The Rebel Faction

"How could a single Imperator fire through fully charged planetary shields?"

Yes, how? Rather than cower in fear, and allow themselves to be paralyzed by the unknown, his subjects could have engaged in a few moments of rational analysis and deduced that what they assumed to be happening was impossible. The eye, for humans and most aliens, was the most trusted sensory organ but that did not somehow correlate with the notion that it was infallible.

Stage magicians raked in the credits by exploiting this very basic principle.

Besides, if your people had stood firm against Thrawn, they planet could have been reduced to ashes.

Or, had they stood firm, Ukio might be heralded as the planet whose stubborn refusal to submit set in motion the downfall of quite possibly the greatest tactician and strategist the galaxy had ever seen.

Besides, Thrawn wasn't planning on razing Ukio, regardless of the outcome of his ploy. He had resorted to trickery specifically to avoid taking that very action, in an effort to save the planet's vital resources from the devastation of a conventional siege and invasion.

The fact that you actually have something to govern and lord over demonstrates the wise common sense thinking of your people back then

No, it demonstrated that my predecessor was not fit to fill his position.

His backbone melted away when he stood toe to toe with destiny.

He had cracked and faltered when his decision would affect the course of history.

He had failed when his people had needed him most.

Hilter Afdol was mindful of that history. He may have gained his office by questionable means, and he might have plans for Ukio that superseded the simple interest of that planet and its people, but he had gained a curious affection for them and he had no intention of undertaking any course of action that would again put them through such ignominy.

Your political value to me only comes from your entry into the League of Nations. I think that with work and with strategic diplomacy, Ukio has a prime opportunity to become very large, very influential part of the leadership in this organization. And should your views and desires differ from those of Simon Kaine's, he may try to discredit you and your leadership through your former GLF ties

The notion that he might seek a leadership role in the League was elementary, and Hilter was not surprised that Seamus was anticipating his aspirations.

But what was far more interesting (and revealing) was the implication, the insinuation, that Simon Kaine might attempt to destroy (or even preemptively derail) Hilter's presence in the LON by bringing up his GLF connections.

Because that meant that Seamus Arliss was interested, perhaps willing to invest (political capital that is, if not hard credits), in a LON leader who could/would challenge Kaine.

It was intriguing, to say the least.

"But if your petition, as you say, is true then the destruction of Belgardi will not only not affect you but discrediting you becomes far harder to accomplish."

Regardless of his intentions, the destruction of Belgardi would have an effect on Hilter, though perhaps not in the manner that Arliss was anticipating.

Although he had sold his company, he retained a substantial number of shares of the company as a personal investment. He had various other assets, but a total destruction of Belgardi (or more likely, nationalization) would significantly diminish his impressive personal fortune. He would hardly be a pauper, but the thought of losing that many credits would unsettle anyone.

"If Ukio captures the leadership privilege of the League, it opens up a vast array of opportunities....

It most certainly does.

But for whom, and to what ends?

About those questions, much more thought was required.

"You may be getting slightly ahead of yourself, Seamus. How can Ukio obtain a leadership position if we're not even a member yet."

He grinned.

"The prospect though, I must admit, is something that I would certainly consider, under the right circumstances.

Then again, if I don't make it to the rotunda for my speech on time this whole conversation will be for naught."

"So now that I have slipped, at least temporarily, out of Simon Kaine's noose of chains, tell me Seamus what political use you have for the human leader of an alien world whose inhabitants were once duped into surrendering their heavily defended world to a single Imperial Star Destroyer?"




Deep Space
ISD Predator



Line Captain Ortho Gutt stood, legs apart, at the end of the overhanging walk. His large belly protruded even farther out as if the mere direction he faced would serve to guide his ship forward. As he stood there he contemplated the series of events that had led him to this point.


Why the Supreme Commander took such an interest in him he did not know but he did find himself the envy of many other starship commanders. At least, those starship commanders who were as ambitious as he was to make their own mark on the galaxy at large.


He had been a simple Line Captain before his fateful meeting with Simon Kaine prior to the Garqi Operation. As a result of that operation, he had become temporary Governor of the planet overseeing the resupplying operations (or truer still, overseeing those overseeing the resupply operations). He did not really have a hand in the decisions regarding resupplying as Kaine had others tasked for that. No, he was the figurehead and normally he might have been filled with anger at being used so but as it turned out, perhaps Kaine recognized his genius after all?


For he had turned his situation around making use of his title to improve his personal empty coffers. Upon his recall to Imperial Center, his personal fortunes had risen to the point of making him a wealthy man. Not extremely wealthy but he had enough for the comfortable existence he craved and he was sure that a man as perceptive as Simon Kaine would recognize his self serving activities as a prime example of what Ortho Gutt could do to make his own way.

His friend, rival and fellow hunter, Captain Yatta, had jokingly remarked that the Imperial High Command recalled him before he could severely embarrass the Empire with his "after-hours" activities.

Ortho, however, had his own interpretation. He felt the High Command had recognized the genius within and felt they could not let such a valuable resource idle on Garqi. No, he had to be at the center of power where the 'big plays' were set into motion. His expert talents would be invaluable to them!


Upon arriving at Imperial Center, he soon found, though, that meeting after meeting regarding New Order Policies became quite boring. He missed the excitement of the hunt and longed to be back aboard the Predator. He knew his crew was getting soft at the inactivity and so he would send order after order for them to drill. To make better time. To improve on imaginary numbers and so, unknown to him, his crew learned to hate this meddling and office-desk command style.


But that didn't matter.


For he had finally (Finally!) been called out from behind the desk and put back into the field.


The assignment was simple. The simplest kind and one that personally appealed to Captain Gutt.


Even if he did have to wait.


And wait they did. Fifteen days they waited on station, out in the deep, dark, cold waters of space.


"Captain, Captain Ironside and Captain Yatta report battlestation ready."


Gutt's hand fiddled with a pocket hidden by his large frame and pulled out an antiquated Garqi timepiece. Ironside had made excellent time but he suspected Captain Yatta was taking shortcuts to match the time of his rival Captain. Nothing short of a direct inspection would catch the slippery Yatta out so he let it pass accepting the numbers for now.


The other vessels were outside of the Predator's sensor range as the Predator was outside the sensor range of the planetary system nearby.


They were waiting.


Ortho Gutt's mind cast back to his meeting with Kaine before shipping out from Coruscant and to the holopics of Afdol Hilter and the planet Ukio. It seemed that his old nemesis, Hilter, had wanted bigger and better things as well and would soon be addressing the General Assembly of the League of Nations as Overliege of the planet.


He thought back to the holopic of Ukio. Grand Admiral Thrawn had taken the planet once and perhaps Line Captian Gutt would have to do so again.


Grand Admiral Gutt


It had a nice ring to it.


"Launch the hyperspace probe," he ordered swiveling his body instead of turning his tree-trunk of a neck.


The operation would be happening soon.

The acknowledgment speech recounting the past few weeks of progress on Glee Anselm had finished with a resounding applause to the Anx and Gravlex Med for their continued efforts and support.

The Imperial Reclamation Fleet had been reduced in size and a couple of Imperator workhorses had made themselves available to provide logistical and material support for those skilled in the art of rebuilding broken worlds.

The Empire made hints regarding data being collected and syphoned to the Imperial Intelligence network coffers disseminating and digesting the (literally) mountain of information recovered and seized in the Imperial Occupation Zone.

References to Glee Anselm were given special priority to certain search engines and groups.

They were one step closer, they felt, to finally finding out who the culprit who slaughtered millions of Anselmi and Nautolans was.

Simon Kaine sat in his darkened conference room, seated above the circular rotunda seating giving him an overall impression of the meetings he deigned to attend.

Hilter was ushered in as talk moved to that of membership and the Ukio application was at the top of the list. For their publicity regarding aid towards Glee Anselm and their very public desire to become a member world and not in the least due to the reputation of the man, Afdol Hilter, who led the world, expectations were naturally high.

The Imperial sector was reserved preferring to keep their deliberations to themselves whereas some member worlds looked with anxious eagerness at hearing the words of the Ukioan Overliege.

The cooling air recepticles started their operation but the soft noise was lost on the Supreme Commander as he unconsciously leaned forward interested to hear the presentation and application speech of Hilter.

The man calmly took in his surroundings before opening his mouth...

The applause was justified. The speech was everything a rousing orator required to persuade listeners to their point of view. The Hostiles were less and less hostile after the Glee Anselm tragedy for they were worlds founded on nothing more than piracy. These days they were the godson of neutrality and the Neutrals favored the status-quo and the security of their self-assured independence. The Loyalists, those benefiting from Imperial connections while themselves remaining unentangled by it's regime, were less enthusiastic in their applause given the shadows of bias contained within the message. But they applauded nonetheless.


There was energy in the man, Afdol Hilter. An energy that was contagious.


The applause began to drift as time went by until only the sound of a single clap permeated the room.

A rather old man, in Imperial robes, was standing off to the side clapping rhythmatically and in dogged persistence. The man's insistence began to psychologically push the members back as they sat down leaving Hilter alone to face the representative of the most powerful government in the galaxy.

The man did not stoop as was a slight attribute of a contemporary of his, a certain Azrael Zell, but stood ramrod straight, his gray hair combed back and glistening in the artifical illumination, giving off an air of dignity.

The man's clapping began to fade off before becoming socially offensive. He remained standing out of respect and when dead silence reigned, he spoke. The acoustics of the Rotunda were excellent even without the augmented audio "pick-ups" and so carried his voice firm across the way.

"The proper procedure is for the membership to discuss among ourselves our thoughts, recommendations and reservations (if any)." he began. "Normally, my speech I am giving now would simply be a speech of clarification. But in the light of recent, tragic events involving a member world, my speech has, by necessity, had to....evolve."

He gave a self depreciating and rather grim smile.

"You are correct Mr. Hilter, representative of the Republic of Ukio, regarding the times we live in. However, I must caution you against being a victim to that ever trickster, history.

If not for your statement about understanding the rules and regulations of the League of Nations, I would question it. Especially in light of your reference to the Galactic Republic.

Some will look at this august body and a portion may look in scorn at a bunch of self aggrandizing, self-important pompous fools. Some may scoff at what we are trying to accomplish here and some may fear it due to associations with the Empire and the Imperial who pushed for the ratification of this organization, Simon Kaine. 'Leave the Core to the Core!', I believe the common, current expression of the naysayers to be.

You come here with tales of the horrible times we are living in...surrounded by wars on all sides, surrounded by great powerful governments with sweeping fleets embroiling everyone in galactic conflict. You bring to us word of the very real dangers of anarchy-driven tools and speak to us as the best, only hope for the galaxy...even going so far as to evoke the memory of the great twenty-five thousand year republic that preceded us."

He began to chuckle slightly. "That was a nice touch."

"And, yes, I agree, twenty-five thousand years is a great accomplishment. But rather than try to mold us into something that ultimately failed why not see the League of Nations for what it truly is.

Something different.

We are not asking any member world to give up it's government of choice, whether it be self government or association with an outside power. We do not ask members to swear oaths of obedience to a flag of a Republic nor do we ask our members to take a stand for galactic-save-the-nerf policies. The League of Nations is not out to directly save the galaxy, you see.

I think, of late, that we have been bombarded with various fanatical types in the form of political leaders to terrorist organizations set out on the road to forcefully bring this galaxy into a state of preconceived redemption. Whether it needs it or not.

We feel the answer lies in a less... grandiose methodology.

The Leage of Nations is a self serving organization and it's members rightly look to and frankly expect economic benefits and mutual protection.

For how can you save the galaxy if you cannot protect your own world?

You are not obligated to like fellow members. I admit, not everyone here likes or approves of the Empire. But you know what," the old man's grin widened, "..it is big of us to tolerate other's dislike of us just as it is big of you to tolerate our contempt."

"We do not force each other along our respective ideologies but we coexist among them. We do not deal in magical worlds where government satisfies every whim of populace and does so without taxing them.." he got a chuckle here and there at that, "..but we deal with reality. And the reality is there will always be ideological polar opposites that people cling too.

I feel your example of the Republic is flawed for the only peace it ever knew was in the last thousand years of existence. Granted, that in and of itself is quite an accomplishment but what was the trade off for such a widely known and sought-after goal?

The Republic had no military and they had no military because it was defeated beyond measure by an outside, opposing government. Subsequently, the Republic became policed by Jedi.

So, tell me, Mr. Hilter. Is the Republic of Ukio ready to give up it's military and accept oversight by the Jedi Corps? Or even the defunct Jedi Order, late of Naboo and recently of the near-defunct Coalition?

If not, how can you ever hope to achieve this utopian dream?

No, we try not to fool ourselves with the sleight of hand history deals to us. What was the rest of the twenty-four thousand years of Republican rule about in the midst of such horrors as the First Great Schism, the Tion War, seventeen separate Alsakan wars, the bloody crusades of Pius Dea, the Second Great Schism, the Droid Revolution, the Old Sith Wars, the Mandalorian Wars, the New Sith Wars, the Hyperspace War, ....the Clone War?

The history of the Republic is a veritable trail of bloody entrails that makes what we face now baskets of flowers by comparison!

In light of such a legacy, I think we are doing well.

And it is our contention that our own well-being is of paramount importance. Simon Kaine thought so and rather than let this building fall into disrepair or possible demolition, he decided this was as good a use for it as any. But do not attribute our using this building as anything other than our desire to live without fear.

Even the Republic started out as a group of self enterprising and self interested group of Core Worlds desiring better trade and mutual protection. And they probably incurred the contempt of other outside planets. In that, your analytical comparison is spot on and gives us hope that you do truly understand.

Yes, the League of Nations represents a hope. But not for the galaxy. For ourselves!

For in saving ourselves, we save the galaxy.

For in helping ourselves, we help the galaxy.

Or so Simon Kaine thought when he pushed for this charter to be realized. And it will be a well-founded thought should the League of Nations continue self-serving and strong when he is dead and buried.

Therefore, with your application, you tell the League that you are concerned about your own self-interests. By becoming a member, you make League interests your own.

Already your support of the League, specifically, the member world Glee Anselm is becoming legendary.

We applaud your quest for moderation in dealing with each other as it is a bylaw. A League member cannot war against another member directly nor support such a conflict."

The old man's face became sad, "To do so would not be in a world's best, self interest.

The tragedy of Glee Anselm has given us pause and, in light of this more horrid attack upon all of us, we must clearly and unswervingly hear your final words again.

You spoke them with such conviction, with such utter determination and unflinching purpose that there can be no mistake.

The perpetrators of Glee Anselm and their like, organizations that have no better purpose than to tear the galaxy asunder such as the Galactic Liberation Front, the Followers of the Madhi, or other such killers that use innocuous names like Supporters of the Light, Soldiers of the Light or Sons of Liberty will find no safe haven within the League of Nations nor any attached to it's membership.

Our respective individual governments already have a policy of no-negotiation with such entities and we have now carried over a motion to make this League Policy as well.

Such organizations and their supporters are not recognized as legal or sovereign entities by the League and therefore subject to immediate and unilateral prosecution by any means deemed required by the acting body.

Your work in restoring the conditions on Glee Anselm have spoken of Ukio's great character and it's support in spirit of our efforts at protecting what we have.

Those kernels of hope.

We know we have your support in this, we know we have your blessing in this and we know you and the Republic of Ukio will do everything in your power to aid us in our uprooting of these enemies of civilization.

Please, wholeheartedly, give us your motion again with full understanding of the obligations and requirements such a motion entails and let us welcome you as one of our founding fathers!"