Imperial Remnant

The Imperial Remnant was the name of the government for what remained of the Galactic Empire following the collapse of the functioning government of the New Order, but more specifically following the reunification of the Deep Core warlords by Admiral Daala and the subsequent campaigns of expansion and stability under Gilad Pellaeon between 12-13 ABY.

Name
The offical name of the Imperial Remnant was the Galactic Empire. The term Imperial Remnant initially had a derogatory connotation to describe what remained of the Empire, most especially popular among New Republic citizens. Eventually, though, common usage drove the Imperials to also use the term.

The term "Remnant" was 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. In the wake of the failed invasion of Imperial Space by the Yuuzhan Vong and the Imperial Remnant's decision to join the war against the aliens, the term seems to have lessened. Even so, the enlarged and revitalized Empire that existed in the post-Yuuzhan Vong War Galaxy could still be considered the "Imperial Remnant".

While the Remnant moniker was 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 were known to have referred to the Empire as the "Imperial Remnant" prior to the Empire’s decision to sue for peace.

History
There was no official starting point of the Remnant, nor an offical ending point for the Empire. Rather it seems that as the functioning government of the Empire fell into disarray, it slowly evolved into the modern confederated government. Evidence of the start of this evolutionary process point to five dates: 4 ABY, following the death of Palpatine at the Battle of Endor; 11 ABY, following the death of the clones of the "reborn" Palpatine; several months after that (still 11 ABY), following the death of the last Galactic Emperor, Xandel Carivus; 12 ABY, following the unification of the Deep Core warlords by Admiral Daala and the subsequent campaigns of expansion and unification undertaken by Gilad Pellaeon; and 19 ABY, following the signing of the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty.

Though much evidence seems to point to 19 ABY, 12-13 ABY were chosen as the founding dates since evidence seems to suggest that the reunification of the Empire by Daala at Tsoss Beacon was the incident that would eventual spark the formation of the Imperial Remnant's modern government. Further, it seems clear that the Imperial Remnant was a functioning government by the time and, therefore, before the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty.

The warlords and Daala's campaign (12 ABY)
"One Empire, one fleet&mdash;only this will guarantee us victory."

- Admiral Daala

Following the disasterous collapse of the campaign spearheaded by clones of "reborn" Palpatine, the Empire once again fell into chaos and disarray. High-ranking officials and military commanders gathered their own forces and retreated to the Deep Core, establishing their own dominions of power and fighting amongst themselves for control of what remained. These warlords were beyond anything seen in the post-Endor years, with each commander wasting precious resources in order to advance their individual postitions. In hopes of reunifing the squabling remains of the Empire, Admiral Daala took it upon herself to act as a sort of emissary between the factions, though to limited success. Forced into the service of "Supreme Warlord" Harrsk to fight against the forces of High Admiral Teradoc, she could take it no longer. Allying herself with Teradoc's top fleet officer, then-Vice Admiral Gilad Pellaeon, she held a meeting of the thirteen most powerful warlords at Tsoss Beacon with the intention of a negotiating a reunification and the appointment of a Supreme Commander.

Hours into the negotiations, it became apparent to Daala that the warlords refused to work together. Tired and angry, she executed them, sealing them in the conference room and poisoning the air. Not her original intention, Daala effectively made herself both Supreme Commander and Imperial Head of State and was now poised to wage war against the New Republic. Though the stable government associated with the modern Imperial Remnant had not yet been established, it was this event that would form the process by which that government would take shape.

Still bitter from the losses she had taken a year prior, Daala regrouped the Imperial Navy under the flag of the Star Dreadnought Knight Hammer. She then placed Pellaeon in command of a fleet of thirteen of forty-five amassed Imperial-class Star Destroyers and her loyal third-in-command, Colonel Cronus, in charge of Crimson Command, a fleet of one hundred twelve Victory-class Star Destroyers. Daala then set her plan in motion. In her opinion, the greatest hinderance to Imperial victory lay in the Jedi and their academy on Yavin 4. Set on this objective, she ordered Pellaeon's fleet to attack as a vanguard for her flagship. The battle was a disaster for the Empire, costing Daala the life of many loyal soldiers&mdash;Cronus among them&mdash;as well as Knight Hammer. Pellaeon, his Star Destroyers damaged by the Jedi, succeeded in recovering Daala from an escape pod. Embarassed and ashamed, Daala resigned her command and commission; her final act was to promote Pellaeon to full admiral and covey on him the powers of Supreme Commander of the Imperial Fleet.

Expansion under Pellaeon (12–13 ABY)
"Thanks to Daala's unification efforts, the Empire was stable, though still only a shadow of its former self. If anyone could restore the Empire... Pellaeon appeared to be the one."

- Voren Na'al

In a near repeat of the Battle of Endor and the Battle of Bilbringi, Pellaeon was once again left to pick up the pieces, only this time he had both the means and authority to restabilize the situation. Realizing that the Deep Core was too limited and exhausted, the new Supreme Commander looked elsewhere, specifically the valuable territories of the Mid and Outer Rims. Intent on rebuilding the Empire to its former glory, Pellaeon almost immediatley took the offensive and pushed his way out of the Core. In the process he managed to garner both military and political support from the officials and Moffs who had avoided the disasterous Deep Core in-fighting, absorbing old Imperial holdings. Among these holdings was Grand Moff Ardus Kaine's formerly-autonomous empire, the Pentastar Alignment, and Kaine's former flagship, the Star Dreadnought Reaper. It is more than likely that the modern governmening bodies of the Imperial Remnant, specifically the Council of Moffs, formed about this time as more and more Moffs continued to rally support behind the new Supreme Commander.

A mere six months after Daala's resignation, Pellaeon&mdash;now commanding from the bridge of the Reaper&mdash;decided to camapigns for the conquest of the planet of Orinda in the Mid Rim. The New Republic responded by sending a fleet under the command of General Wedge Antilles and Lusankya, but it proved too late. Though a month of fighting succeeded in pushing Pellaeon back, the campaign proved a relative success for the Empire. The New Republic's defeat came at the Battle of Orinda where the fleet carrier Endurance was destroyed with the majority of its fighter complement on board. Soon after, a second Imperial victory came at the Battle of Gravlex Med where the Imperial forces successfully reacquired the symbolically important Star Destroyer Chimaera. Thence, the battlelines along the Mid Rim would come to a stalemate as both sides fortified their acquisitions.

Following the collapse of Moff Getelles's control over the Antimeridian Sector, the New Republic entered the territory with two fleets. Gentelles was unable to combat the invasion, costing the Empire that sector along with a sizeable area of neighboring space. Occupied on the front at Adumar, Pellaeon arrived in time to stop the New Republic advance, but at the cost of his flagship Reaper, forcing him to move the starfleet's flag to his old warship, Chimaera. This would prove to be the beginning of the end of the Imperial Remnant's expansion.

Final years of conflict (17–19 ABY)
"Tell them that it's time to send an emissary to the New Republic. To discuss the terms of our surrender."

- Fleet Admiral Gilad Pellaeon



In 17 ABY, hoping to take advantage of the issues that had plagued the New Republic following the Black Fleet Crisis, Pellaeon&mdash;now a Fleet Admiral&mdash;decided to initiate another offensive campaign of expansion. It turned out to be a failure. In a series of battles which included the dramatic conflicts at Champala and Anx Minor, the Imperial Remnant was slowly by surely pushed back. By the time the major combat operations had ended, Pellaeon found himself at the head of an Imperial Remnant unlike that of only a few years prior. From an expanse of space that reached from the Mid Rim to Wild Space, the Remnant had been pushed into the Outer Rim and controlled a mere eight sectors. For its part, the starfleet had suffered greatly, going from twenty-five thousand Star Destroyers at its peak to a mere two-hundred. These matters were beginning to press on Pellaeon's mind as he thought about the future of the Empire. It would eventually lead him to, in 19 ABY, conclude that the Imperial Remnant could no longer last if it continued at war with the New Republic.

There were those within the Imperial Remnant who thought differently from the Supreme Commander, among them the official in charge of the Braxant Sector, Moff Disra. Determined to oust Pellaeon and continue the war, he formed a triumvirate with Royal Guardsman Major Grodin Tierce and the con-artist Flim. While Disra provided the resources and political needs necessary to carry out the coup, Tierce conducted the military aspect, all of which relied on Flim and his disguise as Grand Admiral Thrawn. With the New Republic in chaos over the Caamas Document and Bothan involvement, the triumvirate moved and prepared a situation that they hoped would eventually drive the New Republic to civil war. Fortunantly, Pellaeon&mdash;assisted by New Republic agents&mdash;succeeded in uncovering the plot and had Tierce executed and Disra and Flim taken into custody.

The coup foiled, the plot to start a civil war within the New Republic was successfully halted when copies of the Caamas Document were successful discovered and brought to public attention. These matters settled, Pellaeon's plans for peace could finally be realized. Aboard the bridge of the Chimaera, more than two decades after its inception, the Galactic Civil War at last came to end with the signing of a treaty of peace. The Imperial Remnant was no longer a rogue entity of a greater past, but a recognized state, politically equal to the New Republic.

War against the Yuuzhan Vong (25–29 ABY)
"Understand this: If the Yuuzhan Vong can defeat the New Republic, we cannot stand against them."

- Grand Admiral Gilad Pellaeon

The Empire adopted an isolationist stance until the New Republic’s former chief of state, Leia Organa Solo, went on a diplomatic mission to the Remnant to seek an alliance against the Yuuzhan Vong shortly after the Battle of Dantooine. Grand Admiral Pellaeon, seeing the threat the Yuuzhan Vong posed to the Galaxy, persuaded the Council of Moffs to send a fleet to assist the New Republic.

The Imperials rescued a New Republic task force and aided in the eventually futile defense of the planet Ithor. When Ithor was devastated by Yuuzhan Vong's biological weapons, the Council of Moffs ordered Grand Admiral Pellaeon to return to Imperial space and 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 to assist New Republic forces until the Battle of Ord Mantell. It appeared 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. For a number of years, they were correct. Even though Pellaeon personally favored 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 9, the Yuuzhan Vong launched an invasion of the Imperial Remnant. Despite achieving the element of surprise and burning the capital city of the Empire to the ground from orbit, the attack would prove disastrous for the Yuuzhan Vong.

Grand Admiral Pellaeon, although 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 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 attempting an assassination 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 that chased down the surviving vessels from the Yuuzhan Vong fleet that had invaded the Empire. After a string of indecisive victories, Pellaeon routed the Yuuzhan Vong fleet at the Battle of Esfandia.

In the operation to retake the Bilbringi system, a handful of Imperials took part in the near-disastrous battle. Those who found their way into the system were TIE Defender pilots from the interdictor Wrack, including the ship’s captain, Mynar Devis. All the Imperials were killed when they attempted to disable a Yuuzhan Vong Interdictor. Gilad Pellaeon’s reaction to learning of Captain Devis’ death led Jaina Solo to believe Devis was somehow Pellaeon’s son.

The Empire participated in numerous other battles near the end of the war, most notably in the defense of the Galactic Alliance’s provisional capitol on Mon Calamari and the invasion and 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.

Post-Yuuzhan Vong
By 35 ABY, Pellaeon had retired from his post and the Imperial Remnant had become an member state of the Galactic Alliance, while retaining a degree of autonomy over their own personal affairs.

By c. 140 ABY, a new Emperor had been appointed, and was attacked as part of the resurgence of the new Sith.

Government and politics
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 explicitly demonstrated political check to the Council of Moffs’ powers. The Supreme Commander at the end of the Galactic Civil War and during the Yuuzhan Vong War, 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, an assessment Pellaeon agreed with.

It was unclear how the Council of Moffs appointed or elected a new Supreme Commander or how Moffs gained their positions. Some of the Moffs may have been those appointed by Palpatine or his successors to govern their sectors when the Galactic Empire still controlled the Galaxy, while others could have seized power as much of the Imperial hierarchy splintered into factions led by warlords.

It is also unclear what led to the appointment of a new Emperor, and what powers the position held.

Economy
Main article: Galactic economy

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

Arts and culture
In social terms, the Imperial Remnant was drastically different from the Palpatine-era Empire. Blatant anti-alien and anti-female bias was a thing of the past, with one Moff during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion being a woman, in addition to a higher number of female navy captains. In terms of basic rights, life in the Remnant, though far ahead of Palpatine's Empire, still lagged slightly behind the New Republic.

Military
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 Imperial Navy. At the time of the Pellaeon-Gavrisom Treaty, 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 possessed one "Super Star Destroyer" of unspecified class just prior to the Yuuzhan Vong attack on Bastion. By that time, the Imperial Starfleet mainly fielded aging warships of unspecified numbers and types, including the outdated Dreadnaught-class heavy cruisers that were developed nearly half a century earlier during the peak of the Clone Wars.

The main Imperial starfighters active against the Yuuzhan Vong were the TIE interceptor and the TIE Defender. They acquitted themselves well enough against Yuuzhan Vong Coralskipper fighters, but they were never as effective against other Yuuzhan Vong craft as "stutterfire"-capable Galactic Alliance craft were. The SoroSuub Preybird and Incom I-7 Howlrunner fighters that increasingly became the backbone of the Imperial fighter force prior to the Galactic Civil War's conclusion took a backseat to new TIE fighter designs. 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. AT-AT walkers were apparently still in use as well. In addition, Imperial Stormtroopers at one point assisted Jedi Knight Jacen Solo to expose traitors and infiltrators inside the Imperial ranks.

Astrography
Imperial Remnant's territory consisted of eight "backwater" sectors in the Outer Rim that bordered the Unknown Regions. The Borderland Regions separated the territories of the New Republic and the Imperial Remnant during the latter part of the Galactic Civil War. Presumably, this was continued even after the Galactic Civil War.

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.

At the time of the Yuuzhan Vong War, the Remnant consisted of "a few thousand" worlds spread among eight sectors (sometimes referred to as Imperial Space) and populated by 15 different species. Notable planets, systems, and sectors under Remnant control were:


 * Braxant Sector
 * Bastion
 * Rimcee Station
 * Borosk system
 * Borosk
 * Clacis Sector
 * Ord Sedra
 * Dolis system
 * Dolis 3
 * D'Astan Sector
 * Nez Peron
 * Muunilinst system
 * Muunilinst (also known as "Moneylend")
 * Orinda
 * Shataum Sector (possibly)
 * Kroctar
 * Valc system
 * Valc VII
 * Yaga system
 * Yaga Minor (only major Remnant shipyard)