SCARIF

[SWSF Eidolon]

  The tiny remote idyllic archipelago and shallow sea world on the edge of Wild Space had served as one of the Galactic Empire's premier secret project construction hubs and research centers.  Once protected by a planetary wide shield projector and an entire fleet of Star Destroyers, after the Rebel Incursion and Battle of Scarif, it's full previous commitments were never entirely re-established by the Empire proper.  It subsequently became and remained a particular social project investment of the COMPNOR Party itself and in the Wake of Endor, a welcome obscure respite and strategic resource laiden planet for Imperial Loyalists.

   During the Battle of Scarif, the low-powered blast from the Death Star I that razed the region of the Imperial Security Complex and Citadel had partially cracked a local portion of the planetary crust.  Once the tectonic and tsunami chaos had subsided and the regions geography and climate had settled, the inadvertent effect of the damage done by the blast was making it much easier to access core-ward raw metals that the planet was initially selected for use as a clandestine construction hub for to begin with.  In the time between Yavin and Endor, COMPNOR directed and devoted considerable financial resource in to the settlement of the planet by Party members and their families and developing it's domestic self-reliance through infrastructure, elevating it's status to more than only a military industry and garrison world.

  Now, five years after the Battle of Yavin where Scarif's vaunted offspring which turned on it's creator, the Death Star, had met it's premature demise, in the Aftermath of Jakku where the Imperial Remnant and New Republic maimed one another with the last of their strength and came to peace through the Concordance, the residual Imperial Remnant presence on Scarif is strong in the form of The New Order, a local planetary government successor state of the Galactic Empire and more directly the state-party organization, the Commission for the Preservation of The New Order.

 

 

[SWSF Eidolon]

  A tranquil sense of existence and confidence dominated Scarif's small population. Most settled in either marvelous monoliths of modern structure upon the tropical landscape or small subsistence villages throughout the vast Archipelagos.  The capital-city of Scarif, Sheeva, and political center of the local planetary governing body, The New Order, was the grandest example of the modern monoliths.  It resembled a fortification, and for good reason with compulsory four years of service in the New Order defense forces a bedrock of social institution, it's a highly regimented and militarized society.  With virtually the entire population of Scarif being emigrated COMPNOR loyalists, a cult-like picture is easily painted to the outside observer.. but the outside observer wasn't exactly welcome on Scarif..



  ..the high level sparse clouds above the seas in the capital District offered a near perfect view of the calm waters below.  From the cockpit of her TIE Striker and behind her menacing black flight helmet, Commander Strovonska never tired of the view.  As the capital-complex Sheeva grew smaller in the distance behind her Striker and her wingman, Lieutenant Dremer, the pair of streaking fighters barrel-rolled in to a steep dive before leveling out some hundred feet above the sea surface.  The exhaust of their now screaming engines left a pair of deep rolling wakes as they zipped along.

   Approaching their objective, Commander Strovonska keyed a sequence on one of her consoles that wiped her view from a natural light to an entirely red-hued spectrum.  A small white-lit shape appeared on the horizon, apparently skating along the sea surface itself,

   "Guardian One to Two, the target is four kilometers out.  Prepare for Attack Run.  Cannons hot," she instructed her compatriot.

   "Roger that One," the pilot of the other Striker answered.

   Only a few moments passed before green lances erupted from their wing tips and a tiny explosion on the surface of the seas briefly gave highlight to the otherwise serene surroundings.  As the pair of ships blew passed, their exhaust wakes wiped the remnants of the small target away.

   Lieutenant Dremer couldn't resist a comment at the anti-climactic results of their proclaimed urgent mission,

   "What was that, a womp-rat on a jetski?" his voice fuzzed over through Commander Strovonska's helmet com.

   "Different form of vermin.  But can the chatter Two, this isnt a patrol flight.  Come around for another pass for scanners and visual," the superior retorted.

   The two ships veered to come around for another pass on the target area and verify it's destruction before returning to their nest and disappearing somewhere in to the super structure..



  ..elsewhere some time later, near a tiny sand-bar islet a few kilometers or more from now calm waters, a man burst from the water in distress and slowly stumbled his way up the beach before collapsing on to his back, extremities sprawled out, shackles and broken chains dangling from them.  His chest heaved as he swallowed welcome breaths of air and he thanked the maker for a continued chance at escape from The New Order..

[SWSF Eidolon]

  ...with the New Republic and Imperial Remnant effectively neutered, the earlier floundered and gasped while the latter fractured into fiefdoms.  There was no order, no structure in the galaxy.  On Scarif at least, respite from the anarchy presented itself in the form of a set of foundations.  Foundations that once laid a path for galactic order but now at least offered local social order for those interested enough in it's cause.  The New Order was not the Empire, but it was the successor and standing champion of the ideals on which it was based.  The Monument Spire which once stood in Monument Plaza on Coruscant was hastily removed and relocated to Scarif by COMPNOR in the initial upheaval of the news of Palpatine and Vader's demise.  It now stood in the Central Plaza of Sheeva surrounded by ornamental gardens of local and exotic origin.  The plaza itself was entirely enclosed as was most of the settlement, though standing in it one would hardly know.

  Director Loristas strolled the garden grounds with Governor Belmar both in less than formal but still official attires.  Dozens of other local aristocrats and higher ups along with the occasional upward aspiring lower class party member and his family on a day off were their company and crowd.  As was his character, Belmar Jotun carried the bulk of conversation which she allowed and entertained only for an opportunity to take in the Plaza.  His primary interest was securing her courtship in his son, a Party Chief himself- both of high social standing and zero social skills.  The younger suffered from the same shortcomings of the older, he reeked of shallow ideologies and showed little wit beyond the always anticipated party-line or flaunting of ones own power.  His secondary interest was in steering her work away from whom they'd both considered an external actor.

  In the Post-Jakku Galactic Landscape, a planetary chieftan regarded themselves as an Interstellar Lord.  Sacarra hadn't allowed herself to forget the harsh realities.  Another Overlord was only a hyper-drop away.  In this she still found comfort in her duties as Chief Director of Development and Research for the Citadel, the third largest complex on Scarif next to Sheeva and the Core.  All the chaos and change the galaxy had experienced over the last several years of the Galactic Civil War, and her world had hardly been shaken.  She rose from a Senior Research apprentice to Director of the entire facility on which the future of the inhabitants of Scarif and The New Order hinged itself.  As calamity befall the Empire for which she devoted her lifes work, her own stock simply rose as the Imperial Remnant shrunk and the strategic value of Scarif increased.

  Governor Belmar was the elected planetary executive and his powers political and party-derived alone.  In an ideology entrenched society like that of Scarif, it carried some degree of weight to be sure, but his role was less than his titles would imply.  The true protector of the serene world and The New Order was not Belmar nor Sacarra and the work at the Citadel, but their current overlord, Imperator Reptanus, and his fleet of Victory Star Destroyers.

  Sacarra took a brief lapse in Governor Jotun's droning speech of Reptanus' shortcomings and his sons positive aspects to stop him, "Your Eminence, really, Braadd (like Brad and Todd) and I shared time together in Compulsory and we're friends, but aside from that I think we both know it wouldn't work.  As far as the Imperator's oversight, well, I think we both get a break from that.." she said motioning up towards the sky.

  The first of the Imperators trio of Victory Star Destroyers had already lept to light speed, as the Governor glanced up to where he normally knew the trio of warships to orbit above the capitol, the other two followed and streaked in to the unknown..

[SWSF Eidolon]

     

  ..Sacarra keyed a sequence on one of her many desk panels that retracted every other transparisteel pane around her circular office on the upper most story of the New Order Citadel.

  The previous blanket of silence was replaced by the gentle sound of the breeze and the occassional caw of local tropical birds.  As she took a few scattered free moments in her busy daily schedule to review reports from across the complex and the planet, a communicator ping preceded her assistants call,

  "Madame Director, Commodore Venta has arrived in person and awaits your audience as you'd requested," a young mans voice informed her.

  "Send her in immediately Lieutenant," the Director replied shuffling away a handful of holo-reports.

  The main entry door on the far side of the room slid open with a hiss and a black uniform clad young woman stepped in and strode several long steps toward the Directors desk.  She wore no outward expression or character but a professional officers demeanor and stopped well before a single hovering chair snapping to a stiff salute and address,

  "Chief Director, the Guardian her crew and I stand ready to serve The New Order and it's just architects,"

  the implication in her words were obvious- while his fleet was a welcome assurance, all the true New Order loyalists had learned to shudder beneath the gaze of the Imperator.  The Commodores eyes briefly flashed over to an actual oil painting on the wall of an aged grand-admiral uniform clad human man with a wide face and slicked back wavy black hair, Ishin-Il-Raz, the mastermind, founder and first Select Committee Chair of COMPNOR.  As an author of the ethos and earliest  doctrines of COMPNOR, he was idolized just beneath Sheev Palpatine himself.  The rumors of his wasteful self-driven demise in the Denarii Nebula in the initial chaos after Endor had been proven propagandist drivel by TNO investigations and continued research.


  "Commodore, please take a seat, you're from Kessel I read?" Sacarra began the meeting while leaning back slightly legs strongly crossed and hands folded while assessing the young yet high ranking officer before her.

  "Thank you Madame Director, yes, the Southern Sanctuaries.." the young but confident Commodore began as she assumed a very erect-postured seated position.  She hesitated to delve further before her far ranging superior, a slightly older woman she held the utmost respect for.  Priscil Venta had risen rapidly through the ranks of the Imperial Navy.  Many erroneously attributed it to her COMPNOR family connections, while those who knew her more professionally knew her mettle and worth.  In the initial waves of uncertainty after the Concordance, she helped fend off a mutiny aboard her ship the Light Cruiser Cossackus where she served as Junior Executive Officer after both the Captain and XO had been killed. She and the surviving loyal crew then set course for Scarif, a little known remote outpost of New Order true-bloods.

  Sacarra sensed her urge to tell her story and helped her along

  "Please Commodore Venta continue," she urged with a smile.

  "..the Southern Sanctuaries Ma'am.  I grew up in the capitol, my mother served in the Duchess' court and my father was a royal guardsman.  We talked in holo all the time, but after I left for Academy I just never made it back to see them or home..  The were both killed in the uprisings there after The Fall.." she trailed off before allowing emotion to run any further and returned to a pure stiff professionalism.

  Sacarra pursed her lips and continued to her purpose, "..I sense you share a certain zeal for bringing Order back there then?" she turned the page while pulling up a split holo-image of the planetary body of Kessel and a series of smaller images of coaxium, spice, and different clips of the space equivalent of a knife fight between small starships.

Commodore Ventas interest was peaked, "Ma'am?"

"Order's natural enemy.." Sacaraa began,


"is anarchy," Priscil quickly completed the COMPNOR addage.

"Precisely.  So, can you and the Guardian bring Order to Kessel?" Sacarra again presented the point.

  Commodore Venta looked over the images for a moment and back to the Chief Director once or twice before taking it upon herself to take control of the holo-collage and zoom in and flip through some of the recycling space knife fight clips.

  Headhunters, Cloakshapes, YTs and SoroSuubs, Vipers, Hornets, and all kinds of bugs in between.  Priscil Venta felt a swell of pride as the two began pouring deeper over a strategy and general plot to reign in another distant yet valuable slice of space.

  Some time later, a shuttle departed the Citadel Complex.  In the early dusk hours Commodore Venta glanced out the other side viewports to see the lights of Sheeva in the distance as the shuttle slowly ascended and carried her back to the Venator Cruiser Guardian and their mission..



Action Summary
  VEC Guardian enters HS for Kessel

[SWSF Eidolon]

  On the edge of the planetary system of Scarif, the Imperators quartet of iconic wedge shape warships emerged from hyperspace, returning victorious to their home port from summarily crushing would-be usurpers of Imperial Remnant domain together with a pair of other newly encountered Remnant factions, the Terrors and Tempest Squadron.

  While Reptanus was his general preoccupied and blank self, absorbed in the inner torment and obsessions of a darkside tinged madman, other officers amongst the fleet murmured amongst themselves about the other encountered affiliations and what it meant for the New Order and Reptanus' fleet.

  As the four warships moved slowly deeper towards the planetary orbit, a trio of flights of TIE Strikers joined on their flanks to both escort and closely watch them.  The newly activated battle station Kerak grew from a tiny reflective glint amongst the stars to a massive behemoth defensive platform rivaling the main line warships of the Imperators fleet in size and one on one strength.

  Three of the warships turned off to assume their orbital positions high above Scarif while the Imperators own flagship, the Victory Star Destroyer Audacity, began to slowly and awkwardly maneuver in to a docking position with the platform.  The extensive damages sustained to the ship during the sortie to Dathomir had nearly reduced it to a moving heap of mangled starship grade steel.  Numerous weapon emplacements were completely obliterated while a section about a hundred meters behind the bow tip provided a clear view from one side of the ship out the other.  Half or a third of one of the two deflector tower orbs remained, while an entire corner of the bridge itself had been blasted clean off.  Only three of the secondary drives were alive with propulsion as the ship clumsily maneuvered to a clean docking.

  When the helm officer reported over the bridge speaker that docking was complete and joint orbit sustained, Reptanus rose from his command chair, which seemed to inflate and sigh with relief as he stood, and made his way to a turbolift while making a simple demand and standing order,

  "Prepare my shuttle, repair the ship and summon me once complete." he wheezed out as the lift slid shut...

TBC

[SWSF Eidolon]

   

  ..the governor paced slowly back and forth in front of Sacarra's desk levying inquiry after inquiry.  He'd never met the Imperator in person yet, and the overlords impending arrival at the Citadel had him on edge.  This was only the second time Imperator Reptanus will have set foot on Scarif- the previous time, half of the Citadel's security forces ,experienced officers and flight worthy fighters were conscripted or commandeered away, leaving Scarif itself barely defendable from a band of strong interstellar pirates should they happen by.

  "..can he touch minds as they say??" the aged man most alarmingly asked.

  "No.  At least he's never touched mine.  But every simple man is influenced by the influential.  I take it for what it's worth, some of the men left on their own accord," Sacarra answered.

  "..what are the odds of Kerak standing up against those four Star Destroyers??" he hurrieldy followed pacing the other way.

  "Three Star Destroyers, the smaller ones just an Interdictor.. and zero," the Director assuredly answered.

  "A flight or two or our Strikers would get through, maybe lucky and take one of the cruisers out.  The rest of our fighters would be swept aside, Sheeva would be bombarded to oblivion and the Citadel won't stand a chance.  The Imperator would seize the Core and realize it's potential and the idea, well..  he has no interest in Order, only Power.." she elaborated.

  The Governor stopped for a moment, "..The Guardian and Commodore Venta??"

  "They're gone.  I sent them to Kessel to secure it for the Project.  Without a steady stream of raw coaxium it'd take twenty years of illicit acquisitions to get to where we need to be.." she responded while bracing for his response.

  Governor Belmar slammed his palms down upon her desk, "TO KESSEL?!  UNDER WHO'S AUTHORITY!?  You forget Director, your jurisdiction ends where those trenches do!"  he snorted and scoffed at her bold actions while then motioning out the floor to ceiling transparisteel surrounding them with a strongly pointed finger.

  Just then the entry way to her pinnacle office chimed, her assistant chirped in and informed her of the Imperators arrival as his second boot was already passing her office threshold and the pair were quickly preparing themselves,

  "..Mma'am, Imperator Reptanus has arrived and is on his way in!" the young man anxiously announced over her desk comm.

  "Thank you Lieutenant, send him in.." she said as the individual she referenced had already locked her gaze.  She'd noticed he rarely made direct eye contact with many people, but did so with her.  It added to the unsettling feeling, but she suppressed it entirely.

  "Lord Reptanus," she began.  "I believe you have never made Governor Belmar Jotun's acquaintance, he's been eager to meet you," she said standing from her chair and strolling to an ancient looking cabinet like furnishing of ornately carved wood and other hardened organic materials.
 

  Jotun was diminutive in terms of even standard human beings, but was dwarfed by the Imperators imposing figure.  The politician offered his hand while introducing himself with much false enthusiasm and vigor to cover his general feeling of a looming gurgling bowel movement,

  "A pleasure indeed! Governor Belmar Jotun at your service Lord Reptanus!," but the Imperator did not pay the Governor much mind nor oblige the hand shake.

  "..yes well, I understand you wish to further inspect the planet's infrastructure and our model society," Jotun continued while attempting to casually see himself out of the Director's Officer.  "I will prepare a transport and tour for us as you requested and await at your discretion!" he nervously groveled from a distance as he exited through the sole entry.

  Sacarra returned from the cabinet to standing before Reptanus, having retrieved a tiny high-technology device from it which she unfurled from a micro-fiber cloth.  The tiny barrel shaped object fit in to her eye socket crevice which is where she wedge it as the Imperator handed her a pyramid shaped object from within his tunic, about the size of a standard interstellar league astro-ball.  It appeared to be made of a red and blue stone and inlaid with intricate carvings to her naked eye before she closed it and the jewellers-eye took over..

  The stone screamed and wailed with intense pain as though it were a being or many of them itself.  The pointed ends of the object began to spin and themselves relocate across it as though following a track while the entire pyramid shaped artifact itself unfolded in to a three dimensional map of a particular region of space.  None of the systems were labelled, only a handful of noticeable landmarks appeared. 

  In what seemed like a journey that took years but lasted only a few seconds, Sacarra opened both of her eyes and pulled the device from her eye socket while quickly wrapping it back up in the cloth.  She breathed heavily while masking her now anxious demeanor and left the few small beads of sweat on her brow while handing the Imperator the rolled cloth containing the jewellers-eye and the object hastily as though it were burning to the touch,

  "It's a map.." she said while striding back around to the other side of her desk and return to her seat as if to immediately delve back in to her work.  She felt him waiting for something more from her, "..and something else inside, alive," she finished not looking at him and fumbling for something that seemed important enough to be doing at the moment.

  The Imperator cracked a sinister scarred smile, tucking both the pyramid which in reality had never changed form and the ancient archaeological scanning tool wrapped in cloth in to his tunic and departed the Chief Director's office...

TBC

[SWSF Eidolon]

   

  It was roughly a twenty minute ride in the skimmer shuttle from the capitol Sheeva to the Core.  A pair of black armor clad guards of the Imperators sat motion and soundlessly behind the statesman and warlord as the pilot steered the shuttle into a slow descent and deploy the ships skimmer fins as it transitioned from flying to skating across the sea surface.

  As the Skimmer Shuttler drew near the Core Complex, the hum of the crafts engines were drowned out by the whooshing rush of millions of gallons of water per second in to the massive construct.  The super structure was presented as the six-spoked wheel of Imperial Crest for symbolic purpose only and the primary functions of it were an access point for mantle mining of precious metals and core drilling and as a hydroelectric supply for the entire planet and then some.  Much of the sea water that flowed in to the complex was diverted in to turbine tunnels while the rest was funneled down hundreds of levels for cooling, cutting and processing purposes.

  While they'd toured the various districts and levels of Sheeva, Reptanus had displayed little care or offered much return dialogue.  His interest in the Core complex was evident from the onset of their approach however.  They were on the 66th sub-level of the massive subterranean construct which with a single levels cathedral ceiling was well below the shallow sea floor though still within the crust layer of the planet.  It was here that most of the Core Personnel living quarters and administrative command sections were located.  The Core's Senior Officer, Chief Engineer Whelan Radczeski now accompanied the pair as they ventured from the Admin-Living Level to a lift that would take them much deeper in to the structure and planet itself.

  The lift was in an enclosed tube and dimly lit in an orange hue.  The more regular sized human beings, Chief Radczeski and Governor Jotun wore safety-yellow reflective lined vests and hard hats over their normal professional attires.  The Imperator wore none only his black and olive tunic and plain uniform bearing only the Imperial Crest and no other insignias.

  The humidity and heat had drastically increased from the comfortable cool upper levels as they descended further and further, eventually the lift exited the tube rail it rode in and clung to a rail on the side of the massive chasm wall.  Much of the synthetic structure was replaced with the thick laminate layered cut rock wall and only support structural elements seen.  The lift paused or slowed at particular points as the Chief Engineer had been explaining the finer points of the Core to the Imperator through their journey downward through the planetary crust and in to the mantle,

  "..so the capacity for growth is substantial, we only have to open the gates twenty-percent of the the turbine tunnels maximum intake to power Sheeva and the Citadel while maintaining standard shield coverage, thirty-five percent to match maximum battery output during a full-defensive barrage.  At fifty-percent tunnel capacity we can sustain the entire operation of Core activities, including the hardest drilling going on at the bottom of The Pit.  But that's where the marvel ends, as the planetary cores outer casing is presenting some problems- at the current rate we go through more material in hardened duralloy bits in a month than equivalent armor plating on an Imperial Star Destroyer.  But, I'm sure you already know that the Director's move to annex Kessel will give us a new option in the form of raw coaxium.  Meaning the Project should be completed in a year or less.."

  The Governor shot the Chief a sideways glance that he'd hoped the Imperator wouldn't take note of, while the Governor was not entirely well acquainted with Lord Reptanus, he guessed the quiet dark man would be none to pleased to know of major moves and developments made without his consult or directive.  The Chief Engineer was a technically minded man though, not a military mind and certainly not a politician, as he had little idea of when and what to share and not.  The Imperator did not react to the unwitting revelation, but Belmar wasn't holding his breath for a lack of fallout later.

  The inspection tour continued for some time as the lift rapidly accelerated for some time before nearing the lower most levels and the bottom of the pit.  For the last several minutes of the descending lift ride, steam seemed to pour out from the rock wall itself and obscured most view looking down.  The ambient noise of the large cavernous hole was long ago replaced with the clanging, grinding, sawing, banging and rumbling of heavy machinery and equipment at work.  The lift could not venture all the way to the floor level of The Pit but rather stopped at it's upper most boundary point.  The trio exited the lift passing under a sign marking the Level as 2025 along an enclosed cat walk to a small boxed in control station.  On the other side of a meter thick nova crystal pane glass, robotic arms were carefully and slowly at work replacing a massive starfreighter sized drill bit on the end of a driver shaft which once complete would descend far below where their eyes could see.

  The technically minded tour continued with no other unknown slips from the Chief Engineer, the Governor and Imperator eventually made their way back to the Skimmer Shuttle on the surface levels which departed for it's return to the Citadel..