Ten years, five months, and seventeen days after the Battle of Yavin...
Or the forty-fifth year, fifth month, and seventeenth day after the Great Resynchronization.
(One year, one month, and thirty-two days since the Arrival.)
The Mortex sector had seen better days.
Like most remote sectors of the galaxy, it had both poor star systems whose populations were starving and rich, industrial planets whose rulers wallowed in luxury.
Such was the case in Mortex itself.
The same pattern was evident in its constituent sub-sector, Almania.
The Mortex Sector.
Discovered somewhere between three thousand and one thousand years ago, the planet Almania was a world ruled by a tyrannical high caste known as the Jehar.
Ignored by outsiders, Almania lay in the shadow of its richest moon, Pydyr.
The planet was frequently raided for slaves by various pirate and slaver gangs.
The planet Almania, by the will of its rulers, the Jehar, had until recently been part of the supporters of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, and then the New Republic.
But that didn't save this world, lying in the shadow of its richest moon.
According to intelligence data, last year, as soon as Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign began, the Jehar were among the first to secede from the New Republic, choosing a course to strengthen their own power.
One way or another, they had profited from Coruscant in the past, and when the New Republic government no longer had time for them, the local tyrants resolved the issue radically.
The Jehar massacred millions of inhabitants of Almania and the populations of the sub-sector's worlds who did not agree to the sub-sector seceding from the New Republic in favor of strengthening tyranny.
Such a brutal decision, bordering on genocide of the Almanians, gave rise to a large number of underground resistance fighters.
The Jehar turned to the semi-criminal, pirate, and smuggler forces operating in the sector, resulting in the formation of a fairly powerful coalition in Mortex.
Backed by the Zann Consortium, which supplied them with weapons in exchange for Almanian slaves, minerals, and so on.
Not to mention that the Empire's armed forces in the Mortex sector had been destroyed by these groups.
Due to its position near the Corporate Sector, the Thanium Worlds, and a number of other territories bordering or adjacent to the northern tip of the Parlemian Trade Route, mutual support with the Zann Consortium, and also because the regional route connecting the 'corporates' with Parlemian passed through the Mortex sector, the fate of the Mortex sector was obvious.
However, Commodore Dor Reder would not have been true to himself if he had accepted the difficulty of the assigned task and given up.
And so he calmly watched as the 'Krueger' gutted the orbital defense station of Almania, while the other destroyers pulled the same 'trick' on the enemy spacecraft.
At the same time, ground forces were preparing to land on Almania, while battles already raged on its moons.
The forces under his command had already subdued star systems such as Fromyria, Chaoh, Illiabat, Pal Goral, Vestral, Yutusk, Kestel, and a good dozen others.
And yet, each planet or astronomical body in the sector's systems was notable for the Dominion.
In the Chaoh system, for example, there was once a small fuel refinery of the Rebel Alliance. The Empire, learning of this, sent a fleet there and completely destroyed the enemy equipment.
In the world called Yalln, located in the Yalln system, the majority of the population were pro-Empire citizens.
The planet itself had considerable industry, which, unfortunately for its rulers, was oriented toward supporting the militants and fleet of the Zann Consortium.
However, before the start of the Dominion invasion, the planet's leaders changed their position and voluntarily surrendered the world to the Dominion.
In fact, they were a tiny Imperial remnant, surviving through self-sufficiency and trade with neighbors.
The world's defense, consisting of a couple of infantry regiments on outdated equipment and a dozen cruisers, also came under Dominion control. The active involvement of the new authorities in strengthening the economy and modernizing Yalln's industry, along with the creation of new jobs, neutralized the possibility of uprisings or other rejection of the new regime.
A similar fate awaited the planet Shallow Marsh.
During the Galactic Civil War, this planet housed a supply point for the Imperial Army, with a small garrison.
However, they didn't even have a chance to leave the planet, since Dominator Zsinj had emptied their warehouses, leaving only a company of infantry to guard the facility.
They offered no resistance, but also felt no great desire to join the Dominion.
However, that didn't matter, since the presence of a well-equipped army supply post outweighed the cost of recruiting these soldiers, who dreamed of deserting the Imperial Army as soon as possible and returning to their home planets far in the southern sectors.
Whether they join the Dominion now, later, or decide to get far away — it's not that important.
In any case, for now they will be in one of the containment camps, subjected to ideological indoctrination, and will not receive freedom until the danger of them leaking data about the Dominion's expansion becomes irrelevant.
An outpost of the Technical Division of the Analytical Bureau, subordinate to Imperial Intelligence and located on the planet Dakot VII, had been abandoned long ago, so after clearing it of mines, the Dominion gained control of the base.
Along with the entire planet.
However, this happened quite a while ago — back at the beginning of the year, when data on Ubiqtorate's secret bases was decrypted.
Nevertheless, Dominion Intelligence, having obtained a base for operations in the sector and nearby territories, was satisfied.
A similar facility, following the exact same scenario, was seized by the Dominion on the planet Lotid. With the sole exception that Lotid had a population, so the technical outpost was inspected and measures were taken to ensure its security.
Thus, a small garrison of Dominion soldiers settled on Lotid, guarding the operation of a station for monitoring and observing hyperspace movements.
However, this activity was not officially reported — Lotid did not receive the status of a closed world.
The latter was a swampy world, and its main settlement, also serving as a spaceport, was the city of Market City with a small number of inhabitants.
The natives met the Dominion without much joy, but basically, after receiving the status of a small logistics hub for civilian transport, the residents of Market City were not left at a loss.
Like most of the galaxy, they absolutely did not care about the political system they lived under.
As long as there was law, good jobs, and various criminal elements didn't bother them.
The Dominion performed excellently on all points.
The planet Ranrun, completely voluntarily and without any intrigues from agents or the replacement of rulers with clones, as sometimes happened, integrated into the Dominion.
The reason for this phenomenon was simple — this world had already been attacked by the famous conqueror Xim the Despot in the past, and since his Empire fell, the Tionese had repeatedly tried to subjugate the former holdings of the legendary conqueror.
The locals had already caught agents from the Tion Hegemony and understood that sooner or later they would fall victim to conquest.
And the fate of extermination posed a much greater danger to them than integration into a state that, even with small forces, had beaten the New Republic, the main power in the galaxy, to a state that led to its actual collapse.
And the Dominion always offered excellent conditions to future members, no point hiding that.
The planet Refrax, which housed a spaceport built by the Empire that served as a transit zone and warehouse for Imperial Starfleet military property, was taken over by some mercenary gang that the fighters of Kavil's Corsairs simply swept aside and didn't even notice.
The planet itself, at Reder's desire, became a temporary headquarters for the period of operations in the Mortex sector.
And possibly (and most likely) it will remain so in the future, because building a base from scratch involves enormous costs.
The poor world of Pal Goral was home to a sentient species called Palarians.
Their fate was unenviable on the scale of the entire sector.
They were often hired to work on the planet Durona in the Corporate Sector.
But upon arrival, it turned out that the promised jobs were a situation close to slavery, and the Palarians were forced to extract the planet's extensive resources along with other subjugated species.
The Palarians did not accept this turn of events and started a guerilla war against the Corporate Sector authority and their bandit allies.
The appearance of Dominion ships and clarification of who was actually behind the 'corporates' brought the Palarians into the fold of the metropolis.
The jungle-covered planet Harzat III in the system of the same name was completely absent from galactic charts. But it was in the database of Republic Intelligence.
The planet's lush forests were home to a wide variety of plant life, as well as a unique species of gandark known as the 'long-necked gandark'.
In the past, the Alliance to Restore the Republic explored the planet in search of a possible new location for a rebel base after the Battle of Hoth. However, they were forced to flee due to the aggressiveness of the local long-necked gandarks.
Fortunately, the Dominion had a considerable number of squads of those very natives of Esuma, who readily agreed to the undemanding work of clearing the forests of an excessive number of predators while Dominion scouts worked on the surface, determining the pros and cons of further colonizing the planet.
Dor himself saw no negative factors there except the gandarks themselves.
These creatures had nothing to do with real gandarks and got their name as a result of confusion.
In fact, they were large four-legged animals with long necks and long tongues, which they used to catch their prey and devour it with their immense stomachs.
Long-necked gandark.
And as for the rest…
And as for the rest, there was a lot of work to be done, including on Almania, where the local tyrants had been offered favorable terms.
But they contemptuously rejected them, counting on help from their fellow militants.
And so now Almania and its moons were being stormed.
And, to the Jehars' misfortune, they completely mistakenly considered themselves safe, having surrounded Almania with a planetary shield.
For the Dominion forces knew very well that the Jehars regularly gathered at their headquarters to discuss the current situation.
But worst of all (for the Jehars) was precisely that Grand Admiral Thrawn knew the place and time of such gatherings.
Therefore, Commodore Reder was in no hurry with the landing and ground assault — Grand Admiral Thrawn had ordered him to wait for news from a pair of Shadow Guards who had been sent to Almania two standard weeks ago.
When Dor's thoughts touched upon those two figures in black armor, the commodore broke into a sweat.
He absolutely did not want to know how just two sentients with lightsabers could solve the problem of tyranny on an entire planet.
* * *
The Great Dome of Assemblies was located in Stonia on the planet Almania, in the Mortex sector.
A majestic building with multi-meter marble columns, each of which reached truly indecent girth, was the headquarters of the Jehar regime.
It was here that they decided how the entire Almania sub-sector would live.
Here the decision was made to exterminate millions of Almanians.
And here the time was about to come for a meeting dedicated to the actual occupation of three moons of the planet Almania and the blockade of the latter by the forces of the Dominion regular fleet.
Great Dome of Assemblies.
This was the concentration of power and inviolability of the ruling regime that oppressed the local population.
But don't think that the population of Almania, which had already dwindled after all the purges carried out by the Jehars, was always peaceful and submissive.
Among the people of Almania — not just the planet, but the entire sub-sector — there is a national hero.
General Kueller.
This being came to power on the planet many years ago, united it under his command.
And then he achieved the same within the entire Almania sub-sector, turning it into a place where beings would be satisfied with their lives.
In the chronicles, he was recorded as a merciful, just, and wise dominator and ruler.
The Almanians are proud of such a hero.
And they prefer not to remember that at the beginning of his path to unify the planet, Kueller was a bastard who drowned in blood everyone who disagreed with him or posed a threat.
From Darth Maul's point of view, the Jehars, Kueller, and other rulers who based their rise to power on force were fundamentally no different from each other.
They were all maniacs, schemers, bastards, butchers — because only in that way could one get rid of the chaff of unworthy companions who were aimed at personal enrichment rather than achieving ideal goals.
Worst of all, the young man standing next to him, clad in ornate armor, an exact copy of General Kueller's armor, and calling himself by that very name in honor of the glorious commander, understood this perfectly.
His name was Dolf, and he was Force-sensitive.
Moreover — he reeked of the Dark Side of the Force.
His parents were killed on the orders of the Jehars, and the young man, who had received rudimentary training in the Jedi Order of the New Republic, escaped from there about a month ago.
He quickly found like-minded individuals, formed a group of rebels whose goal was to destroy the Jehar regime.
And Kueller-Dolf had made considerable progress in executing his plan by the time Maul and Stryn found him in the catacombs of Almania.
Honestly, the Zabrak intended to kill the whelp, initially suspecting him of being a puppet of the Zann Consortium.
But a little later he figured out the situation.
And he came to the conclusion that Kueller-Dolf's militants would serve well in the matter of annexing Almania to the Dominion.
Since Dolf was not properly trained in the ways of the Force, it was not very difficult for Darth Maul to understand what really motivated this man when he agreed to an alliance with the Dominion.
Petty bastard...
But Maul would not have been a Sith if he could not turn the situation to his advantage, so he stayed constantly by Kueller's side as his advisor.
Kueller (Dolf).
Along with Dolf's assistant, who had returned to the planet some time ago after completing negotiations with Grand Moff Ferrus Felix.
Dominion Intelligence had long since made contact with this underground organization, but Thrawn decided to send Shadow Counselors, not just agents, saboteurs, and Noghri, only at the final stage of the operation.
Maul, whom the intelligence agent accompanying Dolf's deputy informed about how the negotiations went, knew the price of Almania's entry into the Dominion.
The latter undertook to separate Almania from the Mortex sector, turning the sub-sector into a separate sector.
The Dominion pledged to supply weapons and equipment for the Defense Forces of the new sector, and Kueller, in turn, would organize the enrichment of the Dominion's armed forces with Almanian equipment and soldiers.
And the latter, mind you, are several million decent fighters that could be used to fill the army and fleet.
Except they are utterly devoted to their ruler — and currently that is the Jehars, but after these tyrants are eliminated, Dolf would take their place.
The Almanians are obedient and hardly complain.
They work in mines and heavy metal extraction without any protection, dying by the thousands every week, but only a small fraction of them have risen up.
They are not thrilled with Dolf's plan to unite with the Dominion, because in that case they would be forbidden from humiliating and exploiting the surviving Jehars.
And those would mostly be women and children.
The Jehars, in fact, are not that many — most of them lived on the richest moon in the system.
And Kueller had already made sure that they all died.
All Jehars on all moons.
A little over two to three thousand beings survived, who remained on Almania.
And today they would gather in this domed chamber.
Today Dolf would get his revenge.
And the Dominion — a valuable ally.
The issues of taxes, economy, and so on, which were accompanying points, interested Darth Maul little.
He was much more intrigued by the matter of Kueller keeping his word on the key aspect of the agreement.
No, it wasn't even that Kueller intended to join the Jensaarai Order
The Jehars owned enormous reserves of aureidium and controlled several planets that had deposits of rare and precious metals, stones, and other valuables
Thanks to such a financial cushion, the enemy could easily overwhelm their opponents with mercenary meat, which they certainly shamelessly used, fortunately there was plenty of such scum here.
"It's about to begin," came a hollow bass from under Dolf's mask, after his deputy whispered something to him. "The last Jehars have arrived at the Great Dome of Assemblies. And your weapon transports have already arrived in the agreed system and are about to start unloading."
Of course.
Very soon they will unload, yes.
But how surprised the Almanian rebels will be when the ramps of the 'Acclamators' come down...
However, it's too early to get ahead of ourselves.
"If your fighters were here, dispersed in the city, they could have resolved the seizure of power by the end of the evening," Darth Maul said, feigning indignation. "It's unknown how many of them will die when the Great Dome of Assemblies is destroyed, and how many will survive."
"We'll finish them off ourselves," Kueller said firmly, gripping the lightsaber he had received in the New Republic. "And my troops need rest after the last operation against the Jehar mercenaries."
The lightsaber hilt creaked in his fingers.
Though he handled it terribly.
As with the Force.
It seems that the Order announced by Borsk Fey'lya scoops up everyone indiscriminately on the principle of 'just so they exist'.
And this boy (not in age, but in mental development) considers himself almost the final authority on all matters.
Not to mention that he is absolutely certain that his ability to channel the Dark Side of the Force makes him the strongest by default.
Yes, on top of that he has a non-trivial mind.
But it's filled with plans that are never meant to come true.
For instance, Dolf thought that a couple dozen fighters were enough to get rid of two Force-sensitives.
If it weren't for everything that is currently being implemented on Almania as part of Thrawn's plan, Darth Maul would have killed Dolf without hesitation.
But it's not time yet.
The local leader must make his own choice.
The remote control that appeared in his hands said it all.
Darth Maul, Stryn, Kueller, his deputy, and several soldiers were in the shadow of an elevated car park, located in direct line of sight of the Great Dome of the Jehar.
It was from here that the order was to be given — Kueller wanted to savor how the Jehars would die.
Sadism in the execution of an unformed, insufficiently trained young mind that had only just tasted the power of the Force.
And decided he was the smartest.
Perhaps if Stryn and Maul had not masked their true abilities in the Force, Kueller would have come to his senses.
But what use is it to the Dominion to have allies who are only with it when it is strong and has the ability to crush them at any moment, should the ally try to play by their own rules?
Such a trick would have worked with some aristocrat who was more versed in political realities.
And had personally seen Grand Admiral Thrawn in action and understood his ability to predict events and the behavior of enemies, as well as allies.
But Kueller is too stupid.
Even though he thinks otherwise.
The way he looks blankly at the remote detonator and at the Great Dome of the Jehar only reinforces Maul's opinion.
"I don't understand," Kueller said after a couple of seconds of silence. "The building should have exploded!"
"It did explode," Darth Maul said coldly. "But the target was not the Great Dome of the Jehar, but an abandoned warehouse where your fighters were located."
"This is treason!" Kueller took a step back and ignited his lightsaber, assuming an uncertain Shii-Cho stance.
"Treason is making an alliance with the Dominion while placing the responsibility for the Jehars' actions on it," said Stryn, standing a couple of meters from Maul, facing the soldiers of Kueller's personal guard who were bristling with blasters. "Or did you think we wouldn't find out that you were blaming the Dominion for the situation in the Almania sub-sector changing last year?"
"The Dark Side grants not only power and might," Maul said knowingly, still looking at the Great Dome of the Jehar. "But it also clouds the mind. If you weren't so blinded by your thirst for revenge, the following logical chain wouldn't have been born in your fevered brain: 'Thrawn created the Dominion — because of Thrawn's actions, the Jehars renounced the New Republic — because of the renunciation, the Almanians decided to revolt and the Jehars massacred the rebels, including my parents — so I must outsmart the Dominion, let them supply me with weapons and ships, get rid of the Jehars, and by the time my soldiers are inside their army and our enterprises supply booby-trapped components for their ships, I will take revenge and deprive them of their regular forces.'"
"You!" Dolf pointed at his deputy, who calmly stepped aside toward two Shadow Guards. "Only you could have revealed my entire plan to them! Traitor!"
"Oh no," Maul countered. "The lieutenant did not betray you. Your thoughts and attitude toward us — that is what gave you away. Among the agents who established contact with your underground, there was a Jensaarai. Normally we don't do this, but Thrawn insisted on it separately..."
"Thrawn is dead!"
"Take my word for it — your chances of dying here and now are much higher than his, period," Maul cut him off, looking at the explosion that had literally vaporized the symbol of Jehar power. "All we had to do was run your lieutenant's memory through a special machine, confirm our assumptions, and send back not your supporters and their guards, but clones who will rule Almania during the transition period."
"Almania is mine!" Kueller said arrogantly.
At the next moment, he turned to his soldiers, who were falling to the dusty floor with their throats cut.
A squad of Noghri death commandos, ignoring the presence of the conspiratorial leader of the Almanian rebels, busily wiped their bloody blades on the clothes of the dead.
"Stryn," Maul called his student, extending his palm back.
The former gas prospector sighed and placed into his master's hand a thin aureidium plate with a denomination of a hundred Dominion credits.
"I told you he would say exactly that," Maul said, pleased with his won bet. "Dolf, you lost. The Jehars are destroyed. Your militants who were supposed to move out after the explosion and start a massacre among the Jehar families — they are too. We will never believe a single word of yours again. The Almania sub-sector is now the Dominion. Our clones," he nodded toward the lieutenant, "will ensure a worthy future for your people. A better one than you could offer them. And yes, all agreements will be honored, don't worry — Almania will prosper."
"I won't surrender!" Kueller snarled, gripping his lightsaber and clearly preparing to attack Maul.
"Oh, for crying out loud!" Stryn grumbled, handing the Zabrak another hundred-credit note. "How do you do it, Maul?"
They had long since switched to friendly communication, excluding formalities from the training process.
"Experience, my friend," the Zabrak grinned. "So, Kueller? Will you simply surrender and die painlessly in the cells of the counter-intelligence officers, or do you think you can beat me...?"
A double-bladed lightsaber cut through the half-darkness of the elevated parking lot, which was separated from the street by darkened transparisteel.
."..beat," Maul finished, deactivating his weapon and tossing aside the decapitated body of the unlucky upstart. "Stryn, inform Commodore Reder that we're done on Almania. Have your squads taken control of the shield projectors?" he addressed the Noghri and received an affirmative answer.
"This isn't work, it's a vacation," Darth Maul snorted, heading toward the exit of the elevated parking lot.
There is still much to do ahead.
* * *
Malki was a remote planet.
This world usually served as a haven for mercenaries, rebels, and terrorists, but it was perhaps best known for its reputation as a training ground for the infamous assassins known as the Malkite Poisoners.
A base had once been set up here to train saboteurs for the Alliance to Restore the Republic, but it was later relocated elsewhere.
The facilities were then taken over by various criminal elements drawn to abandoned dwellings.
The Alliance hadn't even bothered to destroy its buildings during the evacuation, so the scum inherited everything ready-made.
The commander of the Star Destroyer Marut, Captain Oland, covertly bit his lip as he watched his ship's gunners pound the surface, burning out the pirates' refuge.
Not that he doubted his crew's combat capability, but the escort and support corvette, which carried exclusively Dominion clones, made him nervous.
As Oland suspected, the commander of that ship, though subordinate to Oland, would certainly report the results of the Marut's independent raid so that command could assess his operational abilities.
Of course, it was nice that he'd been pulled out of the Tion Union and put to work expanding the Dominion.
And the crew hadn't been scattered across different ships either — only a portion of the officers, the youngest on the team, were sent for retraining.
A senior officer had also been assigned from the Dominion military — a reliable advisor who, in his free time between missions, conducted tactical sessions with the Star Destroyer commander, introducing him to Dominion military science.
Radically different from typical Imperial raids, incidentally, but Oland seemed to be absorbing the material well enough.
Still, he was nervous due to his youth.
So he ordered an especially thorough sweep of the enemy, destroying every building and vehicle parking area.
By the time the Marut finished its bombardment, the scouts had confirmed all targets were hit and delivered the survivors aboard the destroyer, Oland had already received a secret order from his senior assistant's hands.
Thrawn congratulated him on a job well done and directed that the Marut, along with two other identical Star Destroyers from the spoils of victory over Mich-Hutt, proceed to the homeworld's shipyards for rearmament and modernization.
He wondered: was Thrawn really that confident in him, or did the first mate have another, radically different order held in reserve?
* * *
The Mendenbatt system was located in the Mortex sector, in the Outer Rim territories of the galaxy.
The illegal space station of the same name was situated in close proximity to the Almania system and served as a spaceport.
This improvised interstellar harbor appeared to anyone who saw it as a collection of various capsules and modules, devoid of decoration and armed with outdated weaponry.
Though it performed reasonably well given the realities of the territories where it was located.
The structure included a space storage module manufactured by Kuat Drive Yards, which was used for landing.
This station served as a base for smugglers and pirates in the Mendenbatt system.
It was also home to a contingent of mercenaries used by Almania's rulers for defense.
However, due to disrupted communications in the sector, the militants didn't know what was happening with their clients.
Captain Afyon couldn't suppress a smile as he watched the heavy turbolasers of the Dominion's main Star Destroyer, the Nemesis, blast into stardust what the criminal scum had considered their impregnable base.
There was no hidden agenda in destroying the base of pirates, smugglers, and other vermin who had settled here.
Captain Afyon of the Dominion regular fleet, having renounced his past — years of service in the Rebel Alliance, then the New Republic, and the Galactic Alliance — was simply carrying out his orders.
After a lengthy repair during which the stern superstructure was practically rebuilt from scratch, along with a serious modernization of the Star Destroyer that increased its firepower and protection.
Afyon looked at the tactical holographic projector, watching as boarding ships from the Nemesis moved toward a pair of immobilized and battered old escort frigates of the Nebulon-B type.
He mentally put himself in the crews' place and shuddered at the surge of panic.
One main Dominion Star Destroyer, supported by one Immobilizer-class interdictor cruiser and two escort corvettes, had crushed an entire fleet consisting of five Kaloth-class battle cruisers, two Corellian gunships, and an equal number of old Marauder-class corvettes.
As for damage...
This wasn't even funny.
Understandably, pirates, even if given a Super Star Destroyer, couldn't fight as well as trained troops from the Galactic Alliance or the New Republic.
But still!
This overwhelming firepower superiority...
Afyon mentally thanked his character for choosing the right side.
And, just a little, pitied the Dominion's enemies.
Then he continued watching the pirate forces' destruction.
* * *
Fangol was a small frozen planet in the Mortex sector, where a secret Rebel Alliance base had once been located.
The planet was perpetually shrouded in an icy white mist formed by the eruption of hundreds of ice volcanoes — water vapor contaminated with metals and other elements.
The mists reflected all light from space, making the planet appear as a solid white ball.
They also reflected all sensor readings and emissions from scanners aimed at the planet.
The mists also prevented people on the surface from scanning the surrounding star system.
The mists themselves were poisonous to breathe, and the temperature on the planet rarely exceeded minus 110 degrees by galactic standard.
The base built here by the Alliance many years ago was responsible for all military actions in the Mortex sector.
It had already been attacked by the Empire and formally abandoned, though circumstantial evidence suggested that the New Republic had been rebuilding the base, but only for intelligence forces.
At least, that's what the data obtained from New Republic Intelligence indicated.
The base was abandoned once again when the sector seceded from the New Republic.
And, as ridiculous as it sounds, activity from forces hostile to the Dominion was detected there once more.
Spy droids sent in before the start of the second phase of the Dominion's counteroffensive confirmed the rumors.
A ship registered in the vehicle registry reserved for New Republic Intelligence regularly arrived here.
"Looks like the hairy Bothan just can't calm down and is expanding his spy network."
That was exactly what Hedge Spar thought when the assault shuttle carrying Mandalorian commandos landed near an evacuation exit from the base's perimeter.
After verifying the data and location on the holographic map, the Mandalorian commander gave the order to storm the base.
Of course, they could have simply blasted the structure with orbital bombardment — there was nothing important here anyway.
The facility was securely buried underground and powered by thermal collectors connected to the planet's molten core.
Due to Fangol's atmosphere, the Republicans had used an artificial moon for communication.
The moon was on a geosynchronous orbit over the base to facilitate communication and sensor scans, but it had been destroyed — the Imperials had seen to that during their previous visit to the system.
And they never found the base.
According to intelligence, about three thousand people had worked on the underground facility in the past.
A third of the personnel were administrators; another third were support staff, including workers, doctors, and communications specialists; and the final third were soldiers.
The base's space fleet consisted of five corvettes, six light cargo ships, and a hundred fighters.
Now, there were just over a hundred employees — based on data from a terminal hacked inside the base.
Two squadrons of the latest X-wings (apparently, even under Imperial control, Incom continues to trade with anyone who can pay) and one malfunctioning freighter.
Well, it could have been worse.
Hedge looked at his two dozen commandos, waiting for a chance to prove themselves, and gave the order for a stealth assault.
Within ten minutes, when the Mandalorians stumbled upon a barracks full of resting guards, the plan went bantha.
"Well, nothing to be done — Mandalorians just aren't built for stealth infiltration," Spar consoled himself, changing the order to a maximum-force assault.
Having destroyed the freighter, eighty base employees, and two X-wings, but capturing the base and everything else, the Mandalorian leader was satisfied.
Well, naturally — he hadn't lost a single one of his own men, and that was already a victory.
* * *
The planet Fluwhaka was a misty world in the Mortex sector, widely known in the narrow circles of the local criminal underworld for its rocky spires and cliffs.
On the surface of some of these natural towers, sometimes rising above the clouds, there were openings and balconies leading into artificial structures like pirate fortresses.
Currently, the planet was the location of a base used by winged humanoid pirates who had returned here after fleeing the planet for their own reasons in the past.
At present, they worked as very expensive mercenaries, but would offer a good discount to anyone who wanted to kill Imperials.
Landscapes of the planet Fluwhaka.
These militants had also taken over an abandoned Imperial facility, listed in registries as the "Refrax Spaceport."
The latter was a relatively modern space station in the Mortex sector.
Controlled by the Galactic Empire, the orbital spaceport served as a waypoint for transport ships traveling through the sector during the Galactic Civil War.
It was located at the intersection of regional hyperroutes GG734 and GH972.
GG734 led to the Refrax system, and GH972 established a very short and reliable route between the Refrax and Kestel systems.
During the Galactic Civil War, the Kestel system was used by the Empire as a supply point.
However, several Rebel Alliance raids, along with the Battle of Yavin, the chaos among Imperial authorities in the sector, and local conflicts, led to the Refrax spaceport being simply abandoned.
Whether by malicious intent, oversight, or accidental circumstances, the spaceport was not destroyed.
The pirates felt quite at home there after they left (involuntarily) their base on Fluwhaka.
Now they controlled both astronomical points important to the Dominion on the map of the Mortex sector.
And that was exactly why the Kavil's Corsairs detachment, under the command of Lieutenant Mortok — who was leading the operation on behalf of the Dominion — was now moving through the depths of modernized Dominion Latti ships among the stone spires of Fluwhaka, expending their ammunition on the pirates' defensive positions that the scouts had revealed.
The Devaronian was testing the sharpness of his vibroblade made of Mandalorian iron, a gift from Hedge Spar.
Today he would put his gift to the test...
The ship lurched in an air pocket, then the green light came on in the troop bay, and the side hatches swung open.
"Disembark, gentlemen mercenaries," Mortok barked, taking a blaster in one hand and a blade in the other. "No mercy except for slaves and prisoners. Trophies welcome, prisoners... Hutt take you, leave at least one officer for interrogation. Fleet special forces are grabbing the command at the spaceport by all the naughty bits anyway... Forward, forward, forward!"
* * *
"Sir," Captain Pellaeon approached Grand Admiral Thrawn, seated in the command chair. "Fresh intelligence and spy reports on the designated target."
The Supreme Commander fixed his gaze on the personal datapad handed to him.
The ysalamiri, which had lost its back stroking, yawned, then fixed the Guardian's commander with a look that promised nothing good in the foreseeable future.
"That lizard can't possibly be threatening me!" Pellaeon thought.
"Excellent," Thrawn said, taking only a few minutes to study the data array.
The Guardian's commander had suspected, of course, that the Grand Admiral relied not only on Dominion Intelligence but also on his own spy network, like the "Delta Source" on Coruscant and now within the democratic states of the galaxy.
He probably already had full information and was merely confirming it with fresh reports.
"They are ahead of schedule," Thrawn commented on the enemy activity report.
"This could become a problem for us," the Guardian's commander noted certain risks.
"War is always a risk, Captain," Thrawn's eyes flashed. "No one and nothing can guarantee absolute success."
"I'd wager on that," almost escaped Pellaeon's lips.
But he kept his impulsiveness under control.
"Captain," the Supreme Commander addressed him. "Take measures to ensure that by the time the Guardian arrives at the rendezvous point, everything is ready for the operation to begin."
"Yes, sir!"
Pellaeon, now holding the datapad with the information, headed for the "pits," barely suppressing a smile.
It seemed the galaxy was in for quite a surprise.
For some of those involved in Thrawn's operation, that surprise would be fatal.
Without fail.