The sleek arrowhead shape of the bow of the destroyer Narcassus glided through the blackness of deep space, at a point not too far from the Bothan sector. The destroyer, of the popular and well known Reign class, bristled with weaponry and deadly purpose. And she was not the only vessel present in this area as well. In addition to the Reign, two other destroyers occupied the nearby area. To her right flank settled the Regent class destroyer Monarch, while on her left flank lay the Attack sphere Freedom's Bane. The commander of this task force, currently sitting in the captain's chair of the Narcassus, looked inquiringly torwards his communications officer chief, wondering if the message had arrived yet.

He didn't have long to wait for an answer. "Sorry sir, still no word from the Admiral. That last message was a distress call from a stricken cargo vessel not far from here." reported the communications officer, a lad that had served on this vessel for the past two years, ever since she had been comissioned at the shipyards of Corellia.

"Let me know the moment you hear something, and no time later. As for the distress call, dispatch a landing craft with a maintence team. Better send along an escort of two TIE Defenders." ordered Vice-Admiral Carson. The commander had served willing and faithfully under the leadership of Park Kraken for some years now, having been assigned under the governer when he had started carving his own portion of the Empire out of the Mid-Rim territories. He had assisted in the taking of some worlds, espically during the Iron Will series of campaigns to take several worlds by pure brute force. But it was not long ago that his son had been murdered on Vladet, right after the ceremony to celebrate his promotion to the rank of Rear-Admiral. Carson had taken time off during that incident, and had considered handing in his resignation. But the time away had been good to him, and so the Admiral had come back and taken up his post. And as luck would have it, this was his first engagement since coming back to active duty. If it ever happened, that is.

"Sir," sounded out the communications officer, "word from the colonel. The operation is going according to plan. We are to execute our portion of the operation, code Kappa Zeta Iona."

The Admiral bolted upwards at this message, and immediatley went to work issueing orders.

"Seal all space doors tight. Lock down and prepare for the jump into hyperspace. And sound general quarters. Expect possible hostile reception upon reversion. Get the pilots to their ships." ordered the vice-admiral as he strapped himself to his chair.

"Space-tight doors are closed and sealed. Crews report readiness for hyperspace entry. Pilots are in their starfighters and ready to go. The men are at their action stations." reported Lieutenant Foller.

"Hyperspace entry, three....two.....one.....commencing." announced the navigator as the starlines elongated and the three Imperial ships entered hyperspace, bound for their destination.

Corinth

"Mr. Kre Fey, if you expect me to act only on faith, you are not a stupid as usually portrayed- you are twice as unintelligent."

The insult stung.

It was not portrayed as eloquently as a more polished politician (well a professional politician, by their nature, all Bothans were politicians) might have said it, but it got its meaning across.

Amaer Kre Fey however, was far past the point of reacting to insults that merely stung. The process of being dethroned from the position of councilor of the Combined Clans had hardened his fur against all but the most vicious of verbal daggers.

Dealing with the factions on Corinth had been a pain when he was at the head of the entire Bothan state, and was no less so now, when he was at the nadir of his power and influence. Unlike the more "cultured" members of his species, on Kothlis and Bothawui, the clans of Corinth has always been more militant and overt. They still remained Bothans, and so nothing they did was as open as say, that of a human in a similar situation, but their actions were still somewhat forceful in the eyes most of their brethren.

"General, I understand your concerns, but I give you my word, with as solemn a promise as I can convey, that I am involved in no deception."

General For'liy dark grayish fur ruffled slightly, a near sign of exasperation. Amaer didn't blame him- would he be likely to trust the bothan who ordered, just a few short years ago, the subjugation of your independent world?

When the general remained silent, Amaer pressed onward. He had one final card to play.

"I have already secured the support of four of your counterparts... so I warn you that your support is not absolutely critical for the success of this operation. It will certainly make things easier, increase our chances of victory, but... "

Amaer let the rest of the sentence play out however the General wanted it to. His meaning was clear: We hope you join the team, but you're not an essential player.

Which in most cases might have had the opposite effect from what Amaer wanted, except that if the General's rivals managed to pull off the operation, the first thing they would do would be to settle scores with those who sat by and watched.

"I will consider your offer."

Amaer waited to smile until he had turned to leave, knowing that while the General seemed to be stalling for time, he had already accepted. All that was left was the formality, and there was time for that later.

Five down.

It had been difficult, no nigh impossible, for Amaer to gain any traction with Corinth's wide range of warlords and powerbrokers. His name was not merely tarnished here, it was reviled. He had trouble even getting face to face meetings, a courtesy that most Bothans would extend to even their greatest enemies. Most had been ready to dismiss him in fifteen minutes, having gone through the show, the formality, of talking to him.

But Amaer had the magic blaster, the one thing that could make anyone on Corinth listen to him:

A plan to return Corinth to Independence once more.

The irony was heavy, but that had never stopped any self-respecting Bothan before. It had been difficult, convincing any of the major powerbrokers to back him, but Amaer had not risen to the head of the Combined Clans by chance. He had promised a demonstration, actions to back up his words, and that had been good enough to get him the critical mass of support that he needed. He had several more meetings to attend, and he would no doubt pick up more supporters as a result of those, but he could move right now if need be. He had the support of five of the six most powerful factions, and that was more than he had planned on obtaining in his initial outline.

He was cautiously optimistic, but everything depended upon the next phase- his promised demonstration. Amaer, lacking a powerbase of his own, was merely a spectator in this facet of the scheme.

Besides, demonstrations were more in the Union's line of work anyway.

The Frenzy's gunners opened fire on the stern of the Bothan Star Destroyer. Every gun available had targeted the shield generators, and the shields themselves were failing. With the amount of turbolaser fire focused on that area, it wasn't long before a large enough hole was created for the deadly bolts of energy to do their work. The shields on the Star Destroyer went down.

But the large ship was still far from helpless. It's massive engines drove it forward, guns blazing, into the gap between the Tyrant and the Nebulous. The cruiser was taking severe damage; it had already lost a number of weapons, and its shields had failed in several places. The Frenzy was also taking damage; the other Star Destroyer and one of the cruisers had turned on the ship and begun to pound it with fire.

Wes, on his command ship, ordered his fleet forward. The Tyrant's fire began to tell on the first Destroyer, and a few well-placed turbolaser shots penetrated the bridge. Then a Phantom destroyed the life support functions with a single stealth torpedo, finishing the ship. Only the few crew members closest to personal life-support systems would survive, and they could be picked up later. The ship, for all intents and purposes, was out of the fight.

The Tyrant and the Reign of Fire moved forward and began pummelling the other Star Destroyer. It's shields held, but it was forced to divert fire from the Frenzy.

Wes stared at the battle display screen, pleased with his fleet's performance. With the Star Destroyers occupied or out of the fight, the rest of the Bothan fleet should present no problem. "Lieutenant, order the Curiassiers and the Druids to target the Cruisers. Have the Stalwarts and Feros go after the Frigates and gunships. Fire-class Frigates in support."

Opening a channel to Vaseli, he said, "Captain Zokolev, commence Operation Backstab. Code Gamma Upsilon Tau." He smiled as he cut the link. The Bothans would soon have another fleet, a larger one, cutting Bothan space in two at Krant.

Vaseli Zokolev was on his way out of the bridge for a well deserved meal when the message came through. His foot had just touched the line that separated the bridge from the rest of the Star Destroyer when duty once again pulled him back from the necessity of hunger. The Captain made a mental note to have some food sent down to the bridge, but quickly disregarded it as he would not have the time to eat it anyways.

Turning quickly around, Vaseli took longs strides back to his command seat and looked over the bridge. He focused his vision on the XO.

"Inform the rest of the fleet to reassemble in the predesignated formations. We jump out in ten minutes."

Captain Zokolev felt the minutes slowly tick by while watching the large holo display at the center of the bridge. The display showed a three dimensional representation of the space his fleet existed in, as well as the numerous vessels that made up his command. Slowly the vessels moved together from different locations and formed up into three formations. These formations had been planned in advance and every commander knew his or her place and mission.

As he looked out the viewports situated around the bridge superstructure, Vaseli could see a large Eternal Class Star Destroyer taking up position less than two kilometers to port of his command vessel. Other cruisers, gunships, and corvettes were rearranging into position as well all around him. His plan had been somewhat complicated and elaborate, but he had faith in the people he commanded. What problem was that this command was new to Vaseli and he did not yet know if the people he commanded had faith in him.

With a minute and some to spare his Executive Officer informed him that all ships were where they should be and ready for departure. Vaseli needed and glaced over at the large timer, which wound down the time in big red numbers. The Captain took one last look at the floating display in front of him and wondered how many of those ships and men would return home after this mission. All he could do was trust them and conduct the battle to his best ability. Nothing more could be asked of him or any one else that feel under his responsibility.

"Sir, five seconds." The XO updated him.

"Very well." Vaseli stated and sat down in his chair to look at the space and stretched before his fleet. "Commence Operation Backstab."

--------------------------------------------------------------

The first ships to come out of hyperspace before the forested planet of Krant were eight gunships of the Intrepid, Fury, and Dasher class. These eight ships, large and small, formed a sort of protective cocoon around a single Fire Class frigate that stood hidden from sensor readings within the center of this formation. The tight cluster of ships would make it almost impossible to make the frigate out among the other vessels so close to it.

The formation quickly accelerated towards the planet and brought all their sensor arrays online. No portion of space before them would be left unscanned as each vessel had its own assigned search grid. Every target detected, enemy of not, was processed and quickly relayed by tight beam transmission to a point just outside the planetary system. A point too distant from Krant to be in sensor range.

Operation Backstab had just commenced.

Marth Meer surveyed the view presented to him by the wide transparisteel viewport of his flagship <i>Pride</i>. From Marth's perspective the <i>Pride</i> was a piece of art. You may not find her hanging on the wall in some dusty gallery so people could line up and take pictures with her but she was nontheless a piece of art. Every single rivet, every weld was just a bit different than the weld in the other ships of this class. It was the imperfection, Marth decided, that made her a piece of art. She certainly had a special kind of beauty to her, a sheer awesomeness that was staggering. Marth could only marvel at all the effort that had gone into her.

<i>"Her"</i> He was thinking of the <i>Pride</i> like it was a real person. All it was was metal and air. From the outside it may appear alive but that was because of the thousands of souls crewing her, not due to any special feature of the ship.

"A spectacular view is it not Vice-Consul?"

Marth turned to see Commodore Tomas, the commander of the fleet that Marth was attached to. He returned to perusing the view out his window, as he considered his answer to the Commodore.. Hundreds of ships were flitting around Kothlis and her moons preparing for an attack. The Kothlis Clans were not stupid. After Bothawui they were the most powerful planet in Bothan Space, therefore it was more thna likely that eventually a combat action would take place in the system. Marth's fleet had been the designated ready fleet when the plea for aid came from Kothlis. Immediately he and his fleet had been dispatched to Kothlis. At this moment the Galactic Coalition and the Bothan Fleet were undergoing last second training and preparing a few surprises for any invaders. He wasn't worried about his men, they were some of the Galactic Coalition's best and they had been training heavily in recent months, what with the Black Dragon Empire and other threats constantly looming.

"It is Commodore, how are the preparations going?"

"Excellent, this is the elite of the Bothan Fleet and they have proved more than capable."

"Good," said Marth turning from the viewport. "If the Empire comes here we will crush them. No worrying about political reprecussions, we have thrown down the gauntlet and made our position known. If the Empire choses to challenge us, they will be held accountable for their actions and it will not be nice for them."

Commodore Tomas smiled a bit, buoyed by the sentiments expressed by Meer. "And so it shall be. Now if you'll excuse me I have a meeting with some of my captains in a few minutes."

Marth acknowledged the departing Commodore's salute and returned to perusing the viewport.

"Not nice at all," he repeated, lost once again in his thoughts.

Kothlis Space

"Hyperspace reversion in five....four....three....two....one....reverting." counted off the chief navigator as his hand depressed a lever on the console in front of him. Right on cue the starlines reverted into their normal pinprick form, with one standing out among the rest. The Imperial fleet had arrived within the Kothlis system. Alarms began to sound off on the bridge of the Narcassus as contact reports began to filter in.

"Sir, multipule contacts reported in system. System defenses are present as expected. However, two unexpected clusters of warships are being confirmed at this time. One of these groups had a large number of smaller ships and their types and profiles were matched with records, both recently provided by Imperial intelligence and having on hand from old estimates, meant that they were Bothan vessels. The other group however has markings and types confirmed to be of the Galatic Coalition." reported the sensors officer.

"Aye. It figures that the Bothans would turn to our natural enemies to seek comfort in the face of our might storm. It appears also that we are somewhat outnumbered and overmatched. Still, whatever we can accomplish here means that our bretheren will be spared in their quests for victory. All right, have the formation execute a ninety degree turn and form into line ahead. Unmask the port and starboard batteries. Form our starfighters into a protective screen. And bring all shields up into full power. Oh, and have the fleet activate it's gravity well projectors." ordered the vice admiral.

"Sir, do you have any messages for the enemy?" inquired the communications officer.

"I don't have anything to say to them at this time. Prepare to direct any incoming transmissions into my personal station." replied Carson.

While I may not be so foolhardy as to charge straight into such odds, nor will I retreat from a good fight. However, I will not initiate hostile actions. If the Bothans want a fight, they'll have to come get them one. That, or stay trapped in their own planetery system.

The fight above the planet Bothuwai was all but over. The Imperial forces had a clear advantage at this point even though they had been forced to move the Daemon's Frenzy back behind the forward line. It had been damaged, but they wouldn't need it again in this fight. By the time it was needed, the FERAMs should have patched it up enough to allow it to be an effective combatant. The cruiser Nebulous was in the same position, being repaired.

However, the Bothans had been hit much harder. One Star Destroyer was all but destroyed and the other was listing badly. Several cruisers were heavily damaged, and many of the Bothan's frigates were destroyed. It was time for the final blow.

On the Tyrant, Captain Typton was issuing orders as fast as they could be executed. The Star Destroyer had taken minimal damage, even with the charge of the Bothan ship. Now it had focused all of its energy on the remaining Star Destroyer and had severely damaged its shields. Typton ordered the ship to come about, preparing to deliver a full broadside and finish the ship.

The Reign of Fire accomodated, sideslipping to the left of the formation and bringing its guns to bear on two of the crippled Bothan cruisers. The rest of the formation double-teamed the remaining ships, and Wes knew it was time to call for surrender.

On the bridge of the Vos, Wes called to the communications officer. "Ensign, get me a link to the Bothan commander."

In seconds, the elderly Bothan's face appeared on the screen. Wes began speaking immediately. "I am Captain Wesley Vos. Your fleet is beaten, as you can easily see. In order to avoid more bloodshed, I am offering you one opportunity to surrender and save your life and the lives of your crew. Your ships will be confiscated and you will be transported groundside once operations there are concluded. Of course, any volunteers that wish to serve with the Imperial Navy will not be denied."

The Bothan sneered. "Imperial promises are worthless. I was alive during the Rebellion, during the New Republic era. You never do what you promise. I will never surrender to you dogs!"

Wes smiled, but there was no humor in his eyes. "Very well than. Captain Typton, you may commence firing."

Even as the word was given, the Tyrant opened up with every gun it had targeting the Star Destroyer's bridge. It vanished in a flash of light in the first salvo, erasing both the bridge and the Bothan Admiral's image on the Vos. Immediately the console chimed, indicating an incoming call. Wes flipped the switch, and another Bothan, younger, appeared on the screen.

"Yes?" asked Wes.

"Captain Vos, I am the new commander of the Bothan fleet. I accept your terms unconditionally."

Wes smiled wider. "Good. I expect all ships to stand down and prepare to be boarded." He switched channels and sent a tightbeam hypercomm message to General Sennacherib. "General, you may commence the assault."



Less than a lightyear outside the system, two Venerator-class troopships carrying two full infantry divisions and a regiment of armor. General Sennacherib, who was to command the ground assault, received the message from Captain Vos and gave the order to jump to hyperspace. The invasion of the planet Bothuwai had begun.

<b>Bothawui</b>

Devlo and her advisors along with the heads of every other clan on Bothawui had been able to hear the conversation between Captain Vos and the Bothan fleet commander. When the last transmission from the Bothan commander was given Devlo turned away in disgust.

"'<i>Accept your terms unconditionally!</i>' He's a disgrace to the Bothan race! Any Bothan knows better than to accept anything unconditionally. He's abandoning the way."

Devlo graced Oleg's outburst with merely a raised eyebrow before beginning to voice her thoughts.

"Intelligence indicates that there are currently two Venerator-class troopships on there way. Apparently they carry two divisions of infantry and a regiment of armour."

Golm nodded his head. "Unfortunately, the Admiral's surrender also included Bothan ground troops as well. As such the Imperial landings will be met with no official resistance. We still have time before the Empire begins to land and begins to secure the armed forces' equipment. Therefore I move that we begin looting and destroying all of the Bothan armies equipment. What we can't have they won't have either. In that vein, what's the status of our financial accounts?"

"90% of our capital was put into the purchase of valuable gems and minerals on foreign worlds. Specifically Onyx, Valacar, Genon and Gestalt I. The Bothan Credit is going to take a huge hit initially but when this war's over we'll be able to recover by selling off our new assets. Most of the other clan's have done the same dividing the money evenly between the Commonwealth and the Galactic Coalition. Exceptions include the Bost Clan's which have put about half of the independent treasury into the Coalition, and most of the rest into Hapes. However a substantial portion went to Moonus Mandell."

"We're going to practically refinance the entire Galactic Coalition." Oleg grumbled.

"Well nobody else is coming to our aid," Devlo pointed out. "This will be a downpayment representing our thanks. In the meantime we need to come up with a strategic plan."

Golm nodded, "First thing we need to do is spread the word concerning the commandeering of military equipment to the other clans. Restrict it mostly to clans we can trust explicitly. Tell them to continue the chain only informing clans they trust implicitly. After that we should begin to organize a leadership and a cell system that should not be based along clan lines. If your neighbour is in Iek clan but you trust him explicitly then he should be in your cell. There should be no resistance to the initial landings, the Imperials have a substantial enough spaceborne force that any attempt at organized resistance would be suicide. This will be an insurgency, and a fine one at that."

Once Golm finished Devlo stood up and addressed the assembled audience. She was not looking for any secret signals here, she knew her audience was on her side. "Now is the time where the fate of the Bothan Race will be decided. We will not become another slave race to the Empire. The Way will not become subject to the bastard philosophy of Daemon Hyfe, Simon Kaine or this upstart Vos. We are Bothan! We are Free! And we will continue to follow the way regardless of the efforts of the Empire. Spread the word, for we need to act fast."

Within minutes of this pronouncement forces were in motion all across Bothawui. Armouries were looted and burned while the guards looked on indifferently, in a number of occasions even becoming one of the looters. By the time of the arrival of the troopships at least three quarters of the Bothan armoury had been destroyed or made off with and secreted away under floorboards and buried in people's backyards. The Bothan people were ready for war and nobody had any idea of what was about to come next.

<b>Kothlis</b>

Marth Meer smiled at the forces arranged off the bow of his fleet. The Empire had come to fight but they had no idea about what they were about to face.

"Commodore Tomas are all of our forces in position?"

"Aye Vice-Consul."

"Very well. Inform the Bothan Admiral that this is his show. You have control of the fleet, Commodore."

"Aye sir. Task Force Omega form up. Order Task Force Deliverance to prepare to warm up. Begin opening all fighter bay doors. Distance from here to the Imperial Fleet?"

"They're at approximately twice the maximum distance of their longest range weapons."

"Excellent, inform the <i>Kothlis Jewel</i> that we are set to proceed."

Seconds later a gravelly sounding Bothan voice sounded over the bridge's speakers.

"Imperial Ships, you are invading a sovereign system. You are ordered to lower shields and power down your ships and stand by for boarding. You have 30 seconds to comply or you will be fired upon. This is your only warning."

The bridge of the Narcassus was quiet after the request from the Bothan Admiral had been recieved. The request was straightforward, and to the point. Unfortunatly, it was also impossible to comply with, but the Commodore had expected as much.

The Bothans are undoubtely getting advice and help from the Coalition fleet stationed nearby. While I wouldn't mind entertaining guests too much aboard our ships, and I may even be willing to lower shields, powering down the ships is just too much vulnerability. Besides, thirty seconds is far too short to power down such a mammoth vessel. A full spin down into a cold drift would take at least ten minutes, and even five if we had help from their ion cannons. That statement was essentially cover to protect their impending attack.

"Sir, orders?" inquired the helmsman, speaking on behalf of the various officers present. He seemed to be a little nervous, and indeed, in a situation with three line vessels versus two entire fleets, one could be forgiven for feeling a little under the weather.

"Maintain present course as your bear. Reduce speed to one third of normal. I want us moving away from the planet, but at such a slow rate that it will take us at least an hour before they can jump out from the covering effect of our gravity wells." Carson ordered. The helm nodded, and turned to manipulate the lever that affected their speed control, throttling it down some.

"Communications, order most of our starfighters to withdraw to the other side of the formation. Leave five squadrons of TIE Devils there for missile interception duty. Have them spaced out and on basic manuevers. And open a link for me to the Bothan fleet." he said. The formations of TIE-2 fighters, bombers, and most of the TIE Devils curved around the flagship and other vessels to hide in their shadows, leaving a few of their numbers behind to help defend the capital ships against missile assault.

Moments later, the Commodore pulled himself up to his full height to face the holorecorder, and prepared a short message for the commander of the Bothan fleet.

"Bothan Fleet Commander, our presence here is not one of a hostile nature. All we wish is for a chance to talk in neutral territory. If we had faith in the Coalition, we would not have felt it necessary to bring such firepower into your system. However, as an act of faith in these trying times, I am prepared to welcome a small boarding party aboard the Narcassus. Or, if you don't trust us, we can send an emissary of our own to a destination of your choosing." recited Carson into the recorder. Moments later it was encrypted in a basic and easily breakable code, and transmitted to where the original signal had emanated from.

His message would either incite the Coalition commander to join in the attack or would provoke their commander to just use the Bothans to launch it. Either way would fit into his plans with ease. He turned back to his officers.

"Prepare a reception party in the hangar bay. Send Garunt down. They are to be prepared to either recieve or depart in a Sentinel shuttle. And prepare to fight a delaying action." he sent out the orders to his captains and fleet personnel. The Imperial fleet surged ahead in line formation at a low rate of speed, awaiting the bothan's answer for their request of parlay.

* * *

At a point in space between Kothlis and Bothawui

The trio of ships emerged from hyperspace in the main lane of travel between the Bothan homeworld and the planet were a few large fleets now resided. While Commodore Carson bravely played the role of bait, the real purpose behind the Imperial incursion here went into effect. Present were two new minelaying corvettes and a single medium cruiser, the Opium Prime.

The area was deserted, civilian and military traffic having dried up with the conflict now raging. With the cruiser guarding their backs, the corvettes went to work, laying down strings of Empion and other mines throughout the system....

EDIT: *Computer problem- Coming Soon*


SETH EDIT: Want me to delete this post?