The tear in space was invisible to the naked eye, but the gravity waves it emitted caused the stars behind it to twinkle gently, causing patterns to appear if one looked long enough. In some places, one could see monsters of old, or heroes battling them. It was a sight that could be enjoyed by a fantasy reader, or dreamed of by a poet.
But Imperial Officers on board the Star destroyer Agatrix had no time for minor details of the tear. They had their jobs to do, and they dedicated their effort and thought to that end. For those who had time to think, they wondered why they had been ordered out here. They had been two hours away from cleaning out a rebel hiding place, when the priority orders had come in, not from their sector headquarters, but from Coruscant itself. And not just any location on Coruscant, but the Emperor's Palace itself.
Their orders had changed, from one of pursuing the remaining pockets of rebels, to one of get to this location, and make sure only Imperial vessels were within one light-minute of the anomaly. As soon as they had arrived, they had launched fighters, and even now the pilots were swinging around, watching the various parts of space nearby.
A brief flicker of motion, then a second and a third, and three more Imperial vessels arrived. Their captains reported to Captain Velholm of the Agatrix, and he accepted their assignment to him. Captain Morgern of the Star Destroyer Eager Fire was expected, as she had been near, but Captains Jones of the Modular Cruiser Verentor and Geryax of the World Devastator Hunger were a surprise. Even more surprising was that the Modular Cruiser was in a Survey configuration. The only possible reason for that was if they were planning to go to a new world, and survey it for possible colonization.
A World Devastator though, that was where the real confusion came from. World Devastators worked by using a massive tractor beam and nuclear furnace to suck up the surface of a planet, and convert the material obtained into new Imperial war machines. As such, it had been programmed with all the plans for current Imperial weapons, and the vessels that mounted them. Since the resurgence of the Empire, the need and desire for mobile construction facilities had forced the World Devastators into a more civilian role, in which they would suck up their materials, and build civilian components out of them. Those components ranged from prefabricated towns, to advanced mining equipment, to everything in between.
But what would they need a mobile factory out here for? There were no stars within a couple light-years, and its industrial potential would be wasted just sitting here. Although less than a drop in the bucket for a proper system's capability, a World Devastator was a small city in terms of industrial production.
He supposed he would be finding out soon enough. In the meantime, the Eager Fire and the Verentor launched their fighters to assist in securing the area, allowing the Agatrix a chance to recover and refuel its fighters, and allowing the pilots a chance to refresh themselves. They grabbed a few snacks, stretched a little, and jogged in place, before it was time to launch again. The Hunger had no fighters of its own, so it was assigned to watch over the space near the tear using its own sensors.
*
A couple hours later, a message came through. All Captains were to assemble in the briefing room of the Agatrix, and stand by for a conference meeting. A secure link would be set up from Coruscant, and all four Captains would be ready to communicate when the Grand Admiral arrived.
Three shuttle trips later, and the Captains were gathered in the Agatrix's briefing room. A brief bit of refreshments were out for their consumption, and a current update of their local space was ready. As ranking Captain, Velholm was at the head of the table, with Captains Jones, Morgern, and Garyax on either side of him. At the other end of the table, a place was left open for the hologram to occupy.
At exactly the time specified in the message, the hologram sprang into form, and a brief stutter occurred as the Agatrix's computers meshed with the Coruscant computers to make sure the signal was properly encrypted and decrypted at the same rate. If either went off the encryption rate, communications would be lost.
"Captain, I am Grand Moff Xathan. Your vessels were ordered to the tear in space because when a smaller probe ship had observed it, the tear appeared to be a fairly stable wormhole that led to a totally different galaxy."
Gasps of shock ran around the room, and several eyes widened. Ever since the Empire had come back into power after helping defeat the Yuuzhang Vong, the danger inherent in new contacts could never be understated. The New Republic had tried its best to contain the Yuuzhang Vong menace, but had ultimately failed. It had been up to the Empire to perform hit and run raids on them, weakening their support structure, destroying their infrastructure, and ultimately leaving the Yuuzhang Vong forces stranded in the galaxy. With the benefit from the various technologies gathered, the old empire had resurged with a vengeance. With no central leader though, there had almost been another power struggle.
But one person had stepped into the breach. Young Anakin Solo, son of Princess Leia and Han Solo, with the noble blood of Vader flowing through his veins, had gone to meet the Imperial warlords. He had quickly brought them to pledge their allegiance to him, and he had returned with them under his authority. He had returned to the New Republic Council chambers, and given the Senators there the new terms of government. First, the office of Chancellor would no longer be the supreme power in the galaxy. The position of Emperor would be re-established, with himself as the new Emperor. The Senate would be kept, but as an advisory body, not as a total governing body.
For justice, he had searched as well, and found hundreds of potential Jedi. Some of them had preferred aggression, and combat tactics, and he had taught those the ways of the Sith, how to fight and never be overcome. Others were philosophers, and he provided material to help them learn the Jedi ways, those of healing and diplomacy. Together, his new Force groups allowed him to ferret out anyone who tried to rebel against him. By working together, the Sith were able to keep up long-term attacks, while the Jedi healed those who were injured. The combination of deadly fighters and caring healers allowed him to tailor his strike missions depending on the opponent. After the Galaxy was back under centralized control, the Jedi and Sith went back to the original Jedi headquarters, and began to set up their training programs. The new goal was to set up a unified training program, producing Force warriors who were deadly in the arts of combat, while able to deal with others diplomatically if needed. The best warriors of the new program were being hired directly by the Emperor, and were being referred to as his Hands.
The Captains came out of their shock, and heard the next bit of news from Coruscant with a bit of concern. "There is a Hand on her way now, and she will be assuming an advisory role during the first expedition to this new galaxy. Grand Admiral Veh'kor will be arriving in his Eclipse-class Battleship within three hours. When he arrives, he will assume overall command of the expedition. Within two days, we will have additional ships there as well. In the meantime, I want you to organize an expedition to the other side, and see what is there."
With that, the communications channel was cut, and the Captains looked at each other, then at Captain Velholm. He sighed briefly, then said, "Commodore Jones," giving her the courtesy promotion, as there could only be one Captain on a ship, "I want you to launch your fighters and assault boats, then get some probe droids set up. Launch them through the wormhole, and give us a read on anything within five light years. Commodore Geryax, since your World Devastator has no inherent fighter support, I want you at an angle from the tear. If anything hostile comes through the tear that we cannot engage because of other ships, have your ship vacuum it up, and sift the materials for answers. The Agatrix and the Eager Fire will be facing the tear, with our fighter squadrons launched, ready to pounce on anything that pokes through. If anything comes through, we will proceed with a standard Imperial challenge, then use our weapons and fighters to disable it. I want prisoners, not casualties, but only if it will not put our ships or the security of the Empire at risk. If there is any doubt, err on the side of keeping your ships safe. Any questions?" There were none, and the other Captains returned to their ships, and began giving orders. Captain Velholm sent a message to Coruscant informing the Fleet Command of his orders, and decided to take a small nap.
Within three hours, Grand Admiral Veh'kor had arrived, and reviewed Captain Velholm's plan. Approving it, the Grand Admiral changed the disposition of the forces slightly, enough so that his Eclipse Battleship could also engage anything that came through the tear. With the main superlaser of the Eclipse aligned with the tear, if too many ships started coming through, the superlaser would be fired, theoretically causing the tear to collapse, or at least incinerating everything within the tear. Three hours after that, the probe droids were readied, and Captain Velholm was awoken again by the notification. The probe droids were deployed in a single line leading towards the tear, and the fighters and bombers were performing steady loops to always have at least two squadrons able to attack from surprise if anything came through.
Captain Velholm commed the Eclipse, and he informed the Grand Admiral he was ready to proceed. Receiving permission, he gave the order. "Captain Jones, send the probe droids through."
Slowly each probe droid activated its engine, and then shot through the tear. There were ten probe droids in the first wave, and their entire job was to map any gravitational anomalies that might be present, and transmit them back to the mothership. The data slowly arrived back, and several people whistled. The tear was very unstable, and only two of the droids had survived the trip. But the unstable waves were very predictable, indicating that the tear still had a few months of life left in it. If Imperial simu-tunnel equipment could be brought to the site and a ring stabilizer built, it would be possible to stabilize the tear, and eventually expand it.
The next wave of probe droids was deployed and launched, and with the new data, they all managed to get through to the other side, and began scanning. Two droids were assigned to stay at the other end of the tear, while the remaining eighteen were sent out to scan nearby space with their passive sensors, trying to see anyone before they were seen, while staying within scanning range of the tear so they would not become lost. But a problem soon became apparent.
"Captain Jones," said a lieutenant, "the other side is different. It appears to be a 'red space' that seems to soak up emitted energy. All our probe droids are reporting only one tenth their normal range in scan capability. Also, there has been no sign of any planetary systems or stars detected. It seems to be empty of anything."
Captain Jones paled at that news. It was bad enough to find a tear leading to a potentially hostile galaxy, but finding out that there wasn't anything else even there was a complete shock. But her training took over, and she quickly relayed the information to Captain Velholm and Grand Admiral Veh'kor.
At a meeting a couple hours later, the Captain met with the Grand Admiral on board the Eclipse. They discussed the news there fairly calmly, as it was obvious that there was nothing to worry about through the tear, when suddenly Captain Jones jerked slightly. The others looked at her calmly, because they recognized when someone is being interrupted by their communicator, when they gave orders not to be disturbed.
Grand Admiral Veh'kor looked at her calmly as he said, "Answer it."
She spent a few moments calling up the communications, and her initially annoyed look was quickly replaced by an expression of pure astonishment. After putting down the communicator, she said, "Sir, I had not given orders to recall the probe droids from the other side, and it appears as if they have picked up a vessel. My ship is currently sending a view of the space on the other side, and the current data on the unknown."
The Grand Admiral looked at an aide for a moment, conveying the message that he wanted that view immediately. The aide however, had been thinking just as quickly, and merely pressed a button, throwing up a hologram of the red space on the other side. There was a single point, representing the tear, a group of 20 dots representing the probe droids, and a single blinking point showing the unknown vessel. The data currently known about it was scrolling underneath the screen, and was at several angles to allow all the Captains and the Grand Admiral to read it. Several moments went by before one of the people chuckled.
Captain Geryax looked around as she had realized everyone had heard her chuckle. "Grand Admiral, Captains, according to the information so far, the vessel appears to be using a primitive hydrogen fusion drive to accelerate itself. This appears to be a basic radar system, using radio waves to determine if anyone is out there. It is of a very low power, and our probe droid is not registering on it at all, given the stealth systems we use on them and its current power at this distance. If we can get a probe droid closer to it, I think I can give you better information on the composition of its hull, and the power level and efficiency of its reactor, not to mention various details of its inner workings."
The Grand Admiral had something else to add, "You are ignoring the most important piece of information. This vessel came from somewhere, and is obviously heading somewhere. Since this red space does not have the material necessary to produce such a craft, it must have come from somewhere else. I agree though, we need to get a probe droid closer. Captain Jones, send out a droid to follow it. Give the droid the standard stealth investigation protocols, and let it follow. Let's see where it is heading. This red space could merely be a local phenomena, and normal space could be further out there."
*
The probe droid received it orders, and began accelerating towards the unknown. It steadily got closer, as the target was making no maneuvers, merely accelerating at a fixed velocity, plus or minus ten percent, and staying on a given course. The droid got closer and closer, and began to observe the vessel closer. It noticed the central body with the engine and power plant, and what appeared to be smaller modules attached to the sides. Getting closer, it noticed that the attachments were designed to be detached easily, and that the whole vessel had a very weak hull, compared to Imperial standards. There were windows in the sides of the vessel, and the droid got closer, to use the windows to determine the internal arrangement of the ship. While doing so, it also fired a small laser at the hull, trying to pick up on any internal communications by measuring vibrations.
*
Captain Brant was drunk again, as usual. While he always appeared clean and sober when talking to his boss, or people who wanted to ship goods aboard his ship, as soon as they were away, the bottles came out, and so did his harassing personality. Hearing the latest song drifting through the intercom, the assistant looked down and sighed. The crew on a cargo haul was herself, the Captain, and two engineers. Each person normally stood a twelve hour watch, with herself and the Captain standing their watches in the nose of the ship, making sure they were locked onto the beacon, and the engineers standing their watches in the fusion room, making sure the engine was kept running.
When the Captain was on duty, he loved to get drunk, and serenade the entire crew. His songs were off-tone, off-color, and usually very disgusting or perverted. And those were the ones she could actually stand to listen to. The other songs could not even be described or tolerated. Even more fun, the Captain would turn on the intercom system all over the ship, and sing into it as loud as he could. With the whole ship echoing to him, it seemed like Hell on ears everywhere. Fortunately, she had bought a little item at Babylon 5 recently, and pulled it out. Putting the hearing muffs over her head, the sound of the Captain singing was mercifully tuned out, and with her alarm set to visual instead of audio, she would still get up on time. Before she went to sleep, she thought she saw a glint of metal out in hyperspace, but dismissed it as nothing. 'Sarah, you've got to learn how to relax,' she thought to herself, 'or find a way to get off this tub.'
And the freighter cruised through hyperspace, not knowing what role it would play very soon.
*
The probe droid was now within a couple kilometers of the freighter. It had recorded the song, and had transmitted it back to the other droids to be relayed, and continued its approach. It was now leading a total of four droids in a chain, as the mothership had given instructions to extend the communications network in its direction. It kept creeping closer to the ship, and began to notice the smaller details now, such as areas where rust and corrosion had crept into areas of the hull, and the variations in the power plant. All the information so far pointed to a vessel that was not in good condition, but those conclusions were arrived at by others, and its original programming was still in effect, and it continued its cautious approach. Creeping to within one kilometer, the probe droid was using the windows to map the internal layout of the ship, and saw how the ship was arranged vertically from the engine. Obviously, the ship was designed to only use the main drive to achieve gravity, and had designed the interior of the ship around that up and down orientation. The net result was the nose of the ship felt like the top, while the engine room felt like the bottom.
It kept recording internal arrangments, based on welds and rivets seen on the outside of the ship, when it received its new limitations. It was now authorized to actually achieve contact with the ship's hull, and perform active scans. Looking at the background radiation, the probe droid selected a frequency that came very close to matching the background radiation. The first scanner beam raced out, and connected with the freighter's hull.
*
Captain Brant sang another little song, then suddenly stopped as a blinking light got his attention. The light indicated that the main computer was having a hiccup, and was currently performing a self-test. Dismissing it as boring, the Captain began creating a new song, and singing it even louder than before.
*
The probe droid completed its initial scans, and began focusing on the cargo pods, as it had been ordered. Its scanners looked through them, identified the contents, and sent that data back as well. It suddenly received a new order. Since the crew of the Verentor had been unable to find any kind of inertial guidance system, they were guessing that the freighter was heading toward a beacon. Ordering the drone to start listening to anything in front of the freighter, the drone began searching. It took a couple minutes, but it found a tachyon beam being emitted, almost directly in the path of the freighter. Passing that information back as well, it continued to close and examine the freighter.
It was now within one meter of the freighter, and it slowly began to extend its manipulator arms to attach itself to the freighter. It would use them to crawl around the freighter, looking into each window to get the final shape of the vessel's layout. Gently pulling itself from window to window, it would observe, then pull back to send the data.
*
Scott had finished adjusting the engine for now, and sighed back in relief. He didn't like the Captain's songs any more than the others, and he finally put his headphones back on, and looked over the engineering panel in front of him. Briefly, he wished that he and Sarah were on the same watch, as he had started to like her, and was planning to tell her that, someday. In the meantime, he turned up the volume on his video player, so the movie would drown out the Captain's singing. Unseen behind him though, the metal eye of the probe droid measured the room and looked at the panel, then crept back to transmit again.
*
The probe droid headed towards the nose of the ship, completing its scan on the interior. It was now heading for the large window at the front of the ship. None of the other windows had been able to give a good view on that section, and it crept along slowly.
*
Captain Brant finished his latest masterpiece, and sat back, relaxing. He spun around in the chair a couple times, enjoying the sensation, then started to walk back towards the rest of the ship and share his joy with them.
*
The probe droid gently eased itself around the edge, and began to watch. It pulled back at first as it detected a humanoid in the room. But the humanoid was headed towards the back of the room, and was facing away from the window. It moved up higher, trying to get a better view, using its arms to hold itself steady without using its repulsor system. It watched the humanoid move towards what seemed to be a ladder above a hatch, and the droid centered several sensors there, trying to see how the hatch was connected, and how the layout was arranged exactly for the interior passageway.
*
Captain Brant grabbed the rung, swung himself onto it, and turned around to toast the stars again.
He saw the probe droid.
*
The probe droid watched him turn around suddenly and it knew that it had been seen. The sudden movements and erratic behavior were typical signs, and the probe droid knew that it had only one option in this situation.
Self-destruct.
*
Captain Brant staggered against the wall of the passageway beyond, and screamed. He did not know what that thing was on the front of his ship, but it hung there, unblinking and reaching out with its arms to hold his ship. In his drunken state, he did not notice that it was barely half a meter wide, and the main body was only a half a meter tall. All he could see was a central body, an unblinking eye, and several arms reaching out and holding his ship.
He screamed again as he climbed down the main passageway towards the crew quarters.
*
The probe initiated its self-destruct sequence, when it found that the self-destruct had been overridden! The people watching on the Verentor knew that getting out of the red space was more important, so they had put an override on the droid's self-destruct protocols. Stripped of its standard defense, the probe droid immediately ducked below the main window, and got into a position where its sensors could watch the main airlock for the ship as well. It also began mapping out escape patterns if someone came out after it. In the meantime, it would listen to how the crew reacted to one of their number reporting the probe droid's presence.
*
"Sarah!!!" Sarah jumped up as the lights in her room came to full brightness. She looked over and saw the Captain screaming at her and pointing towards the front of the ship. She reluctantly woke up fully from what had been a nice dream about just lying down on a beach somewhere and watching the ocean waves.
Unfortunately, the first sight to greet her was a drunk Captain who was waving his hands like a maniac. Sighing, she pulled the headphones off her head, and began trying to listen to what he was saying.
"There's a robot octopus on the front of the ship! It's covering the whole front and its pulling us in! It's gonna kill us all!"
She sighed, and turned back over in her hammock. This was not what she needed. Unfortunately, the Captain would not be ignored, and he pulled her back out of her hammock. Normally he would have also taken the time to stare at her body, but he seemed too berserk even for that now. Sighing again, she slowly got dressed, hoping that by the time she was dressed the Captain would go off on another singing dirge, and she could get back to sleep.
No such luck, as the Captain went over to the off-duty engineer and woke him up as well. Seeing as there was no way to shut him up, she reluctantly followed him as he led the two of them back towards the nose of the ship. She glanced at the engineer climbing along below her, and he looked even more sleepy than her.
When they got back to the bridge, the Captain started gesturing madly. "It's there, staring into this ship, seeing if there is anything in here to eat. Go slowly, and maybe it won't see you."
Peering around the hatch slowly, Sarah looked at the forward window to try to see anything. Seeing just normal hyperspace (oxymoron), she eased around, and began walking around the forward window. She began looking around, seeing if anything was there, then casually walked back to the hatch. Flinging it open, she looked Captain Brant in the eye and said, "There's nothing out there."
Sputtering in disbelief, Captain Brant cautiously eased his way up. When he realized that the metal octopus was no longer there, he turned around, with a pleading look on his face. "But I swear to you, there was a metal octopus there. It had arms reaching out to this ship, and, and, . . ."
But Sarah was already headed back toward her hammock, ignoring his pleas for her to listen to him. She passed the other engineer on the bridge, where he was leaning against the wall, sound asleep. She jabbed him in the ribs, waking him up, and continued on her way, already mentally falling asleep so she wouldn't be sleepy on watch. It was only a half an hour until they went through the next jump gate, and going through a jump gate was easier on her stomach if she was asleep. Falling onto her hammock, she fell asleep in seconds.
*
The probe droid, if it was human, would have been laughing its head off. The only person that had spotted it was the ship's drunk, and everyone else was ignoring the report. In the meantime, it had detected a communications cable between the main computer and a console in the bridge. It began analyzing the signals between them, trying to see if it could use that console to download a copy of the ship's main core. With no knowledge of the ship's operating system, it would have to download everything, and let others decide what was important. It slowly watched the data transfers, comparing what it observed with the data flow, and began isolating the communications.
*
Captain Brant looked out the window as the freighter approached the jump gate beacon. He hadn't had a single drink since the scare earlier, and it was starting to affect him. But he was able to handle the standard transmission systems, and he activated the communications dish. It sent the signal to open the jump gate, and the freighter was through.
*
The probe droid noted the communication dish extend, and began listening to it with its radio ears. It detected the signal, and suddenly its visual sensor detected the jump gate forming. Setting an alert flag on its broadcast, it opened its sensors and transmitters, and began feeding data back along the chain at a far higher rate than before. This method was fairly easy to detect if you were near the transmission path, but this new data was deemed too important to compress.
*
The operator monitoring the probe droid took one look at what was coming in, and called for the Bridge Duty Officer. The Bridge Duty Officer took one look at the data coming in, especially what lay beyond the jump gate, and grabbed his communicator. Quickly dialing the Captain, he spoke a few words into it, then motioned for the sensor technician to send a copy of the imagery to her viewscreen.
The results of that view, of the probe droid showing the system beyond the jump gate did wonders at banishing her sleep. A few quick orders from her had the sensor imagery transferred to the other ships, and soon every Captain and the Grand Admiral was awake and viewing the images. Orders soon followed to send the two Star Destroyers and the Survey Cruiser through the tear, in an attempt to get the data they needed, to open that jump point, and to eventually create their own.
*
The probe droid detached after the freighter went through the jump point, to avoid losing contact. It tried to enter through the jump point to return, but the jump point closed up again, and the probe droid stopped relative to the gate structure. It had no way of getting back into contact with the other droids, so it performed the standard procedure. Shutting down all of its active systems, reducing its power plant to minimal levels, and saving the remaining data into hard memory, it awaited retrieval.
*
The Captains and the Grand Admiral met less than half an hour later. Deciding that this information needed to be discussed immediately, a holographic conversation room had been set up. Each person there looked as though they were present in living color, but in reality, the people were on their own ships, and it merely looked like they were meeting in one room. Since the holograms were little more than computer images, the Captains sometimes got informal, and often dressed in work uniforms, while having the holograms put an image of their uniform over their actual images.
The discussions that went on in there were numerous, but the image of a normal star system was the deciding factor. The two Star Destroyers would go through, along with the Survey Cruiser. One of the Star Destroyers would head off in the same direction as the freighter, and try to open the jump gate. The others would patrol the tear on the far side, extending their detection radius by using their fighters. In the meantime, their sensor technicians would try to better understand the physics of hyperspace.
Captain Velhom decided he would take his ship through first, as he had been there the longest. The smaller probe ship that was originally there had long since departed, off to explore somewhere else. Matching his ship to the grav surges, he started in.
Looking out the windows of the flag bridge, the tear in reality was impossible. It looked like the inside of a tornado, but instead of wind and debris being whirled about, it was ripped shreds of gravity, megaton strength explosions, and radiation pulses strong enough to fry a person so fast they would not even notice. But Star Destroyers are designed to withstand combat with their own kind for over half an hour, and the trip through the tear barely put a strain on its shields.
On the other side, in hyperspace, the Star destroyer seemed to stretch as it exited the tear, and suddenly it was there, its looming triangular presence announcing to anyone nearby that the Empire had come, and it was there to stay. The crew checked over their systems, and sent an all-clear message back to the ships still waiting. Moving out of the way slightly, the Agatrix waited for the other ships to arrive. The Eager Fire was the next one through, followed by the Verentor. All of the ships had arrived safely, and were busy restoring their shields after the passage.
Reviewing the records, Captain Velholm talked with the Grand Admiral, "Sir, based on the current conditions in the tear, I would advise waiting until the simu-tunnel equipment arrives before transiting in your ship. It is possible for a shuttle to transit, but the pilot would have to a genius to get through the passage safely."
"Exactly Captain. The Emperor's Hand has arrived, and she will be transiting through the tear herself. She will take up residence on your ship, and assist you in any way you ask or she feels necessary."
'An Emperor's Hand on his ship?' Captain Velholm thought to himself. 'Why send an Emperor's Hand? They were only needed to flush out rebels, or provide assistance to Captains during risky First Contact situations. There is nothing out here yet to warrant a First Contact situation, so why is one coming here? Not only that, but if there would be a First Contact, the Eclipse would be there to handle the communications, not his ship.'
A few seconds later, a small vessel popped through the tear. It was not a standard Imperial Lambda shuttle, but a larger form of Imperial TIE fighter. A quick review of the records indicated that the closest match was the TIE Defender class, but this one seemed larger than usual, obviously for any personal or long-duration items an Emperor's Hand might need.
A communications technician took the message, and it was short and simple, "This is Emperor's Hand Teleso, I have permission to dock and am coming in now. I will be landing in ten minutes and will proceed to the bridge from there." With that, the communication was terminated, and the commtech turned to his superior, and the message was passed up to the Captain.
The Defender landed quickly, and the Emperor's Hand made her way to the bridge. Hands are known for their efficiency in everything, and people got out of her way as she took the shortest path to the bridge. When she arrived, she walked straight up to the Captain and said, "I am Emperor's Hand Teleso. I will be staying on board your ship until I decide to leave. When the time is right, I will explain why I am here." With that, she turned and walked to the back of the bridge, and began reviewing the various items that had happened recently. She paid special attention to the patterns of the tear, watching it with silent eyes.
Captain Velholm glanced back at the Emperor's Hand after she had walked away. 'Well, at least she isn't taking command immediately. Still, I wonder what she meant by when the time is right?'
After several hours of patrolling and waiting, a message arrived from the other side of the tear. The simu-tunnel equipment had arrived and was being set up. Currently, only a small stabilizing tunnel was being set up, only eight kilometers wide, as that would allow smaller cruisers to pass through easily, and the Eclipse to pass through with minimal exposure to its shields. There were several other ships that arrived, and another Star destroyer, the Violence had already passed through, making it a total of 3 Star Destroyers and the Survey Cruiser on the far side. The Violence's Captain was still junior to Captain Velholm, so he was still in overall command of the Imperial forces on this side of the tear, if you didn't count the Emperor's Hand.
The Eager Fire had already departed to the jump gate where the freighter had passed through. They had sent the same signal as the freighter, and the jump gate had activated normally. The Star Destroyer had passed through into normal space, and its engineers were already getting into EVA suits to figure out how a jump gate worked, and if they could modify their own engines to do a similar maneuver.
The reason for wanting to use their own engines to enter hyperspace, was because they figured the jumpgate possessed basic computer security and recording systems. Jump gates would have a simple recorder on them that stored the identities of all ships that passed through them, for easy billing and record-keeping by their owners. If Imperial vessels started using those jump gates with the same ship's codes, it would soon become obvious that someone else was using them.
But if they used their own hyperdrives to enter hyperspace, then nobody would be able to track them. Even better was a question that had been asked earlier. One of the ship's maneuvering officers had asked if it was necessary to leave hyperspace as soon as the ship arrived at its destination. Several others had thought about it, and had come to the conclusion that a ship could actually wait in hyperspace, until it decided to leave. The tactical officers had seized upon that concept with a greed, as it meant that a ship could sit in hyperspace until needed, and then pop out effectively on top of the target. The only disadvantage would be the time needed to open the jump vortex, but since the attacking ship would have the advantage of surprise, it was decided to go with it. That capability, if it could also be used in their galaxy, would give their ships a tactical advantage over any remaining rebels.
After several days, the jump gate physics were figured out, with extensive help from eight major research stations in the Empire, and the Eager Fire began modifying their hyperdrives. Generators came on-line, field coils were humming, and an orange vortex formed in front of the vessel. A brief surge of power from its engines, and the Eager Fire went into hyperspace, under its own power.
The simu-tunnel was also being set up during that same time frame, and it had just finished. The World Devastator was the first ship through, as it would proceed to the new star system, and start producing materials and the base needed to start their conquest of this new galaxy. After it transited, it proceeded to the location, and opened its own jump point, proving that the overall design of the hyperdrive was well able to handle the far lower power levels to open a jump point. A Star Destroyer used enough power in a single jump to exceed what a planetary civilization used in its entire lifetime. A World Devastator was the same size, and its power plants were no less capable.
The jump vortex faded away, and the World Devastator headed inwards towards the local sun, its sensors already looking for a useful planet to start mining operations. Spotting a local planet, the ship began looking for Trojan asteroids, which would tell it the planets ecliptic plane. With that data, it could find a decent planet to put the base, and a few worthless planets to consume for raw materials. A fiercely radiating source was spotted, and observing it to be a gas giant, the planetary system was further mapped. It also gave a little more information about the plane of the system, and the teams looking for the trojan asteroids had a much easier time.
Back at the tear, the information was relayed back to the Eclipse battleship, and from there to Coruscant. The other ships requested had also arrived, and eight cruisers and three more World Devastators stood ready to follow the Eclipse through the tear. The great ship moved slowly but steadily, its bulk a symbol of the Empire's might and power. Capable of sterilizing a planet in less than ten minutes, the great ship moved forward into the tear to dominate everything in its path.
But events elsewhere would change that.
But Imperial Officers on board the Star destroyer Agatrix had no time for minor details of the tear. They had their jobs to do, and they dedicated their effort and thought to that end. For those who had time to think, they wondered why they had been ordered out here. They had been two hours away from cleaning out a rebel hiding place, when the priority orders had come in, not from their sector headquarters, but from Coruscant itself. And not just any location on Coruscant, but the Emperor's Palace itself.
Their orders had changed, from one of pursuing the remaining pockets of rebels, to one of get to this location, and make sure only Imperial vessels were within one light-minute of the anomaly. As soon as they had arrived, they had launched fighters, and even now the pilots were swinging around, watching the various parts of space nearby.
A brief flicker of motion, then a second and a third, and three more Imperial vessels arrived. Their captains reported to Captain Velholm of the Agatrix, and he accepted their assignment to him. Captain Morgern of the Star Destroyer Eager Fire was expected, as she had been near, but Captains Jones of the Modular Cruiser Verentor and Geryax of the World Devastator Hunger were a surprise. Even more surprising was that the Modular Cruiser was in a Survey configuration. The only possible reason for that was if they were planning to go to a new world, and survey it for possible colonization.
A World Devastator though, that was where the real confusion came from. World Devastators worked by using a massive tractor beam and nuclear furnace to suck up the surface of a planet, and convert the material obtained into new Imperial war machines. As such, it had been programmed with all the plans for current Imperial weapons, and the vessels that mounted them. Since the resurgence of the Empire, the need and desire for mobile construction facilities had forced the World Devastators into a more civilian role, in which they would suck up their materials, and build civilian components out of them. Those components ranged from prefabricated towns, to advanced mining equipment, to everything in between.
But what would they need a mobile factory out here for? There were no stars within a couple light-years, and its industrial potential would be wasted just sitting here. Although less than a drop in the bucket for a proper system's capability, a World Devastator was a small city in terms of industrial production.
He supposed he would be finding out soon enough. In the meantime, the Eager Fire and the Verentor launched their fighters to assist in securing the area, allowing the Agatrix a chance to recover and refuel its fighters, and allowing the pilots a chance to refresh themselves. They grabbed a few snacks, stretched a little, and jogged in place, before it was time to launch again. The Hunger had no fighters of its own, so it was assigned to watch over the space near the tear using its own sensors.
*
A couple hours later, a message came through. All Captains were to assemble in the briefing room of the Agatrix, and stand by for a conference meeting. A secure link would be set up from Coruscant, and all four Captains would be ready to communicate when the Grand Admiral arrived.
Three shuttle trips later, and the Captains were gathered in the Agatrix's briefing room. A brief bit of refreshments were out for their consumption, and a current update of their local space was ready. As ranking Captain, Velholm was at the head of the table, with Captains Jones, Morgern, and Garyax on either side of him. At the other end of the table, a place was left open for the hologram to occupy.
At exactly the time specified in the message, the hologram sprang into form, and a brief stutter occurred as the Agatrix's computers meshed with the Coruscant computers to make sure the signal was properly encrypted and decrypted at the same rate. If either went off the encryption rate, communications would be lost.
"Captain, I am Grand Moff Xathan. Your vessels were ordered to the tear in space because when a smaller probe ship had observed it, the tear appeared to be a fairly stable wormhole that led to a totally different galaxy."
Gasps of shock ran around the room, and several eyes widened. Ever since the Empire had come back into power after helping defeat the Yuuzhang Vong, the danger inherent in new contacts could never be understated. The New Republic had tried its best to contain the Yuuzhang Vong menace, but had ultimately failed. It had been up to the Empire to perform hit and run raids on them, weakening their support structure, destroying their infrastructure, and ultimately leaving the Yuuzhang Vong forces stranded in the galaxy. With the benefit from the various technologies gathered, the old empire had resurged with a vengeance. With no central leader though, there had almost been another power struggle.
But one person had stepped into the breach. Young Anakin Solo, son of Princess Leia and Han Solo, with the noble blood of Vader flowing through his veins, had gone to meet the Imperial warlords. He had quickly brought them to pledge their allegiance to him, and he had returned with them under his authority. He had returned to the New Republic Council chambers, and given the Senators there the new terms of government. First, the office of Chancellor would no longer be the supreme power in the galaxy. The position of Emperor would be re-established, with himself as the new Emperor. The Senate would be kept, but as an advisory body, not as a total governing body.
For justice, he had searched as well, and found hundreds of potential Jedi. Some of them had preferred aggression, and combat tactics, and he had taught those the ways of the Sith, how to fight and never be overcome. Others were philosophers, and he provided material to help them learn the Jedi ways, those of healing and diplomacy. Together, his new Force groups allowed him to ferret out anyone who tried to rebel against him. By working together, the Sith were able to keep up long-term attacks, while the Jedi healed those who were injured. The combination of deadly fighters and caring healers allowed him to tailor his strike missions depending on the opponent. After the Galaxy was back under centralized control, the Jedi and Sith went back to the original Jedi headquarters, and began to set up their training programs. The new goal was to set up a unified training program, producing Force warriors who were deadly in the arts of combat, while able to deal with others diplomatically if needed. The best warriors of the new program were being hired directly by the Emperor, and were being referred to as his Hands.
The Captains came out of their shock, and heard the next bit of news from Coruscant with a bit of concern. "There is a Hand on her way now, and she will be assuming an advisory role during the first expedition to this new galaxy. Grand Admiral Veh'kor will be arriving in his Eclipse-class Battleship within three hours. When he arrives, he will assume overall command of the expedition. Within two days, we will have additional ships there as well. In the meantime, I want you to organize an expedition to the other side, and see what is there."
With that, the communications channel was cut, and the Captains looked at each other, then at Captain Velholm. He sighed briefly, then said, "Commodore Jones," giving her the courtesy promotion, as there could only be one Captain on a ship, "I want you to launch your fighters and assault boats, then get some probe droids set up. Launch them through the wormhole, and give us a read on anything within five light years. Commodore Geryax, since your World Devastator has no inherent fighter support, I want you at an angle from the tear. If anything hostile comes through the tear that we cannot engage because of other ships, have your ship vacuum it up, and sift the materials for answers. The Agatrix and the Eager Fire will be facing the tear, with our fighter squadrons launched, ready to pounce on anything that pokes through. If anything comes through, we will proceed with a standard Imperial challenge, then use our weapons and fighters to disable it. I want prisoners, not casualties, but only if it will not put our ships or the security of the Empire at risk. If there is any doubt, err on the side of keeping your ships safe. Any questions?" There were none, and the other Captains returned to their ships, and began giving orders. Captain Velholm sent a message to Coruscant informing the Fleet Command of his orders, and decided to take a small nap.
Within three hours, Grand Admiral Veh'kor had arrived, and reviewed Captain Velholm's plan. Approving it, the Grand Admiral changed the disposition of the forces slightly, enough so that his Eclipse Battleship could also engage anything that came through the tear. With the main superlaser of the Eclipse aligned with the tear, if too many ships started coming through, the superlaser would be fired, theoretically causing the tear to collapse, or at least incinerating everything within the tear. Three hours after that, the probe droids were readied, and Captain Velholm was awoken again by the notification. The probe droids were deployed in a single line leading towards the tear, and the fighters and bombers were performing steady loops to always have at least two squadrons able to attack from surprise if anything came through.
Captain Velholm commed the Eclipse, and he informed the Grand Admiral he was ready to proceed. Receiving permission, he gave the order. "Captain Jones, send the probe droids through."
Slowly each probe droid activated its engine, and then shot through the tear. There were ten probe droids in the first wave, and their entire job was to map any gravitational anomalies that might be present, and transmit them back to the mothership. The data slowly arrived back, and several people whistled. The tear was very unstable, and only two of the droids had survived the trip. But the unstable waves were very predictable, indicating that the tear still had a few months of life left in it. If Imperial simu-tunnel equipment could be brought to the site and a ring stabilizer built, it would be possible to stabilize the tear, and eventually expand it.
The next wave of probe droids was deployed and launched, and with the new data, they all managed to get through to the other side, and began scanning. Two droids were assigned to stay at the other end of the tear, while the remaining eighteen were sent out to scan nearby space with their passive sensors, trying to see anyone before they were seen, while staying within scanning range of the tear so they would not become lost. But a problem soon became apparent.
"Captain Jones," said a lieutenant, "the other side is different. It appears to be a 'red space' that seems to soak up emitted energy. All our probe droids are reporting only one tenth their normal range in scan capability. Also, there has been no sign of any planetary systems or stars detected. It seems to be empty of anything."
Captain Jones paled at that news. It was bad enough to find a tear leading to a potentially hostile galaxy, but finding out that there wasn't anything else even there was a complete shock. But her training took over, and she quickly relayed the information to Captain Velholm and Grand Admiral Veh'kor.
At a meeting a couple hours later, the Captain met with the Grand Admiral on board the Eclipse. They discussed the news there fairly calmly, as it was obvious that there was nothing to worry about through the tear, when suddenly Captain Jones jerked slightly. The others looked at her calmly, because they recognized when someone is being interrupted by their communicator, when they gave orders not to be disturbed.
Grand Admiral Veh'kor looked at her calmly as he said, "Answer it."
She spent a few moments calling up the communications, and her initially annoyed look was quickly replaced by an expression of pure astonishment. After putting down the communicator, she said, "Sir, I had not given orders to recall the probe droids from the other side, and it appears as if they have picked up a vessel. My ship is currently sending a view of the space on the other side, and the current data on the unknown."
The Grand Admiral looked at an aide for a moment, conveying the message that he wanted that view immediately. The aide however, had been thinking just as quickly, and merely pressed a button, throwing up a hologram of the red space on the other side. There was a single point, representing the tear, a group of 20 dots representing the probe droids, and a single blinking point showing the unknown vessel. The data currently known about it was scrolling underneath the screen, and was at several angles to allow all the Captains and the Grand Admiral to read it. Several moments went by before one of the people chuckled.
Captain Geryax looked around as she had realized everyone had heard her chuckle. "Grand Admiral, Captains, according to the information so far, the vessel appears to be using a primitive hydrogen fusion drive to accelerate itself. This appears to be a basic radar system, using radio waves to determine if anyone is out there. It is of a very low power, and our probe droid is not registering on it at all, given the stealth systems we use on them and its current power at this distance. If we can get a probe droid closer to it, I think I can give you better information on the composition of its hull, and the power level and efficiency of its reactor, not to mention various details of its inner workings."
The Grand Admiral had something else to add, "You are ignoring the most important piece of information. This vessel came from somewhere, and is obviously heading somewhere. Since this red space does not have the material necessary to produce such a craft, it must have come from somewhere else. I agree though, we need to get a probe droid closer. Captain Jones, send out a droid to follow it. Give the droid the standard stealth investigation protocols, and let it follow. Let's see where it is heading. This red space could merely be a local phenomena, and normal space could be further out there."
*
The probe droid received it orders, and began accelerating towards the unknown. It steadily got closer, as the target was making no maneuvers, merely accelerating at a fixed velocity, plus or minus ten percent, and staying on a given course. The droid got closer and closer, and began to observe the vessel closer. It noticed the central body with the engine and power plant, and what appeared to be smaller modules attached to the sides. Getting closer, it noticed that the attachments were designed to be detached easily, and that the whole vessel had a very weak hull, compared to Imperial standards. There were windows in the sides of the vessel, and the droid got closer, to use the windows to determine the internal arrangement of the ship. While doing so, it also fired a small laser at the hull, trying to pick up on any internal communications by measuring vibrations.
*
Captain Brant was drunk again, as usual. While he always appeared clean and sober when talking to his boss, or people who wanted to ship goods aboard his ship, as soon as they were away, the bottles came out, and so did his harassing personality. Hearing the latest song drifting through the intercom, the assistant looked down and sighed. The crew on a cargo haul was herself, the Captain, and two engineers. Each person normally stood a twelve hour watch, with herself and the Captain standing their watches in the nose of the ship, making sure they were locked onto the beacon, and the engineers standing their watches in the fusion room, making sure the engine was kept running.
When the Captain was on duty, he loved to get drunk, and serenade the entire crew. His songs were off-tone, off-color, and usually very disgusting or perverted. And those were the ones she could actually stand to listen to. The other songs could not even be described or tolerated. Even more fun, the Captain would turn on the intercom system all over the ship, and sing into it as loud as he could. With the whole ship echoing to him, it seemed like Hell on ears everywhere. Fortunately, she had bought a little item at Babylon 5 recently, and pulled it out. Putting the hearing muffs over her head, the sound of the Captain singing was mercifully tuned out, and with her alarm set to visual instead of audio, she would still get up on time. Before she went to sleep, she thought she saw a glint of metal out in hyperspace, but dismissed it as nothing. 'Sarah, you've got to learn how to relax,' she thought to herself, 'or find a way to get off this tub.'
And the freighter cruised through hyperspace, not knowing what role it would play very soon.
*
The probe droid was now within a couple kilometers of the freighter. It had recorded the song, and had transmitted it back to the other droids to be relayed, and continued its approach. It was now leading a total of four droids in a chain, as the mothership had given instructions to extend the communications network in its direction. It kept creeping closer to the ship, and began to notice the smaller details now, such as areas where rust and corrosion had crept into areas of the hull, and the variations in the power plant. All the information so far pointed to a vessel that was not in good condition, but those conclusions were arrived at by others, and its original programming was still in effect, and it continued its cautious approach. Creeping to within one kilometer, the probe droid was using the windows to map the internal layout of the ship, and saw how the ship was arranged vertically from the engine. Obviously, the ship was designed to only use the main drive to achieve gravity, and had designed the interior of the ship around that up and down orientation. The net result was the nose of the ship felt like the top, while the engine room felt like the bottom.
It kept recording internal arrangments, based on welds and rivets seen on the outside of the ship, when it received its new limitations. It was now authorized to actually achieve contact with the ship's hull, and perform active scans. Looking at the background radiation, the probe droid selected a frequency that came very close to matching the background radiation. The first scanner beam raced out, and connected with the freighter's hull.
*
Captain Brant sang another little song, then suddenly stopped as a blinking light got his attention. The light indicated that the main computer was having a hiccup, and was currently performing a self-test. Dismissing it as boring, the Captain began creating a new song, and singing it even louder than before.
*
The probe droid completed its initial scans, and began focusing on the cargo pods, as it had been ordered. Its scanners looked through them, identified the contents, and sent that data back as well. It suddenly received a new order. Since the crew of the Verentor had been unable to find any kind of inertial guidance system, they were guessing that the freighter was heading toward a beacon. Ordering the drone to start listening to anything in front of the freighter, the drone began searching. It took a couple minutes, but it found a tachyon beam being emitted, almost directly in the path of the freighter. Passing that information back as well, it continued to close and examine the freighter.
It was now within one meter of the freighter, and it slowly began to extend its manipulator arms to attach itself to the freighter. It would use them to crawl around the freighter, looking into each window to get the final shape of the vessel's layout. Gently pulling itself from window to window, it would observe, then pull back to send the data.
*
Scott had finished adjusting the engine for now, and sighed back in relief. He didn't like the Captain's songs any more than the others, and he finally put his headphones back on, and looked over the engineering panel in front of him. Briefly, he wished that he and Sarah were on the same watch, as he had started to like her, and was planning to tell her that, someday. In the meantime, he turned up the volume on his video player, so the movie would drown out the Captain's singing. Unseen behind him though, the metal eye of the probe droid measured the room and looked at the panel, then crept back to transmit again.
*
The probe droid headed towards the nose of the ship, completing its scan on the interior. It was now heading for the large window at the front of the ship. None of the other windows had been able to give a good view on that section, and it crept along slowly.
*
Captain Brant finished his latest masterpiece, and sat back, relaxing. He spun around in the chair a couple times, enjoying the sensation, then started to walk back towards the rest of the ship and share his joy with them.
*
The probe droid gently eased itself around the edge, and began to watch. It pulled back at first as it detected a humanoid in the room. But the humanoid was headed towards the back of the room, and was facing away from the window. It moved up higher, trying to get a better view, using its arms to hold itself steady without using its repulsor system. It watched the humanoid move towards what seemed to be a ladder above a hatch, and the droid centered several sensors there, trying to see how the hatch was connected, and how the layout was arranged exactly for the interior passageway.
*
Captain Brant grabbed the rung, swung himself onto it, and turned around to toast the stars again.
He saw the probe droid.
*
The probe droid watched him turn around suddenly and it knew that it had been seen. The sudden movements and erratic behavior were typical signs, and the probe droid knew that it had only one option in this situation.
Self-destruct.
*
Captain Brant staggered against the wall of the passageway beyond, and screamed. He did not know what that thing was on the front of his ship, but it hung there, unblinking and reaching out with its arms to hold his ship. In his drunken state, he did not notice that it was barely half a meter wide, and the main body was only a half a meter tall. All he could see was a central body, an unblinking eye, and several arms reaching out and holding his ship.
He screamed again as he climbed down the main passageway towards the crew quarters.
*
The probe initiated its self-destruct sequence, when it found that the self-destruct had been overridden! The people watching on the Verentor knew that getting out of the red space was more important, so they had put an override on the droid's self-destruct protocols. Stripped of its standard defense, the probe droid immediately ducked below the main window, and got into a position where its sensors could watch the main airlock for the ship as well. It also began mapping out escape patterns if someone came out after it. In the meantime, it would listen to how the crew reacted to one of their number reporting the probe droid's presence.
*
"Sarah!!!" Sarah jumped up as the lights in her room came to full brightness. She looked over and saw the Captain screaming at her and pointing towards the front of the ship. She reluctantly woke up fully from what had been a nice dream about just lying down on a beach somewhere and watching the ocean waves.
Unfortunately, the first sight to greet her was a drunk Captain who was waving his hands like a maniac. Sighing, she pulled the headphones off her head, and began trying to listen to what he was saying.
"There's a robot octopus on the front of the ship! It's covering the whole front and its pulling us in! It's gonna kill us all!"
She sighed, and turned back over in her hammock. This was not what she needed. Unfortunately, the Captain would not be ignored, and he pulled her back out of her hammock. Normally he would have also taken the time to stare at her body, but he seemed too berserk even for that now. Sighing again, she slowly got dressed, hoping that by the time she was dressed the Captain would go off on another singing dirge, and she could get back to sleep.
No such luck, as the Captain went over to the off-duty engineer and woke him up as well. Seeing as there was no way to shut him up, she reluctantly followed him as he led the two of them back towards the nose of the ship. She glanced at the engineer climbing along below her, and he looked even more sleepy than her.
When they got back to the bridge, the Captain started gesturing madly. "It's there, staring into this ship, seeing if there is anything in here to eat. Go slowly, and maybe it won't see you."
Peering around the hatch slowly, Sarah looked at the forward window to try to see anything. Seeing just normal hyperspace (oxymoron), she eased around, and began walking around the forward window. She began looking around, seeing if anything was there, then casually walked back to the hatch. Flinging it open, she looked Captain Brant in the eye and said, "There's nothing out there."
Sputtering in disbelief, Captain Brant cautiously eased his way up. When he realized that the metal octopus was no longer there, he turned around, with a pleading look on his face. "But I swear to you, there was a metal octopus there. It had arms reaching out to this ship, and, and, . . ."
But Sarah was already headed back toward her hammock, ignoring his pleas for her to listen to him. She passed the other engineer on the bridge, where he was leaning against the wall, sound asleep. She jabbed him in the ribs, waking him up, and continued on her way, already mentally falling asleep so she wouldn't be sleepy on watch. It was only a half an hour until they went through the next jump gate, and going through a jump gate was easier on her stomach if she was asleep. Falling onto her hammock, she fell asleep in seconds.
*
The probe droid, if it was human, would have been laughing its head off. The only person that had spotted it was the ship's drunk, and everyone else was ignoring the report. In the meantime, it had detected a communications cable between the main computer and a console in the bridge. It began analyzing the signals between them, trying to see if it could use that console to download a copy of the ship's main core. With no knowledge of the ship's operating system, it would have to download everything, and let others decide what was important. It slowly watched the data transfers, comparing what it observed with the data flow, and began isolating the communications.
*
Captain Brant looked out the window as the freighter approached the jump gate beacon. He hadn't had a single drink since the scare earlier, and it was starting to affect him. But he was able to handle the standard transmission systems, and he activated the communications dish. It sent the signal to open the jump gate, and the freighter was through.
*
The probe droid noted the communication dish extend, and began listening to it with its radio ears. It detected the signal, and suddenly its visual sensor detected the jump gate forming. Setting an alert flag on its broadcast, it opened its sensors and transmitters, and began feeding data back along the chain at a far higher rate than before. This method was fairly easy to detect if you were near the transmission path, but this new data was deemed too important to compress.
*
The operator monitoring the probe droid took one look at what was coming in, and called for the Bridge Duty Officer. The Bridge Duty Officer took one look at the data coming in, especially what lay beyond the jump gate, and grabbed his communicator. Quickly dialing the Captain, he spoke a few words into it, then motioned for the sensor technician to send a copy of the imagery to her viewscreen.
The results of that view, of the probe droid showing the system beyond the jump gate did wonders at banishing her sleep. A few quick orders from her had the sensor imagery transferred to the other ships, and soon every Captain and the Grand Admiral was awake and viewing the images. Orders soon followed to send the two Star Destroyers and the Survey Cruiser through the tear, in an attempt to get the data they needed, to open that jump point, and to eventually create their own.
*
The probe droid detached after the freighter went through the jump point, to avoid losing contact. It tried to enter through the jump point to return, but the jump point closed up again, and the probe droid stopped relative to the gate structure. It had no way of getting back into contact with the other droids, so it performed the standard procedure. Shutting down all of its active systems, reducing its power plant to minimal levels, and saving the remaining data into hard memory, it awaited retrieval.
*
The Captains and the Grand Admiral met less than half an hour later. Deciding that this information needed to be discussed immediately, a holographic conversation room had been set up. Each person there looked as though they were present in living color, but in reality, the people were on their own ships, and it merely looked like they were meeting in one room. Since the holograms were little more than computer images, the Captains sometimes got informal, and often dressed in work uniforms, while having the holograms put an image of their uniform over their actual images.
The discussions that went on in there were numerous, but the image of a normal star system was the deciding factor. The two Star Destroyers would go through, along with the Survey Cruiser. One of the Star Destroyers would head off in the same direction as the freighter, and try to open the jump gate. The others would patrol the tear on the far side, extending their detection radius by using their fighters. In the meantime, their sensor technicians would try to better understand the physics of hyperspace.
Captain Velhom decided he would take his ship through first, as he had been there the longest. The smaller probe ship that was originally there had long since departed, off to explore somewhere else. Matching his ship to the grav surges, he started in.
Looking out the windows of the flag bridge, the tear in reality was impossible. It looked like the inside of a tornado, but instead of wind and debris being whirled about, it was ripped shreds of gravity, megaton strength explosions, and radiation pulses strong enough to fry a person so fast they would not even notice. But Star Destroyers are designed to withstand combat with their own kind for over half an hour, and the trip through the tear barely put a strain on its shields.
On the other side, in hyperspace, the Star destroyer seemed to stretch as it exited the tear, and suddenly it was there, its looming triangular presence announcing to anyone nearby that the Empire had come, and it was there to stay. The crew checked over their systems, and sent an all-clear message back to the ships still waiting. Moving out of the way slightly, the Agatrix waited for the other ships to arrive. The Eager Fire was the next one through, followed by the Verentor. All of the ships had arrived safely, and were busy restoring their shields after the passage.
Reviewing the records, Captain Velholm talked with the Grand Admiral, "Sir, based on the current conditions in the tear, I would advise waiting until the simu-tunnel equipment arrives before transiting in your ship. It is possible for a shuttle to transit, but the pilot would have to a genius to get through the passage safely."
"Exactly Captain. The Emperor's Hand has arrived, and she will be transiting through the tear herself. She will take up residence on your ship, and assist you in any way you ask or she feels necessary."
'An Emperor's Hand on his ship?' Captain Velholm thought to himself. 'Why send an Emperor's Hand? They were only needed to flush out rebels, or provide assistance to Captains during risky First Contact situations. There is nothing out here yet to warrant a First Contact situation, so why is one coming here? Not only that, but if there would be a First Contact, the Eclipse would be there to handle the communications, not his ship.'
A few seconds later, a small vessel popped through the tear. It was not a standard Imperial Lambda shuttle, but a larger form of Imperial TIE fighter. A quick review of the records indicated that the closest match was the TIE Defender class, but this one seemed larger than usual, obviously for any personal or long-duration items an Emperor's Hand might need.
A communications technician took the message, and it was short and simple, "This is Emperor's Hand Teleso, I have permission to dock and am coming in now. I will be landing in ten minutes and will proceed to the bridge from there." With that, the communication was terminated, and the commtech turned to his superior, and the message was passed up to the Captain.
The Defender landed quickly, and the Emperor's Hand made her way to the bridge. Hands are known for their efficiency in everything, and people got out of her way as she took the shortest path to the bridge. When she arrived, she walked straight up to the Captain and said, "I am Emperor's Hand Teleso. I will be staying on board your ship until I decide to leave. When the time is right, I will explain why I am here." With that, she turned and walked to the back of the bridge, and began reviewing the various items that had happened recently. She paid special attention to the patterns of the tear, watching it with silent eyes.
Captain Velholm glanced back at the Emperor's Hand after she had walked away. 'Well, at least she isn't taking command immediately. Still, I wonder what she meant by when the time is right?'
After several hours of patrolling and waiting, a message arrived from the other side of the tear. The simu-tunnel equipment had arrived and was being set up. Currently, only a small stabilizing tunnel was being set up, only eight kilometers wide, as that would allow smaller cruisers to pass through easily, and the Eclipse to pass through with minimal exposure to its shields. There were several other ships that arrived, and another Star destroyer, the Violence had already passed through, making it a total of 3 Star Destroyers and the Survey Cruiser on the far side. The Violence's Captain was still junior to Captain Velholm, so he was still in overall command of the Imperial forces on this side of the tear, if you didn't count the Emperor's Hand.
The Eager Fire had already departed to the jump gate where the freighter had passed through. They had sent the same signal as the freighter, and the jump gate had activated normally. The Star Destroyer had passed through into normal space, and its engineers were already getting into EVA suits to figure out how a jump gate worked, and if they could modify their own engines to do a similar maneuver.
The reason for wanting to use their own engines to enter hyperspace, was because they figured the jumpgate possessed basic computer security and recording systems. Jump gates would have a simple recorder on them that stored the identities of all ships that passed through them, for easy billing and record-keeping by their owners. If Imperial vessels started using those jump gates with the same ship's codes, it would soon become obvious that someone else was using them.
But if they used their own hyperdrives to enter hyperspace, then nobody would be able to track them. Even better was a question that had been asked earlier. One of the ship's maneuvering officers had asked if it was necessary to leave hyperspace as soon as the ship arrived at its destination. Several others had thought about it, and had come to the conclusion that a ship could actually wait in hyperspace, until it decided to leave. The tactical officers had seized upon that concept with a greed, as it meant that a ship could sit in hyperspace until needed, and then pop out effectively on top of the target. The only disadvantage would be the time needed to open the jump vortex, but since the attacking ship would have the advantage of surprise, it was decided to go with it. That capability, if it could also be used in their galaxy, would give their ships a tactical advantage over any remaining rebels.
After several days, the jump gate physics were figured out, with extensive help from eight major research stations in the Empire, and the Eager Fire began modifying their hyperdrives. Generators came on-line, field coils were humming, and an orange vortex formed in front of the vessel. A brief surge of power from its engines, and the Eager Fire went into hyperspace, under its own power.
The simu-tunnel was also being set up during that same time frame, and it had just finished. The World Devastator was the first ship through, as it would proceed to the new star system, and start producing materials and the base needed to start their conquest of this new galaxy. After it transited, it proceeded to the location, and opened its own jump point, proving that the overall design of the hyperdrive was well able to handle the far lower power levels to open a jump point. A Star Destroyer used enough power in a single jump to exceed what a planetary civilization used in its entire lifetime. A World Devastator was the same size, and its power plants were no less capable.
The jump vortex faded away, and the World Devastator headed inwards towards the local sun, its sensors already looking for a useful planet to start mining operations. Spotting a local planet, the ship began looking for Trojan asteroids, which would tell it the planets ecliptic plane. With that data, it could find a decent planet to put the base, and a few worthless planets to consume for raw materials. A fiercely radiating source was spotted, and observing it to be a gas giant, the planetary system was further mapped. It also gave a little more information about the plane of the system, and the teams looking for the trojan asteroids had a much easier time.
Back at the tear, the information was relayed back to the Eclipse battleship, and from there to Coruscant. The other ships requested had also arrived, and eight cruisers and three more World Devastators stood ready to follow the Eclipse through the tear. The great ship moved slowly but steadily, its bulk a symbol of the Empire's might and power. Capable of sterilizing a planet in less than ten minutes, the great ship moved forward into the tear to dominate everything in its path.
But events elsewhere would change that.