So large in fact, that it was nearly impossible to watch or patrol every single inch of it. Since the begining of manned spaceflight, generations upon generations before, the civilizations of the galaxy have strived to find new ways to expand their abilities.
Since the very original galactic-spanning empires and republics, every sentinets have tried to come up with new ways to protect and patrol their borders. And not just their borders, all of the territory.
Beyond the major hyperlanes and the core worlds, there really wasn't a whole lot out there. Mostly just empty space, with nothing interesting at all.
And since the beginning of the great civilizations, their enemies have come up with new ways of remaining undetected.
And in the thousands of years since, they have become very, very good at it.
So it was a relatively simple thing for six very stealthy Birds of Prey (along with accompanying support craft) to sneak past the Imperial patrols and move to within a lightyear of the Imperial industrial world of Muunilist.
Although it was impossible to remain completely undetected, the Birds of Prey had other options available. The Union very carefully scheduled, through shady deals and front companies, a caravan of six "transport ships" to move through Imperial territory on it's way to the outer rim.
Imperial trade was a bustling industry. With all the territory the Empire had accumulated, domestic import/export was a trillion-credit business. With hundreds of thousands of merchant vessels moving through Imperial space, it was next to impossible to monitor everyone.
Still, the Birds were very carefull to stay away from any and all vessels. This required frequent (but subtle) course changes and corrections, so the infiltration required much more time than originally planned.
But nonetheless, they had nearly reached their target, and now, sat motionless, within a lightyear from their target, preparing and waiting until the appropriate time to strike.
The Birds of Prey were actually leftovers from the old Outer-Rim Sovereignty. Originally created and produced at Bakura, at the time of production they had been one of the most infamous predators in the Galaxy. They were the symbol of the Sovereignty, and of it's might.
And as it were, a symbol of it's fall.
Recently, other corporate shipbuilding entities had acquired the designs for the vessels and they were actually a fairly common vessel in the Galaxy, serving in a few planetary militias and defense forces across space.
But it was known (perhaps only really to Imperial Intelligence, as well as the other high-level intel organizations across the galaxy) that the Birds of Prey were still being used by the founder of the Sovereignty.
Xander Griff.
Probably the most wanted man in the Galaxy, he was also the most scorned and despised man since Palpatine himself.
It was known, to only a select few, that he was still alive, still active, and still very capable of lots and lots of damage.
And so they waited, completely silent, with all systems powered down and the hulls dark. They were well removed from all hyperlanes into Muunilist, so there was little fear that they would be discovered. It is, though, possible they would eventually be discovered if they waited too long. But that was not the mission.
The clock continued to tick down.
And suddenly, the moment arrived.
The Birds came alive. And with nothing more than a touch of the button, a long-since preprogrammed microjump was activated.
And in mere seconds, they were greeting the people of Muunilist.
Shields up, weapons activated.
"Hello, Empire."
