The Imperial Star Destroyer Mark II
Judiciator orbited the small world of Julinar IV. Julinar IV was a small, barren planet, the only one suitable for colonization in this hind-end system of Julin. The system's double binary stars shone brightly, scorching the far away world that heated the surface to just warm enough to be habitable.
Recently, the colonists of Julinar IV had staged protests against the Empire, and the local Moff, a short pudgy man named Finu, had requested assistance from the Imperial Navy. the responce had been to send
Judiciator out to investigate the claims, as some of the smaller moffs would often claim incidents to be much larger than they actually were, just to get attention.
These thoughts belonged to Imperial Captain Util Basif, the
Judiciator's captain. His hair was kept at regulation height, his jet black hair and blue eyes hid an intellect that had quickly propelled him to the command chair after graduating from the Imperial Academy. He rode in silence in the turbolift up to the bridge, with his XO Commander Iella Pertil checking off the protocols for communicating with the Moffs.
"And lastly you should invite him to dinner tonight aboard the vessel. It is a show of curtousy to show the Moff around the ship that will offer him protection incase of a violent attack." The XO was a brillient young woman, who used her rank to let her hair flow freely down the back of her skull in rolling red waves of hair. Her emerald green eyes shone with an intelligence rivalling that of Captain Basif, and by the time Basif finally was promoted to Admiral, Pertil would be ready for her own command, probably of the
Judiciator.
"I always hated these formal dinners with the Moffs. Most of them only care about keeping their worlds in line and don't care how many toes they have to step on along the way," Basif commented dryly.
"You know they're important because someone has to keep the systems in line when we're not there," she responded sweetly, though they both knew she had a similar dislike of the local govenors.
"Well atleast they started giving out protocols on how to deal with them. I hate to imagine the first captains to face an Imperial Moff without one of these handy little cheat sheets," he chuckled as he took the flimsi-plast sheet from his XO, mentally checking all the important bits he would have to remember.
"Yes. Almost enough to drive someone insane," she responded with a chuckle. They accended the rest of the way in silence.
* * *
The formal dinner aboard the
Judiciator finally ended, with Finu making a long and boring toast to the Imperial Navy, and Basif accepting on behalf of the entire Imperial Navy. Now it was time to retire, and he handed the bridge over to Pertil.
Commander Pertil stood in the central aisle of the command deck, above the crew pit below, when an ensign looked up from his seat, "Commander, we have a ship coming out of hyperspace off our port stern."
Pertil's green eyes shot to the ensign, and strolled over to stand as close as she could without falling into the crew pit, "What's the ID on that ship?"
The crew checked their consoles, "Sensors indicate it's the supply ship
Behemouth, but she's not supposed to be due to meet us for another month."
Commander Pertil considered her options, resting her chin on her hand as she thought, then turned back to the crew pit, "Contact the ship, ask to speak with the captain"
A minute later a small pole with a flat, faintly transparent disk nestled into a chrome saucer rose near the back of the bridge, and flickered to life. Instead of the normal image of the captain, however, it only showed the Imperial insignia. "
This is the Behemouth
here Captain. How can we be of assistance?"
Commander Pertil straightened the collar of her uniform some, "Captain this is Commander Pertil of the Imperial Star Destroyer
Judiciator, our records don't show you arriving for another month. What's with the change in schedule?"
The comm remained silent for a long moment, before the captain came back on, "
Commander. Our schedule has us being in this system at this time to supply a local Imperial outpost. The resupply of the Judiciator
is still a month away."
Commander Pertil's eyes narrowed, "Very well, Captain. Continue on about your business," and with that, she pressed the button to end the communication.
The ensign from the crew pit spoke up again, "Captain, the
Behemouth is moving towards Julinar IV."
Commander Pertil nodded, and resumed her monitoring of the bridge, a nagging feeling in the back of her mind that something wasn't right.
* * *
Aboard the bulk freighter
Behemouth, the captain leaned back in his chair, breathing a sigh of relief as the communication with the Imperial ship finally ended. The short man with balding hair couldn't believe how close they'd come to being discovered. The men around him all looked relieved as well, save one, Lt. Berim Lijosk. His hard gaze and militaristic appearance never once cracked, as if always ready for the unexpected.
"That was close," said the short captain.
"Too close. Let's just get to the planet, but don't go too fast, or you'll alert them. We're sitting ducks in this bucket of bolts, and the sooner we're on the ground the better," Lijosk replied.
* * *
For the next week, the
Judiciator frequently sent down landers full of stormtroopers to quiet the population eager to try and remove Moff Finu. The presence of the stormtroopers quickly caused the protests to end, the population scattering like nocturnal insects caught in a light.
Commander Pertil ignored the situation with the
Behemouth as the ship quickly landed, unloaded, and took off again, disappearing into hyperspace about two days after it first appeared in-system.
Unbeknownst to the
Judiciator, the
Behemouth had been captured by the Rebel Alliance and converted into a troop carrier, and had managed to smuggle in an entire division of rebel troopers, hiding among the local protesters, waiting for the chance to strike.
The strike came at 1000 hours the 8
th day after the arrival of the
Judiciator. The stormtroopers, used to unarmed protesters who fled, had left some of the heavier riot weapons back aboard the
Judiciator, and were unprepared as rebel troopers fired down at them with blaster rifles and energy mortars.
The reports streaming in from the surface were ones of chaos as the stormtroopers were mowed down while trying to retreat back to their landers, only to be stranded by well placed bombs planted by rebel sabatours.
Captain Basif was caught utterly off guard as the reports came in that most of the stormtroopers on the ground were either dead or dying, with rebel troopers heading for the energy shields that would protect the capital city from bombardment by the
Judiciator.
"Weapons! Target the shield generator and open fire, I want it taken out now!" yelled Basif as he hurried to the holographic tactical display. The shield generator was marked red, for a target, with scattered gun emplacements marked yellow, meaning they were no danger to the
Judiciator, but could be a problem for smaller ships ferrying troops. A large hologram of their ship neared the city, and small lances flew down from the ship towards the city's shield generators.
Basif watched as the first of the turbolaser beams hit the shield generator and caused damage to the outer armor layer, but before the second volley could get through and exploit the damage done, a blue dome arched over the city, and absorbed the turbolaser blasts. Captain Basif pounded his fist on the display, causing it to pause out of focus for a second before resolving into a live feed again.
Commander Pertil looked at the display for a moment, studying it, "It doesn't look like any of the weapons can reach us sir. But with the shield, they're safe down there."
Captain Basif nodded, "do you think we could punch a hole in the shields by bombarding it?"
Commander Pertil shook her head, "No sir. We'd need two more Star Destroyers before we could do that."
Captain Basif slammed his fist down on the display again, causing it to skip again, "This is impossible. We need to get that shield down now, before those, those... whoever they are, can reach the Moff. Load up as many stormtroopers as you can and get them down there near the edge of the shield. I want them to hurry, because if Moff Finu dies, it'll be our heads."
* * *
The Imperial Landers streaked out of the
Judiciator's large central hangar, followed by TIE fighter and TIE bomber escorts. Their target was a large field just outside of Julinar City, the main population center of Julinar IV. The TIE fighters streaked ahead, drawing fire from the automated anti-air turrets scattered around Julinar City. The long range guns were located both inside and outside the city, but the turrets outside the city were too small to target with the larger turbolasers of the
Judiciator.
The TIE fighters flew through the streaks of irridescent light that would vaporize many of them in an instant, getting close enough to strafe the turrets with their dual laser cannons, or draw their attention long enough for the TIE bombers to come through with their payloads of proton torpedoes and concussion missiles to destroy the turrets with ease.
After the turrets were taken care of, the Imperial landers landed close to the shield wall, stormtroopers and assault vehicles being unloaded quickly. Then the troops would push through the shield, and into the city, followed very closely by the TIE fighters.
The type of fighting that goes on is brutal combat in urban environments without air support or long-range artillery support, incurring huge losses on both sides. The Imperial stormtroopers were quickly attacked by rebel troopers, but the more efficient armor and weapons quickly had the rebels running. The troopers marched through the city, fighting through ambushes and surprise attacks the entire way.
Soon, the Imperial Govenor's Palace was seen just ahead, and from the view on the outside, it looked as if the rebels had already found their way inside.
* * *
Lt. Lijosk stomped through the debris that had once been the large double doors of the Govenor's Palace, now in a million pieces scattered all over the floor. Dead men and women lay scattered across the floor, a rebel trooper every now and then. The troops he was following had gone on ahead, moving up the large ornate staircase that lead up to the double set of doors that guarded the entrance to Moff Finu's private office. With a deafening explosion, the door was blown into a million pieces.
Inside, cowering behind his desk, was Moff Finu, clutching a small hold-out blaster and hoping the rebels didn't find him. The first trooper to enter the room fell victum to a lucky shot on Finu's part, hitting the man in his unprotected face, but the second only received a minor burn across the arm before he could fire a stun-bolt and shock Finu into unconsciousness.
Lijosk inspected the men bringing Finu out, hauling him by the arms as they hauled the fat man out of the nearly destroyed office. They were half-way down the stairs when one of the two troopers guarding the door fell victum to stormtrooper fire. The second had just enough time to shout before he too was taken down with stormtrooper fire.
The troopers dropped Finu, letting him slide and roll down the steps to the bottom, while they hurried down and set up quick barricades. The stormtroopers rushing inside were first cut down, but once cover was found, it became a deadly firefight, with both sides picking off the other side slowly. Lijosk, himself a strong man, had orders to bring in Finu at all costs, and so he picked up the large man by himself and began trudging towards a back entrance.
* * *
Back aboard the
Judiciator, the second wave was preparing to leave the deck and land inside the city once the shield was lowered by friendly forces. On the bridge, Captain Basif and Commander Pertil listened to the incoming comm reports, and were dismayed to hear the stormtroopers inside the Palace had failed to find Finu.
"
He's not here sir. Some of our men report seeing a man carrying off someone else out the back, but the enemy is covering them and we can't follow them," reported the stormtrooper commander on the ground.
Captain Basif nodded, "I understand, commander. Keep pushing, we'll try and stop him if he attempts to escape the planet."
The tactical display remained the same, except for the occassionally shifting arrows that indicated where forces were moving, attacking, counter-attacking, and so forth. Finally, the red shield generator turned blue, and the energy shield fell, exposing the city to the turbolasers of the
Judiciator, which opened fire almost immediately to pound heavily fortified positions and scatter the rebels.
Suddenly a small red dot started blinking as it lifted off from the surface of the planet. Basif wheeled around and barked, "Intercept that ship! I want full power to the engines, tractor beams standing by."
* * *
On the small shuttle escaping Julinar City, Lt. Lijosk piloted the small craft with great skill, avoiding the TIE fighters that came at him from nearly all angles, trying to shoot him down. He wasn't intrested, as he was trying to escape Juliar IV with his cargo, the unconscious Moff Finu. His sensors detected the
Judiciator coming after him, and he tried to follow the curvature of the planet as much as possible to avoid the ship.
The
Judiciator was still gaining, however, due to it's high orbit and bigger engines. Lijosk knew he would have to hurry into space and try to escape the gravity well so he could make the jump to lightspeed, and leave the accursed planet behind.
The engines of the small craft burned hot as Lijosk pushed the tiny vessel, the whole time his eyes on the hyperspace console and his hand on the hyperdrive control levers, ready to pull them back the instant the console flashed green.
The
Judiciator hurried after it's target, her captain desperate to rescue Moff Finu before he could be captured by the Rebels. He squeezed the edge of the railing infront of the wide gallery windows, almost as if he could will the ship to go faster just by squeezing the railing.
Suddenly the hyperspace panel lit green as the shuttle cleared the gravity well and Lijosk pulled back on the hyperspace levers just as the invisible tractor beam from the
Judiciator lept out to nab the ship. For one horrifying moment for both Lijosk and Basif, it came down to which was stronger, the hyperdrive aboard the shuttle, or the tractor beams aboard the
Judiciator.
Finally the shuttle broke free after a loud screach of stressed metal and electronics filled the cockpit, and the ship lept into hyperspace. Back aboard the
Judiciator, Captain Basif just stared out the large windows at where the shuttle had lept off into hyperspace.
Commander Pertil stood behind Captain Basif, before asking in a hushed whisper, "Captain? Are you alright?"
Captain Basif remained silent for a long moment, then turned to his XO, "Yes. I'm fine, Commander. We did our best, even if we were caught with our pants down, and our report will reflect this. It is... regretable... that Moff Finu was captured and his capturer just barely got away. If you'll excuse me, commander, I'll be in my quarters."
Commander Pertil remained silent as Captain Basif passed her, lost in thought, wondering if his carreer was over, while she wondered why, of all the Moffs in the galaxy, the rebels would choose to kidnap this one, at such high cost...
* * *
Several lightyears away, aboard the small Nebulon-B frigate
Bacta, Moff Finu finally awakened on a medical gurney, with the sight of Lt. Lijosk standing above him. "Lijosk!" Finu exclaimed, "So you did come and rescue me!"
Lijosk nodded solumnly, "We couldn't let you fall into Imperial Intelligence's hands, Agent Finu. Now, do you have the information you promised us?"
Agent Finu nodded, "yes, yes. The Empire is building some sort of superweapon, rumored to be able to destroy an entire planet. I don't know if this is true, but the implications are grave indeed. They're pulling funds from the Departments of System Exploration and Public Works, but the true nature is being kept very secret."
Lijosk nodded, and pulled a blaster from his belt, "They are. And unfortunately, you've reached the end of your usefulness after getting us this information. And you know too much about us to be left alive. I'm sorry old friend."
Finu just stared at Lijosk in shocked horror, and was knocked back a few feet when the blaster fired, to smash into the white antiseptic wall of the infirmary, collapsing on to the floor and quickly dying. Lijosk now had to get agents into position that could monitor the Departments of System Exploration and Public Works, and see if this information was true or not. He left Finu's body for the droids to clean up.
THE END