The Empire was down, but not out. She still had ships, men and industry at her back, not like she once had, but enough to make the Republic hurt. Certainly Talon would wager one of his men against five of the Republics, his men were well trained veterans, brave, loyal and true. Their skill and character were superior to the lowly rebel. Talon genuinely believed that he and his men were better men than anything the Republic had. Whether or not this was true scarcely mattered, Talon believed it and would act accordingly. Still, his confidence and self-assuredness had not yet tipped over into insanity. The New Republic was winning and could out produce the damaged Empire at an alarming rate. The Imperials may have had the quality, but they needed the quantity as well. 

The Empire also had a more worrying problem, internal disputes. So far as he could make out the Empire had split into four distinct groups. The first group were those who had followed gran Moff Kaine and formed the Pentastar Alignment. Second were those who had followed Zsinj and aided him in the establishment of the egotistically named Zsinj Empire. Third were those men loyal to Grand Admiral Thrawn, a fine leader and a fine choice of a man to follow. Talon had no dispute with the Grand Admiral so long as he did not seek to overturn the law of the Empire that made it such a precious thing. Finally there was Talon’s own faction, those men and women who had followed both the spirit and letter of the law and followed Madame Director Isard in service to the true Empire. At least, that’s what he thought.

Something of an impasse had developed between the factions, an impasse Talon Rake was determined to break. To that end Rear Admiral Talon Rake had suggested that the Empire temporarily adopted a more relaxed attitude towards the Republic, and go on a defensive footing, for the time being. Meanwhile, it would focus its expansive efforts against other, weaker foes. But their chief goal would be the unification of the various factions. By so doing they would gain resources, industrial capacity and troops and then give more meaningful opposition to the Republic. 

Talon Rake believed that honour, duty and loyalty should be enough to move a man. Ysanne Isard knew better, she knew a tasty carrot and a big stick would move more men than principle. She could see to the carrot, Talon had to ready the stick. Strength had a habit of breeding more strength. Even a slight edge on the other factions could lead to huge gains later on. So, he had to secure ships, planets, factories, maybe even men all so Ysanne could have great bargaining power. To do this he had to strike at something that was neither controlled by the New Republic nor by one of the Imperial factions. Indeed, picking on even small, independent worlds was a risk. For all her wickedness the New Republic had fooled itself into believing itself some white knight in this dark galaxy and white knights often rode to the aid of the helpless. 

Criminals, vagabonds and those unpopular in the Republic made better targets, for now. With this in mind Talon had cast his eye to two places. First was the Hapes Consortium, isolated for millennia and having only just opened her borders her tenuous ties to the New Republic were sufficiently weak in Talon’s view that the rebel dogs would not come to their aid. The population might be unmanageable though, still there was value and profit there. The corporate sector, out beyond Ruuria made for a better target. Isolated and a long way from the Republic, unclaimed by any of the major players but with enough wealth and industry to be worthwhile. Their isolation would make a prolonged campaign difficult, a short, sharp blow was what was required here. He had to take their heart in one fell swoop.

Standing with both hands behind his back, as was his custom, Talon Rake looked out through the main window of the bridge of the Ysanne. From there he could see Ysanne Isard herself, or rather the vessel that contained the fearsome woman, the Lusankya. Even Rear Admiral Talon Rake had to admit it was an impressive sight though he would wager his Daggers against it any day. It spoke to something primal in the pit of his stomach. But he could not stand here in awe of the vessel or in admiration of the woman aboard it. He had worlds to conquer. He let a wry smile hang upon his face whilst his back was turned to his crew, a smile that only grew as it noticed itself in the reflection of the glass, before adopting an even but firm expression and turning swiftly on his heel. 

Still, with both hands behind his back he strode along the walkway, over the head of many of his bridge crew in their operation pits. 
“Captain Dagor!” Talon called out, without anger or impatience but in the voice of one clearly used to being obeyed. Yullish Dagor, Talon’s long serving number two, came up obediently. 
“Organise two thirds of our flotilla, led by the Ysanne. Lay in a course for Bonadan at Imperial II safe hyperspace speed. The remaining third will move to a location where they will be within 10 minutes hyperspace travel of the main force and hold there. Make sure it’s somewhere in dead space. Make all preparations for battle I intend to take the planet.” It was said in very matter of fact tones,as if the conquest wold not be a difficult or troublesome thing. Talon’s success had bred a certain degree of arrogance in him but his faith was not unjustified. It was a faith shared by his crew and by Yullish in particular, who clicked his heels with a smart. 
“Yes Admiral.” Before returning to his duties and making ready for the attack. 

It did not take long for the final preparations to be put in place, Talon and his crew knew their business well. A nod from Yullish signalling all was ready for his order. Standing at the rear of the bridge Talon turned once more to look out across space and the Lusankya. He paused to reflect for a moment, a tiny hint of that wry smile just creeping back onto his face. His bridge fell silent in anticipation before Talon said in a slightly quieter tone than normal.
“All stations, prepare for jump to hyperspace. Jump on my mark… Mark!”
A flick of the switch and the hyperspace engines burst into life, the universe bent around them and they were off. Tearing into space, tearing towards battle and, Talon hoped, tearing into the fabric of history.