Star Wars
The Palvar Sector
Chapter Three - The Empire in the Palvar Sector
The Empire in the Palvar Sector

The unexpecting pirate vessels broke from their vicious assault on the unarmed bulk freighters at first sight of it. Shock and panic quickly passed through the entire pirate attack force. Why? How? It was too late to worry about that now... a Victory-class Star Destroyer had dropped out of hyperspace directly below the battered old frigate they had been using as a command ship.

--

"Blast!" cried Zerlin Mast, the latest of a long line of pirates commanding the old frigate, "Angle the shields and direct all fire on a concentrated spot on that star destroyer! Recall all attack craft at once!"

--

On the bridge of the Victory-class Star Destroyer Almect, Captain Dojl stood confidently watching as the pirate ships broke into utter chaos and the first turbolaser shots began firing from the VSD's forward guns into an old Imperial Nebulon B frigate that the pirates somehow got their hands on.

"Launch two flights of TIE fighters, just enough to occupy the pirate starfighters. Prepare firing sequence, three barrages, turbolasers one through ten, target the engines."

A smirk came across Captain Dojl's face as the frigate returned fire, doing nothing more than lighting up the Almect's forward shields.

"Oh, and prep the assault shuttle for boarding, I want prisoners to deliver to Moff Uhlmann. Besides, the spacetroopers need the practice."

--

The frigate rocked violently, taking several direct turbolaser blasts to its ventral side. It slowly attempted to lumber away, returning fire as it could but doing no real damage to the much larger Imperial vessel.

The pirate starfighters screamed in, engaging the handful of TIE fighters that the VSD had launched as the frigate retreated. The TIEs were clearly no match for the pirate fighter pilots who had more combat experience than than the top Imperial TIE pilots would ever dream of having.

With pinpoint accuracy, the VSD's gunners made one final and critical blow against the pirate frigate. In a series of three pre-planned barrages, the VSD's turbolasers punched through the frigate's aft shields and instantly vaporized most of the engine array.

--

Zerlin clenched his fist as he climbed from the floor, the inside lights flickering on and off as the frigate tumbled out of control through space. "I want a damage report you worthless pieces of mynock dung!"

A few moments passed before he realized that his entire bridge crew was dead. A solitary pinging from the sensor console echoed throughout the room, the bombardment from the VSD had ceased which meant only one thing... they wanted either prisoners and/or the ship itself.

Zerlin stumbled over to the communications station attempting to keep his balance as the gravitational systems malfunctioned. He carefully kicked the body of the dead communications officer to the side and pressed down the intercom button, "This is the captain... prepare to repel Imperial spacetroopers."


With the death of Emperor Palpatine at the Battle of Endor, complete chaos swept through much of the galaxy. Surviving Imperial forces (which were quite plentiful) began fighting amongst themselves, many declaring themselves "Supreme Warlord," "Supreme Imperial Commander," and a wide variety of other self-induldging titles. In the modern galaxy there are many Empires.

Moff Jerr Uhlmann

Moff Jerr Uhlmann is a slender man in his mid fifties born on the Colony world of Semicle. Uhlmann enrolled in the Imperial Academy on his 18th birthday and then was enlisted into the Imperial Navy as a TIE coordinator on board a Carrack light cruiser (not that there's many TIEs to coordinate on a Carrack). After five years, he applied for an officer position and was promoted to Ensign and served at various posts on various smaller capital ships. Eventually he was awarded his own command onboard the Corellian gunship Nefarious IV. By the age of 39, Uhlmann was finally awarded command of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer (long before the Imperial-II line began to see construction) and the rank of Line Captain then eventually the rank of Admiral and command of the newly formed Palvar Sector Force.

His first order as commander of the Palvar Sector Force was to go and actually bring the sector under Imperial rule. When the first Imperial forces entered the Palvar Sector, they met with harsh resistance at the planet Kelroy. The Kelroy Navy, though small, put up a fierce fight, destroying an Imperial dreadnaught and numerous TIE fighters before finally being defeated. Admiral Uhlmann, instead of launching the standard ground assault or orbital bombardment, took advantage of a natural weapon. Altering the course of a comet by nearly sixty degrees by use of several explosives and disposable thrusters placed on the comet itself, Uhlmann sent the comet on a direct path toward Kelroy. He quickly set up a blockade around the planet, shut off all outside communications, and assigned a full Imperial escort line to the comet. Five weeks and several attempts by the Kelroy to escape the planet later, the comet (nicknamed Justice by the Imperials assigned to escort it) plunged through Kelroy's atmosphere, impacting on the shore of one of Kelroy's ten continents, instantly leveling several thousand square kilometers and sending a massive tidal wave several kilometers tall across the vast ocean and flooding out the planet's smallest continent completely. A thick dust cloud quickly descended over the planet and within two months, all life on the planet was dead. Other systems, fearing a similar fate, all gave into Imperial rule. Uhlmann was promoted to Moff and given full authority over the sector.

After the Battle of Endor, Uhlmann kept the Palvar Sector under strict Imperial rule, continually fighting off a New Republic task force assigned to the sector. Then, around five years after Palpatine's death, Grand Admiral Thrawn sent out the call to all loyal Imperials to aid in a massive campaign against the New Republic. Uhlmann sent nearly 75% of his forces to aid Thrawn's campaign, but opted to remain and watch over his sector. Within a week, many of the systems went into full rebellion. Without adequate forces to put them all down, Uhlmann was forced to sit by and watch as nearly the entire sector went independent and two systems joined the New Republic. He managed to keep control of the systems immediately surrounding his main base at Delfii and eventually opened trade with Kashan, resupplying his forces himself since the Imperial supply lines to the sector had dried up.

Template Type: Imperial Moff
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Height: 1.74 meters
Weight: 76 kilograms
Age: 56

DEXTERITY: 3D
Blaster 4D, dodge 5D
KNOWLEDGE: 4D
Alien species 5D, bureaucracy: Empire 8D, cultures 4D+2, intimidation 6D, languages 5D, law enforcement: Empire 5D, planetary systems 7D, tactics 5D, tactics: fleets 10D, willpower 6D+1
MECHANICAL: 2D
PERCEPTION: 4D
Bargain 5D, command 6D, command: Imperial forces 10D, con 7D, hide 5D, investigation 7D, persuasion 6D, search 4D+2
STRENGTH: 3D
TECHNICAL: 2D

Move: 10
Force Sensitive: No
Force Points: 2
Dark Side Points: 8
Character Points: 23

Imperial Palvar Sector Group

The total bulk of the Moff Uhlmann's forces is actually quite small after taking a risk by donating the majority of the starships to Grand Admiral Thrawn's campaign in a hope that he could restore the Empire. All hopes were destroyed when Thrawn was killed during the Battle of Bilbringi as even those ships that once belonged to the Palvar Sector Group had been split up and were taken in under other commanders and even served during the Imperial civil war the took place not long afterwards.

The remaining forces constitute roughly one fourth of the average sized Imperial Sector Group. The flagship remains Moff Uhlmann's personal ship, The Imperial-II Star Destroyer Destructor. There are also at least two other Imperial Star Destroyers and at least three Victory Star Destroyers that still remain under Uhlmann's direct command, most dedicated to protecting the star docks in orbit of Delfii.

The sector group is continuously added to as Delfii StarDrives turns out a corvette or frigate about once a month or a heavy cruiser every six months.

The Delf

In general, the Delf are somewhat shorter than the average humans and bear little to no physical resemblance. Delf have been known to have a variety of exotic skin colors, ranging from several shades of blue to odd mixtures of orange and green. The Delf are pipedal humanoids with a stub of a tail that is often curled away for convience. Every Delf has green, slit eyes that aid in night vision. Other facial features include a protruding lower jaw, small nose, and large ears that hug the sides of their heads and run from the jawline and end in a point at the top.

Delf society has remained unchanged for several thousand years, with the exception of the arrival of the Empire on the their planet. The Imperial takeover was considered more or less trivial to the majority of the Delf population, accepting it as a much better idea than enslavement or death. The apparent willingness to conform to the New Order impressed Moff Uhlmann enough to spare the planet the typical strip mining and other hardships that often came to worlds populated by non-humans once the Empire took over. After the collapse of the Empire as a whole, Moff Uhlmann faced a serious shortage of able soldiers and even began conscripting the Delf into the Imperial Army to fill the more tedious jobs that regular troopers could no longer be wasted on.

The Delf are usually very tolerant and it takes a lot of work to upset one. They tend to find some sort of pleasure in lending aid to those who need it, although they do not go out of their way to do so.

Average Delf: Dexerity 2D+1, Knowledge 2D, Mechanical 2D, Perception 1D+2, Strength 1D+2, Technical 2D

Homeworld: Delfii
Attribute Dice: 12D
DEXTERITY: 1D+2/3D+2
KNOWLEDGE: 2D/4D
MECHANICAL: 2D/4D
PERCEPTION: 1D/4D+1
STRENGTH: 1D/3D
TECHNICAL: 2D/4D

Move: 9/11
Size: 1.3-1.7 meters tall

Special Abilities:
Night Vision: No penalties for darkness.

Story Factors:
Imperial Influence: The Delf surrended their world to the Empire and accepted the Empire as their new just government. The Delf populace was treated with something resembling respect and typically harbor little to no ill feelings toward the Empire as a whole. Those Delf who chose to willing become Imperial citizens were given the full rights of any other Imperial citizen. A few Delf have even been conscripted into the Imperial Army, always being assigned to defense duty on board of a small starship that isn't important enough to waste valuable Human troopers on.

Imperial Starfighter Organization

The Imperial Sourcebook didn't go into detail about Imperial starfighters, a Sienar Fleet Systems advertisement that displayed pictures of the TIE/ln, TIE/gt, TIE Bomber, and TIE Interceptor was as close as it came. Since the Imperial starfighters in the Palvar Sector are organized the same way as in the old Empire, Imperial starfighter organization will be explained in detail here.

Imperial starfighters are fairly standardized in Imperial protocol and are organized into several subgroups and catagories. The standard TIE wing is composed of six squadrons which are each comprised of three flights of four TIE fighters each.

According to standard Imperial protocol, TIEs are not to be deployed in anything less than flight strength unless circumstances prevent this from happening. When the Empire had a handful of TIE Defenders, those Imperial commanders that had them at their disposal often deployed them in less than flight strength, stating that a single TIE Defender was equivalent to at least two or more TIE/ln. This, however, was the only real exception to the rule.

All starfighters, all starships for that matter, tend to be classified according to a specific role that they were designed for and/or succeed in performing. There are four main starfighter classifications that the Empire acknowledges as a requirement to further extend the fighting capacity of its numerous TIE fighters. These classifications are space superiority, interception, bomber/heavy assault fighter, and reconnaissance. In practice, a well commanded combination of craft from each catagory can prove to be a devastatingly effective weapon.

During a deployment of more than one squadron of Imperial starfighters there will typically be a Wing Commander that all squadron leaders will report to and who is a squadron leader himself (usually of the leader of the squadron with the more advanced fighters). Each squadron leader is of the rank Commander while his second in command (chosen by him) may either be a Second Lieutenant or a Commander himself. All other members of the squadron range in rank from Pilot to Lieutenant.

TIE Pilot Ranks Typical Position Equivalent Navy Rank
Wing Commander Wing Commander Captain
Commander Squadron Leader Commander
Second Lieutenant Squadron XO/Flight Leader Second Lieutenant
Lieutenant Flight Leader Lieutenant
Flight Officer Pilot Ensign/Midshipman
Senior Pilot Pilot Chief Petty Officer
Pilot Pilot Petty Officer

It is important to also remember that there are several other people attached to an Imperial TIE squadron other than the pilots. Maintaining starfighters involves regular maintenance overhauls after every flight, especially after combat (because combat puts added stress on the craft). A squadron may have as few as one and up to as many as a few dozen techs that do nothing but keep the squadron's ships in fighting condition.

At the Empire's height, a standard TIE wing would consist of 50% standard line fighters (TIE/ln) while the other half was comprised of a variety of other starfighters with more specialized roles. By the time that Grand Admiral Thrawn began his campaign against the New Republic, the standard TIE wing was altered greatly.


        Standard Pre-Yavin TIE Wing:

                48 TIE starfighters (or TIE/ln)

                12 TIE/gt (or TIE Bombers)

                6 TIE/bc Boarding Craft

                6 TIE/rc Recon Starfighters



        Standard TIE Wing as of Endor:

                36 TIE/ln

                12 TIE Interceptors

                12 TIE Bombers (or TIE/gt in lower priority commands)

                6 TIE/rc Recon Starfighters (or TIE Vanguard*)

                2 TIE/fc Fire Control Starfighters

                3 TIE/sr Scouts

                1 TIE/sh Shuttle (or TIE/ts Trainer/Shuttle)



        Standard Thrawn Era TIE Wing:

                24 TIE/ln

                12 TIE Interceptors (or A-9 Vigilance Interceptors)

                12 TIE Avengers (or 12 more TIE Interceptors)

                12 Scimitar Assault Bombers (or TIE Bombers)

                6 TIE/rc Recon Starfighters (or TIE Vanguard*)

                2 TIE/fc Fire Control Starfighters

                3 TIE/sr Scouts

                1 TIE/sh Shuttle



* The TIE Vanguard is in fact a completely different design than the TIE/rc.

  The TIE/rc is a fighter variant for reconnaissance missions bearing a 

  close resemblance to the TIE fighter; the TIE Vanguard is more of a 

  dedicated reconnaissance craft.

Note that the above does not take into account some of the rarer and limited production model starfighters such as the highly advanced TIE Defender and the older failed TIE/lc Landing Craft and TIE/bc Boarding Craft, which were both variants of the TIE Bomber design (see the New Ships section).

There are other starships which should be considered starfighters by definition but are considered too powerful by Imperial Command to be considered starfighters as it would make their famed TIE fighters look inferior. The first of the vessels was the widely deployed Skipray Blastboat that was often assigned to patrol duty and sometimes found on board of a Star Destroyer. Shortly before the Battle of Yavin the Empire introduced its first Alpha-class Starwing Assault Gunboats which proved only to be a weaker and more expensive version of the already proven Skipray. During the attempted coup by Admiral Zaarin, shortly after the Battle of Hoth, the Empire unleashed what was perhaps the most powerful starfighter ever created, the Missileboat. This craft proved wickedly effective, incorporating new technologies such as the SLAM overdrive engines and a starfighter scale tractor beam projector. However, the cost of the Missileboat was its final demise, only around eleven of the craft were ever constructed and five of those were destroyed in the final skirmishes against Zaarin's forces.

Imperial Privateers

Faced with new problems and threats, Moff Uhlmann resorted to a tactic that the Rebel Alliance thrived on and that many Imperial warlords have taken up... hiring pirates to raid enemy commerce. Moff Uhlmann offers immunity from persecution in Imperial space in return for 50% of what is raided from New Republic transports. Like the Alliance, each privateering vessel is randomly assigned an observer to insure that the actions of the crew is in common interest to that of the Empire.

Imperial Training Facilities in the Palvar Sector

All new Imperial recruits that are conscripted in the Palvar Sector are sent to the extensive training facilities on Malsoun. The Malsoun Academy trains a wide variety of men and women (as Moff Uhlmann thinks any female can do a job as good, if not better, than any male) in any number of positions.

Most of the recruits sent to Malsoun undergo training to become Imperial Army Troopers or Imperial Army Special Missions Troopers while others (including some Delf) train more specifically for a life on board a ship as an Imperial Navy Trooper. Others undergo training to become Imperial stormtroopers as Malsoun offers every kind of enviroment that specialized stormtroopers will need experience in (ie. deserts for Desert Assault Stormtroopers).

There is also a starship operations training course that all new enlisted Navy crewers must take as well as those hopeful of someday becoming an officer in any branch of the military.

COMPNOR in the Palvar Sector

COMPNOR, the Commission for the Preservation of the New Order, was formed on Coruscant a few months after Emperor Palpatine's ascension to power. COMPNOR soon came into immense power as Palpatine altered it as a political tool for his own personal use. COMPNOR representatives were placed under all Imperial commands, making sure that the fighting forces of the Empire were 100% loyal to the New Order. CompForce, the military branch of COMPNOR, was and is hated by regular Imperial military forces who have been known to ignore orders to reinforce CompForce positions during engagements.

Moff Uhlmann, seeing no real use for COMPNOR in the modern galaxy, had all CompForce Observers killed publically and had all CompForce troopers sent to Malsoun to be retrained and later put into service of the Imperial Army.

Anyone claiming to belong to COMPNOR while in Moff Uhlmann's territory can face being exiled from the sector, several years in a prison camp, or even execution.

Supplement Navigation
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Chapter Two - Corporations of the Palvar Sector
Chapter Three - The New Republic in the Palvar Sector