The skies above the tiny planet below glowed red with fire, as explosions ripped through the silence of space and cast fiery debris into the atmosphere.

High above the tiny world, a war was raging, and this had become one of the many battlegrounds that now were left to wether the tests of time.  But time wasn't something that the combatants worried about, because they were simply trying to survive.

"Grey 9 you've got one on your tail!" shouted Grey 10 as he swung his ship around, fighting against the incredible g-forces that the move generated.

" Grey 7, mind giving me a hand?" said Grey 8 as they flew through the expanding debris cloud surrounding a destroyed warship.

"They're all over me! Help! AAAHHH!!" screamed Grey 4, and for a brief instant his ship looked like a miniature supernova, before the fires ran out of oxygen and were snuffed out.

All around the small ships darting about, larger starships exchanged hammering blows, full broadsides that would destroy anything smaller should it get in the way.  Almost 40 ships were in a slugging match, each trying to knock out the enemy.

Standing onboard his personal ship, Emperor Palpatine watched from a safe distance as the fleet he'd travelled with took on the Seperatist warships.

The room was dark, and Palpatine liked it this way, as he felt the brief flickers of life, repeated thousands of times over, winked out, occassionally joined by the alien presences out there as well.  The droids, he could not feel, but just as well that he couldn't.

He knew his apprentice, Darth Vader, was out there, flying about and battling the Seperatist on his own command ship, and he was content to let him do so.  He had no doubt his friend would pave the way to victory, but Palpatine had another idea in mind.

He'd carefully manipulated the last of the Seperatist leaders into sending a fleet here, to this tiny world, in hopes that he could accomplish something that would come in very handy later, when his plans to take over the galaxy finally ripened.

He saw one of the Seperatist ships break off, and attempt to flee.  Immediately several guns opened fire, damaging the engines beyond repair.  From the current trajectory it was on, the ship would miss the planet, but Palpatine had other plans for it.

He sent a message to Darth Vader, informing him to prepare the ships they'd brought from Imperial Center.  He grinned evilly as he lifted his hands, tapping into the living energy field that was the Force.

* * *

Aboard the Seperatist Cruiser Fortune of War, the navigator of the stricken vessel began ranting hysterically.

"Captin! We are being drawn to the planet below!" he called out.

The crew tried everything imaginable, everything within their power, to try and keep the ship from from hitting the planet.  But it was too late.  Palpatine had only used the Force to nudge the ship on it's way, and soon the natural laws of the universe would do the rest.

The ship began heating up as it began entering the atmosphere...

* * *

Palpatine could only grin as he saw the ship going down.  Already the edges of the ship were growing red from the friction of the atmosphere across the vessel.  Escape pods would be useless, only adding to Palpatine's glee.

Palpatine was never one to trust aliens, but he did use them when it was convenient to.  Which is why this particular battle was taking place.  He didn't care about the aliens below, only that they would be used as a tool to help him secure the galaxy.

Smaller explosions rocked the ship, and Palpatine watched as the vision that had come to him through the Force began to hold true, and the inevitable destruction that would come about because of it.

* * *

On the planet below, a group of children were playing under the watchful eye of one of the village caregivers.  Nearby, the drifting smells of the evening's dinner could be smelled.

But for many, their attention was on the sight above.  They watched as large ships exchanged lightning back and forth, some exploding and disappearing.  Then they saw the one coming closer, the one on fire.

The ship was leaking chemicals badly, streaking across the sky and dumping all of it's crude chemicals into the atmosphere.  Then it crashed into the surface of the planet, sending huge tremors all across the planet and leaving a large crater.

The people on the planet thought they had displeased the gods above, and pleaded that they spare their tiny world.  Their tiny world of Honoghr, and it's race of people, the Noghri.

* * *

After the battle was over, Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader landed on the world, letting several stormtroopers go first to see what would happen.  The savage Noghri tore them apart, killing the stormtroopers with their bare hands and claws.

They then turned on Darth Vader, but the Dark Lord merely lifted his hand and stopped them in their tracks.  He then spoke through the harsh filter on his helmet, "I am Darth Vader.  We come in peace to your devistated world to help restore it after the terrible battle overhead."

Many of the Noghri remained skeptical, and Vader again spoke, "We have brought food and temporary shelter.  Our scouts will fly out across your world and bring all the people here to live together."  And as Vader said this, a trio of TIE Bombers flew overhead.

Meanwhile, back in his dark chambers, Palpatine could only grin, knowing he now had the Noghri under his control.  He would have the finest assassins in the entire galaxy, and they would all be completely loyal to the Empire.  Just as he had forseen.
 
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FM/CRW Linda_Irris/Sting6 (2-2)/Wing2/ISD-II Devastator/Offensive/VEN/VE