GALACTIC WAR

Part 2. Chapter 1 Galactic Empire Ruling Council

Bastion,
Empire Ruling Council Building
Council Meeting Room

Grand Admiral Palleon, as First Council, summoned all members of the Empire Ruling Council to discuss the events surrounding the destruction of the capital planet of the New Republic, Hosnian Prime. Some of the Empire Ruling Council members were unable to attend because they were still in their respective sectors and attended via a secure Holonet connection.

After opening the meeting, Grand Admiral Palleon said, "Gentlebeing, as we all know, the New Republic is no more. The loss of top leadership and the capital planet has destroyed the New Republic's chain of command. At this time, we cannot know or contact anyone who holds the government in the New Republic. We suspect the second shot of the First Order superweapon will hit the Bastion or base of the Resistance. We must prevent that."

"Are we going to conduct a general armament that activates all of our hidden military capabilities?" asked Grand Moff Epin Serreti.

"I have already taken the initiative to do just that. All of our hidden combat ships are 100% active and ready to leave their hiding places. I have also instructed the majority of our combat ships to evacuate Bastion to prevent any potential damage. The ships that stayed in Bastion have moved away from Bastion to avoid being destroyed if Bastion is hit." Grand Admiral Palleon said.

Grand Moff Kaskus said, "We have also ordered the reactivation of our ships."

"But more importantly, how do we prevent an attack on the Bastion?" said Grand Admiral Palleon.

"Has the source of the fire been determined?" asked Moff Bemos.

"Yes, we have triangulated the origin of the fire to be on the planet Ilum, an ice planet in an unknown region that is the mining site for the kyber crystals used in the manufacture of the two death stars." Palleon said. "We have also conducted a reconnaissance using a high speed probe."
Palleon showed a schematic of the planet Ilum and its superweapon. Palleon asked a data specialist to explain the superweapon to all members of the Empire Ruling Council.

The Galactic Empire/Empire Remnant leaders listened intently to the data specialist's detailed explanation of the planet Ilum.

"We hear that the planet Ilum is now known as Starkiller Base by the First Order." Grand Admiral Palleon said.

"We should proceed to attack that installation," Moff Bemos said.

"True, but how? The installation is equipped with a planetary shield." Moff Hort said.

"The scans from Ilum reveal that when the superweapon on Ilum energises due to the amount of energy it collects, a containment field is required to keep the entire planet intact. It appears that a regulator and containment system are in place to regulate this process. The scans show the use of thermal oscillators to create containment for the energy needed to fire the superweapon." Grand Admiral Palleon spoke.

"Thermal oscillator? Isn't that the device we developed to stabilise the planet's core while mining?" asked Moff Bemos.

"Right, somehow, it seems that technology was acquired by the First Order and developed to contain the energy from the superweapons on Ilum," said Grand Admiral Palleon.

"Remember when they left, they copied a lot of our technology database," said Grand Moff Serreti.

"Right, maybe it was from that database that they got the coordinates of the planet Ilum and the thermal oscillator technology." Grand Admiral Palleon said.

"So, to destroy this weapon, we need to destroy one of the thermal oscillators when it starts to gather power?" asked Moff Hort.

"That's right. We also discovered that the starkiller base, or Ilum, uses a rather ancient planetary shield technology, which has a fairly long fractional refresh rate. Enough time for a starship or fighter to enter the shield from hyperspace." Grand Admiral Palleon said.