Foundation of Blood and Sand

Act II: Foundation of Blood and Sand is the second story line in Star Wars: Armada, picking up one month after A Galaxy Divided.

Scene I
One month after Fallen's coup on Coruscant, Dias Kestra Atropos von Dantarius, daughter of Maximilian Kassen Atropos von Dantarius, is forced to leave her home on Dantooine due to the threat of the Imperials going after the Dantarius family because of her father's involvement with Fallen. Unknown to him, during the waning months of the Fallen War, Dias had a brief romance with Fallen, but quickly broke it off. Although she does not wish to see Fallen again, she agrees to move to his main base, Zenith, at the request of her father.

Arriving on Zenith, Dias meets her father and then several other higher ranking personnel on the base during a formal gathering. Upon Fallen's arrival, both pretend to be meeting for the first time in order to keep their history a secret from both Maximillian and Brei'lya. During dinner, Fallen gives a speech to those in attendance, where Dias learns that he plans to overthrow the Remnant and establish a new government in the galaxy, both solidifying him in a position of power and by ending the Remnant's oppressive control over its territories and people.

The next day, Fallen and Brei'lya leave Zenith for Innana, fulfilling Fallen's promise to her to aid in assassinating the Ishtari Matriarch, the first step in Brei'lya ascension to becoming the Ishtari leader. Arriving on Innana, Fallen's soldiers create a diversion to lure away the Matriarch's guards from the building where she lives in. Brei'lya and Fallen sneak in and infiltrate the Matriarch's quarters. While Fallen leaves to secure the premises, Brei'lya faces the Matriarch and, albeit reluctantly, forces her to drinking a vial of poison. Realizing the full extent of her actions and that she cannot turn back at this point, she breaks down as the Matriarch dies. With Fallen's agreement fulfilled, he and Brei'lya embrace before he departs, allowing Brei'lya to continue her plans of ascension on Innana alone.

On Korriban, seeing that Ares, captured during the raid on Korriban a month prior, vitals are falling, Krimzon organizes for him to be transported to a secret Imperial facility on Tatooine, knowing that the Sith facilities on Korriban won't be able to keep Ares alive for much longer. The following morning, Krimzon, along with Darth Oblivion, Able Rostu, and Adrel, escort Ares off of Korriban.

Unbeknownst to them, a secret transmission of their trip is intercepted by the Jedi Order. Unsure of the transmission's origins or authenticity, the Jedi council refuse to send a task force to look into the transport. Instead, two Jedi, Kirika Yuumura and Erisa, form a small group and go against the council's wishes to look into the matter. Calling upon the aid treaty with the New Republic, Abigail Benson and her squad are deployed on a relief mission to aid the Jedi after they arrive on Tatooine. Realizing that the Jedi are outnumbered, Benson goes against her orders of non-engagement with the Imperials and has her squad assist in any way the Jedi need, promising her squad that she will take full responsibility for their actions.

Later that night, when the Sith arrive at the Imperial base with Ares, the Jedi and Republic soldiers launch their surprise attack to retrieve the Jedi master. The base swings into full alert as they are attacked. Krimzon, Able and Oblivion stay outside and defend the base while Adrel escorts Ares inside with a group of Imperial guards. In the confusion, Krimzon secretly activates a homing beacon on his belt, which transmits his location to a droid that had hidden underneath the sand on the outskirts.

The droid activates and emerges from the sand, attacking both the Republic soldiers, Jedi, Sith and Imperials. During the fight, one of Benson's men is killed while the Sith engage the droid in combat. Outmatched and now outnumbered, Krimzon orders the other Sith to retreat back to their transport. While retreating, the droid breaks into the Imperial base and comes across Adrel, Ares and the Imperial escorts.

After the Imperial guards are killed by the droid, Adrel realizes that she cannot continue on with her mission at risk of Ares's life. Releasing from his stasis cuffs, Adrel engages the droid in order to buy time for Ares to retreat. While he escapes the base, Adrel is killed by the droid before it moves further into the base. Feeling her death in the force, the Sith leave Tatooine while the Jedi and Republic soldiers, rescuing Ares, retreat.

On the other side of the galaxy, the smuggler Joi Antilles accepts what appears to be a simple job of smuggling an illegal spices shipment to the Dominion capital world. Arriving on the planet, she meets with the shipment's contact at the same time as the Dominion officials arrive and arrest the group. As they are hauled away, one of the officers clears the area, allowing an assassin to freely enter the warehouse. Revealing that the two are working together, and that the smuggled spices also contained weapons parts for an experimental sniper rifle, the assassin removes them from the spice containers and leaves.

While Joi waits in jail for processing, Rie Basoar, the Dominion Premier, arrives at the authority station and sets her free due to a past encounter they had, although first by interrogation by Dominion officers on how she was able to sneak past Dominion patrols to arrive on the planet, and without her shipment of spices. As the two attempt to leave the building, they come under attack by the assassin. Eventually, the assassin is driven off when more Dominion law enforcement and military arrive on the scene, in combination with Joi and Rie moving on her position.