Phasmatis de Imperium: The BlackFleet (Rebels: PM for invite)

[Karl Valten]

Columbia Sector Deep Space
Mulciber Installation


In the vast space of the galaxy, only a tiny fraction of a percent was home to a star system and even fewer home to a planetary system. The rest was nothingness, empty space for countless light-years. An entire fleet of warships could jump to deep space and never be found. Naturally, this infinite volume of space is perfectly ideal for keeping things out of the galactic limelight, perfect for even massive political organizations such as the Galactic Empire.

Karl Valten, Inquisitor of the Empire, stood adamantly at the center of his spectre-class corvette’s, the Necromancer, control room. Only the ring of holo-displays in front of the Inquisitor cast any light, wreathing the circular room in shadows. Behind the granite figure of Valten lay the ship’s six deck officers, each one comatose and strapped to a spartan reclining seat of the type that were typically found in a decent medical clinic. A short cable connected each of them to the softly whirring station arrays making up the rear half of the chamber via a socket at the base of their skulls.

Neural Interfacing with machines was common within the upper ranks of the Inquisitoriate, but interfacing for ship crews was new. The equipment need cost a hideous amount credits so was only found on select ships; and even the advantages of controlling a ship with a neural network, many officers refused to use the technology. For the human mind to operate at a level it was not meant for such extended periods of time tended to erase large portions of memory and personality.

“Mulciber is transmitting, Inquisitor. Rerouting communicae to Screen C now.”

The disembodied voice of the Necromancer’s communication’s officer sounded behind Valten from a speaker grill built into the seat of one of the prone figures.

In a flash, a holographic rendition sprang up in midair on a dormant section in front Valten. A haggard looking man with graying hair frantically spurted out before the image had completely manifested. “I…Inquisitor forgive me, we weren’t expecting you. We’re not due for inspection for another three weeks. If you’d have notified us I could have put together a suitable recep…..”

Karl raised a hand silencing him. The poor man’s agitation and state of dress showed how unprepared the crew of the complex was. The senior engineer’s normally immaculate hair was in disarray and he sported a creased red on gray uniform, tunic not even tucked in, jackboots unpolished and rank bar crooked. Valten could see the frenzy of workers scrambling to greet the Inquisitorial visiting party in his mind. Fortunately for the engineers, Valten wasn’t one to demand visual perfection of his underlings. His experiences the erratic nature of the Nightmares taught him to ignore most of these superficial intricacies.

“Calm down Erik, things have changed. Tell Isabella to get the Purifier prepared for launch. Meet me on the landing dock.”

Erik visibly started fidgeting at the mention of the Purifier. “But Inquisitor, even with how intact she was when the navy donated her, we’re not close to finishing. Only the most rudimentary defenses are installed, we haven’t even tested the engines, and….”

The engineer’s figure vanished as Karl cut off the communications, Erik also complained about never having enough time to work on his pet project but Karl didn’t have time for any whining this time. Since the death of the Emperor, the Inquisitoriate had been struggling to keep the stability of the Empire intact. But their resources where only so limited didn’t have the manpower or mobility to force everyone back in line.

On another holo-screen Mulciber Installation gradually increased in size, giving way to what had to be one of the ugliest looking stations in the galaxy. The main frame of Mulciber was made of the three thousand kilometer wide ring of an old Trade-Federation LH-3210 freighter. Arcing out from the mottled green-gray ring were many makeshift umbilical tubes, cranes, tractor arms, and various habitation and research pods. Many of the formidable gun-turrets had been removed and in their stead, armored power-conduits connected to a series of constructions slips staged at several height intervals. The most imposing feature stood at the center of the ring. Instead of the normal command sphere lay a massive platform studded with hundreds of armatures and wielding turrets— a heavily modified mobile repair station.

But latched to the station was a bizarre ship. She had the typical black painted hull with red chevrons of Inquisitorial ships, but her design wasn’t what would typically found within the Imperial Navy. A massive pyramidal structure sat upon several “shelves” that made up the central body. Clustered around the main pyramid where numerous smaller ones with the engines built into the rear of the main hub. Arcing out from the lowest shelf is a pair of sweeping, scythe-like “wings” five hundred and twenty meters in diameter. The surface is laced with valleys and armored conduits in an almost runic display and extending from the bottom are several skyscraper-like constructs as well another pyramidal growth.

What ships the Inquisitoriate did have we usually “gifts” from the Imperial Navy, usually ships that were either obsolete or otherwise useless. The ships would be repaired and heavily modified at the scattered Inquisitorial installations. The Inquisitoriate had always been reliant on the Navy in this way, but with the Emperor dead and the Empire at its weakened state, Karl was determined to mold a fleet for the Inquisitoriate. The Purifier would be the flagship of the Black Fleet and mark the Inquisition’s break from its reliance on the Navy. Especially with Inquisitor Valten’s finding of the late Emperor’s hidden shipyards.

[Reshmar]

Any given day the patrol route of the 12th Patrol group would be a slow and boring chore of everyday checks and screening the systems of the Columbia Sector. Today like every other day since the Calamari Defense Group was set to high alert had been the same. Jump in run the scans and jump out.

Captain William Jeffers sat quietly in the officer’s mess enjoying his morning meal when his comm. Link buzzed.
“This is Jeffers. Why are you interrupting my breakfast Jim?”

Commander Jimmy Herti was Williams XO. And long time friend. Captain Jeffers had seen to it Jimmy had been stationed with him on every command he had. This was not a problem seeing as the Rebellion was nothing more then a band of people acting together to fight the empire. People went where they wanted a lot. Where they were needed generally was the same place they were wanted so nothing was said about the occasional tag along when a command was given to an officer.
“Will I think we have a boggy, out on the opposite side of the system.”

William had finished his meal anyway and the excitement of even a possible contact was too much to ignore.

“I will be up in 5 minutes Jim. Let me clean up then ill come up.”

Jim nodded and turned off the comm. Channel. A few minutes later the doors to the command deck slid open and Captain Jeffers walked in.

“Captain on the Deck.”

Jeffers walked in and proceeded to the command station. As he neared the command podium Commander Herti smiled and turned to look at the holo display.

“At ease, Status report XO.”

Jim handed a data pad to Jeffers and began scrolling through holo data on the command podium.

“Captain, approximately twenty seven minutes ago we picked up a fluxuation on the long ranged sensors which was gone by the second sweep.”

William looked up from the data pad at his friend and second in command and handed the pad back to him.

“Did you check the sensor array Commander?” William knew Jim wasn’t that incompetent but stranger things have happened and with the boredom of the last few weeks he ruled nothing out.

“Yes Sir, We ran a diagnostic and the sensors are fine after which we scanned once again and the contact was present again then disappeared.”

Jeffers looked over the holo display of the system and at the contact blip on the far side.

“Launch a B flight and have them check it out. Mean while lets make ready for hyperspace. This could be some debris left from a battle or some smuggler out hiding from imperial patrols. Once B flight reports we will jump for Calamari.”

[Karl Valten]

“Inquisitor, it’s good to see you again.” The man greeting Valten as he descended his ship’s boarding ramp was clad in the typical Inquisitoriate dress: black jackboots, black breeches, and a blood red tunic blood-red tunic. Setting him apart from the other crew men was a crimson stripe on the trousers and a disruptor pistol hanging from his waste holster. “I’m sure Erik’s already told you we’re not combat ready yet.”

The pair shook hands at the bottom of the ramp before falling in line with each other. The Inquisitoriate cared little for the strict rules of hierarchy of the Navy and Military, one rarely saw a salute among the secretive guardians of the Empire.

“I’m not sending you into a battlezone yet, Captain Zeera.” Zeera cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at Valten. “I’ll explain once our two other guests arrive.”

Valten and Zeera paused, gazing at the incoming shuttle from Mulciber. Karl was able to get a look at the landing bay for the first time since modifications on the Purifier began. While still fairly large, compared to the massive bays aboard the star destroyers this one was tightly compacted. Three of launch racks were each modified to hold a squadron of Inquisitorial Shade-class starfighters while a fourth tier was dedicated to storing eight massive Tie-Interdictors. The main landing pad would be able to fit up to eighteen tightly packed atmospheric gunships or assault shuttles. However at this point only a single squadron of Shades along with a few transport shuttles along and Valten’s corvette were docked.

“She’s a promising ship; I can’t wait to document her combat capabilities.” Karl turned to face a glowing holographic construct behind them. The ship’s AI appeared as a female clad in a shimmering gown of violet luminescence, cut short mid-thigh to expose a generous amount of leg. Dark indigo locks flowed gently to her shoulders, embellishing her already smooth goddess-like visage. She seemed to fit every possible humanoid definition of beauty…were it not that every part of her being was discernable translucent and the floating pedestal bore her along. “Testing can only show so much, but if my approximations are correct, she could stand up to any ship of the fleet.”

Before he could even begin to speak, the AI started spoke up again with hardly a pause. “I don’t see why I need to be here, my processing capacity is stretched as it is. Holographic manifestation takes up a substantial amount of energy, it would be more efficient to speak over the intercom….what?”

Karl wore an amused grin while Zeera was doing his best to hide an annoyed look. Artificial Intelligence oftentimes forgot that humans processed information much slower than they did and quickly grew impatient.

“A visible body is easier to talk to, Isabella, and the com can be heard by everyone. It’ll only be a moment of your time.”

Almost as soon as Karl finished, Isabella snapped her fingers, as if she had just remembered something, completely ignoring the Inquisitor.

“Oh yes, I detected an active sensor sweep just after your ship jumped in, they followed up with a focused sweep this time.”

The Inquisitoriate had known about rebel patrols frequently the sector, but with the distance from an inhabitable system and the use of sensor jammers, they hadn’t been a concern.

A hiss issued from the newly landed shuttle and over rushed a wheezing Erik. “I’m sorry Inquisitor it’s the fastest I could get her.” The engineer gulped in a load of oxygen before composing himself. “What did I miss?”

“It’s probable that the detected the energy pulse from your revision.”

A panicked Erik looked between the other three. “Wait, sensor sweep? It has to be rebels, right? We need to evacuate, this’ll put us even farther behind.”

Karl smiled.

“It doesn’t matter; we were going to move the project elsewhere anyway.” The Inquisitor raised a hand to stave off the inevitable barrage of question from the engineer. “Isabella, get the ship prepped for launch."

Captain Zeera turned to Isabella.

"They'll be sending forward scouts to check us out first. Tell the [I]Respite[/I to distract the rebels as long as they can. It should take them some time to ID the ship"

The Respite, a Nebulon-B Frigate, had been a ship heavily damaged at Endor and reassigned to the Inquisitoriate. She was now Mulciber’s sole guardian, running on a skeletal crew.


“Captain if you’ll please show me to the bridge I’ll upload the coordinate. If were lucky we might get the test run your looking for. Erik go back to Mulciber and organize the evacuation, leave no evidence, a ship will pick you and your crew up at the fallback point.”

Isabella’s figure vanished from the mobile pedestal as Valten and Zeera swiftly left the landing bay, leaving a confused and startled Erik behind.

“But I just got here.”

[Reshmar]

Three X-wing fighters rushed away from the Patrol Group towards the last co-ordinates of the Phantom Sensor Signal. Slowly and quietly the members of B flight cruiser along watching their scanners as well as visually looking for anything which could have shown up on sensors.

“Beta Two move break formation and check out Grid twelve. Report back if you see anything.”

Major Riggs received an acknowledgment from his wingman and watched as the fighter increased speed and broke away from the flight group.

” Beta three on me”

“Roger”

The X Wing took up the wingman position beside Riggs’ Fighter. Darkness was only broken by the distant glow of a star here and there.

“Nothing to report from Grid Twelve Sir. Some small asteroids but nothing that would set off any sensors.”

“Ok Two make your way back to us and we will head out towards grid four and check it out.”

The three fighters increased speed and began a sweep of the next grid. Then the next working their way to grid four.

“Sir Contact bearing one two by seven twenty by forty.”

“What do you see Lieutenant?”

Major Riggs looked at his own sensor scan but nothing was showing up.

“Major, I have a faint contact……… Something big sir…… Looks like …….. “

The pause seems to last minutes but as Beta two began to speak it was all to clear what the contact was.

“I have Confirmations sir; we have a Neb B Inbound.”

[Karl Valten]

Valten and Zeera stepped through the single turbolift entrance to the bridge of the Purifier. One glance at the chamber showed how aptly named the Sepulchre-class battlecruiser was. The bridge lay at the center of the largest pyramidal structure dominating the main platform with a single entrance, a turbolift leading up from several levels below. Unlike the ship's main hull and superstructure, everything seemed to be hewn from stone with archaic runes embossing every surface. The few glow panels installed in the arcing stone ceiling cast shadows among the glow of granite carved control stations.

The entire place looked like a mausoleum. In fact, much of the ship’s interior had many narrow passages and darkened enclaves; as if the ship where filled with catacombs. Even the hangar had been built out of an ampitheater like construct. Many of the crew had begun nicknaming the Purifier the “tombship”. Valten couldn’t argue with them. She had been found derelict by a scout in the unknown regions, and had been assumed obsolete by the Navy and given to the Inquisitoriate. Engineers and scientists poured over her, trying to decipher the intricate writing. They weren’t able to learn anything, not even her age. She was the most alien vessel Karl had ever seen; a perfect match for the Inquisitoriate.

The pair walked down a central aisle towards a raised command pedestal in the chamber’s center. On either side diagnostics scrolled in mid-air at a blinding pace as Isabella coordinated with the engineers to get the ship running and double check the systems. Hushed voices from the surrounding bridge crew doing their part cautiously flowed through the bridge, as if trying not to wake the ghosts.

Captain Zeera shuddered as they moved. “Always gets to my no matter how many times I walk in here.”

Valten smiled. “Perfect isn’t she.”

“Hell yes.”

The Inquisitor ran his hands over the smooth stone, feeling each of the individual grooves carved into it. “Isabella how long will it take to get her running?”

A familiar feminine form sprang up in the air beside him. “Most of the diagnostics check out, I guess the techs were able to get one of the lance projectors working, but other than that we’re limited to turbo-quadlasers and a few turbolasers. It’ll take about ten minutes get the energy grid running at full and a bit longer to warm up the shields and reactors. Give her about fifteen to twenty minutes.”

Valten pulled out a data disk from his tunic and slid it into the platform. “Good, these are our hyperdrive coordinates, get them processed as fast as you can.” A set of digits flashed on the main screen as Isabella “read” the coordinates. Zeera’s eyes scanned the numbers as well. “Kessel? You do know that we’ll have to actually go in system to get to the jump point…through the patrol fleet.”

Karl turned, leaning against the granite block. “I guess you’ll get that combat test you wanted.”




Nearer in system the Respite slowly closed on the fighters, the black and red ship abruptly cut off her engines before breaking the silence. “This is the private vessel Percius of Geedan Arms, Lieutenant Havlat speaking. This is restricted space, unless you have clearance from management, I’m going to have the ask you to leave.”

[Lion El' Jonson]

Beta Squadron, Two Flight
Flight Leader: Major Elim Riggs

The three starfighters of Two Flight hung in space, discussing the situation between themselves. The X-Wings swooped in a tight triangular formation, appearing threatening, despite the fact that their S-foils remained in cruise position.

"Geedan Arms?!" exclaimed Beta 5, the young Lieutenant Haegan. "What the feth are they doing out here?"

Major Riggs triggered his comm-system.

"Cut the chatter, Lieutenant. Beta 6, pull the information from that last transmission and pipe it through to the Resolute. Ask Communications to run a scan on the transmission's underlying data authentication codes, and to compare those codes to the ones being recieved by our IFF transponders."

Beta 6, Beta squadron's communications officer, quickly complied.

MC-40c Resolute
Flagship, 12th Patrol Group (attached to 4th Battlegroup, Admiral Lokati)
Area of Responsibility: Columbia Sector
Commanding Officer: Captain William Jeffers II

Aboard the Resolute, the information was recieved. The appearance of the unidentified Nebulon-B frigate was unsettling, but with the possibility of something to break the cycle of boredom, the ship became a jumble of activity.

Captain Jeffers sat in his command chair, reviewing a pair of status display screens hovering close on microrepulsors. He turned to face the small communications section in the "pit" of the bridge.

"How's it going, Lieutenant Riemann? Found anything suspicious?" asked the Captain, interested. Major Riggs's request had been unusual, but the man had seen action in a number of conflicts, and Jeffers never turned away an experienced opinion.

The Lieutenant looked up for a second, while two ensigns hurried to complete Riggs's request. "Almost done, sir. Data is coming up now....hmmmm." The Lieutenant's voice trailed off. "Sir, I don't think that Nebulon-B's identity is genuine."

Jeffers leaned forward, intrigued. "Explain, please." Commander Herti also turned to listen carefully.

"Well Captain, the Nebulon-B is unique among most ships in that it actually has a pair of IDs. Given that they were originally designed for convoy escort duty, where it was expected that a fair number of them would be captured or salvaged during a raid, the Imperial Navy took steps to prevent them from being used in covert operations. One of these steps was to assign the ship its own unique bridge-break ID code along with a standard identify-friend-foe code. The bridge-break code is generated by an algorithm that randomly cobbles together the vessel's engine and reactor IDs, and it's virtually impossible to remove without fatally overriding the reactor safeties."

The Captain nodded, taking in every word Lieutenant Riemann spoke. He'd never heard of this second ID code before. "And your point, Riemann?"

The Lieutenant hesitated for a second, glancing at his console. "Based on the randomized bridge-break code that accompanied the Nebulon-B's transmission, it could be any of approximately 1100 frigates currently in service, only 30 of which are currently in service with forces other than the Imperial Navy."

Jeffers smiled, finally getting Lieutenant Riemann's complicated explanation. The bridge had fallen almost completely silent, except for some muted beeping from various consoles. "For the benefit of the audience, Lieutenant Riemann, who operates those other 30 frigates?"

Riemann grinned sheepishly. "We do, sir. Specifically, Admiral El' Jonson does. The "Perceus" is a fraud."

Jeffers nodded. "Well done, Riemann. Three days of shore leave when we return to Mon Calamari." He turned his chair to tactical. "Lieutenant Akaga, bring us to red alert, and instruct the fleet to do the same. Deploy our fighter squadrons. Operations! Bring the reactor to 80%. Helm, set an intercept course for that Nebulon-B. We need to teach the Imps a thing or two about honesty. Commander Herti, Starfighter Command is yours."

Jim immediately turned to Starfighter Command and barked a serious of orders. He then toggled a transmission to Major Riggs. "Good job, Major. We've got a snake in the garden. You are clear to engage."

Beta Squadron, Two Flight
Flight Leader: Major Elim Riggs

Major Riggs recieved the transmission and smiled. His days in the Imperial Navy had finally paid off. He keyed his comm.

"Two Flight, Perceus is hostile. Lock S-foils in attack position, and follow me in. We're gonna do some rewiring on that ugly hunk of metal."

Beta Squadron was unique among the squadrons in the 12th in that it was composed of four flights of 3 fighters. This suited them better for reconnaissance, but left them one man short for combat. To Major Riggs, however, it didn't matter. All they had to do was stall the Imps until the cavalry could show up. An MC-40 and the 12th Patrol Group versus a lone Nebulon-B...it was no contest.

The three X-wings of Two Flight rolled to the left and dived on the Perceus. A howl of excitement broke over the comm from Beta 5.

[Karl Valten]

Sepulchre-class Battleship Purifier
Flagship, Inquisitorial 1st Black Fleet
Commanding Officer: Inquisitor-Captain Sirus Zeera

For a being able to perform a trillion calculations per second five minutes was an eternity ten times over. Isabella’s holographic form stood with arms crossed, translucent fingers drumming against he side, but her ‘mind’ raced about the ship. In the reactor chamber, she worked in conjunction with the engineers to harness the alien ship’s unique power grid in a practical way. For the last month she’d been trying to solve the Purifier’s riddles, but she still hadn’t figured out how to activate the ship’s real potential.

In the fire control computers she shifted through every battery on the register, running simulations and optimizing individual weapons as needed. Just the trick of writing a small program that would shunt an adequate amount of power to the lone functional lance projector and away from the other turrets to avoid any possible malfunction in the weapons….and finished.

Now all that was only to get the energy flowing, and then she could get to calibrating the shields. Isabella’s form on the bridge sighed; waiting was not something she did well. She could do many things, but she still technically had no physical form. The skeleton Inquisitoriate crew would have to take the rest from there. At any rate she could always allow some portion of her processor to access sensors and see how the Respite was fairing.

A veritable torrent of information flooded back to her, causing even her to hesitate for a microsecond. “Umm, captain? The Respite has engaged with the flight of advance fighters.

Captain Zeera raised his head from the primary communication console, cutting his conversation short. “Tac screen now.” A full holographic view of the system’s outer reaches shimmered to life in the darkened mausoleum. A red pinprick marked Respite nearing the farthest planet from the sun, deeper in system a small cluster of green dots marked a steadily nearing rebel patrol.

“How much time before we can get moving?”

“10 minutes, Sir” The response was instantaneous.

Valten stood back to observe, this would a test to see if the Inquisitoriate officers her had chosen were capable of managing a naval battle.

“Their orders stand; occupy the traitors long enough for us to get away.”
--------------------------------------------------------


Modified Nebulan-B Respite
Support Ship, Inquisitorial 1st Black Fleet


Lieutenant Havlat drummed his fingers on the rail encircling his command pulpit as the minutes ticked by. Below him, and small number a crew members manned their positions from stationary seats. Miniscule fiber optic cables could be seen running from the machinery to sockets in the base of their necks.

Everything about the ship deviated radically from its factory design and was highly automated to accommodate the low number of Inquisitorial crew. All Inquisitoriate ships where transferred ships from the navy, ‘gifts’ or transferred after being severely damaged. Havlat teeth flashed angrily at the thought of having to rely on those arrogant bastards, forced to use hand-me-downs and pirated vessels.

On the other hand, Inquisitorial ‘black ships’ were loaded with modifications and their own unique technologies. That was the Respite’s greatest advantage, the rebels wouldn’t expect the device.

“Rebel fighters are accelerating to attack speed, sensors detect weapons powering up.”

A smile crossed the crimson-uniformed officer; the silence had begun to grate his nerves. “Our duty is to delay these heretics. Elevate to crusade combat status. Terror squad is free to launch and engage at will. The lieutenant in took pleasure raising the Inquisitorial transponder.

The Respite slowly spun on it axis, along its hull, heavy durasteel plating fell away as the modified Nebulan-B’s concealed weapons awakened, rows of guns thirsting for blood. For a brief instant her shields dropped allowing a sextet of scythe shaped Inquisitorial Shade-fighters to exit, their black frames nearly invisible against space.

“Rebel vessels, the orders of the Emperor’s Inquisition find you guilty of grand treason, corruption of the Emperor’s servants, and murder of the Emperor’s subjects. The severity of your crimes is such that no possible innocence can be accepted and is punishable only by death.”

With the last cryptic statement, Havlat cut all communication, and ordered his ship forward. Like a demon the black and red painted ship’s engines flared to life. There was little hope that a Nebulan-B could hold up against the enemy, but the Inquisitoriate’s improved weaponry give show the traitorous blasphemers a taste of hell.