Volume 1: Resurrection

Volume 1 of a 6 part series entitled "The Empire Reborn"

by: Rink Rat

Chapter 1

Grand Master Kane sat and thought about the late Emperor's last words in his mind. "Find a new shadow." The only interpretation he had, was that there was some powerful Jedi out there, that was waiting to be discovered. So, he had scanned many pilots, and found one suitable for training, this was General Rink Rat. He had trained him in the ways of the Dark Side, just as the Emperor had once trained him. He gave the young Jedi the rank of Apprentice. Now, Grand Master Kane, Grand Admiral Thrawn, and Grand Admiral Ronin were enroute for the Kessel System, after completing their recent trip to Carida, for a new supply of Stormtroopers. Well, they weren't exactly heading for Kessel, more heading to the Maw Cluster beside it. You see, the Maw outside Kessel held a small patch of normal space in the middle, and the Emperor had set up a small base there for new weapons to be built. That was where the Death Star was built. Grand Master Kane wanted to test one of his Apprentices, so he chose General Rink Rat to fly through the Maw using the force to guide him. Once he was inside, he was to make contact with one of the Star Destroyers that should be there.

General Rink Rat flies cautiously, using the force as his ally, navigates through the Maw. Twisting and turning and apparently random intervals, it was hard work for the new-found Jedi Knight, personally trained by the Emperor. He exited the Maw into an island of normal space in the middle of the gasses and black holes. There were four Star Destroyers, an island, and a skeleton of the deathstar. Rink Rat flew close to each of the ships in the area of normal space, inspecting them all. Suddenly, an unidentified ship of an unidentified class came shouting out of the island. Rink Rat jerked his TIE Defender at an incredible angle, flying away from the incoming craft. Rink Rat tried to establish a link between them so he could identify himself, but no one was listening. The unidentified ship flew closer and closer. Rink Rat turned his ship around and starting firing like a mad man at the ship. It's shields didn't even show sign of a hit. Rink Rat could have sworn he hit him. Funny, thought Rink Rat, why hasn't he fired at me? Rink Rat locked onto the ship with his Advanced Concussion Missiles, using his Tractor Beam to hold him in his sight, he fired the missiles, he saw the missiles blow up in the shields of the ship. Again the ship showed no sign of a hit. Rink Rat was getting nervous now. He tried frantically to establish a link, but still no response. Suddenly, one of the Star Destroyers, the Gorgon, established a link with him. Rink Rat quickly identified himself and stated his business. The Admiral of the Gorgon told him to go tell the Fleet that it was all clear.

Rink Rat reported back to the Chimara, they seemed to understand. Grand Master Kane took a private shuttle escorted by Alpha Squadron of the Emperor's Hammer to the center of the Maw. Once inside, the Emperor was taken aboard the Gorgon, where he met his only female Admiral, Admiral Daala. The Emperor had always resented having a women as an Admiral, and having an alien at Grand Admiral. He also resented the fact that Admiral Daala had been promoted to Admiral under the order of Grand Moff Tarkin, which the Emperor had not know about.

"Admiral Daala, reporting for duty!" yelled the commanding Admiral aboard the Gorgon.

Grand Master Kane what had happened and told Daala to join him and the Imperial Fleet. And to bring along an entire squad of Sun Crushers.

Now, Grand Master Kane, with the new power of the Sun Crusher, the Emperor's Hammer, the Emperor's Fist, the Dark Brotherhood, his group of bounty hunters, and the great minds of Grand Admiral Thrawn and Grand Admiral Ronin, he would be unstopable. But, he wouldn't make the same mistake the Emperor made. The Imperial Fleet relied on him to much, for power. The Imperial Fleet must not completly rely on Master Kane, in the event that he should die.

Chapter 2

Grand Admiral Ronin reported the need for more Emperor's Hammer pilots, so he was allowed to take the EH Fleet to the Platform Daedulas, in the Outer Rim to pick up new recruits. The Avenger along with the rest of the EH Fleet was given permission to leave for the Outer Rim, and ordered find the rest of the fleet and join them.

The stars faded into starlines, and the starlines blurred into the mottled sky of hyperspace onboard the Avenger. Shortly after, they were thrown back into normal space. GA Ronin took his Modified TIE Defender escorted by Alpha Squadron of the EH to the Platform. Once onboard, he was hailed by General Paladin.

"Greetings sir! It is a pleasure to have you in my presence." General Paladin said.

"As you have heard, the Emperor along with the traitor Darth Vader are dead. The Second DeathStar is also destroyed. I need new recruits as soon as possible. Gather up your top 100 trainees and have them ready for interviews with me by o-600 hours." the GA said.

"Yes sir! I'll get on it right away, sir." Paladin said.

6:00 came and Ronin was ready to begin interviewing young pilots. He needed 25 new pilots, but would like to have 50. He interviewed for about two hours. He had deceided that 30 pilots were adequatly trained to start serving active duty for the EH. He brought them back, filled in empty spots on the roster, and assigned one new Squadron, entitled 'Theta'. He sent a hyper-transmission hailing the Avenger so he could find their location and rejoin them. But he got no responce. He deceided that he would send out the TFC Roxanna to search their last known whereabouts, the Kessel System.

Early the next morning, a transmission came through from the Roxanna.

"This the TFC Roxanna. We need immediate backup from the Emperor's Hammer. I repeat, we need immediate back up. There is a Rebel/Pirate raid on us, we can't hold out much longer."

Ronin prepared all his ships for battle, and they were off.

Shortly after, they appeared in the middle of a war-zone. The SSD Avenger launched it's wing of EH, while the Formidable, Monitor, Ravager, Imperator, Ardent, Excelsior, and, Harpax II launched their wings of the EH. Hundreds of the best TIE Pilots in the galaxy were shot out of their motherships, out to fight the Rebels and Pirates. Within an hour, the EH had completly wiped out the pirates and forced the Rebel forces to back out and hyper out.