1 year later
The search for the Son has progressed quite a bit, but it was still not as fast as Daimon wanted. They had thoroughly searched almost a hundred systems in the span of a year, which provided some clues and information.
On a few planets, there were signs of battle and after investigating it, they had found that it was in fact the Killiks based on some DNA samples found across the planet. The other DNA was an unknown species that Daimon assumed were likely taken by the Killiks back to wherever their home system was located.
Daimon had them follow the trail, but the Killiks covered their tracks pretty good. The trail just led them to various planets which didn't have a pattern or a direct path. Instead, the planets were just randomly found all over the place.
To Daimon he knew that this was the Son's doing, who was by no means incompetent. He was very competent not just because of his strength, but also his millions of years of experience. This alone gave him a significant advantage over any other adversary that Daimon faced because he was old enough to see an untold number of civilizations rise and fall.
Because of this, every anomaly that was found during their investigations was forwarded to Cortana by Daimon's order for cross-mapping with other anomalies.
As for the Republic-Sith war, things were looking down for the Republic as they had recently lost two key battles. Those two battles were the battle of Hapes and the battle of Ambria.
Hapes and Ambria were located within the Inner Rim of the galaxy and opened up the path to the Core for the Sith. Those two battles were crucial as the Republic had lost the majority of its military leadership to assassinations, demotions from losing battles, and mutiny.
The Republic at this point was just trying to hold on, but the Sith, with their extreme militaristic ways, was taking advantage of the Republic who had turned pacifist after they lost the war to the Imperium.
The Chancellor was under a lot of scrutiny and was facing a potential impeachment for his inability to rally the Republic member worlds to the war cause. Some of the blame was on the member worlds for not stepping up, but most of it was on the Chancellor who didn't exactly have a good relationship with the Senate in the last few months.
With his inability to work with the Senate and the state of the war, his impeachment was on the horizon.
The Sith has gained a lot of confidence, but not only that, a lot of Force users. The appeal of the Sith was beginning to become popular for those who were hungry for conquest and power. And with the Republic losing the war, their influence and efforts to subvert this was minimal at best.
The Sith also stopped utilizing their weapons to clear the surface of worlds as they feared that if they kept going on, they would eventually draw the ire of Daimon. This came after Daimon's display on the planet Irellan got a lot of galactic attention.
Just like any war, the Varraxian war was publicly shared with the public through video feeds from some of the Ascendant's helmets.
The videos consisted of a series of memes. The first was a looped video of Daimon punching a Ssi-ruu warlord sideways through a concrete wall. The next was of him using the body of another Ssi-ruu as a weapon to beat the other Ssi-ruu. Imperial citizens and people from all over the galaxy were enjoying these videos amid the rising galactic tensions.
Because of this, Daimon was interviewed, and he told the media that he was just bored and decided to join in conflict and fight alongside the Ascendants for a break from work.
But he said it in a way that was almost threatening to any adversary of the Imperium. The people thought it was funny and didn't see it as a threat, but the Sith saw through this facade and didn't want Daimon to get 'bored' again and join the Republic-Sith war.
The Ssi-ruu saw one of these videos where they were humiliated and decided to increase their brutality. Their counterattacks become frenzied and unpredictable.
On conquered worlds, the Ssi-ruu made special plans to make each engagement memorable for those who survived it. The Ascendants were undeterred from this uptick in violence and had met every escalation with impressive displays of heroism.
On one planet, the Ascendants were filmed raiding a Ssi-ruu slave camp. Once they killed all of the Ascendants, for the final moment, they had marched the liberated Varraxians back to a safe zone, singing a marching chant along with them that translated to "It's good to be alive." This made its way to every major galactic news station and became a way for people to briefly enjoy the Ascendants kicking some ass.
Because of these videos gaining massive amounts of attention, the Sith Emperor decided to limit the use of the weapon and instead use massive droid armies to fight the Republic and limit their own casualties.
For the most part, this new strategy worked. The war slowed down a little, which allowed the Core Worlds to stabilize their defensive lines. But this made the Inner and Outer Rim vulnerable.
The Republic instead of fighting battles, instead started to evacuate civilians on vulnerable planets and move them more inward. The Senate was desperate to gain some positive public opinion so they voted to allow those who wanted to move from frontline planets to Inner Republic planets.
The idea was good, but it caused an increase in poverty and housing problems. Slums were starting to show up as people who left the planet that they had spent their entire lives on to move somewhere new.
Because of this, Senators had lost their reelection which brought in an entirely new Senate save for a few who managed to win. This prompted the Senate to initiate the impeachment process which took about two months.
As a result, the Chancellor was impeached and a new Chancellor was elected within the next 4 months. This new Chancellor was extremely popular and had managed to use his charisma to galvanize the people.
One of his first actions was to reach out to the Veldari Imperium. His reason for doing this was because he saw the Imperium as a part of the reason why they were losing. They were restricted militarily because of how pacifist the Republic had become. Then on top of that, the military had declined in leadership because of the 1000 years of peace.
Sure, the Jedi were strong and helpful in the war, but most of them were not great generals. It was the same as every major war the Jedi Order fought in. They were good at fighting alongside Republic troopers, but many of them completely sucked at commanding troops.
So, the next best thing was to ask the Emperor to send some capable military leaders to help rejuvenate the Republic military.
To do this, the Chancellor himself went in person to Veldari to meet with the Emperor. The media claimed that he was going to beg for more help, but he didn't care because that was exactly what he was going to do.
The Republic was limited by the treaty to not be able to build a capable military force. And even though some of the limits were taken off at the beginning of the war, it was still not enough.
He didn't care if had to beg on his knees in front of the Emperor. All he wanted was for the Republic to survive. And if he had to get on his knees and beg, then so be it.
History wouldn't focus on how he did it, but the fact that he did it at all.
Landing in one of the hangers located near the top of the Imperial Palace, the Chancellor walked down the ramp followed by the Vice Chancellor and a few others.
Standing on each side of the ramp were Imperial ceremonial guards here to welcome the Chancellor.
At the end of the line of soldiers, Daimon waited on the Chancellor to walk up to him before reaching his hand out.
The two shook hands, "Pleasure to meet you Chancellor Ranik," Daimon said. He had been following the Republic internal situation and was actually glad that somebody like Ranik won. He was the type of person who would become a great historical figure and would be able to lead the Republic to do great things.
"The pleasure is mine, Emperor," Ranik said.
"Thank you for receiving me on short notice. We've streamlined the usual diplomatic formalities. My delegation would like to go directly to the matter at hand."
"Of course," Daimon said, and gestured for them to walk with him. They walked through the entryway to the hanger and proceeded to a lift.
Inside the lift, the Chancellor's attention landed on the massive Gen'Dai standing to left of Daimon. Ranik knew that this person was the famed Lord Maxim, Captain of Daimon's Imperial Guards, alongside a few other titles.
The doors slid shut and Daimon looked at the Chancellor. "Your message said urgency, Chancellor. I assume it was something to do with the state of the Republic military."
Ranik nodded his head. "The war will end within the year, one way or another if the Republic fails to adapt. This could mean the end of the Republic which has stood for tens of thousands of years. And, with respect, we both know the galaxy is trending toward total war. The Sith intend to burn themselves out on us, leaving the rest to pick through whatever remains of the Republic."
Daimon was about to respond, but he saw that Ranik had more to say. "The Republic needs military leaders. And the Jedi, as much as I hate to say this are not exactly the ideal military commanders for the war. Sure, they are good fighters and can turn the tide of a battle, but when it comes to leading men, they tend to fail. Our laws currently prohibit foreign military command, but the people will understand if we bypass that law. The Imperium has a good reputation, but…." Ranik paused as he thought about whether or not he wanted to say his next words or not.
After a few seconds of deliberating, he decided to just say it and whatever happens, happens. "The Imperium is part of the reason why we are losing." Ranik closed his eyes and expected to be choked to death or at worst sent back to his ship. But instead, he heard Daimon's calm voice answer him with no hint of anger or malice.
"I can see that." Daimon responded. "Pacifism has severely crippled the Republic over the last 1000 years. On top of that, the Sith have infiltrated some of the influential people in your government and is using them to increase the amount of bureaucracy that exists to stop any significant military buildup."
Ranik was relieved at what he was hearing. The Emperor was actually agreeing with him. Before he could answer, however, the doors to the lift opened and Daimon led them out to walk in his office.
Once in there, Daimon sat down at a round table alongside Ranik and his advisors. "So, what do you want from me." Daimon asked bluntly.
Ranik was a little uncomfortable since the Emperor's face had turned serious all of a sudden, but he still answered. "Our High Command is crippled from assassinations and Senate firings. If you permit it, I would like to respectfully ask you to send me one of your high ranking military leaders to not just be in charge of the High Command but also help shape the new leaders. I know this is like a Hail Mary, but the Republic military will lose if we don't get some military leaders." It was unfortunate that the Republic military was facing a military leader shortage due to assassinations and Senate firings, which is why Ranik asked this of the Emperor.
"Why do you want to win this war, Chancellor?" Daimon said asked.
The Chancellor was taken aback by the question, but figured that this must be some sort of test. He didn't know what the right answer was, so he just spoke from his heart about why wanted to win this war.
"Because every time we lose a world, I have to look at the families whose children are now under the control of the Sith. Because someone has to stand on this side and say that we lost them for a reason, not just because we couldn't try harder. Because if the Republic dies now, so does everything we ever claimed to stand for. Even if it's just a shadow of what it was, I'd rather it survives than see the Jedi purged and half the Core Worlds burning for a parent with nothing to tell their children but that they lived through the end of everything." Ranik's voice was trembling slightly now. He had just spoken his heart out for the Republic which he loved.
Daimon listened to Ranik and was thoroughly shocked. Never before had he seen such conviction from a person who was not fighting on the frontline. This was the first time that a Republic Chancellor embodied the spirit of freedom. He imagined that if he wasn't Chancellor now, then Ranik might be a General somewhere leading the Republic.
"Ranik," Daimon said as he paused. "What you just said was something that I have never heard before from a Chancellor. It sounded more like some General on a battlefield leading his soldiers to fight for freedom. Yet, it came from your heart, which I wholeheartedly respect. As such I will send somebody to lead the Republic military."
Hearing this, Ranik stood up and was about to bow his head, but Daimon stopped him. "Those whom I respect such as you have no need to bow towards me. If you do it, then I will not help you." Ranik quickly stopped and stood straight up.
Daimon walked up to him and reached his hand out as the two shook hands. "I respect you because I can see that you will bring great change. You can't see it, but I can see a great spirit of freedom inside of you. Now I want to see that spirit of freedom in action in the coming years. Lead the Republic to victory, and you will go down in history as one of the most crucial leaders in Republic history."
In the past Ranik always wondered how Daimon came to be revered as a God and get so many people on his side despite some of the cruel things that he has done. But after this little conversation, he could see why.
"Thank you, Emperor Daimon. Honestly, I don't have the words to express how inspiration your words bring me." Just hearing that he had a spirit of freedom inside of him was inspiring, especially from someone called the God-Emperor.
"Now let's talk about who I will send," said Daimon as the two took their seats to continue the conversation.