Out of the Ashes (Book 5)

[Akirapryde]

The Other side of Hell
Capital City, Stephinopulous
Democratic Republic of Fra
Mid Rim World of Fra
September 19th, 1936

Visst slipped in to the confessional slightly expecting to meet with some middle man within the Church. His eyes took a moment to adjust to the rapid change in light as he knew all too well where he was. He looked around to see her standing there, “I was waiting for when you would contact me again” he said softly turning to face Lysire. She stood before him as normal dressed in her old Jedi robes dyed red. Her face seemed just like the day that he watched her murdered by the evil General Graff. The items on her body, he knew all too well were just part of the illusion that she wished him to see. Visst knew that her husband, Prince Saar was the last man alive to hold her lightsaber. There was something different about the way her eyes always looked. Before they were always filled with such wonder and surprise over the galaxy as a whole. Now, her eyes showed the signs of a million lifetimes lived here beyond the existence that he knew.

“For me, it has only been a second and a life time when we first and last met. I have always been and never been by your side” she said softly as she motioned him to follow.

He moved along side her as they walked through the light, “Where are we going?”

She didn't look at him as they walked, “I don't know. But I know it is where you need to be. Things to know and not known.”

He looked at her surprised for a moment then felt the light subside till an image of some strange place took shape around him. He could feel himself being pulled through time and space as he started to understand more than what was being seen. He could feel the past around him and understand why things are the way they are. The force was so much stronger here in this time than it was during the Jedi Civil War or even back in his own galaxy. He couldn't explain it completely but he could feel its concentration around him. He looked over at Lysire who only looked forward, 'what has changed you?' he thought to himself.

“Everything” she answered directly as the image around them took complete shape, “It is what you must know if you are to bring about peace and order once more.” She said to the next question that he was trying to figure out how to ask. “The First Ones are all gone now. It is only a few of us Elders that remain to guide the younger races.” she said softly, “Master Yoda left.....I can't remember...Just one day he was gone. I remember I was watching a star die when I realized that he was gone from here.” She said as she looked on, “I think I might go too. Go beyond the great edge.” she paused during her completely one sided conversation with what he was thinking, “the great edge where they all go.” She waved her hand outward, “Here look, listen and learn my friend.” She said softly as they faded like ghost within someone else's reality.

---

Since the dawn of the ninth century, the Second Reich of Humankind has played a strong and influential role in the Core Worlds. Their flag color coded to fit their motto. With a black stripe on the bottom, a red stripe in the middle and a yellow stripe on the top. Out of the darkness from under the oppressive boot of the Varl, shedding their own blood, raising in to the light. The blacken image of a large bird of pray stretched out across their flag as a symbol of their struggle to remain the dominate race within the Core Worlds. As their raise to power came the downfall of many other cultures. As the Reich spread its realm across the Core Worlds they defeated many races and cultures. Other human cultures were just absorbed in to the Reich as a whole and their beliefs, languages and culture over the years were educated out of their children. Nonhuman races faired allot worse. They were transplanted from world to world in forced relocation efforts as their homeworlds were slowly Terra-formed for human settlers. The population of the Reich controlled space, which was over three quarters of the Core Worlds, was seventy two percent human to twenty eight percent nonhuman (with well over half of them slaves and the rest living in relocation camps)

By the tenth century, the Reich military had become a object of terror throughout the Core Worlds. During the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Reich had its hands full battling the remains of the Varl Empire within the Core Worlds. By the end of the twelve century, the Varl had completely withdrew from the Core Worlds leaving the Reich as the sole super power. Each new Emperor of the Reich, gaged the success of their reign to the amount of new territories added to the Reich domain. With the departure of the Varl, it was open season within the Core Worlds for the Reich. The first to fall were former allies of the Varl, though this was more of an excuse than an actual reason for war. Within a few centuries, the Reich dropped its excuses to invade worlds and just laid claim to weaker worlds and empires as they continued to expand. Under the Reich, the human race has enjoyed a full scale population explosion as they move to populate the entire Core Worlds with the human race. Humans that are Reich citizens, and it is this single issue that has all worlds (human and non-human) boarding Reich space worried for their own survival. And now they have a very good reason to fear. For a new young Emperor has taken the Throne on Vandor III, and he has set is eyes on conquest of all of the remaining Core Worlds and maybe even beyond.

The common image of the Emperor of all humanity is one carefully cast by the Ministry of Information. He is cast as a tale, strong, dependable man. With the determination to see humanity's work done where ever it must be done. The truth of the flaws of the Emperors and Empress' might not be so commonly known. Ganner Miko Quee VI is a strong willed teenager despite his young age. But far from the image that the Ministry of Information casts of him. Emperor Ganner inherited the Throne just three years ago when his parents were killed during a tragic accident while visiting a mining complex. Ganner's father had started to make drastic changes in the direction the Reich was heading before his untimely death. It was Ganner's father who had set his sites on the remaining worlds of the Core Worlds. The late Emperor had been plagued with horrific nightmares that he only shared with his son. Nightmares of war not seen since the fall of the Great Republic and the Council of Free Worlds were behind these wars. It was Ganner's father who started one of the largest military expansion plans in Reich History and it that took decades to complete. It would pale in comparison to what Emperor Ganner, under the advice of his advisors, started three years ago. Now, the Emperor of one of the most powerful governments in the Galaxy walks alone through the moonlit gardens of the Palace.

Vandor III has no natural moons and therefore there should be no moon light to illuminate the Gardens. However, thanks to six massive sphere shaped space stations orbiting the Capital of the Reich, the Gardens are always illuminated by the light of the artificial moons. The stations were part of a military expansion which was designed to protect the nest of humanity from attack. The stations were set up in orbit in such a way that any ship on approach would face the weapons of at least three of these massive stations. High above the Palace, the ships and fighters on patrol to ensure that no ship sneaks in to this highly protected air space over the Palace. There was no fear from attack within the Palace. What many feared came from threats within the Palace. Sometimes closer than some ever considered possible.

While Vandor III was one of the most heavily defended worlds in the entire galaxy, attacks from off world was not the key concern for the Imperial Family. Assassination on the other hand was a sad common fact within the Reich. The art of assassination has been used to ensure the achievement of power and prestige. Within the House of Nobles, a massive parliament style body, it is completely common for Nobles to assassinate each other over a number of reasons. Though there is a secret among the assassins and would be assassins. Each killing is investigated lossy, and if caught, face a horrible fate. While it is common, who does the assassination is not common at all. This act is carried out through all levels of the Government even up to the Throne of the Reich its self. Throughout their history, there had been nine Emperors before the current Emperor that had fallen to an assassin. Emperor Ganner might be only a teenager, he was far from stupid. When he took the Throne he ensured that any one that might see him as weak and easy target were dealt with silently and rapidly. If he was to hold on to power, he had to prove a point to the other Noble Houses within the Reich. In what has become known as the Night of Assassins, Emperor Ganner had well over eight thousand members of the military and Noble Houses assassinated across the realm. This act made Emperor Ganner one of the most bloody Rulers of the Reich already. And his reign was just beginning.

He walked up to a large fountain and set on the stone edge of it. He ran his hand through the fountain and lifted it up to the moon light as five men walked up. “Did you know that black is the color of blood in the moon light?” he said coldly as the black liquid dripped from his fingers, “Regardless of race that the blood came from, they all seem to be black in the light of the moon.” he said as continued to run his hand through the fountain. The design of the fountain was of a large bird of pray native to the system. Its wings were created by the spraying of the liquid over the large and deep basin. The over all design of the fountain was a work of art. That was if one could over look the fact that the liquid used within it was in fact, blood. It was treated so that it would continue to flow smoothly and chilled. During the day, the wings of the bird were multi colored as the different types of blood mixed. During the night, the wings appeared black as space itself. The Emperor looked to the men, “Minister Sheckil” he said looking down in to the liquid of the fountain, “Congratulations on your resent promotion. Your former boss' accident was untimely and devastating to my overall plans.” he said to the young man who as of a couple of days ago had been promoted to the top position within the Ministry of the Army, “Is this your first visit to the Palace?”

The young Minister nodded nervously as he found the courage to speak, “Ye...yes your Majesty.” He knew all too well, that his predecessor's death was no accident. Unless you count four 'self inflected' gun shot wounds to the back of the head as an accident. He knew all too well that his predecessor failed to get desired results too often and because of that fell out of favor with the Emperor. Minister Sheckil had yet one more reason to fear. Because, like his predecessor, he was member of the Gerechtigkeit. The Gerechtigkeit was an ultra secret group of members from the Houses of Nobles. Their mission was simple, soften the heavy hand of the Imperial Family during times of internal crisis. They had been ensuring and safe guarding this mission since the seventh century. They didn't directly oppose the Imperial Family nor did any member crave power. It was one of the traits that members were recruited with. They simply ensured that the citizens of the Reich were treated fairly by the Imperial Family. The Gerechtigkeit came in to being when the ruling Empress set out on a mission of burning worlds. No one knew that she was suffering from paranoid delusions which drove her insanity and her loyal soldiers carried out her orders without question. What everyone did know was that she claimed that nearly half of the Noble Houses were plotting to over throw the Imperial Family. Under her orders, some seventy six worlds were burned and millions of humans murdered. Luckily for the Reich, her actions did set out to create a plot against her. A group of the Empress' own trusted advisors set actions in motion that would bring the down fall of the Leader of the Reich and a return the Realm to more calmer times. The Empress' own daughter drove a poised knife through the back of the Empress' heart and ended the murders of their own kind. Since those dark days of the Reich, the Gerechtigkeit acted in secret to ensure that they were always close to the Ruler of the Reich and able to remove him or her should the need arise. However, most of the times they have been able to ensure their mission through helping the Rulers see a better way. Only two other times have the Gerechtigkeit had to remove an Ruler from the Throne to save the Reich from destruction within.

The Emperor looked from the fountain to the young Minister, “My mother asked from father to build this fountain in her honor. Each foreign leader that the Reich captures and kills has their blood added to this fountain as a testament of our greatness.” He slowly stood up, “Each drop of blood within this fountain means that one more threat to the Reich has been ended.” He said walking up to the young Minister, “It was my mother's pride and joy. We would sit out here for hours during the night as she talked about the threats to the Reich. Which were more annoyances and which were serous enough to need to be faced.” The Minister nodded softly as he listened carefully to what the Emperor said. “I have decided that it is time to bring an end to the Council of Free Worlds.”

Being the new Minister of the Army, he knew that this was a fools mission. He sallowed a bit before saying, “Your Majesty, your reforms have increased the size of the military greatly but we still simply don't have enough troops at this time. Even if we only moved on key worlds and ignored those that were not of strategic importance, we would not have enough troops to complete the mission.” He knew his fact all too well. While the Council was only a fraction of the size of the Reich, they had something that the Reich wouldn't have during a war. They would be defending their home worlds. The Reich had been testing the waters with the Council for years now and gathering intelligence on their fighting ability. They have won easy victories over boarder worlds, but these were not major worlds to the Council. To attack capital worlds and other major worlds would be another kind of war. The losses would simply be too great for the Reich. “Your Majesty, we need time to continue with your reforms to the military. Training, and reequipping our divisions. These things take time. We are not in a rush to invade the Council worlds at this time. We should take full advantage of this. As our troops prepare for war.”

The Emperor laughed as he used his bloody hand to pull the Minister in to a hug. “This is why I like you Minister Sheckil” he said then motioned to the other three men. “They each said you were not ready for this post. I had faith in you Sheckil to do your job and make me proud. This is why I wanted you here.” He forced the young man to follow him as they walked away from the fountain. With Sheckil still in a side hug, the Emperor continued, “Yes you are right, we must wait. We are not in a rush to invade the Council. From what I gather, we have another six years before we are ready to act. Would you not agree?” The young Minister nodded, “Good, now, as you might have guessed, my cousin is testing some new weapons far from the eyes of the Council. Weapons that will make the Council think twice about resisting our rule over them.”

Sheckil looked surprised, “Um...Your Majesty, I..I thought you had authorized him to go find more of his Guardian Artifacts. I heard nothing of new weapons.”

The Emperor lied as he spoke, “You didn't know? I thought for sure you would have been made away of this. I will have my office send you the details of these new weapons.” There was not a truth in anything he said and the Minister knew it, though he didn't let on. “Yes, I did allow him to go chasing his little trinkets and lost books. However he was given an order to test my new weapons” the Emperor said then released the Minister and looked at the other three men, “Tell us what are the reports so far?”

One of the men opened up a paper folder and started to speak. “Your Majesty, Field Marshal Kessler reports that he has, as instructed, conducted both limited use of the weapons and wide scale use of the weapons. He stated that their use on cities and large military formations are very promising. He does warn that they are completely hazardous in a close support role. In a planned experiment he stated that, the forces of his allies were being overrun by enemy forces. The blast was out of range of the friendly forces however they still fall to the affects of radiation. He was also pleased to report that the first device did not in fact set the atmosphere on fire as originally suspected by our scientist. However, due to Church involvement he was forced to cancel further tests of project Deep Star. He has decided to move forwarded with testing of project Mongol. Which he is planning for the near future. He did report that there ware confirmed sittings of Council spies within the rebel ranks. According to his own spies, the Council is conducting their normal anti-Reich operations. He is sure that they have reported back regarding Project Deep Star.”

The Emperor looked to Minister Sheckil, “Well personally I was surprised that the Council hadn't found out by now. I just wish I could have seen the looks on their faces when they see their own worlds burning under our attacks.” Minister Sheckil was sicken with the idea of going to war when the Reich wasn't ready. He held his tongue and only nodded, “Finish the report.”

The man continued, “He has added that he has made contact with another faction which could make as a potential ally. He has had limited contact with them but will try to gather as much information on them as possible. He has supplied us with some basic intelligence that his unit has gathered on them. They do not seem to be in league with the Council or at least friendly to their goals. He believes that there is a possibility that they can be allied with us if given or shown the right reason we would be a better benefit for them. He suggests that their technology level might be equal or sightly behind that of the Council's. He has not seen anything at the moment that would indicate otherwise.”

The Emperor listened carefully, “So the possibility of new allies that far away. Interesting” he said as he turned from the four men and thought carefully. After a few moments he turned to face another of the men, “Considering our normal plans of expansion in that direction, How long till we would react that region of space?”

The man took a moment to consider all the fact and possible variables. “Assuming that we don't get bogged down and am allowed to expand normally and at our projected start dates of next year. Maybe six to seven years from now, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor smiled, “Inform my Cousin that it is okay to attempt to ally with this new power out there.”

The man nodded, “On an unofficial note, he has reported that he is very close to locating the Rauma. He said that this find could help lead him to locating the legendary Solar Graveyard.”

The Emperor nodded, “Yes yes, and through that we could find the secret to locating the Guardians and return light and honor back to the Galaxy. Inform my Cousin that he has my blessings to to go find his fabled Graveyard. As long as he continues my mission first!” The Emperor thrust his fist in the air at the men, “the Council is plotting as we speak to wage war on us. WE MUST strike first and hard!” On that note he spun about on his heels, “Enough with these reports. Make sure that we are on schedule. By the end of this decade we will strike at the Council and end their threat to us once and for all.”

The men looked to each other as the Emperor walked off. Once he was out of ear shot, one of them spoke, “Why didn't you read the full report from Kessler?”

The other man looked at Minister Sheckil who nodded, only then did he speak, “Because if the Emperor were to find out that the Field Marshal urges the ceasing of further research in to the Emperors new terror weapons, than the Emperor would suspect that his own cousin was plotting against him. If this were to happen, then our hope of returning order to the Reich will die with Kessler. He is the only member of the Imperial Family that the Military will follow over the Emperor. We need him if our plans are going to succeed.”

The last man spoke up, “We can not allow these weapons to come in to full production. Have you seen the images from the test sites here? No one should ever control such power. Should the Emperor gain weapons like this, there is no telling how far the suffering will go.”

Minister Sheckil calmly looked around before finally speaking up, “No one has ever disagreed with this. However for now, keep the reports hidden from the Emperor. We need some way to reach the Field Marshal and convince him that his cousin has fallen ill like his Mother. Till then, I will ensure that the production line is slowed till we can create a more lasting solution to this problem....”

Before the secret conversation was over the image changed suddenly on Visst as he heard a little door slide before him. He was back in the confessional once more. While he was knew to the way she got her message across to him, he could never get used to the way she just pulls him from reality and dumps him back. Visst looked around and saw the figure before him as he closed his eyes and focused on the Force. He could sense the force within the man on the other side of the simple shrouded divide. Visst knew right away that the person on the other side was none other than the Bishop of Fra. However, it did offer Visst with one more clue to the reason why the Church had withdrawn from the situation. Visst could sense a bit of guilt from the Bishop. It was a source of pain and conflict within the powerful Force user. Visst sensed that he should handle the issue with great care.

“You wish to speak with me” the Bishop said softly in a hushed voice.