The battle of Jakku marks the end of an era ... the fall of the Galactic Empire. Remnants of the once mighty Imperial Navy scatter to the winds, seizing power for themselves. All the while, a New Republic is established to guide the galaxy into a ne...
A few days after Luke left Ahch-To, Leia was on Chandrilla with her dilemma. She and Han Solo had welcomed their first two children but the two were struggling with names for the boy and girl. "You want to name our son after that monster?" She yelled as Han backed up a little. He would give anything to be facing off against a bounty hunter or a stormtrooper any day if it meant he wasn't arguing with Leia over baby names. He had originally suggested naming their son after her father, Anakin. But clearly, that wasn't going to go over well with her.
"Alright then, no Anakin Solo. What about naming him after the old man? What was his name? Bill? Brady? Ben?" Han asked as he tried to remember the name of the crazy old Jedi that Luke stumbled across on Tatooine all those years ago. Leia stopped yelling at Han for a moment and thought about it. Ben Solo? It certainly wasn't a horrible name. It had a nice ring to it. Ben Solo, Son of Han and Leia. New Republic troopers would inform the couple that they had a visitor. When they were told it was Mon Mothma, Leia urged the trooper to let her in immediately.
Mon Mothma bowed to the two before walking over to young Ben and his sister. Both immediately tried to grab her necklace and her jewelry. She could only laugh as she moved both out of the way so they wouldn't choke on them. After talking it over with her, she suggested Rey as she was born early in the morning. They thanked her but knew she wasn't here entirely just to visit. She explained that the Senate discussed dismantling or a severe reduction in the New Republic Defense Fleet. Leia had to have Han take the kids out of the room as she explained how risky and foolish it was considering there were Imperial Remnants that escaped into Wild Space and possibly the Unknown Regions.
"That is another issue I wanted to discuss with you. A Senate committee is proposing that we try to explore the Unknown Regions and contact the various governments and people within it. A project that was proposed during the Clone Wars but never returned." Mon Mothma explained as Leia shook her head. "If it was destroyed by locals, don't you think that's a warning to stay out of the Unknown Regions?" Leia countered as she listened to the details of the former project. Mon Mothma shrugged slightly as she was somewhat hopeful that this time would work much better this time around.
On Hosnian Prime, the New Republic High Command was meeting with several former Imperial commanding officers in the Republic Military Complex to get more information out from them. While most were adamant that they had given everything to their interrogators, some revealed that not all imperials accepted the Galactic Concordance treaty and the surrender at Jakku. They said that some had fled to the farthest corners of the galaxy where the New Republic wouldn't find them. This made them extremely uneasy as they were already trying to deal with rebuilding the Republic once more and a resurgent Galactic Empire was the last thing they needed.
To defend against any future Imperial Remnants, a new project was proposed to upgrade their old capital ships. It was referred to as the New Class Modernization Program and its starfighters were also upgraded. Escort frigates and corvettes once considered the biggest advantages of the Rebellion fleet wouldn't suit the New Republic Defense fleet. Cruisers and destroyers were the new capital ships of the New Republic. The largest ships were called Legacy Class Destroyers and a new class of Mon Calamari Cruisers.
Engineers and techs would be going over the designs at Kuat, Fondor, and Mon Cala. These ships would be the bulk of the new fleet and wouldn't be done overnight. This would take weeks or possibly months to build. Supplies and the necessary crews to man these ships would take time. They would also need fighters, bombers, scout ships, and ground-based vehicles.
Troopers would be trained on various worlds in the galaxy worlds, and outposts and stations would be established closer to battles. Debates were made about where to establish their capital; some proposed Chandrilla as it was the homeworld of Mon Mothma and a few New Republic officials. Others proposed Coruscant as it had been the capital of the galaxy forever. It was a somewhat controversial suggestion as it had been the capital of the Empire.
Some suggested Hosnian Prime as it was still within the core. Ultimately, it was ruled that Hosnian Prime would become the new capital. Work would begin to establish the new capital. Far away in Wild Space, remnants of the Empire were trying to plan a strike against the New Republic but couldn't agree on a target. Some wished to attack Hosnian Prime but this was quickly dismissed as the planet was too heavily defended by over 350 Warships and supporting vessels. Others suggested attacking supply lines or cutting off trade routes. In the end, no attack was planned but instead, they would head for the Unknown Regions and bide their time.
Some holdouts would refuse the order to head for the Unknown Regions and hold certain sectors to themselves as smaller, individual empires. 10 years would pass as the New Republic worked to gain the trust of the galaxy. One thing that set it apart from the Galactic Republic and Empire before it was the fact that it negotiated with the crime syndicates in the outer rim. While they did coexist with them, they wouldn't let them run entirely free. If they were running out of control, the New Republic would send forces to send a message.
They would establish new bases in the outer rim so they could closely monitor these possible threats. Rey and Ben were now 10 years old and students in Luke's new Jedi Order and two of his best students. He had nearly twenty other students by this point and was eager to teach them what a Jedi should be and not what politics they should follow. He had become the new grandmaster during this time and had welcomed former Jedi survivors such as Cal Kestis, Ezra Bridger, and Ahsoka Tano to help him with his new order.
Representatives from the New Republic would occasionally sway Luke's mind about having the Jedi serve alongside the New Republic. Every time would go the same way; they would arrive on the surface, and try to explain why joining the New Republic would be beneficial, he would say no, they'd argue, and Luke would call temple security to escort them away.
"Do they have nothing better to do than get us to join?" Jedi Knight Ezra Bridger asked as he walked over to Luke, who could only chuckle.
"I'll give them this fact, they're very persistent." Grand Master Luke said as he watched the Republic shuttle take off and head for one of the Legacy Class Destroyers that brought them here. "Ezra, I want to ask you about what happened after the Liberation of Lothal. Where did you and Thrawn go?" Luke asked as he knew Ezra had disappeared with Grand Admiral Thrawn just before the Galactic Civil War truly kicked into high gear.
"After the purrgil took us away from Lothal, I can't truly remember. Thrawn said we arrived in the Unknown Regions and were both knocked out after we were essentially dropped off. We were on some unknown planet for a few weeks before more of Thrawn's species arrived to rescue him. After some persuasion, I was able to get back to Lothal a few years before you asked me to join your new order." Ezra explained as Luke listened to his story. He was curious about a few things.
"You said he went back with his people. Did you ever hear what they're called or where they are located? The New Republic is trying to map the Unknown Regions but if you ask me, I feel like they have other things to worry about." Luke said as he turned to Ezra who let out a little chuckle. "They are called the Chiss and have their empire out here in the Unknown Regions. They're fairly mysterious and don't trust outsiders very often. But there's more ... Thrawn said they've been fighting a threat from spilling out into the known galaxy." Ezra explained as Luke stared at him. While this was intriguing, a new threat against the Republic caught his attention.
"Ezra, I need you to tell me everything that you were told about this new threat," Luke said as he stared intently at him. Ezra would begin by stating that his temporary exile with Thrawn gave him a better insight into the Chiss grand admiral who was a thorn in the Rebellions' side for so long. He explained that they would probably be best to sit as this would be a long story.
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