---

While many of those present, especially the Alderaanians on the ship, were still focused on the devastation of the planet, Falul’s thoughts pushed forward to the war ahead of them. In the immediate future, the message that Anakin was soon to deliver to the galaxy could have an impact on how much resistance they could inspire against the Empire, but there would still be a war to fight beyond the inspirational words. However, Falul could not help but to feel out of his element. Without question, he could lead in battle and was confident in doing so. He knew how to arrange and deploy fleets, devise strategies in ship-to-ship combat, and exploit the mistakes of his enemies, but the grand strategy of this sort of war was different from anything he had done before. During the Human-Covenant war, he had been in a position more comparable to the Imperials. The Covenant was the dominant, near-unstoppable force in the galaxy. Even since the end of the war, Jul ‘Mdama’s Covenant has not been stronger than the Swords of Sanghelios. In this war, though, they would have to face an opponent with a far larger military force, and far greater manufacturing capabilities. Still…Falul was not without resources. There were those in his crew with potentially more relevant experience, and with whom he could take counsel. He also had access to extensive historical records from the Human-Covenant war, which he could study to his hearts’ content.

Of course, his own preparations would have to come later. For now, Falul focused his attention on Jason. “I can think of many more than one. Once we are back to our fleet, we will need to gather everything we know about our capabilities, and those of our allies, and everything we know about our enemy. Then we will need to decide, conclusively, what strategy we indent to take in this war. Now what are the concerns that you have?”

"A super weapon called the Death Star. Such a weapon had already had its construction begun by the end of the Clone Wars and it does not give us time to evacuate entire planets like Anubis' show here did. A single beam which takes mere minutes to power up, if that, and the planet's core detonates. We can't let that stay floating around out in the nether."

---

Falul nodded towards Erthos. “Then I suggest you gather any specific information you might have on this potential weapon. We can discuss it in detail the next time we meet together to form our war plans. If it is a near enough threat, we may need to seek it out and destroy it.”

---

Across the far reaches of the newly-created Empire, and even some places beyond, the attitudes of the people had been dominated by tension and uncertainty. Regardless of whatever feelings they may or may not have had towards Alderaan or its people, Anubis’ show of power was the topic on the tips of everyone’s tongues, or analogous appendage. Palpatine, their former Chancellor turned Emperor by popular support, had been slain and replaced by a usurper claiming to be a god. It was a claim that would perhaps normally be ridiculous, only, as the days went on, it seemed more and more like he was proving it. Just as Anubis had said, Alderaan became an unlivable wasteland before the eyes of the galaxy. Some took it as evidence enough to accept Anubis’ claim to godhood, though many across the Empire were not religious to start with and would not be so quickly swayed to faith. Still, even if it did not immediately convert them all, it was a very real display of power that could potentially paralyze any resistance before it had a chance to begin.

Accompanying the fear came disorder as well. Anubis had proved himself both murderous and vengeful, so there were few figures of authority willing to openly denounce his actions, at least so soon after the event. With silence from their leaders, the majority of the galaxy’s people were left to make their own judgments with only the information they had before them. With the only remaining symbol of authority being Anubis himself.

This was until the live feed broadcasting Alderaan’s slow destruction was suddenly interrupted. The feed cut to black for a few seconds, then was replaced by what was, for many, a familiar face. Thanks to Palpatine’s machinations, the reputation of the Jedi had been severely tarnished, with Anakin Skywalker as the exception. For citizens of the Republic, he had been a popular figure, a war hero, and a “good” Jedi. Bail had assisted him in preparing his speech, though for the sake of his people, he did not yet appear directly on the broadcast. They needed time to recover before risking Anubis’ ire being directed specifically towards them again.

“People of the Galaxy, both members of the Republic and those of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Today we watched a crown jewel of our galaxy be turned into a lifeless husk. And by who other than a being claiming to be a god and demanding that we bend the knee to him? Sheev Palpatine sought to manipulate us all into fighting a bloody war that would leave both sides weakened and susceptible to total take over by his Empire while he swept the remnants of Seperatist and Republic aside with ease. The Jedi discovered this and tried to arrest him, but were already too late to do so, and so our Order was decimated.

We cannot let this stand, just as the Confederacy fought for their beliefs the Republic was corrupt and we of the Republic fought to protect a union of systems that, while it had its issues, was a united front against tyranny and oppression from all sources. And we should now all turn to face this Anubis and show him that he cannot simply walk in and claim dominion over any being! Set aside your grievances and fight to protect our freedoms as a one Galaxy! Not as a Republic or a Confederacy, but as one united peoples to defend what is ours! Stand with me, stand with Master Yoda and help us send this tyrant to join the Force!”

Anakin stepped to the side enough to show to the galaxy the view from the bridge of the stolen Assimilator-class Star Destroyer from which he was broadcasting. "His Empire isn't as unbeatable as he wants you to think."

---

---

For the fleet, the ships they had brought to Alderaan did not immediately return to their hidden shipyard, but instead joined their new allies over Mantor VII. They had not yet come to a consensus on whether they should reveal the location of their base of operations to any of their allies, and if so, who they should trust. Of course, they still had access to near-instant superluminal communication to their base, so they could still communicate with their shipyard.

It had been only a day since the destruction of Alderaan came to completion, so its impact on the galaxy as a whole was still uncertain. Still, the fleet could not just wait and see what was going to happen. They were at a pivotal moment, where an effective resistance could either be forged, or crushed, so they needed to act quickly and decisively.

While the majority of their ships’ crew members would have some time to catch their breath, their leadership was under more pressure than they had ever been. They could not delay any longer; they needed to make decisions about the structure and direction of their fleet and its goals that could shape their approach to the war. The Aegis would be hosting their meeting to make use of a secure slipspace communications node, so they could still communicate back to the shipyard.

On Falul’s part, he had spent every waking hour since they left Alderaan preparing himself as best as he could. For the situation they were in, he recognized his own shortcomings in personal experience, but he took the time to seek the counsel of trusted members of his crew, as well as to review historical data from the Human-Covenant war. In many ways, the challenges that Humanity faced against the Covenant during the war would be similar to what their fleet would bear similarities to what they would have to face against the Empire, at least in a broad sense. If he could learn from his former enemy, then he might be better prepared for such a different sort of war.

The room they would be using was fairly isolated deep within the Aegis so they would not be disturbed during their deliberations. It was a simple, mostly featureless chamber, apart from a holographic display table at the center of the room. For this meeting, the leaders of their ships could, of course, include anyone else they deemed necessary from their respective crews. Falul himself had not come alone, as he was accompanied by, curiously enough, a Kig-Yar. A T’vaoan, specifically. She was not dressed in armor, like almost everyone else on the Aegis but instead wore a garment consisting of separate pieces of fine, colorful, silk-like cloth, in stark contrast to the solid black feathers on her head and forearms. She also wore a fairly excessive amount of jewelry: rings, bracelets, necklaces, and even a few jewels embroidered into her clothes. There was no unifying “style” among her jewelry, suggesting it all might have been collected from many cultures. Not all of the metals were even particularly valuable; the only thing they all seemed to have in common were that they were shiny.

Everything had been going just great a few minutes ago. A survay of a planet that the Knights had PROBABLY come to at some point, having a couple of laughs with Megatron and Jetfire. Now they were fleeing for their lives from a whole swarm of pissed off Insecticons. "FOR THE LAST TIME, I THOUGHT YOU SAID THEY WERE LOYAL TO YOU!!!" Rodimus screamed from the controls of his gaudy testiment-to-the-infinite-depths-of-his-own-ego, the Rod Pod. In the back, Megatron was manning the rear laser cannons.

"AND I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY IT!!!" Megatron replied.

"What? I thought "Bah-weep-Graaaaagnah wheep ni ni bong" was the universal greeting." He replied.

"It is, IF YOU HAVE ENOUGH ENERGON FOR THE ENTIRE DAMN HIVE!!!" Megatron screamed, shooting down several of the persuing Insecticons. Over the comms, came the voice of Jetfire, who was atop the Pod, acting as a surrogate gun.

"If you two want to stop being an old married couple for 5 seconds, maybe we might be able to better evade them." He called, before taking aim and blasting another out of the sky with his Twin-Fusion cannon. One of the Insecticons landed and slashed at him with his claws, before the Gladiator jumped back, transformed into his Carrier form and blasted it off, before flying alongside the Pod.

"So, Shockwave, i don't want to be a pain or a bother, but, if it ain't too much trouble... WHERE THE HELL IS MY DAMN SPACE BRIDGE!!!" He screamed into the comms. There was a gentle humming from the comms. "I swear to Primus, if i die down here, i'm haunting you."

"It would be an interesting experience to study one. I didn't get much of a chance when Starscream was doing it." Replied the cold, calculating voice of Shockwave.

"NOT JOKING, IT WILL SAY ON MY TOMBSTONE "Here lies Rodimus Prime, the last of the Primes. His Final decree: "If you see Shockwave, punch him in his stupid cyclops-face!!!"

"Calculations done." Shockwave replied, as the giant, green, gaping portal appeared in front of them. Flying through it, they were in space right in front of the Lost Light's hangar.

"TOO CLOSE!" Rodimus shouted, slamming the breaks on hard, in a desperate attempt to slow down. but the ship was far too close, slamming into the hangar deck and grinding along, it's retrothrusters desperateloy trying to bring it to a complete halt. Rodimus was busy praying to Alpha Trion that the Rod Pods paint wasn't too badly damaged. Jetfire, transformed back into bot form and landed in front of the Pod, grabbing it as it skidded, finally forcing it to a halt. Rodimus gave a sigh of relief. "You ok?" He called.

"Apart from my ego, i'd say i'm completely undamaged." Rodimus looked around.

"Oh, great... But i was kinda..." Megatron looked at him with utter contempt.

"I swear to Cybertron below me, if you say you were talking to the ship, i am going to shoot you again and THIS TIME, i WILL snuff your spark." Megatron seethed.

"I was talking to Jet." Rodimus smiled, rubbing the back of his head. Megatron gave him a disgusted look of disbelief as he walked to the door, which descended. Several of the Vehicons approached and began assessing the damage and drawing up a repair schedule. Knockout was there to greet them.

"Nice laqnding, Lord Megatron." He smirked. "Although, between you and me, if you could have roughed that eyesore up just a LITTLE more on the way in... Well, let's just say that nobody would miss it too much." Megatron looked down at Knockout. The Decepticon doctor-turned-mechanic was a little rough around the edges and one of the most vain bots he had ever met, he nonetheless admired his attention-to-detail when it came to his work. Also, there was no bot that knew his way around a buffer like him.

"It was him that was flying it." Megatron sighed. Rodimus was cuddling the Rodpod, putting his arms over it, cooing to it as though it were a wounded child. "If you can accidentally hit the self destruct, i will give you my next weeks Energon rations..." He whispered, knowing full well that Rodimus was such an egotistical narcissist that he hadn't put a self destruct on it, as there was no conceivable way in Rodimus' mind that he would need to destroy it. Megatron approached the lift and stepped inside with Jetfire.

"So, level with me. We've taken out more than that before." Jetfire said. "I mean, even back in the Colosseum, you and me used to squash that many Insecticons as a warm-up round. So, why'd we run?" Megatron didn't look at Jetfire, he simply stood motionless.

"I didn't see the need to get bogged down in a pointless battle." He replied eventually.

"You know, you still seem to forget that you're not the big, rough, tough leader of the Decepticons anymore. You can just say "Slaughtering an entire hive of Insecticons doesn't sit well with my conscience." Remember, ever since you grew one of those?" Jetfire slapped him on the Shoulder. Megatron simply went back to his brooding.

****

Back with Rodimus, he stood behind Knockout as the mechanic finalized his repair schedule. "What's the news, Doc?" He asked. Knockout looked him up and down.

"Well, i'm afraid that there's nothing that i can do about your ego, but the Rod Pod seems like she'll make a full recovery. I'll need three days to get her back in full working order, as well as buff out that carbon scoring on the rear." His hand transformed into a bufferand revved a little. Rodimus gave the ship a hug.

"You hear that, girl, all good again in a few days." Knockout shook his head. A flash of light appeared in the Hangar and everyone looked around. Rodimus looked down at the floor to see a human woman had appeared. "Ummmm..." He pressed a finger to his ear. "Shockwave, did our sensors read an incoming ground or space-bridge?" He asked.

"Negative, but we did just read a spike in exotic energy. Is there something i may study?" Came the response. Rodimus looked the woman in the eye for a second.

"Stand-by." He ordered, getting down on his hands and knee's. "Ummm, i don't know who you are, but you may be surprised to know that you just Space-Bridged aboard a Cybertronian Explorer vessel." The woman looked around. "Don't mind the Decepticon logo on Knockout, we are all friends here."

"Curious..." Knockout looked her over. "You're not ENTIRELY human anymore are you?" He asked "Oh for the days that i could throw people like this onto the dissection table..." He sighed.

"Pay no attention to him." Rodimus said. "Who are you and what can we do for you?" He smiled. The woman looked at him.

"I don't have a lot of time, but suffice to say, the entire multiverse is at stake. A villain by the name of Anubis is trying to gain enough power to overthrow and control absolutely everyone and everything." She said to the large robot.

"Ok, so, so far you've answered none of my questions and made a demand of me. That's not generally how asking someone for help works." Rodimus sighed. "You know, we ARE allies with Humanity, but trust m, you came to the wrong place. We're on a mission already. Go to Cybertron and ask Optimus and the others for help. They are WAAAAAAAY closer to Earth than we are. Of course, nobody blames you for wanting the great Rodimus Prime himself." He smirked, pushing a thumb to his chest.

"Wow, careful now, Rodimus," Knockout sighed. "You might pull a hydrolic patting yourself on the back there."

"Unfortunately, in your planets current time of peace, this vessel is the only one still fully equipped for war, the rest of your fleet is for defensive purposes and i can only bring one of you. Also, we aren't going to Earth." The woman replied, this Rodimus reminded her a lot of a certain jackass she had known before ascension, of course, he had the excuse that he actually was as smart as he boasted to be. "I don't have a lot of time, but i have looked into your past, Cybertronians are some of the greatest warriors in the multiverse, your help would be invaluable." She said, before smirking a little as she realized to play to this bots ego. "Of course, if you would prefer that i go ask this Optimus bot, i'm sure that he would be far better suited to the situation."

"To be perfectly honest, he probably is, but getting Optimus out here would take time and he is trying to leave the warrior life behind. He is trying to be Orion Pax again..." Rodimus looked down at his hand. "The Matrix chose me, Orion believes in me, I am now the last Prime. If the entire universe is at stake, then there is NO way that i can pass it up." Liz was surprised. It had worked, not in the way she had hoped, but it had worked and she would take it.

"Ummm, Rod, don't you think we should run this by the Captain first?" Knockout asked.

"He may be the Captain, but i am a Prime, that means i outrank him." Rodimus grinned.

"And you're going to say that to his face?" Knockout replied.

"Nope, i'm gonna say she hijacked us against our wills and if you tell him anything, i'll eject your entire supply of hood-polish into the nearest sun." Knockout put his hands up and closed his eyes to indicate his agreement to these terms. "Lady, you've got yourself a ship. How long is this going to take?"

"I have no idea, but I will be able to put your vessel back at this exact space at this exact time upon your return."

****

On the Bridge, Megatron sat in the captains chair, Ravage sat at his side, with Laserbeak on his perch. "Uuuuuum, Lord Megatron, there seems to be an exotic energy spike again." Said one of the Vehicons.

"Strange... Get Shockwave up here, he'll be delighted to study it." Megatron replied, before suddenly, the ship was engulfed in a bright light. "WHAT'S HAPPENING?" Megatron screamed.

"UNKNOWN" The Vehicon replied. "THE SHIP'S BEING FLOODED WITH EXOTIC ENERGIES!"

"IS TRYPTICON TRYING TO WAKE UP?" Megatron asked.

"NEGATIVE, HIS COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS STILL AT MINIMUM."

"THEN WHAT IS HAPPENING TO MY DAMN SHIP!?!?!?" He demanded. At that point, the light show stopped and the ship continued to drift lazily in the black void of space. "Damage report, now." A few seconds later, the answer came.

"Nothing specific. But a lot of the crew seem rather startled." Megatron got up.

"RODIMUS, TO THE BRIDGE NOW!" He demanded into the comms. At that point, Shockwave arrived on the bridge. He took one look out of the front viewport.

"We have been space-bridged." He replied. Megatron looked at him, puzzled. "The allignment of the stars has shifted significantly. I don't even recognize it. This alignment of stars is not possible within known space." He said, cold, hard, matter-of-factly.

"Get a fix on our position relative to galactic core and see if you can raise Cybertron or Earth." He ordered. "AND WHERE THE HELL IS RODIMUS?!?!" He demanded.

The arrival of their mobile cloning ship, the Supercarrier-class ship Redemption, had just nearly caused Supreme Commander Jason to have a heart attack, but the news brought cheers of hope from the crew as it spread. With the Redemption, clone troops could be replaced and, to some degree, weapons and armor produced to prepare those newly grown clones for combat. However, operations had been put on standby until a decision could be reached on the best way to move forwards and the crews of both ships could do little more than sit at their stations or in their bunks, worry etched on their faces as their leader went to the Immaculate Aegis to decide the best way to bring the fight to Anubis.

---

The halls of the Sangheili’s ship were strikingly different from those of both the Resurgence and the Star Destroyers that they had all boarded and fought on numerous times. Curves instead of right angles, it almost seemed to offer no cover if one didn’t know how to optimize on the shapes. Eragon made notes of intersections, guards, patrols that they crossed paths with more than once, even where all the tech savvy ones seemed to be working hardest when they passed them, but, after all, that was what he did best as a Null-Class trooper.

On more than one occasion as they neared the meeting room, Jason had to chastise him as Jerus walked silently in his Beskar armor, his helmet tucked under his arm. Upon arriving in the room, the bounty hunting Jedi went to the left and leaned against a wall, silent in a way that was surprising considering his seeming chattiness after their first battle and even during. Jason joined Falul at the central display, Eragon to his left and still appraising everything. The Supreme Commander had tried numerous times to convince Kham to come as well, but the Cathar was determined to figure out how their shipyard had worked, so his head scientist and engineer was absent this time.

As the silence stretched, Eragon eventually turned his gaze on the Shipmaster himself and raised an eyebrow as he thought over the physical appearance of this new ally. Tall, well built muscles noticeable even from here, a glint in his eye that speaks of both experience and presence and a strange weapon hilt on his belt. Head on would be a poor… The thought trailed on as Jason cleared his throat. “So, what do your officers think of the threat the Death Star poses?”

---

“I took the time to examine the data you sent us on this ‘Death Star’ weapon…” Falul began, pausing a few moments to bring up a holographic display of the battle station on the central display. It showed the Death Star as a whole, as well as sections labeled in as much detail as Erthos had shared with them.

Falul gestured to the display. “With the information we have, I, and my officers, believe this weapon is a horribly inefficient waste of resources, by the measure of this universe. The only exceptional part of this battle station is the superlaser, which is unnecessarily powerful. To entirely destroy a planet has value in intimidation, but is militarily pointless. A weapon with a fraction of the power could still render a planet uninhabitable, as Anubis did with Alderaan. And it would require only a fraction of the resources to create. This very ship we are in right now can destroy a world in any practical, useful sense, albeit over a longer time. The Emperor of your time reminds me of the San’Shyuum. Charismatic liars with venomous tongues, but not military leaders. This Death Star required, what does it convert to in your timekeeping…twenty years to complete. It would be a boon to us if Anubis’ Empire decides to waste such an immense amount of resources on a singular weapon.”

Despite Falul’s obviously-low opinion of the Death Star, he did not completely lack concern about the weapon. “I would not consider the Death Star, as it is presented here, a threat to us. But, I am concerned for what may happen if Anubis re-purposes this project to more practical ends. Weaker, but still devastating superlasers could be completed more quickly, and distributed to a larger number of smaller battle stations, or even warships. Instead of a single concentration of power that could be defeated by a few antimatter charges, we could be facing a fleet that could spread across the galaxy. That is a military threat we should not ignore.”

---

---

---

---

Yiithren peered at those gathered, his own party having been a wall of silence for most of the meeting. Mainly because they found the Aegis interior design to be so interestingly similar to their own craft, only purple. Something none of them had been expecting, save for Strevrols of course, though that was only because he had spent some time aboard helping the crew with various engineering related tasks as per their agreement. A task Yiithren had expected him to complain about by the time it had ended, but one that he had not-surprisingly-whined about. As a matter of fact, he seemed to enjoy the job to the point where his ego fell away long enough for him to not be a complete hazard to his own health.

Quite surprising, really.

Blinking, Yiithren found himself breaking his train of thought just in time to hear Erthos question, as well as Falul's response.

"Ah, well Strevrols," Yiithren began, gesturing towards his chief engineer with a tendril as he cleared his throat. An action that was more of a liquid gurgle more than an actual clearing of phlegm. "Finds it quite interesting. From an engineering standpoint anyway. From what he's shown me of its design, it seems quite similar to some of my peoples own Colossi, albeit much smaller and less versatile. From what you've told us it just destroys worlds, whereas some of the things we've been playing around with allow us to shield entire planets if we so desire."

He paused for a bit, as though pondering something, before continuing.

"Well, with superweapon type devices anyway. Not regular ships. And I do agree, for this universe, it is a horribly inefficient use of resources, albeit one that may prove to be extremely lethal to us if he manages to downsize it as you've said."

The Glasgow had kept it's part of the bargain. They had secured a new ship for the fleet, and they aided with evacuations of Aldeeran the ships shuttle craft served as invaluable tools in getting people onto, and off the planet. Even in the worse of it. But still they hadn't saved as many as they had liked, and they kept to their own ship for the speech. Choosing to stay as out of the way as possible in the formation of this new rebellion. They would have no part in it, and they cared little for what happened to these people beyond getting home. The taking of the ships bridge had been a reminder that they should stick to that ideal

One of their own was wounded. A near brush with death served to root all of them that despite this being a different universe this wasn't a game, or some shared dream, or whatever theory was running rampant. As soon as things simmered down, and they were set. They began contacting their agents in various places throughout space. What they described was grim, and sometimes terrifying. But they had adapted well to the climate. Guess it helped to be just another generic human in this galaxy. But still precious intel, was precious intel. He had it decoded into burst transmissions that the others in the fleet could read. Travis settled in for some peace, and quiet. Content the battle was done for now.

It wasn't long however before he was interrupted again. "The other leaders wish to discuss on board The Aegis." His communications officer said, The Alliance captain shook his head. "It's always something..." He sighed.
"Very well. Tell them we are coming."
"Aye, aye sir." His communications officer jumped to listen to his orders, as he summoned his other officers to the hangar. Besides Sarah Wilkes, he took his XO with him so he could contribute to the talks. Once more they left The Glasgow, setting a course for The Aegis.

---

The Aegis was an impressive ship, at least to Travis it was. However the aliens on board were more than a little unsettling. As soon as they landed they were not greeted by an attendant. But by a strange avian like alien. "Hey human." It said, getting their attention. "I've got some things we can trade. Nice prime weaponry, standard issue for Kig-Yar. Nice, and cheap because I like you so much." It exclaimed. Looking the group of them over. The humans looked at each other. Sarah, and Adrian probably sharing a private conversation in their helmet radios. Probably whether, or not they'd barter with the creature. "We'll think about it, mind telling me where we're meeting the others?" He asked. The creature nodded eagerly. Seemingly convinced it would have a future sale. It told them the way through the ship.

Without getting stopped further the group made their way through the corridors. It was an odd ship, almost eerie with how silent it was. When they reached the briefing room they were late. But they settled into their chairs, listening to them talk about some sort of super weapon. It was always something in this universe. If it wasn't crazy god-like beings, it was super lasers that could destroy a planet. Both his officers were given permission to speak freely to the others. He did not wish to be the only one speaking.

As things quieted down a bit, Sarah spoke up before either of them "If you know so much about it, then you know probably know where they're making the damn thing, or the plans. Send a team to infiltrate, sneak out, and blow up anything they've made progress on. Put a round between the eyes of anyone associated with it as well. Bing, bang, boom. We're done." She said. She was simple, and always cut through the bullshit that needed to be said. Hopefully it could cut this meeting short by cutting straight to the point.

Eggman had come aboard, this time with Oglivie as his wrangler. Eggman appeared on the landing pad in his pod, whilst Oglivie stood next to him. Oglivie wasn't entirely happy with this, but he knew that SOMEONE had to wrangle him in. "Remember, Doctor, no charging in there like a bull in a china-shop." Oglivie said.

"Only if i know they are wrong." Eggman grinned.

"Yes, but just because their opinions differ from yours doesn't automatically make them wrong." He sighed.

"That's an opinion that differs from mine." The pair of them made their way through the ornate corridors. "Ooooh, people after my own heart. Built like a cathedral." He smiled. Luckily, the ship seemed to have been designed with giant floating chairs in mind, so the Eggmobile had no problems floating through the doors. They were constantly getting strong looks from the crew of the ship. "WHAT, I'M AN OLD MAN WHO'S LEGS DON'T WORK SO GOOD ANYMORE!" He yelled at them. "Damn kids with their working legs. I'll have you know i used to be able to outrun Sonic in the old days." They finally made it to the science meeting and Eggman, surprisingly, held his tongue for the first bit. As they finally mentioned the Death Star, Oglivie could see Eggmans face growing more scrunched and annoyed as they constantly berated such an undertaking. Finally, the Doctor seemed to lose Patience. "First of all, i'm pretty positive that this Anubis guy has been stealing some of my idea's. He then pressed a button on the Eggmobile and a hologram of the Death Egg appeared next to the hologram of the Death Star. "We know he's been stealing things from other dimensions, i think it's safe to say he's been to my vault and stolen the plans for MY Death Egg." Oglivie actually piped up here.

"You know, he does actually have a point." Oglivie sighed. "If this Anubis guy is as powerful as Elizabeth says he is and he can jump dimensions, maybe this is something he picked up on the way through our Dimension?" He asked. "I mean... The resemblance is UTTERLY uncanny. Although, i think i'm gonna call theirs the Death Cyclops." Oglivie responded. "Well, like the 3 you built, taking them out should be easy. Just destroy the Giant Robot near the core and that should destroy the rest of the station."

"That's because the Death Egg Robot is designed to protect the core and draws power from it-" Eggman began as playback began of his First Death Egg's destruction played. "You destroy the robot and it starts a resonating, cascading feedback loop and the core REALLY does not like those. But the rest of the Death Egg is pretty much indestructible from the outside. You need to fight your way to the core first, so it's usually fine... Then you run into an annoying rodent who can run faster than the speed of sound and then your plans go out the window, along with the rest of the furniture due to the depressurization..."

---

“Knowledge of this weapon comes from his time.” Falul replied to Eggman while gesturing to Erthos. Falul still had difficulty understanding how Eggman could be as much of a threat to anyone as he claimed to be. Yet, Falul had read his own crew’s reports on his mechanical creations. He knew they were real, and he knew they were dangerous. Eggman could bring forces to bear that would substantially contribute to the fleet, but every conversation with the man seem to just leave Falul…irritated. “This Death Star is a creation of Palpatine’s Empire, not Anubis. Though, he does now control it. But, regardless of its origin, I agree with the Human from the Glasgow. If Anubis decides to use the technology in more practical weapons, it could be a threat to us. We should end that threat quickly and decisively.”

Surprisingly to Falul, the first objection to Sarah’s suggested course of action came not from any of the others, but from Falul’s own advisor. “I don’t know about that, Shipmaster.” The Kig-Yar said as she leaned in to the table. Between her lack of armor and over-abundance of jewelry, she did not seem to fit in at all with any other member of Falul’s crew that the others had seen, but he allowed her to speak all the same. “I read everything you gave me on the big Death laser weapon. They just started building it recently, right? And it took them twenty years to build it. How much progress do you think they’ve really made? If we go blow it up now, then what do we accomplish? Blow up a big metal shell? They’ll just start it again somewhere else. No, what we do is wait. We send in some cloaked ships sometimes to keep an eye on their progress. Let them keep pouring money into it for a while, then we go blow it up once they’ve made something worth destroying. Let them spend some money on it first, and they’ll actually feel that loss. That’s how we should do this whole war. They have a lot more ships than us, but that also means more expenses. Make the Empire spend itself to death. The citizens won’t be worshiping Anubis if they blame him for their troubled bank accounts.”

"If I might, if this Empire has even half the efficiency of my own, they won't spend themselves to death." Jason turns to the hologram. "Nor were we ever really able to confirm where construction on the weapon began. Ghost Squadron for the Rebel Alliance did at one point confirm that at some point Geonosis was one of the construction sites before it was moved yet again, but we don't know when the Death Star was there." The Null Trooper spoke up then.

"Regardless, the Death Star shouldn't be an immediate concern unless Anubis, as stated, shrinks the technology to a more practical level or has a means to speed up construction of it. Our immediate concern should be what Captain Rex of the 501st and Jedi Master Yoda confirmed. General Skywalker did go to Mustafar and wipe out the Separatist leadership there. This includes the majority of the Banking Clan heads. Short version? The Empire is rich enough right now that we don't have a way to make them spend themselves to death."

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Aboard the Unbroken Hope
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The return of Team Omicron, Issac and Sentinel 1-1 were met with a standing applause at the Hangar bay by crew-members and Marines alike. With Issac brought back to the main podium at the Bridge, all was well as the crew welcomed and got re-adjusted with their missing friends. Shortly after the mass arrival, operations resumed as nominal as Engineering began coordination to further look into the schematics with the arrays and connections to the main power grid. The only events to note was a jump to another system, and more alarmingly, the construction of a Super-Weapon known as the Death Star. Down in Debrief sat the five members of Omicron, Marcus Oliver, Leon Dare, Elizabeth Carver, Jackson Briggs and Amir Abadi. Sitting in a council-like room formation of chairs encircling a holotable, Issac's position was next to the Captain; the blue-white hologram gesturing to the skeletal-looking sphere on the screen. With an info-panel displayed next to the mysterious Dyson-Sphere looking object, it was obvious that the information about the 'Death Star' was wholly incomplete; sections of categories were largely unfilled- with most of the reported data coming from other members of the task-force. Had this been an Epoch-class, an onboard Science Team would have had a field day with the information given to them. Alas, it was not like this- and the crew of the Unbroken Hope had to make do with anything they could at this point.

Many hours later following their return to the Hope, every single HIGHCOM personnel was called to the bridge. Centered around the briefing area's main holotable were all five officers plus Omicron alongside the wall of the door entrance, with Kendra stepped up to the table. With Issac standing at the podium's emitter built into the rightmost side of the table closest to Marcus, the rest of the space was occupied by what appeared to be a large, white spherical-shaped planet that appeared to be under construction. Even as everyone filed into the room, their gaze was momentarily interrupted with a salute toward the Captain, then instantly redirected toward the massive sphere projected just above the surface of the table. The projected information chart next to it displayed limited information; some fields missing their contents due to the unknown nature of what exactly the massive weapon was capable of- at least to them. Once everyone filed in, Marcus gave a wordless nod toward Issac, who cleared his throat and spoke aloud. "As... most of you are aware by now, this is one of Anubis's main playing field devices. This... 'Death-Star' is a planet-sized station reportedly capable of destruction on a systemic scale. How powerful, we can only speculate- but..." Issac trailed off as the main spherical body of the massive structure faded into the background; leaving the dish-like part of the station lit up as he continued speaking after his pause. "...This is apparently the primary weapon system of the station. Mainly because, you know, planets don't have giant internal-looking antennas built into them." Issac brought the object back into its default view on the table as he clasped his hands together with a sigh. "Obviously speaking this thing is going to serve as a hot-spot for hostile activity. Fighter craft, destroyers, carriers and cruisers look like it wouln't be impossible to have them deployed from the station itself. As it stands, this is a worrisome development. Especially if the Anubis guy gets ahold of the station, which I assume he most likely already has in some capacity. For now, we'll just be throwing theories based on our own individual ship's capabilities in dealing with threats like these- I'm sure there'll be another summit with the group's leaders, but for now, I'd like to hear your thoughts on the issue. Captain?"

Marcus nodded toward Issac as he scanned the individuals in the room briefly; his haggard appearance seeming to accentuate the stress of his position catching up on him. Glancing back toward the hologram of the Death Star, he sighed. "We got unusually lucky with Sentinel's C-SAR deployment to the Jedi Temple, and later to Alderaan. Combat data has shown that our conventional ballistics can easily penetrate the armor of the combatants found in the Temple, but as it stands, we've never as of yet engaged in space combat with this 'Empire.' Keeping the station out of weapon's range is easy, but as for the fleet no doubt guarding one of their most prized stations, it'd be a nightmare. Excluding ship weapon systems for the time being, Amir- what's our fighter inventory like?" Marcus and the of the personnel in the room went silent, focusing their attention on the leader of the Hope's 22nd Air Wing. The man looked to be in his forties; with heavy Middle Eastern features overlaying a head of black hair and intimidating hazel eyes. Clearing his throat, he spoke up in a thick Arabic-English accent. "Captain, as it stands, we have twenty-four Longsword fighters; split into three squadrons with six craft per each." Amir gestured to the table with an expectant look from the Captain, to which he nodded as Issac sensed what Amir was after. The hologram of the Death Star was minimized and shuffled off to the side as a new panel opened up; pulling three nearly-identical Longsword variants up and into view side-by-side as a spec sheet lined the bottom. As the man spoke, additional information appeared above the their respective tables. "We have two specialized variants suited primarily for space engagements, and one for exoatmospheric CAP and CAS capabilities. The C709 is our front-line exo-atmospheric strike fighter, as you know. The C708 are atmospheric bombers- ideal for surgical strikes against enemy ground forces, armor, buildings- you name it. The C712 is capable of both dogfighting in space and providing ground support- but that really depends on what's happening on the battlefront. All of my fighters are equipped with the maximum capacity of their respective payload configurations- including Shiva nuclear warheads- for the bombers."

These was a subtle pause for the crew to digest the information, nodding as Amir concluded. To the surprise of nearly everyone, the haggered, 50-something cigar smoking irritated veteran that was Colonel Briggs piped up next- much to a notable disgruntled huff of Amir. "So- we just sit on the ship while you pansy-ass Flyboys steal our thunder? Give me a goddamn break." Amir sighed with an eye roll, glancing to and failing to receive support from the CSM standing beside the Colonel, who gave a lightly amused chuckle at the rapidly flustering flight leader. "With respect to you, Colonel Briggs, this isn't exactly an op for a boarding raid. Sentinel 1-1 happened to have access to a friendly ship that was able to get them aboard an enemy vessel- we don't have that technology and you'd be far better off sitting this engagement out unless told otherwise, Sir." Briggs bit down in his cigar as the embers flared at the burned end as he gave a silent venomous glare toward Amir, before nodding with a grumble and refusing to speak up any further. Marcus sighed, and spoke up to address the brooding Colonel, "If you're looking to do something about it, I'd advise you and the Sergeant Major refresh your men on EVA and accompanying boarding procedures in the event we actually need them on a hostile ship. This isn't our world anymore, and we can't afford such risk as it is. Our only option as it stands is to prepare and analyze situations as they appear, then strike where it's needed. This 'Death Star' remains a primary target to neutralize in the long run, but I'm more concerned about the primary fleet ships the Empire has in their possession, and what exactly Anubis is going to bring to the table. As soon as I have any significant updates on our situation, I'll call you all here again. Dismissed for now." The abrupt conclusion to the briefing had everyone slowly file out of the room, and as the footsteps faded into the hallway, Oliver sighed as the holotable cleared- glancing to the AI. "Issac, put in a call to the Tantive-IV. Get as much information on the Empire's fleet capabilities as you can; I want a full report by tomorrow morning. Understood?"

Issac turned toward the Captain, clicking his heels together with a grin as he snapped into a salute. "Aye, Sir." Vanishing into the podium, Marcus turned back toward the bridge view and strode toward his chair, taking a seat and rubbing the bridge of his nose, eyes squinted. Even as the operation was mostly a success, he couldn't help but feel as if this Empire and Anubis had no doubt caught word of their presence, and would make a series of guerilla tactics all the more difficult to accomplished. Begrugingly, the breif reprieve he had was soon interuppted by Issac's voice. "You've been summoned for another delegation meeting- aboard the Ageis. Should I prep a shuttle?" Marcus winced, then nodded as he arose from his chair. "I'll be down in the bay. Get it ready." The man said with a sigh as he turned toward the bridge, exited it, and took the elevator straight to the hangar bay. He was going to do this alone.

----------------------------
Marcus Oliver / Aboard the Immaculate Ageis
----------------------------

With the Pelican's arrival into the bay of the massive CCS-Class Battlecruiser, Marcus wore a light scowl as he made his way to what could only be assumed to be the central meeting room. Relaxing his expression, he stepped into the room as the automatic alien door slid open after sounding off a quick two-toned signal. Wordlessly glancing to everyone present, he strode to his own position near the conglomerate, and waited until he was addressed as he listened intently to everyone else.

---

The Kig-Yar made a quick noise, something like a squawk, with a meaning difficult to discern for one not of her kind. “Don’t give me that. Wealth isn’t money, it’s what the money represents. You’ve got this galaxy just coming out of this whole, long civil war. Billions of casualties, thousands of ruined worlds. This Empire is being founded into a suffering economy, and we can exploit that.”

Falul picked up quickly where the Kig-Yar left off. “I have been discussing this with my advisers. The Empire is a far larger and more well-equipped force than our own, but even the largest of velithra can still be bled to death by smaller hunters. The being, Elizabeth, told us that Anubis seeks worshipers to grow his power, but there is vulnerability to his Empire right now. It’s citizens are fatigued of war, and now it will find another against us before it can recover from the previous one. Anubis has already shown his…character to his subjects. As long as we do not target their civilians directly, their people with focus their anger on their new ruler. I have been told that the people of this galaxy largely do not respect his kind of…ruthlessness. There is going to be no easy nor quick victory in this war. We will need to bleed the Empire to death slowly, with precise strikes against any weakness we can find.”

Pausing briefly, Falul reached down and disabled the hologram of the Death Star, instead replacing it with a map of the galaxy. “In any case, we will need to send out scouts and gather information to find our next viable target to strike. Anubis himself will likely be out of our reach for the foreseeable future, so unless there are any among us who have knowledge of how to cripple our enemy in one, decisive attack, weakening his Empire and gathering allies are our best options for the moment. However…there are also decisions about our own fleet that we are yet to make. We have not yet decided upon a definite command structure, in or out of battle.”