Outer Rim to be Secured by Patrol Flotillas

Spinward sectors of the Outer Rim within the Slice.

PANTOLOMIN - The Imperial Navy has announced the deployment of a large number of Gozanti-class carriers scheduled for later in the year. Observers assert this to be the "middle of the end" for the Rebellion.

The Admiralty of the Imperial Navy announced today that it had placed a large order with the Corellian Engineering Corportation (CEC) for a vast number of Gozanti-class carriers. The admiralty made the announcement during luxury conference with Imperial Moffs from around the Galaxy being held aboard the Coral Vanda, a submarine entertainment resort on Pantolomin known for its games of chance.

The purpose for the order is to deploy many more of these carriers to the Outer Rim of the galaxy. The Gozanti-class carriers enable the Imperial Navy to mount patrols further afield from its planetary garrisons, creating greater security in the previously more lawless sectors in the galaxy, prone to Alien governance and Rebel sympathizers.

According to Naval strategist the carriers can serve singly by ferrying flights of TIE fighters to areas suspected of Rebel activity, or to operate in flotilla formations, with two Gozanti-class carriers acting in tandem with one another in support of other naval units.

Some front-line officers, including a few with the rank of admiral, expressed disappointment with the announcement, declaring they had anticipated heaver vessels to use in suppression of the Rebellion. Some such Admirals have even declared their intent to retire from the service.

Despite the declared retirements, some loyal observers of the effort to suppress the traitorous Rebellion hold this to be the "middle of the end" for the Rebellion. With such patrol flotillas, there is no further place that the Rebellion can hide from the enforcement of the New Order.

Reports of plausible increased Rebel activity and potential sightings of openly Rebel-flagged medium transport was dismissed by the spokespeople of the Imperial Security Bureau. Such vessels pose no danger to the Imperial Navy, they declared.