Vidi

The map of the galaxy expanded in front of me, showing the affiliations of each planet. The New Republic was into the Core and Mid Rim. Then criminal empires both large and small were into the Outer Rim.

In between these two relative powers hundreds of planets remained neutral or loosely associated with one group. The New Republic was not currently expanding and the criminal empires could not expand because of the constant fighting.

"What will be your first move, Empress?" asked one of the Captains as he looked at the map.

"Heiress, I will not be Empress until there is an Empire to rule," I said in answer, appearances mattered and she had to look magnanimous. Not like a power hungry monarch.

"Yes, of course, you're right, Heiress."

I ignored them and kept looking, demanding loyalty from neutral worlds would lead me to war. The New Republic, though without a cohesive and powerful army, had many regional armies, not counting heroes like Luke Skywalker, who were distracted for the moment.

Slowly I looked at the two biggest crime capitals in the galaxy. Tatooine and Nal Hutta.

"Prepare the holo-communicator, I have a communiqué to broadcast to the entire galaxy."

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ahsoka Tano looked at the hologram, a golden figure that looked vaguely female took in everyone's view. She was surrounded by Imperial soldiers.

"The galaxy has always been infected by a cancer, a cancer whose origins go back thousands and thousands of years. This cancer has destroyed planets, economies, families, lives....

Whose spreaders care only for their own illicit profit and power at the expense of others.

I stand before you today to solve this cancer. I will give justice to those who cannot fight for it, I will give power to those who had none and I will avenge those who are no more. That is why I officially declare war on the Hutt Criminal Empire and the Criminal Empire of Jabba the Hutt inherited by Bib Fortuna. All other criminal groups will be given the opportunity to surrender and be treated civilly. But you will meet no such fate if you decide to fight against us."

Ahsoka looked suspiciously at the transmission. She did not recognize the figure at all and her affiliation with the Empire was clear.

Opening her holo communicator she called out to Hera Syndulla. The other woman answered quickly.

"You called for the golden figure?"

Ahsoka nodded, grimacing as she looked at her Twi'lek friend with whom she cooperated for so long.

"Will you do something?" Asked Ahsoka Tano

She shook her head, almost wanting to spit on the ground.

"The New Republic has deemed it a small rebel Imperial group that wants to make propaganda, they have forbidden any fleet to interfere and they are continuing with the demilitarisation plans."

Ahsoka understood then that this was not going to be solved by the New Republic. They were falling into the trap of the pre-Empire Republic. Disbanding their army as if that would bring some kind of peace. She was a good soldier, thanks to her master's teachings, and knew a bad military decision when she saw one.

"I'll be visiting Tatooine then, I'll keep you posted."

And with that the call was cut short.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Moff Gideon looked at the shadow council members with a clear look of superiority.

"Who is the Golden Heiress?" asked one of the Admirals belonging to the Shadow Council, everyone had heard of her over the Imperial frequencies but no one knew who she was. She claimed to be the rightful heir to the Empire, yet no one had any idea as to her actual identity.

"She appears to have taken possession of the United Imperial Fleet," another member of the council commented.

The United Imperial Fleet was the Imperial organisation created by Tanya von Degurechaff after the fall of the Empire, creating a large nomadic fleet that acted for a year trying to contact more survivors of the Empire. But no one else had contacted them. The Shadow Council stayed hidden while dozens of other remnants of the Empire became pirates or maintained control over planets, without associating with the United Imperial Fleet.

The reason for so much distrust of the United Imperial Fleet was because of the most treacherous Admiral in the history of the Empire.

Tanya von Degurechaff, admiral at the age of 20, first came to the Empire's attention when she managed to thwart an assassination operation against Emperor Palpatine. For that she was decorated by the Emperor himself. It didn't take long for her to put forward her ideas openly.

She proposed the invasion of the criminal empires, a plan that was rejected as unnecessary.

She proposed the poisoning of the Mon Calamari ocean when Emperor Palpatine asked for ideas on how to win the battle of Mon Calamari.

She supported Thrawn in his formal complaint against the Death Star, saying that it was so inefficient that the one who proposed the plan was a traitor to the Empire. Emperor Palpatine was known to have had a private conversation with her afterwards, no one really knew what happened, but she became less enthusiastic in her criticism.

She tried to reintroduce the Venator, LAAT, AT-ET, AT-TE and Vulture fighters into the Imperial military. Justifying the decision by stating that they were not fighting insurgents but a war and therefore weapons created specifically to deal with rebellions would be neither sufficient nor efficient. That too was rejected.

She attempted to revive Project Blackwing, saying that if modified to be less intelligent it could be used to infect rebel ships in the middle of a battle, so in case they managed to escape the crew would still die. Or if necessary to use it in conflicts against primitive planets to avoid unnecessary casualties. As with time, the zombies would rot away and disappear.

Those propositions made her infamous within the Empire. But the reason no one began to trust her was because she gained the confidence of dozens of Admirals, only to denounce them as traitors to Palpatine. Everyone remembered the Night of a Thousand Screams. One by one, Darth Vader hunted down all the Admirals she had accused of treason. Although it was never confirmed, they all had in common that they were especially friendly with Tanya.

So when the United Imperial Fleet searched for the survivors of the Empire and mentioned that their leader was Tanya von Degurechaff, all the remnants of the Empire went into hiding.

Gideon turned to look at everyone present.

"I don't know who she is, but in my opinion she is a usurper with delusions of grandeur, however her actions may be useful to the Shadow Council. She will draw the attention of the galaxy while we gather our forces. The day we restore the Empire we will kill her and gain control of her fleet."

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Several New Republic Senators looked at each other, all wearing fancy clothes and having extravagant hairstyles that were fighting against the very meaning of good fashion.

One of the senators opened his mouth. He was a young and idealistic man, with a thin, long moustache and a corpulent body, contrary to the almost morbidly obese senators who accompanied him.

"The threat of this Golden Heiress is real, we need to stop the demilitarisation and assemble a fleet to destroy her!"

A fat, bald, beardless senator looked at him as he drank a glass of hard alcohol.

"Are you talking about the Imperial who has put on a ridiculous outfit and calls herself heiress? I don't consider her a threat. Besides the demilitarisation plans must go ahead as planned, do you know how much money it costs us to maintain this army? An army that we don't need at all because we allow the planets to have their own private forces".

The younger senator in his frustration bent forward, trying to make the fat man understand his argument as he leaned into his face.

"And what if this heiress was to start invading the New Republic? She would destroy private army after private army until she reached our capital and destroyed the New Republic. What did the rebel fighters sacrifice themselves for? Why did Princess Leia and her fellow heroes organise the revolution? Why did Luke Skywalker stand alone against Darth Vader and the Emperor if we are just going to make the mistakes that will allow a second coming of the Empire?!"

The senators began to laugh, looking at each other, as if they had been told the best joke they had ever heard in their lives.

"That madwoman has attacked criminal empires, she won't live long enough to even reach the territory of the New Republic. Also, my dear new senator…"

The room felt colder and the tongue of the young senator named Anderen went dry.

"Don't ever speak to me in that tone of voice again if you don't want me to buy your little trading company and make you lose your senator's seat"

Anderen shut his mouth and the rest of the senators continued to laugh and talk amongst themselves.

"It is very expensive nowadays to be a senator, how much did you spend last month?" asked the obese man who threatened Anderen. One replied with a chuckle.

"I think 50 million for the senator's fee, I can't remember now, add another 10 million for day-to-day things".

The Senator Quota was the system the Republic had to maintain the Senate, though in reality it was just an excuse for only the richest to have senatorial seats in the New Republic. Anderen was only able to get his seat because his small trading company on the Outer Rim dared to trade where no one else did. Which brought in a lot of income along with a lot of dangers.

Anderen leaned back in his chair as he watched the other senators talk and laugh.

It was then that he saw a beautiful figure enter the room, a blonde, green-eyed woman with modest breasts and a decent ass wearing a suit that left little to the imagination.

"Senator Anderen?" she asked, Anderen sensed an opportunity to flee this horrible room and stood up.

"Yes, that's me, what do you need me for?"

The woman smiled a smile that would give heart to even the fiercest beast.

"Please, follow me."

Anderen didn't think twice and began to follow her, leaving the room and starting to walk through the corridors of the senate. Soon however when they were alone she quickly turned around and pushed him against the wall.

"Senator Alduin plans to send bounty hunters to kill you in three days, the route you always take to the Senate. The Golden Heiress sends her regards."

And just as quickly as she held Anderen against the wall, she was gone, disappearing from his sight. Sensing that he had something in his pocket that was not there before, he reached for it and pulled it out.

-In two months travel to Tatooine with your company as thanks for saving your life. If you don't, we will not protect you again.

Quickly crumpling the paper he began to walk away, fearfully looking around.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anderen flew his speeder along the usual route despite the warning, looking around with increased paranoia, hoping the warning was a lie. However, he soon saw an anomaly. A speeding sky car was approaching him and was not slowing down. Swerving around, he put the underside of the car facing the oncoming car. Hearing dozens of laser shots being fired at his car, he panicked and accelerated the car, driving off the beaten track and fleeing the scene. The assassins, instead of following him, began to flee themselves to avoid capture.

At the Senate, with his car being picked up by the police and being questioned by them, he saw the woman who had warned him of the attack days ago, passing by and looking him in the eye.

She silently mouthed something, without a sound passing her lips. The meaning was, however, clear.

-Tatooine

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Luke ate some cooked meat while looking at the stars. He had listened to the Golden Heiress' speech but he felt something in the Force. She had that thing that looked like the Force but was not, an unmistakable mark of Tanya von Degurechaff. He didn't know what he was doing, but when he finished his personal investigation, he would pay her another visit.

Out of nowhere someone shouted next to him, giving Luke a little scare. But he pulled himself together quickly, turning around and seeing the young version of his father. Anakin Skywalker in his Force ghost form.

"How are you doing? Have you got a girlfriend yet? Children?" Luke moved away from the wooden log he was sitting on, making room for the ghost of his father to sit down.

"I'm fine but confused, and I don't have any girlfriends or children."

Anakin laughed, patting him on the back.

"Come on son, tell me, it's normal for your age."

Luke sighed and looked his father in the eyes, ever since he saw him in his ghost form he would pop up every so often to greet him and talk to him. He didn't know why he did it or how but sometimes it was annoying, his attitude so... as if nothing had happened.

"Can you be more serious please?" Luke said. But the silence started to make him uncomfortable as they turned into minutes.

"Serious? You want me to be serious? I have suffered 22 years of my mortal life, 22 years in eternal agony, suffering, only knowing war and the torture implanted by Palpatine. Do you even know what my day to day life was like? My armour was made on purpose to generate constant suffering, breathing hurt, staying alive hurt and that fed my hatred. But you know the worst part of those 22 years alive? Having to wake up hating myself, seeing the decrepit figure I became, putting on my suit that tortured me and marching off to war. So no my son, I can't and don't want to be serious."

Luke did not respond, he knew nothing of this information nor had he ever noticed such things.

Minutes of silence continued, Luke was no longer eating, just staring into the fire with some embarrassment after angering his father so much.

"Forget it," Anakin said, "You said you were confused, tell me why."

Luke sighed, feeling all the awkwardness fade away.

"Tanya von Degurechaff, ring a bell?"

Anakin chuckled lightly.

"She was one of the few people I liked in the Empire, her efficiency was incredible and she treated me like a person of superior rank but without fear, sometimes, she made me feel normal. Although that changed after Palpatine forced me to punish her for her theoretical insolence. But whatever, what about her?"

Luke settled back and looked up at the stars.

"She has organised a fleet and is fighting criminal empires. I also met her to kill her, but she spoke to me civilly and I let her live."

Anakin laughed and stood in front of him.

"You want a future with her?" he asked with a mischievous grin. Luke quickly threw a rock at the ghost to show that the joke was not funny. In response Anakin laughed.

"If you are wondering if she is evil or not, I think you should start distinguishing the grey areas, she is neither evil nor good. She always showed loyalty to the Empire but belonged to the reformists. She proposed several galactic plans to improve the economy, social services and so on, saying that if people lived happily, they wouldn't care who rules. And that happiness is achieved through greater access to goods and services. The things she does are done because they are better or because they have to be done. It has no real ideals or commitment. So I wouldn't call it good or bad."

Luke nodded and continued eating his now cold food.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Confirmation, the combined criminal forces have assembled a large fleet of over 300 warships."

I smiled under the mask. They were so predictable, it was so easy.

"We can't win against such a force, we are outnumbered!" said a Captain I didn't recognise, he had proven very sceptical.

"Tell me your name, Captain" I said, looking at the image my scouts sent, a fleet of criminals and giant pirates.

"My name is Aster," said the Captain, who looked to be in his forties, with a thick beard accompanied by brown eyes and a big belly. His rank of Captain was well deserved as I began to look at his record on my datapad. He assisted his Admiral with great efficiency and on several occasions replaced him in naval operations.

"Captain Aster, why do you think we are at a disadvantage?" I asked without looking at him.

He coughed and straightened his suit, moving closer to the image presented by the Imperial scouts.

"Despite their low tonnage ships, they have enough weapons to inflict severe damage on our fleet if they coordinate. The presence of torpedo ships is predictably problematic if they coordinate in shield reduction operations and attack our Destroyers' conning towers. They also appear to match the fighters we have, which will mean that with proper coordination our fleet will be destroyed beyond repair".

I got up from my chair and moved forward to where the image was, changing it to a file I had written some time ago.

"You would be right in a normal case, but I regret to say that you are not. You do not understand your enemy and how they differ from your own troops. Do you believe that a fleet of dozens of criminal gangs can cooperate as coordinated as our fleet?"

A document I wrote at the military academy quickly appeared.

"Invasion plan to destroy galactic crime, Part 8, criminals and their modus operandi. I read this young lady's plan when we were travelling for weeks in hyperspace and I have to say that her analysis is definitely promising."

In front of everyone in the room appeared an analysis of the different criminal empires and their characteristics and all records of cooperation between them.

"Battle of Andosha II, the Pyke Syndicate and Hutts allied to stop the interception of a destroyer's charges, 2 destroyers and several frigates assaulted the enemy but the Pykes saw their frigates betrayed as the Hutts only partially engaged in combat, resulting in the Syndicate retaliating by attacking the Hutts in the middle of the battle".

I skipped to the next diagram.

"Battle of Thape, an Imperial class II frigate intercepted a ship carrying an item of interest to Jabba and another small criminal clan. According to the Imperial agents, each side would provide two frigates to recover the material. However, when it came to combat, the Hutt betrayed the clan, destroying their most competent Admiral in the process and annexing the small clan's criminal empire".

I then passed another diagram.

"Battle of Somov Rit, during the Reign of Darth Maul the Hutts organised a powerful fleet to regain their power, however when faced with Darth Maul's fleet all the Hutt leaders betrayed each other believing the battle won. Allowing Darth Maul to win the battle and subdue the Hutt again until his fall at the siege of Mandalore at the end of the Clone Wars."

I turned, glaring at the Captain who had questioned my plans. I had to establish my authority over my forces so that I would not need to fear betrayal.

"You speak of coordination, but as far as I have been able to investigate in the Imperial documents we have, among criminals there is no such thing as coordination. As such, I am not afraid of the enemy, their pathetic fleet will be crushed by us even without a need for advanced strategies. But only an inept commander would make a basic attack for a battle just because he thinks he has won. This will be the plan…"