The Rebel Faction

Corinth

"Mr. Kre Fey, if you expect me to act only on faith, you are not a stupid as usually portrayed- you are twice as unintelligent."

The insult stung.

It was not portrayed as eloquently as a more polished politician (well a professional politician, by their nature, all Bothans were politicians) might have said it, but it got its meaning across.

Amaer Kre Fey however, was far past the point of reacting to insults that merely stung. The process of being dethroned from the position of councilor of the Combined Clans had hardened his fur against all but the most vicious of verbal daggers.

Dealing with the factions on Corinth had been a pain when he was at the head of the entire Bothan state, and was no less so now, when he was at the nadir of his power and influence. Unlike the more "cultured" members of his species, on Kothlis and Bothawui, the clans of Corinth has always been more militant and overt. They still remained Bothans, and so nothing they did was as open as say, that of a human in a similar situation, but their actions were still somewhat forceful in the eyes most of their brethren.

"General, I understand your concerns, but I give you my word, with as solemn a promise as I can convey, that I am involved in no deception."

General For'liy dark grayish fur ruffled slightly, a near sign of exasperation. Amaer didn't blame him- would he be likely to trust the bothan who ordered, just a few short years ago, the subjugation of your independent world?

When the general remained silent, Amaer pressed onward. He had one final card to play.

"I have already secured the support of four of your counterparts... so I warn you that your support is not absolutely critical for the success of this operation. It will certainly make things easier, increase our chances of victory, but... "

Amaer let the rest of the sentence play out however the General wanted it to. His meaning was clear: We hope you join the team, but you're not an essential player.

Which in most cases might have had the opposite effect from what Amaer wanted, except that if the General's rivals managed to pull off the operation, the first thing they would do would be to settle scores with those who sat by and watched.

"I will consider your offer."

Amaer waited to smile until he had turned to leave, knowing that while the General seemed to be stalling for time, he had already accepted. All that was left was the formality, and there was time for that later.

Five down.

It had been difficult, no nigh impossible, for Amaer to gain any traction with Corinth's wide range of warlords and powerbrokers. His name was not merely tarnished here, it was reviled. He had trouble even getting face to face meetings, a courtesy that most Bothans would extend to even their greatest enemies. Most had been ready to dismiss him in fifteen minutes, having gone through the show, the formality, of talking to him.

But Amaer had the magic blaster, the one thing that could make anyone on Corinth listen to him:

A plan to return Corinth to Independence once more.

The irony was heavy, but that had never stopped any self-respecting Bothan before. It had been difficult, convincing any of the major powerbrokers to back him, but Amaer had not risen to the head of the Combined Clans by chance. He had promised a demonstration, actions to back up his words, and that had been good enough to get him the critical mass of support that he needed. He had several more meetings to attend, and he would no doubt pick up more supporters as a result of those, but he could move right now if need be. He had the support of five of the six most powerful factions, and that was more than he had planned on obtaining in his initial outline.

He was cautiously optimistic, but everything depended upon the next phase- his promised demonstration. Amaer, lacking a powerbase of his own, was merely a spectator in this facet of the scheme.

Besides, demonstrations were more in the Union's line of work anyway.

Vaseli Zokolev was on his way out of the bridge for a well deserved meal when the message came through. His foot had just touched the line that separated the bridge from the rest of the Star Destroyer when duty once again pulled him back from the necessity of hunger. The Captain made a mental note to have some food sent down to the bridge, but quickly disregarded it as he would not have the time to eat it anyways.

Turning quickly around, Vaseli took longs strides back to his command seat and looked over the bridge. He focused his vision on the XO.

"Inform the rest of the fleet to reassemble in the predesignated formations. We jump out in ten minutes."

Captain Zokolev felt the minutes slowly tick by while watching the large holo display at the center of the bridge. The display showed a three dimensional representation of the space his fleet existed in, as well as the numerous vessels that made up his command. Slowly the vessels moved together from different locations and formed up into three formations. These formations had been planned in advance and every commander knew his or her place and mission.

As he looked out the viewports situated around the bridge superstructure, Vaseli could see a large Eternal Class Star Destroyer taking up position less than two kilometers to port of his command vessel. Other cruisers, gunships, and corvettes were rearranging into position as well all around him. His plan had been somewhat complicated and elaborate, but he had faith in the people he commanded. What problem was that this command was new to Vaseli and he did not yet know if the people he commanded had faith in him.

With a minute and some to spare his Executive Officer informed him that all ships were where they should be and ready for departure. Vaseli needed and glaced over at the large timer, which wound down the time in big red numbers. The Captain took one last look at the floating display in front of him and wondered how many of those ships and men would return home after this mission. All he could do was trust them and conduct the battle to his best ability. Nothing more could be asked of him or any one else that feel under his responsibility.

"Sir, five seconds." The XO updated him.

"Very well." Vaseli stated and sat down in his chair to look at the space and stretched before his fleet. "Commence Operation Backstab."

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The first ships to come out of hyperspace before the forested planet of Krant were eight gunships of the Intrepid, Fury, and Dasher class. These eight ships, large and small, formed a sort of protective cocoon around a single Fire Class frigate that stood hidden from sensor readings within the center of this formation. The tight cluster of ships would make it almost impossible to make the frigate out among the other vessels so close to it.

The formation quickly accelerated towards the planet and brought all their sensor arrays online. No portion of space before them would be left unscanned as each vessel had its own assigned search grid. Every target detected, enemy of not, was processed and quickly relayed by tight beam transmission to a point just outside the planetary system. A point too distant from Krant to be in sensor range.

Operation Backstab had just commenced.

Kothlis Space

"Hyperspace reversion in five....four....three....two....one....reverting." counted off the chief navigator as his hand depressed a lever on the console in front of him. Right on cue the starlines reverted into their normal pinprick form, with one standing out among the rest. The Imperial fleet had arrived within the Kothlis system. Alarms began to sound off on the bridge of the Narcassus as contact reports began to filter in.

"Sir, multipule contacts reported in system. System defenses are present as expected. However, two unexpected clusters of warships are being confirmed at this time. One of these groups had a large number of smaller ships and their types and profiles were matched with records, both recently provided by Imperial intelligence and having on hand from old estimates, meant that they were Bothan vessels. The other group however has markings and types confirmed to be of the Galatic Coalition." reported the sensors officer.

"Aye. It figures that the Bothans would turn to our natural enemies to seek comfort in the face of our might storm. It appears also that we are somewhat outnumbered and overmatched. Still, whatever we can accomplish here means that our bretheren will be spared in their quests for victory. All right, have the formation execute a ninety degree turn and form into line ahead. Unmask the port and starboard batteries. Form our starfighters into a protective screen. And bring all shields up into full power. Oh, and have the fleet activate it's gravity well projectors." ordered the vice admiral.

"Sir, do you have any messages for the enemy?" inquired the communications officer.

"I don't have anything to say to them at this time. Prepare to direct any incoming transmissions into my personal station." replied Carson.

While I may not be so foolhardy as to charge straight into such odds, nor will I retreat from a good fight. However, I will not initiate hostile actions. If the Bothans want a fight, they'll have to come get them one. That, or stay trapped in their own planetery system.

<b>Bothawui</b>

Devlo and her advisors along with the heads of every other clan on Bothawui had been able to hear the conversation between Captain Vos and the Bothan fleet commander. When the last transmission from the Bothan commander was given Devlo turned away in disgust.

"'<i>Accept your terms unconditionally!</i>' He's a disgrace to the Bothan race! Any Bothan knows better than to accept anything unconditionally. He's abandoning the way."

Devlo graced Oleg's outburst with merely a raised eyebrow before beginning to voice her thoughts.

"Intelligence indicates that there are currently two Venerator-class troopships on there way. Apparently they carry two divisions of infantry and a regiment of armour."

Golm nodded his head. "Unfortunately, the Admiral's surrender also included Bothan ground troops as well. As such the Imperial landings will be met with no official resistance. We still have time before the Empire begins to land and begins to secure the armed forces' equipment. Therefore I move that we begin looting and destroying all of the Bothan armies equipment. What we can't have they won't have either. In that vein, what's the status of our financial accounts?"

"90% of our capital was put into the purchase of valuable gems and minerals on foreign worlds. Specifically Onyx, Valacar, Genon and Gestalt I. The Bothan Credit is going to take a huge hit initially but when this war's over we'll be able to recover by selling off our new assets. Most of the other clan's have done the same dividing the money evenly between the Commonwealth and the Galactic Coalition. Exceptions include the Bost Clan's which have put about half of the independent treasury into the Coalition, and most of the rest into Hapes. However a substantial portion went to Moonus Mandell."

"We're going to practically refinance the entire Galactic Coalition." Oleg grumbled.

"Well nobody else is coming to our aid," Devlo pointed out. "This will be a downpayment representing our thanks. In the meantime we need to come up with a strategic plan."

Golm nodded, "First thing we need to do is spread the word concerning the commandeering of military equipment to the other clans. Restrict it mostly to clans we can trust explicitly. Tell them to continue the chain only informing clans they trust implicitly. After that we should begin to organize a leadership and a cell system that should not be based along clan lines. If your neighbour is in Iek clan but you trust him explicitly then he should be in your cell. There should be no resistance to the initial landings, the Imperials have a substantial enough spaceborne force that any attempt at organized resistance would be suicide. This will be an insurgency, and a fine one at that."

Once Golm finished Devlo stood up and addressed the assembled audience. She was not looking for any secret signals here, she knew her audience was on her side. "Now is the time where the fate of the Bothan Race will be decided. We will not become another slave race to the Empire. The Way will not become subject to the bastard philosophy of Daemon Hyfe, Simon Kaine or this upstart Vos. We are Bothan! We are Free! And we will continue to follow the way regardless of the efforts of the Empire. Spread the word, for we need to act fast."

Within minutes of this pronouncement forces were in motion all across Bothawui. Armouries were looted and burned while the guards looked on indifferently, in a number of occasions even becoming one of the looters. By the time of the arrival of the troopships at least three quarters of the Bothan armoury had been destroyed or made off with and secreted away under floorboards and buried in people's backyards. The Bothan people were ready for war and nobody had any idea of what was about to come next.

<b>Kothlis</b>

Marth Meer smiled at the forces arranged off the bow of his fleet. The Empire had come to fight but they had no idea about what they were about to face.

"Commodore Tomas are all of our forces in position?"

"Aye Vice-Consul."

"Very well. Inform the Bothan Admiral that this is his show. You have control of the fleet, Commodore."

"Aye sir. Task Force Omega form up. Order Task Force Deliverance to prepare to warm up. Begin opening all fighter bay doors. Distance from here to the Imperial Fleet?"

"They're at approximately twice the maximum distance of their longest range weapons."

"Excellent, inform the <i>Kothlis Jewel</i> that we are set to proceed."

Seconds later a gravelly sounding Bothan voice sounded over the bridge's speakers.

"Imperial Ships, you are invading a sovereign system. You are ordered to lower shields and power down your ships and stand by for boarding. You have 30 seconds to comply or you will be fired upon. This is your only warning."

EDIT: *Computer problem- Coming Soon*


SETH EDIT: Want me to delete this post?