A Jedi's Fight - A Star Wars Fan Fiction Story

Preface

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he five humans looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Three of them were still wearing the uniforms of the former imperial forces, the other two were a woman with a serious, poised, but regal and gentle face and a balding fearless-looking man in his fifties.
"This peace treaty will mark a turning point in our relationship; we see it as the beginning of the peaceful co-existence of our two governmental bodies. I hope you too share this optimistic view ," one of the high-ranking officers said, "I'm glad we've come to an agreement."
"The pleasure is all mine, admiral," The woman in the company answered composed.
"Due to our heavy losses in the last battle we're unable to provide any military support, so we have to leave it up to the New Republic's forces to negotiate with any remaining pockets of imperial loyalists. We, as the interim leaders of The Provisionary Coruscant Council won't object against any necessary actions you have to take," A second officer said, "but we would like to be informed of any interference. In advance, if possible. It will be our main objective to avoid any further unnecessary casualties. This peace treaty guarantees that all officers and ground forces of the former imperial forces will no longer be treated as enemies. We shall announce a general statement, that all our former imperial forces who are still roaming the galaxy should surrender themselves to the New Republic's army voluntarily. After their voluntary surrender they will be brought to Coruscant with a safeguarded transport without being questioned."
"We fully support those wishes, admiral. We assure you that we will fully cooperate with this agreement, " The balding man answered politely with a nod, "I'll see to it personally, that your intel force will be informed in advance about any action we're preparing to safeguard our galaxy and bring peace again to the thousands of worlds."
The five humans rose and the officer who had expressed his approval, shook hands with the woman and her companion.
"It's not very likely, that we will meet again soon," He said, "We both have a lot of work to do. I wish you good luck. Have a peaceful flight back to Dalmaran?"
"Thank you, admiral. Good luck to you too. Our communications experts on Quoith have set up special secured procon connection between our two administrations. Don't hesitate to use it, if you have questions or if you want to exchange information with us. We will do likewise," The woman said, "It's my sincere wish and that of the other members of the New Republic's High Council and the Senate, that from now on our two governments will exist in peace and bring order and prosperity in this galaxy again."
"Allow me to escort you to your transport ship, ma'am," The third officer in the company said, and offered the woman his arm. With a serene and grateful smile the woman accepted the cordial gesture and nodded at the high-ranking officer and his second man with a friendly smile.
After the woman and her advisor had left, the two remaining men looked at each other.
"After we had signed the treaty, Jerno, I think, you should have told them that Darth Vader might have trained his daughter as a Sith. You also never mentioned her during the many consultations we had?"
"As long as the New Republic's administration hasn't any information about her, she isn't a real threat, neither to us, nor to them, Kalip. Her home planet, Morantan, is insignificant and a long way off, besides we too doesn't have first hand knowledge about her. Her name and her relation to Darth Vader was mentioned only once in a secret report of the emperor's rare visit to that planet near the Outer Rim region. Except for Darth Vader and the emperor, no one else seems to have really met her," Jerno Thai who had chaired the meeting, answered, "There even doesn't exist any holographic image of the woman."
Kalip Ru'undo who was wearing the distinctive of lieutenant-colonel, shook his head.
"Intel has confirmed, that after the Battle of Endor the Morantan forces haven't been informed about the fall of the empire and the death of Darth Vader and the emperor. The woman is still living in Darth Vader's stronghold together with his staff officers and ground force. Why has no one informed the staff of Morantan about the aftermath of our lost Battle near Jakku. "
"As I said, Morantan is a too remote and insignificant planet. It has no access to the main hyper lanes between Coruscant, Dalmaran or any of the other core planets. In the aftermath of the Battle of Endor and after that the defeat of the imperial fleet near Jakku, our space fleet commanders and their forces only bothered about their own safety. Besides, Darth Vader's stronghold on Morantan was a well-kept secret even for the emperor's personal advisors and the higher echelon in the empire. After the collapse of the empire, by chance, the members of our council got hold of some secret documents which held the plans, the implementation and the commissioning of the stronghold, otherwise none of us would have known about that remote outpost. Morantan served as a stronghold in the Outer Rim to oversee a large section of clusters and systems which held valuable ores, raw materials and other metals and raw gemstones for the empire. Darth Vader had to keep those systems under tight control," Jerno remarked.
"Jerno, the New Republic space fleet has already been investigating several of the Outer Rim clusters in the Morantan region. Can you imagine, what will happen, if the New Republic gets more info about a possible imperial stronghold on Morantan? They certainly will investigate and likely wipe out any imperial resistance which poses a thread to the peace treaty we signed with them. Our undercover agent on the planet has reported that the Morantan officers on duty and their ground force are still convinced they are able to defend the stronghold against any invasion of, what they still believe, the Rebel Alliance. The Morantan staff has remained loyal to the empire. What's more, our agent also reported that Vader's daughter has been given full charge of the stronghold as their chief commanding officer. If the New Republic makes plans to take control of the stronghold they surely will encounter the woman. Vader has raised her as his Sith apprentice and taught her his dark knowledge, so she might be a formidable opponent. The New Republic will face a difficult, if not impossible task, if they have to defeat a Sith lady and her followers. The woman's existence might jeopardize the peace treaty. I suggest, that, if we hear about an upcoming attack on Morantan, we'll send our remaining super star destroyer Basilisæa to assist the New Republic's space fleet. Admiral Vestor can bring the staff and the ground force to Coruscant, after which the Basilisæa will set course to the Outer Region and exile that Sith woman on a remote planet. "
"If the New Republic space fleet will invade Morantan to wipe out imperial resistance on Morantan, we must avoid that the daughter of Darth Vader will become the concern of our government, Kalip. Although I want as many of our former officers and ground forces to be brought back to Coruscant without trial, that certainly doesn't count for a person who has knowledge of the Dark Side of the Force. Kalip, I too have read the reports of our Morantan agent with some concern. The Morantan forces aren't likely to surrender voluntarily, because they still believe in the existence of the empire. Sending the Basilisæa to support the New Republic's space fleet might create a precedent. Its presence might give the New Republic space fleet the impression that we collaborate with the garrison and their officers on Morantan. If the woman survives the invasion of the New Republic forces, she probably will be taken prisoner and brought to Irithim first. As the commanding officer who was in charge of the Morantan staff and ground forces, she surely will be held accountable for any casualties among the New Republic forces. The New Republic's High Court surely will sentence her, according to the New Republic's laws. What ever the verdict will be, Kalip, we shouldn't object, for I don't want this Sith lady to be returned to Coruscant."
"Many future difficulties could be avoided, if the New Republic forces would eliminate her during their raid on the Morantan stronghold, " Kalip commented
"Her death in a battle is highly unlikely. It's against the New Republic's ideology to deliberately kill opponents. Once again their vision is based on peace and justice, like it was in the Old Republic according to the ideology of the Jedi Order, although the order doesn't have any influence at the moment. I expect, that after the investigation of her involvement, they will exile her to one of their prison planets for a long period, perhaps for the rest of her life."
"I hope you're right, Jerno, but if our new allies inform us about an upcoming intervention force on Morantan, I suggest that at least we'll inform their intel about the woman; the knowledge she has gained from Darth Vader and the possible threat that poses from her."
"Of course we will, Kalip, for that's according to our agreement with them. I leave that up to our intel forces, but as long as the New Republic has no plans to take action, we shouldn't reveal the existence of Morantan stronghold and Darth Vader's daughter."
Kalip nodded, but his face still expressed his doubts. After some moments he broke the silence and changed the subject of their conversation.
"There still isn't any information about those two small destroyers that unexpectedly vanished into hyperspace, just after our defeat in the Battle of Jakku. Intel suggests that the two commanders might have joined the Alliance, but we haven't got any information from their side about some imperial destroyers defecting to their fleet. Intel is still investigating their disappearance."
"Those two small destroyers served as a decoy for the Alliance's fleet at the perimeter of the real battle field above Jakku, but the Alliance's ships didn't set up for an encounter with them. They simply ignored their presence. With the imperial government and military staff already in complete disarray and chaos after the Battle of Endor, the joined military chiefs weren't able to trace the destination of those destroyers. Our failing intel force reported many deserters among the officers and crew members of the imperial fleet, even among those who had pledged their loyalty to the emperor himself, like several members of the praetorian guard. Most of those loyalists managed to flee unnoticed and defected.
Only five commanders and their staff advisors have survived the Battle of Jakku. The casualties among our storm troopers were enormous. The commanders managed to return to Coruscant among them commander Vestor who the council immediately promoted to admiral, for he was the only one capable of taking the command on our last fully equipped imperial super star destroyer Basilisæa. The council ordered him to gather as much ships of our fleet as he could trace and order the officers and their crew to return to Coruscant. The admiral accepted the assignment, but expressed his doubts about a possible success of his mission, for many crews of the former imperial space ships had started mutinying. He has found evidence that revolting crews have eliminated their commanding officers. Those rioters are now roaming the galaxy as pirates and mercenaries. It's not unlikely that something similar has happened on those two small destroyers, for the two officers who were in command of those small destroyers got back to Coruscant, disguised as some rogues belonging and working at Nima Outpost on Jakku. During their interrogation they told intel that they had been forced into an escape pod and had been jettisoned to the planet's surface. There indeed seemed to have been some form of uprising among the crew of those small destroyers. "
Jerno sighed and looked through the window at the skyline of Coruscant's governmental area.
"There isn't much left of the imperial space fleet, Kalip. At the moment we have just a number of sparsely armed frigates, about ten heavily damaged small destroyers, three star destroyers which were under maintenance at the time of the Battle of Jakku and only super star destroyer, the Basilisæa, which still was under construction as our fleet was drawn into the space battle near Jakku. It has an understaffed crew of barely trained junior officers and only one squadron of rookie tie-pilots. It sounds disastrous and to be honest, it is. And due to the financial collapse and a lack of assembly equipment and raw materials we lack resources of all kinds to rebuild our fleet. Many of the wealthy systems that were once supporting the empire have joined the New Republic. Since the defeat of our fleet the few remaining imperial loyalists on other systems can't provided financial backup at the moment, as most of their commercial activities have been collapsed. An enormous amount of credits vaporized in the aftermath of the fall of the empire and the Battle of Jakku, causing once influential trade organizations to go bankrupt. But there's hope that with this peace treaty we will be able to make a new start."
Kalip Ru'undo nodded, and looked skeptical. Jerno patted him on his shoulder.
Now, come on, Kalip, I know your less optimistic about the situation on Coruscant than Valann and me, but this new peace treaty will give us the opportunity to re-unite the systems that are still loyal to the Provisionary Coruscant Council. They will send their representatives to our newly established senate soon. I'm sure that with their help we will be able to rebuild or repair at least a small part of our fleet, so we can offer a real alliance to the New Republic in the future."

To be continued...