Trouble in Tapani

The Ambassador

The Grandmaster’s ship raced across space toward the Eternity with three Zakuul Knights in fighters, closely following her craft. The surprised crew of the Eternity scrambled fighters of their own, newly acquired from Republic contractors. The fighters proved a match for the custom Zakuul craft, which was a technological marvel in itself. When a Pelagian Duplex Gunship arrived, the last of the Knights were blown to pieces and the Grandmaster was able to land her crafter in the newly fitted hangar of the Eternity.

It had been a close thing.

The newcomer from Pelagia also landed and soon a meeting was held on the Command deck. Here it was discovered that Zakuul assassins had found Grandmaster Lumiani’s personal stronghold on the planet Soterios, Tapani Sector, and attacked her directly. The Pelagian ambassador had followed the attack and when they had finally caught up, contributed to taking out the Zakuul fighters.

From here, politics began to complicate things.

The Ambassador had come seeking Lumiani due to her connections in Tapani Sector. This sector was ruled independently from the Republic by an Empress. Great Houses owed her their fealty, but in truth constantly maneuvered against one another for financial and political position.The ultimate prize was the imperial throne, since whatever Great House put a rule there would have tremendous influence over scors of worlds throughout Tapani Sector.

Currently, the aging Empress Jana hails from House Melantha — the very house in which Grandmaster Lumiani was born. She is in fact Lumiani’s great aunt. Her father, High Lord Joccan rules House Melantha and its considerable financial holdings. Only days prior to the attack upon the Grandmaster at Soterios, Lumiani’s mother was assassinated — likely by the same Knights that came to kill Lumiani.

Despite having renounced her ties and royal position when Lumiani became a Jedi, Pelagia sought her help in arranging an alliance between her father, the head of House Melantha. The ambassador brought news that High Lord Joccan had named Lumiani heir to House Melantha. Because she has no siblings, and her mother was now dead, Joccan felt he had no choice but to name an heir, lest assassins come for him too, and leave the Empress alone against their enemies.

The Pelagian Ambassador claimed to want to ally with Melantha against House Mecetti. He blamed the Mecetti for secretly allying with Zakuul in exchange for helping Mecetti seize the Tapani Imperial Throne and for proof he provided coordinates of a distant start system located within the bounds of Tapani. There, he said, Vanquished Illusions would find a powerful Zakuul presence and proof that they had already invaded Tapani with the willing assistance of House Mecetti.

Investigation

Lumiani assigned a team to scout and verify the Ambassador’s information. Under Director Se’rrannah, they did just that. The team located a Eternal Empire battlecruiser, tanker ship, an orbital installation under construction, and House Mecetti transport shuttles moving materials from orbit down to the planet’s surface. The mission had been dangerous and the they were nearly caught, but the mission was successful.

The system, previously unknown, was permanently named and added to the star charts, referenced as the Sera System. The sole inhabitable planet was the ice-world, Sera.

First Strike

During an additional meeting with the Pelagian Ambassador, the Grandmaster took stock of the situation. House Pelagia was greatly weakened from decades of rivalry with House Mecetti. Currently, Pelagia had been accused of setting of a bomb that killed Mecetti nobles during one of the Games — sports held between the Great Houses. Pelagia claimed innocense, and countered by accusing Mecetti of murdering their own, dissenting nobles, but the rest of the Great Houses had seen enough evidence to belive Pelagia was guilty.

Therefore, Lumiani judged that going to her father, House Melantha or the Empress with information regarding a Zakuul invasion would go nowhere. Worse, Pelagia had no capital ships left to combat Zakuul. While the Pelagian Duplex Gunships were effective, they were no match for battlecruisers. The only forces capable of doing something about it were the forces of Vanquished Illusions.

VI had the latest, most powerful ship of the line produced by Republic engineers. She was equipped with the most capable fighter complement in the galaxy and supplemented with scouts, bombers, gunships and armed shuttles for troop landings. The Grandmaster had spared no expense when it came to protecting her people and providing for the best possible machines of war.

Therefore, the Grandmaster judged it was time to take direct action against Zakuul and destroy the fledgling alliance with House Mecetti before the disease had time to infest Tapani Sector any further.

The Eternity, for the first time, went on the offensive.

After a very hard-fought battle that left the Eternity in flames and her squadrons battered, victory was achieved. The Zakuul battlecruiser crashed into the orbital installation as a cascade of explosions shattered her hull. In space, there were no survivors.

Ground Assault

It took almost two weeks of continuous repair work before the Eternity was completely operational again and capable of supporting ground actions against the base that had now been detected on the surface of the planet. Grandmaster Lumiani assembled her forces and they took on the base’s guardians.

It turned out that resistance was provided by a massive hybrid droid-living creature. The battle was well-fought but conclusive; the creature was defeated and destroyed. A few members of the team were injured, including the Grandmaster, but all survived.

In addition to the hybrid, a few knights had offered resistance. Most were killed in the assault; one was hunted down later by VITALS and captured. This knight, Adrastea, is currently undergoing de-conditioning and retraining under the guidance of ex-Zakuul Knight Layania. She yet represents an untapped resource for information on the internal workings of the Eternal Empire.

Yet, perhaps due to her injuries during the assault, or perhaps due to some other cause, the Grandmaster has been unable to focus efforts or guide VI to the next step. Those closest to her begin to worry something has gone very wrong…

Previous chapters can be found in the Archives.