Star Wars Days of Carnage

The Grandadmiral

A man wearing a brand new white grand admiral's uniform walked the halls of a damaged ISD. The hull was a bit scuffed, but otherwise the star destroyer was in good shape. At least, in better shape than the confederation fleet that lay in a debris field in front of the battleship. The human was on his way to his office when a young lieutenant intercepted him. "High Command needs to speak with you immediately, Grand Admiral. They didn't tell me what it was about." The officer got straight to the point, which was acknowledged with a nod from his superior as he continued walking. "Have the holo-connection rerouted to my office," Daniels ordered curtly, and when he finally entered the office, several holographic persons already turned to him. All of them were high ranking members of the Imperial military.

"Grand Admiral Daniels, at last," a female nautolan with the insignia of a grand moff greeted him as the humanoid. "Excuse me? 'Grand' admiral?" remarked Admiral Robertson perplexed. "The Emperor promoted me after my victory at serenno." the Grand Admiral explained only to nod in greeting to the nautolan, "Grand Moff Rhaiss.'' "Let's get to the point of this happy gathering," the Director of the Imperial Security Bureau remarked dryly. "The Emperor was found dead this morning. So far there are no findings on the assassin, but that doesn't matter now," he briefly glanced around the room, giving everyone a moment to process the information. "The Senate was dissolved at the founding of the Empire, thus we have no one to rule, as the Emperor had not appointed a successor," Moff Rhaiss summarized. "Precisely, and here in this room are all those whom the Emperor trusted," Daniels glanced around, eyeing the admirals, generals, moffs, and directors of state and intelligence agencies.

"We cannot keep His Excellency's death a secret. Rumors would spread. We must name a regent!" objected Robertson. "Among us there is no suitable candidate for this position, all of us are needed in our present position to stabilize the Empire," stated the head of intelligence, Admiral Smith, as if "being emperor" was a very ordinary job. That earned the agreement of the other higher-ups. "Director Namada, the Imperial Security Bureau needs to find out who killed the Emperor. Take the resources they need to do that. Forensics, credits.....," the same one just nodded when Daniels said that, "We have to make sure that we can act without his Excellency. Again and again voices are raised against his rule. We must now take harder action against these radicals. We will order national mourning and wait until the situation has stabilized. After that we can take care of a successor...Dismissed.", with that most of the holograms disappeared, except for one.

A figure in a long coat and hood, his face was not visible. "Grand Admiral Daniels... I was an advisor to His Excellency during his lifetime and a close friend...", his voice sounded calm, composed. Only at the end could Daniels hear out an emotion that made the calm facade crumble. At a nod from the Grand Admiral, he continued speaking. "Forgive me for not showing my face, I have never been officially appointed, the risk is too great. You must understand that I have many enemies. But I continue to offer my services to you and your high command. But for now, until we meet again...", with that the hologram went out and the Grand Admiral resumed his usual work.

Until he came across a report about a shipyard that was far below its actual production rate. Daniels looked at the files on the shipyard and its fleet and placed two fingers of his right hand on the bridge of his nose. He knew the commanding officer and his second-in-command well, as well as their disciplinary records. It was probably time to inspect the shipyard in person....

"Commodore Harney, the Intimidator will be operational again in no time," an officer informed the Commodore, who was in charge of the shipyard and its defenses. "Very good, then we can soon begin wi-" but he couldn't finish as an agitated lieutenant ran into the command center "Sir, permission to come on the bridge?" but he didn't even wait for an answer before continuing, "Sir, an MC80 Liberty and several CR90 blockade runners have jumped out of hyperspace, they appear to be on an attack course, sir!" The shipyard was shaken by the impact of the torpedoes and the alarm sounded. "Captain Picket, send all our TIE fighters on an intercept course," Commodore Harney immediately instructed, and shortly thereafter dozens of squadrons of TIE fighters launched from the station. However, the enemy cruisers also launched their own X-Wings, Y-Wing bombers as well as A-Wings and a treacherous space battle began.