Two years of campaigning in the Hapes cluster led to this; the final battle over Hapes itself. The damage that Sigil had caused the Hapan resulted in a civil war among the royals.

Supporting him was Ta'a Chume, a claimant to the Hapan throne who had sided with Trial on count of her want to get to power sooner and depose her mother Ni'korish and eliminate her sisters.

She had pledged allegiance and money to the rebel alliance if he installed her on the Hapan throne and she even tried to seduce him into a political marriage. One which the steadfast Admiral refused at first.

Ta'a Chume had won over elements in her mother's navy but most importantly Hapan garrison who besieged the royal palace a year into the Hapan campaign of Sigil.

Ta'a Chume, wanting more leverage over Sigil, deceived Revan into unknowingly killing her brother's pregnant wife, Zi Yafuro Trial. Revan, after seeing that she killed her would-be niece and current sister in law from Zi's dying words, fled with her entire boarding party in fear for her life.

Revan had attempted to board a captured Nova class cruiser that Sigil had taken over but she, seeing her brother fight back to back with Zi, Revan's anger boiled over at her own neglect and the hands of her brother. She lunged forward and gutted the other woman. She however failed to notice the life force inside her belly until it was too late.

Her brother dropped to his knees and held his wife tightly as she said her final words to her husband. Her blood stained hands, leaving a handprint over his heart as she whispered "I may die here but you honey, keep fighting." She coughed up blood. "Don't give up on your dreams. It is what Jena and I would have wanted." She said, placing a light kiss on his cheek. Cheeks wet from tears as her head craned back.

Hearing the woman's last words made Revan realize what she did and she didn't even stay to hear the rest of it but ordered a full withdrawal; knowing that if she or anybody stayed, they wouldn't live once her brother recovered from the shock of his pregnant wife being gutted in front of him.

Back aboard the Voyager, Revan had broken down in her quarters crying profusely in her pillow. The only person in this galaxy that might have forgiven her now would never. She truly was alone.

Nobody aboard the Liberator approached Sigils quarters for three days until Hera Syndulla talked him back into assuming command and finishing this damned campaign by giving him his late wife's Holo diary which she recovered from the cruiser.

After reading the cruiser, Sihil was torn on whether to mourn even more to get up and finish this fight. Remembering his late wife's last words and looking down at the red hand print upon his chest, he chose the latter.

Two years of warring would culminate in the final battle above Hapes. The Voyager and her crew's objective was the destruction of the Liberator. 

The Liberator and her crew sought to pacify Hapes and install Ta'a Chume as the new queen mother of Hapes. A woman who seemed interested in aiding the rebellion and attempted to seduce the commanding Admiral.

The Hapans loyalists under Ni'korish were fighting for survival. If Ta'a Chume or another rebel or even imperial sympathizer assumed the throne, they would be all killed. If they lived, they would hunt down every rebel there was but for now they were under siege in the royal palace by traitor forces loyal to Ta'a Chume.

Each group brought a considerable amount of firepower to bear for the final battle. 

The defense fleet comprised the Star Home, thirteen battle dragons and twenty five Nova class cruisers.

The rebel/traitor fleet consisted of the Liberator which acted as the flagship of the fleet. Eight battle dragons and thirty Nova class cruisers.

The empire had the Voyager along with three battle dragons and five Nova class cruisers. The imperial fleet kept at the outer system knowing they would be destroyed by both sides but, on whose side will they intervene; the traiotrs/rebels or the loyalists.

This was the battle to decide the fate of the richest cluster in the galaxy after sector zero, the heart of the empire's economic, military, political, cultural and religious heart. This spoke volumes of the sheer wealth belonging to the Hapans and their cluster.

The forces under Sigil were within eyesight of Hapes. The entire fleet was approaching quickly, no good intentions in mind. Ri'korish had to give it to her daughter, she had truly set a devastating weapon loose and even attempted to control it. At Least that is what her spies told her.

The Star Home moved to the back of the fleet, opting to provide fighter support as its ancient design and build would be pummeled by even the antiquated Liberator.

The thirteen battle dragons lined up in a hexagonal formation with the Nova class cruisers filling in the gaps, just ahead of battle dragons.

The Liberator spearheaded the reverse umbrella formation. Two battle dragons flanked the Liberator from too, bottom, up and down while the cruisers filled in the gaps in the formation, denying star fighters the ability to sneak around them.

The two fleets neared each other and launched their fighters. Sigil had long taken command of the fleet via battle meditation and had his ship concentrate on one vessel at a time with coordination the loyalists simply couldn't match. An entire fleet opening fire on one ship is a death sentence.

Turbolasers were exchanged for hours as the Hapans retreated to the safety of the planetary defenses that the loyalists still controlled. They proceeded to harass the rebel/loyalist fleet by having their cruisers fly behind each other like a train by and open fire briefly, just outside their counter fire window. They were attempting a death by a thousand cuts.

Sigil reorganized the nova class cruisers in a halo formation in front of him and this discouraged further hit and fade attacks from the loyalist.

Sigil's shift was over as indicated by Hera's arrival on the bridge. They had worked twelve hour shifts for two years now. He was simply tired from managing the fleet for such a long time. Holding battle meditation for nearly all of his shift.

Exhausted, yet feeling the need to inspire his crew, he remained sharp as he made his way to his quarters. The bags under his eyes told a different story, they showed extreme fatigue and despair. It was a miracle he wasn't an alcoholic and some even questioned if he was one.

Closing his room's door behind him, he finally let his body relax and he now dragged himself back to his bed where to his shock, anger and disgust Ta'a Chume had seated and made herself comfortable on his bed.

"Oh hello dear." She greeted in a seductive voice. Sigil moved his hand and put it on his lightsaber, he was done with this lady. She ignored his warning and got up and got close to him. 

"You really wouldn't waste two years of your life due to anger, would you? What of the men and women who died in your campaign? Hmm?" She got even closer at this point. She was tall for a woman so he didn't have to look that far down to see the lust in her dark green eyes.

"I'm not interested, seeing as my wife…" He bit back pain and tears at the words 'my wife'. "Died around a year ago." He held back even more pain and sorrow as the memory was fresh in his mind.

"There is plenty of purgil in space dear." She put her hands over his' that was holding his lightsaber. "And besides, this is the only way to guarantee the support of Hapes." She raised his hand and put it on her chest.

Sigil knew she was right, as a noble he understood that for monarchical societies, they would only accept a new monarch if that monarch had a claim to the throne and was of the royal family else a civil war is the best he could get.

He sighed and using his moment of consideration, Ta'a moved forwards and kissed him passionately on his lips. He pulled back in disgust immediately yet a part of him liked it.

Looking down at her eyes, he saw that Ta'a was giving him Loth cat eyes. "What is the point of marriage if we act like strangers?" She cried out. "This is a political marriage. As a noble you should be aware of this." He reprimanded.

She still gave him the stare but he didn't relent and moved his hand away from where she rested it on her chest yet her hands still clung on and followed his'. His hand rested on the red hand print over his heart.

"My love and affection are for a few people and you Ta's aren't one of them." He said. "Do you think she would have wanted you to be depressed for the rest of her existence? She encouraged you to move forwards in her last breaths." She countered.

"How would you know? You weren't there." He said, his eyes going wide. "I watched the security hologram seeing as she didn't come back sweetheart." She said. "That doesn't change the truth that I am not interested in anything but a political marriage." He replied. "But it does, Because if you don't, I will kill myself and seeing how I'm in rebel hands, you will be framed and lose Hapes' support permanantly." She said with a smug grin.

This woman gave Palpatine a run for his money in regards to manipulation. She had forced a still grieving and mourning man of his will power and mental fortitude into loving her against his own will else he'd have to kill billions to stop them from threatening the alliance.

Ta'a for a second time moved in for a kiss. One which he returned bitterly. 'If you could hear me Zi, I'm sorry.' He apologized through the force.

"That is hard." Nox's voice rang in his head for the first time in years. "Those who say deception and manipulation is of the darkside, have not met Ta'a Chume." He told her mentally. "She truly plays the game of aristocracy and politics like Solo plays Sabacc, masterfully and dreadfully good. Dreadfully." She told him.

He sighed mentally. "Why did I accept her offer of allegiance? I forgot noble customs and now this is what I have to endure. Not one year into Zi's death, I am getting married again." A small tear fell down his cheek and on Ta'as hair.

"Sigil." Nox began. "You have powered through tougher challenges over the time I knew you in. From losing your sister for a year to me, losing your grandfather and the splitting of you and Revan to her fall to the Sith's influence, you have powered through it all." She stated.

"This is different." He argued. "Take it from me, keeping all this much emotion bottled up will lead you down a dark path and this woman is the best scapegoat you have." She said. 

"So you are encouraging me to love her?" She said in disbelief. "Besides Leia and Orlean, you have no very close people left but she is an outlet for your intimate emotions and desires. She is necessary." She said in a pained tone.

"Still not convinced. You are asking too much of me." He countered. "It is either her or Palpatine and Vader. You don't want those two and you pose a threat to the alliance and ve kicked out of or executed. This leaves you vulnerable outside of Hapes so you will have to return here anyways. Take her while you could." Nox said. "I will give it a shot." He said in a drawn out sentence, he said every word individually refusing to formulate the full sentence.

Ta'a pulled back, panting for breath. Her cheeks were a bright shade of red. Looking up at her would be husband's face, she saw him avoid her in embarrassment, his cheeks a light pink. She smiled to herself and wrapped her arms around him. She had him on the hook.

He regretfully wrapped his arms around her lower back yet didn't pull her closer. She rocked a bit, signifying she wanted to be hugged back and he obliged with her demand.

Pulling back after a solid minute, she didn't notice the Noghris that now held a vibroblade to her back. To her credit, Sigil also didn't sense 'Shim' and 'Tooran' entering his quarters. 

When she noticed them, she jumped back in fear and into Sigil's chest. He instinctively wrapped an arm around her until he saw who it was; Shim and Tooran. The Noghris who owed him a life debt after he saved their lives from the falling Hapan bombers in the hangar four months ago when they had boarded a battle dragon which defected from the imperial to rebel/traitor side.

"Calm down guys." He told them and they lowered their weapons at his request. "We saw her enter while we were in the engine room from the security hologram. She is an infiltrator." Tooran said. "No no. It is okay. She from now on is allowed free passage through my quarters." He informed them.

They both looked at eachother with confusion; they would ask Sigil later in private but for now they looked back at him and nodded. "You can go back to your quarters." He said and they vanished to go back to their temporary rooms that Hera had given them aboard the Ghost.

After they left, Ta'a turned back to Sigil with a grin on her face. "I told you that you would enjoy my courtship." She said with an I told you so look on her face. He sighed, it wasn't even worth arguing about as his head slumped into her hair and he breathed a loud breath of frustration.

He finally pulled back and headed for his bed, not bothering to change his outfit as he plumped himself on it. Ta'a sungled up to him with a devilish grin that he couldn't see or sense from exhaustion. He slept facing the wall and she just invited herself onto his bed and put an arm around his waist as if they had been together for months, not less than an hour.

In the meantime, Hera was stuck managing the Liberator and the rest of the fleet. The loyalists didn't attempt an attack for the first half of her shift. Still not knowing whether it was Hera or Sigil in command of the fleet. But in the second half of her command shift they moved forwards to encircle the fleet.

To counter their advance, Hera spread her fleet to match the loyalists' length and retreated her center faster than her flanks to reverse the encirclement. The loyalists commander seeing this, retreated her fleet as the U shaped formation of the traitor fleet would close of and bomb them.

Hera ordered a count of lost ships. They had lost a pair of battle dragons and four cruisers while the loyalists suffered three battle dragons and three cruisers.

In order to harass the Hapan ships, Hera opened up on it with flak cannons. But this was only limited to the Liberator since her other ships bore no flak cannons. The flaks forced the Hapans further back down against the planetary shield. Neither one however, wanted to use their proton torpedoes yet.

"Lady Kharna, the other fleets have been fighting for three quarters of the day, should we intervene?" Antioch asked. "Not yet Captain. We must bite our time for they could be depleted further than this.

"Lieutenant, I'm afraid we'll have to cut the Admirals rest time short. Wake him up and call him to the bridge." Hera told her comms officer. "Yes, General. I'll get on it." He replied. "Now." she urged.

Sigil's communicator beeped which stirred him awake. He sat up abruptly and called the communicator to his hand. It was a message from the bridge which red 'Admiral Trial, your immediate presence is required on the bridge.'. He got out of bed and popped a refreshing pill in his mouth and stormed for the bridge; rubbing his eyes on the way there.

"What seems to be the issue General?" He asked, entering the bridge. "We are planning a bombing raid on the Hapan fleet but we need you to keep hold of the fleet while we do it." She explained. "We?" He questioned. "I will be leading the charge but I need you to keep the fleet at the ready if the imperials get involved." She elaborated.

He nodded. "My battle meditation will help you while causing confusion among the enemy fleet but the ground defenses are still active." He said. "They do not target star fighters." She said. "Very well. Assemble your bombers and depart within two hours." He said. "Farewell Admiral." She said, existing the bridge. "Farewell General." He responded. 

"Shim, Tooran, come to the bridge, General Syndulla is planning to pilot her ship." He informed the Noghris. "Yes Admiral." Tooran said on behalf of both of them. They were on the bridge minutes later.

"Ready to launch." Hera said across the fleet to all bombers. "Go." Sigil gave the go ahead and propped down for battle meditation. The flight of Hapan bombers led by the Ghost departed the fleet in groups of four, adopting the finger four flight formation.

Panic set in the loyalist fleet due to the effects of battle meditation as well as seeing a cloud of bombers. They scrambled fighters but to their surprise the flight of bombers flew up and away from them. The loyalists were left confused but soon realized the rebel strategy, they either had to face up to defend against the bombers or forwards to face the larger ships. That held true for the battle dragons in particular.

The battle dragons were moved down while the cruisers rested on top of them to defend against attack and the fighter pursued the flight of bombers.

In the confusion caused by the battle meditation, the Hapan Captains failed to realize that the traitor/rebel fleet couldn't and wouldn't approach because they will be targeted by the planetary defenses so they wastefully split their resources and prepared to fight on a non-existent front.

The flight of bombers approached the Hapan fleet from the top, aiming for their battle dragons in between the gaps in the screen of incoming fighters and shielding cruisers.

Through his guidance, the bombers found their mark upon the battle dragons and let loose with their payload of bombs and torpedoes, pulling on their flight sticks upside down to head back to the coverage of the friendly fleet. Nearly fifteen bombers were destroyed and twenty five were damaged but in return the battle dragons' numbers shrunk to only one.

As much as finishing the Hapan fleet would have been nice, they had to wait for their bombers to be back before they pursued.

The Hapans retaliated, launching their proton torpedoes in mass against their opposing fleet.

The blow was damaging, shrinking the rebel fleet down by eight ships. What remained were four battle dragons and twenty three cruisers.

Once docked, Sigil charged the remaining loyalists by arranging his remaining ships in a three fingered claw formation, hoping for an envelopment. Seeing no way out but their death, the Commander of Star Home by extension the rest of the fleet, shot one shot, then two and then one followed by three shots upwards.

Immediately his holo terminal beeped. Going to it and answering he saw the Hapan Captains who informed him of the fact that those shots menat unconditional surrender.

With the orbiting defense fleet and royal Navy high command surrendering, that meant that the only obstacle between Ta'a Chume and the throne as well as the end of this god forsaken campaign was the planetary defenders.

After taking control of the remaining defense fleet, Sigil, Hera and Ta'a sent a surrender ultimatum to the planetary defenders which they refused.

Seeing no way out, Sigil ordered his fleet to open fire on the planetary shield. The hammering lasted a full rotation but the shield eventually gave out. All ground to orbit installations were systematically destroyed by proton torpedoes as the victorious Liberator landed her troops to reinforce the siege of the royal palace while the rest under Hera's command, kept an eye out for the imperial fleet.

The Liberator withheld fire from the royal palace so as to keep it intact. The massive ship off loaded her troops onto the rooftop of a skyscraper seeing as the streets were too narrow. Of the starting nineteen thousand, only ten thousand remained as he garrisoned conquered Hapan worlds.

With the reinforcements, the ongoing one year siege of the royal palace drew to a swift close with a final offensive.

Revan realizing she was too slow to react and seize the initiative primarily out of guilt for killing the pregnant Zi, withdrew, not wanting her brother's wrath. He wouldn't spare her in a fleet engagement and with his superior numbers and skill at battle meditation, she withdrew back to Kuat after two years.

The fight to the throne room was very bloody as the amazon bodyguards of the royal family fought tooth and nail for their mistress, soon to be deposed queen mother Ni'korish.

The final obstacle before the end was in reach. The throne room's door. Explosive charges did nothing to penetrate the chamber however. Deciding that he and his men had had enough, Sigil reached out and using his anger, attempted to break the mighty door.

At first it creaked but after a few minutes of sustained pressure, the screams of buckling metal filled teh palace as the door scum to the pressure and fell back.

Sigil dropped on his hands and knees from the exertion it took him to pull off such a feat. He laid there panting as troops around him, subdued the throne room's defenders and took Ni'korish into custody.

Ta'a, acting concerned for Sigil's health, kneeled beside him and managed to get him back on his feet.

It was finally over. All orbiting ships landed as the troops finally rested after an eternity of war.

One day after the capture of the palace, Sigil and Hera contacted alliance high command for the first time in two years hoping they weren't wiped out.

The call was picked up by the shocked Mon, Leia, Ackbar and Dodana. They didn't speak at all but stared slack jawed at the duo whom they thought had perished.

"We understand this is a shock for everyone who assumed we perished above Mimban." Sigil began addressing the shocked council. "We were stranded in the Hapes consortium fighting a war for two years without a hyperdrive that finished less than a rotation ago." Hera finished.

"We are certainly very glad that you survived but you will be reprimanded for not contacting us." Monthma said. "All long range communications were blocked by an imperial task force sent after us. They only left once Hapes itself fell." Sigil elaborated.

"What of the Hapan government? They are a matriarchal society who wouldn't accept a king or a non Hapan or non-human to rule." Leia asked. "Well…" Hera began, seeing the uncomfortable look on Sigils face. "A daughter of the queen mother allied herself with us and betrayed her mother. She promised financial support to the alliance if we win the throne for her, which we did." Hera finished.

"And the people will accept paying for an outsider?" Dodana asked. "The new queen Ta'a Chume proposed to marry Admiral Trial as her husband as to not anger the Hapan people." Hera said.

All eyes turned to Sigil. His face was tense and he didn't speak a single word. "Are you onboard with this Admiral?" Mon asked with concern in her voice. "I see no alternative to ensuring a rebel leaning to neutral Hapes cluster. I do accept it." He replied with a pained facial expression.

"Your men along with yourselves deserve rest. You are given two months off after this, come to the Hoth system." Ackbar said. "Indeed." Dodana agreed. "Farewell Admiral Trial, General Syndulla." Mothma ended the call.

Hera headed off to talk to Sabine who had taken the responsibility of caring for Jacen in her absence while Sigil went off to talk with Leia.

Sigil couldn't keep himself a float on the conversation he had with her as he explained what happened between him and Zi and later how Ta'a threatened to kill herself and turn Hapes against the alliance if he didn't take her hand in marriage.

Leia couldn't help but feel pity for a man she saw as her mentor in political, military and cultural affairs. A man she and her late adoptive father Bail saw as a family member. He was like the uncle she didn't have but there was nothing at the moment he could do for her