A Galaxy Divided

Armada Act I: A Galaxy Divided is the first story line of Star Wars: Armada. It takes place in an alternate time line branching off from Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (with some plot points changed from previous movies/stories).

Scene I
Calling a truce between the factions, Palpatine, the Emperor of the Imperial Remnant, calls for a galactic meeting on Coruscant to prevent tensions from further rising. At the meeting, Palpatine's Senior Adviser, Pavaliin, takes the role of the Imperial speaker, coordinating the other factions. Rie Basoar of the Dominion Empire himself appears as the representative, while Zhin Vakia represents the IGBC, Brei'lya Raan represents the Ishtari and Abigail Benson represents the New Republic. As the talks continue, it becomes apparent that the factions aren't getting anywhere with their requests.

Soon after the meeting begins, Kaelani, one of the higher ranking Imperial officers under Pavaliin's direct control, receives word that a bomb may have been planted within the senate building. Upon receiving the news, Pavaliin orders the building to be evacuated. As the evacuation is underway, he meets up with Khaine, the Imperial Chief Security Officer, outside of the building. It is here that Khaine reveals that a bomb was found, to the dismay of Pavaliin. Pavaliin then orders Khaine to continue searching, commenting that any explosion might ruin their plans, but doesn't elaborate further.

Scene II
Back inside the building, Kaelani continues her search when she runs into Brei'lya. Brei'lya tells Kaelani that she lost her way in the evacuation, prompting Kaelani to have her escorted out. Continuing her search, Kaelani eventually runs into a masked woman. Before she can act, the woman sets off a flashbomb to cover her escape. Labeling the woman as the person who set the bomb, Kaelani calls for backup while chasing her. After a brief shootout, the woman escapes into an elevator shaft, leaving Kaelani to alert the rest of the building.

After escaping Kaelani, it is revealed that the woman who planted the bomb is Kiryn Ordo, a former friend of Kaelani, although the two don't recognize eachother due to their armor. Making her way around the building while trying to find an escape route, Kiryn runs into an un-masked Kaelani. Before she can react, Kaelani attacks her. Not wanting to hurt Kaelani, Kiryn blows out a wall of the building and escapes. Kaelani runs away when Imperial guards show up to the scene. As she runs away, her skin changes color and shape, revealing that she was Brei'lya in disguise.

The next day, Pavaliin, Khaine, Kaelani and Sytarius, one of the higher ranking Imperial soldiers, have a meeting with Palpatine over the incident. The Emperor scolds them, pointing out the severity of the incident and the important of the meeting. After the meeting ends, Pavaliin reveals to the others that he had been in contact with the Ishtari ambassador and arranged a meeting between the Remnant and the Ishtari Empire. After telling Kaelani and Sytarius that they will be accompanying him to Innana, the Ishtari homeworld, Pavaliin has them leave his office as a call comes in for him. As they leave, he answers the call, addressing the caller as Davatok.

Leaving Coruscant, Rie goes over what was said at the meeting. His thoughts are interrupted by a call from his wife, Akasha Thanatos. After expressing their concerns for each other after what had happened, Rie tells his wife that he didn't feel right at the meeting, that something clouded his thoughts and judgment when he arrived at the senate building. Akasha reassures him and tells him to come back home.

Sometime after the meeting, on the New Republic capital Mon Calamari, Abigail confronts Adrel Ta and Alecia Vars and complains that she shouldn't have been the one to be at the galactic meeting. They reassure her that having someone other than a politician was needed for the New Republic. While Abigail continues to vent, Alecia tells the two women that she got in contact with Rie and organized a meeting between the Dominion Empire and the New Republic. She then asks if Adrel would accompany her as both a guard and as a representative of the Jedi Order. Adrel agrees. When Alecia asks Abigail if she would join, she declines and leaves.

Somewhere in the galaxy, Kiryn makes a holocall to the person who hired her to plant the bomb. Revealing that it was an assassination attempt, Kiryn's payer refuses to give her payment for the job, citing her failure to kill the target. After she threatens to go after the payer, the payer insults Kiryn and cuts the call.

With their preparations complete, Pavaliin, Kaelani and Sytarius travel to Innana, the Ishtari homeworld. Upon arriving, Brei'lya informs the group that only Pavaliin is allowed to attend the meeting, but that the others are free to travel about so long as they do not disrupt the other Ishtari. Pavaliin orders Sytarius and Kaelani to leave, but behind Brei'lya's back tells them to try and find any useful information about the race that the Remnant can use. The two leave the Adviser to his meeting.

Pavaliin follows Brei'lya back to the meeting room, where Zhin also shows up, invited by the Ishtari to help accommodate the species financially into the galaxy. While Brei'lya and Pavaliin are able to communicate and get along, Zhin takes offense to not being able to meet with the Ishtari Matriarch herself. Although Brei'lya informs him that she speaks for the Ishtari on the Matriarch's behalf, the leader of the IGBC is still not satisfied. Switching the topic back to the meeting, Brei'lya and Pavaliin go over the border dispute that the Remnant and the Ishtari had been having over the past few months, eventually working out a resolution. Although Zhin and Brei'lya eventually discuss plans for the Ishtari to convert to the credit currency system used in the galaxy, the two are visibly annoyed with one another.

Halfway across the galaxy, Alecia and Adrel meet with Rie and the leader of the Dominion's Black Hand Guardsmen, Vadic. Though awkward at first, Alecia and Rie eventually form a strong affection for trying to preserve the peace between the Dominion Empire and the New Republic. Tiet and Adrel stay silent throughout the meeting, watching as their superiors talk and plan for the future. While Rie and Alecia converse, Adrel grows curious, yet cautious, of Rie.

Scene III
After the meeting between Rie and Alecia, Rie leaves the planet with Vadic and together they head back to Dominion territory. Along the way, Vadic reveals that the Dominion had sent spy probes into Ishtari space in order to assess their strength. Though Rie is angry that he wasn't alerted to the probes, he becomes concerned when Vadic tells him that some of the probes went missing. The conversation then turns to a mysterious droid that the Dominion had found on a desolate planet. Rie wonders if it could help them locate the missing probes, but the two men soon delve into the machine's potential.

Back on Innana, Pavaliin and Zhin leave the planet after their meeting with Brei'lya ends. As they leave, Pavaliin questions Kaelani and Sytarius on if they found any useful information, which neither did. With the meeting over, Brei'lya travels to the Ishtari databanks, the main location on the planet where the Ishtari hold their information. It is revealed that she stole classified Remnant information while disguised as Kaelani during the galactic meeting on Coruscant. In converting the data for the Ishtari, Brei'lya notices several innaccuracies between the Remnant and Ishtari data on Pavaliin. Studying the data, she concludes that whoever she had met during the meeting wasn't Pavaliin.

Over the next few days she tries to find out the real identity of the man, but does not come up with anything. After a meeting with the Ishtari Matriarch, she has a breakthrough, discovering a man called Mammon that could hold the information she seeks. However, she schedules another meeting with Pavaliin, hoping to find out more from him personally. She is unable to obtain any more information during the meeting. However, she continues to be interested in Pavaliin, even taking him out to an Ishtari museum to introduce him to Ishtari culture.

Arriving back at the IGBC's home planet, Zhin follows up with the day to day affairs of the IGBC. As he begins to schedule another meeting to help the Ishtari assimilate into the galaxy's financial sectors, it is revealed that he was the one who hired Kiryn to plant the bomb at the galactic meeting. Zhin is alerted to Kiryn's disappearance. Not wanting any ties between her, the assassination attempt and the IGBC, he arranges for her to be assassinated.

On Coruscant, Brei'lya arrives on the lower sectors, intent on finding Mammon. Tracking him to a strip club, Brei'lya mimics one of the twi'lek dancers and infiltrates the lower level of the club. It is here that she finds Mammon moving illegal goods across the planet. Dispatching his guards, she confronts Mammon. She tells him that she wants information on Pavaliin, but Mammon knows what the reprocussions would be if he revealed his true identity. Knocking him unconsciousness, Brei'lya steals his datapad and is able to find out Pavaliin's real identity. A few days later she confronts Pavaliin at his apartment, telling him that she knows who he is. As he contemplates killing her to keep his identity a secret, Brei'lya proposes an agreement between the two. In exchange for his help in making Brei'lya the Ishtari Matriarch, she will keep his identity a secret and help him with his plans by offering her Ishtari for him. To show that she is serious, she has sex with Pavaliin, which in the Ishtari culture is used to bind important agreements.

Across the galaxy, Adrel confronts Ares, one of the Jedi Masters, about the Dominion. With war an ever constant threat, she proposes that the Jedi, off the record, send a spy task force into Dominion territory. Realizing that the Jedi can no longer conform to the old ways, Ares agrees. Together they round up a small group and masquerade as vacationers traveling through Dominion space. However, the group quickly finds themselves in the middle of a showdown between Dominion forces and the Goods Trade Federation.