[Out of Character Note: It has been decided that, for the purposes of fictional integrity, my character will remain the Fleet Commander. Please note that this is only a fictional reality - Raven is still definitely the FC in our real world. See the note on "Fictional Integrity" in the GDF wiki entry for more explanation.]



-=Command Fortress, Green Prairie, Mercurius, Vectain system, Cadrel Expanse, 44:4:20,14:07=-


"Scramble all ground-based fighter squadrons and bring our area shield to full strength!" Vice Admiral Tyrell "Spokes" Borran ordered calmly. Ensconced securely in his wheelchair, he appeared to be sitting in a throne, lording over the Operations Center of the Command Fortress. His calm demeanor was necessary, he felt, because he was afraid that at any moment his staff might get panicky. The staff at the Command Fortress were not accustomed to combat situations, and were certainly unfamiliar with their world being under attack. Since the Republic Shield had captured Mercurius a couple years before in the Cadrel Expanse Conflict, frequently known as the First Outer Rim War, it had remained mostly inviolate. Until today.

"Admiral," a wavery voice called out from a communication station, "The End of Days announces that she is returning with all speed, but will be another ten minutes. Bases New World and Justification report that the hostiles are just out of the range of their guns."

Spokes grunted to himself. Their foe was well-informed, he had to give them credit for that. Mere moments ago, a small flotilla of hostile ships had dropped out of hyperspace in high orbit and quickly made itself a nuisance. They had chosen a moment when the Dreadnaught End of Days was patrolling in another system, and had timed their entry to slip by the massive Golan III bases in orbit over the planet. Some of the vessels had already made a quick strafing run on Mercurius' starport, about ten kilometers north of the Command Fortress.

A tall, spindly Mon Calamari in the uniform of a commander leaned over to Spokes. He matter-of-factly observed "The Days or even one of our bases would make mincemeat of their entire force if they strayed too close. Even our ground-based fighters alone may be enough to drive them off."

Spokes nodded, pleased that the base commander had come to the conclusion, but secretly afraid that he had only just come to it now instead of the instant the attack began. Spokes agreed with the assessment, but was not as confident of the success of the ground-based fighter squadrons. They were mostly raw recruits who had little experience and were flying older and less-well maintained fighters.

"The enemy does not have a great force, Commander, I agree" Spokes replied. "A few Corellian transports, a dozen Z-95s, and some beat-up blastboats don't normally pose much a danger. Our goal is simply to keep them from strafing the starport again until the Days returns."

The Mon Cal bowed slightly, "Yes, sir."

"Our fighters have engaged the enemy, sir!" The wavery voice was back again.

"Very good. Let them do their jobs. Meanwhile, relay a message to the Days. Tell them I want them to hyperspace in at the coordinates I'm providing you now." Spokes tapped a few buttons on the console, sending the data to the communication station.

Spokes rubbed his hands together in anticipation. At any moment the End of Days should be in position to make a final micro-jump into the system at the coordinates provided. Then the trap would be sprung.

As if on cue, the communication officer piped up again, a little more steady this time. "They are ready, sir."

Spokes nodded. "On my mark, the Days will jump. I also want our fighters to dive for the planet's surface, the ground-based turrets to commence firing and both stations to fire all their ion cannons in the direction of the fray. The enemy will be out of range, but they are to keep firing until told otherwise. Clear?"

Various heads nodded around the room as the orders were passed on. Spokes smiled briefly. "Now."

Above, the low-orbit dogfight ended quickly as the RS fighters dove straight for the ground, covered by the ground-based defensive emplacements. The orbital stations began firing their massive ion cannons out into space. With a brief flash, the Dreadnaught End of Days materialized between the stations and added its guns to the mix. The trap was of course not perfect, and many of the hostiles squirted out, but enough of them flew right into a barrage from either a station or ship to send the rest running out of the system without any further fight. By the time the dust cleared, a handful of Z-95s and a Corellian Transport were disabled and floating in orbit, with about the same number destroyed. The rest had gone to hyperspace.

In the Operations Center, Spokes allowed himself a bigger smile now. "Secure us from combat status. Send up some shuttles to capture those ships and prepare the interrogation teams. And somebody get me a line to the Fleet Commander..."



-=Personal Quarters of the Fleet Commander, Victory II-class Star Destroyer Peril, 44:4:23,04:30=-


Dave Trebonious-Astoris, Fleet Commander of the Republic Shield, woke with a start. As he opened his eyes, he did not have to wonder for long about what had woke him. From his bed, he could see a red light blinking on his computer station against the other wall. The soft, red light of the alert bathed the entire room with a warm glow each time it blinked. Now fully awake, Dave cursed himself for putting the station so close to his bedroom. He was apprehensive about answering the call. The last time he received a call like this in the middle of the night, he was informed by Admiral Borran that Mercurius had suffered what appeared to be a pirate attack. That report had been immediately followed by a similar report from the Binaural Sector of a piratical raid that had occurred at almost exactly the same time. The coincidence had given Dave a bit of a chill and he was not sure he wanted to hear the ne-

His moment of self-debate was abruptly interrupted as the red light winked out and the console screen resolved itself into an image of Lieutenant Rebekah Gosling, his communication officer, looking slightly rumpled herself. Dave nearly jumped out of his skin. "Gosling! Do you mind?" he managed to croak out in a voice slightly higher-pitched than his normal.

Gosling smiled wryly at him as he pulled his sheet up around his neck. "Sorry, Admiral, but I didn't know if you'd answer and I had to get a hold of you one way or the other."

Dave grunted. "I would say this is a slight abuse of your comm. powers. What are you doing awake, anyway? Night shift should be on duty right now and you are supposed to be sleeping."

"I was trying," Gosling offered, pushing a wispy strand of auburn hair over her ear. "The night shift boys decided that I would be a better person to wake you up in the middle of the night, so THEY woke ME up."

Dave suppressed a grin. "Do they know something that we do not?" As much as it rumpled his sense of professionalism, Dave was amused by the rumors racing about the ship that he was romantically involved with Gosling.

"I'm sure they think they do," Gosling smiled back. The smile faded as she returned her gaze to what must have been a datapad in her hand. "I wish this was good news, Admiral."

Dave nodded. "They usually let good news wait until morning."

"Less than an hour ago, the Halberd was destroyed in the Elenian system of the Cadrel Expanse," Gosling said swiftly and matter-of-factly. "General Vaughan is on-site; he survived and is beginning an investigation immediately. Unfortunately, most of the crew is presumed dead. I'm sorry."

As he heard the news, Dave's face closed into a mask devoid of emotion. He climbed out of bed, pretense at modesty now gone. As he reached for his uniform, he replied "Tell the night shift that I will be on the bridge in five minutes and that I will want to speak with General Vaughan directly as soon as possible."

Gosling nodded curtly. "I will meet you there." She signed off quickly.

Alone now, Dave sighed heavily. Death and disaster seemed right around the corner, no matter what he did.



-=Main Bridge of the Victory II-class Star Destroyer Peril, orbiting Mercurius, 44:4:24,07:04=-


Dave stared impassively out the Peril's main viewport, contemplating the orb-shaped Mercurius floating in space below. Although his face remained neutral, inside he was a bundle of both rage and discouragement. Only four days ago, the ships and fighters of some third-party pirate organization had been blasting through space here, harassing the RS in a place where it normally felt inviolate. A similar inexplicable and seemingly unpredictable attack had occurred - at nearly the same time - a sector away in the Binaural Sector. And just yesterday, the Halberd had been lost with nearly all hands in the nearby Elenian system. That one hurt. The ship had been in service for less than a month. Its commissioning had been a beacon of hope, and a sign that something good was coming out of the disaster of the Battle of Blerthmore. And it's destruction meant what? Dave clenched his hand into a fist. The impudence of the recent attacks boiled his blood. At the same time, even though he wouldn't admit it, he felt a tinge of discouragement and perhaps even fear. These attacks were beginning to come more often and were nearly impossible to predict and stop with so few ships at his disposal. He despaired at making the planets governed by the RS safe.

He was still staring when he the sounds of somebody shuffling up to him off his right elbow. It was General Vaughan, his Logistics Officer. He appeared disheveled and tired, which was not surprising, given what he had recently gone through.

"Admiral, I have my first comprehensive report of the Halberd incident ready for you."

Dave nodded, mentally redirecting his focus to the new task. "Let me get Admiral Tharen and we will meet you in the Main Conference Room in five minutes."


-----


"It is therefore my regretful recommendation that all Caelum nationals serving within the task force be immediately stood down from active duty," Vaughan concluded gravely. "I have attached forensic details to the reports on your datapad, as well as analysis of the structural faults of the Strike-class design which contributed to the ease with which the Halberd was destroyed."

As Vaughan sat down at the conference table across from Admirals Astoris and Tharen, he allowed himself a small sigh. And why shouldn't he? He was exhausted, having experienced a terrible incident and then forced himself to stay awake for more than 24 hours straight afterward as he pursued his investigation. It had been a draining experience, and he was sure he looked worse than he felt.

Across the table, Dave stared hard at his datapad, as if willing it to rupture into thousands of pieces, hoping that because the report was destroyed the incident never took place. Finally, Dave broke the silence.

"Thank you very much, General. Your report is, as usual, impeccably accurate, extremely timely, and filled with helpful advice on the situation."

Vaughan nodded briefly. He would prefer praise in other situations.

Dave continued. "I believe we have no choice but to comply with your suggestion to stand down all Caelum nationals in the Republic Shield armed forces. As of this moment I am giving orders for the stand down. In addition, all those stood down are to be confined to quarters until such a time as they have been cleared by RS security. Such draconian measures are regretful, but unfortunately necessary during these times."

Rahj nodded in agreement from his seat next to Dave. The two often thought as one mind, and here as many times before they were agreed. Rahj made a note in his datapad of Dave's exact words, to include in the official communique that he would send to the fleet as soon as the meeting adjourned.

Vaughan appeared somewhat awkward as he worked his way around to his next point. "Unfortunately, Admiral, I believe that order means you will lose one of your bridge staff." Vaughan was referring to Lieutenant Euric Vandalo, the Engineering Officer on the Peril's bridge.

Dave smiled craftily. "Rahj?"

Rahj mirrored the smile. "Lieutenant Vandalo will remain on active duty as a special dispensation from the Fleet Commander, because he believes his bridge staff to be above reproach and will not tolerate their honor being questioned."

Vaughan frowned and rubbed the bridge of his nose with confusion. Clearly he was missing some important point here, but he'd been running on caf and adrenaline for long enough now that this was to be expected.

Dave explained. "Rahj and I have been somewhat suspicious of Vandalo for some time now. Trust us, we are monitoring him more securely than RS security ever could. We want him free of suspicion for now so we can catch him at a sensitive time."

"Aaah..." Vaughan exclaimed, as the confusion written on his face seemed to melt away. "As you wish."



-=Shuttle Raptor's Talon, descending to the surface of Mercurius, 44:4:24,10:45=-


Beside him in the shuttle's command module, Rahj grumbled. "I still think this is a bad idea."

Dave smiled. "It probably is. I'm pushing the idea of Fleet Commander as diplomat and popular figure to the extreme, I know. But somehow I have to let these people know that they are important to us, and a recorded broadcast just does not seem like it would do the trick."

Dave was heading down to Mercurius in order to personally meet members of the civilian colony in the downtown market area. Mercurius had originally been uninhabited by humans when the RS seized it in the First Outer Rim War. The planet had been immediately selected by the current Fleet Commander at the time as the RS base of operations in the Cadrel Expanse. Mercurius was a beautiful, lush world, perfect for sustaining humanoid life. The RS Command Fortress had been erected on the Green Prairie of the southern continent, and a small civilian colony had been transplanted in beside it through RS funding. That small colony had since ballooned in size as others had voluntarily come out to live on the beautiful world. The colony was now thriving, although still highly dependent on the RS military presence for trade and protection.

It had become quickly clear to Vice Admiral Tyrell "Spokes" Borran, the resident regional commander, that the civilian populace had been unnerved by the recent pirate raid on the planet. The report of this discomfort had brought the Peril to Mercurius in the first place, and eventually convinced Dave to actually visit the colony in person. He was hoping for a good reception, but Rahj had insisted that he bring the Gryphon Commandos, his personal bodyguard, just in case.

Rahj grumbled again. "We'll be landing in less than a minute."


-----


Dave smiled and waved to the crowd from his position atop a small platform erected in the middle of the street for the purpose of his appearance. His visit was so far exceeding his wildest dreams. The people of Mercurius, so heavily dependent upon the RS military for their own survival, were absolutely delighted to see the top officer of the RS in the flesh. It was all the Gryphon Commandos could do to restrain the mob from reaching out to him. Cheers roared from the thousands of people crowded into the area, threatening to drown out his words. The Gryphons formed a tight ring around the platform, and Rahj stood to his left and behind him several steps. At Dave's gesture, the crowd noise quieted to a low buzz.

"People of Mercurius, I say to you again, the Republic Shield is here to stay!"

A long cheer ensued, complete with hoops and hollers. Dave was unfamiliar with this sort of mob-like popularity, but pressed on anyway.

"Nobody will ever disturb your peace here! Live, work, trade, and enjoy the beautiful planet that you have."

Again, applause and cheers erupted from the crowd. This speech was rapidly becoming like every political speech Dave heard senators make in the New Republic Senate, complete with obligatory standing ovations. He decided to cut it short before it got too tiresome.

"Thank you for your appreciation. Reach for the stars!" With that, Dave sketched a quick but clean salute, and turned to climb down off the platform. Rahj followed him down, and the Gryphon Commandos withdrew to make a tight circle around them.

The crowd, apparently delirious with delight and hungry for the possibility of getting closer to a man they perceived as a celebrity, immediately pressed against the Gryphons as the group made its way toward the waiting landspeeder a hundred feet away. Progress forward became something measured in inches. The Gryphons were in their standard fatigues and light body armor and were hardly equipped to act as riot police.

Somewhat oblivious to this, Dave continued to smile and wave, occasionally reaching through his guards to shake a hand as he and his entourage pushed forward. As he walked, he felt a hand grasping his shoulder in an awkward fashion from behind. He turned to look and stared straight into the eye of one of the commandos. Blood was trickling from his lip. He suddenly lost his balance and tipped forward. Before the body was run over by the mob Dave noticed a vibroblade sticking out of the back. Something was very wrong.

At that very moment the bubbling crowd noise was pierced by first one shriek, then another. Then a very masculine voice yelled out "He's got a gun!" That was one of the commandos. Instantly, the unmistakable sounds of a heavy blaster pistol firing cracked the atmosphere. Three more commandos crumpled over, leaving Dave nearly exposed to the mob. Even still, no weapon or shooter appeared in sight. Rahj immediately shoved Dave to the side and stepped in front of him. He was yelling something, but now the commotion was so intense that his words were lost in the crowd noise.

More blaster fire erupted. Dave turned and saw another commando falling to the ground with a vibroblade in his neck. He was locked in a death grip with his attacker, a man dressed in a plain, black bodysuit. The commando had managed to turn around and fire a bolt into his attacker's stomach. Both men collapsed to the ground, evidently dead.

Rahj, apparently impatient with the commandos' inability to hear his orders, reached out, snatched a blaster carbine from one of the commandos, twisted its fire mode dial, and began firing into the crowd at random. Blue rings emanated from the carbine's muzzle along with the unmistakable sound of a blaster on stun. Whole waves of the crowd fell down in unison as the stun blasts scrambled the nervous systems of everyone in their path. The other commandos caught on to Rahj's lead, and began firing their own stun blasts into the crowd as well. Soon they had cleared a path several meters wide around the entourage.

"Forward," Rahj roared, and the group surged forward toward the speeder, the remnants of the crowd that had previously surrounded them attempting to flee in every direction.

Dave ran forward with Rahj, acutely aware that he had narrowly escaped an apparent assassination attempt. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of black. One of the black-clad assassins completed an apparently impossibly long jump out of the remnants of the crowd, and landed in the midst of the RS entourage. He chopped his blaster's handle down hard onto Rahj's right arm, and the former commando grunted, dropping the carbine he had been holding. The assassin then turned his pistol toward Dave. Before Dave even had time to react, Rahj was all over the attacker. He elbowed him in the throat with his right elbow, then twisted his body as he moved closer to the attacker. There was a flash in the air and suddenly the assassin fell to the ground with his neck gushing blood from an enormous slash. Rahj had slit the man's throat with his vibroblade.

Rahj then grabbed Dave's elbow and violently hauled him along. As he was pulled away, Dave couldn't help but stare at the macabre sight of the crumpled attacker's body. He thought he saw a tattoo on the back of the man's neck - a design that looked like a red hand.



-=Fleet Commander's Office, Victory II-class Star Destroyer Peril, orbiting Mercurius, 44:4:24,14:37=-


Rahj appeared to be in a sour mood. He has refused immediate medical attention for his wounded arm, even though Dave suspected that he probably at least had a bone fracture. Dave knew he himself might be worse off than that if Rahj hadn't been there.

"Do you think the fact that we stunned dozens and dozens of civilians will offset the PR value of your speech?" Rahj asked, making a half-hearted attempt at a joke.

"Stunned, schmunned," Dave offered, "It happens all the time. Nobody will care about that. Except when the local news replays it eighteen times at 1700."

Rahj managed a smirk.

"Have you managed to piece together anything of what happened?" Dave asked.

Rahj nodded. "As near as we can tell, there were only three of them. Holo recordings show that they used the crowd for cover and slowly converged on us from three different directions as we made our way toward the landspeeder. We killed two of them. The third got caught in the wrong place during our stun-fest and fell to the ground, stunned. He was found dead on site, however. His breath smelled of poison, so evidently he had some sort of fail-safe suicide pill between his teeth. All of them were armed with vibroblades and blaster pistols. Planet-side police confirm that all had a small tattoo of a red hand on the back of their neck, as you noticed."

"And how many did we lose?" Dave looked pained.

"Seven," Rahj answered. "You said you saw five men go down. The other two were found closer to the platform. The assassins must have managed to pick them off without us noticing. Vibrobladed both of them."

Dave bowed his head for a moment, considering. "You agree that it was an assassination team, then?"

Rahj nodded firmly. "Without a doubt."

"Then you must continue your investigation. Use whatever tools or people you need, consider everybody at your disposal." Dave concluded. "In the meantime, we have a larger issue to consider."

"What's that?"

Dave looked grim. "The abandonment of the Binaural Sector."

If possible, Rahj looked even more pained.

Dave continued. "I know that you led the RS to victory over an Imperial remnant in that sector less than two years ago. I am sorry to have to suggest this."

"What's the reasoning behind the suggestion?" Rahj asked.

"Simple, unfortunately. We do not have the resources to continue to defend all the systems and sectors we are theoretically responsible for. Look at what has happened over the past week. Some sort of pirates, we do not know exactly who or why, attack us in two places - in Binaural and in Cadrel at Mercurius itself. The Halberd is destroyed in the Elenian system. Now there is some crazy cult group out there evidently trying to kill me and they probably have plans to do who knows what else. The situation is rapidly approaching the edge of chaos, and we have to regain the initiative somehow." Dave felt like he was pontificating by this point.

"Regain the initiative by withdrawing from a key sector?" Rahj was apparently not yet convinced.

Dave shook his head. "Regain the initiative by concentrating our forces and rooting out hostiles. We need to abandon our current strategy of random patrols every few days throughout multiple sectors and begin concentrated patrols in key, strategic sectors. Our highest priority, in my opinion, is holding Greeop and Cadrel."

Rahj nodded, beginning to come around. "And the Binaural Sector, as much as we paid for it in blood, is not yet very developed in comparison. We have much more in the way of defensive resources in Cadrel, so it would be the easier sector to hold. It's also closer to Greeop."

"My thoughts exactly," Dave replied.

"But what about High Command? Wouldn't they have something to say about this?"

Dave's face became icy. "I am High Command right now."



-=Fleet Commander's Office, Victory II-class Star Destroyer Peril, orbiting Tarsonis, Greeop system, 44:4:32,08:00=-


The last week had been a blur. Seven days ago, Dave had given the orders for all Caelum nationals in the RS armed forces to be stood down from active duty. There had been considerable unease with the order, which he had expected, and Euric Vandalo, his bridge engineering officer, had appeared smug and content with his exception to the order, as Dave had also expected. Six days ago, the RS withdrawal from the Binaural Sector had begun. It really was not much of a process. The RS did not have a lot of military facilities in Binaural, so the few that existed were evacuated. The biggest change was that Dave's ships would no longer be patrolling that sector. Five days ago there had been a public and official memorial for the deceased of the Halberd. It had been a somber affair, but Dave felt that it had fittingly honored the crew of the stricken ship.

Now, Dave was back in his office, and about to embark once again upon an important piece of business for the Republic Shield. He was joined by Admiral Rahj Tharen, his deputy in Greeop Defense Force affairs, General David Vaughan, his chief Logistics Officer and Colonel Luren Ketan, formerly commander of the Righteous Indignation Division.

"Colonel Ketan, thank you for joining us here," Dave began.

Ketan nodded, thinking to himself, Not that I had a choice.

"You are here, as you know, to take command of the Academy," Dave continued.

Ketan nodded again, smiling this time. Not like I would have turned an assignment like this down even if they gave me a choice.

Dave tapped a button on his datapad, then looked up. "We have good news for you. Admiral Tharen?"

Rahj nodded gravely. "President Aluin has given permission to the Republic Shield to build and maintain facilities for an academy on the planet Tarsonis."

Ketan straightened up. "Excellent news. Tarsonis was our top choice for the location of the new Academy, correct?"

Dave nodded. "Since we lost the original Academy during the Battle of Blerthmore, I think we have all were in agreement that we wanted the new Academy to be in a more secure location." The original Academy was based primarily on the Golan III defense platform Castor, which had been destroyed in the Battle of Blerthmore more than two months ago.

"And if we come to the point where Tarsonis is endangered, we're all pretty much screwed anyway," Rahj added.

Dave smiled. "Thank you, Admiral." He refocused on Ketan. "Colonel, you may select a site for construction or find a currently existing facility to take over, if you wish. Work with General Vaughan, and keep me apprised of progress. After your primary facilities are complete, we will discuss course offerings and programs in much more detail."

"I think it would be best to find a used facility for now, so we can get started sooner. I will begin my search immediately," Ketan replied.

Dave stood and offered the datapad to Ketan. As Ketan stood and accepted it, Dave commented "Your official orders are on this datapad, and included is your permission from President Aluin to operate on Tarsonis. As of this moment you are now the commanding officer of the Republic Shield Academy."

Ketan saluted smartly, and Dave returned the salute. Sensing that the meeting was over, General Vaughan moved to make his exit. He stood, sketched his own tired salute at the admirals, and moved for the door. Ketan trailed after him, eager to begin questioning the Logistics Officer on possible sites on Tarsonis. The RS had a lot of work to do on that planet in the weeks and months to come.


-----


"TO: Colonel Luren Ketan, formerly of Righteous Indignation Division
FROM: Fleet Admiral Dave Trebonious-Astoris, Fleet Commander

You are hereby both requested and required to relinquish command of the Righteous Indignation division. You are now as of this date appointed Commanding Officer of the new Republic Shield Academy. The Republic Shield has received permission from the President of the Colonies of Tarsonis to construct training facilities on this planet. You will take over older facilities and build new facilities as necessary to facilitate the instruction of new recruits. The Republic Shield Academy will be expected to turn raw recruits into capable soldiers, pilots and officers for the fleet. See attachments for a tentative list of programs that the Academy will be required to offer as well as for a sealed letter of welcome from the President of Tarsonis."