The Rebel Faction

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<font color=green>Space is infinite.

It stretches forever in space and time, unending, unmoving, an unaware. Space has see thousand of battles, trillions of deaths, countless acts of violence and death. Space has seen it all.

Space is the perfect place to hide.

In the vast blackness of space, far away from any kind of civilization, a starship could go for eternity without detection or fear of detection. It could go forever without worrying over such petty concerns as war, life, and death.

The Star Destroyer Reliant moves through the inky blackness of space, her colors proudly displayed. There is no need to hide, no need to cower, now. The ship can come and go without fear, without worry.

Without warning, the Reliant vanishes. Accelerating hundreds of thousands of kilometres an hour, past the speed of light, into hyperspace.

Space is infinite. It stretches forever in space and time, unending, unmoving, an unaware. Space has see thousand of battles, trillions of deaths, countless acts of violence and death. Space has seen it all.

And space now sees the tiny, insignifcant, planet of Questal, where the Reliant has reappeared. It sees the battle to stop Reliant, and it sees the end of the day. Space sees the new ships arrive and fight one another. It sees a new ship, the Vigor appear and aide the Reliant. And space sees LFX Industrial as they call the planet theirs.

Space sees this, and knows.

<font color=green>SSD Deal-breaker - Questal System

He looked out across the empty regions of space that made up the 'backyard' of the Questal system. This was dead-space, barren and black. The nearest star, besides the planet's sun, was one hundred and twenty years distant at the speed of light.

The light that just now struck Questal's northern pole had been born more than a century ago. Before the birth of a man named Palpatine, before the creation of the Death Star.

The light that now struck Questal had been witness to the rise and fall, and the rise again, of the Empire. The Yuuzhan Vong invasion. The Jutraalian Empire's war with the New Order. The rise and fall of the Galactic Defence Initiative.

He pondered all this as he gazed out the viewport of the Deal-breaker, the second-largest vessel in the LFX Home Defence Corps. starfleet. A Super Star Destroyer, arrowhead-shaped and combat ready.

This ship was not a weapon, he had decided, but a symbol. A monolithic dagger, ready to be plucked up and wielded against the enemies of the Corporation. Wieled with a fury, he knew. It was a symbol of the might of the Corporation, as was her larger cousin, the Destiny.

"Sir?" The voice was twittery and high. Without turning, the man knew that this was an aide or low-ranking officer. Certainly not someone used to addressing such important people. The man turned slowly and looked at the man. He was young, not out of his twenties, and wearing the rank insignia of a Naval Ensign. He wore the uniform like an old military-man, though, and the man thought that was curious. Most new officers aboard the Deal-breaker were aquard. Being stationed aboard one of the greatest warships ever created would do that to a man, he thought.

He gave a curt not, signalling that the Ensign should continue.
"Sir, Lord Drayson is here for his meeting, sir."

"Thank you, Ensign. Please show him in." The officer gave a salute, and left the room. Moments later, the door whispered open once more and Lord Protector, a.ka. Grand Admiral, Hiram Drayson entered the lounge of the Great Star Destroyer.

He gave a sharp military salute, which the CEO ignored. Seti Ashar gave his friend a warm smile and embraced the man briefly.

"Hiram. How are you?" It was the other man's turn to smile, and he did so as he sat down across from his boss.
"I am well, Mr. Ashar, thank you. And yourself? How are you, sir?" Seti gave a slight shrug.
"I'm very well. We've just contracted one of the most valuable substances in the galaxy. No small victory, I daresay." The Lord Protector chuckled.
"No small gain, indeed, sir. The Adranium should boost our economy greatly." The CEO nodded silently, still smiling.
"One thing troubles me, though. That man who tried to kill me, in my own office."
"We are investigating, sir. But we have no leads... so far." Seti gave a sigh and stood, turning his back on the other man, to contemplate the glorious planet below.
"I do not like near-death experiances, Hiram. They look bad for the corporation, and," he paused a moment for effect, "they reflect poorly on the security of the firm. I want this killer tracked, and I want to know who he was, and why he tried to kill me. And I want to know soon, Hiram."

The Lord Protector rose and nodded.
"We are investiating, sir." And he was gone.

<font color=green>Bridge - SSD Deal-breaker - Questal System

When the Emperor signed the contract to begin construction of the Super Star Destroyer Executor, he did so fully believing that this ship would become a pinnacle of the Empire's might; an unstoppable weapon to inspire fear in the hearts of enemies across the galaxy.

Who would have guessed that, thirty-odd years later, it would be only slightly less common than the Eclipse? The galaxy had, in every aspect, turned upside down since the end of the Vong War.

So it was that the privately owned Super Star Destroyer Deal-breaker, scaled down from the older Executor by half a kilometre, fell into the hands of the LFX Industrial corporation.

And, eventually, arrived at Questal during that planet's signing of the Decleration of Membership to the Corporation. That selfsame ship now hung in orbit, a monolithic dagger profile, seemingly to be plucked from the heavens and used against the stars themselves. A Star Destroyer. A Super Star Destroyer.

Captain Tantith, standing now on the bridge of the monolithic command vessel of the Second Corporate Fleet, watched the slowly changing starmaps with little interest. This was boring work, far removed from the vigor of combat, or even the 'excitement' of keeping his ship in a constant state of battle-readiness.

A voice, that of a young Naval Ensign, perhaps, floated up from the crew pit below.
"Captain, sir. We're detecting a hyperspace annomuly. It could be nothing, but it's within our sector."
Tantith was awake already, accessing the information on his own consoles.
"Give me a sensor focus, and prepare for a launch. If this is something, I want us ready for it." The data came up within seconds, an enlarged image of a freighter or transport, unidentified, said the computer, due to damage sustained. Probably from a blind hyperjump, which would explain the annomuly detected earlier.
"Life signs positive for one person, sir. Damage estimates total loss of life support equipment, and deorbitilzation in seventeen minutes." Tantith rested his head on his knuckles, staring at the display.
"Time to intercept?"
"Six minutes on Deal-breaker, two if we launch a scout."
"Do it. Order a sqaudron of Defenders to break off and bring that ship in - break orbit and set intercept course immediatly."
"As ordered, sir."

<font color=green>Bridge - SSD Deal-breaker - Questal System

The deep rumbling of the massive ion engines gave proof to the fact that the Deal-breaker had successfully pulled out of her orbit and was under way.

Far ahead, the small transport that had been tentiviely identified as the Manta Ray was coming about, seemingly still able to fly. It was a shock. The ship must have been up against nothing smaller than a Star Destroyer to have suffered that kind of damage.

"Sir," a young voice sung up from the crew pit, "transport has fired - two missiles, bearing 0001-Mark-20. Towards the planet." Tantith stood and, a frown crossing his face, looking towards the bright specks that where two concussion missiles.

"Defender Flight to raise shields and arm weapons, ion cannons only - hail the Manta Ray, order them to cease fire-"

"Sir? Transmission from the Manta Ray!"
"Deal-breaker, this is the Manta Ray... I am in need of assistance..."
"No kidding, Manta Ray. Launch shuttle. Prepare to bring her aboard." There was a pause. "Have a sqaudron of Defence Corps. Personal meet them in the hanger bay. And have them set their weapons to stun. No chances."

(You have to select the button labelled "HTML" when you post... or use "[" and "]" in place of "<" and ">".

<font color=green>Bridge - SSD Deal-breaker - Questal System

The bridge was alive with activity now, as the massive Super Star Destroyer rushed through the wake of the smaller transport. Within minutes, if current projections were correct, the vessel would hit the atmosphere and be torn to shreds.

"Captain, sir! Further transmissions incoming:"

"Deal-breaker, this is captain Pike aboard the Manta Ray. We're a personal craft out of the Corellian system, and unfortunately got caught up in some sort of trade squabble. If you could provide assistance, I would be more then willing to handle any expenses you may incur do to my passing."

Captain Tantith nodded, watching the transport as it skipped across the upper atmosphere. Only moments, now...

"Target vessel in range! Activating tractor beams." The Super Star Destroyer reached out across the space between the two vessels with two of its invisible tractor beams and latched on, reeling the transport in.

"Alert Hanger Sqaud I. Target is being brought in."