Disclaimer: I am not George Lucas, and I do not own Star Wars or any of the other authors characters etc mentioned in this story. I am making no money off this, so please do not sue me

Authors Note: the backdrop for this story is the Star Wars Expanded Universe and the various stories etc, from which I will use as background (and some foreground) material for this story

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill

1. The Battle of Endor, End Game

Grand Admiral Osvald Teshik

With the destruction of the shield generator bunker on Endor, the second Death Star is now vulnerable to attack, in addition to the death of the Emperor. Grand Admiral Teshik knows it is time to leave, by the time Teshik had managed to reach his shuttle (barring a small interruption that would change his life). When Teshik arrives at his shuttle, he notices that it is still being guarded by his troops, who are fending off any attempt to steal Teshik shuttle.

Teshik thinks to himself, these troops are very loyal to me they will be rewarded after this is over, then he boards his shuttle with one other person, a construction worker, this causes some strange looks by his troops, but they say nothing.

At this time, the Falcon is almost at the Death Stars reactor.

Once onboard his shuttle, Teshik orders the pilot to head towards his command ship the Imperial I class star destroyer Eleemosynary, instructing the pilot to boost power to the shields and the engines. Teshik shuttle screams away from the second Death Star a maximum speed, trying to get away from the possible blast radius of the Death Star.

Shortly after Teshik shuttle gets clear of the stricken second Death Star, the Death Star explodes, causing a short pause in the battle on both sides, as they all watch the explosion of the second Death Star. This pause is useful for Teshik as it allows him time to get onboard his command ship the Eleemosynary.

Once on the bridge of the Eleemosynary, Teshik can see that the Battle of Endor is swinging the Rebels way however, Teshik can also see that the remains of Lord Vader's fleet could still pull a victory from this disaster, even with the fleet in its current condition. All that Teshik has to do is rally the fleet under his command this will prove to be a lot harder than Teshik originally thought, even so, Teshik sets about his task trying to coordinate the fleet.

With the destruction of the second Death Star, along with the Executor, communication and coordination between the various warships of the Imperial fleet starts to breakdown, the Imperial II class star destroyer Chimaera as backup command ship for Vader's fleet tries to restore some level of communication and coordination, with limited success. The command authority of Vader's former fleet is invested in the star destroyer Chimaera not who is commanding the ship, so all remaining warships of Vader's fleet will act on orders from the Chimaera.

The Rebel Fleet during this time of confusion within the Imperial Fleet increases its attacks on the Imperial warships creating even more confusion, making the situation much worse for the Imperial fleet. It is during this time that Grand Admiral Teshik tries to assume control of the fleet, after both Grand Admirals Takel and Makati have fled the Endor system, leaving Grand Admiral Teshik as the most senior Imperial officer in the system.

As the Rebel Fleet begins making significant inroads against the disorganised Imperial fleet, Grand Admiral Teshik had managed to escape the badly damaged battle station before its destruction to his flagship, the Imperial I class star destroyer Eleemosynary and from there continues the fight against the Rebels.

For the next hour or so Grand Admiral Teshik unsuccessfully try's his best to rally the fleet, however as the Eleemosynary was not classed as backup flagship, most of the star destroyer captains are not flowing Grand Admiral Teshik, even though these captains know that Teshik is a Grand Admiral. These captains have strict orders to follow instruction from the Chimaera and not the Eleemosynary and they are following these orders, even though with the death of both the Emperor and Lord Vader these orders do not stand anymore, they are still following them!

With his original plans now at an end, Teshik noted that the Chimaera was trying to regroup the fleet Teshik thought that the Captain of Chimaera would withdraw, Teshik also could see that the Chimaera has suffered battle damage along with a large proportion of the Imperial fleet. The current remains of the Imperial Fleet are now in no fit condition to try to win this battle, his original plan to rally the fleet against the Rebels was pointless, the best option is to withdraw and regroup the remains of Lord Vader's fleet, to fight another day.

The Chimaera needs time to regroup and withdraw the fleet.

Grand Admiral Teshik has made his decision on what to do next and says, "Communications get me the Chimaera, priority one."

From the communications pit there is a frenzy of activity, then a communications technician says, "Sir, I have established communications with the Chimaera, Commander Gilad Pellaeon, acting captain of the Chimaera."

In front of Grand Admiral Teshik a very fuzzy holographic image of Commander Gilad Pellaeon appears, without a formality Teshik says, "Commander Pellaeon, I will cover your withdrawal to the edge of the Endor system, then you will cover mine, understood?"

For a moment, Commander Pellaeon says nothing, just looking at Teshik, realising what the Grand Admiral is offering to do to save the remains of Vader's fleet and then Commander Pellaeon says "I understand sir" With that the communication is ended.

Once Commander Pellaeon holographic image has disappeared, Grand Admiral Teshik then opens, the Eleemosynary ship wide communication and says, "All hands, this is Grand Admiral Teshik. I have spoken to Commander Gilad Pellaeon commanding the fleet from the backup flagship Chimaera. I have agreed that my own squadron will cover the fleet's withdrawal and then we will withdraw, all hands are to prepare for heavy combat. That is all."

Grand Admiral Teshik thinks to himself once he is clear of this system, he can transfer his flag over to the Chimaera and then assume command of the remains of Lord Vader's fleet. Smiling to himself, he seems to have had the last laugh over those other Imperials that had mocked him when he fell out of favour with the Emperor. Though this fleet is damaged it is still a fleet to be reckoned with, once repaired and in the right hands, this fleet can be a powerful force, in the aftermath of the death of the Emperor.

First though he has to get the fleet safely away from Endor.

The Eleemosynary and her accompanying ships of Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron, start to move to cover the bulk of Vader's fleet withdrawing towards the edge of the Endor system, under the coordination of the Chimaera. The level of combat that Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron will be involved in will be extreme and then some!

The space around Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron is alight with weapons fire, starfighters and large amounts of debris, the Rebels reaction to Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron covering the withdrawal, is to momentary pause, as it appears the Rebels were not expecting this move.

Good, thinks Teshik, the Rebels are over confident this will give my force a momentary breather to regroup.

This pause gives Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron time to adjust its position to block the Rebels from perusing the remains of Lord Vader's fleet. The bulk of the Rebel fleet is also trying to regroup, after the destruction of the Death Star, the Imperial fleet has started to disengage and had started to put some distance from the Rebel fleet.

Now however, the Rebels are reforming and trying to pickoff the remains of Lord Vader's Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron is now in the way of the objective and is doing a good job of slowing the Rebels up.

Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron consists of one Imperial I class star destroyer and two Victory I class star destroyers and three medium cruisers, with a fighter force of over one hundred TIE Fighters and Interceptors. This is not a very large command squadron for a Grand Admiral, this is because Grand Admirals do not usually fail in their missions for the Emperor and live, this small command squadron is a punishment off sorts by the Emperor.

The Rebel fleet has also suffered battle damage after engaging the Imperial fleet at point blank range, the Rebels also seem to be more organised than the Imperial forces in Grand Admiral Teshik option. Grand Admiral Teshika also does not understand why the Imperial fleet is performing so badly, even with the destruction of the second Death Star along and the Executor, coordination should be much better.

However, for now there is nothing Grand Admiral Teshik can do about this in the short term, he has a fleet to cover and get out of the system along with his own command squadron. The space around the forest moon of Endor is ablaze with the weapons from not only the ongoing battle, but also the debris from the destroyed Second Death Star, that is flying in all directions.

For the next few hours, Grand Admiral Teshik is able to hold off the Rebel fleet until his star destroyer comes under concentrated enemy fire and the Eleemosynary is seen to explode, shortly after that, the remains of Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron are destroyed by the Rebel fleet.

By then however, the Chimaera has made it to the edge of the Endor system and has begun jumping the remains of Vader's former fleet into hyperspace. Grand Admiral Teshik command squadron has done what it set out to achieve, cover the withdrawal of Vader's fleet from Endor.

For that, Commander Pellaeon will be eternally grateful to Grand Admiral Teshik.

With Commander Pellaeon, along with everyone else assuming Grand Admiral Teshik is dead.

On that day, Commander Pellaeon vows that the Rebels will pay for killing Grand Admiral Teshik, for the moment however Commander Pellaeon has more pressing matters to attend to he must see to the withdrawal of the fleet.

In the months following the Battle of Endor, the newly promoted Captain Pellaeon is placed in charge of the remains of Vader's fleet, by the Imperial Ruling Council, as he commands the back-up command ship the Chimaera and the authority that goes with the flagship, initially Captain Pellaeon concentrates on repairing the battle damage and replacing lost equipment and crew. This takes much longer than it normally would as the Empire begins to fracture, initially Captain Pellaeon sides with the Imperial Ruling Council based in the Core systems.

At the core of Captain Pellaeon are fifteen Imperial II class star destroyers, along with around one hundred other classes of warships and support vessels.

Captain Pellaeon becomes the de facto leader of the remains of most of Vader's fleet that fled Endor after the battle damage warships is repaired Captain Pellaeon would remain in command of Vader's former fleet. Despite the presence of higher-ranking officers such as Admiral Harrsk (who quickly deserted to create his own fiefdom) and Admiral Prittick (who briefly commanded Vader's former fleet while at Annaj) this is presumably at least in part due to the authority vested in the Chimaera itself.

After that, the Chimaera would remain under Pellaeon's command during the tumultuous years that followed, and under Pellaeon's leadership, the Chimaera comes to be regarded as one of the Empire's most efficiently run Imperial class star destroyers.

Some of the other Imperial class star destroyers that remain part of Vader's former fleet and are now under Captain Pellaeon command, these include the Death's Head, Judicator, Inexorable, Stormhawk and the Nemesis to name but a few, along with other supporting warships, this fleet would be held together over the next four years by Captain Pellaeon valiant efforts.

During these four years Vader's former fleet under Captain Pellaeon's leadership would suffer no capital ship losses during combat, this would also be good for Captain Pellaeon reputation as a competent leader, if not a brilliant tactician. Making it much harder for any of the various Imperial Warlords, to either tempt Captain Pellaeon to join them or to discredit him and then take command of Pellaeon's fleet.

Captain Pellaeon would win some battles over the next four years however; these victories would be hollow, as they would be merely covering the retreat from system after system, as the Empire falls back.

None of the various Imperial Warlords seems willing to unite against a common enemy, the Rebels now calling themselves the New Republic instead they are more interested in fighting each other than the New Republic.

In the fifth year after Endor, this record for efficiency may have been what made Grand Admiral Thrawn choose the Chimaera to be his flagship, on his return from the Unknown Regions. The Chimaera along with Captain Pellaeon would see an increase in the size and capability of what had been Vader's former fleet by Grand Admiral Thrawn and an end to the endless series of retreats of the past.

The Thrawn campaign was about to begin.

What no one could know, possibly even Grand Admiral Thrawn, is that a survivor of the Battle of Endor was in the process of rebuilding his strength after managing to escape the battle.

His story starts at the Battle of Endor five years ago.

To be continued.