The Rebel Faction

Estro Sabrino sat quietly in his finely furnished office on the Forge, the entire place having been removed by hand from the Midas due to an ensuing mission at Tammar that could require its necessary use. The Forge itself thrummed with activity as Necrotroopers and other personnel went about their business on the Union's hidden factory world. It was a bit of a nuisance to have such a place but necessary as otherwise there would be too much of a paper trail if the Union relied on its puppet organizations. So now here they were, having converted a lifeless piece of rock and metal into a huge planetary factory, dedicated solely to the Union's own agenda, leaving their puppets, especially the corporate ones, free of any chance of guilt or having evidence.

But is it all really worth it?

Sabrino gave a galactic map being projected at the center of his office a somber look. The Empire, Coaltion, and Imperium all sat there, bloated with power. Estro looked towards the location where the Jutraalian Empire should have been and frowned slightly.

To think, I could have just been an admiral and never gone so deep and so far into the underworld of this galaxy.

But even Estro knew it was too late to lament for that failed government now, what was done couldn't be undone. The Empire had seized control and more or less shattered the old Empire, leaving nothing but dust and ghosts. But the time would come again when Jutraalians, or perhaps just a few would be recognized for something vast and powerful again. The Union was everything to Estro, he poured his entire being into its development. In a dark twisted sort of way, he was proud of it. Very few had ever attained so much power and yet remained unseen. But the Union's agenda was calling for more visible activities now and it was an inevitable that the name Union would become synonymous with crime and terrorism even though no one would really be sure just who actually worked for it.

The greatest trick evil ever did was convince the galaxy it didn't exist.

Sabrino gave a cold smile to that thought because it was so true. The Empire hid behind its propoganda, the Imperium behind its religion, but both were still visible, their atrocities so easily linked to them. No one ever suspected that there could be something much more deeply imbedded in society, an organization that controlled whole worlds yet was never known. So now the hard times were ahead when that illusion of nonexistance might have to be slightly shattered. No one would ever know just who really worked for the Union, but sooner or later the rumors would turn to half-truths, the half-truths into full ones.

So, we must be ready to show this galaxy just what we are capable of, but until then...

Estro pressed a key on his desk, deactiviting the map as two figures walked into his office. Estro looked over at them with a more friendly smile, something no one else in the Union ever got. They were Pyter Flint and Markus Thule, both men were well built, though Pyter was obviously shorter, his hair a deep black. Markus stood tall and proud, dressed in a military style uniform. Their demeanors a bit opposite, Pyter standing in a more relaxed stance while Markus acted like he was standing in front of a real military superior.

How amusing that these men are they only people I could consider friends and allies in these dark days.

"So, what's up, Estro? Have a new assignment for me?" Pyter asked with a grin and sat down in his chair beyond casually, hanging a leg over one of the armrests.

"Pyter, show a little respect," snapped Markus Thule as he sat down in his own chair in a more respectful manner.

"What? We aren't in the Jutraalian military anymore, Markus. Not since the Empire took over and got us all sacked anyways. Lighten up, enjoy life a little."

"Life isn't for enjoying, its for living," Thule shot back hotly, glaring over at the pirate.

"Enough," Estro said rather calmly, causing both men to stop and look over at him.

"Sorry, Estro," Pyter looked down slightly, apparently feeling chastised after being addressed by his superior.

"You should be," Thule muttered.

"I said enough," Estro said, his gaze moving over to Thule who held Estro's gaze but for a moment before looking away. "If you're both done, there's more pressing matters that need to be taken care of. Our military forces are inadequet and ill supplied for dealing with governmental navies currently. We must begin working on a means to remedy this sitution, which means acquiring certain items for our scientists to make something of them."

"Just what are we after anyways? And what do we need it for?" Pyter asked calmly, quickly regaining his composure and putting his arms behind his head as he spoke.

"A warship, a very important warship that the Union needs to begin development of so that we will no longer suffer defeats at the hands of our intended victims."

Both men frowned slightly, Kubindi coming to mind, they could already see from the glint in Estro's eyes that he held a grudge against the Coalition for it. It was a major loss of ships, acceptable but none the less infuriating for the Union. The unexpected Azguard fleet had ruined a fleet intended just for the Kubaz and so the Coalition had made a very dangerous enemy, whether they knew it or not.

"So then, just where are we heading to? And I do mean we since obviously that's why he's here," Pyter said as he nodded his head towards Markus Thule.

"Quite, you two will be undertaking the acquisition of a certain special facility in an asteroid cluster. Polis Massa."

"Never heard of the place," Pyter said offhandedly as he looked over at Thule.

"Neither have I, it sounds like this place has stayed below the radar in galactic affairs," Thule said calmly.

"Yes, well the point is due to its anonymity, its the perfect location for a Syndicate shadowport as well as the fact I want control of the research facilities there," Sabrino said as he looked across the table.

"Sounds like the place is already occupied," replied Pyter.

"It is, by its builders, who most people have simply come to call Polis Massans due to their efforts with the archaeological digs they have their. That's the sole purpose of the station, but it carries an excellent xenobiology facility that I want under Union control for a very important portion of research," Sabrino said calmly, steepling his fingers as he looked across at his two confidants

"So then, what are we doing? Making 'em an offer they can't refuse?" Pyter asked with a vicious smile.

"Something like that," Sabrino replied with his own cold, calculating smile as they began to discuss the operation.

The Polis Massans watched on in what could only be considered utter terror as the warship bared down upon their long established colony. They had been left alone for so long. The Clone Wars had passed them by, the governments ignored this region but this warship was approaching, guns targeted and a single order had been barked to them. Do not call for help. It wouldn't have mattered with the jamming going on from the old Imperial I Star Destroyer, but it was still ominous. The boarding ships were already landing in the docking back. Bakif, head of the entire colony looked at Ripniv, the chief scientist. Their mouthless faces shifted back to the screen as they seemed to communicate with eachother on some level beyond that of most other beings. One of them then made an odd though intriguing motion with his hands, a phrase in Polis Massan sign language that had existed for centuries but had only been used once before. That was when their orignal homeworld had been destroyed, turned into the asteroids this colony now sat within. The sign meant this:

The darkness comes.

Main Docking Bay
Polis Massa Colony

Pyter Flynt walked down the boarding ramp in combat fatigues, a pair of blaster pisotls, Westar models, hanging at his hips. His frame as always was short but thickly muscled, the only remaining evidence from his days within the Jutraalian Special Forces. Like Sabrino and Thule though, he scorned the old government for giving in, folding to the Empire, destroying his life and leaving him worth nothing.

"Sir, the little quarks have brought a translator with them," sneered one of Pyter's lieutenants.

Pyter turned and watched the main entry hatch open as a small group of Polis Massans walked fowards warily, eyeing the pirates, former Jutraalian soldiers, and necrotroopers that lined the chamber. It was an obvious invasion. No one could stop it though, the Star Destroyer's guns could be seen being aimed at the main archaeological dig sites. If it fired, years of history would be lost forever. The Polis Massans couldn't afford that, they would have to obey and they knew it. They just weren't sure what these unknown attackers wanted.

"Which of you little bastards is in charge?" Pyter barked out with a grin as he looked at them.

Bakif stepped forward, motioning the droid to follow him and began to make signs with his hands. The droid watched them and began to speak as the signs were made.

"I am Bakif, leader of the colony. Why do you come here? We have nothing of value, this is only a research station..."

"Precisely why we want it, we know you've got something not many have."

Bakif paused, looking to Ripniv nervously before signing again.

"We know not of what you speak of. We are merely archaeologists. We..."

Pyter promptly backhanded the small alien, sending Bakif flying across the floor, shaking slightly in pain, though the Polis Massans all cringed as if Bakif had just screamed horribly.

"Don't lie to me, you little piece of scum. We know you've got Vong pieces here. We know you paid off those salvagers who brought it to you. Thought you could slip it by anyone's notice by using the black market. You can't hide from us, mate, no one can."

Pyter stalked towards Bakif, tossing his the vest he had been wearing aside to reveal only the sleeveless shirt he wore underneath that clung to his muscular form. It was obvious it been a while since he'd been able to really vent his rage on anybody as he tilted his head to the side, cracking his neck as he put his boot on Bakif's head.

"Now tell me its here and I won't crush you skull in."

"Its.... Its...."

"Its here!" Ripniv replied quickly with his own hands, the droid shouting the words out.

"Is it alive?" asked a colder, more severe voice as Markus Thule now stepped down the landing ramp, his own massive build towering over Pyter's

"Yes."

"Excellent. We're taking this facility as Syndicate property."

"But our work..."

"Will continue, though under close supervision. This planetoid and the surrounding area are to be converted."

"Converted into what?"

"A shadowport and drydocks," Thule said with a cruel grin.

"You... you're going to build warships here?"

"Of course, this area is most opportune for a hidden shipyard facility, especially once Doctor Mengax arrives to analyze the speciemen along with your research."

"But..."

"Leave us. Give full base access to my men."

Pyter smirked evily and lifted his boot off Bakif's head. The small alien stumbled up and back away with a bowed head. The Polis Massans then clustered together and departed with men in their wake, spreading throughout the base.

"Just what is it that so special about this Vong shit we're after anyways, Markus?" Pyter asked as he pulled out a small box, removing a black cigarette and lighting it, taking several puffs.

"That's classified information. You'll find out when Doctor Mengax and the construction ships arrive.

"Better be damn worth it. My men don't like not being able to kill anyone."

"Then don't employ sociopaths."

"I've tried, but everyone else just eventually starts twitching after serving with me for a few months," Pyter said with a chuckle.

"Maybe because you're a vulgar bastard?"

"Perhaps, I put it more up to them just being wimps."

Markus Thule merely sighed and walked on, leaving his obviously psychotic partner in crime to deal with the unloading of more men. The others would be here soon and the project could being.

3 Months Later

The planetoid of Polis Massa, which had been the proud residence of a number of mouthless little aliens who had been so dead set on finding out their past and staying out of galactic politics was now something completely different. The planetoid was now covered in scaffoldings and surrounded by artificial satellties. It would take someone only with the most basic knowledge of engineering to see what the Union had done, what the vicious organization had converted the planetoid into. It was now just a massive shipyard facility, brimming with newly installed equipement churned out by the new factories installed into the planetoid itself where there had once been valuable archaegological digs. Mining vessels floated about the asteroids surrounding Polis Massa, chewing up the rocks for raw materials that would then be smelted and converted into new forms so as to contribute to the continuing construction effort. I was all a massive piece of work quietly done on a world that no one knew about, nor cared about. Polis Massa had no strategic value to the rest of the galaxy, it traded with no one, its own little world very self-sufficient for the patient little aliens that had once lived there but now were all gone, all brutally slaughtered at the will of the Chairman who now stood quietly within the newly built observation deck looking out at the large warship this entire facility had been founded to design and build.

Sabrino was rather impressed with the progress, especially since the first thing they did once taking over the planetoid was to set up the necessary research facilities for Doctor Mengax and the other scientists and engineers under the Union's employ. Polis Massa was set to become the Union's new research facility and prototype manufacturing center, its first task to develop the new drive system the Union so desperately craved for its future visions of warfare. Manpower was not an issue anymore, not with the Necrotroopers to act as the Union's cannonfodder puppet soldiers but the problem remained that the Union needed something else, a new set of warships to call its own which is why the ship was being built here, away from the vast factory complexes and orbital shipyards of the Forge. Once the prototype was completed, the Union could begin manufacturing the model and show the galaxy a new player in galactic affirs.

So it all came down to the dovin basal the Union had captured at this facility, where it had been poked and prodded by the little Polis Massans out of sheer interest as the species had a knack for xenobiology, especially since they were studying such ancient ruins of a long dead race, unsure truly if those who had made them were their ancestors or not. It seemed an odd purchase, but the strange, spherical lifeform formerly used as a form of propulsion by the Yuuzhan Vong. For that Sabrino didn't give a damn, he just wanted to know if the thing could shift gravity waves and then how the Union could do it without the damnable things since organic technology disgusted him. Sabrino preferred the cold, clean order of metal and electronics to the disgusting living creations that once threatened the galaxy. Biotechnology had its benefits, but not in this occasion when the Union could only truly create mechanical equipment.

"Chairman, the technicians report that the vessel is almost ready for its test run."

Thankfully, in the time it had taken the Union to build the facilities to construct new weapons of slaughter and destruction, Doctor Mengax and his associates had cracked the mathematical secrets of the dovin basal's unusual talents, permitting the Union to reap the rewards much sooner as the engineers were given the numbers and instructed to design a drive system off of the principal. That had become a rather messy assignment though as several of the men working on the project actually committed suicide in frustration as their initial and mid-level work showed no results or in the reverse, generated a field so powerful a man was actually crushed to death by the sheer gravity generated when he had activiated his test model. Dead technical experts didn't really bother the Union though and they simply brought in more. Eventually, and a number of grusome deaths and suicides later, the Union had what it had been craving, its own propulsion system, the dovin mecha engine. Oddly enough the engine was shaped almost exactly like a dovin basal, minus the fact every last part of it was metal or electronic. With that breakthrough, several test models were built and tested over and over again to ensure no break downs or freak effects could occur and then construction of the Necropolis began.

"To think it cost us a number of good engineers just to get those damn engines working once your finally figured out the mathematics behind it all and now we finally have the Yuuzhan Vong secret of propulsion without particle engines," Sabrino said with a cold smile as he turned towards Doctor Mengax who stood on the observation deck with him, watching the entire situation play out.

"Yes, but all quite worth the results. Those engines will be of great benefit to the Union's efforts, especially when attached to a new warship like the Necropolis," Mengax replied proudly as he looked at the large warship the Union had been tirelessly build around the clock for some time now, its engines ready for testing.

Today was the day of the test launch which would give the Union something it had dreamed of, a warship that hold its own against the vessels of the major governments. The Necropolis was the hope of the Union, one of the many new weapons on the way as the Union prepared for the day when its existence finally became public knowledge. The rumors, spread by the Union itself helped to perpetuate a sort of creeping paranoia that there was some shadowy organization out there doing as it liked and so, rumor would become truth and the Union woudl be open for business, taking contracts and doing dirty deeds all for payment.

Any further thoughts of conversation about the warship and the work though were interrupted by the beep of the comm display that was in front of the Chairman. Sabrino reached down and pressed a button.

"Yes?"

"Chairman, all crews have reported in. The Necropolis is ready for launch."

"Excellent, commence the test run."

Sabrino turned his attention towards the large strange looking warhip Union weapons designers had been cooking up for ages, the only problem had been the ship's utter lack of an effective propulsion system, but now they had that and the first Necropolis was about to be activiated. From the comm display, Sabrino could hear the work crews now giving their final reports as they got confirmation to launch the ship. Sabrino could see the connection lines and boarding bridges detaching from it, disconnecting the 3000 meter warship from the shipyard.

"Engine systems, operational. Life support, operational. Artificial Intelligence unit, operational. Fighter racks, operational. Reactors, check-in please."

"Reactor One, all systems up and running."

"Reactor Two, all systems up and running."

"Reactors, operational. Sending code verification to Unispeak unit. Cod accepted, Tacticus system online. Necrotrooper systems fully functional. All bays reporting at fully operating capacity. Commence launch."

The large vessel sat there for a moment, letting Sabrino take in its wicked beauty and alien design. Its design was strange yet that would prove effective in coming battles. Its hull was a strange shape with an upper and lower section connected by a central column that housed a number of systemss and was heavily armored due to that fact. Each of the two sections more or less consisted of a core and then three spikes, two shooting out in one direction, one shooting in the opposite direction. With a sudden shift and a low vibration, Sabrino watched the large warship begin to glide forward, guided by its dovin mecha engines. It was slowly making its way out into an area referred to as the gauntlet. Sitting there waiting for it was a fully operational, fully automated Imperial-class Star Destroyer. It was a bit low tech considering what most governments put forward now as ships of the line, but everyone was still afraid of the sight of Star Destroyers. No matter how old the design was now, it still worked well enough that even major government navies were wary of facing down even the oldest Imperial model.

It was going to be around long though as the pair of warships faced off against eachother, launching their fighter squadrons. The Scarab droid fighters held numerical and tactical superiority though against the TIE drones and as explosions blazed from the dog fighting, the two warships exchanged weapons fire, though the large Necropolis was actually proving rather a bit more elusive as its dovin mecha engines made the vessel much more manuverable as it was capable of quite literally moving upwards without have to aim particle engines down, in turn exposing his armored belly to cannon fire. Soon enough the battle ended, the ISD a charred and broken hulk literally cut in half from the turbolaser bombardment. Sabrino, watching as the Necropolis now recalled its fighters and began repairing itself smiled and turned away from the viewport.

"That seemed rather effective, though facing a manned warship and not a robotic replica will prove more difficult."

"Indeed, Chairman, but the battle computers can learn and besides we can keep making these, our enemies can only have so many men before the start to run out of skilled soldiers and start having to dredge up green recruits who will be nothing but cannonfodder."

"Yes, so then send the schematics for the ship to the Forge. Inform them to prepare an order of them for mass production," Sabrino said with a cold smile as he left the observation deck, his business finished there for now.