Awakening from the Nightmare, Part 2

DATELINE DOLOMIR

The Simyasto general Narthuk, writing c. 2,400 YGE, taught, "Charge into battle and your enemy will brace himself for the collision. Deceive him, and he'll walk willingly onto your blade."

It seems Lord Sakaros has been reading his Narthuk.

Near space around Dolomir erupted into a firestorm two days ago as the Prime Fleet clashed with a battle fleet of the "Dark Jedi" who have masterminded what has been dubbed "the Nightmare War". The battle took place mere days after Lord Sakaros addressed the Empire on the Royal HoloNet, declaring the war concluded and observing that, "[t]he pitiful shreds of our oppressors' forces that still exist present no threat to the Empire." While initial reactions suggested the Phoenix Prince had badly miscalculated the strength of the enemy, a jaunty Lord Sakaros, taking questions from reporters aboard an observatory space station orbiting Dolomir, insisted that the Empire had known exactly how strong the enemy remained and had baited the Dark Jedi into a trap.

"Absolutely," he replied when asked point-blank whether he had intentionally lied to the media in his address. "The Dark Jedi showed throughout the war that they could tap into the HoloNet feed, and we knew they'd be watching. Their mix of insanity and pride wouldn't let comments like those go unpunished, so they came to Dolomir expecting to serve us some richly deserved vengeance."

With his characteristic flair for understatement, he added, "As it turns out, Queen Rin and Prime Legate Sorrik had cooked up something even better."

Queen Rin herself spoke to the Empire on the Royal HoloNet before her brother's press conference, confirming that his earlier statements had been a ruse to lure the Dark Jedi into a trap and finish them once and for all.

"The Phoenix rises from the ashes, and its rebirth begins today," the Queen said in her brief address, promising aid and relief to suffering worlds. The Ministries of Health and Internal Affairs and Integration are already mobilizing.

Details about the Battle of Dolomir are still coming in, but the Armada has issued a press release with essential information. After the Dark Jedi arrived to attack the Prime Fleet, Rebeyr Legate Salin Tesshir—captain of Princess Breek Zagrev's flagship, the Valkyrie—led the Romasi Sector Fleet to Dolomir and pinned the enemy in the crossfire. Tesshir wound up assuming command of the battle after the Sith Star was knocked out of the fight.

"Enemy boarding craft attacked the flagship," confirmed Beadh Centurion Tycho Rowan, speaking on behalf of the Order of Keltrayu about what reports suggest is being called 'the Battle of the Sith Star '. "My brothers and sisters and I, along with the 14th Massassi Cohort, the Star's Royal Marines, and much of her crew, managed to kill or capture the invaders, but the ship's communications systems were damaged."

That left Tesshir and the Valkyrie to take point on what all observers agree was a hard-fought battle. The enemy fleet, used to hit-and-fade attacks, unleashed an all-out assault when no avenue of escape was clear. Royal casualties include six capital ships, thousands of Royal Army, Navy, and Starfighter Corps personnel, and eleven Centurions.

The end, News First Mezlagob is told, came with shocking suddenness.

"It went from a firestorm to a mass surrender in the space of two minutes," said a source aboard one of the combating vessels, who asked to remain unnamed.

Neither Tycho Rowan nor Sorrik, speaking from Mir Kaldu`uz this morning, would speak to the nature of coordination and command among the enemy forces, but Sorrik reported that the leader of the Dark Jedi—publicly identified for the first time as Ador Hentral—was killed in a targeted assassination by a strike team of Centurions, commanded by Princess Breek herself. Sorrik also confirmed the two remaining Dark Jedi were confirmed killed in the battle; indeed, Rowan spoke on behalf of the Order because Prefect Eskol Kaartinen was injured dueling a Dark Jedi. Kaartinen is expected to make a full recovery.

When the command structure was compromised, the enemy Skavik soldiers surrendered in droves. Sorrik confirmed that he authorized the Empire's forces to accept surrender.

"A bloodbath was in no one's best interests," he stated. "The Empire will ensure that responsible parties answer for their crimes against the Empire and its people, while the less culpable find a way forward."

Although no officials have reacted to Sorrik's statement at time of press, NFM Chief Governmental Correspondent Reye Hajuk questions whether the Empire's people are interested in a way forward for the Skavik. "The Empire hasn't suffered depredations like this since the Tribulation, and the Vagaari were made to answer for that. We've already seen a speciecide in my lifetime—maybe two, now—and I wouldn't be surprised if voices started clamoring for another."

Hajuk's potential second speciecide refers to unconfirmed reports that, while Skavik were allowed to surrender to the Empire, the mysterious Veracht soldiers of the Dark Jedi were ordered killed during the Battle of Dolomir. The first speciecide was, of course, the Vagaari themselves, ordered in 57 YGE and generally believed to have resulted in the functional extinction of the Vagaari race.

The implications of the Battle of Dolomir are likely to develop over the following months, but with the threat of the enemy really and truly wiped out, relief can finally begin to flow to worlds devastated by enemy action.