A Galaxy Divided

Act I: A Galaxy Divided is the first story line of Star Wars: Armada. It takes place in an alternate time line branching off from Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (with some plot points changed from previous movies/stories).

Scene I
Calling a truce between the factions, Palpatine, the Emperor of the Imperial Remnant, calls for a galactic meeting on Coruscant to prevent tensions from further rising. At the meeting, Palpatine's Senior Adviser, Pavaliin, takes the role of the Imperial speaker, coordinating the other factions. Rie Basoar of the Dominion Empire himself appears as the representative, while Zhin Vakia represents the IGBC, Brei'lya Raan represents the Ishtari and Abigail Benson represents the New Republic. As the talks continue, it becomes apparent that the factions aren't getting anywhere with their requests.

Soon after the meeting begins, Kaelani, one of the higher ranking Imperial officers under Pavaliin's direct control, receives word that a bomb may have been planted within the senate building. Upon receiving the news, Pavaliin orders the building to be evacuated. As the evacuation is underway, he meets up with Khaine, the Imperial Chief Security Officer, outside of the building. It is here that Khaine reveals that a bomb was found, to the dismay of Pavaliin. Pavaliin then orders Khaine to continue searching, commenting that any explosion might ruin their plans, but doesn't elaborate further.

Scene II
Back inside the building, Kaelani continues her search when she runs into Brei'lya. Brei'lya tells Kaelani that she lost her way in the evacuation, prompting Kaelani to have her escorted out. Continuing her search, Kaelani eventually runs into a masked woman. Before she can act, the woman sets off a flash-bomb to cover her escape. Labeling the woman as the person who set the bomb, Kaelani calls for backup while chasing her. After a brief shootout, the woman escapes into an elevator shaft, leaving Kaelani to alert the rest of the building.

After escaping Kaelani, it is revealed that the woman who planted the bomb is Kiryn Ordo, a former friend of Kaelani, although the two don't recognize each other due to their armor. Making her way around the building while trying to find an escape route, Kiryn runs into an un-masked Kaelani. Before she can react, Kaelani attacks her. Not wanting to hurt Kaelani, Kiryn blows out a wall of the building and escapes. Kaelani runs away when Imperial guards show up to the scene. As she runs away, her skin changes color and shape, revealing that it was Brei'lya in disguise.

The next day, Pavaliin, Khaine, Kaelani and Sytarius, one of the higher ranking Imperial soldiers, have a meeting with Palpatine over the incident. The Emperor scolds them, pointing out the severity of the incident and the important of the meeting. After the meeting ends, Pavaliin reveals to the others that he had been in contact with the Ishtari ambassador and arranged a meeting between the Remnant and the Ishtari Empire. After telling Kaelani and Sytarius that they will be accompanying him to Innana, the Ishtari homeworld, Pavaliin has them leave his office as a call comes in for him. As they leave, he answers the call, addressing the caller as Davatok.

Leaving Coruscant, Rie goes over what was said at the meeting. His thoughts are interrupted by a call from his wife, Akasha Thanatos. After expressing their concerns for each other after what had happened, Rie tells his wife that he didn't feel right at the meeting, that something clouded his thoughts and judgment when he arrived at the senate building. Akasha reassures him and tells him to come back home.

Sometime after the meeting, on the New Republic capital Mon Calamari, Abigail confronts Adrel Ta and Alesia Vars and complains that she shouldn't have been the one to be at the galactic meeting. They reassure her that having someone other than a politician was needed for the New Republic. While Abigail continues to vent, Alesia tells the two women that she got in contact with Rie and organized a meeting between the Dominion Empire and the New Republic. She then asks if Adrel would accompany her as both a guard and as a representative of the Jedi Order. Adrel agrees. When Alesia asks Abigail if she would join, she declines and leaves.

Somewhere in the galaxy, Kiryn makes a holocall to the person who hired her to plant the bomb. Revealing that it was an assassination attempt, Kiryn's payer refuses to give her payment for the job, citing her failure to kill the target. After she threatens to go after the payer, the payer insults Kiryn and cuts the call.

With their preparations complete, Pavaliin, Kaelani and Sytarius travel to Innana, the Ishtari homeworld. Upon arriving, Brei'lya informs the group that only Pavaliin is allowed to attend the meeting, but that the others are free to travel about so long as they do not disrupt the other Ishtari. Pavaliin orders Sytarius and Kaelani to leave, but behind Brei'lya's back tells them to try and find any useful information about the race that the Remnant can use. The two leave the Adviser to his meeting.

Pavaliin follows Brei'lya back to the meeting room, where Zhin also shows up, invited by the Ishtari to help accommodate the species financially into the galaxy. While Brei'lya and Pavaliin are able to communicate and get along, Zhin takes offense to not being able to meet with the Ishtari Matriarch herself. Although Brei'lya informs him that she speaks for the Ishtari on the Matriarch's behalf, the leader of the IGBC is still not satisfied. Switching the topic back to the meeting, Brei'lya and Pavaliin go over the border dispute that the Remnant and the Ishtari had been having over the past few months, eventually working out a resolution. Although Zhin and Brei'lya eventually discuss plans for the Ishtari to convert to the credit currency system used in the galaxy, the two are visibly annoyed with one another.

Halfway across the galaxy, Alesia and Adrel meet with Rie and the leader of the Dominion's Black Hand Guardsmen, Vadic. Though awkward at first, Alesia and Rie eventually form a strong affection for trying to preserve the peace between the Dominion Empire and the New Republic. Vadic and Adrel stay silent throughout the meeting, watching as their superiors talk and plan for the future. While Rie and Alesia converse, Adrel grows curious, yet cautious, of Rie.

Scene III
After the meeting between Rie and Alesia, Rie leaves the planet with Vadic and together they head back to Dominion territory. Along the way, Vadic reveals that the Dominion had sent spy probes into Ishtari space in order to assess their strength. Though Rie is angry that he wasn't alerted to the probes, he becomes concerned when Vadic tells him that some of the probes went missing. The conversation then turns to a mysterious droid that the Dominion had found on a desolate planet. Rie wonders if it could help them locate the missing probes, but the two men soon delve into the machine's potential.

Back on Innana, Pavaliin and Zhin leave the planet after their meeting with Brei'lya ends. As they leave, Pavaliin questions Kaelani and Sytarius on if they found any useful information, which neither did. With the meeting over, Brei'lya travels to the Ishtari databanks, the main location on the planet where the Ishtari hold their information. It is revealed that she stole classified Remnant information while disguised as Kaelani during the galactic meeting on Coruscant. In converting the data for the Ishtari, Brei'lya notices several inaccuracies between the Remnant and Ishtari data on Pavaliin. Studying the data, she concludes that whoever she had met during the meeting wasn't Pavaliin.

Over the next few days she tries to find out the real identity of the man, but does not come up with anything. After a meeting with the Ishtari Matriarch, she has a breakthrough, discovering a man called Mammon that could hold the information she seeks. However, she schedules another meeting with Pavaliin, hoping to find out more from him personally. She is unable to obtain any more information during the meeting. However, she continues to be interested in Pavaliin, even taking him out to an Ishtari museum to introduce him to Ishtari culture.

Arriving back at the IGBC's home planet, Zhin follows up with the day to day affairs of the IGBC. As he begins to schedule another meeting to help the Ishtari assimilate into the galaxy's financial sectors, it is revealed that he was the one who hired Kiryn to plant the bomb at the galactic meeting. Zhin is alerted to Kiryn's disappearance. Not wanting any ties between her, the assassination attempt and the IGBC, he arranges for her to be assassinated.

On Coruscant, Brei'lya arrives on the lower sectors, intent on finding Mammon. Tracking him to a strip club, Brei'lya mimics one of the twi'lek dancers and infiltrates the lower level of the club. It is here that she finds Mammon moving illegal goods across the planet. Dispatching his guards, she confronts Mammon. She tells him that she wants information on Pavaliin, but Mammon knows what the repercussions would be if he revealed his true identity. Knocking him unconsciousness, Brei'lya steals his datapad and is able to find out Pavaliin's real identity. A few days later she confronts Pavaliin at his apartment, telling him that she knows who he is. As he contemplates killing her to keep his identity a secret, Brei'lya proposes an agreement between the two. In exchange for his help in making Brei'lya the Ishtari Matriarch, she will keep his identity a secret and help him with his plans by offering her Ishtari for him. To show that she is serious, she has sex with Pavaliin, which in the Ishtari culture is used to bind important agreements.

On the other side of the galaxy, Adrel confronts Ares, one of the Jedi Masters, about the Dominion. With war an ever constant threat, she proposes that the Jedi, off the record, send a spy task force into Dominion territory. Realizing that the Jedi can no longer conform to the old ways, Ares agrees. Together they round up a small group and masquerade as vacationers traveling through Dominion space. However, the group quickly finds themselves in the middle of a showdown between Dominion forces and the Goods Trade Federation.

Scene IV
On Coruscant, Pavaliin and Kaelani attend one of the Emperor's formal balls in the weeks before the Imperial senate meeting. At the ball, Pavaliin runs into Brei'lya, who disguised herself as a human to get in. Before the two can begin discussing their plans, the building comes under attack by a rebel group opposed to the Remnant. In the chaos, the group takes one of the ball guests as a hostage while Kaelani gives chase. They eventually escape the ball aboard their gunship. Before getting far, the gunship is attacked by a mysterious droid and crashes into one of the nearby buildings.

The lone survivor from the crash is taken into Imperial custody. Upon arriving at the detention facility with Pavaliin and Khaine, Kaelani is forcefully dismissed by the Imperial guards. Pavaliin and Khaine meet with the survivor, a Cathar named Falthur. It is here that the Imperial Adviser informs Falthur that the droid that attacked them wasn't Imperial. Threatening Falthur, Pavaliin forces him to reveal where his other associates are while striking a deal to let him live.

Arriving back on Yavin IV after their brush with the Dominion Empire and Rie, Adrel criticizes the decision to try and spy on the Dominion. In their encounter with Rie after they defeated the Goods Trade Federation, he almost found out about their true plan. Ares calms her down and offers her another task to get her mind away from the mission. He reveals to her that a Jedi had infiltrated the Sith Empire as a spy, but stopped communications shortly afterwards. With the Jedi Council worried that the spy was caught or defected, they put together a rescue plan to send in another Jedi spy to rescue the first, or to find out what had happened. Adrel leaves the Jedi temple without giving Ares an answer.

After being dismissed from the Imperial detention center, Kaelani was reassigned to the forward base being built in Dominion space. In secret she relays the coordinates to Rie, revealing that she had been acting as a Dominion spy for several months, although staying loyal to only Pavaliin. At the same time, Gabriel Fynn, a Mandalorian mercenary tasked with finding Kiryn Ordo secretly by the IGBC, arrives on the base. Taking the guise of training Imperial recruits, he uses his cover to find Kaelani in hope of interrogating her to find Kiryn's location. Before he can, the Dominion launches an attack on the base.

During the initial strike, one of the Dominion fleet commanders, Admiral Horn, disobeys Rie's orders on advancing towards the planet. As punishment, Titan, the advanced droid that the Dominion found, goes above Rie's command and takes control of Horn's ships using its advanced programming. The other Dominion forces watch on in horror as Titan forces the ships to fire on one another before being stopped by Rie. He remands Titan, ordering the droid to go planet side to rescue Kaelani after receiving her distress call.

With word of the Dominion attack reaching the Sith Empire, the Sith Council decide to launch an attack against the Jedi in order to pry attention away from the Remnant. They launch a small strike force to Yavin IV, commanded by the powerful Sith sorceress Darth Serket. The initial strike is a success as the Jedi are caught off guard. During the attack, one of the higher ranking Siths, Darth Krimzon, infiltrates the Jedi temple and makes his way into the databanks room.

Outside of the temple, Serket and the Sith infiltrator, Able Rostu, are successful in pushing back the Jedi soldiers. After fighting several Sith fighter ships above the temple grounds, the young Jedi Jane Farstrider crash lands at the temple. She quickly regroups with her master, Tas Sojekk, and begin to clear the temple.

Scene V
Arriving in the temple's main square, Tas and Jane regroup with Ares, who had chased Darth Krimzon from the databanks. Together, the three Jedi join together and fight Krimzon, Able and Serket. During the fighting, Serket gains the upper hand against Tas and kills him. Jane, unable to control her emotions, releases a powerful force pulse after seeing her master killed, which easily stumbles Krimzon. Before the Sith can regroup, Jedi Master Soul Ry'thm arrives with Jedi reinforcements. She easily dispatches the Sith, and coupled with the reinforcements, force the Sith to flee.

On the other side of the galaxy, the Dominion is forced to retreat when they realize the Imperial base is more heavily guarded than they thought. During the retreat, Kaelani meets up with Titan to escape, but is ambushed by Fynn in his ship. Titan is ejected into the nearby river by one of the ship's missiles before Fynn lands. Unaware of Kaelani's alliance with the Dominion, he is about to interrogate her about Kiryn before an Imperial patrol arrives. Thinking that Titan has been destroyed and not able to contact the Dominion, Kaelani flees back to the base.

During the retreat, several Dominion admirals call Rie's leadership into question for Titan's actions. Admiral Horn leads the group in demanding answers and actions for his damaged fleet. With tensions running high, the meeting disbands without a resolution when Titan appears, unharmed from the run-in with Fynn.

In the aftermath of the battle, Kaelani leaves the Imperial base to report back to Pavaliin. Before she does, Fynn places a tracking device on her ship and follows her off world. Upon arriving back on Coruscant, she meets with the Adviser and is placed on leave to recuperate. After Kaelani leaves, Brei'lya arrives at Pavaliin's office on his request. Together, they leave the planet and head towards a location that Pavaliin keeps secret, only telling Brei'lya that it will answer some of the concerns of their relationship and the Ishtari's coup to become the Matriarch.

With the route kept secret from Brei'lya, she and Pavaliin arrive at an asteroid field somewhere along the edge of the galaxy. She's surprised to find a small city-like base built into one of the large asteroids. Disembarking from the ship, Brei'lya is given a tour and realizes that the Adviser had been planning for much longer than she had realized, with trained troops, weapons stockpiles as well as noncombat personnel working to keep the city alive.

Arriving back on Coruscant, Sytarius is promoted by the Emperor and Thrawn for saving Darth Vader's life after he crashed during the battle. He is placed in an experimental unit that serves the highest ranking Imperials. Assigned to Admiral Nadd's command, the two leave to prepare for future events.

With the Jedi wounded after the attack on Yavin IV, Ares and Soul travel to Mon Calamari to ask for support. They meet with Alesia Vars and Adeo Greves, the New Republic Chancellor. He informs the Jedi that while the New Republic will lend support, they will not offer any military assistance, citing the Republic senate does not want to get into a proxy war, or a direct war, with the Remnant as they are directly assisting the Sith Order. Soul and Ares leave disappointed, but arriving back on Yavin IV, prepare for a counter assault against the Sith home world, Korriban.

At the Dominion capital, Rie and the Dominion officiall declare war against the Imperials for impeding on their territory. Not wanting to anger the other admirals again, Rie sends Titan away to investigate the probes that went missing in Ishtari territory. Titan obliges, but knows that the task is only partially due to Rie's concern for Ishtari action due to the probes, that his main concern is keeping Titan away. Upon arriving at the probe's last known location, a mysterious light envelopes Titan's ship and causes it to lose power for several hours, as well as wiping Titan's memory of the event. Deeming the task as futile, he returns to Rie's last known location and finds that the Dominion have engaged an Imperial fleet above Je'har.

Conclusion
While the Imperial fleet engages the Dominion over Je'har, Sytarius is dispatched planet side to disarm the planetary shield generator. His squad comes under heavy resistance but they slowly push forward. However, the Dominion ships quickly outnumber the Imperials, revealing that the Dominion had lured the Remnant into a trap. During the fighting, Admiral Horn defies Rie, who makes an example out of him for questioning his command and kills him. At the same time, the Titan's Fist A.I., A.L.A.R.A., catches Titan as the droid tries to assume control over the Dominion ship. Fed up with the machine's actions, Rie has Titan disabled and jettisoned towards the nearby sun. Before its body burns up, Titan relays its programming and memory to a hidden secondary body it had been working on.

Realizing that the Imperials are outnumbered and with their retreat blocked, Admiral Nadd orders the Remnant fleet to surrender and recalls all ground forces to the Imperial ships. He contacts Thrawn and tells him about the surrender, but is surprised to find out that Thrawn had sent a prototype Imperial ship to assist them. When the ship arrives, it easily destroys several Dominion ships, damages the Titan's Fist, and damages a large portion of Je'har's surface with its prototype mega-cannon.

With the Dominion focusing their firepower on the prototype ship, Admiral Nadd orders the Imperials to retreat. They succeed and jump to hyperspace as the other ship is destroyed. On the route back, rumors spread across Nadd's ship about the prototype. Sytarius, realizing how much damage had been done, begins to question the Imperial motives.

On Korriban, the Jedi are forced to retreat when they realize their counterattack has failed. During the retreat, Jane is nearly killed when her escort group is killed by the Sith. As she is about to be executed by Able, the group if blinded by a flash grenade. A mysterious figure kills most of the Sith and brings Jane to safety, but then disappears back into the battle.

After Jane's mysterious escape, Able and Serket return to one of the Sith temples and run into Ares as he tries to escape. Faced against the two Sith, Ares also runs into Adrel, who secretly took Ares's mission to find the missing Jedi without him knowing. Thinking that she has defected, Ares engages the group in combat. As they fight, Ares accidentally blinds her in one eye with the tip of a lightsaber. With his guard down, Serket brings Ares down with a volley of force lightning.

Before the Sith kill Ares, Darth Krimzon arrives and prevents his death by reminding the group that he is more valuable alive as a Sith hostage. He quickly hurts Serket to Able's surprise to make an example out of her actions. Ordering the Sith assassin to escort Adrel to the medical wing, Krimzon takes Ares to the detention center and leaves Serket at the temple's entrance.

Back on Coruscant, Kaelani travels to one of the planet's cantinas to relax after the fighting. She runs into Fynn and finds out he is looking for Kiryn. The two quickly engage one another in a shootout. Realizing that Kaelani doesn't know Kiryn's location and that Fynn is only looking for a payday, the two come to a compromise. Kaelani suggests pretending to be captured, so that Fynn can get his pay while she can get information as to who is looking for Kiryn.

Leaving for an Outer Rim planet, the Kaelani and Fynn meet two agents from his employer. They quickly alter the deal with Fynn, resulting in a quick engagement. Fynn wounds one of the agents while Kaelani kills the other. Before she can interrogate the other, the agent cracks a pill hidden in her mouth and commits suicide, hiding that they were IGBC personnel and that the IGBC were looking for Kiryn to cover up their involvement with the failed assassination attempt at the galactic meeting months before. Without any links to the employer, Fynn and Kaelani part ways.

Arriving back on Coruscant, Kaelani is contacted by a mysterious third party and asked to come to the old Jedi temple. She cautiously travels to the Jedi ruins and finds out it was Pavaliin that contacted her. He apologizes to her for keeping her in the dark with his actions for the years they had been together. He then presents her with a choice, to either join him or to leave, giving Kaelani a small box which he says will answer her questions. Upon opening the box and examining the contents, Kaelani figures out Pavaliin's real identity.

The next day, while preparing for the Imperial senate meeting, Palpatine is detained in his office by his guards. Before the Emperor can react, Pavaliin appears in his office. The Emperor attacks him under the assumption he is planning a coup. Revealing a saber-scythe, Pavaliin engages Palpatine in combat. The Emperor is caught off guard and loses his arm and leg, not knowing that Pavaliin is force sensitive. The group then escorts the him to the building's landing pad. Along the way, the soldiers loyal to Pavaliin take over the building and capture the Imperial guards.

With Khaine's help, Pavaliin hijacks the holonet broadcast of the senate meeting. He executes Palpatine live and then reveals the object in the box that he presented to Kaelani to be a white mask. Putting it on, Pavaliin comes out as Fallen. Citing his actions as a call for revolution in the Remnant, he detonates the explosives hidden in the senate building during its construction and escapes Coruscant with his followers.

Days after Fallen's reveal, Mammon flies through space trying to escape from him. With Fallen's agents hunting Mammon for his failure to keep his identity a secret from Brei'lya, he travels from planet to planet to keep ahead of them. On his course to a new planet, his ship loses power and is contacted by a mysterious entity, offering their assistance to help kill Fallen. Mammon reluctantly agrees as his ship is engulfed with the same light that Titan came across.