The Second Galactic Empire

Captain-Inquisitor Schug Lear entered into a military warehouse as the four Special Force Inquisitors followed him with modified carabines that didn't look like anything the Empire had deployed so far. Their armors were black and red and they followed the officer Inquisitor in silence as he looked at the contents of the warehouse.

They were in the planet Luia of the Gallia Province, created by the venerated and great Degurechaff the Merciful. Their task was to inspect the warehouse for evidence for a possible case of corruption.

Three days ago, the Luia Judicial Department had received an anonymous denunciation of a member of the Imperial Army. He had noticed how materiel was slowly disappearing without no one reporting it – it had gotten so bad that even AT-STs and AT-ATs began to disappear from day to day. In his denunciation he said that he asked his superiors about this strange, unofficial, movement of assets and he had been ordered to remain silent. Together with a three thousand credit "gift" for his silence.

As a good loyal soldier, he had reported this anomaly. And it only took three hours for the Judge Alexei Taratov to order the immediate prosecution of this soldier in order to put him in the protection system and take the three thousand credits as proof of corruption. The loyal soldier would be released after the process is completed.

He also ordered Schug Lear to inspect the warehouse to find if those accusations were true, for that reason he had given him the permission to view all the archives of the armed forces in the planet, which allowed him to find the official stock-list of materiel in the warehouse.

Under Degurechaff's 'Mercy', the military had lost its privileges in the judicial system. Now the universal judicial system was in charge of all the things related to justice, no longer would the military act as they wanted and be judged by their own.

This was but another of the many reforms that Degurechaff had carried out in her territory. And, as war was happening with the bastards of the Core who had attacked first, Schug was determined to do his job and act as an efficient part of the judicial machine of the territory.

His steps were loud followed by the four members of the special forces. But it was nothing compared to the sound in the warehouse. A building more than one kilometer long with thousands of boxes of military equipment well categorized and land vehicles.

"Captain-Inquisitor, for what reason do we have the honor of your visit?" Asked the Colonel of the Imperial Army in charge of this warehouse. The inquisitor noticed how, even if he had done everything in his ability to arrive at the warehouse and enter without being detected, there was already an officer waiting for him.

The inquisition was built up with orphans that had benefited from the Imperial Social Service, they had become devoted followers of the state and thus devote followers of Tanya Degurechaff. For that reason he truly trusted that no one from the inquisition had leaked his orders and movements.

He, not so long ago, was another no-name that benefited from the Imperial Social Service, working as another of the millions of men and women that worked in the administrative sector of the Empire. But the ISB took him in and trained him.

He had understood that, as the inquisition was something new, they were forced to put the field officers to be people with not near enough experience or abilities. But still the higher ups of the Inquisition was the ISB, so even if the field agents of the inquisition could commit mistakes, the ISB was ensuring those mistakes were not too great or problematic.

Depending on where the Imperial Social Service had sent you to work, you had a rank in the Inquisition. He had been taken out from the department of anti-corruption, and so he was the officer in charge of identifying those things. The soldiers that accompanied him were ex-members of the ISB field forces that had been recruited to be members of the Inquisition.

"It is none of your concern, allow me to roam free until my work is finished," ordered Schug. He had never in his life had authority, he was always the one that had to review and identify problems in the Imperial Public Service or the Imperial Armed Forces. Numbers that didn't match; strange movements of money or materiel, contracts that did not follow the standard imperial procedure.

He was one of the many moving parts of the Imperial Bureaucracy. Now that he was a bigger moving part of this machine, he could order people to let him work, he could order people to give him the information he needed.

"I am sorry, but this is an Imperial Army property, you cannot enter without a judicial order, which I doubt…"

Schug took from his cloak a data-pad and showed to him that he had been given permission to enter and investigate this facility. Making the Colonel shut up immediately as he realized that he had no way of stopping him.

"Fucking Degurechaff…" The Colonel exclaimed. In the pre-Endor era any military officer that insulted the leader so openly would have been arrested and maybe executed. Now, with Degurechaff reforms the freedom of speech meant that insulting her was no longer a crime.

"Her reforms are fair and make her territory a better place" Stated Schug, he didn't want to start a political debate but he felt the need to protect his leader's dignity. Even if he would probably never in his life be able to see her in person. His loyalty to the Empire translated to loyalty to Degurechaff.

The Inquisition gave him a purpose higher than himself, and for him that was the higher honor.

"I guess, people like you believe that, not like you fatherless maniacs could understand anything," answered the Colonel with a sigh, making it look as if he was speaking to a kid that was asking too many questions.

The durasteel cold walls and floor weren't as cold as the dead and emotionless eyes that the five Inquisitors put on the Colonel, they wanted to arrest him, but they knew that legally they couldn't and as Resuci had made clear in the inquisition. Nobody, not even Degurechaff herself, is superior to the law. They couldn't break it in order to take personal revenge. It would be a betrayal not only to Degurechaff but to the Empire that kindly adopted them when they were young kids that had no one in the galaxy that could raise or feed them.

"Your inability to point out what Degurechaff has done wrong proves to me that your opinion has no value," grunted out Schug as he continued to walk, pushing out the Colonel with his shoulder as the four soldier-inquisitors followed him. The Colonel tried to answer but saw that it was a waste of time so he remained silent, though his resentment grew.

This was exactly what was wrong with Degurechaff, thought the Colonel, she changed everything the first Emperor created, so much so that she even destroyed organizations and created new ones. She changed his laws, she had cut the power of the Armed Forces, she had begun to persecute officers with the excuse of "corruption and incompetence". She had abandoned the New Order's ideas and was slowly corrupting the image of the Emperor for herself. But of course, he couldn't say that too loudly, the inquisitors were maniacs, fanatics. Indoctrinated to serve a great man, that their entire life existed in order to follow the "great man that will change the galaxy."

And when the Emperor failed, they flew like insects to the nearest thing resembling the Emperor.

Captain-Inquisitor Schug continued to advance, heedless of the Colonel's thoughts. The warehouse should have fifty AT-ST and twenty AT-AT, half a million blasters E-11, twenty thousand E-web, ten thousand missile-launchers, a million Imperial Army uniforms

He, of course, wouldn't count every single item in this warehouse – most of the equipment was in boxes but the boxes are still in the thousands. The best he could do is review all the vehicles, and do a spot check on a random sample of the rest. If anything is missing without a proper justification then he could close the entire warehouse and bring a large enough force to do a more thorough search for lost materiel.

Together with preemptively arresting all the officers in charge of the Warehouse.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Laer Hassan was a middle class citizen, he had saved money for this occasion, for this moment, an entire year long vacation in a cruiser around the Core. Of course, it was time of war, but the Core was untouched and only the New Republic would dare to attack a civilian ship, so he felt safe.

It was his dream since he was a child, to visit the entire Core in the famous "Core Cruiser", it had cost him ten years of saving money since he had become a doctor, no drinking, no going to parties, no gifts. But it was worth it, he had saved enough money to live an entire year full of good experiences.

Yet, he felt a little bit sad that his good moment, the moment he would remember all his life would be ruined by the galactic situation. Hutts, New Republic, the Moff Council, the new Emperor, the Grand Moff Degurechaff, the warlords. Everything was happening so fast that every five minutes he read the holo-net for news of the war and there were twenty new articles. There was not enough time in his daily life to keep track of everything.

For that reason, he had set rules for himself. Just waste one hour in reading the articles, so far it has worked well.

He smiled as he looked at the beautiful planet of Maanar – they would arrive in one day and after landing he'd have a day to enjoy the beautiful nature of the planet. He could see the blue oceans covering most of the planet, the south pole was visible and was covered by snow and ice. He could see the other planets of the systems too, each of them beautiful in their own way.

If one saw this system no one would think that there is a war and an economic crisis going on. Thanks to him working for the public sector he avoided this crisis, but he heard how other planets whose sanitary system was privately run had to fire many of their workers. For him it was a great shame, but he was also thankful to his planetary government, which gave him the possibility to rise, shine and rest when needed.

"It's a good view, isn't it?" Asked a person next to Laer, he turned his head around and saw an older man, probably in his seventies, looking at the planet with a smile in his mouth.

"Is this your first time sir?" Asked Laer.

"Yes, indeed, I retired two years ago and with my retirement money the first thing I did was to reserve the Cruiser Tour of the Core. It has been worth it," the old man answered. Laer smiled too, this is what the galaxy should be like.

Things were so complicated, so bad, so hopeless. Yet he had hope that once the Core recovered the Galaxy, things would turn to normality again and everyone would enjoy this peace.

"Where are you from?" Asked Laer.

"Oh well, an unimportant planet of the Core, a small but proud planet named Kantia."

"Kantia?" Asked Laer, with surprise, "I am from Kantia too!"

Both men abandoned the beautiful views and saw each other directly, the old man hand was raised up by a little and Laer immediately answered by shaking it,

"Really? From which part?" Asked the old men as if these two had been friends since childhood.

"The city of Lasanta, and you?"

"Oh well, I am from the city of Kuria, on the other side of the planet," laughed the old man as he finished the handshake and turned his back to Laer. "Follow me, I have found a fellow Kantian in this cruiser so I have to invite you to some alcohol!"

Laer followed him, as he continued the conversation. "There is no need, I have saved money for this situation, I will pay for my own things."

The old man moved his hand in a sign that on his home planet meant, "stop saying such bullshit," in order to respect the old man's wish Laer stopped refraining, accepting the gift.

"Things are so bad nowadays, fellow planetmen have to help each other. On another day you can treat me," the old man said with a laugh followed by a cough.

"You are right, war now consumes all the Galaxy, I miss the times when the Emperor was alive, of course, some things were bad and the prison sentences were unfair. But, it was better than this."

Both continued to walk and soon sat in one of the bars that had a view of the planet, most of the seats were occupied but there was a table left so they took the opportunity and soon two jars of beer were brought to the table.

"You know, this is all the fault of those non-humans," the old man said as he drank from his jar. "First the separatists, most of them were non-humans except for Count Dooku and some others. Now this New Republic, more than half of them are non-humans! And they want to recreate the old Republic but this time with non-human dominance – that is where I draw the line. We humans are the most extensive species in the galaxy; we have conquered this galaxy, we created the Old Republic and the Empire. And now what? These little-dick bastards want to take dominance of a galaxy we tamed. That's just straight up bullshit," the old man said, to which Laer partially agreed. It was worrying how the non-humans had attempted to wrest control of the galaxy starting with the Separatist movement. First they wanted to separate themselves, now? They wanted to replace the Empire. What would the next step be? Anti-human policies?

"Yes, these non-humans have been trying so hard to destroy everything that we have achieved. Really, what's even the point? Without us most of them would still be living on their planets, not knowing how to travel in hyper-space."

"Exactly!" Exclaimed the old man as he drank his jar, "They had to just shut up and sit as we humans would carry the galactic economy and tech advancement as we have done the last millennia. But no, their perfidious non-humans minds want power, honestly, the only thing the Emperor did wrong was to blow up Aldeeran! He should have blown up a non-human planet instead, like the one with those fish-looking men, what was their name?"

"The Mon Calas?"

"Yes, exactly, see, no one would have rebelled against the Emperor if he blew up a non-human planet. Truly we lost a great man in Endor."

Laer agreed with the man, but this time he had his own opinions. Emperor Palpatine was too old to govern the galaxy effectively, he was eighty-eight years old when he died, most humans at that age began to lose their capacities. Of course he should still be dignified, but humans at the age of eighty have already begun to show lower capacities. If he had been smart he would have appointed his heir to be Emperor and live the rest sixty years of his life peacefully.

"Talking of the Emperor, what do you think of the New Emperor? August Palpatine?"

"Well, too little too late, but I guess is better than him never coming and the Core becoming a warzone."

Both men agreed and took another sip of their jars.

"And what do you think of this Grand Moff Degurechaff, daughter of Vader?"

"Well, you know, I believe she is too young, she still has this idealism the younger generations have, you can see that with her banning slavery and her political reforms. But she is too stupid, she declared war on the Hutts in order to carry out her reforms, she declared war on the Empire because she believes they destroyed Thyferra. She is just… too irrational, you see? If she was a little bit older she would have understood that the best option was to not touch the Hutt and Kneel to the Emperor, and who knows – you've seen the hologram image, have you?"

Laer nodded.

"With that perfect figure and ass, I am sure she could be sucking the Emperor cock by now and convince him to make some reforms," the man laughed, Laer too. It was true that both the Emperor and the Grand Moff were of similar age and both were pretty damn well-looking. "But they have declared war to each other, there was no point in thinking those things now"

"Well," Laer began, "I believe her arrogance and idealism are pretty much understandable. Look at her victories, she had destroyed the New Republic in her territory in a matter of two months. She has destroyed the Hutt fleet. I agree she is arrogant but can we call it arrogance when so far her military victories support her?"

"Arrogance is arrogance no matter the results you have, and her arrogance will be her downfall. I bet twenty credits that when they capture her they will have her publicly executed in Coruscant," said the old man putting twenty imperial credits in coins on the white table.

"I bet another twenty that when they capture her instead they will keep her prisoner, she is probably too valuable – just too useful a resource and she is still the daughter of Vader. She has to be honored no matter what her actions are."

"Deal," The old man agreed with a smile on his face, taking another sip of the jar. Laer copied his movement and both laughed as the galaxy burned around the Core.

—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Five men in the South Supersector were grilling sausages and meat in a fire in one of the forests of their planet. Their territory was not yet in danger by the Core and it seems that soon Tanya Degurechaff the Merciful would be giving a speech. As the men enjoyed the food they looked at the hologram from time to time to confirm it was operational. The war had started a few hours ago, but somehow they didn't feel in danger.

Degurechaff always wins.

Thousands of posters were in the streets; these five men worked in the local Printer and the Minister of Propaganda had sent all the printers in the Supersector to print the propaganda posters he had designed himself, and now all these posters printed were being put everywhere.

Degurechaff always wins.

From the five of them, it was their favorite one – it showed Degurechaff sitting over the corpses of Hutts and Rebels, looking at the horizon with a defiant look as she prepared her weapons for the next battle.

Remember the crimes of the Core!

That one was their second favorite, it showed the destroyed planet of Aldeeran and Thyferra, it showed slaves being tortured, it showed the Hutts giving money to an Imperial Officer with an evil smile.

"Attention Citizens of the Empire."

The men looked at the hologram, one moving it to a more central position near the fire where they were grilling food. A figure soon appeared, it was a Stormtrooper in a dark color, with the Imperial flag as a cape. They noticed the changes from the normal stormtrooper armor; on the front helmet was affixed a gold mask resembling Degurechaff's face – emotionless with black eyes that seemed to judge you, golden lines gave the black stormtrooper armor a clearly distinguished form.

And while she looked like Darth Vader, she was too different to say she was mimicking his style, it looked more like a form of respecting her father but creating a new style for herself.

It looked great, the five men liked the aesthetics.

"Citizens of the Empire, I am Tanya Degurechaff, current Grand Moff of the South Supersector. And as you already know, we are in a state of war."

She took a deep breath, it seemed for the viewers almost as if she never wanted this.

"I wanted to kneel, I wanted to believe that this New Emperor, the supposed son of the Emperor, would bring hope and dignity to this galaxy that had suffered a war for seven months and as a consequence had trillions of humans and non-humans die in an unfair and unneeded war."

She lifted her arms up, stopping half-way, her hands held out to express her desire for conciliation and peace.

"I am part of the military. I came from the Navy, where I followed my father through his battlefields, he taught me my military tactics, he made sure that I was a good military leader, he invested in me believing I would become a great person and thus help this Galaxy. As he was my father, my entire life had become to follow his path and make this galaxy a safe place again."

Then, her hands became fists, her tone of voice changed to one of resentment.

"Then, the planet of Thyferra, bordering the Core with our Supersector was destroyed. All my dreams of hope, peace and prosperity were shattered by that single action. Back then the war hadn't even begun and I was ready to kneel. But then I asked myself, why would the Emperor destroy Thyferra? I came to one conclusion, he did not. It was the ones backing him, it was the elite of the core and their indifference to the lives of anyone other than themselves. It was the scum of the Imperial Intelligence that have acted like terrorists in my territory for months, it was the militaristic and incompetent Grand Moff Bertoff Hissa that had for months controlled the Empire through the Moff Council, it was the incompetent advisors that surrounded our first Emperor and lied to him constantly leading him to take the wrong decisions. As always, the elite of the core were the ones to be blamed. They created the Separatist crisis in their incompetence, they lied to our Emperor until he died in battle, and they now lie and manipulate the New Emperor for their own benefits."

She was angry, every movement of her hand showed she was angry, she in the middle of the speech took her helmet, showing an angry face that showed her desire to kill.

"The elite of the core had destroyed the Grand Republic, the Emperor then had to interfere and create the First Galactic Empire in order to save this galaxy from their incompetence, sadly, he had to cooperate with them in order to make the Empire function correctly, this cancer spread through the Empire until it affected the Emperor himself. I stand with two options, accepting this cancer, surrender and die without dignity as the planets that oppose the Core are destroyed by their planet-destroyer weapons. Or stand up and fight, following our first Emperor and making this Galaxy a better place, this time ensuring to destroy the elite of the Core."

She put her right hand on her heart.

"The First Galactic Empire died, it died seven months ago when our first Emperor died. And as the last loyal Grand Moff to the Empire is my mission to restore it. Thus, as the Empire is dead and the so far only legitimate heir to it is a prisoner and a puppet for the elite of the Core, I therefore announce the creation of the Second Galactic Empire, with myself as Generalissima of all the Armed Forces of the Empire and Head of State until the Emperor is recovered from the hands of the Core elite. My first order as Generalissima is to restore the Senate in Eriadu, my second order is for all the armed forces of the Empire to prepare for the reconquest of the Galaxy. We will not stop, we will not have any mercy, we will not succumb to corruption. We will reconquer the entire Galaxy, executing in our path the traitor, the rebel and the criminal."

She let a second pass when her speech finished, and then she raised her voice as much as she could.

"I will destroy them, I will destroy those that have destroyed the First Galactic Empire! I will recover the Emperor and put him under safe hands out of Core influence! I will burn the elite in their homes for their crimes against the Empire! I will turn Mon Cala into a radioactive sea that no living species will be able to habit again! I will never sign a peace deal! I will never sign a truce! I will never surrender! I will fight until I die and when I die I will give the role to the most competent person in the Second Galactic Empire. This is a revolution, a reconquest and a total war! This is the war that finally will bring peace to the galaxy! This is a war to restore what we lost! This is the war to end all wars!"

She started to slam her right fist against her armor.

"Long Live the Empire! Long Live the Second Galactic Empire! Long Live the Revolution!"

The South Supersector exclaimed in ecstasy to the war scream, their trust in Degurechaff was complete, the sins of the Emperor moved to the elite of the Core. Those that once wanted to submit to the Emperor now were convinced that Degurechaff was the only representative of the Empire in this galaxy.

"I will bring Peace, Freedom, Justice and Security to this Galaxy, no matter the cost"

With that last sentence the hologram cut out.

With that emotive speech, she had gained the loyalty of the greater part of her population, but the military.

The military still had doubts.

In the year twenty-five after the declaration of the First Galactic Empire, the Second Galactic Empire was born.

After one week of war finally the fleets loyal to the Emperor August Palpatine have arrived to their starting destinations according to the plan of Bertoff Hissa, creating a wall of interdictors all hyperspace line routes have been closed. The planets now under True Imperial control prepare for a desperate defense while Belisarius Draneir has ordered all the fleets to concentrate in the Sullust-Eriadu area in order to start the offensive against the True Imperials.

More than one billion soldiers have been deployed by the Empire and almost 50% of the Core fleet had been compromised in this operation.

Yet, it is estimated that ten billion soldiers in theory loyal to Degurechaff are in the territory they currently control.

Tanya Degurechaff location remains unknwon

Each flag represent an acumulation of fifty ISD or equivalent type of spaceships.

I know, I know, this chapter is short but honestly you shouldnt even getting a chapter! I am so overworked and so moneyless that spending time in the only story I write for fun seems everytime more a waste of time. Yet! I will never abandon this story. If you want to help my situation commission a story! Or give me likes/kudos and comments. That also improve my mood.

Now, I know this chapter might not be so interesting for everyone. But I wanted to show you a little bit of the POV of the Core together with showing how Tanyas Empire work a little bit.

Is sometimes difficult to express how different locations are, to express how even in this massive civil war and collapse, the core simple doesnt care. For them this is just a phase, something they view in the television / holonet, they arent suffering and they are indifferent to it. They do not care, and that fuel even more the flames of revolution.