated to a place so devoid of combat opportunity that a field promotion was all but impossible? How would Captain Hethespron ever achieve a command of such a ship as one of the new class of Star Destroyer? How would this captain ever become an admiral?

'Without any action -any combat -how am I to distinguish myself in Imperial service?' Jeris pondered. 'I finally have my own command and I'm sent to this...this void of the Emperor's creation. I must have action!'

How he longed for the chance to assault a hidden base, or seize a fleet of Rebel ships as they were pulled from hyperspace. The chance to rise up against his foes, both foreign and domestic, and show his mettle in all adversities. The chance to command a small fleet; a few Destroyers, some Strike cruisers, a picket line of Carracks and the like; locked in combat to the death with those rag-tag Rebels and their motley assortment of outdated bulk cruisers and converted passenger liners. He just knew that he could wreak havoc upon them, and earn a position in the hierarchy of Imperial service.

He was returned to the present by the boot heels of his second in command clicking sharply against the command catwalk. He held his position facing out of the forward viewports with his hands clasped at the small of his back. He allowed Commander Parth to approach seemingly unnoticed. Hethespron felt it was a good strategy for his crew to believe that he could not be startled.

"Reports, sir."

Captain Hethespron inclined his head towards his subordinate, but did not alter his stance otherwise. "Ah, very good, Teedin. I'll view them momentarily."

"I have assurances from the shipwrights that all is proceeding as expected," Teedin Parth continued. "The Destroyer will be complete within the cycle."

He paused, only for a moment. "Are you alright, Captain?"

"Perfectly fine, Commander."

"I am sorry, sir. You seem to be elsewhere. Shall I have a physician brought to your quarters?"

"No, Commander Parth. That won't be necessary. But you may ready a shuttle. I will be paying a visit to the station. Have the reports ready for me when I arrive."

"As you wish. I will have a security detail prepared to accompany you."

"No. That shall not be necessary, either."

Hethespron waived his second in command away with utter arrogance.

Teedin Parth walked smartly toward the command station at the rear of the catwalk, signaling for a junior officer to relay the captain’s instructions. When he was gone, Captain Hethespron returned to his unfocused stare out the forward-most viewport.

'How dare he presume to dictate to the captain of an Imperial Star Destroyer. Stormtroopers are a tool of fear for those who do not yet have a fear of the Empire. These engineers and ship builders are here because they want the Empire to be sustained for decades to come. They would only be hindered by stress if a contingent of shock troops were to loom over them as a shadow of doubt as to where their loyalties lie. And that would be counter-productive to the Emperor's orders.'

Jeris Hethespron allowed himself the moment of concealed anger. But he turned his attentions to the behemoth in the modestly lit ships berth on the side of Iatan Station. The shadows stretched down and around the mammoth ship in the docks as her older sister stood watch from a cautious distance. Her firepower and the fear that it instilled draped in a dark shroud, waiting for the day when she would rise up and spew laser death at all that dared oppose its captain. With a vessel such as that under his command, he could destroy the Rebellion and raise his own stock exponentially. He could attain a position that was at least equal to that held by Palpatine’s pet monstrosity, Darth Vader. He felt his mouth begin to water, and his heart began to race. He felt his face redden a few shades as a possible future world revealed itself to him. The visions that filled his head were of the beauty of his being crowned Emperor of the Galaxy. What a glorious day that would be.

If he could manage to stay his own execution for even thinking of something as hideous as standing against Palpatine.

[Cydon]

I can't believe I'm the only one to comment on this story! Great work Braden Dar!

[Konig15]

Well, your techs are good, but what about the characters. Heatherspon and Parath are quite flat. In fact, that's not you, it's all the EU I've read. Heatherspon is powerhungry. It seems EVERYONE in the Imperial navy is power hungry. It would be nice to see if any one truly beleives in the Empire, the New Order, rather than licking Palpy's heels to get ahead in life. There's no patriotism; even in Soviet Russia, the officers at least served because even if they hated Stalin, they loved Russia and didn't want to see it crushed under a Nazi boot.

Shouldn't the Imperials be SCARED of the Alliances goals? Visions of disorder, corruption, collapse. No one in the EU has yet made a good case for the Empire, and I think it would help your story if the idea of serving the Empire was something more than blind ambition. The Fascists said they were defending Europe against Communism, the Reds said they were liberating their working class brothers. Rome thought it had a semi-devine civilizing mission. Order is good, and the Empire deserves credit for instilling order after a massive civil war. But is there anything else the Imperials can fight for?

And it would be realy, REALLY cliche to say the Imperials were actually responosible for the bombing. Really. Please don't do that.

Just my opinion.

[Braden Dar]

OFF STORY

Konig, the main villain, Jeris Hethespron, is a self-centered man that cares little for anything besides his own rank. All he wants is to be a top-ranking officer (Admiral or something) and command a huge military campaign against anyone that stands against him. In this, he sees himself not unlike the Emperor.
And who said there was a bombing? I know, "rained down fire from the heavens," but that could be another meaning altogether. Perhaps its true, that the Rebels did something bad. Perhaps it was the Imperials. Perhaps neither was involved at all. Only the unfolding of the story will show.

NOW BACK TO OUR SHOW

[csr74]

Sorry for the comment, but, Konig15, the Empire was supposed to bring Peace, Order and Justice for All. And there were people who believed in that. Think of Kir Kanos.

[Jedi Master 2k5]

Sweet story !!!!!!!!! !!!!