The Rebel Faction

Somewhere along the Imperial-Coalition Border


Captain Johann Ludwig von Hotzendorff looked nothing like his father. At least, that is what he told himself every moment of the day. Even now as his ship and four others moved through the void at break-neck speed he could not resist the chance to study his own reflection in an unused terminal-screen. He was tall, almost two meters, with a larger frame than most men but the muscles that prevented him from being called fat. His eyes were red to match the mane of closely-cropped hair on his head; his jaw was square as were his shoulders. Fives years of blitz at the Academy had given him a menacing demeanor which he despised, for even his wife said it was impossible for him to look happy. The Captain snarled and raged silently at the truth in the words of friends and passers-by: you look like your father.


“ Sir,” called the tactical officer from across the single-level bridge. Von Hotzendorff thanked the Gods for the reprieve from his self-inflicted recriminations and moved quickly to the shorter man’s location. “ Sir, we’ve received word from Commander Axmann that he and his two frigates are moving to an intercept course. They can’t be stupid enough not to know that we are driving them into a trap but we’ve left them little choice.”


“ Where will we catch between the trap’s claws?”


Lieutenant Uthor pointed at a two-dimensional map on his console. “ Outside the Aidiant Nebula. Even if the our other ship’s don’t arrive in time they will run out of fuel.”


Captain von Hotzendorff smiled, turning to the bow view ports from which he could make out the three ships fleeing before his tiny command. The engagement at Tynna fifteen months before had given the Empire much-needed statistics on Coalition craft - Hotzendorff and his men knew those ships barely had enough fuel for their failed surveillance of the Kaizann Shipyards and now, given their increased speed, they were burning up more than they could spare.


Trying to outrun Imperial ships in Imperial space. Quite a gamble. Gutsy, but ill-advised.


“ Sir, the lead ship is slowing. Sensors are reading a burn-out in its starboard engines.”


The Captain smiled larger. “ Excellent. They’ll have to heave-to and engage us soon. Time to the nebula?”


“ Five minutes, sir,” replied the navigator.


Hotzendorff looked elsewhere in the panorama of star-studded blackness and saw the blue-white whisps of the nebula towards which they hurtled. Random pockets of ionized gas exploded every few seconds creating a celestial display of fireworks for all of the gunners, sealed in turrets and sponsors next to their weapons.


It is as beautiful a place as any to die. Damned Coalition scum,

Far inside of the Aidiant Nebula, an unseen high powered electron telescope watched quietly. The figures observing the pursuit between the Imperial and Coalition vessels stood about in a gold and blood red throne room. The beings around the chamber all wore differing suits, uniforms, and armor of blood red, their featues somewhat reptillian, their scaled skin grey. Their eyes were blood red like their costumes. The only being dressed differently was the largest of the aliens sitting on the throne, his body covered in gold armor and cloth. He was the Shining Emperor of the Cho San Khan; Emperor Ro Da Tau.

But within the throne room was darkness as well. A number of human sized figures dwarfed by the large, muscular Cho San Khan, otherwise called Khans, stood before the Emperor, watching with them. All but one wore the black combat suits, their soulless eyes hidden by gas masks and helmets. The other man wore armor that only he wore, black and silver along with a distinctive face mask, one half orange, the other black and only one eye was visible. It was Omega Thrax, the Union's Voice.

"So, tell me, outlander, why should we believe you that these others are a threat to us?" Emperor Ro Da Tau demaned, leaning in as he eyed Omega Thrax, breathing in this man's scent. He smelled wrong. He smelled dead and so did his bodyguards. It was unsettling not only to the Emperor but his court, he could see them all shifting uneasily. The Khans were very superstitious, even with all their advanced technologies. One myth they were always afraid of was the army of the dead. These... creatures seemed far too much like the myth... They smelt of death, they moved unnaturally, and Omega Thrax spoke without passion or any other form of emotion. He was soulless.

"They represent two very large galaxy spanning governments. They will both try to force your people to enter into alliance with them if they find you here," Omega Thrax said calmly, his single eye shifting from the image of the ships to Emperor Ro Da Tau.

Ro Da Tau shivered as that happened but then remembered the myth of the army of the dead. They would come and open the eyes of the Khans to the universe, but in exchange, they would demand allegiance, blood oaths, loyalty. As the myth goes, the Khans would accept and recieve untold power, but only after suffering horribly at the hands of what was only called the Great Conqueror. It seemed odd but Khan myths often came true, their prophets having been the ones who wrote them.

Could one of these groups be the Great Conqueror? Is this Omega Thrax the representative of the dead?

"So, what do you suggest we do?" Ro Da Tau demanded sharply.

"Show them your power."

Ro Da Tau's heart jumped up into his throat at that. How did they know about the weapon? These Union types, these dead men, had only just come to them days ago. How long had they known about the Cho Sa Khan?

"What do you mean, outlander?" Ro Da Tau demaned, feigning ignorance.

"I mean the electron cannon your people have recently constructed and been test firing for the past month."

One of the closer nobles spat out his blood wine at that mention. Omega Thrax just continued to regard the Emperor with that single, passionless eye. Ro Da Tau didn't know what to say, but this... thing knew about the weapon, even more so, they knew they'd been test firing it, making sure it was ready for use. This Union, whatever it was, was very observant.

"We shall see, first let us watch these other outlanders. I will decide once I've seen more of their nature."

"As you wish, your highness." Thrax said with a small bow, turning his attention back to the image as the Imperials and Coalition were getting ready to confront eachother.

"They will try to flee into the nebula once the Empire finish slaughtering the damaged vessel," Omega Thrax said calmly. A calculated lie that could be a truth soon enough if things progressed in a certain matter. It was all manipulation though, to make the Cho Sa Khan act, make them strike out with their weapon.

"You lie, no one enters the nebula," Ro Da Tau said coldly as he looked at Thrax.

"I came here, didn't I?"

There was silence. It was an observation that struck home very hard to those there. The fact that the Union had some to them so easily meant other would find them and that they had to make an example of what they were capable of.

"And what if I do this? Turn two governments against me?"

"The Union will help how it can. We cannot challenge the Empire nor Coalition up front, just yet... But we have our ways. An alliance with us means survival no matter what happens. With the Empire, it will be enslavement. With the Coalition, they'll force feed you democracy and their ridiculous social system. With us, you get to continue as you were, with the exception we will demand some favors every now and then."

"Your promises sound empty."

"Your hopes are even more so. One of them will find you eventually and then you'll have to contend with them. We are the only true freedom for the Cho Sa Khan."

The Emperor sat back thoughtfully and regarded the battling groups of ships now, his lips pursed as he considered the situation, the consequences. He would not let his people become slaves or have their traditions shattered. Honor was one thing the Khans valued very heavily but these outsiders had none, from what Omega Thrax seemed to say.

"First General, is the weapon set to fire?" Ro Da Tau asked, looking to the second largest Khan in the room, one clad fully in deep blood red armor, a cape flowing down his back to his calves.

"Yes, sire, the weapon is prepared," the First General replied with a small respectful bow.

"Commence firing on the vessels that were being pursued."

"At once, sire."

The First General press a button on his armor and spoke into it in the hissing, gutteral language of the Cho Sa Khan. In orbit, a large dish shaped space station quickly sprung to life at those orders, firining manuevering thrusters, an array of targeting mirrors that orbited it, rotating around to face the direction of the fleet far off. The station then stopped, seemed to select a target and then fired. A surge of electrical enegery surged around the dish and then fired out in a stream of red lightning. It cut across the distance of space like it was nothing and smacked directly into the Longsword Frigate Serenity, blowing out its shields. The ship continued to fire, like nothing had happened and then it started. Blue lightning raced across the ship as if it had been ionized, smoke pooring out of the engines, transparasteel viewports blowing out and then the vessel suddenly exploded violently before a single escape pod had a chance to even fire off.

"Recharge the weapon and select new target," the First General barked into his comlink as he watched the chaos of the battle.

If Omega Thrax had been capable of being amused, he would have been, but instead he merely saw the tactical advantage of such a weapon. He also saw that the Coalition had brought in more ships. An unexpected and very aggressive move that could trigger a war between the two great powers. The could not be allowed just yet. The Union had its own plans for the two bothersome galactic powers but it was the puppet master here, not them and war would not be permitted just yet.

"Your majesty, is it possible to target more than one ship at a time?"

"Yes, outlander, and it is obviously in need if this Coalition is obviously so very aggressive. First General," Ro Da Tau said, looking towards the Khan he'd spoken to before.

"It shall be done, your majesty," replied the First General with a bow of his head before he barked another set of orders into his comlink.

In orbit, the station's structure began to shift and adjust, the dish growing much more ovoid, spreading wide, preparaing its next shot.

"Weapon charged. Wide dispersal range set. Permission to fire?" chimed in a voice over the comlink.

"Granted. Wipe them out," the First General snarled.

The dish array sparked and surged with a powerful electrical impulse, sending out a long wave of sparkling red eletrical energy across the depths of the nebula and into open space. The wave shifted and whirled but never changed its path, heading directly for the two engaged fleets. As the battle went on between the Imperial and Coaliation ships, the red energy wave smacked into a number of vessels, ships shuddering as they were splattered with the odd but dangerous energy. Yet again, nothing happened for several moments but then it all started, viewports blowing out engines going dead, surges of electrical enegery across the hulls of the hit ships and then the explosions. Where the two fleets had been battling was now filled with flashes of bright light as the hit ships ignited into fireballs, shrapnel smacking into the few surviving vessels on either side who had been behind other ships as the energy wave had hit. The Empire was left with only two damaged ships out of all the pursuing ships. The Coalition with the same amount ships, only a damaged but still mobile Rememberance and a single Heroic-class support ship. Neither side was even capable of thinking of fighting anymore, their ships so badly damaged from the explosions.

Omega Thrax watched with an air of satisfaction as the two groups pulled apart, damaged and confused, oblivious to the fact that the damage had been caused by another source for the moment as retreat was the only thing on either side's mind.

Excellent.

The Coalition ships vanished into hyperspace, getting away with whatever knowledge they had gotten their hands on, the Imperials pulling away to lick their wounds, vanishing into hyperspace as well and likely to prepare a counter attack against whoever had struck out against them. That would be the Cho Sa Khan, if they were clever enough to figure out the source of the energy wave, whice they were. They would come in wrath and butcher the Cho Sa Khan, the few scant survivors left at the mercy of the Union with all that wonderful techonology to use.

All according to plan.

Omega Thrax would have chuckled evily if he was a human, but he wasn't, so he just went to the next phase of the operation; preparing to chose who to save once the Galactic Empire struck out with its might against the Cho Sa Khan.

Two weeks later...


It just sat there, drifting, rotating on all three axes. It was a burned, blackened lump of twisted durasteel and smooth sheets, rivers almost, of liquified metal that been flash-frozen by space. It was undistinguisheable from the nine other chunks but for her size, slightly larger than the rest. Bits of debris floated nearby, but not nearly as much as they should have for so many vessels lost.


" That's the Onanian?"


A rating spoke up in reply from the left crew pit. " Aye sir. What we're scanning of the wreckage matches the profile of a Hunter-class Frigate. The other debris is too far gone to identify at all. Most of what would be surface area is torn apart or covered with liquified durasteel."


Grand Admiral Desaria stood from his command chair, moving forward on the catwalk until he could look directly at all that remaining of an Imperial pursuit force and the Coalition raiders it had engaged. If he could have forgotten the lost ships and the thousands of souls that had once crewed them, he might have considered the Aidiant Nebula beautiful. The Grand Admiral could not and saw only beauty tainted by blood.


" All ships reporting battle-ready, Your Excellency. We have full shields and the Meridon has deployed its Defenders into escorts."


Desaria did not even glance at Captain Praang, a short stocky man that was considered by some to be competent, and far from it by others. In the four days since leaving Coruscant, the Grand Admiral had formulated an opnion that was not entirely negative but it would freeze his career at his current rank. With his normal command on maneuvers and combat deployments from Imperial Center frozen by the Emperor himself, there was only a smattering of ships to commandeer on short notice, the Armadon being one of them.


" Re-deploy us, Captain. The other Destroyers are to fall in behind us, line ahead. Cruiser Division One is to take up the left, Division Two the right, line ahead as well. Push out the TIE umbrella to two hundred kilometers."


Captain Praang nodded and turned, busying himself with relaying his orders with admirable zeal. Desaria noted as he watched the reflection in the viewport: the Captain was an able subordinate, but not fit for independent unit command. A good captain, but a poor admiral. The Grand Admiral turned his attention back to the nebula and squinted as if his eyes could pierce the swirling gas and ions.


Whatever destroyed those ships came from in there. It had to, there's nothing else around here. A cloaked ship? Not likely, but not impossible. Better to dispell the easier myth first.


" Captain, deploy two squadrons from our bays - break them into flights and have Flight Operations plan them reconnaissance patrols for the edge of that nebula. I want to find out just what is going on here."