Imperial Remnant

The Imperial Remnant was a New Republic nickname for what remained of the Galactic Empire following the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty/Bastion Accords that ended the Galactic Civil War in 19 ABY. The name initially had a derogatory connotation, most especially when used by New Republic citizens, but Imperials eventually came to use the terminology. The government was led by the Imperial Council of Moffs, headed during the end of the Galactic Civil War and the Yuuzhan Vong invasion by Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet. It territory consisted of eight "backwater" sectors in the Outer Rim bordering the Unknown Regions. The original name of the Remnant's capital world was Sartinaynian; however, it was codenamed Bastion by the Empire, which eventually became the most commonly-used name for it galaxy-wide. It is possible that the Remnant increased its size following the war with the Yuuzhan Vong, but this is as yet unconfirmed.

History
There is no official starting point of the Remnant or end of the Empire. Four dates are applicable: 4 ABY, following the death of Palpatine at the Battle of Endor; 11 ABY, following the death of the reborn Palpatine; several months after that, following the death of the last Galactic Emperor, Xandel Carivus; and 19 ABY, following the signing of the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty. The last is deemed most official.

The term "Remnant" is an overt reference to the vastly diminished size of the Galactic Empire, and the fact that the majority of former Imperial systems and sectors had gone over to the New Republic or smaller, independent governments. Though the use of the term 'Imperial Remnant' seems to have lessened somewhat following the Empire's decision to join the war against the Yuuzhan Vong in the wake of the failed Vong invasion of Imperial space, even the enlarged and revitalized Empire that existed in the post-war galaxy would still probably be called the "Imperial Remnant".

While the Remnant moniker is usually used for the post-treaty Empire, the term occasionally popped up in New Republic slang a handful of years prior to the end of the Galactic Civil War. For example, the Jedi Knight Kyle Katarn and even Mon Mothma herself were known to have referred to the Empire as the Imperial Remnant prior to the Empire’s decision to sue for peace. However, it is most useful to reserve usage of the term "Imperial Remnant" to the post-Galactic Civil War Empire.

Organization
The organization of the Imperial Remnant was different from that of the Empire under Palpatine in several distinct ways. The government of the Imperial Remnant was headed by the Imperial Council of Moffs, an oligarchy which governed a confederation of the sectors still under Imperial control. Each Moff represented a component sector of the Empire and governed that sector with few apparent checks or balances to their authority from within or without their sector. Moffs also acted as the commanders-in-chief of their Sector Fleets. The Supreme Commander could, however, "federate" and command all Imperial military assets, including Sector Fleets, during times of emergency, or at the Supreme Commander’s discretion.

The authority of the Supreme Commander to federate the Moffs’ regional units was the only (or at least, the only explicitly demonstrated) direct political check to the Council of Moffs’ powers, acting very much like a chief of state of a democratic republic would. The Supreme Commander at the end of the Galactic Civil War and during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, was regarded by the general populace of the galaxy and such other interstellar governments as the New Republic and the Chiss Ascendancy as the leader of the Empire. It is still unclear exactly how the Council of Moffs appointed or elected a new Supreme Commander, or how Moffs gained their positions. Some of the Moffs may still have been those appointed by Palpatine or his successors to govern their sectors when the Galactic Empire still had control of the galaxy, while others may have seized power as much of the old Imperial hierarchy splintered into competing independent warlords. Given the limited venues of public expression and Imperial disdain for republican or democratic ideology, open popular elections for Supreme Commander and Moffs seem highly unlikely.

Economically, the Imperial Remnant suffered tremendously following the signing of the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty. Cheaper goods manufactured in the Republic flooded Imperial markets, and the Imperial credit's value plummeted rapidly and remained weaker than the New Republic's for several years.

In social terms, the Imperial Remnant was a drastically different place from the Palpatine-era Empire. Blatant anti-alien and anti-female bias was a thing of the past, with one of the Moffs during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion being a woman. In terms of basic rights, life in the Empire was still unlike life in the New Republic.

Militarily, the Remnant maintained Sector Fleets centered around a dozen or so Star Destroyers for each component sector, and a strategic, federal-styled force of ships under the direct command of the regular Imperial Starfleet. At the time of the Bastion Accords, the number of Star Destroyers in the Starfleet was said to be approximately two hundred, with some thousands of smaller capital ships. Given the poor economic condition of the Empire following the end of the Galactic Civil War, it seems unlikely that the Remnant would have expanded its forces to any great degree. The primary ships of the line in the Imperial Starfleet remained the venerable Imperial- and Victory-class Star Destroyers that it relied on for decades &mdash; a testament to the sturdiness and prowess of the designs. In addition, the Imperial Remnant was in possession of one last "Super Star Destroyer" of unspecified class just prior to the Yuuzhan Vong attack on Bastion. By that time, the Imperial Starfleet was mainly fielding aging warships of unspecified numbers and types, including the outdated Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers, developed nearly half a century earlier during the peak of the Clone Wars.

The main Imperial starfighters seen in action against the Yuuzhan Vong were the TIE interceptor and the TIE Defender, and which acquitted themselves well enough against Yuuzhan Vong Coralskipper fighters, though they were never quite as effective against Yuuzhan Vong craft as "stutterfire"-capable Galactic Alliance craft. The SoroSuub Preybird and Incom I-7 Howlrunner fighters that were increasingly becoming the backbone of the Imperial fighter force prior to the Galactic Civil War's conclusion took a backseat to TIE fighter designs possibly through trade with markets within the New Republic. This may have been at the behest of Grand Admiral Pellaeon himself, who was known to have criticized the Preybird design shortly before the signing of the Bastion Accords.

The Imperial Army remained in fighting trim, with Imperial ground forces assisting in the liberation and occupation of Coruscant at the end of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, and AT-AT walkers still apparently in use. In addition, Imperial Stormtroopers remained in existence, at one point assisting Jedi Knight Jacen Solo to expose traitors and infiltrators inside the Imperial ranks.

War against the Yuuzhan Vong
The Empire adopted a position of galactic neutrality and an isolationist stance until the New Republic’s former chief of state, Leia Organa Solo, went on a diplomatic mission to the Remnant in order to seek an alliance against the Yuuzhan Vong shortly after the Battle of Dantooine. Seeing the potential threat that the Yuuzhan Vong posed to the galaxy, Grand Admiral Pellaeon strong-armed the Council of Moffs into agreeing to send a fleet to assist the New Republic.

The Imperials managed to rescue a New Republic task force and aid in the eventually futile defense of the planet Ithor. When Ithor was devastated by Yuuzhan Vong's biological weapons, however, the Council of Moffs ordered Grand Admiral Pellaeon to return to Imperial space in order to ready Imperial defenses against a possible attack by the extragalactic aliens. Grudgingly, Pellaeon obeyed. Curiously, Pellaeon did not withdraw the entirety of Imperial forces from Republic space, as a small Imperial task force centered around the Star Destroyer Erinnic continued assisting New Republic forces at least until the Battle of Ord Mantell, though it appears some Imperial elements defended Bilbringi prior to the Battle of Fondor.

As the war between the New Republic and the Yuuzhan Vong continued, the Imperial government and general populace grew increasingly convinced that the Yuuzhan Vong would simply bypass the Remnant, and for a number of years, they were correct. Even though Pellaeon was personally in favor of joining the military campaign against the Yuuzhan Vong, the political leadership of the Empire remained officially neutral. Despite yet another attempt on Leia Organa Solo’s part to forge a military alliance between the two states, the Remnant continued to stay out of the fighting. Grand Admiral Pellaeon, however, supplied the New Republic with the Empire’s highly classified star charts of the Deep Core regions as a gesture of good faith. The New Republic would later use these state secrets to plan a highly successful trap at Ebaq 9.

Perhaps in retaliation for the Empire’s hand in the preparation of the Battle of Ebaq, the Yuuzhan Vong launched an invasion of the Imperial Remnant. Despite achieving the element of surprise and burning the capitol city of the Empire to the ground from orbit, the attack would prove disastrous for the Yuuzhan Vong.

Grand Admiral Pellaeon, although critically wounded in the initial assault on Bastion, was able to defeat the Yuuzhan Vong at the Battle of Borosk, forcing the alien invasion force to retreat and abandon its attempts to knock the Imperial Remnant out of the war. Following the victory at Borosk, Grand Admiral Pellaeon was once again able to ram an alliance down the collective throat of the Imperial Council of Moffs, despite extreme resistance from old guard Imperial politicians such as Moff Flennic, who came close to an assassination attempt on the Old Man of the Empire.

While the Empire lent its fleets to assisting the Galactic Alliance, Grand Admiral Pellaeon personally commanded a squadron chasing down the surviving vessels from the Yuuzhan Vong fleet that had invaded the Empire. After a string of indecisive victories, Pellaeon was able to rout the Yuuzhan Vong fleet in detail at the Battle of Esfandia.

The Imperial Remnant was to take part in the operation to retake the Bilbringi system, but only a handful of Imperials wound up taking part in the near-disastrous battle. Those that did find their way into the system were TIE Defender pilots from the interdictor Wrack, including the ship’s captain, Mynar Devis. All of the Imperials, including Devis, were killed while attempting to disable a Yuuzhan Vong Interdictor. It is Gilad Pellaeon’s reaction to learning of Captain Devis’ death that led Jaina Solo to believe Devis was somehow Pellaeon’s son.

The Empire participated in numerous other battles near the end of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, most notably the defense of the Galactic Alliance’s provisional capitol on Mon Calamari and the invasion and subsequent liberation of occupied Coruscant. In a private ceremony following the surrender of the Yuuzhan Vong, Grand Admiral Pellaeon presented Han and Leia Organa Solo with a piece of art from Pellaeon’s personal collection&mdash;Killik Twilight, a painting that Pellaeon had inherited from his mentor, Grand Admiral Thrawn.

Composition
At the time of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, the Remnant consisted of 8 sectors composed of 1000 inhabited worlds and 15 different species. Notable among them were:


 * Bastion Sector
 * Bastion
 * Borosk
 * Yaga Minor (only Remnant shipyard)
 * Muunilinst
 * Valc VII