This was the heart of the Corellian Blockade - or the brain of it, at least.

Deep in the bowels of his command ship, Brigadier Rinzai Terius watched as an array of screens streamed data and visuals from all across the Corellian system. All around him, scores of operators and technicians sat at banks of terminals, filtering and processing every scrap of information and intelligence that the Empire could glean. Naval personnel coordinated with customs frigates and starfighter patrols, clear and careful voices eminating from across the room. ISB analysts studied security footage and criminal dossiers, converding with law enforcement and starport security to apprehend and detain any persons of interest. Army officers directed roaming patrols of Stormtroopers, ready to react to the slightest provocation. Behind the scenes, droid brains and cimputer software analysed patterns and behaviour, relaying anything of note to countless other Imperials in countless satellite centers, funnelling anything flagged as significant back here to the central hub.

There had been debates. Calls for change. Proposals for an even more sophisticated facility on Corellia itself, with a larger staff and wider scope. The ISB wanted to expand the Blockade into a full occupation, under their supervision of course; something to make the Iron Blockade of the Anoat Sector half a decade ago pale by comparison. Rinzai had resisted, a stance that Governor Xaanan backed, for now. The Empire was not at war with the local populace: this Blockade was for their protection, and for as long as Brigadier Terius held command, it would be that and nothing more. Let the ISB and the Imperial Knights root out the Resistance underground: his task was to defend the perimeter.

Arms folded across his chest, Rinzai's eyes flitted from feed to feed, ever watchful, as if somehow he might spot something that the two dozen trained professionals behind him had not. "Tell me," he uttered quietly, words a direct address to Corellia herself. "What surprises do you have for me today?"