Gandala, Bastra, and Ghent, stood in the officers’ briefing room and looked with shock at the announcement projected on the holotable.

Fleet action in Endor system. Death Squardron engaged Rebel fleet. Heavy losses. SSD Executer lost. ISD Devastator lost. ISD Avenger lost. ISD Tyrant lost. Admiral Piett missing, presumed deceased. Station Death Star II lost. Emperor Palpatine missing, presumed deceased. Lord Vader missing, presumed deceased.

Reports of Rebel activity in all sectors. Reports of unrest in all sectors. Set Alert Status One in all fleets, sectors, and operational areas. Activate Fleet protocol Emergency 7 in all fleets.

All fleets commanders give status report to Navy HQ. All Moffs give status report to Grand Vizier Amedda.

All Rebel forces are to be pursued and destroyed. Independent action authorized.”

All three were quiet as they processed the magnitude of what they read. The comm button chirped periodically with new messages from Lt. Fenik.

Ghent broke the silence. “Captain, what is the procedure for succession.”

Bastra jumped in. “There is none. ISB is going crazy. There’s no procedure or protocol at all. Head of COMPNOR flatly said the Emperor was supposed to be immortal. He’s had a complete breakdown.”

Gandala remained silent.

“Alright,” Ghent responded, “If there’s no continuity of government then what is the continuity of command? Protocol Emergency 7 is just a communications restriction.”

Ghent flipped to the message from Admiral Antur at 7th Fleet HQ. It was mostly the same. Status reports. Alert Status. Independent Action. There was an additional paragraph on the importance of information control and loyalty.

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“It seems like nobody is quite sure what to do or what even is happening.” Bastra said.

“Well there’s no need to go to Bothawui at least” Ghent replied, “Independent action authorized. We can start working through distress calls while Fleet HQ figures out the overall strategy.”

“Distress calls?” Bastra shot back. “We need to lock down the ship first. Defections were already an issue before this. The crew is new and untested. Loyalty first. Ship first.”

Ghent flipped the holotable to the queue of distress calls. “There’s riots on nearly every planet. People are dying and troopers are fighting as we work this out. We need to act. Captain?”

Gandala was lost in her own thoughts. She was thinking back to her early days as a supply officer on a Venator. The Clones. The Jedi. The Betrayal. The beginning of the Empire. She’d always carried a pride that a man from Naboo had saved the galaxy. She knew what a divided galaxy looked like. So many worlds had been chewed up in the Clone War. So many lives had been lost to division and chaos.

It was a deep sorrow. The war was won and she helped win it. She’d help build a galaxy of peace and order. She was on Naboo when the victory was announced. Celebrations started everywhere. That was the day she’d fallen in love with her husband.

And now the war was back. Separatists. Rebels. It didn’t matter. The Separatists had stolen her brother. The Rebels had stolen her husband. They had stolen her son.

The small voice of protocol interrupted her thought process. ‘Ship first. Ship first’. Wife? Yes. Mother? Yes. Captain? First. The ship would come first and it would be her means to extract every ounce of revenge on the division and rebellion and chaos that had stolen so much from her and so much from the galaxy.

Sorrow turned into durasteel and hate.

“Captain?”

“Wrath.” She said. “They will know wrath. We will find the nearest rebellious world and make an example out of them. Everywhere the Doomhammer goes, fear will reign again. Bring the command staff together in the board room in my quarters. We’ll begin planning there.”

Captain Gandala walked out of the room and back onto the bridge. “Lt. Fenik, join us for the command briefing in my board room. Lt. Cmdr. Sarlin, the rebellion has intensified. Independent action authorized. Begin responding to the planetside uprisings. Most populated worlds first. I will abide neither negotiations nor prisoners. Uprisings are to be crushed. Collateral damage is irrelevant.”