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Haldir sighed."Why are the handsome ones always the hard-to-get kind?"He said and tepped his comm."Boss, he left. Got any leads on exactly what hes going after? I saw something about Grudo the Hutt. Whats going on?"

((Will finish this post in a bit))

"You heard what's been on the comm channels?"

"No, why?"

"Oh come on, off duty for an hour, with nothing else to do on a ship, and you don't even check?"

"Why would I?"

"It's all over the feed; the Sith killed Fel."

That was how the word spread through the sector fleet around the 'Kenet Empire', as it was called. It started off with the comm officers, chatting to one another inbetween messages, using barely legal encrypts to maintain some form of privacy. Still, the word travelled from them to whoever their buddies were onboard their ships, and soon enough, at least a seventh of them all knew about it, or at least heard.

No, not everyone believed it, particularly the high ranking officers such as Admiral Alka and the captains of the larger ships or the fervently-loyal stormtroopers, but enough knew.

~

Confident his fleets had retreated to Mandal space and bunkered down, Elladan could now focus his attention on three plots instead of four: the 'Kenet Empire', Onderon/Dxun, and Dathomir.

The witch planet was his top priorety, or it should've been anyway. He had the majority of the second and third Mandal fleet there (the first was at Mandal), but there were insufficient defenses to protect and house those ships indefinently. Plus, Dathomir lacked much in the way of defenses, or even a planetary shield. He had renovations going on adding two new docks there and better shield generator, but he lacked the funding to do anything else.

On the flip side, he had enough wealth in his little domain to maintain quite an effective defense. Such was the nature of his acquisitions: all his wealth was horded into one spot, and everything beyond his active reach almost had to fend for itself. This made it even more necesary that he re-open his trade routes, starting with Onderon.

This was why he'd called the meeting between Taris' council, Mandalore the Conquerer, and the Noghri leaders of Wayland. After each group announced their recent findings and development, Elladan began. "Our most pertinent task is maintaining our economy. We've proven we can fight the Empire, and we've proven we can survive without much help; emphasis on the survive."

"How would we do that?" Yukth, the Noghri govenor asked.

"We'd need Onderon," Delra Thume, the Tarisian Prime Minister stated. "Just by looking at our incomes, you can tell the differences. They make more than the entire Mandalorian empire here alone, and that's without extensive mining. Even Dxun could make just as much, and as long as they stay over there, all the riches will."

"Agreed," the her Twi'lek advisor, Demat'horth added. "Our priority should turn there, if not for Taris..."

He needed not mention it further; the planet had been raided by Admiral Borril, and its ion cannon suffered heavy damage, as well as its orbital yards. They were still recuperating from the attack, and couldn't do much more than its usual shipments of volunteers.

"We are already in position," Mandalore spoke. "Our forces have already infiltrated their defenses and are prepared to assault the rest of their ships. However, there is.... some caution we must take."

"Oh?" Elladan asked concerned.

"I've been hesitant to reveal this to my allies," he turned his blank visor to the other three, before returning to the chiss. "But recent events have forced me to speak the truth."

"Go on."

Mandalore frowned, though they wouldn't be able to tell. Then he sighed. "For the past several months, years actually, there's been dissent in the Mandalorian hierarchy. They've been quiet until the Council's decision to ally with you. These traitors are lead by their own Mandalore b*****d, and played a hand in the attack on Junction."

"It makes sense," Yukth answered before the others could. "The Junction defenses are stronger than most in the sector, save Mandalore. The Golans went down in minutes, from the inside out, not through hours on concentrated fire by enemy frigates. This explains a lot."

"What do you propose we do, Mandalore?" Delra asked. The others nodded.

"Well, foremost we should do everything in our power to prepare for battling theirs and other forces at Onderon. I anticipate they'll attack there, knowing we'd turn there next. I'd estimate most of Borrill's fleet and at least two dozen ramships; my rival's fond of them apparantly."

"You know a lot about him," the Twi'lek in their group said with some little hidden suspicion. "How do we know you're not allies in this?"

"He'd sooner have my head on his vibrostaff on display in the mines of Kessel then help me. He's a traitor." He made an inaudible Mando'ade curse. "Besides, we're rivals. Why would we help each other?"

"His point is conceded," Elladan interupted. "What can we do to prepare?"

"Not much," the Conquerer continued. "If we bring too many ships to campaign there, our hold here will surely be compromised. We can't afford leaving any of the LT mines here, because most of them will be needed at Onderon. I'd even suggest bringing the Dathomir fleet here, but they wouldn't make it in time to help. Most we could bring and still be able to defend is your ship and a dozen others. No more."

The chiss nodded, looking at ther others for input. Detre, his self-appointed bodyguard, answered for them all. "What choice do we have?"

Elladan nodded, turning around to look out the window at the fleet of ships amassed around the planet, always ready to move. He nodded. "Then prepare to leave for Onderon."

(I'm updating the post currently, and on the flipside, of the some seven million deployed in the fleet I'm guessing, 1% would be 7000 people.)

Overlord Mynock's small escort roared into the Onderon system, just nigh of the escort fleet waiting on the them. Maintaining their positions, they lured the fleet of ships out to them, to draw them away from the planet, under the pretense of making it past the blockade. As soon as everything was ready, Mynock released another mine and fired on it, setting off the powerful EMP and knocking out the ships. As quickly as they could, the Canderous fired on the ships while the reinforcements from Dxun and Onderon joined in the mop-up. Before the ships could even figure out what had beat them, they'd pummeled the trio of Nemesises, Stalwarth, and Interdictor into scrap.

"Welcome back Overlord," Mynock heard over the comm unit. It was his long-time friend and interim leader, Syst. "We've been waiting for an excuse to attack."

"Glad to put those bombs to use," Ordo replied. "These things make the all-powerful Imperial fleet look like a bunch of tin cans."

"Be careful not to overuse it," Olin interupted over the feed, speaking from the base on the planet's surface. "Last thing we need is them getting some of the blasted things."

"Agreed," Mynock replied, as his ships settled into the space between the two planets. Before he spoke with Zeltilla, however, he contacted Syst via a secure Network line. "Renember your orders?"

"Yes sir. So far I've identified three hundred potential traitors in our mist. I've yet to locate any possible family members of the rouge Mandalore however."

"Good enough. Can you ensure we can eliminate them before they cause too much damage."

"No sir, I can't make any promises," he replied, some static disrupting the reply for a moment. "I managed to get two spies into their forces, but I can't even guarantee they'll be in long enough to contact us before they'll fished out and executed."

Ordo nodded, smiling grimly. "Such is the nature of traitors. He who betrays will be betrayed, and he in turn. Let's just hope these Imperials can take themselves out before we make our move."

((I never said I had any traitors in your midst, Kenet. I dont need any to keep tabs on you.))
Mandalore nodded.
Within the next half Hour three Ramships full of Mandalorians had made berth upon the Hektor's Shield.
The Mandalorians were packed up and ready to go.
All they needed was the Imps to jump.

The Hektor's Shield would reverted from hyperspace just a few hours later... While enroute Borill decided to call a council of war in the briefing of his ship.

Borill slowly paced the room as the Mandalorian Delegation stepped into the room and stood before the holographic display. There were the three he had met earlier, plus a woman he'd not yet met.

In the middle of the room hovered a holoprojection of the double planet of Onderon and Dxun. There were a number of markers on the map, displaying ground defenses and orbital platforms, most of which were simple cargo storage stations. Borill flipped through the reports he'd recieved, "Good news... It seems we'll arrive before the enemy attack forces return from their latest operation. We'll be able to lay a trap..."

The woman stirred, her helmet slowly tilting up to study the holographic image. There was something strange about her, and he couldn't nail it. It was like there was something completely and totally calculating about her.

Borill sighed and turned to Mandalore the Immortal, "What exactly is your plan?"

Borill nodded, "I see, and what of Onderon? They are not governed by your mandalorian rules of combat and honor... It will have to be taken by force."