Intergalactic Alliance

Author's Preface
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Table of Contents
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1. Why I wrote this
2. The Drafts of Intergalactic Alliance
2.a. First Draft
2.b. My comments on the First Draft
2.c. Second Draft
2.d. Comments on the Second Draft
2.e. Third Draft
2.f. Comments on the Third Draft
2.g. Fourth Draft
2.h. Comments on the Fourth Draft
3. Rays of Dawn
3.a. The first draft
3.b. My comments on the first draft
4. Conclusion

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1. Why I wrote this
2. The Drafts of IA
===================

	This, perhaps, is the hardest question to answer. Why does one write a story? Well, Sigmund Freud would explain it as a need to express one's feelings. And that's certainly a reason why anyone would want to write something. MKSheppard, a native of Maryland, wrote Imperial Phoenix - the first ASVS fanfiction to use denizens as characters. But that's not all one can see in his work. The reader can tell that he likes the order of the Empire, and thinks of them as the good rather than the bad guys; or knows that they're bad, but likes them anyway. The latter option appears more plausible;  look at the example of LT.Hit-Man.

	But I didn't set out to diagnose the motives behind Imperial Phoenix. I am writing this to explain my own motives, and I am only using IP as an example. 

	The story of Intergalactic Alliance as a story began sometime in the past - exactly when I do not remember. The idea first occurred to me around 1996-1997 when I was 12, before I even had a computer to use. It stemmed mostly from frustration at the political situation of the time. The idea came in the form of idle daydreams, wishing that I had an X-wing - like most Star Wars fans my age. Gradually, my overactive imagination shaped a story in the form of images, and interest in the Outbound Flight Project that Timothy Zahn added to the Star Wars universe. The idea was also influenced by Michael Crichton's novel Sphere.

	My first ideas, as far as I can reconstruct from memory, went like this:

Outbound Flight Project - I imagined it was a Corellian Corvette - escapes from Thrawn into wormhole, and crash-lands on Earth some 3000 years before. Over time, the ship gets buried beneath massive amounts of dirt. Then, I rediscover the ship, and set about investigating it... finally repairing it and leaving the planet. Yay.

	The above situation was enacted in my mind many times, mostly when there wasn't much else to think about. I continued to shape the ideas, making the situation seem more real. 

	Finally, in 1998, my parents got a computer. My interest immediately went to the computer - I had been reading computer magazines such as Computer Shopper, PC Computing, Family PC, and others. I quickly learned how to use it, and immediately set out customizing it to heck.

	But I then found out about alt.startrek.vs.starwars in an issue of Yahoo! Internet Life. Hoping that the ST vs SW debate was not yet over, I decided to find out about UseNet.

	Many fruitless searches later, I finally figured out how to access Usenet from America Online (I know, ick.) When I finally located alt.startrek.vs.starwars, I glanced through a few posts - this being the height of Timothy Jones' escapades, most of the posts I found boring - and decided to forget about it. My attention went back to other things, and then my daydreams about the Outbound Flight Project cropped up again. Opening up WordPad, I began translation of my thoughts to text.

	What follows is the oldest copy I have of my first attempt; by this point, it had already been through several revisions. (This was dated 6-29-2000; I think that was the point at which I simply re-formatted it.)

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2.a. First Public Draft
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Chapter 1
Ambush at TD-1036-00584

The Jedi Master took a look out of the viewport of the ship at the mottled sky of hyperspace; they had been in hyperspace for several days now. They would arrive at their first stop shortly, a small system on the fringe of the galaxy. Somehow, he didn't feel all too good about this mission now. He'd talked about it with the other five Jedi Masters on the ship, but they were not very sure.
Suddenly, the comm buzzed. He replied, "Yes? What is it?" He knew that it was probably the pilot, wanting him to see something. He sighed. 
The voice continued, "-re going to pull out of hyperspace shortly; we would like you to be up here, in case anything happens." 
He still had that strange tingling feeling on the back of his neck when he walked up to the cockpit. 

In the cockpit, the pilot of the Corvette waited for the Jedi Master to arrive. The navicomputer indicated less than three minutes before they would pull out of hyperspace.

Master C'Baoth walked into the cockpit. Captain Avin asked him, "I was wondering. What do you think about this- I mean, do you think that something might go wrong?" C'baoth replied, "There is always that possibility." Avin thought for a second, then inquired, "Well, anyway, should I pull the ship out of hyperspace late?" "You're the pilot, aren't you? That's your decision." replied C'baoth. The captain waited, then said, "Ok, I'll pull out ten seconds late." He then looked at the navicomp, and realized that it was time. Avin then pulled back on the hyperdrive levers, and the stars flared back into existence.

***

Admiral Thrawn stood waiting on the bridge of the newly commissioned Imperator-class Star Destroyer Chimaera. "Lieutenant, any reports on our quarry yet?" asked Thrawn. The lieutenant replied, "No, si- Blaster bolts, they're on top of us! Taking evasive action!" Klaxons start blaring all over the ship. "Open fire immediately. Target the main fin. Take out the hyperdrive if possible." ordered Thrawn. "Sir, the turbolasers will require a minute to come out of standby." responded the lieutenant.

***

"Captain, we've come out of hyperspace on top of a Star Destroyer!" yelled the co-pilot. "Well, contact them and express our apologies." responded the pilot. C'baoth broke in. "That's not a Victory-class Star Destroyer- it's almost twice as long! Someone is waiting for us." "Are you sure?" queried the captain. "The Republic has a lot of Star Destroyers now." "Yes, I am sure- get us away from it!" replied C'baoth. "Too late- they're opening fire on us."

The Corvette rocked as it was pounded by turbolaser fire. "Avin, the shields can't take much more pounding! Bow deflector shields are down by half already!" called one of the techs. 

C'Baoth asked "Avin, can we make a jump to hyperspace?" "Yeah, sure. There's a nearby black hole that's screwing up the navicomputer. It's going to take the computer twice as long to calculate the coordinates." the pilot responded. "Well, just get us out of here before we're space dust!" exclaimed C'baoth.

***

Thrawn stood on the bridge of the Chimaera, surveying the situation. "Lieutenant, how are they doing?" "Their shields are failing, and they've already lost two of their engines. We expect them to be crippled in roughly two minutes." the lieutenant replied. "Sir, there's something else. I don't know why, but they're moving toward a black hole. If we follow too long, we'll be pulled into it.

***

A powerful explosion rocked the Corvette. "That wasn't a turbolaser blast- something exploded!" exclaimed the co-pilot. 

"Avin, we've lost an engine. If you're going to jump to hyperspace, you'd better do it now." the tech shouted over the intercom. Avin looked at the navicomputer's display, which read fifteen seconds to completion. "Damn. Fifteen seconds. All right everyone, hang on to something." 

Another engine exploded, taking out two more. "Captain, we've lost four engines and the hyperdrive is heavily damaged!" 

Just as the tech said this, Captain Avin launched the ship into hyperspace. "Whew. We just ma-" BLAM! The corvette suddenly lurched, and the sky of hyperspace became a streaky tangle of lines as the ship was abruptly decanted. All the alarms in the cockpit came on at once. 

C'Baoth, standing behind the pilot, slammed into a bulkhead and blacked out. 

"Derek, what happened down there? Derek?" The co-pilot looked at his instruments, and said, "Avin, I think we've got big trouble. First, the hyperdrive detonated, taking out all but three engines. Second, remember that black hole? We're being pulled into it, and we don't have enough power left to pull out!"

***

"So. They went into hyperspace." calmly stated Thrawn. The lieutenant responded, "Sir, if I may say so, the corvette had lost four of its engines, and there was a good chance that the hyperdrive was critically damaged. They don't have much of a chance of getting far." "Well, we'll wait here. Start scanning the area, in case they come out of hyperspace." ordered Thrawn. "Sir, that is unnecessary. We've picked them up already. They came out of hyperspace too close to the black hole, and are being drawn in. It appears that the ship is out of control, and without power." stated the lieutenant. Thrawn said "Well, in other words, their ship is too heavily damaged to escape. Captain, make full speed for the rendezvous point. Our mission is accomplished."

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2.b. Comments
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	As the reader may see, my means of expression was not very clear at this point. (However, I have seen worse on the Internet, written by people older than I was at the time. The various works of a certain French-Canadian, Paul Jacques, come to mind.) My prose was virtually non-existant; most everything consisted of statements made by characters. And due to my having read many of Kevin J. Anderson's books, my characters tended to be rather cardboard-like; that is, stiff and unresponsive, although I had established Captain Avin as a rather impatient man at the time I wrote this.

	At this point (late 1999), I found out where the ASVS Fanfic Archive was located - it had just changed over to Rob Dalton's hands, resulting in some confusion. But I went ahead and read many of the fanfics there, including Imperial Phoenix, Conquest, Michael January's fics, and many others. I had also just re-watched all six of the first Star Trek movies, and decided to set the OFP around that time.

Also, having recieved feedback on the newsgroup from those people who had read the Hand of Thrawn duology, I re-wrote Chapter One accordingly.

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2.c. Second Draft
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Intergalactic Alliance
Chapter 1
Ambush at TD-1036-00584

The small task force of fifteen ships waited on the edge of Chiss space, in the uncharted territories. As this was one of the more important, but secret, missions on the Chancellor's list, Commander Salsbrey was given command of fourteen freshly manufactured Nebulon-B escort frigates, and one Victory-class Star Destroyer, which were more than adequate to handle the task of destroying a fair-sized, unmarked Bulk Cruiser on an important mission: the Outbound Flight Project.

"Merkin, target status." The order came across the bridge, issued by a fairly average humanoid, with several exceptions. His skin was bluish tinted and his hair was blue-black, but his most prominent, and disturbing, feature was his glowing red eyes. Merkin replied, "The fifteen warships are still unaware of us. They seem to be looking for something else." "Hmm. Interesting." Thrawn, as the commander of a force of twelve Chiss warships, was closing in on this task force that had foolishly entered their territory. 

"Commander, I'm detecting a dozen ships, each about four hundred meters long entering the vicinity. They do not match any known warship designs." Salsbrey spun around. This could be dangerous, he thought. "Dispatch all frigates, and instruct them to be very careful."

"These humans are so predictable. Prepare to hyperjump behind the enemy ships on my mark." The twelve Chiss warships accelerated rapidly, jumping into hyperspace and dropping out just as rapidly.

"Captain, the enemy ships have jumped into hyperspace." An ensign looked up from the scanner console. The captain of the lead Nebulon-B looked up in surprise. "What are they doing?" "Sir, they just came out of hyperspace directly behind us. They are opening fire." The bridge shook with the turbolaser hits. "Return fire. All batteries." A lieutenant spoke up. "Sir, we can't take any more damage. Bridge shields are down to 20% and dropping rapidly. We've lost ten of the twelve bat-" At that moment, the bridge shields collapsed completely. Turbolaser blasts tore through the now-unshielded and lightly armored bridge, causing the ship to go out of control and crash into another frigate, destroying both.

"Two of the enemy ships are destroyed. We have sustained only minor damage." Thrawn looked at the battle. "When we have finished, target the enemy flagship, ion cannon only. I would like to find out just what these people are doing here." The remaining Nebulon-Bs made a valiant effort to destroy the larger Chiss warships, but they were just not built for combat with capital ships. Finally the last frigate, heavily damaged, accelerated at top speed and rammed one of the Chiss ships, causing both to explode.

"Sir!" The shout came across the bridge. Salsbrey walked over. "What is it?" "Sir, all fourteen frigates have been destroyed, and the enemy force is moving this way. They only lost two ships." Salsbrey could hardly control his shock and anger. "Open fire on the nearest ship as soon as it is in range with all weapons. Nobody messes with me!" Knowing Chancellor Palpatine's anger, he would rather die than abandon the mission. Even so, one of Palpatine's feared Hands was on board. Things could turn out to be very sticky for him.

Thrawn looked on calmly as the Star Destroyer ponderously rotated to face them. "Prepare to open fire, ion cannon only." As they came in range, the ships opened fire on each other. Ion cannon blasts lanced out from all ten Chiss ships, scrambling all of the Victory's systems. The Star Destroyer, before everything went offline, managed to concentrate fire on the second-to-lead Chiss ship, causing it to explode brilliantly. 

***

The Jedi Master took a look out of the viewport of the ship at the mottled sky of hyperspace; they had been in hyperspace for several weeks now. They would arrive at their first stop shortly, a small star system at the outer fringe of the galaxy. Somehow, he didn't feel all too good about this mission now. He'd talked to the other five Jedi Masters on the ship, but they didn't think anything of it.
Suddenly, the comm buzzed. He replied, "Yes? What is it?" He knew that it was probably the captain, wanting him to see something. He sighed. 
The voice continued, "-re going to pull out of hyperspace shortly; we would like you to be up here, in case anything happens." 
He still had that danger feeling on the back of his neck when he walked up to the bridge. 

***

Salsbrey sat steaming in the brig of Thrawn's ship. After a brief fight with the Chiss warriors, he had been captured. He was wondering how he could finish the mission when Thrawn walked in, accompanied by two bodyguards. "So, commander, just what were you doing intruding in our space?" Salsbrey nervously responded, "We were to intercept a renegade Bulk Cruiser with six Jedi aboard. They had caused a lot of damage where they came from, and our orders were to destroy them." "So that is your reason? Truthfully?" Salsbrey swallowed. "Yes." Thrawn nodded. "Give me the coordinates, and I will see how truthful you were." Salsbrey, afraid for his life, said, "They're on board my ship." Thrawn nodded and walked out, leaving a grateful Salsbrey to rest.

***

On the bridge, the captain of the specially modified Bulk Cruiser waited for the Jedi Master to arrive. The navicomputer indicated less than three minutes before they would pull out of hyperspace.

Master C'Baoth walked onto the bridge. Captain Avin promptly informed C'baoth, "Well, Master, I'm going to pull out of hyperspace late." C'baoth was temporarily startled. "Why is that?" Captain Avin answered "You had certain... reservations, and I'm a little nervous." Suddenly, the countdown timer pinged, and the navigator pulled back on the hyperdrive levers. The mottled sky of hyperspace flared, then became streaks as the ship jumped out of hyperspace.

***

Thrawn strode onto the bridge of the Star Destroyer, surveying his new prize. It had taken several hours to repair the damage caused by the ion cannon, but it was now fully operational. Merkin walked up to him. "We estimate that the cruiser will arrive in several minutes." "Excellent. Power up the weapons."

***

"Captain, we've come out of hyperspace in the middle of an alien fleet!" yelled the navigator. C'baoth looked out the forward viewscreen. "Those look like Chiss ships, but there's a new Star Destroyer in the middle." The captain asked, "Could it be that the Star Destroyer is under attack by the other ships?" C'baoth reached out with the Force. He sensed... "Avin, get us out of here!" Avin, confused, replied "Why? That's a Republic ship!" "Avin, I know it's a Republic ship. Just get us out of here!" The captain reached for the throttle, still doubting what was going on. "Yeah, I get the idea. Rohr, divert all power to the engines. Keep the shields at marginal power." C'baoth looked up suddenly. "Too late." Avin turned his head, and just at that moment, turbolaser fire lanced out from the ten ships.

The slow Bulk Cruiser shuddered as it was pounded by turbolaser fire. "Captain, the shields can't take much more pounding! Rear deflector shields are down by half already!" called one of the techs in the engine room.

C'Baoth asked, "Avin, can we make a jump to hyperspace?" The navigator, a dark-skinned man named Rohr, replied "Yeah, sure. There's a nearby black hole that's screwing up the navicomputer. It's going to take the computer twice as long to calculate the coordinates." "Well, just get us out of here before we're space dust!" exclaimed C'baoth.

***

Thrawn stood on the bridge of the Star Destroyer he had commandeered, surveying the situation. "Merkin, how are they doing?" "Their shields are failing, and they already have a large hull breach. We expect them to be crippled in roughly two minutes." the officer replied. "There's something else. I don't know why, but they're moving toward a black hole. If we follow too long, we'll be pulled into it.

***

The cruiser shuddered violently. "That wasn't a turbolaser blast- something exploded!" exclaimed the navigator Rohr. 

Derek, the main technician, shouted over the intercom. "Avin, we've got a major hull breach near the engines. If you're going to jump to hyperspace, you'd better do it now." Avin looked at the navicomputer's display, which read fifteen seconds to completion. "Damn. Fifteen seconds. All right everyone, hang on to something." 

Another shudder went through the whole ship. "Captain, we've got a hull breach near the hyperdrive, and it's heavily damaged!" 

Just as the tech said this, Captain Avin launched the ship into hyperspace. "Whew. We just ma-" BLAM! The cruiser suddenly and violently lurched, and the sky of hyperspace became a streaky tangle of lines as the ship was abruptly decanted into realspace. All the alarms on the bridge came on at once. 
C'Baoth, standing behind the captain, slammed into a bulkhead and blacked out. 

"Derek, what happened down there? Derek?" Rohr looked at his instruments, and said, "Avin, we've got big trouble. First, the hyperdrive detonated, taking out all but three engines. Second, remember that black hole? We're being pulled into it, and we don't have enough power left to pull out!"

***

"So. They went into hyperspace." calmly stated Thrawn. Merkin responded, "Sir,  the ship had lost one of its engines, and the hyperdrive was critically damaged. They don't have a chance of getting far." "Well, we'll wait here. Start scanning the area, in case they come out of hyperspace." ordered Thrawn. Merkin, looking at the advanced sensor display, stated "That is unnecessary. I've picked them up already. They came out of hyperspace too close to the black hole, and are being drawn in. It appears that the ship is out of control, and without power." Thrawn said "Well, in other words, their ship is too heavily damaged to escape. Make full speed for the rendezvous point that Commander Salsbrey provided us with. We have an appointment to meet."

Chapter 2
Through the void

The cruiser, trapped by immense gravitational fields, was slowly drawn into the anomaly. But instead of being crushed as a ship entering a normal black hole would, it slipped through to come out in a galaxy far, far away.

Avin looked nervously out of the viewport at the swirling colors in front of him. He could not decide if he was dead, alive, or dreaming. Suddenly, he could see a dark opening in front of him. The ship lurched, and it was out of the wormhole. The first thing that he noticed now that he was back in normal space was that the artificial gravity was out. Thank goodness he had his crash webbing on.

The pilot noticed C'baoth floating behind the seat. "Master, are you all right? Rohr, get the other Jedi up here." The navigator, who had just regained consciousness, turned around and activated the intercom. "Master Jarus, Master Norken, Master Jer-Jarod, Master Terfpine and Master Dellen, please come up to the cockpit. Jorus C'baoth seems to be unconscious." Dellen, the youngest Jedi Master on board, answered the intercom. "Rohr, we'll come as soon as possible, but we're kind of stuck down here. It might take several minutes to cut our way out. Also, Master Jer-Jarod was killed in an explosion." Rohr said, "Well, just get up here as soon as you can, then." He wasn't terribly sad at the Gungan's death; the putty-colored alien was rather annoying.

He turned around, and looked at the sensor readouts. Many of the sensors were offline due to the trip through the wormhole, and the ship was running on auxiliary power.

Just then the four Jedi walked into the cockpit. Dellen said, "We're here. Where's C'baoth?" Avin walked over, and showed them. Terfpine, a Calamarian, kneeled down and put his hand on C'baoth. "He's all right- just unconscious. I'll attempt to bring him out of it." Terfpine then closed his eyes and concentrated for several seconds. Getting up, he backed away, and C'baoth slowly rose. "I remember an explosion, then hitting my head. I felt a disturbance in the Force, as if it were... stretched. So what happened?" Avin responded, "C'baoth, after we made the jump to hyperspace, the hyperdrive detonated. We came out of hyperspace next to a black hole, then we went through it. Now we could be anywhere- maybe on the other side of the universe. There's a planet nearby that we're going to try to land on. The engines are damaged, though, so we'll have to do a ballistic reentry." C'baoth asked, "Aren't ballistic entries dangerous?" Avin responded, "That's why we need you to find everyone still alive on board, and get them to the escape pods. I'm going to take the ship down alone." C'baoth said, "Very well. Dellen, you and Terfpine go down to the engine room and try to find any survivors. I'll go with Jarus and Norken to get everyone else." He then walked out of the cockpit with the two Jedi. Master Dellen stared out the viewport at the planet, then turned and walked out.
***

An hour later, Master Terfpine sliced the last girder with his lightsaber, then moved it away with the Force, uncovering Derek. He carefully walked forward, then felt him. "Dellen, he's still alive, but heavily wounded." On the other side of the engine room, examining another technician, Dellen replied "Glad to hear it. This person wasn't quite as lucky. Want some help or something?" The Calamarian nodded his salmon-colored head, and said "Definitely. Help me get him to medical."

***

The last of the escape pods jettisoned, heading for the planet's surface. Avin, in the cockpit, sighed. Well, here goes nothing, he thought to himself as he began the descent. He adjusted his crash webbing for the umpteenth time, just as the Corvette hit the atmosphere. The badly damaged ship bucked violently, almost jerking the controls out of Avin's hand. Most of the ballistic re-entries Avin had flown before had gone rather smoothly; but this was like flying into a solid durasteel cliff. He fought for several seconds as the corvette bucked and shimmied its way through the upper atmosphere, then settled back into normal flight.

During the initial approach to the planet, the crew had scanned most of its surface. Luckily, the planet was mostly marshy with large lakes, like Calamari. He only hoped that the lake he'd planned to land in was no more than two or three meters deep. No good landing the ship only to have it sink.

***

The escape pod carrying Master Dellen gently splashed down in one of the many ponds on the surface of the planet. The pod's limited sensors indicated that there were no toxic gases, but Dellen was not so sure. Before he hit the hatch open switch, he grabbed a oxygen mask and canister, clipping them to his belt along with his lightsaber. He then opened the hatch.

Fresh air poured into the pod, removing the burnt smell of electronics. As Dellen climbed out, he took a long breath of the air. Just as he climbed out, another escape pod landed several metres away, splattering him with mud from head to toe. After wiping the mud off his face, he started walking toward the pod to see who was in it. 
The second pod's hatch popped open to reveal several boxes of supplies. "So that's why it landed so close." Dellen said to himself. "There was nobody aboard."

***

On board the corvette, Avin looked at his instruments. The ground was closing in fast, and he didn't even have power to the repulsors. This was going to be a very hard landing, after all. He switched the cockpit's inertial dampers to maximum, hoping that they would ease the harshness of landing. Another alarm went off in the cockpit- the ground proximity sensor. Avin hardly had time to look up before the ground rushed up to the viewport. There was a terrific screech as he was thrown against the crash webbing hard, and knew no more.

When he came to, he looked down at the control panel, and saw that it was spattered with blood. He realized that his mouth was full of it, and spat it out before releasing the crash webbing. Shakily getting up, Avin stumbled to the nearest medkit, nose bleeding like a fountain. Finding a bacta patch, he quickly applied it to his nose. Now, he thought, to find the rest of the crew. 

Avin tried to hit the switch for the main landing ramp of the corvette. It didn't work. Of course. The ramp must have been damaged, he thought to himself. Making his way to the other side of the ship, he tried the emergency landing ramp. It popped and groaned, then hissed down. Walking down the ramp, Avin finally took a look at this strange planet. The sky was the the bluest sky he had seen in quite a while, while marshes extending as far as the eye could see. 

He looked around, but could not find any of the pods. Heading back inside the ship, he went back to the cockpit. Activating whatever sensors were left was his first priority; all the pods had homing beacons built-in. It didn't take too long to find all of them, scattered all over the area. 

Avin decided that his next step would to be to go down to the cargo bay, and see if the hovercar was still intact. On arriving in the hangar bay, he was happy to see that the hovercar, as well as most of the cargo, was intact. What he wasn't happy to see was that the only doors to the cargo bay were buried underground due to their crash landing.

***

There was a thundering boom as the Corellian Corvette shot overhead at supersonic speeds. Dellen quickly ducked behind the pod as the shock wave reached him. Looking up, he saw that the corvette had stopped several kilometers away, and he decided to walk over to it.

***

Avin was still wondering what to do when he heard footsteps behind him. Spinning around, he brought his blaster to bear on Dellen. "Oh. It's just you." Dellen responded, "Well, of course it's me. Why, did you think it was a krayt dragon?" Avin was somewhat taken aback. "No, of course not." Dellen looked around at the cargo bay, then at Avin. "You seem to need some help. What's the problem?" Avin stared at the cargo bay's wall for several seconds, then turned back to Dellen. "I need to get the hovercar out to pick up everyone else, but the doors are buried." Dellen pulled out his lightsaber and walked over to the wall. "No problem." Igniting the molten silver blade, he then proceeded to cut through several layers of durasteel and made a roughly square door.

***

The next day Derek, C'baoth, Avin, and Dellen walked through what was left of the engine room. Derek said, "I don't think that there's much hope of getting off this planet, much less than get back to out own galaxy. All that's left of the propulsion system is  the auxiliary power generator and two sublight engines." C'baoth replied, "Well, that means that all we can do is sit here and hope that someone friendly comes along." Avin said, "Don't get depressed- we've got enough supplies here to almost set up a colony. There's one self-erecting shelter, two hovercars, a landspeeder, and several droids, including a couple protocol droids, a medical droid, and a few astromechs."

Chapter 3
Welcome to the Milky Way

Two years after the crash, the Reliant-class USS Endeavour was on a routine scanning mission on the border of the Alpha Quadrant. As they were passing a small, marshy planet, the comm officer exclaimed "My gosh, I've never seen anything like this!" Captain Nemelen asked, "Nothing like what?" Officer Kelton spun around in his chair. "Captain, I'm picking up energy readings on the planet below us that are beyond the power output of... well... nothing I've ever seen! The captain had a shocked look on her face, but managed to regain her composure. "Put it on the main viewscreen." Kelton fiddled with the controls a second, and then a slightly grainy image appeared. Several ensigns gasped at the sight. An large ship, longer than the Endeavour, was lying on the ground. The ship was one hundred fifty meters long, with a hammer-headed bow, a ribbed body, and a badly mangled stern. Nearby there was what appeared to be some sort of shelter. "Kelton, what kind of power source does it have?" "Unknown, although it is not an antimatter reactor." "Captain, I'm picking up about thirty life-forms close to the ship. They appear to be humanoid. Also, I'm detecting some type of scanning emanating from the hammer-headed ship. I believe that they have detected us as well. Should we try to contact them?"

***

In the cockpit of the corvette, or what was left of it, Rohr looked at the scanning results for the hundredth time. Noticing a ship somewhat smaller than theirs, he immediately called Avin and C'baoth. Avin came running, followed closely by C'baoth. Rohr pointed to the sensor display. "Avin, there's a ship nearby. It's saucer-shaped, and appears to be powered by some type of sublight drive I've never seen before. There also is some strange type of weaponry system. What should we do?" Avin had no chance to reply before Rohr broke in again. "Captain, there's something else. The ship is scanning us- no doubt about that. Their systems are rather primitive, as their method of scanning seems to be just blast energy all over space and hope something returns." C'baoth looked at the sensor readouts. "Well, we can't do much of anything if they are hostile, because we only have one turbolaser turret operational; so let's hope that they're friendly.

Suddenly, the main comm chirped. Bursts of static broke out, and Avin quickly hit the squelch button. Finally, what sounded like some type of message came across. C'baoth, listening to it for a while, said "Rohr, go get one of the translator droids and bring it up here." Rohr ran out, and a minute late came back with a bronze-colored protocol unit. "I am C-3KY, human-cyborg re-" C'baoth cut off the droid with a wave of his hand. "Freaky, can you understand the message?" The droid turned around. "What message?" C'baoth was getting annoyed. No wonder protocol droids had a tendency to not last very long. "The message that was just playing, you rusty tinhead!" The bronze-colored droid turned back to the panel. "It appears to be an early dialect of Basic. Some type of friendship signal, if I'm not mistaken." C'baoth waited impatiently. The droid continued,  "The transmission says that the ship is the United Federation of Planets' Reliant-class vessel USS Endeavour, on a routine scanning mission." Avin looked nervously at C'baoth and Rohr. "Should we reply?" C'baoth looked at the droid. "Freaky, can you reply to them?" The droid said "Certainly. What should I tell them?" C'baoth said, "Tell them that we are the survivors of an expedition." The droid turned around to say this, but C'baoth turned it around again. "DO NOT tell them who we are, where we are from, or what the expedition is."

***

Five light-years away, a Klingon Bird of Prey sat cloaked, listening to what was going on. The warrior in charge of the ship decided that these "explorers" may be useful to them, and the ship accelerated to warp speed.

***

Captain Nemelen spoke. "We will beam down several of our crew to survey the situation." C'baoth was perplexed. "We appreciate your interest, but what is beaming down? Is it like sending a shuttle?" Nemelen was even more perplexed. "Well, it's teleportation. It's much quicker than sending a shuttle." C'baoth was still puzzled. "So, what does the teleporter do to you?" 

Kelton suddenly broke in. "Captain, I'm picking up some strange energy readings behind us. It looks like a cloaked ship." Nemelen spun around. "Turn the ship around! NOW!" The helm tried to comply, but the ship was only halfway around before the Klingon ship de-cloaked and fired. Down on the ground, Dellen was listening to the comm channel. He was partly understanding what they were saying- enough to know that the "rescuers" were in trouble. "C'baoth, I'm heading to the turbolaser. I'll try to help that ship." He quickly ran down the corridor to the turbolaser turret. Thank goodness, he thought, that the Republic put a normal turbolaser battery on this ship. Strapping in, he powered the targeting system up. With the targeting system on-line, he could see just what was attacking. A small, green, winged attack ship. He waited several seconds to get a target lock, then pressed the fire button.

Twin bolts of energised plasma shot up from the grounded ship. They struck on the Bird of Prey's bow, eliminating the shields and damaging the torpedo launcher. Kelton looked in surprise at the viewer. "Captain, the ship on the ground just fired on the Klingon ship! It seems that they have some type of high-energy plasma weapon!" "They did?" "Captain, look at the viewer!" The turbolaser bolts had weakened the bird of prey's shields dramatically. Another volley of bolts came up,  impacted in the stern, and knocked the warship's engines out. "Target the Bird of Prey and hit it with everything we've got."

Dellen, still controlling the turbolaser turret, fired again. Twin red bolts again lanced out, this time catching the Bird of Prey amidships. The combined turbolaser, phaser, and photon torpedo fire was too much for the ship, and it exploded in a spectacular fireball. After watching the ship disintegrate, he headed back to the cockpit.

Nemelen, Kelton, the main engineer, and several other crewers were standing outside the corvette. C'baoth, Avin, Dellen, and C-3KY walked down the ramp to meet them. The Federation group stopped, their mouths hanging open with surprise at the similarities between themselves and the strange people. Then C-3KY strutted forward. "Greetings. I am C-3KY, human-cyborg relations. How may I help you?" Nemelen spoke. "May I ask who is in charge of this... expedition?" C'baoth stepped forward. "I am the Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth. Did you wish to speak to me?"

Chapter 4

The crew of the Endeavour arranged to take C'baoth, Avin and C-3KY to Earth, to discuss the situation. In the meantime, the rest of the OFP's crew and some of the Endeavour's crew stayed with the ship, protecting against any other attacks.

Several months later...

"Admiral, just what have you done with the crew of the alien ship you captured?" The Romulan ambassador was upset with the rumors that an alien ship, from another galaxy, had been taken by the Federation. "What alien ship?" Admiral Kirk was somewhat impressed with the Romulan Star Empire's intelligence. "I'm telling you, we have not captured any alien ship." "Mincing words, Admiral? We have evidence that your Federation discovered an alien ship with highly advanced technology. If you do not admit what happened, we will not hesitate to declare war on your puny Federation." Kirk was caught between a rock and a hard place. "I cannot say at the moment. Excuse me, I must have a talk with the Starfleet command." Ambassador Tri'vok grabbed Kirk by the shoulder. "You had better not be planning anything. If you are, you will regret it."

=============
2.d. Comments
=============
	By now, my writing style was beginning to improve. I was trying to give the characters... well, a little more character. I was also experimenting with the hidden-voice way of writing, having read Chuck Sonnenburg's work, Worlds without End. As the reader likely notices, Chapter Four introduced Admiral James T. Kirk - the only character I thought I knew, due to having only watched the first six movies. I guess I didn't know his character that well.

	There were plenty of other errors at this point as well. The only Miranda-class vessel I'd seen was the USS Reliant - and so I made the logical conclusion that it was the Reliant-class. Also, I had no idea that Thrawn only held the rank of Commander, and had no clues as to how the battle between him and the Republic task-force went. As some denizens of the newsgroup pointed out, Thrawn did not command warships - he was in charge of a force of patrol ships. These changes can be seen in the next revision of Intergalactic Alliance.

================
2.e. Third Draft
================

Intergalactic Alliance

Chapter 1: Ambush

	The small task force of fifteen ships waited on the edge of Chiss space, in the uncharted territories. As this was one of the more important, but secret, missions on the Chancellor's list, Commander Salsbrey was given command of fourteen freshly manufactured Nebulon-B escort frigates, and one Victory-class Star Destroyer, which were more than adequate to handle the task of destroying an unmarked Bulk Cruiser on an important mission: the Outbound Flight Project.

	"Merkin, target status." The order came across the cockpit, issued by a fairly average humanoid, with several exceptions. His skin was bluish tinted and his hair was blue-black, but his most prominent, and disturbing, feature was his glowing red eyes. Merkin replied, "The fifteen warships are still unaware of us. They seem to be looking for something else." "Hmm. Interesting." Thrawn, as the commander of a force of twelve Chiss patrol ships, was closing in on this task force that had foolishly entered their territory. 

	"Commander, I'm detecting a dozen ships, each about seventy meters long, entering the vicinity. They do not match any known ship designs." Salsbrey spun around. "How are they armed?" The lieutenant keyed something in, then replied. "Ion cannon and quadlasers. I'm not sure how many." Salsbrey swore. Just the thing he needed, especially when the cruiser was due to arrive in a few hours. "Dispatch all the Nebulon-Bs and instruct them to open fire as soon as they are in range."

	"These humans are so predictable. Prepare to hyperjump behind the enemy ships on my mark." The twelve Chiss ships accelerated rapidly, jumping into hyperspace and dropping out just as rapidly.

	"Captain, the enemy ships have jumped into hyperspace." An ensign looked up from the scanner console. The captain of the lead Nebulon-B looked up in surprise. "What are they doing?" "Sir, they just came out of hyperspace directly behind us. They are opening fire." Ion cannon blasts washed over the lead frigate, causing it to lose control and ram two other frigates, detonating in a large fireball.

	"Three of the enemy ships are destroyed. We have sustained only minor damage." Thrawn looked at the battle. "When we have finished, target the enemy flagship, ion cannon only. I would like to find out just what these people are doing here." 
	
	The remaining Nebulon-Bs attempted to fight off the attackers, but their turbolasers had a hard time targeting the fairly quick patrol craft, while their quad-lasers had a negligible effect on the ships. In the confusion, one frigate was destroyed due to accidental fire from the others, and a damaged Chiss craft collided with the bridge of a Nebulon-B, sending it out of control into another.
	A daring Chiss ship docked with a nearby frigate, suffering some damage before the gunners stopped firing due to the close range. The Chiss warriors blasted into the frigate, making quick work of the startled crew, who offered weak resistance. The commandeered frigate then opened fire on the other Nebulon-Bs. Slowly, the other eight Nebulon-Bs were destroyed or neutralized.
"Sir!" The shout came across the bridge. Salsbrey walked over. "What is it?" "Sir, ten frigates have been destroyed, three have been damaged beyond repair, and one has been captured. They only lost one ship." Salsbrey could hardly control his shock and anger. "Open fire as soon as they are in range. Nobody messes with me!" Knowing Chancellor Palpatine's anger, he would rather die than abandon the mission. Even so, one of Palpatine's feared Hands was on board. Things could turn out to be very sticky for him.

	Thrawn looked on calmly as the Star Destroyer ponderously rotated to face them. "Merkin, jump to hyperspace... now." The Chiss ships microjumped again, coming out of hyperspace directly behind the Victory's bridge tower. The Nebulon-B now became useful, as the Victory dispatched all of its starfighters. In the meantime, the Chiss ships had been pounding the Star Destroyer with ion cannon, scrambling all of its systems. Once it was neutralized, several docked and blasted their way into it. During the brief scuffle that followed, Palpatine's Hand left in a small shuttle to report on what happened.

***

	The Jedi Master took a look out of the viewport of the ship at the mottled sky of hyperspace; they had left Yaga Minor several weeks ago. They would arrive at their first stop shortly, a small star system at the outer fringe of the galaxy. Somehow, he didn't feel all too good about this mission now. He'd talked to the other five Jedi Masters on the ship, but they didn't think anything of it.
Suddenly, the comm buzzed. He replied, "Yes? What is it?" He knew that it was probably the captain, wanting him to see something. He sighed. 
The voice continued, "-re going to pull out of hyperspace shortly; we would like you to be up here, in case anything happens." 
He still had that danger feeling on the back of his neck when he walked up to the bridge. 

***

	Salsbrey sat steaming in the brig of his Star Destroyer. After a brief fight with the Chiss warriors, he had been captured. He was wondering how he could finish the mission when Thrawn walked in, accompanied by two bodyguards. "So, commander, just what were you doing intruding in our space?" Salsbrey nervously responded, "We were to intercept a renegade Bulk Cruiser with six Jedi aboard. They had caused a lot of damage where they came from, and our orders were to destroy them." "So that is your reason? Truthfully?" Salsbrey swallowed. "Yes." Thrawn nodded. "Give me the coordinates, and I will see how truthful you were." Salsbrey, afraid for his life, said, "They're on board my ship." Thrawn nodded and walked out, leaving a grateful Salsbrey to rest.

***

	On the bridge, the captain of the specially modified Bulk Cruiser waited for the Jedi Master to arrive. The navicomputer indicated less than three minutes before they would pull out of hyperspace.

	The 600 meter Neutron Star-class cruiser had been built by Rendili StarDrive specifically for the mission, and was modified for extended range. Its thirty quadlasers had been taken out to make more room for the extra fuel and supplies. The quad-lasers had been replaced, at C'baoth's request, with three medium turbolasers. It was running on a skeleton crew of 220, utilizing technology from the Katana fleet. C'baoth had objected to that at first, as the Katana fleet had just recently been lost after a hive virus devastated the crew, but the Republic specialists had taken steps to prevent that from happening. The cruiser carried several thousand droids, with everything from repair droids that crawled along on the outside of the ship, to the small MSE maintenance droids that scurried the corridors. Medical facilities were fairly large, with thirty hardwired 21A medical droids, and fifteen bacta tanks. 
	The ship's mission: to travel to the nearest galaxy, 800,000 light-years distant. The cruiser had a highly modified Class 2 hyperdrive, which was capable of traveling there in three hundred years. Because of this, the ship had been fitted with a top-of-the-line carbon freeze facility, capable of freezing people unharmed. 
	The plan had been for everyone to go into hibernation when they arrived in-system, and the autopilot would take them the rest of the way. As soon as the ship was within 100 light-years of the destination, they would be defrosted so the mission could continue on manual control.

	Master C'Baoth walked onto the bridge. Captain Avin promptly informed C'baoth, "Well, Master, I'm going to pull out of hyperspace late." C'baoth was temporarily startled. "Why is that?" Captain Avin answered "You had certain... reservations, and I'm a little nervous." Suddenly, the countdown timer pinged, and the navigator pulled back on the hyperdrive levers. The mottled sky of hyperspace flared, then became streaks as the ship jumped out of hyperspace.

***

	Thrawn strode onto the bridge of the Star Destroyer, surveying his new prize. It had taken several hours to repair the damage caused by the ion cannon, but it was now fully operational. Merkin walked up to him. "We estimate that the cruiser will arrive in several minutes." "Excellent. Power up the weapons."

***

	"Captain, we've come out of hyperspace in the middle of an alien fleet!" yelled the navigator. C'baoth looked out the forward viewscreen. "Those look like Chiss ships, but there's a new Star Destroyer and a frigate in the middle." The captain asked, "Could it be that the Star Destroyer is under attack by the other ships?" C'baoth reached out with the Force. He sensed... "Avin, get us out of here!" Avin, confused, replied "Why? That's a Republic ship!" "Avin, I know it's a Republic ship. Just get us out of here!" The captain reached for the throttle, still doubting what was going on. "Yeah, I get the idea. Rohr, divert all power to the engines. Keep the shields at marginal power." C'baoth looked up suddenly. "Too late." Avin turned his head, and just at that moment, turbolaser fire lanced out from the thirteen ships.
	The slow Bulk Cruiser shuddered as it was pounded by turbolaser fire. "Captain, the shields can't take much more pounding! Rear deflector shields are down by half already!" called one of the techs in the engine room.
	C'Baoth asked, "Avin, can we make a jump to hyperspace?" The navigator, a dark-skinned man named Rohr, replied "Yeah, sure. There's a nearby black hole that's screwing up the navicomputer. It's going to take the computer twice as long to calculate the coordinates." "Well, just get us out of here before we're space dust!" exclaimed C'baoth.

***

	Thrawn stood on the bridge of the Star Destroyer he had commandeered, surveying the situation. "Merkin, how are they doing?" "Their shields are failing, and they already have a large hull breach. We expect them to be crippled in roughly two minutes." the officer replied. "There's something else. I don't know why, but they're moving toward a black hole. If we follow too long, we'll be pulled into it.

***

	The cruiser shuddered violently. "That wasn't a turbolaser blast- something exploded!" exclaimed the navigator Rohr. 
	Derek, the main technician, shouted over the intercom. "Avin, we've got a major hull breach near the engines. If you're going to jump to hyperspace, you'd better do it now." Avin looked at the navicomputer's display, which read fifteen seconds to completion. "Damn. Fifteen seconds. All right everyone, hang on to something." 
	Another shudder went through the whole ship. "Captain, we've got a hull breach near the hyperdrive, and it's heavily damaged!" 
	Just as the tech said this, Captain Avin launched the ship into hyperspace. "Whew. We just ma-" BLAM! The cruiser suddenly and violently lurched, and the sky of hyperspace became a streaky tangle of lines as the ship was abruptly decanted into realspace. All the alarms on the bridge came on at once. 
C'Baoth, standing behind the captain, slammed into a bulkhead and blacked out. 
	"Derek, what happened down there? Derek?" Rohr looked at his instruments, and said, "Avin, we've got big trouble. First, the hyperdrive detonated, heavily damaging one of the engines and the solar ionization reactor. Second, remember that black hole? We're being pulled into it, and we don't have enough power left to pull out!"

***

	"So. They went into hyperspace." calmly stated Thrawn. Merkin responded, "Sir,  the ship had lost one of its engines, and the hyperdrive was critically damaged. They don't have a chance of getting far." "Well, we'll wait here. Start scanning the area, in case they come out of hyperspace." ordered Thrawn. Merkin, looking at the advanced sensor display, stated "That is unnecessary. I've picked them up already. They came out of hyperspace too close to the black hole, and are being drawn in. It appears that the ship is out of control, and without power." Thrawn said "Well, in other words, their ship is too heavily damaged to escape. Make full speed for the rendezvous point that Commander Salsbrey provided us with. We have an appointment to meet."

Chapter 2: Through the void

	The cruiser, trapped by immense gravitational fields, was slowly drawn into the anomaly. But instead of being crushed as a ship entering a normal black hole would, it slipped through to come out in a galaxy far, far away.

	Avin looked nervously out of the viewport at the swirling colors in front of him. He could not decide if he was dead, alive, or dreaming. Suddenly, he could see a dark opening in front of him. The ship lurched, and it was out of the wormhole. The first thing that he noticed now that he was back in normal space was that the artificial gravity was off. Thank goodness he had his crash webbing on.
	The captain noticed C'baoth floating behind his seat. "Master, are you all right? Rohr, get the other Jedi up here." The navigator, who had just regained consciousness, turned around and activated the intercom. "Masters Jarus, Norken,   Jer-Jarod, Hkalle and Dellen, please come up to the cockpit. Master C'baoth seems to be unconscious." Dellen, the youngest Jedi Master on board, answered the intercom. "Rohr, we'll come as soon as possible, but we're kind of stuck down here. It might take several minutes to cut our way out. Also, Master Jer-Jarod was killed in an explosion." Rohr said, "Well, just get up here as soon as you can, then." He wasn't terribly sad at the Gungan's death; the putty-colored alien was rather annoying.
	He turned around, and looked at the sensor readouts. Many of the sensors were offline due to the trip through the wormhole, and the ship was running on auxiliary power, but he could tell that they were nowhere near their galaxy, or the target galaxy.
	Just then the four Jedi floated onto the bridge. Dellen said, "We're here. Where's C'baoth?" Avin moved over, and showed them. Hkalle, a Calamarian, bent down and put his hand on C'baoth. "He's all right- just unconscious. I'll attempt to bring him out of it." Terfpine then closed his eyes and concentrated for several seconds. He backed away, and C'baoth slowly rose. "What happened?" Avin responded, "Well, after we made the jump to hyperspace, the hyperdrive blew, and we dropped out next to the black hole. At least we thought it was a black hole. We were then drawn into it, and came out here... wherever here is.

***

	An hour later, Master Hkalle sliced the last girder with his lightsaber, then moved it away with the Force, uncovering Derek. He carefully crawled forward, then felt him. "Dellen, he's still alive, but heavily wounded." On the other side of the engine room, examining another technician, Dellen replied "Glad to hear it. This person wasn't quite as lucky. Want some help with Derek?" The Calamarian nodded his salmon-colored head, and said "Definitely. Help me get him to medical."

***

	Several days later, the ship was mostly repaired. Artificial gravity had been restored to all but two of the decks, and the hull breaches had been hastily patched.
	In the mess hall, the crew was having an emergency meeting. Avin addressed everyone. "So far, the Outbound Flight Project is a partial success. We've traveled to another galaxy, but our only problem is that we can't get back." Everyone groaned at that. He continued. "After we traveled through the wormhole, it abruptly vanished. Now we still have the carbon freeze equipment, but without the hyperdrive, we're stranded. Also, we're at least forty light-years from the nearest stellar system. With our hyperdrive destroyed, it could take a hundred years to reach it." A young crew member spoke up. "But won't the Republic come looking for us?" C'baoth replied. "We're at least several billion light-years from our home galaxy. We were ambushed by a Republic Star Destroyer. We traveled through a black hole. Even if the Republic did come here, it would take thousands, if not millions of years. And seeing that someone sent a Star Destroyer to ambush us, it's very unlikely they would look for us, especially since they would think we were destroyed." Avin and the navigator nodded, and he continued. "So far, it seems that the only thing we can do is set a course for the system, and go into hibernation."

Chapter 3: The Dark Force

	Sixty years later, the Immobilizer-class Interdictor RS-34-6795 cruised along its patrol route in an insignificant sector of the galaxy. As there was no hints of rebellion here, the cruiser was alone. Suddenly, several Rebel corvettes, freighters and fighters came out of hyperspace nearby and began attacking, strafing the Interdictor before it could react. The captain quickly realized that he was outnumbered and outgunned. "Lieutenant Raksan, calculate the jump to hyperspace NOW!"
	A concussion missile impacted on the bridge, jarring it hard enough that the navigator hit his head on the hyperdrive controls, slamming the ship into hyperspace. As the ship was in hyperspace, it passed the mass shadow of a large asteroid, blowing the safeties on the hyperdrive and sending it hurtling into realspace. 
	Captain Norksen looked up, and realized that his nose was bleeding. He quickly held it and looked out the forward viewports. Looming in front were five dark grey Dreadnaughts. "Lieutenant, what are those ships?" The shocked lieutenant responded. "The ships are... part of the Katana fleet. They appear to have no life-forms aboard." Captain Norksen was astonished. "Sixty years. Sixty years, and now I've found them. Lieutenant, prepare a shuttle and team to investigate." "At once, sir."
	In the hangar bay of the Interdictor, the teams were scrambling to prepare two TIE/Shuttles. "How long until we can leave?" Lt. Mandrel asked. A technician responded, "Another fifteen minutes, sir. The crews were not expecting this." Lt. Mandrel told him, "Well, I don't care if they don't have their pants on. We may be attacked by those Rebel scum, and we sure don't want them to get the Katana fleet." "Agreed, sir. I'll go see how they are coming." 
	Finally, the two shuttles lifted off and headed for the Dreadnaught at top speed. As they flew into the hangar bay, Lt. Mandrel was surprised to see the hangar lights flick on. The TIE/Shuttles then settled on the hangar floor with an ominous clang. First the stormtroopers got out, their armor suits protecting them from whatever may have been in the air. Then the rest of the crew got out. Fanning out, they walked over toward the main hangar door, which slid open for them.

=============
2.f. Comments
=============

	In this revision, the reader can see the beginnings of one of my later characters, a Chiss - Commodore Mantrel. That character, later introduced in Rays of Dawn, was essentially a combination of Thrawn's assistant Merkin and the unfortunate Lt. Mandrel. (The name Merkin actually came from the computer game Age of Empires - if you clicked on a military unit, the game would play "Merkin" or "Habudak.") In this revision, I killed the Gungan of the Jedi contingent of the OFP; later, I changed it back and used him as a minor character who would say stupid things whenever I felt it was necessary. Oh well, I still regret leaving him in, but no fiction is complete without an idiot!

=================
2.g. Fourth Draft
=================

Intergalactic Alliance

Prologue

	Twenty-five thousand years before the Empire, at the dawn of the Republic, an amazing event occurred. An event that was to forever change the history of another galaxy.

	A lone technician walked up to the captain of a relatively small ship. "Hosken, the hyperdrive is ready for testing." 
	The captain turned around to face the tech. "Good. Proceed with the test." 
	The engineers had been working on a new prototype stardrive for some time now. Hyperdrives were a fairly recent invention, only several hundred years old; until they had been invented, the people of this sector had been using a subspace distortion drive, which could only travel at a hundred light-years per day. The new hyperdrives were capable of traveling at speeds in excess of twenty-five light-years per hour. They worked by immersing the starship totally in another dimension. Several engineers had been perfecting a hyperdrive which could travel in excess of one thousand light-years per hour, and finally, it was ready for testing.

	The RSV Discoverer was waiting in orbit of the planet where it had been built. Finally, the hundred-meter ship powered up its ion engines, and headed out to a safe distance, where if the hyperdrive detonated, it would not damage anything. Early hyperdrives were notorious for instability. 
	Then the command came across the bridge. "Prepare to make the jump to hyperspace on my mark." 
	The Discoverer's navigator reached for the levers, and checked the navicomputer. 
	"Mark." 
	The navigator pulled back on the levers. Everyone on the bridge heard a oscillating whine, then a thump and bang, throwing the ship several degrees off course. Suddenly, with a high-pitched whine, the ship lurched forward, throwing anyone that was not sitting back. Stars turned into starlines, and the mottled sky of hyperspace appeared.

	Over fourteen billion light-years away, in a distant galaxy, a fair-sized planet was the third in orbit of a relatively young star. Its fate was to be changed forever, as the RSV Discoverer sped through hyperspace toward it. 

	On board the Discoverer, the crew was collecting themselves when the ship lurched as it skimmed the mass shadow of a star, accelerating it to phenomenal speeds. Several days later, the proximity alarms sounded, and the hyperdrive cut off. The crew looked up, and saw a planet looming in front of them. Several systems had shorted out, and the captain looked on helplessly as the ship careened, out of control, through the atmosphere of the planet. Finally, with a horrific screech, the ship came to rest on a small continent surrounded by ocean. The continent of Atlantis.

	Five hundred years later, there was a thriving colony on the continent. The RSV Discoverer lay in the central city which had grown around it. The inhabitants had built an impressive navy out of the wood that grew abundantly on the island, and were exploring the new planet. Traveling east, they landed on a continent inhabited by savage humanoids, who attacked fiercely. The Atlanteans fought back, and thanks to their superior weaponry, won. They then went on to establish a colony, which became the focal point for communications with Atlantis. Eventually, the colony throve, and the humans expanded outwards from a continent known as Africa. But, no matter how far they went, they never forgot Atlantis, or the stories of the galaxy where they came from.

	One thousand five hundred years after the crash, a man was in the cockpit of the Discoverer, watching the still-functional sensor consoles. An alarm went off, and the long-range console indicated a medium-sized iron asteroid, heading directly for their position, with an impact time of about three weeks. He got the warning out to the council, who loaded up the Navy ships with all the supplies, animals, and families they could, then sent them away quickly.

	The ships were over a thousand kilometers away from home when everyone saw a reddish glow. The asteroid had finally arrived. They saw it streak toward the ground, with a low, loud sonic boom that shook the ships. They then saw a red glow, and a fireball slowly rose. 
	The impact had punched the island continent of Atlantis deep into the mantle, obliterating any trace of civilization nearby. Later on, the region became known as the Bermuda Triangle, and because of the embedded iron body, passing ships were not able to navigate as their compasses went haywire. 
	The effects of the impact were widespread throughout the planet. Faults and volcanoes opened, and a massive, superheated tidal wave spread outward from the impact site, causing partial melting of the polar ice caps.

	Several days later, the lookouts on the ship saw a huge tidal wave heading right for them. They then fastened the ships, and prepared for the worst. The tidal wave hit, tossing the largest ships around like toys. Most of the ships sank, and only one of the largest ships, with mostly animals and humans on board, survived. Many days passed, and the tidal wave traveled around the world, inundating anything on the ground. Those that escaped were mostly animals which had fled to the highest mountains, such as the Himalayas, where the tidal wave had little effect. Finally, the ship came to rest in what became known as Asia Minor.

	It was over thirteen thousand years before the ancient Egyptians neared the former location of Atlantis. Seven thousand years later, the men on the planet started to explore space again. Two hundred years after that, they had re-developed subspace distortion drives. And that was just the beginning...

Chapter 1:  Ambush

	Commander Salsbrey impatiently sat in his ready room, waiting for notice of the fleet's arrival from hyperspace. Sometimes, he thought to himself, galactic travel can be so boring. It had already been several weeks since they'd left the base; the Star Destroyer could have gotten there faster, if it wasn't for the Corellian Corvettes. Those small ships just simply didn't travel at the Victory's cruising speed of .45; instead, they traveled at a much slower 1.0. It didn't seem like much difference, but for long trips, every second mattered. 
	He was in command of a fleet of about 15 ships, which were composed of his Victory-class Star Destroyer (the third one produced), a single Interdictor Cruiser, five Nebulon-B frigates, and seven Corellian Corvettes. Timing was essential in this. As the Outbound Flight Project had departed from Yaga Minor at roughly the same time as his force had departed, he could only hope that the Interdictor arrived on time to stop it. And as if that was not bad enough, the Republic Chancellor had made sure that one of his accursed Sith was aboard the flagship. Just to oversee, Palpatine had said. But if reports were to be believed, these Sith were particularly dangerous. Darth Maul had been a good example of this.
	Finally, though, the long-awaited call came. "Commander Salsbrey to the bridge. Commander Salsbrey to the bridge. The fleet will be coming out of hyperspace in ten decimal five eight minutes."

	An ensign spoke up from a console on board the Star Destroyer. "Commander, I'm detecting a dozen ships, between thirty to eighty meters long, entering the vicinity. They do not match any known ship designs, but they seem to be patrol craft of some type." 
	Salsbrey spun around. "How are they armed?" 
	The ensign keyed something in, then replied. "Quadlasers and ion cannon. I'm not sure how many." 
	Salsbrey swore. Just the thing he needed, especially when the cruiser was due to arrive in a few hours. "Dispatch all the Nebulon-Bs and instruct them to open fire as soon as they are in range."

	Thrawn turned to his first officer. "Prepare to hyperjump behind the enemy ships on my mark." 
	The first officer turned and punched in the coordinates. "
	Mark." 
	The twelve Chiss patrol ships accelerated rapidly, microjumping across a vast distance in a fraction of a second.

	"Captain, the enemy ships have gone to hyperspace." An ensign looked up from the scanner console of the leading Nebulon-B. "They just appeared behind us- they must have microjumped." 
	The captain of the frigate had hardly a second to think before the Chiss opened fire on the frigates with ion cannon. "Return fire!" 
	A lieutenant replied, "Sir, we have lost control of most sys-" 
	At that point, all the ship's portside maneuvering thrusters fired, sending the frigate directly into the path of another frigate, which was attempting to cut off the intruders. The second frigate, unable to turn in time, slammed into the derelict ship at high speed. Both were destroyed in the ensuing fireball.

	On board the Nebulon-B frigate Waywind, the crew was in a desperate situation. The frigate's own turbolasers were having problems tracking the enemy patrol craft, while the quadlaser batteries were not inflicting much damage, being only marginally more powerful than starfighter cannon. As a result, the frigate was scoring a lot of friendly hits. Finally, one of the smaller Chiss ships, roughly fifty meters long, docked with the frigate via one of its central boarding tubes. The patrol boat suffered some damage before the frigate stopped firing, due to the close range.
	The captain's voice resounded through the frigate. "This is the captain. We are about to be boarded. All hands to the central boarding hatch. I repeat. We are about to be boarded. All hands to the central boarding hatch."
	It did not take long for the Chiss to hot-wire the outer airlock. As soon as the inner airlock was open, the team of six Chiss ran across the passageway, blasting a few stray technicians. By the time the Republic Navy troops arrived, the ship had already undocked, and the warriors were nearing the bridge. Several minutes later, the frigate was in their hands.

	In the confusion, two frigates were destroyed due to friendly fire, and a damaged Chiss craft collided with the bridge of another Nebulon-B, sending it out of control.

	"Sir!" The shout came echoing across the bridge. 
	Salsbrey walked over, obviously not happy. "Ensign Earak." 
	The ensign in question hesitated for several seconds, then responded. "Sir." 
	Commander Salsbrey continued. "On my ship, information is not just shouted in the direction of the intended recipient. Do you understand?" 
	Earak nodded. "Yes, sir." 
	The commander motioned at him. "You may proceed with what you were going to say." 
	The ensign gulped, and continued. "Sir, five frigates have been destroyed, and the sixth appears to have been captured. The enemy forces only lost one ship." 
	At this, Commander Salsbrey could hardly control his shock at the loss of over half of his force. He turned around. "Lieutenant, have all the corvettes stay near our ship. Open fire as soon as the enemy is within range." 
	As he knew Chancellor Palpatine's anger, he would rather die an honorable death at the hands of an enemy rather than abandon the mission. Even so, one of Palpatine's feared Hands was on board. Things could turn out to be very sticky for him.

	Thrawn looked on calmly as the Star Destroyer ponderously rotated to face them and the corvettes moved into position. "Merkin, jump to hyperspace on my mark." "Mark." 
	The Chiss ships microjumped again, coming out of hyperspace directly behind the Victory's bridge tower, but above the ion wash. The ships began pounding the Star Destroyer's bridge with ion cannon, scrambling its systems. Once the turbolasers and particle shields were offline, six of the largest docked through hull breaches and disgorged twenty Chiss warriors each, then detached to attack the oncoming corvettes. 

	The bridge shook again as the patrol boats blasted another hole in the superstructure. Klaxons were blaring all over the ship, signaling a boarding. Commander Salsbrey got up from where he fell, just in time to see the bridge's main blast door collapse under a hail of fire. Stun blasts were mixed with shots from the bridge crew's blasters, and several Chiss warriors fell. By the time the Chiss were finished, though, nobody was left standing on the bridge.

	A Chiss commando team blasted its way into the firing control room, startling the gunners there. Before a shot could be fired, rippling blue stun blasts washed over the gunners, instantly disabling them. One warrior activated the concussion missile launcher controls, aiming it at two Corvettes. He pressed down on the firing stud, and dozens of concussion missiles launched. The  Corvettes didn't stand a chance. One was vaporized within seconds, and the other Corvette's engine bank exploded, sending the flaming hulk spinning into yet another corvette.

	As he heard the klaxons blaring all over the ship, a Dark Jedi strode to the hangar bay. He knew that the ship was going to be either captured or destroyed, and his job was to inform Palpatine of what happened. He reached the hangar bay just as blaster fire rang out, signaling that the warriors had reached it as well. Leaping into the cockpit of an early-model Skipray Blastboat, he powered up the ship and headed out at full speed. The warring ships took little notice of him, and the small ship escaped to hyperspace almost unnoticed.

	The eleven remaining Chiss ships and the four Corvettes were playing a game of tag, as the Corvettes kept firing their quadlaser batteries, and the Chiss patrol ships kept their distance, firing ion cannon. The captured frigate was not so lucky. It was hit by concentrated fire from all the corvettes, which tore gaping holes through the hull, venting it to space. Before it went down, though, it claimed a kill from its turbolaser fire, a Corvette that had been holding back. Gradually, the rest of the corvettes were neutralized.
	Another Chiss patrol docked and boarded a Corvette, its warriors easily overcoming resistance by the 245-man Republic crew. But several stray concussion missiles blasted the patrol craft just as it was unlocking from the Corvette, shredding parts of the hull and venting it to space. In the meantime, the captured Corvette had joined in the battle, decidedly tipping the scales in Thrawn's favor as it quickly shot down the Republic starfighters which were attacking the already weakened forces.

***

	The Jedi Master took a look out of the viewport of the ship at the mottled sky of hyperspace; they had left Yaga Minor several weeks ago. They would arrive at their first stop shortly, a small star system at the outer fringe of the galaxy. Somehow, he didn't feel all too good about this mission now. He'd talked to the other five Jedi Masters on the ship, but they didn't think anything of it.
Suddenly, the comm buzzed.. C'baoth knew that it was probably the captain, wanting him to see something. He quietly sighed, and then walked over toward it. "Yes? What is it?" 
 	The voice continued, "-re going to pull out of hyperspace shortly; we would like you to be up here, in case anything happens." 
	He still had that tingling feeling of danger on the back of his neck when he walked up to the bridge. 

***

	Salsbrey sat steaming in the brig of his Star Destroyer. After the ship was boarded, he had been stunned and captured. He had lost all but two of his ships, and those two were the ones captured. 
	Now he was wondering how he could finish the mission when Thrawn walked in, accompanied by two bodyguards. "So, 'commander', just what were you doing intruding in our space?" 	Salsbrey nervously responded. "Six Jedi are escaping on a Bulk Cruiser. They are wanted by the Republic for destroying several merchant ships." 
	Thrawn looked at him intensely. "Indeed. And perhaps if you provide me with the coordinates of their arrival, I will allow you to live." 
	Salsbrey looked at Thrawn, and could tell that Thrawn suspected him of lying. "The coordinates are stored in the bridge navicomputer." 
	Thrawn nodded to Salsbrey and walked out. "We will see just how truthful you are." 
	The Republic commander was glad to rest.

***

	On the bridge, the captain of the specially modified Bulk Cruiser waited for the Jedi Master to arrive. The navicomputer indicated less than three minutes before they would pull out of hyperspace.

	The 600 meter long Neutron Star-class bulk cruiser had been built by Rendili StarDrive specifically for the mission, and was modified for extended range. Twenty of the cruiser's thirty quadlasers had been taken out to make more room for the extra fuel and supplies, although three medium turbolaser batteries had been put in at C'baoth's request.
	It was running on a skeleton crew of 300, utilizing technology from the Katana fleet. C'baoth had objected to that at first, as the Katana fleet fiasco had just recently occurred after a hive virus drove the crew mad. The Republic specialists had taken several steps to prevent that from happening. The cruiser carried several thousand droids, with everything from repair droids that crawled along on the outside of the ship, to the small MSE maintenance droids that scurried the corridors.
	The ship's mission: to travel to the nearest galaxy, 800,000 light-years distant. The cruiser had a modified Class 2 hyperdrive, which was capable of traveling at one hundred sixty seven light-years per hour. It would take almost two years to get there. Because of this, the ship had been fitted with a top-of-the-line carbon freeze facility, capable of freezing people unharmed. 
	The plan had been for the crew to go into hibernation when they arrived in-system, and the autopilot would take them the rest of the way. As soon as the ship was within 100 light-years of the destination, they would be defrosted so the mission could continue on manual control.

	As Master Jorus C'baoth walked out of his quarters into the dimly lit passageway, he carefully avoided a panicking MSE, or "mouse" droid. It took him a good minute to reach the main turbolift, even with his brisk pace. Once inside, a row of buttons glowed yellow. He pressed the one marked Bridge, and the computer chimed. "Authorization required for bridge access."
	C'baoth muttered under his breath as the hand and retinal scanners popped out of the turbolift's wall. He placed his left hand on the palm scanner, and drew his eye to the level of the retinal scanner. 
	The computer chimed again. "Voiceprint required."
	By now, C'baoth was about ready to rip the scanners out of the wall, but restrained himself. Instead, he cursed under his breath. After all, there was a reason for the security.
	"Voiceprint confirmed. Turbolift activated."
	The turbolift shot upwards, its inertial dampers dramatically softening the hard acceleration. Within several seconds, it slowed to a stop. The door quietly hissed open, and two troops walked forward to inspect the new visitor. Once they saw who it was, they retreated to their posts.

	The Jedi Master purposely strode forwards, coming to a stop when he reached the captain, who promptly spoke up. "Well, Master, I'm going to pull out of hyperspace just a little late." 
	C'baoth was temporarily startled. "Why is that?" He did not need to ask the question, as he could always read the captain's thoughts, but he did not want to invade his privacy. 
	Captain Avin then answered. "Well, you had certain... reservations, and I was getting a little nervous." 
	As he finished saying that, the countdown timer pinged, and the navigator pulled back on the hyperdrive levers. The mottled sky of hyperspace flared, then became streaks as the ship came back into realspace.

***

	Thrawn strode onto the bridge of his commandeered Star Destroyer, surveying his new prize. It had taken several hours to repair the damage caused by the ion cannon, but it was now fully operational. On the other hand, the several thousand troops aboard the ship had taken many hours to subdue, even with nerve gas. Self-contained environment suits were very handy at times, and Thrawn personally made sure that his warriors had them.
	Merkin briskly walked up to him. "We estimate that the cruiser will arrive in several minutes."
	"Excellent. Power up the weapons."

***

	"Captain, we've come out of hyperspace in the middle of an alien fleet!" yelled the navigator. 	C'baoth looked out the forward viewscreen. "Those look like Chiss ships, but there's a new Star Destroyer and a corvette in the middle." 
	The captain asked, "Could it be that the Star Destroyer is under attack by the other ships?" 
	C'baoth reached out with the Force. He sensed... "Avin, get us out of here!" 
	Avin, confused, replied "Why? That's a Republic ship!" 
	By now, C'baoth was growing afraid. "Avin, I know it's a Republic ship. Just get us out of here!" 
	The captain reached for the throttle, still doubting what was going on. "Yeah, I get the idea. Rohr, divert as much power as possible to the engines. Keep the shields at marginal power." 	C'baoth looked up suddenly. "Too late." Avin turned his head, and just at that moment, the Victory opened up with its concussion missile launchers, while all the other ships fired turbolasers and ion cannon.
	The slow Bulk Cruiser shuddered as it was pounded by missiles and turbolaser blasts. 	"Captain, the shields can't take much more pounding! Rear deflector shields are down by half already! Systems are short circuiting all over the ship!" called one of the techs.
	C'Baoth asked, "Avin, can we make a jump to hyperspace?" The navigator, a dark-skinned man named Rohr, replied "Yeah, sure. There's a nearby black hole that's screwing up the navicomputer. It's going to take the computer twice as long to calculate the coordinates." "Well, just get us out of here before we're space dust!" exclaimed C'baoth.

***

	Thrawn stood on the bridge of the Star Destroyer, watching the situation. "How are they doing?" "Their shields are failing, and they already have a large hull breach. We expect them to be crippled in roughly two minutes." an officer replied.

***

	The cruiser shuddered violently. "That wasn't a turbolaser blast- something exploded!" exclaimed the navigator Rohr. 
	Derek, the main technician, shouted over the intercom. "Avin, we've got a major hull breach near the engines where some missiles got through. If you're going to jump to hyperspace, you'd better do it now." Avin looked at the navicomputer's display, which read fifteen seconds to completion. "Damn. Fifteen seconds. All right everyone, hang on to something." 
	Another shudder went through the whole ship. "Captain, we've got a hull breach near the hyperdrive, and it's heavily damaged!" 
	Just as the tech said this, Captain Avin launched the ship into hyperspace. "Whew. We just ma-" BLAM! The cruiser suddenly and violently lurched, and the sky of hyperspace became a streaky tangle of lines as the ship was abruptly decanted into realspace. All the alarms on the bridge came on at once. 
C'Baoth, standing behind the captain, slammed into a bulkhead and blacked out. 
	"Derek, what happened down there? Derek?" Rohr looked at his instruments, and said, "Avin, we've in big trouble. First, the hyperdrive detonated, heavily damaging one of the engines and the solar ionization reactor. Second, remember that black hole? We're being pulled into it, and we don't have enough power left to pull out!"

***

	Thrawn looked out the viewports at the place where the cruiser had been. He turned around and proceeded to walk back to his quarters. Before he did, he was stopped by a lieutenant, one of the few that had surrendered. "Sir, the target cruiser had massive damage to its engines. There is a good chance that the hyperdrive was critically damaged. It's not likely that they would go very far." Thrawn stopped, and looked at Merkin, who was assisting him. "Have the ships wait here, and begin scanning in case they come out of hyperspace."
	One of the alarms on the main sensor console went off. Ensign Earak rushed up to it. "Sir, the ship just came out of hyperspace next to the black hole. It is out of control, trailing a stream of debris. It should be pulled into the black hole in a matter of minutes." Thrawn walked over to the console. "Well. It seems that they have done our job for us. Merkin, plot a course for the rendezvous point that the late commander provided us with."

	If the task force had still been in the system, Thrawn would have been amazed to see what happened. The bulk cruiser, trapped by the singularity's immense gravitational fields, was slowly drawn in. But at a certain distance from the black hole, the ship suddenly vanished, replaced by a slight swirling of colors, which promptly faded. It had entered a wormhole.

Chapter 2: Through the void

	Avin looked nervously out of the bridge viewport at the swirling colors in front of him. It was similar to the mottled sky of hyperspace, but more colorful. He could not tell where he was, or where he was going. Suddenly, he could see a dark opening in front of him. The ship lurched, and it was out of the wormhole. The first thing that he noticed now that he was back in normal space was that the artificial gravity was off. Thank goodness he had his crash webbing on.
	The captain noticed C'baoth floating behind his seat. "Master, are you all right? Rohr, get the other Jedi up here." The navigator, who had just regained consciousness, turned around and activated the intercom. "Masters Jarus, Norken,   Jer-Jarod, Hkalle and Dellen, please come up to the cockpit. Master C'baoth is unconscious." Dellen, the youngest Jedi Master on board, answered the intercom. "Rohr, we'll come as soon as possible, but we're kind of stuck down here. It might take several minutes to cut our way out. Also, Master Jer-Jarod was killed in an explosion." Rohr said, "Well, just get up here as soon as you can, then." He wasn't terribly sad at the Gungan's death; the putty-colored alien was rather annoying.
	He turned around, and looked at the sensor readouts. Many of the sensors were offline due to the trip through the wormhole, and the ship was running on auxiliary power, but he could tell that they were nowhere near their galaxy, or the target galaxy.
	Just then the four Jedi floated onto the bridge. Dellen said, "We're here. Where's C'baoth?" Avin moved over, and showed them. Hkalle, a Calamarian, bent down and put his hand on C'baoth. "He's all right- just unconscious. I'll attempt to bring him out of it." Terfpine then closed his eyes and concentrated for several seconds. He backed away, and C'baoth slowly rose. "What happened?" Avin responded, "Too much. We'll discuss this later."

	An hour later, Master Hkalle sliced the last girder with his lightsaber, then moved it away with the Force, uncovering Derek. He carefully crawled forward, then felt him. "Dellen, he's still alive, but heavily wounded." On the other side of the engine room, examining another technician, Dellen replied "Glad to hear it. This person wasn't quite as lucky. Want some help with Derek?" The Calamarian nodded his salmon-colored head, and said "Yes. Help me get him to medical."

	Several days later, the ship was mostly repaired. Artificial gravity had been restored to all but two of the decks, and the hull breaches had been hastily patched. Fortunately, the carbon freeze chambers were undamaged.
	In the mess hall, the crew was having an emergency meeting. Avin addressed everyone. "So far, the Outbound Flight Project is a partial success. We've traveled to another galaxy, but it appears to be over fourteen billion light-years distant from our own galaxy. Worse yet, there does not seem to be a way to get back." Everyone groaned at that. He continued. "After we traveled through the wormhole, it abruptly vanished. Now we still have the carbon freeze equipment, but without the hyperdrive, we're stranded. Also, we're at least forty light-years from the nearest stellar system. With our hyperdrive destroyed, it could take fifty to sixty years to reach it." A young crew member spoke up. "But won't the Republic come looking for us?" C'baoth replied. "We were ambushed by one of the Republic's Star Destroyers. It looked like we flew into a black hole. Even if the Republic did come here, with a nominal Class 2 hyperdrive it would take about twelve thousand years; or with one of the experimental Class 0.5 hyperdrives, about four hundred years. And seeing that someone sent a Star Destroyer to ambush us, it's very unlikely they would look for us, especially since they would think we were destroyed." Avin and the navigator nodded, and he continued. "So far, it seems that the only thing we can do is set a course for the system, and go into hibernation."
	Several days later, the crew was ready for the carbon freeze. The ship was in standby mode, with the engines set to keep momentum at a steady pace. C'baoth climbed into the first carbon freeze chamber, followed by the rest of the crew. As he stepped in, the computer registered his location, and began the freeze process. Soon all of the crew was in hibernation.

Chapter 3: The Dark Force

	Sixty years later, at the height of the Empire's power, the Immobilizer-class Interdictor IC-34-6795 cruised along its patrol route in an insignificant sector of the galaxy. As there was no hints of rebellion here, the cruiser was alone. Suddenly, several Rebel corvettes, freighters and fighters came out of hyperspace nearby and began attacking, strafing the Interdictor before it could react. The captain quickly realized that he was outnumbered and outgunned. "Lieutenant Raksan, calculate the jump to hyperspace NOW!"
	A barrage of concussion missiles impacted on the bridge, jarring the entire ship hard enough that the navigator hit his head on the hyperdrive controls, slamming the ship into hyperspace. As the ship was in hyperspace, it passed too close to the mass shadow of something, blowing the safeties on the hyperdrive and sending it hurtling into realspace.
	Captain Norksen looked up, and noticed that his nose was spurting blood all over the place. He quickly held it and looked out the forward viewports. Looming in front were two hundred dark grey Dreadnaughts. "Lieutenant, what are those ships?" The shocked lieutenant responded. "The ships are... the Katana fleet. They appear to have no life-forms aboard." Captain Norksen was astonished. "Sixty years. Sixty years, and now I've found them. Lieutenant, prepare a team to investigate." The lieutenant started off toward the hangar bay. "At once, sir."

	Captain Norksen was a good captain, but he had always been a maverick. As a result, he had been reduced to patrolling one of the calmest sectors with an Interdictor. Now, here was his chance to get back, and maybe even form his own Empire!

	In the hangar bay of the Interdictor, the teams were scrambling to prepare two small drop ships. "How long until we can leave?" Lt. Mandrel asked. A technician responded, "Another fifteen minutes, sir. The crews were not expecting this." Lt. Mandrel told him, "Well, I don't care if they don't have their pants on. We may be attacked by those Rebel scum, and we sure don't want them to get the Katana fleet." "Yes, sir. I'll go see how they are coming."
	The two drop ships left the Interdictor, cruising toward the nearest Dreadnaught. As the ships entered the Dreadnaught's cavernous hangar, the lights activated. The two drop ships slowly descended, and as soon as they were near the deck, a squad of stormtroopers exited, fanning out to look for traps. They checked the sensors, which indicated perfect air, and headed for the hangar door. It hissed open as they approached. The stormtroopers signaled an all-clear, and the tech teams got out. Lieutenant Mandrel walked over and inspected the wall plaque, which was unusual for a warship. The plaque identified the ship as the Katana, the flagship of the Dark Force.
	Fifteen minutes later, a team was heading for the bridge. The team rounded a corner, only to run into what looked like a scaled-down version of an AT-ST. Instinctively, the team ducked for cover while firing at it, and waiting to see what happened. Finally, they remembered that there were no life-forms aboard, and so proceeded cautiously. One stormtrooper ran toward the armored transport, and wrenched the side hatch open. He then jerked back and closed it just as quickly.
	The search in the other part of the ship was leading to the ship's medical facility. A Navy trooper walking through found a rack of vials, and told a worker droid to take them back to the Interdictor. But before the droid could complete the job, a call came over the comlink. The slightly startled trooper jerked his arm, knocking several vials to the floor and shattering them. Unknown to him, these vials held the last active strain of the hive virus which devastated the Katana's crew.

	Two weeks later, Captain Norksen looked at the status reports. The Katana was secure, albeit non-functional, and several other Dreadnaughts were checking out in working condition, with most systems functional. 
	Captain Norksen turned around as he heard the rapid-fire shots of an E-web. "What the-" were his last words, as a contingent of stormtroopers blasted their way onto the bridge. The navigator was the second one to go, followed by the rest of the bridge crew. A technician walked up to the main navigation console, and slaved twelve working Katana fleet ships to the Interdictor. He then pulled back on the hyperdrive controls, launching the thirteen ships into hyperspace.

	Thirteen ships cruised through hyperspace, set on a course for a little-known system in the galactic rim. Little did the tech who had activated the controls know that the ships were heading for the wormhole, as he was dead now. The hive virus had run rampant through crew, devastating it, and the medical droids did not know until the first victim went crazy.
	Five weeks had passed. The ships were still in hyperspace, and nearing the wormhole rapidly. They hit the wormhole and passed through, coming out on the other side, still in hyperspace. The ships passed the mass shadow of a giant planet, and the hyperdrive cut off, leaving them floating in orbit, crewless and dead in space, in another galaxy.

Chapter 4: Rediscovery

	The three kilometer long Mon Calamari Star Cruiser, code-name Home One, drifted through the Sullust system, along with the rest of the Rebel fleet. In an almost empty meeting room, Mon Mothma was questioning Ackbar's plan. "Admiral, are you sure that sending a task force to investigate the last known position of the Outbound Flight Project is a good idea? We need as many ships as we can get at Endor." Ackbar pondered for several seconds, then answered in his rough, gravelly voice. "We are assembling our entire fleet for the attack on the Death Star. The odds are very much against us, and if we are destroyed, then what hope do the people in this galaxy have? If we send a task force to another galaxy, we have a chance as we may be able to get support from any spacefaring civilization, and possibly build a support base there."

	Commander Bemelisk of the Imperator Star Destroyer Kern's Pride looked out the bridge viewports at the vast Rebel fleet assembled near Sullust.  He was in command of a task force composed of seven capital ships: his flagship, the Kern's Pride, an Imperator-class Star Destroyer stolen from the Bilbringi shipyards sometime after the Battle of Hoth; two Nebulon-Bs, the Indomitable and the Defender; four Corellian Corvettes, the Allegiance, the Hunter, the Pursuer, and the Sentry. The force also had several Corellian Gunships, various freighters, and several squadrons of starfighters, most of them rented from mercenaries.
	His job was to investigate the last known position of the Outbound Flight Project, travel to the galaxy that that project was to investigate, and, if possible, set up a base there. His flagship carried millions of droids of various types, plus plans for many different starship designs. Considering how much effort the Rebellion was putting into the attack at Endor- practically their entire fleet- he was surprised that they considered the mission worthy of the seven capital ships he had, plus all the resources. After all, the ships were formerly Imperial ships, and packed a lot of firepower. The Kern's Pride alone was capable of taking on a fleet of lesser ships, and could slag a planet. It had been modified with heavier, faster-regenerating shield generators from a scrapped Mon Calamari Star Cruiser in addition to its normal shielding, was equipped with extra repair facilities, and carried more supplies at the expense of lacking the heavy ground units most Imperators had.

	As his task force was separating, Commander Bemelisk observed a speck identified as the Millennium Falcon weave its way past several capital ships, followed by the almost invisible specks of Rogue Squadron. The Falcon finally shot out in front of Admiral Ackbar's massive, three-kilometer long Star Cruiser. General Calrissian's voice came over the comm. "Admiral, we're in position. All fighters accounted for." Admiral Ackbar answered. "Proceed with the countdown. All groups assume attack coordinates." Ackbar waited, then continued. "All craft, prepare to jump to hyperspace on my mark." Lando answered again. "All right. Stand by."
	First the Millennium Falcon, then the Star Cruiser, and finally the rest of the Rebel fleet jumped into hyperspace, leaving Bemelisk's relatively small task force alone.

 	Bemelisk stared out the transparisteel viewports for a minute, looking at where the fleet had been, then turned around. Finally, the navigator spoke up. "Commander, we're in position." Bemelisk walked over. "Are all craft here?" The navigator looked at his displays for a second, the responded "Yes." The captain gave the order. "Make the jump to hyperspace on my mark."
	The task force accelerated to hyperluminal speeds rapidly, as the mile-long Imperator jumped first, followed by the rest of the force. Their destination was a small stellar system on the fringe of the galaxy, the last known position of the OFP. After leaving Sullust, they made several course adjustments to throw off any pursuit. 

	Several weeks later, they came out of hyperspace in the target system. At first, it seemed like a dead end, with no planets to speak of.

	Commander Bemelisk turned to the sensor operator. "Perform a full sensor sweep of the system. I want the path of every rock plotted." The operator nodded. "At once, sir." Performing a full sensor sweep would light up the sensor stations of any ship for nearly a light-year around them, but preliminary scans detected no ships in the system. As the operator was scanning near the system's small black hole, he noticed a strange occurrence: an asteroid being pulled into the black hole suddenly vanished before it should have, followed by a swirl of light. "Commander, something's happened. An asteroid near the black hole abruptly vanished, and there was no indication what happened." The captain allowed a look of mild astonishment to cross his face. "Really? Dispatch a probe at once. Send it to the precise coordinates where the asteroid vanished."

	The probe shot out of the Star Destroyer's hangar, heading toward the anomaly. It suddenly cut off transmissions as it reached the target area and vanished. 

	"What? The probe just vanished? How?" The commander was mystified. A comm operator looked up. "Sir, the probe has just reappeared. It's transmitting all data to us." He paused to read the status displays. "It entered a wormhole to another galaxy. From its preliminary scans, the galaxy is about twenty thousand light years smaller than ours, and..." His voice trailed off as he read the report. "over fourteen billion light-years away. There are no systems within forty light-years of the wormhole." Bemelisk thought about the situation for several minutes. Finally, he walked over to the navigator. "Have the task force go through the wormhole. This is a slight deviation of plans, but a wormhole to another galaxy..." He paused to let it take effect. "As we have the largest ship, we'll lead."

***

	An Imperial probe droid was waiting a light-month outside the system, in full standby. When the sensor sweep was performed by the Rebel Alliance force, it set alarms off in the Arakyd Viper's droid brain. The droid activated its passive sensors, and waited. Before long, the sensors registered a strong subspace disturbance. The droid promptly powered up its engines, and headed back to the Imperial core world of Byss, with a message for the Emperor.

***

	If anyone had been watching on the other side of the wormhole, they would have been in for quite a sight. First the 1600 meter long Kern's Pride came through, followed by two 300 meter long, elongated Nebulon-B frigates; three hammer-headed, 150 meter Corellian Corvettes; and finally the smaller gunships, freighters, and fighters.

	"Fleet status." Commander Bemelisk ordered after his ship traveled through the wormhole. The lieutenant checked. "All ships here, sir. No damage reported by any ships.
 Bemelisk then turned to the navigator. "What is our location?" The navigator punched several buttons and paused to read the displays. "We are in the other galaxy. I have no idea where, but there is that system about forty light-years distant." The commander looked out of the viewports. "Captain, plot a course for that system and notify me when we arrive. I will be in my office." He then turned and walked off the bridge.

	Twenty minutes later, the ships came out of hyperspace. Commander Bemelisk walked onto the bridge, and the lieutenant at the scanner console spoke up. "Commander, I'm picking up a Bulk Cruiser, about one light-week outside the system. It's just drifting." The commander was mystified. "Is it broadcasting any ID codes?" The lieutenant looked at the console again. "Negative. It's powered down completely, and shows signs of heavy damage to its engines." Bemelisk was even more mystified. The ship used for the Outbound Flight Project was a Bulk Cruiser. It was possible that it traveled through the wormhole... but could this be the very same ship? He turned toward the captain. "Have a couple of freighters and X-wings scout it out. Be prepared for traps."

	On board the Bulk Cruiser, droids began powering up for the first time in sixty-three years. They initiated the thaw cycle for the frozen crew, and began running diagnostics.
	C'baoth awoke, feeling chilled all over. Alarms were blaring all over the ship, and so he began to walk to the bridge.
	On the bridge, Avin had just stiffly sat down in his chair. Calling up the sensor reports, he saw that there were several ships nearby. Only a few checked out in the database, and those were old freighters. The rest appeared to be starfighters. Finally, the comm crackled, and a voice spoke. "Attention Outbound Flight Project. This is Commander Bemelisk of the Rebel Star Destroyer Kern's Pride. If anyone on board is able to respond, please do so." Avin was confused. "Acknowledging, Kern's Pride."
	Just at that moment, C'baoth walked in. He reached out, trying to get a feel of the situation. "Well, Avin, what's going on?" Avin turned away from the console. "I'm not sure. There's a nearby force of ships, and they claim to belong to a certain Rebellion. You ever hear of them?" C'Baoth thought for a second. "No. Who are they rebelling against?"

Chapter 5: Struggles of Power

	Three weeks after the Battle of Endor, an emergency conference was being held on the Imperial core world of Byss. 
	Moff Gergus stood up at the conference table. "What are we to do now? The Emperor is dead, and we have officially signed a truce with the Rebellion, because some of us panicked at the threat of those double-crossing Ssi-Ruuk."
	"That will be dealt with in time. At the moment, I have just received word of a wormhole which leads to another galaxy. A probe in a certain system has reported that a Rebel force traveled through it a little over one week ago." Grand Admiral Thrawn addressed the assembled military personnel, in his unnervingly calm voice.
	Gergus looked at Thrawn, shocked. "Another galaxy?"
	"Yes. And I would suggest we send a large force through to deal with those Rebels."
	An admiral spoke. "But our resources are strained enough as it is, battling those infernal aliens. We can't send anything larger than a Victory-class."
	"There are two nearly completed Imperator IIs at one of our more remote shipyards. The rest of the force can be taken off of border patrols. As we only need roughly a dozen ships, it should not be very noticeable."
	Moff Gergus spoke up. "And what do we do if the Rebels find out? Do not underestimate their intelligence."
	"That is why the ships used are to be reported as 'stolen or destroyed.' Various wrecked ships will be scattered around the sites, just to make the charade better.
	"Very well. Who is going to command the force?"
	"The 'late' Lt. Commander Jensing."
	"Ah. I see. So what happened to him?"
	"He was not killed by the Ssi-Ruuvi, but escaped instead. Of course, everyone else thinks otherwise. Now, this meeting is adjourned."

***

	In the distant galaxy, several dozen ships floated through space. The Outbound Flight Project's Bulk Cruiser had been repaired and added to the task force. On request, Captain Avin stayed with the ship, while the Jedi Masters went over to the Kern's Pride.
	On the Star Destroyer, a lieutenant delivered the report on the star system. "Sir, the system is uninhabited. None of the planets are capable of supporting human life, and as the system is the nearest one to the wormhole, I would suggest that we find another one for our base of operations."
	Bemelisk got a resigned look on his face, and sat down. "Very well. Instruct the Corvettes and freighters to begin mapping this sector of the galaxy." The journey would go faster if they were able to obtain good star charts of the galaxy, but so far there were no traces of any spacefaring civilization. Of course, it could be that it was just an uninhabited sector, and there were plenty of those in his home galaxy.

	Five days later, the YT-2000 light freighter Wayward came out of hyperspace in a fairly normal stellar system. It had one gas giant in a midway orbit, and there were traces of an advanced civilization on one of the giant's moons. The navigator calculated a course for the moon in the navicomputer, and Captain Derec pulled back on the hyperdrive levers.

	Drone 8 of 11 online. Radiation burst detected in system, moving to investigate. Ship detected as source of radiation burst, main propulsion ion drive. Ship moving toward moon formerly designated "Shri-Laka." Intense radiation burst detected, emanating from unknown ship's position. Ship is undetectable. Possibility of "cloaking device." Initiating tachyon sweep of system. Ship not detected. Cloaking device confirmed. Moving to last known position. Intense radiation burst of the same type identified next to the moon. Ship identified again as source of radiation. Possibility of trans-dimensional drive. Assimilation priority 9.99.

	As the Wayward came out of hyperspace, Captain Derec initiated a passive sensor sweep on the moon. High levels of technology were detected, but the life-form readings seemed to be suppressed somehow. Suddenly, the sensor screen flashed an alert. The ship was the focus of a sensor sweep itself. Looking at the displays, Derec saw a sight that frightened him: a massive sphere, many times larger than his own freighter. Without even thinking, he pulled back on the throttle in an attempt to get away from the sphere. Shockingly, the sphere was able to match his acceleration. Finally, the navigator plotted a course, and the captain activated the hyperdrive as the alien ship fired on it.

	In his office on the Kern's Pride, Commander Bemelisk sat in his chair, reading the latest report. The sector was already plotted out, and the freighters were progressing rapidly, although it would take several months to completely chart the foreign galaxy. One thing puzzled him: the fact that the freighter Wayward had encountered a large, highly aggressive vessel when it attempted to investigate a moon. The vessel had made only one transmission to the freighter, one that had passed un-noticed because it was using a much older, less-used frequency. Only when the freighter had arrived back at the fleet was it noticed. The commander pressed a button on his desk, and the transmission played again. 
	"We are the Borg. Your technological distinctiveness will be added to our own. Resistance is futile."
	One thing really had Bemelisk puzzled: why were these aliens using a form of Basic? How could an alien race in one galaxy possibly know the language of a galaxy over fourteen billion light-years away? The many questions ran through his mind again and again. Who were the Borg? What did they mean by technological distinctiveness being added to their own? What would explain the moon's stealthing of life forms? So far, he could not figure out anything about this strange race. Finally, after several hours of pondering, the commander retired to his bed, thoroughly exhausted.

	Weeks passed before the scouts reported a system that could be used as a base of operations. The system was uninhabited, and no civilizations had been discovered nearby. In the meantime, the small task force had been making one jump after another in an attempt to avoid detection. Several times large, odd gravitational disturbances had been detected, traveling at faster-than-light speeds, and the fleet made an emergency jump.

***

	Lt. Commander Jensing strode purposefully on the bridge of his Imperator-II Star Destroyer Dominator. His fleet had just arrived at the system, and if the reports were to be believed, there was a wormhole leading to another galaxy. Another galaxy, to explore and conquer. And in it was a small Rebel task force, one that he was going to utterly destroy.

Chapter 6: The Hunt

	"Sir?" Commander Bemelisk turned around from the status reports he had been reading, to see his chief engineer standing behind him. "The construction on the base is going rapidly, sir. Ores of hyfredium have been discovered on the second planet, along with some unusual minerals. However, we can't seem to locate a source of neutronium for making durasteel. As you may well know, we can't build any warships unless we have durasteel." The commander looked out the viewports thoughtfully, and then turned back to his reports. "Well, it just turns out that our scouts seem to have located a source of neutronium."

=============
2.h. Comments
=============

	The fourth draft was when I decided to abandon Intergalactic Alliance, as I realized that I was plagarizing other people's works. The Prologue was a virtual re-write of Mike Wong's epilogue. Chapter Four was a reworking of the beginning of MikeJ's fic, The Hunt. Chapter Five drew too heavily on Durandal's fic, The Empire Reborn. And Chapter Six... well, the title says it all. Michael January had just posted ISD Eliminator 1: Mercenary, and etc...

	When I decided to abandon IA, this really became the turning point in the story. I began another story on the other end of the Star Wars timeline, and called it Rays of Dawn, although I progressed even less in this fanfic.

	Shortly after I had made that decision, ASVS had the first Golden Star Destroyer Fanfic Awards. Phong Nguyen nominated Intergalactic Alliance for Most Original Fanfic, likely for the idea of the survival of the Outbound Flight Project. However, I knew that due to the near-plagarization of other parts, it would probably never make the final list.

	Kriff, I'm still trying as hard as ever to make it on at least one category of the GSDA... whenever they do it again. Isn't it an annual thing or something?

=================
3.a. Rays of Dawn
=================

Rays of Dawn

A crossover fan fiction by Crayz9000

Star Trek © Paramount
Star Wars © Lucasfilms LTD
All Rights Reserved

Chapter 1

	A small group of ships floated lazily in space, near a marginally habitable planet. This planet was in an unremarkable system of the galactic halo, one which had no resources that could not be gotten elsewhere. To most people, the system was just not worth anything. However, there is such a thing as security in obscurity. Thousands of years before, that particular planet had been colonized by the Mandalorian Warriors, who abandoned the planet when it was struck by a small comet, plunging it into a deep freeze. The planet had seen various smuggling groups come and go, each lasting for only a few months.  With the thousands of little-known planets inside the galaxy proper, it was small wonder that this particular star system was only given the designation of TR-14405-1558 in the former Imperial Database on Coruscant.

	As this small fleet drifted through the system, a convoy of much smaller ships flew toward the dagger form of the single Star Destroyer. Twelve TIE fighters flew both in front and behind the formation, their distinctive curved panels indicating their model, derived from Lord Vader's personal TIE Advanced x1. The TIE Avenger.
	In the middle flew a rather boxy, but nonetheless sleek, ship. Its white-painted, tri-petaled wings reflected the solar radiation of the system's mainstream yellow dwarf star, making it appear as a bright speck of light. The gear-like Imperial insignia was clearly visible for a moment as the shuttle aligned itself with the hangar bay of the massive, mile-long battleship, and then the blue insignia was lost in the glare of the solar radiation.

	Klaxons blared across the hangar bay of the Imperator-II Star Destroyer as the Lambda-class shuttle gently set down on the polished durasteel surface of the hangar, barely rocking its own landing struts. As the main landing ramp hissed open, cooling gases vented out of several ports, dissipating quickly in the cavernous hanger. At once, the contingent of Imperial Stormtroopers, their faces concealed beneath the skull-like helmets, straightened and snapped to attention. Once the ramp was open, a single man, clad in the drab olive-green of an Imperial officer, walked briskly down to the hangar floor. He was followed at a distance by what appeared to be a female officer. At the bottom, he stopped, surveying the gathered troops. No trooper escaped his watchful eye; every trooper knew, not just from their helmet displays, that they were being watched.

	After several seconds, the officer turned his attention to another person who had just walked up. "Captain Ollic." 
	Immediately, the junior officer snapped to attention. "Yes, Commander?" 
	Commander Mantrel turned and began walking toward the hangar turbolift at a brisk pace, as if he was expecting the captain to follow. "Well, Captain, how has the fleet been doing in my absence? Good, I hope?" 
	"Very well, Commander. We have acquired several new ships- the Corellian Corvette Indefatigable, the Nebulon-B Frigate Domination, and several freighters and transports." 	"Excellent. What about the New Republic?" 
	"We have not received much information from Intel, although we have received reports of a massive project in the Corellian system." 
	The commander barely raised his eyebrows. "Oh? What about it?" 
	"I will have Intel deliver to you the full report immediately."

	Several hours later, Captain Ollic cautiously stepped into a dimly lit room, one that was supposed to be the entryway of Commander Mantrel's quarters aboard the mile-long vessel. As soon as the door closed behind him, the lights turned off completely. "Hey! What the...!" For he felt himself in the grip of something, which shortly released him. After waiting for several seconds, it spoke in a soft, relatively inflection-free voice. "My apologies, Captain. A routine security precaution." The lights came back on, and Captain Ollic spun around, only to see a female face. "What... who are you?" 
	She responded as she stepped out of his way. "I am the commander's bodyguard."

	Ollic cautiously stepped past the bodyguard, walking toward the inner door. It hissed open almost noiselessly, revealing a plain, rather spartan room. He stared for a second at the contents of the room, most noticeably the several-meter wide hologram of the galaxy. As he was staring at the hologram, though, a chair toward the far end of the room spun around, revealing Commander Mantrel, a slight smile on his face. 
	"Well, Captain. You seem to like that chart. I presume that you have already met my new bodyguard?" 
	Ollic instantly came to attention, focusing on the commander. "Well, as a matter of fact, I have. Quite a surprise, too, as she's a female." 
	Mantrel's eyebrows raised slightly, and he responded. "Nali's not actually real. She's a HRD- Human Replica Droid. Fools most humans, and most scanners, though." 
	"I thought that Prince Xixor's bodyguard, Guri, was the only one?" 
	"Not the only one- she was a mere prototype. Are you familiar with a person by the name of Nichos Marr?" 
	Ollic scratched his chin for several seconds, and finally spoke. "Wasn't he one of those Jedi?"
	"You are partially correct. Originally, he was a Jedi-talented person. But after he became infected with a certain virus, a brilliant Jedi by the name of Cray Mingla built a droid body for him. They were able to transfer his intelligence to the droid body, and in effect he became pure machine, although you could only actually tell if his metal body became exposed." He paused for a second, then continued. "Nichos died, so to speak, when he started the self-destruction of the battlemoon Eye of Palpatine." The commander stopped, and looked hard at Captain Ollic. "What was the business you came in here about?"
	Ollic cleared his throat, much to the discomfort of the commander. "Speaking of battlemoons, Com-Scan reports that they have located a suitable asteroid for construction. The droid mining crews have already been dispatched." 
	"Excellent. I trust that they have been programmed adequately?" 
	"Yes, sir."

	As the captain turned to leave, Commander Mantrel leaned back in his chair, exhaling a sigh. He looked intently at the hologram, and pressed several buttons on the table. As he did, parts of the galaxy lit up in different colors. A blue area toward the center was the Core Regions, about the only area still under Imperial control. For the time being, most of the Imperial remnants were allied with the usurping New Republic. Mantrel had chosen to stay away from the Imperial Remnants, considering how he had been attacked by them, as well as the New Republic. Most of the galaxy was highlighted red; that was the area either controlled by or under the umbrella of the New Republic. To one side, in the Unknown Regions, lay a purple area; that was the area occupied by the now-defeated Ssi-Ruuvi. And yet another area, highlighted yellow, was the area still contested with the Yuuzhan Vong.

He pressed several more buttons, and the hologram stopped spinning as a certain area became enlarged. In the halo, the star system his fleet was located in was highlighted bright green, and the asteroid construction nebula was in was highlighted with a light blue. As he manipulated the hologram, figures sprang up on a status panel. The distance from the home system to  TR-14405-1558, the nebula where the asteroid had been found, was over ten thousand light-years, a several week journey in hyperspace. At that point, Mantrel added the data from Intelligence. The hologram focused in on Corell, or rather Talus and Tralus, in the Corellian System, and Centerpoint Station became visible. Gradually, the hologram zoomed back, and the commander got up, walking out of the room.

	At a distance, Mantrel looked almost like any other human. He stood at approximately six feet tall, and had straight, black hair. What set him apart from humans was how his skin was slightly tinged blue, plus the fact that his eyes glowed reddish. Mantrel was one of the few Chiss in the Imperial Navy, and he was proud of it. He was well acquainted with the late Grand Admiral Thrawn, and had served under him in his earlier days, over 70 years before. Then, he had been a young pilot of one of the Chiss patrol ships under Thrawn's command. That small patrol group of antiquated ships was very successful in destroying both the Outbound Flight Project, as well as the vastly superior Republic task force that had been sent to destroy the project. 
	23 years before the present, but five years after the Battle of Endor (or 27 years after the Battle of Yavin), he had been summoned to the Chimaera for a meeting with the Grand Admiral. There, Thrawn had conferred on him his new rank, and given him command of the Imperator-class Star Destroyer Vengeance II. Seven years later, the Vengeance II had been the target of an ambush by the so-called Imperial Warlord Harrsk in the Deep Core. Only Mantrel and some of his senior officers had escaped that battle... and barely, at that.
	 Inwardly, he had a contempt for those warring tin-pot dictators that had used up all of the Empire's remaining resources in pointless power battles, until finally many of the Core systems joined the Republic out of desperation. Due to Ambassador Furgan's incompetence, the Imperial Military Academy on Carida had been lost to one of their own weapons, the Sun Crusher. When the cloned Emperor had come along, Mantrel knew that the clone's defeat would be imminent. And shortly after, the two Eclipse-class Star Destroyers, the Galaxy Gun, and the World Devestators were all destroyed. The commander knew that he was a fugitive, a person hated by countless millions throughout the galaxy, for no other reason than the fact that he was one of the last of the true Imperial officers, the ones that refused to succumb to the usurping New Republic. He had no permanent base, even in the sparsely populated halo, as day by day the Republic (and what was left of the now-allied remnants) added new worlds to its power base. Their ships were almost everywhere, still mapping out the worlds of the halo, still searching.

	For the next twenty years, Mantrel had been quietly building up a fleet, and generally staying out of the picture. At first, all he had been able to obtain were some aging Old Republic "cruisers." These ships were only one hundred meters long, smaller than the Corellian Corvettes that gradually replaced them. Later on, he was able to obtain larger ships such as Corellian Corvettes, Carrack-class patrol ships, Nebulon-B frigates, Bulk Cruisers, aging Trade Federation cargo transports, two Victory-class Star Destroyers, and finally his flagship Imperator II-class Star Destroyer. The massive, aging former Trade Federation ships, easily larger than a Star Destroyer, were mostly empty space. This suited him perfectly, as the old, slow, and weakly armed ships now carried supplies for his fleet.

Chapter 2

	Anakin Solo, now a full-fledged Jedi Knight at nineteen years old, gazed out of the transparisteel viewpanes of the turbovator. He was in awe of the sheer size of the station, having just arrived several days before. As the turbovator was the fastest way across the station's containment chamber, it was the route that the new administrator had directed him to. 
	Next to Anakin in the somewhat cramped turbovator stood his older brother Jacen. Like Anakin, Jacen was distracted partly by the scenery of Hollowtown, but unlike Anakin, his red-haired Dathomirian girlfriend, Tenel Ka, also distracted him. After the three gazed for what seemed like an eternity at the remains of Hollowtown, the Dathomirian finally spoke. 
	"I find it amazing that people once lived in here. Look at it now: barren, cold, and bleak." 	Jacen slowly replied, staring at a hollow that was once a lake. "Yeah, the Republic cleanup crews did a good job. Remember how Luke described it when he traveled through here ten years ago? Burned-out buildings, plenty of smoke and ashes, abandoned and charred vehicles? And to think..." His voice trailed off, and he looked up at the glowing point of light in the "sky" of the station. After several seconds, he picked up where he had left off. "...that the Glowpoint caused all of this."

	Several minutes later, the trio walked into a temporary setup that was ostensibly the New Republic's excuse for a tech crew headquarters on Centerpoint. As the door hissed open quietly, a serious man clad in black uniform stepped forward to greet them, and turned toward Jacen. 	"Well, welcome. You must be Anakin?" 
	The Jedi laughed, and pointed to his younger brother. "Sorry, I'm Jacen. He's Anakin. And you must be Sergeant Tierce of the NRI?" 
	The sergeant's face turned red from embarrassment, but he quickly recovered as he noticed the red-haired girl. "Yes, I'm Sergeant Tierce. And who is this pretty young lady?" 
	Tenel Ka responded, rather tersely. "My name is Tenel Ka, thank you." 
	The sergeant quickly stepped back, and waved his hand in the direction of a hallway. "Ah... um... may I show you to your quarters?"

***

	Jacen sat on the edge of his bunk, staring out into the darkness surrounding him in his quarters. As he reached out with the Force, the general picture of the space station came into perspective. He could see everything now as his mind wandered through the station: down the hall, a new shift of engineers hurried about, preparing for the night's work. Further away, he could sense an unusual Force disturbance: the Glowpoint. He focused on it for a minute, discerning the gravitational forces that gave it the energy, energy enough to power a giant station. The interplay of Talus and Tralus' gravitational fields was distinctly visible, appearing like a giant spider's web to the Force. But after a while, his gaze moved further. He felt the presence of the many minds on board the ships of a New Republic task force nearby. The force was composed of four of the relatively new, 8 kilometer-long Mon Calamari Star Defenders, several three-kilometer cruisers of the same class as Admiral Ackbar's former flagship Home One, and various Dauntless-class cruisers, plus other ships. By his rough reckoning, the group was in a fairly geosynchronous orbit around Talus.
	As Jacen concentrated on the minds of those people, the door chime for his quarters rang. Instantly, his attention shifted to whomever was outside the door. 
	"Come on in. The door's open." 
	The door quietly hissed open, revealing the sleek, graceful figure of Tenel Ka. 
	"Were you lonely?" 
	"Uh... well... not really." Jacen rubbed his eyes, which were smarting from the burst of light that Tenel Ka had let into his darkened room. "But of course, you can stay if you want."
	She slowly walked into the room, closing the door behind her. Finally, Jacen spoke to her. "Kind of feels like the Jedi Academy, doesn't it?"
	"Yes, but not quite. It's missing the moss, the dampness... Actually, it seems more like the Shadow Academy."
	"That isn't what I meant. What I meant was the... feel of this place. The atmosphere. The people."
	"Ahh. Yes, I understand now."
	Jacen inwardly groaned. Perfect time, he thought to himself, to be so matter-of-fact. Suddenly, he realized that she was a Jedi, too. Without realizing it, he swore. "Oh, kriff it!"
	From the other side of the room, Tenel Ka broke out laughing uncontrollably. "Jacen! I... you... we..." She took a long look at him with his perplexed expression, and almost doubled over in laughter.
	He took one hard look at her. "Tenel Ka... I... um..." Then he broke out laughing as well. Tenel Ka stumbled over to his bed, and flopped down next to him. Eventually, she sat back up, and Jacen took the opportunity to put his arm over her shoulder. Slowly, she did the same.

	As Jacen looked at her, he realized that she was leaning her prosthetic arm against him. The thought of that fateful lightsaber duel, over eight years before, made him shudder. There, at the Jedi Academy on Yavin IV, the warrior girl's lightsaber failed in the middle of the duel, with the result of his own lightsaber severing her arm. For several years afterwards, Tenel Ka had refused to accept a prosthetic limb, instead training with her one good arm. Gradually, she had realized the limitations of having only one arm, and so finally accepted a replacement limb.
	Jacen snapped back to attention as he felt her give him a gentle squeeze. 
	"Dozing off, Jacen?" 
	She allowed a good-natured smile to gradually creep across her face, and Jacen responded. 
	"Well, maybe, I guess. I was thinking about Yavin IV." 
	"Oh, that. Don't worry about it."

***

	The next morning, Anakin Solo woke up to the sound of an annoying alarm beeper. For a second, he flailed around, then decided to use the Force to carefully turn it off. He'd have to remember to ask Uncle Luke about that Jedi trance way of resting.
	He yawned, stretched, and then used a Jedi awareness exercise to wake himself up. As he walked across the room, still in his sleeping garments, he used the Force to call his jumpsuit to him, and quickly put it on. Then he grabbed his lightsaber, clipped it to his belt, and walked down to the refresher unit.
	Several minutes later, Anakin walked into TechOps. He observed that his brother Jacen and Tenel Ka were already inside, talking to Sergeant Tierce.
	"Well, we're not exactly sure where the control room is located, or how to activate it." 
	Jacen turned his head toward the sergeant. "Didn't we get that information from the Triad?" 	Tierce shook his head. "They gave us some bogus information. Apparently they still want to have control of the station. We've pressured them, we've threatened them, but they continue to hold out. Of course, they have no navy now, so that problem is gone. The reason Anakin is here is to see if he can find the control room so we can disable the autocircuitry." 
	Tenel Ka looked at him rather strangely. "But if they still have the control codes, why haven't they done anything?" 
	Tierce responded, without looking at her. "We managed to get the jamming field control codes and frequencies from Thrakan. The jamming field generators have been set at reduced power, enough to stop anything incoming from the Triad, but weak enough that we can transmit signals out. But we still don't know where the jamming control room is." 
	The sergeant noticed Anakin, and kept on talking. "Well, good morning, Anakin. Eager to find that control room?"
	Anakin barely stifled a yawn. "Yeah, maybe later. Where's the mess hall?"  The sergeant pointed down another grey metal corridor. "Third door to your right. Breakfast is probably almost gone, though. We were pretty hungry this morning!" 
	Immediately, Anakin set out for it, closely followed by Jacen and Tenel Ka. The sergeant chuckled to himself for several seconds, then turned and strode back to the computer bank.

***

	In one of Centerpoint's gargantuan hangar bays, Han Solo sat wearily, bent over a maintenance hatch on the Falcon. He stood up, his back cracking, and pulled out a com-link.
	"Jaina, you there?"
	"Yeah, Dad, I'm here. What do you want?"
	"Turn the reverse power coupling back on. I think I've got it fixed at this end."
	"All right. Will do."
	Han turned back to Lowbacca, and commented. "Well, I hope that this bucket of bolts isn't going to give us any more trouble now that we refit her."
	The Wookiee barked a reply, and Han commented. "Yeah, I know, Murphy's Law. Whatever can go wrong will do-" He cut off quickly as flames burst out from the power coupling compartment, and the automatic fire extinguishers activated. "JAINA! SHUT IT OFF! SHUT IT OFF!"
	As Jaina ran towards him, he walked over to the now-cooling tangle of metal and plastoids, shaking his head. "Great, just great. That's going to need replacing. Only problem is that nobody makes that model anymore. Maybe it's time to put this thing in a museum."
	Jaina looked at it, and asked him. "Hey, that's not too bad. Maybe we could modify a newer unit to fit?"
	Lowie roared in agreement.

Chapter 3

	The Mos Eisely cantina was a bustling center of activity at almost all times of the day and night. Nearly thirty years before, the Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi had referred to it by saying, "You will not find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy." This remarkably summed it up, as the patrons of the cantina were from all over the galaxy. Some would get into quarrels over long-standing racial feuds, such as the feud between the Wookiee and Trandoshan species, or over matters of money, such as people unwisely refusing to pay dues, or bounty hunters coming to collect unwilling bounties.

	A black-robed, hooded figure walked quietly into the cantina in the early hours of the morning. Only a few drunken aliens, who turned back to their drinks after a short period of time, noticed his entrance. He stopped, and scanned the bar, his gaze sweeping across the empty chairs of the band, the bar itself, and finally to the tables at the far end of the cantina. Noticing something there, he set out for one of the tables at a brisk pace.
	The man at that table, or rather the Twi'lek, looked at the newcomer. "Took your time to get here, I see. Now that you're here, though, it's about time that we got down to business."
	Softly, the hooded man replied. "Remember, I'm the one who wants the information. Now what do you have to offer?"
	The Twi'lek looked hard at the man. "What do you have to offer in return? Information doesn't come freely."
	The hooded man pulled out a small sack, and dumped its contents on the table. "Here's a down payment of five hundred Republic credits. If you stick to your end of the bargain, there'll be ten thousand more headed your way."
	The Twi'lek looked hard at the glittering chips for several minutes, then threw a datapad across the brown table. "It's a deal. Instructions are on the pad, as well as the account to transfer those credits to."
	As the hooded man got up to leave, he turned to say something. "Remember, if this is bogus, you're not getting anything. Anything."
	"Just get moving, will you? I haven't got all night to waste."

***

	From the bridge viewports of the Vengeance III, Captain Ollic 
watched the constant stream of giant, T-shaped transport craft fly 
between the five former Trade Federation cargo craft and the frozen 
surface of the planet below. After weeks of preparation, they were 
finally ready to move the base.
	The captain's concentration was broken by the click of boots on 
the deck. He spun around, and saw the commander walking towards him. 
"Good morning, Commander."
	"Good morning as well. Is the fleet ready to go?"
	"Most of it. Cargo Freighter 5 is still waiting for the last two 
transports to arrive. Apparently, moving the defense mechanisms is 
taking the engineers longer than they thought."
	The commander scratched his chin. "I'm not pleased at all. From 
the Intel reports, a New Republic sector fleet is due to arrive here to 
investigate in about two hours."
	Suddenly, the captain grew concerned, and took a look out of the 
viewports. "Two hours. That could spell serious trouble for us."
	Commander Mantrel looked hard at Ollic. "It could indeed."

	On the ground, Senior Tech Officer Merkeb Torvel was overseeing 
the development of the removal process. "Stop! No, that's not how you 
do it!" He walked over toward the heavy-lift droids, who were trying to 
move a particularly bulky piece of shield-generation equipment. "Pick 
up THAT end first, then move it!" As he was lecturing the droids, his 
commlink beeped. He looked down at it in disgust, but slowly brought it 
to his mouth. "Torvel here."
	The person on the other end responded. "This is Captain Ollic. 
How long do you estimate until those transports are loaded?"
	"About one hour. The droids are having trouble loading part of 
the shield generator."
	"I want them loaded in half that time. And that's an order."
	"But why, Sir?"
	"No buts. If you don't have those loaded in half an hour, you're 
going to be sorry you didn't."
	"Yes, Sir."

	Captain Ollic turned away from the comm unit. At the height of 
the Empire's power, he would not have had to deal with a person like 
that. But, he thought, reminiscing would not do a thing for their 
current situation. Finally, he sharply turned and walked over toward 
Comm-Scan. "Lieutenant, how is the situation progressing?"
	"Another transport arrived on Freighter 5. But the last one is 
still on the surface... hold it..." He checked several displays. "Sir! 
The computer is picking up about twenty new contacts coming out of 
hyperspace!"
	Ollic spun around, and looked out the nearest viewport. "So I can 
see. Looks like the cavalry's here."
	Commander Mantrel immediately walked over, barking commands as he 
did. "Comm, signal the Death's Mane and Mantilisk to take up flank 
formation. Helm, prepare to make the jump to hyperspace. Only engage 
the enemy if they do so."
	As he was barking the orders, the comm unit came to life. 
"Attention Imperial Ships. This is Captain Vorrisk of the Republic-
class Star Destroyer Golden Tide. You will power down all weapons and 
prepare to surrender."
	Like the hell we will, thought Ollic as he turned to Comm-scan. 
"Lieutenant, what is the status of the last transport?"
	"75% loaded. They expect to lift off in roughly five minutes."
	"Five minutes. We don't have five minutes! Tell them to get off 
that planet now!"
	"Yes, sir."

	Back on the ground, Torvel grabbed a pair of macrobinoculars, and 
pointed them in the direction of the fleet. As he looked at the new 
arrivals, his jaw dropped in shock. At once, he broke out into a run, 
and headed over toward the worker droids. "No! Forget that! Just get on 
board!" The droids obediently dropped the heavy durasteel bar that they 
were carrying, and crawled aboard the transport, followed closely by 
Torvel. The rest of the human workers all ran aboard, not intending to 
be left behind. Finally, with everyone on board, the massive transport 
took off from the surface, accelerating at incredible speeds toward the 
freighter.  

***

	Captain Vorrisk looked across the bridge at the small, somewhat 
decrepit fleet that lay before him. As he watched, several of the 
Dreadnoughts detached from the fleet proper, and opened fire on the 
planet below. As the Star Destroyer's sensors picked up the turbolaser 
fire, they set off alarms all over the ship.  Slowly, he turned around. 
"Lieutenant, are the Interdictors in position yet?"
	"Not yet, sir. They are powering up the gravity-well projectors. 
In two minutes, though, that fleet is going to be trapped like a bantha 
in a box canyon."  

***

	Mantrel watched the holographic display directly in front of him. 
"They are going to try using a modified Thrawn Pincer on us. However, 
that captain doesn't seem to think three-dimensionally." The commander 
turned toward Captain Ollic, and pointed at the four red triangles 
appearing on the hologram, with fuzzy cones coming to life in front of 
them. "Now, watch and learn. Those are the smaller Interdictor 
Cruisers. If they were unescorted, I might have considered capturing 
them. But, since they're being used in a fleet, our only option is to 
leave. And they want to deny us that." Mantrel pressed several controls 
on the hologram, which then turned on end. "Note how the Interdictors 
are arranged in a square plane." He then looked up toward the helm. 
"Helm, I want a 90 degree vertical pivot. Shut off the safeties on the 
hyperdrive, and make a 20-nanosecond microjump to coordinates 24-190-
445. Instruct every ship in the fleet to do likewise."
	The view of the starfield from the bridge viewports slowly spun 
by, as the Star Destroyer re-oriented itself. The stars turned into 
starlines for a split second, and then turned back into specs of light 
as the navicomputer shut the hyperdrive off.
	"We are out of range of the interdiction field. Make the jump to 
the rendezvous point immediately."  

***

	Vorrisk watched with hidden fury as the enemy fleet jumped out of 
range of the Interdictors, and into hyperspace. Mere seconds later, the 
rest of his own sector fleet was yanked out of hyperspace by the four 
Interdictors, but it was too late. He sighed, and turned away from the 
viewports. "Comm, recall the fleet. Instruct the Interdictors to power 
down their gravity-well generators, and let's get back to Coruscant." 
Admiral Ackbar would not be too happy at this failure, and Vorrisk 
could only hope that he would not be demoted.   

=============
3.b. Comments
4. Conclusion
=============

	This introduced several more characters that would become prominent later on - most notably Captain Ollic. I also realized that it would be easier for me to use some of the later characters such as Jacen and Jaina Solo, and atttempt to correct what Kevin J. Anderson did.

	But even with the new story, one thing kept bothering me. I kept taking ideas from other people's stories. Here, the reader sees it in Chapter Three, in which I borrowed heavily from Michael O'Shea's Osiris. (Although the choice of tactics used by Mantrel in that case was far from brilliant - more like something an idiot would try. And Vorrisk also seemed ignorant of standard military tactics.)

	One may call me a perfectionist, and one will be mostly correct. When I write something, I like to refine it until there are not any more problems to fix.

	As a result, I was still unsatisfied. Although my chapters were significantly larger than those of Intergalactic Alliance, they were still far smaller than the chapters of most sci-fi novels, excepting children's books. Plus, I felt that the story was moving just too quickly. So, as a result, I decided to abandon this piece as well, although I didn't say that.

	Then, finally, an idea occurred to me. I decided to make Intergalactic Alliance the title of a new trilogy. The original Intergalactic Alliance - or rather the Fourth Draft - became the first book, "A Prologue to War." One could call A Prologue to War the Fifth Draft of Intergalactic Alliance, I suppose.

	As for the second book, I initially settled on "Two Galaxies, Many Minds" as the title. However, it seemed to lack a certain feel, and I experimented with several other titles, finally deciding on Twilight in Two Galaxies. I had already posted the prologue in early May of 2001, but as I am still not satisfied, it's going to be re-written... whenever I can get around to reading the New Jedi Order books.

	The third book in the trilogy takes the name of my other piece of fiction, Rays of Dawn. As of now (May 10, 2001) I haven't decided on a certain plotline yet.

	Other influences changed the Fifth Draft. Realizing where the timeline was - with the releases of the New Jedi Order books - I decided to add the Yuuzhan Vong to the story. The Outbound Flight Project still went through the wormhole in the time of James T. Kirk, but never encountered the Federation, with the crew instead entering hibernation for the next seventy years. Then, after coming out of hibernation, they did indeed encounter the Federation - in the form of another lost starship, the USS Voyager.

	From there, the plot development went fairly quickly. It was now almost thirty years after the Battle of Yavin, and the year was 2376 in the Federation. Trying another plot device, I made the wormhole the Project had traveled through collapse, effectively stranding them in the Milky Way. And meanwhile in the Star Wars galaxy, we have the first description of the Yuuzhan Vong - although I am still not satisfied with what I did :). I often feel that I made the whole situation simply too apocalyptic. Perhaps I can fix that in Book Two; perhaps not. 

	Another idea that I had was the use of Centerpoint to create an artificial wormhole. Originally, this would have been the means the Republic came into contact with the Federation in Rays of Dawn, although I never got that far. And when I re-wrote Intergalactic Alliance, I also intended to use it in A Prologue to War. Then, my idea was to write a detailed description of the firing of the station, the wormhole forming, and the Borg coming through.

	Eventually, I also scrapped this idea. I left a three-month gap between Chapter 22 and the Epilogue. Hypothetically, during this period Centerpoint fired, creating the new wormhole and allowing the Outbound Flight Project to return home. Not to give anything away (for those of you who have not yet read it), but in the Epilogue I gave Patrick Stewart his wish, something which Paramount apparently refuses to do. Now if only this could be made into a movie. It would likely be far better than Star Trek 10 :)

John
AKA 
Crayz9000 - Cybernetic Crow - mhm28x12