The time had come. It was time for the vanguard fleet of the rebel alliance to strike out against the worlds in the mid-rim. At Least that's what everybody thought. His fleet would depart 7 Coruscanti rotations before everybody else's. For 7 rotations he wanted to keep the imperials occupied on many fronts using the task forces he carved up from his vanguard fleet. A false invasion followed by a feigned retreat to other systems would boost imperial morale into giving chase and over extending their supply lines. "Commence the jump to hyperspace." He ordered and watched from his command ship how the ships around him made the jump to hyperspace. All his captains were sworn to secrecy not to give up his plans.

He had to strike quickly and strongly against imperial worlds to bring the ire of the empire upon them. A few skirmishes against full imperial might would guarantee fewer losses in the long term.

Hours after the initial jump, alarms blared all throughout the fleet of the impending departure from hyperspace. Even without his orders, every person in the fleet knew where they had to be after intense drilling for 3 months personally done by him. His fleet jumped out of hyperspace above the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk. In orbit were three Imperial II class star destroyers and a dozen lesser imperial ships. Just off to the side however, was a flotilla of Zygerian and Trandoshin ships; no doubt here to collect slaves.

"Activate the long range jammer and Begin firing the super heavy turbolaser, keep the vulture droids on escort duty and launch one squadron of Y-wings escorted by two squadrons of X-wings!" He ordered firmly from the bridge of his Recusant. 

The imperial were quick to respond; launching a cloud of Tie fighters. The cloud of fighters blocked his view of the fleet but bolts from the super heavy turbolaser of the Recusant blew holes in it as it made its way to the star destroyers. As the fighters approached his fleet, they were met by a barrage of red laser fire as all the corvettes and the his Recusant dubbed 'The Scutum' opened up with all their anti-spacecraft batteries against the imperial fighters while the three attack squadrons, flew around the Tie formation as it was turned to scrap for scavengers.

"Split up into two groups and disable the two leading star destroyers!" His orders echoed through the bridge. He watched as the formation ahead, split in two as they each headed for the leading star destroyer. Chased by Tie fighters left in reserve and by ones who broke off from the first formation of Ties which was repelled and was busy regrouping or chasing his flight of fighters and bombers.

The Y-wings made their run on the two star destroyers with ion bombs while being escorted by X-wings. And he watched with disappointment as two X-wings succumbed to imperial fire and were blown up.. Seeing how weakened they were by his superheavy turbo laser vollies, their shields went down and they were subsequently blown up by the Scutum. 

The fighters had formed up to the portside of his fleet. "Order all but one squadron of X-wings to head for the port side of the fleet and the rest to strafe the nearby flotilla of non imperial ships!" He shouted. "I want you to focus the super heavy turbolaser on the remaining star destroyer! All other guns focus on the Ties and tell all returning fighters to perform the hammer and anvil!" His ordering of the crew continued. "Sir, the scanners are showing a pair of star destroyers approaching the aft side of the fleet!" A radar officer yelled. Retaining his composure as best he could he said "Direct our squadron of B-wings and one squadron of X-wings to the approaching issue. Deploy the rest in defensive duty!". "Yes sir!" The comms officer yelled on the bridge. "Conduct a planetary imaging and find imperial, Trandoshan and Zygerrian camps and bases and send in 10 U-wings to the surface." He said much more calmly. 

Turning his head, he saw the slaver flotilla up in flames. The transports were left unharmed as to be captured but the escorts were blown up. The sole star destroyer facing his prow, was starting to suffer from the heavy volleys of fire until its shields failed and the bolts of plasma tore into its haul. "Sir, the reports from the gunnery show that the super heavy turbolaser has overheated!" Another voice echoed. "Sanction cooling procedure." He responded.

The B-wings managed to take out the twin star destroyers by catching them off guard since the reports said nothing of these beasts. "Planetary imaging complete!" The intelligence officer reported. "Commence landfall." The order came. 

"Get me in touch with the flotilla." Was the next order. "On it!" The onboard slicer siad. 15 minutes later, the slicer spoke up again, breaking the silence. "Commencing holo call!".

The holo terminal in front of him lit up with multiple angry faces. "Rebel scum! Free us or-" a Zygerian began but was cut off "or what?" He replied coldly. "Hand over the wookiees and ship and ve spared or be boarded. This offer is absolute, meaning no room for negotiation." He offered. "The different captains looked at each other then back at him. Sensing betrayal he waved his hand while saying "You will surrender.". "We will surrender." They repeated in unison. "You will evacuate all free people to the surface with escape pods because of bombers." He continued with another wave of his hand. "We will evacuate all crews to the surface with escape pods because of bombers." They repeated further. "All crews evacuate to the surface immediately! Bombers inbound!" They yelled before turning off the call and running away. 

"Blockade the imperial transports and prepare to man the flotilla ships!" He ordered. "All remaining U-wings prepare to board the flotilla!" The comms officer yelled for the entire fleet to hear. "Sir the squadrons we sent aft have reported back! We lost three X-wings and a B-wing!" The flight control officer said. He sighed 'more men have lost their lives on both sides.' He thought. 

"Slicer! Initiate contact with the imperial transports!" He ordered. Unlike the slaver flotilla, the imperial one took hours to crack. 

In the meantime, the slaver flotilla was captured without losses. The slave camps were liberated with 30 dead and 350 injured on their side coming from 3 sorties of U-wings dropping troops and coming back up to stock up on more. Later he ordered three Sphyrnas and one GR-75 to land.

The imperial code was cracked in the end. "Sir, I have breached their digital defenses. Should I initiate contact with the flotilla?" The slicer asked. He nodded at him. The slicer tapped a few buttons as the holo terminal lit up once more.

"Greetings." He said as the projection of a woman popped up. "You dare! I rear Admiral Sawin command you to release us or face consequences!" The woman on the other end barked. "You are in no position to negotiate rear Admiral. Surrender unconditionally or be taken out." He replied. She bit her lip in frustration. "10, 9, 8, 7…" he began a countdown to force her hand to an unconditional surrender. She panicked as she looked out from her bridge only to see the prow of the Recusant rotate towards her. The heavy gun seemingly coming online as panik set in. "6, 5, 4, 3, 2-" "I surrender!" She declared, interrupting his count. "Very well. Move all crews to the docking hatches and prepare to be boarded." He stated. Turning off the call, he looked to his comms officer and said "order the corvettes to dock with the flotilla and bring me rear Admiral Sawin.". "On it!" His communication's officer responded.

From his command bridge he watched as his corvettes docked with the imperial transports. It took some minutes but they were all captured intact. Hearing a knock on his bridge door, he used the force to open it up. "Sir! We have the rear Admiral as you requested sir!" One of the two troopers yelled. "Good job troopers." He complimented sharply. "Put her under my command throne and flank her seeing there as there is no detention block." His orders came. She resisted a bit but was eventually taken away and placed right under him. There she was seated in a secondary command chair while having her hands cuffed.

"How many crews were under your command rear Admiral?" He asked. "Like I would tell you!" She spat. He rolled his eyes. "You will tell me how many crews were under your command." He said with a wave of his hand in her direction. "I will tell you how many crews were under my command. 5,000 crews and 7,500 slaves." She replied robotically. "Open up my comm channel for all ships to hear." He ordered. "Yes sir!" The junior communications officer replied. A few seconds later he spoke again "It's ready sir!". He brought his communicator up to his mouth and began speaking "Attention all imperial crews! I, Admiral Sigil Trail of the rebel alliance navy, am giving you a chance to join the rebel alliance and leave the regime of Sheev Palpatine! Whoever agrees will be treated as a new recruit with no formal hostilities! This is your chance to redeem yourselves! This offer lasts for one hour!" He declared and before heading out of his command bridge and to his personal quarters to speak with the rest of the alliance's high command.

Making sure his door was locked, he opened up his holo terminal which connected him with the wider alliance. The faces of Mon Mothma, Leia Organa, Ackbar and Hera Syndulla popped up. "Admiral Trail." Mon Mothma greeted. "Chief of State." He acknowledged before turning his head towards the rest of the cabinet. "And to the rest of my fellow comrades, I also offer my greetings." He stated. "Report on our first engagement" Ackbar ordered. "It went without much trouble for the fleet, Admiral. We sustained minimal losses to our forces while capturing two flotillas of ships. One belonging to Zygerian and Trandoshan slavers while the other was an imperial transport fleet with an Arquitens as it's command ship with the rear Admiral of the flotilla intact." He reported. "What of the Wookiee slaves?" Mothma questioned. "The ones held by slavers were freed. As for the imperials, I have set them freed but they are still on the ships. Happy to watch the imperials. I gave them a one hour window to defect to our cause." He answered. "What of the imperial star destroyers?" Syndulla asked. "5 in total were taken out but I must emphasize that this was only possible due to the super heavy cannon on my command ship." He replied. "What are the plans for the imperials who won't defect and the slavers?" Leia questioned him on his motives. "The slavers have drop podded into Kashyyyk. If they land in the shadow lands, they are dead but if they land within Wookiee reach, that is up to the Wookiees to decide their fate and with their camps overrun, they can hide for so long. The non-defecting imperials, will also be given to the wookiees." He responded. "This is no way to treat prisoners of war Admiral!" Mon protested. "With all due respect chief of state, they shall be given justice by the people they subjugated and enslaved. Their refusal to join us, makes them a burden on our tight supply lines." He countered. "They will be put to death." Mothma pointed out. He sighed "They can be put in their own bases while guarded by Wookiees on our behalf." He offered. "Will they agree?" Syndulla questioned. "Possibly. I mean after the liberation of their homeworld, I am sure they will be happy to oblige by keeping guard over them for us." He proposed. "And what if they don't?" Oragana asked. "Well I do not run a prison fleet nor a penal legion." He reminded. "In all cases they are not staying with me nor my fleet since they are but a liability to me. If not Kashyyyk then Alaris prime or Dosh." He continued. The others turned to Mon Mothma, waiting for her response. Mothma thought about her next order carefully. "Put them on Dosh." She finally ordered. 

"Now for our second issue. The two captured flotillas and the rear Admiral." Ackbar reminded. "The slaver ships are of no use and I want them scrapped or if possible for a scavenging fleet to come pick them up but the imperial ships will be integrated into my fleet." He responded. "That only leaves the rear Admiral." Syndulla pointed out. "As the highest ranking prisoner, she is to be treated with respect and shown mercy but since she surrendered unconditionally we don't have follow any rules regarding her fate." He said. "She is to stay your prisoner until the end of this deployment." Ackbar said. "Leave the slaver ships in orbit. We shall send a scavenging party to collect them." Mothma added. He nodded in response before turning off the call. 

Exiting his personal quarters, he headed back to the bridge and declared to all his subordinantes "Have the Wookiees sent down to the surface and the non-imperial ships placed in orbit afterwards for they will be reclaimed by the alliance.".

Following the announcement, he sat in his command throne and meditated for the remainder of the hour. 

"Sire?" An officer shook him. "Yes?" He responded, exiting his meditation. "Sire the hour is up. We have confirmation that 3460 imperials are willing to defect and all Wookies have been safely transported to the surface. What do we do with the rest?" He questioned. "Have our fleet move to Dosh and drop them off in the forests of Dosh. I don't want them hindering our supply lines." He ordered. "As you wish." He excused himself and went to the comms station.

Getting up from the command throne, he looked outside to the fleet. Turning to his intelligence officer he said "Do we have the ids of the defectors?". "Yes sir." He replied. "Move them to the holo terminal." He ordered and then turned the comms officer. "Have the imperial defectors join up in the Arquitens hanger in 3 hours while I split them up." Sigil said. "Understood." The comms officer said. 

He sat back down and turned on the holi terminal and began going to work. Analyzing the names, histories, ranks and station of all defectors thoroughly. He kept officers away from each other and isolated stormtroopers away from vital sections of the ships. He also had to put a mainly alliance crew on the imperial ships to make sure they wouldn't do anything funny.

Alas he got up from his seat and headed to the hanger on the ship. Sigil entered his personal shuttle; an older Marauder-class attack shuttle modified for stealth, speed and agility with three automated laser turrets. A pair of medium turbolasers for the pilot, four hidden concussion missile tubes and six proton torpedo launchers; a true sleeper ship. Due to his paranoia, he flew the ship personally. 

Landing the ship in the arquitens hanger, he saw just how cramped it was. to avoid over cramping, he put the ship to hover above the crowd. He lowered the ramp and stood on it facing the new recruits. "I, Admiral Sigil Trail of the new republic navy, would like to thank you all for accepting the righteousness of the alliance to restore the republic in its fight against the tyrannical empire! You will not regret it!" He said. The crowd of defectors saluted him in response. "All of you shall receive the word of your new stations by communications officers soon! Prepare for campaigning!" He yelled. They dropped the salute following this and watched him salute them back. Afterwards making his way inside the shuttle as it flew back to the Scutum.

Getting back to his command bridge, he initiated contact with his captains "Our initial victory has been achieved. As such we will follow through with our plan with minor changes." He informed them. "I shall take the Scutum and her squadrons as well as the captured Arquitens and two Gozantis to execute our supply raids. The new ships have been distributed across the attack groups. Captains take the initiative cautiously and don't get too confident with star destroyers and don't engage them with anything but fighters. I have appointed the commanders of the fleet. Farewell." He stated before ending the broadcast. 

"Prepare for a jump to Corsin!" He ordered. "Charting a course… calculations are done sir!" The navigater informed him. "Intiate the jump to lightspeed." Were his orders. He stared out as the stars around him streaked past before turning to the fimiliar blue and white of hyperspace.