Cry "Havoc!" and Let Slip the Dogs of War

[Rom]

Sitting in the stone room dominated by databanks, a holo-projector, and several communications stations as well as a tactical map showing the galaxy map separated into the territories held by the Alliance and the Empire, Darth Vereor was currently cycling through a new batch of intelligence reports on the movements of the Alliance fleet. Anyone with the least bit of sense could discern one thing - the movement of more and more ships to the boundary lines between Imperial and Alliance space could only mean that they expected the Empire to begin attacking them... which, while true, did present certain problems for the element of surprise.


Scratching the top of his keratin scaled head, the obsidian reptile leaned back and relaxed for a moment as his back popped, considering how the coming war could go. The War that seemed to dominate all his thinking, that hadnt even technically started yet. Reaching for the small tumbler filled with imported Corellian whiskey, Vereor took a swig before leaning forward again, tapping out a few notes to send off to the agent offering a possible turncoat from the Alliance willing to defect and give them codes needed to access shipyards and weapons facilities before standing up and moving over to the holo-projector.

Typing in a simple code, "Epsilon", the holoprojector whirred to life and the galaxy map changed from a simple political territory map to a clear military one, supply lines and fleet movements of the Empire drawn in red with the Alliance lines placed in green. Crossing his arms, Vereor's tail snapped out as the barabel Sith Lord fell into deep contemplation, his blood red eyes never leaving the map.

There was much to be done.

 

[Malon]

Korriban, the homeworld of the Sith. The military was hastily making military plans as war drew ever closer. A lone Lambada-class shuttle slipped through the atmosphere and veered towards the Valley of the Dark Lords. A dark presence, darker even than the ones already on Korriban, now filled the skies of the graveyard world. The Dark Lord of the Sith had come. As his shuttle neared the Academy, you could see the students and instructors lined up in military formation, saluting his shuttle as it passed over them. In truth, the Emperor wasn't heading for the academy, but for a military base to its north.

[Appropriate Music]

There, he was met with similar flare. As his shuttle docked, stormtroopers, captains and lieutenants, and lower level Sith lined up in a the traditional military formation. With a hiss, the hatch opened and a platform lowered from the shuttle. Red coat Imperial guards poured out, and stood in attention outside the shuttle. Shortly afterwards, the Dark Lord of the Sith and Emperor of the Galactic Empire, Darth Judicar, descended wearing his traditional robes; black with a long black and red cape. He was also donning a helmet that covered most of his face as well.

As he finished his descent, the troops and Sith present got on their knees and bowed to him as he and his guard passed them and entered the war room of the base. There, he found Vereor observing the military maps of the Empire and the Alliance.

"Good evening, Darth Vereor. I trust all goes well with the Imperial military?" he asked in a low, yet frightening tone.

The mere presence of the Dark Lord was enough to strike fear into the hearts of the weak willed. Some of the Darths could resist this, however, though they still showed great amounts of respect to Judicar.

 

[Rom]

Looking up from his quiet contemplation as what could only be described as an ocean of dark side power entered the room, Darth Vereor turned back towards the door to see Emperor flanked by his guards entering the War Room. Getting down on one knee in a show of respect with a softly hissed, "My Lord", the reptilian Sith Lord kept his cool and waited until he was given leave to rise, his body language and his Force presence showing that while he was not frightened, the Warmaster was doing his utmost to restrain his usual blunt and brash self to give the respect warranted to Judicar.

Standing up and silently brushing off his inner robe, Darth Vereor raised a clawed hand towards the holoprojector and gestured in what could only be described as a shrugged wave. "As you can see, My Lord, this one haz been carefully monitoring Alliance fleet movementz as detailed by some of our resourcez within Alliance Space. They are aligning themselves on their side of the boundary line, expecting us to begin the hostilitiez." Sissing in soft laughter, obviously at a joke that only made sense to his strange reptilian mind, Vereor cracked his tail out like a whip unconsciously and seemed to come back into focus.

"In regardz to the Imperial War Effort, this one believez that were are adequately prepared for our current statuz... however, this one definitely believez that we need to incorporate a more progressive and asymmetrical training combining the core elements of the Imperial Army and Navy with the Sith - we are expected to be their Generals on the battlefield, and yet they have no idea how best compliment our skillset, and we dont have an idea of how to compliment theirz. This one also recommendz that the Sith themselves are given time to train with the Navy on their shakedown cruises before the war beginz, allowing them to familiarize themselves with commanding a deck crew or working on conjunction with other starfighterz in a squadron."

Vereor said all this in his rasping hiss, respectfully but without any air of exaggeration or showboating. He had no patience for simpering or brown nosing, and even less when he was moving to ensure the absolute maximum efficiency for the Imperial Military. He was the architect of the War, and if there was a problem or tactical error he was going to flat out address it.