EH Plotline

Map of the Star Wars Galaxy

Journey to the Unknown Regions Arc

Prelude

ABY 28 (8 02 2020)

Lord Grand Admiral Darth Rapier has sensed a dark presence coming from the unknown regions. After conferring with the current Grand Master of the Dark Brotherhood and the TIE Corps Commander it has been decided that a portion of the Emperor’s Hammer Strike Fleet must move to respond to this potential threat (or potential ally).

To this end the Emperor’s Hammer will be split into two groups: the First Recon Division and the Home Guard.

The First Recon Division will be formed from the most elite ships and squadrons the Emperor’s Hammer has to offer as well as moving the entire Dark Brotherhood on to the SSD Avenger and packing away supplies for an extended stay in potentially hostile territory.

The remaining ships and bases of the Emperor’s Hammer have been reformed into the Home Guard. Centered around the SSSD Sovereign and left under the command of Sector Admiral Kawolski, their sole purpose it to protect what we have and make sure we have a home to come back too.

All Emperors’ Hammer and Dark Brotherhood command staff will relocate to the SSD Avenger with all TIE Corps command staff on their appropriate flag ships.

The First Recon Division will consist of the following ships:

First Recon Command

• SSD Avenger
• Various support ships

Battlegroup 1

• ISDII Hammer
• Various support ships

Battlegroup 2

• ISDII Warrior
• Various support ships

Battlegroup 3

• ISDII Challenge
• Various support ships

Battlegroup 4

• ISDII Grey Wolf
• Various support ships

Battlegroup 5

• ISDII Immortal
• Various support ships

Battlegroup 6

• ISDII Relentless
• Various support ships

Check the Order of Battle for exact makeup.

Mission parameters include a move along galactic north into the Unknown Regions in the area of Bakura, from there we will proceed cautiously and investigate everything we can find that might give us leads on this hidden dark presence.

The purpose of the First Recon Division is not to engage the New Republic or their allies (though we will if they present a threat to our mission). We will not be stealthy (obviously) but we will not engage unless attacked. The size of the force is designed to deter weaker foes and from what recon has told me forces in the area are minimal but we will be ready at all times.

To all Emperor’s Hammer members:

Feel free to come up with competitions, run-ons, missions, and whatever else you can think of that promotes this new story line.

I leave it to you to fill in the gaps as we reduce our effective Order of Battle and move into a new story arc for the EH.

This January the EH year will become 29 ABY, that leaves the First Order's public reveal 3 years away at 32 ABY and that is what we are working towards. This story arc should take us up to the First Order's arrival in the galaxy proper with potentially some interaction as we investigate the Unknown regions.

FC/GA Rapier/CS-1/SSD Avenger
MoH/IC/OoR/GOE/GSx3/SS/BS/PCx2/ISMx2/MoI/MoC-8doc-6poc-7goc-9soc-58boc/IS-5BR/DFC/CoS/CoL/CoB/OV-25E {SM/2-TCCORE}

The Journey Begins

ABY 28 (10 02 2020)

Final preparations have finally been made and the last ships of the First Recon Division have reported in as ready. Over the last 2 months ships have been provisioned and refit for extended operations. The Fleet has been reorganized as shown on the Order of Battle at https://www.emperorshammer.org/oob.php. Now that the TCCOM has finished determining where he will hoist his flag for the next year it is time to set off. Over the next 8 weeks we will be slowly making our way through the densely packed and hard to navigate Minos Cluster until we reach open space. After that we will keep our jumps short. Using for the most part (what we think are) uninhabited systems with the occasional jump into more populated systems in order to pick up news of New Republic fleet movement and to raid for supplies. We will also be back tracking from time to time in order to throw off any possible New Republic pursuit and to disguise our true intentions. Moving a fleet this size the distance we are thinking will take some time. We really don’t know what we are getting into in the galaxy proper and we will want to gather as much Intel as we can about the New Republic and the Unknown regions before we get there. We especially need to determine if the New Republic is aware of this threat yet or not.

OOC: I do not expect to reach the edge of the Unknown Regions before May of next year so feel free to come up with missions and stories that put us up against New Republic forces and even local forces using craft like the Preybirds, Cloakshapes and others from XWA. Also if you have any questions or need any clarification please feel free to message me on discord or send me an email and I’ll be happy to answer

FC/GA Rapier/CS-1/SSD Avenger
MoH/IC/OoR/GOE/GSx3/SS/BS/PCx2/ISMx2/MoI/MoC-8doc-6poc-7goc-9soc-58boc/IS-5BR/DFC/CoS/CoL/CoB/OV-25E {SM/2-TCCORE}

The Journey Continues

ABY 28 (12 13 2020)

Now that we have reached open space finally we can plot longer jumps, but we need to make sure that we do not give away our intentions, destination or point of origin… So jumps will be short and occasionally in random direction or even backwards as we do our best to throw off New Republic forces. There will be times during this stage that individual squads, ships and even battlegroups will be tasked with recon missions into neighboring systems or with raid missions in order to gather supplies. Our Infiltrator squadrons have requested access to the newer T-70 X-Wing and RZ-2 A-Wing so a plan is in the works in order to do that. Keep up the good work, I salute you all.

OOC: Missions and fiction can be pretty broad during this time allowing each squad, or battlegroup plan operations on their own with the Avenger as a mobile base of operations. The Plan to acquire the newer NR equipment will be rather extensive and involve the entire TC and the EHDB in an operation that will probably take a month or more to complete and we should see it in the February/March time frame. I do not expect to reach the edge of the Unknown Regions before June so feel free to play in the sandbox we have. Good Luck.

FC/GA Rapier/CS-1/SSD Avenger
MoH/IC/OoR/GOE/GSx3/SS/BS/PCx2/ISMx2/MoI/MoC-8doc-6poc-7goc-9soc-58boc/IS-5BR/DFC/CoS/CoL/CoB/OV-25E {SM/2-TCCORE}

Finally… The Unknown Regions

ABY 29 (05 20 2021)

Over the last several months the First Recon Division has been zig zagging around the galaxy. At the beginning to mask our point of origin and later on to throw off New Republic pursuit and hide our final destination from them. During this time many raids were conducted by each Battlegroup in order to replenish supplies and to keep the New Republic forces guessing. Also, during the time the entire fleet conducted a raid on the Fondor Shipyards where we actually occupied them for 4 days while technicians gathered the technologies and machines necessary to construct and maintain a new set of the T-70 X-Wing and RZ-2 A-Wings for use by the Infiltrator wing.

FC/GA Rapier/CS-1/SSD Avenger
MoH/IC/OoR/GOE/GSx3/SS/BS/PCx2/ISMx2/MoI/MoC-8doc-6poc-7goc-9soc-58boc/IS-5BR/DFC/CoS/CoL/CoB/OV-25E {SM/2-TCCORE}

Crossing the Threshold

ABY 29 (09 30 2021)

From: Imperial Sovereign Protector, ISDII Challenge
To: Grand Admiral, SSD Avenger

SUBJ: VANGUARD STATUS REPORT

At 07:12 ship local time

... Battlegroup III crossed the line into the Unknown Region. Commodore Silwar and his ships were at battle stations but no action was engaged and no hostile forces were observed.

At 11:43 ship local time

... after deploying probe droids and long-range communication satellites I authorized the next jump further into the region.

At 20:19 ship local time

... we exited hyperspace at the far edge of a system with significant commerce traffic. Commodore Silwar ordered the A/CRS Thunderchild and Hellfire to perform an in-system jump to reconnoiter the situation. General Stryker and Firebird squadron were dispatched upon an alternate hyperspace path in the event the contacts were aggressive against Imperial ships.

At 21:02 ship local time

...reports were returned from the vanguard that the plant was a trading hub and was not familiar with the Empire. They had vague references to the Old Republic but were otherwise disinterested with the socio-military environment influencing the larger galaxy. I have opened negotiations with the local magistrate, though she gave some other title for her role, regarding the fleet’s use of their facilities.

At 09:43 ship local time

... two days later I have secured assurances that the rest of the fleet may refuel and enjoy the planet as long as we obey local law enforcement and we are embarking on our next leg of the journey.

End Transmission

45-6E-63-72-79-70-74-69-6F-6E-20-50-72-6F-74-6F-63-6F-6C-20-45-6E-67-61-67-65-64-3A-20-52-61-70-69-65-72-2C-20-77-68-69-6C-65-20-65-78-69-74-69-6E-67-20-6D-79-20-6D-65-65-74-69-6E-67-20-77-69-74-68-20-74-68-65-20-4D-61-67-69-73-74-72-61-74-65-20-49-20-77-61-73-20-61-70-70-72-6F-61-63-68-65-64-20-62-79-20-61-6E-20-69-6E-64-69-76-69-64-75-61-6C-20-63-6C-61-69-6D-69-6E-67-20-74-6F-20-68-61-76-65-20-61-20-6D-65-73-73-61-67-65-20-66-6F-72-20-79-6F-75-2E-20-49-20-72-61-6E-20-74-68-65-20-65-6E-63-72-79-70-74-69-6F-6E-20-74-68-72-6F-75-67-68-20-74-68-65-20-73-79-73-74-65-6D-20-61-6E-64-20-69-74-27-73-20-61-6E-20-6F-6C-64-65-72-20-49-6D-70-65-72-69-61-6C-20-63-6F-64-65-20-74-68-61-74-20-77-61-73-20-62-75-72-69-65-64-20-69-6E-20-74-68-65-20-73-79-73-74-65-6D-20-66-72-6F-6D-20-62-65-66-6F-72-65-20-74-68-65-20-42-61-74-74-6C-65-20-6F-66-20-48-6F-74-68-2E-20-54-68-65-20-63-6F-6D-70-75-74-65-72-20-64-69-64-20-61-75-74-68-65-6E-74-69-63-61-74-65-20-69-74-20-61-73-20-76-61-6C-69-64-20-62-75-74-20-69-74-20-72-65-71-75-69-72-65-73-20-74-68-65-20-63-6F-6D-6D-61-6E-64-20-63-6F-64-65-73-20-6F-66-20-61-20-47-72-61-6E-64-20-41-64-6D-69-72-61-6C-20-74-6F-20-64-65-63-72-79-70-74-20-66-75-72-74-68-65-72-2E-20-49-27-76-65-20-64-69-73-70-61-74-63-68-65-64-20-43-61-70-74-61-69-6E-20-48-6F-6E-73-6F-75-20-61-6E-64-20-54-65-6D-70-65-73-74-20-53-71-75-61-64-72-6F-6E-20-74-6F-20-64-65-6C-69-76-65-72-20-69-74-20-74-6F-20-79-6F-75-20-66-6F-72-20-64-65-63-72-79-70-74-69-6F-6E-2E-20

Sector Admiral Kamjin “Maverick” Lap’lamiz
Dark Side Adept

Disturbance at Tusorix

ABY 29 (10 02 2021)

The ships of the First Recon Division hung in orbit above Tusorix, the world first encountered by Battlegroup III. Nearly half a million pilots, crewmen, and troopers were planetside after shore leave was granted by the Grand Admiral. Care was taken to keep enough personnel on the ships to defend them if something happened, though that seemed unlikely considering the sheer number of vessels. A veritable cloud of armor and cannons.

Tusorix was a backwater compared to Aurora Prime, but it seemed like a dream after months of being cooped up in the fleet. The cities were large and filled with bars, the countryside was serene and the beaches were plentiful. Transports of all shapes and sizes were ready to take people anywhere they wanted to go at a moment's notice. After a couple of days, the long journey seemed to melt away.

High Admiral Plif was sprawled out on a luxurious bed at a resort near the equator, relaxing after a long day in the sun. His comlink chirped at him. He slowly reached over to pick it up and acknowledge the intrusion in his lovely day.

"Plif here, go."

Commander Doralt from the ISDII Warrior spoke in a rushed tone. "Admiral, we've detected incoming ships. They're heading for the surface at high speed, and there's a lot of them. The Fleet Commander wants everyone back ASAP."

"Any motion towards the fleet?"

"Not yet, they seem to be spreading out for an assault on the planet."

"Do we know anything else about them?"

"We're having trouble getting good readings. They seem to be deflecting our scanners."

"Understood. Please continue contacting the other admirals."

"Yes, sir."

Plif clicked off the comlink and hurried to pull on his uniform and get to his shuttle. So much for shore leave. It was nice while it lasted.

TCCOM-IOA-EDR/HA Plif/TC-1/ISDII Warrior

A New Threat

ABY 30 (09 24 2022)

The fleet that attacked Tusorix refused to answer hails and only responded to the presence of the First Recon Division when attacked. There were thousands of them and they swarmed anything that threatened them. Fighters faired the best against them because of their maneuverability but larger ships suffered severe damage as the small craft crashed into them until they were disabled and no longer a threat. No ships were lost to these attacks but several Strike Cruisers and Light Cruisers will be spending a lot of time repairing before their tactics were figured out and we left the fight to the Fighter squadrons.

During the fight it was easy to shoot them down, it only took a hit or two and they would explode. Holding down the trigger netted you multiple kills in a single pass until you drained your blasters down to the point they wouldn’t harm the paint.

After several hours of this fight, with no apparent reduction in the number of enemy forces, they withdrew. Gathering at larger ships on the edge of the system and jumping to hyperspace.

After analyzing the after battle reports it appears that their goal was primarily cargo vessels carrying food. They did get away with the contents of several dozen of these and even seemed to attack warehouses on the surface for the same reason. Grand Admiral Rapier brought this up with the Planetary leadership. They thanked us profusely for our efforts in keeping his people safe. He then went on to explain that they were called the Ishtari and as best they can figure out they are hive culture and they show up roughly every 4 months and do the same thing. Strike fast, only attack cargo vessels carrying food or anyone who hurts them, and then leave. They do not know where they come from or where they go. They do not have the military to conduct some operations.

But they would be very grateful if we would take on that task. The Grand Admiral chose, because of the hospitality of Tusorix and not wanting to burn that bridge, to assist in this endeavor.

Plotting their exit vector when they entered hyperspace showed a string of 14 potential systems in a direct line that could have been their destination.

Assigning the Dark Brotherhood to handle 2 of these and other 12 were broken up with each Battlegroup assigned to investigate 2 each.

Welcome to RTF 2022

FC/GA Rapier/CS-1/SSD Avenger
MoH/IC/OoR/GOE/GSx3/SS/BS/PCx2/ISMx2/MoI/MoC-8doc-6poc-7goc-9soc-58boc/IS-5BR/DFC/CoS/CoL/CoB/OV-25E {SM/2-TCCORE}

On the Offensive

ABY 31 (02 26 2023)

With the success of the scouting mission the area of space the Ishtari originate from has been located. We still know so little about them other than they are insectoid and that they seek resources, but we do know that they are a danger to the order, stability and people of this region so something needs to be done. Plans were quickly drawn up to take the fight to them.

Welcome to Imperial Storm 2023

FC/GA Rapier/CS-1/SSD Avenger
MoH/IC/OoR/GOE/GSx3/SS/BS/PCx2/ISMx2/MoI/MoC-8doc-6poc-7goc-9soc-58boc/IS-5BR/DFC/CoS/CoL/CoB/OV-25E {SM/2-TCCORE}

Extract from 'The Battle for the Outer Rim in the Clone Wars', Professor Kestis Val, Coruscant Institute of History

"...the Republic's efforts to secure the Outer Rim would lead to many bloody and hard fought battles, most notably at the sieges of Saleucami and Mygeeto, thus many areas of space were bypassed for want of interest from either side. In most cases these systems and sectors were long exhausted of their natural resources or inimical to life, of no value to entities such as the Banking Clan, Techno Union or indeed hosting civilised species of any great note. The star cluster recorded in Imperial stellar cartography as the 'Assurian Halo' appears to have fallen into this same category - a broad ring of over 400 systems of which only 9 boasted settlement, with a central hub of 4 further systems. While the outer ring includes long established systems such as Idu, Kish, Shadikanni and Harran none were members of the Old Republic and remained fiercely independent.

Of the core worlds of the Halo very little is known, with Imperial records indicating that previous efforts to establish contact throughout the age of the Old Republic had disappeared without trace or further report, leading to a baseless and superstitious avoidance of the area by all spacefaring traffic and trade. The Venator class Star Destroyer "Ardent" is believed to have been lost in the region in the last days of the Clone Wars following efforts to map the inner worlds of the core - while rumour indicated that the ship had fallen victim to unknown denizens of these worlds it is far more likely that retreating elements of the Separatist alliance encountered her and dealt the fatal blow. Coreward, a similar area of settled..."

Ishtari neutralized

ABY 31 (05 30 2023)

The offensive against the Ishtari is now complete. While they might not be destroyed, they are no longer a threat to the region for a good long time.

They did put up a good fight though and many ships and squads are in need of refit, repair and relaxation. Returning to Tusorix the fleet was greeted with praise from the local government and welcomed as saviors and liberators. Shipyards were immediately put to work repairing the damage caused to capital ships throughout the fleet.

Because of the downtime the new Warfare Officer thought it would be a good time to remobilize the squadron and so set that up to take place before the fleet moved on towards the Chaos ahead.

FC/GA Rapier/CS-1/SSD Avenger
MoH/IC/OoR/GOE/GSx3/SS/BS/PCx2/ISMx2/MoI/MoC-8doc-6poc-8goc-9soc-59boc/IS-5BR/ORA/DFC/CoS/CoL/CoB/OV-25E [Dragoon] [Certified] {TCCORE-SM/2}

Onward into the Chaos

ABY 31 (08 31 2023)

With repairs to the fleet complete and the Warfare Officer’s successful remobilization of the squadrons it is time to move on with our mission.

The next leg of our journey takes us into a region of Unknown Space called the Chaos.

From Imperial Records we know that the Chaos is a very dangerous place to navigate due to supernovae, black holes, gravity wells, and stranger phenomena. These hazards made navigation computers unreliable, and were the source of the name "Chaos." Due to such hazards hyperspace jumps were short and required frequent course correction taking long periods of time just to go from one system to the next.

From archived Imperial records we also know of the following political factions of this area that call themselves "nations." They included:

      •  The Chiss Ascendancy— a great but very secretive power that was ruled by the Aristocra, a grouping of royal families that formed 
         the ruling class of the Ascendancy, presided over an interconnection of sovereignties. 
      •  The Garwian Unity— a united political entity of the Garwian species located on Solitair. 
      •  The Grysk Hegemony— an empire of the Grysk that was described as nomadic without a single fixed home. 
      •  The Kilji Illumine— a religious empire that sought to spread their religion across the Unknown Regions and the rest of the Galaxy 
      •  The Lioaoin Regime— a government that was active in Lioaoin space. 
      •  The Nikardun Destiny— an empire of the Nikardun species. 
      •  Paccian Governance— a government of the Paccosh hailing from the Rapacc system. 
      •  The Paataatus Hiveborn— a government based on Nettehi, and was active in the Unknown Regions. 
      •  The Tower Dimension— a government of the Urchiv-ki species based on Urch. 
      •  The Vak Combine— a government based on it capital, the Primea system. 
      •  A government of the Scofti— whose leadership underwent frequent changes in leaders and governmental regimes with transitions being 
         often violent, or motivated by the threat of violence. 
      •  Imperial colonization— for decades, the Galactic Empire had established colonies of the Unknown Regions, including a number of 
         storehouses, shipyards, and laboratories on distant moons and asteroids, with survey teams and droids having previously been sent 
         to explore the Unknown Regions. 

Most of these nations consisted of between 3 and 10 worlds scattered over small regions of space and we do not know how current this data is since it has not been updated in over 30 years.

We also know that the inhabitants of this region use what they call “Navigators” to get around the limitations to hyperspace travel. These “Navigators” seem to have the ability to slide between the anomalies and make longer jumps. It has long been suspected that by Imperial Intelligence that this was some sort of Precognitive force use but it has never been proven.

The strange force emanations that first started this journey lie on the far side and will be difficult to reach due to the nature of this area.

FC/GA Rapier/CS-1/SSD Avenger
MoH/IC/OoR/GOE/GSx3/SS/BS/PCx2/ISMx2/MoI/MoC-8doc-6poc-8goc-9soc-59boc/IS-5BR/ORA/DFC/CoS/CoL/CoB/OV-25E [Dragoon] [Certified] {TCCORE-SM/2}