The Rebel Faction

The General listened with quiet respect to the words of the mysterious arrival. His eyes narrowed in pain as he winced at the words, “…on your own, you will be crushed.” The General knew this, but this fight was never about him or this generation. If Kyle C. Bel Iblis had learned anything from his father’s fight to end to the first New Order; it was that to truly damage a might like the Empire, one must not fear to sacrifice everything. Gen Bel Iblis had long ago surrendered himself to the inevitability of his own death, but suddenly he realized that he was asking those in attendance to declare themselves traitors to the Empire and make themselves wanted criminals. He was asking them to die for his cause. Could he live with that?

More than this the General in the years he had been doing counter-activities against the Empire had heard whispers of a huge organization, multi-system in size, that was utilizing radical tactics to undermine the Empire. He had never heard the names of members or their worlds, nor did he even know the name of the organization itself. What he did know was that this man’s words sent chills down his spine when he offered the aid of his organization. Somehow he knew now that he was speaking with an operative with this dark alliance. The General had to hold back a sneer of disgust at what was now before him. He had called this meeting in hope of making a stand, not to dissolve in vile terrorist madness. Bel Iblis had seen terrorism, been the victim of it, and had long ago vowed he would not surrender to the temptation to adopt that mantle. He would not be a monster.

Breathing in deeply and preparing for a scathing retort demanding the interloper leave when his eyes caught those of another’s in the room. ACS’ eyes, gentle and quiet, yet filled with a bright gleam of life told him volumes. They told him that all the reports he had read on the man and his life on the run from Imperial forces were true, and all the suffering he had seen and now fought with all his might, were worth the sacrifice. They told him that ACS would never fight for Bel Iblis, or terrorism, nor himself… but he would fight for Corellia… for freedom. They told him not to turn away their last chance to rescue their world.

The General felt his rage and indignation fading and looked round once more. He saw the face of a man named Ben… Ben… for all his effort Bel Iblis could not remember his last name, but it was plainly displayed on his features that he was ready to fight. Ready to fight for his people. He had the look of a warrior about him.

Then there was Aidan Elysarr. He too seemed eager to throw off the bonds of Imperial rule. To drive away the evil that had inflicted so much pain and anguish in the lives of so many. Elysarr steely look told the General he was ready to fight for all Corellians and those of its system.

The General finished scanning the room seeing similar looks upon the faces of all in attendance. They were all ready… they were ready to fight for Corellia

Taking in a final calming breath, Kyle turned his gaze on the face of the man, Tir Esias. Standing as firmly and erect as he could and taking a commanding and forceful tone he said, “We welcome your aid. And may our efforts be blessed with the sight of a free Corellia in our lifetime.” Pausing and looking more generally at all his fellow Corellians, Bel Iblis said in a chant-like candor, “FOR CORELLIA!”
The resulting cry of the room shook the prefab shelter’s foundations, as all those in attendance joined in picking up the rallying cry of his people’s liberation.

Bel Iblis's short speech was met with a raucous reception. Tir didn't find it particularly inspiring, although his senses told him much of the reaction had been fueled by the torrent of emotions evoked by the subject of Bel Iblis's speech. Not that he needed to be impressed by the general.

The People of Corellia, on the other hand, were another story.

It was one thing to incite a gathering of patriots (some would say radicals or extremists) to cheer and pledge to fight. It was another thing to win over the population of an entire planet. The Correllians were notorious for their independent nature, a factor that was certain to aide these Sons of Corellia in their cause, but they would also be facing up against the mighty Imperial propaganda machine- which had already convinced many Corellians that only the Imperial fleet had protected their homeworld from devastation by the hands of the Galactic Coalition. The veracity of that statement was highly suspect, especially to a man as well informed as Tir- but in the skewered world portrayed the by the INS many Corellians thought of the Empire as guardians.

The jubilation was starting to wind down and the room returning to its calmer, previous state. Once he felt confident he could be heard over the general din, Tir spoke again.

"I will relay the message to Mr. Nogoth, I am sure he will be most pleased. I have but one request, General Bel Iblis. I need only a few moments of your time for a private audience, after which I will disturb your gathering no further."

"Of course."

It was time to reveal his true announcement.

"General, everything I have told you so far has been true. I did carry a message from Brutus Nogoth, and that offer remains valid. However, there is something very important that I cannot say in the presence of others.

There is another message I must relay to you."

Tir proceeded to explain to Bel Iblis his affiliation with the Union, and how this most critical fact would effect the relationship between the Sons of Corellia and the GLF. Bel Iblis listened in silence.

"The Union will not tolerate breaches of security. It is imperative that only critical personnel are aware of the fact that the Union is your ultimate backer.

This responsibility lie with you, Director."

And with one sentence, Tir Esias had bestowed upon Bel Iblis a title of far more prominence than the ubiquitous General. There would be one more seat placed around the conference table on the Midas.

Tir pulled a small datapad out of his pocket.

"This contains information pertinent to contacting our associates, who will assist you in any way possible."

He handed it to Bel Iblis.

"I look forward to working with you, Kyle."

And thusly Tir turned to leave.

It had been several days since the whole gathering and such. Many more people had rallied to the cause of Corellian freedom. It was more a far fetched dream that would never be fullfilled to most who heard about the uprising. But to the Corellian's, it was something they longed for and even the mention of being free gave the people more hope and encouragement than anything else. And the fact that we were actually moving towards an actual freedom brought Corellian's running to us from all over the system. And the more men we could recruit the better, it was the Empire we were fighting after all.

I finish checked the last crate of blaster rifles and put the information into a datapad along with the other stats we had. Such as high explosives, grenades, E-webs, MSMS's, body armor and communication systems. We even had a few speeders that could easily be converted to combat speeders.

Previously I had organize all the men we had gathered. It took everything of a week to get all their names down and organize them into Battalions, Companies and Platoons. I had become the unofficial leader of the men, just someone they went to if they hit a speed bump. Someone they looked to if they had a problem. My military background allowed me to organize things and solve these certain problems both quickely and efficiently. But these were military issues. If it were anything else I knew I'd be sitting back and not worrying about it. And also having things ready and set to go, we could respond to threats much better than just sitting on our thumbs.

With the datapad in hand I begin making my way to Director Iblis' quarters. I was sure he would be pleased with keeping him informed on my progress...

Legend has it that Darth Vader, when he was just an innocent little boy named Anakin Skywalker, looked up at the Tatooine Sky and asked Qui-Gon Jinn if every star had a planet associated with it. The Jedi Master told little "Annie" that most of them did, and with enthusiasm reserved only for young boys Vader proceeded to tell Qui-Gon that he would be the first to visit them all.

Vader had certainly visited a lot of planets, but a few minor things like exterminating the Jedi and hunting down the leaders of the Rebel Alliance had probably distracted him from fulfilling that childhood dream.

Since joining the Union, Hilter Afdol felt like Vader was living vicariously through him.

Sure, the Union would often send Tir Esias or Omega Thrax to bring new confederates into the fold, but after that, whenever someone needed operational support it would fall to Hilter to run from one end of the galaxy to the other- or so it seemed. Coupled with his official duties as the Overliege of Ukio, and Hilter wouldn't have been surprised if he added Inter-Galactic Geography Bee Champion to his long and extensive resume of achievements.

His latest destination was the new headquarters for the Sons of Corellia, a planetoid hidden in a large asteroid field at the edge of the Corellia System. General Bel Iblis had christened the hideout "Liberty Station" which put a smile on Hilter's face- Insurgency Station must not have played well with the 28-45 demographic. Still, as his shuttle had weaved its way along an intricate, convoluted path that was the only safe route through the thicket of asteroids to the General's new abode, he commended the famed Senator's son for his choice of location.

Attacking this place would be hellaciously annoying.

It was obvious that the hideout wasn't fully finished (there were numerous external weapons emplacements that were only partially concealed and easily visible, and the hangar bay still had large scaffolding around its edges) but Hilter could see that once completed the base would be a citadel. The scale of everything was enormous, reinforced as Hilter entered the hangar itself- the opening seemed normal, completely disguising the fact that after a drop-off there were numerous levels in the huge hollowed out space that could easily hold an entire wing of snubfighters.

The atmosphere was busy, with Corellian expatriates running around at a breakneck but somehow ordered pace. Construction crews were everywhere, and Hilter couldn't help but notice the proliferation of Tagge and Belgardi equipment that was aiding the breakneck speed of construction- it gave the phrase Union construction a whole new meaning.

Hilter was greeted as he exited the shuttle by a sandy haired Corellian who identified himself as Captain Toreli, though the fact that he was wearing a smuggler's flight suit as opposed to a uniform gave Hilter an idea of the state of the organization at the moment.

Toreli led Hilter down a series of long stairwells that had been hewn directly from the rock of the asteroid, a temporary system of transportation between the various levels of the hangar bay to be used while the turbolift system was installed. Toreli enthusiastically started detailing the various statistics (although somewhat vaguely) of the new base.

"... two massive reactor cores, primary and back up shield generators, a smaller secondary hangar on the topside for stealthy entrance, approximately 300 or so weapon emplacements..."

Hilter listened with one ear, a good portion of his attention focused on the laborers as they scrambled around or hung on the ceiling performing unidentified tasks.

"... talking about a stolen gravity well generator, don't know if that thing is really going to happen. It.."

Hilter interrupted Toreli.

"Are all these men Corellians?"

He made a sweeping hand gesture to encompass all the laborers in the expansive chamber.

"Yes sir. Lots of exiles, but a good number directly from Home itself. Bel Iblis and that crew are really working on spreading the word. This base is going to have quarters for almost 10,000 people when it’s finally done."

That statement impressed Hilter much more than anything Toreli had previously said. If the Sons could generate popular support they could become a force to be reckoned with.

"I need to speak with General Bel Iblis, he's expecting me."

"Of course."

Toreli hoped of the stairwell onto a small landing, and then producing a com-link, summoned a small hoversled to their location.

"The General is on this level, at the firing range, we'll meet him there."

The fact that the hangar was large to make the use of a hoversled sensible reinforced the expansiveness of the place. But the Corellian independence movement needed a lot more than a planetoid hideaway to be successful.

Let see if Bel Iblis is putting his new headquarters to good use.