ME: Time for a prologue to my version of Season 2.
Centax-2, one of the four moons of Imperial Center (formerly Coruscant), was reserved for military use ever since the Declaration of a New Order by His Imperial Majesty, Emperor Sheev Palpatine.
The natural satellite housed dry docks for the Imperial Navy (though for maintenance and repair of vessels rather than constructing them, a task left to shipyards like those in orbit of Kuat), a staging area, and a cloning facility to produce troops for the Empire. Administered by the Kaminoans Planetary Governor Taun We and her Lieutenant Governor, Nala Se (no Planetary Minister was needed in light of the lack of a civilian population), Centax-2 was a critical cog in the Empire's war machine.
Rear Admiral Mitth'raw'nuruodo (better known by his core name of "Thrawn"), a Chiss from Csilla, smiled as he glanced at the TIE fighters of the 181st Imperial Fighter Wing. He had his fair share of disagreements with Lord Vader (namely his tendency to choke subordinates for failures, though Thrawn himself admitted that, at least to some extent, it was necessary if the offender in question was irredeemably incompetent and/or did not accept responsibility for their own faults), but he definitely would agree that the fighters of the 181st were superbly modified.
Visually distinguished from standard TIEs by their black paint jobs rather than standard Imperial gray, the 181st ships were equipped with shields, hyperdrives, more powerful engines to compensate for the added mass, enhanced targeting computers, more efficient cold fusion reactors to supply the necessary power, and higher quality solar panels. At the very least, shields should have been installed on every TIE in the Army and Navy rather than just the 181st due to how fragile they were due to relying purely on armor, speed, and skill (though field reports indicated A-wings commonly used by rebels were not much better due to a focus on speed).
As a side bonus, the 181st TIEs also had noticeably improved performance in an atmosphere.
"Admiral Thrawn," a familiar voice said.
Thrawn turned and saluted. It was Lady Barriss Offee, a Mirialan High Inquisitor and Vader's favored lieutenant in addition to a friend (he doubted many other officers could claim to be close to a member of the Imperial Inquisition). Accompanying her was his brother, Senator Mitth'ras'safis (AKA "Thrass"), a complement of four Imperial Senate Commandos (elite members of the Imperial Senate Guard, dressed in reinforced blue Stormtrooper armor, unlike their more common and formal contemporaries, who wore a blue and black version of the Emperor's Royal Guard uniform), and Commander/Dame (she preferred the former title-which was the equivalent of a Colonel in the Imperial Army, reminding him of the authority possessed by Padawans in the old GAR-out of a dislike Thrawn also held for aristocrats who did not earn their ranks but instead used familial connections) Mara Jade. Thrass represented the Chiss Ascendancy (a sector with an unusually high amount of autonomy, largely due to their people's isolationist tendencies causing the Emperor to not view them as a threat) in the Imperial Senate and chaired the Senate Military Oversight Committee, while Commander Jade was the apprentice of Lady Offee.
"Good morning, Lady Offee and Commander Jade," Thrawn greeted. "Brother, what brings you to this moon?"
"Just making sure taxcredits aren't being wasted, Thrawn," Thrass answered. "In fact, Lady Offee and Commander Jade were just bringing me here to show the machines of Baron Fel's One-Eighty-First."
"They were just upgraded even further last week, Senator Thrass," Lady Offee added. "The laser cannons were given increased firepower, while their capacitors were improved to recharge faster while discharging slower."
"Not that they're actually laser cannons, my lady," said Thrawn.
Lady Offee glanced at him, while her apprentice asked, "Excuse me, Admiral?"
"Do enlighten us, brother," Thrass added.
"In reality, laser cannons and turbolasers-along with ion cannons and blasters-are particle beam weapons. More specifically," Thrawn elaborated, "they are laser-plasma accelerators. This can be seen in that they do not travel at the speed of light, are visible in a vacuum, produce recoil, and produce sounds when fired."
Commander Jade whistled. "Nice physics lesson, Admiral."
"Indeed, my dear," Thrass added. "Now, Thrawn, would you like to join us for the rest of the tour?"
"I'd be happy to, Thrass," was the response.
The next stop was the cloning facilities, full of tanks containing future troops in various stages of development. The seven Imperials were joined by Governor We and her Lieutenant Governor.
"Due to the nature of Spaarti cloning cylinders, Senator Thrass," the higher-ranking Kaminoan said, "a clone can be fully grown in one year rather than a decade. Without any of the accelerated aging after reaching the biological age of twenty, although that flaw has now been corrected with advanced medical treatments. In fact, Major General Appo of the Five Hundred and First is now around twenty eight years old biologically and he was born thirteen years before the end of the Clone Wars and the Declaration of a New Order; if not for being treated for his accelerated aging, he would be the biological equivalent of fifty-six years old now even though he hasn't even lived for thirty years."
"Though due to the growth cycle being reduced by about ninety percent," the Lieutenant Governor said, "the result isn't nearly as good due to the fact Spaarti clones are educated purely via flash training as a direct consequence, even with the cost-effectiveness and lack of unnecessary accelerated aging without treatment." As the group walked, they passed by numerous scientists and cloning technicians-most were human, Kaminoan, or Arkanians, but there were also Lurrians (one of four species whose homeworld was allowed to have medical cloning, albeit still restricted, during the Clone Wars) and other humanoids (namely Chiss and Mirialans).
"Fortunately Lord Vader has at least the new members of the Five-Oh-First actually trained before they're accepted into the unit," Lady Offee interjected. "I pity whoever has to make with inadequately prepared troops, be they clones or birth-born soldiers."
Before the conversation could continue there was a beeping noise, and the High Inquisitor took out a holoprojector. The caller was Lord Vader.
"Lady Offee," he said.
"Yes, my lord?"
"The Emperor has decreed that the terrorist insurrection based out of Lothal now poses a significant threat. One Governor Tarkin has failed to deal with; you and your apprentice are to leave immediately and head for the Star Destroyer Devastator, it will get us to the Mustafar system where we will deal with a certain incompetent official before heading to Lothal to restore order."
"As you command, my lord," Lady Offee replied, her ice blue eyes going well with her calm expression.
"And Admiral Thrawn?" Lord Vader added.
"Yes, Lord Vader?"
"While I expect Lady Offee and Commander Jade to depart Centax-Two in their TIE fighters-as a matter of fact, the One-Eighty-First will be transferred to the Devastator-I am sending a gunship to the moon for your transportation. It should be there momentarily."
"Thank you, Lord Vader," he replied before the transmission terminated.
As promised, a Multi-Altitude Assault Transport-more specifically, a MAAT/i model meant for transporting soldiers-showed up. The successor to the Low Altitude Assault Transport (nicknamed the "larty" by troops), the MAAT had four wings instead of two (a design reminiscent of the ARC-170 somewhat), shields like the Sentinel-class landing craft, and was better armored and protected. For example, the manned laser turrets behind the cockpit (an incredible design flaw in Thrawn's eyes; rumor was that Lord Vader had personally choked the designer of the LAAT/i for that error) were now controlled from the cockpit by the gunner. Though the MAAT lacked a hyperdrive unlike the Sentinel, it was cheaper and easier to mass produce than the landing craft. It also had solar panels installed on the top wings to provide additional power.
"Greetings, sir," said a Phase Zero dark trooper; they were cyborg troops and some of the deadliest men and women in the Stormtrooper Corps. "I'm Captain Crest, we're here to take you to the Devastator."
"Hello, Admiral Thrawn," said a Dark trooper commander, this one a Phase Two and likely a droid (rather than an organic soldier; the Phase Twos doubled as exoskeletons) due to the somewhat robotic feminine voice. "I am First Lieutenant HK-Zero-Four-Seven, or Four-Seven if you prefer, sir, and I specialize in battlefield tactics, combat, and assassination of both droids inferior to myself and meatbag enemies of the Empire."
The Lothal rebels would be in for a rude awakening.
ME: A/N: Yes, I made a reference to HK-47. I played none of the games featuring him and I still know about him. Imagine HK-047 with a Scottish accent due to the Imperials being Evil Brits and a Scottish accent being more intimidating than the English one usend by Imperial officers (which is actually a Core Worlds accent in SW). Similar to Barriss and Mara being evil counterparts for Kanan and Ezra, respectively (not to mention Vader and Ahsoka being counterparts/foils to each other), she's one for both Chopper (somewhat sociopathic tendencies) and Zeb (strength and skill as a soldier). You can be terrified now.
I slightly edited the MAAT design from the EU. As you can imagine, I (along with Don113; check out his work, it's good) noticed the significant design flaw in the LAAT/i.
Also, Nala Se is not the Mad Scientist seen in Season 6; her apparent character in that arc (apparently considering the clones as disposable) is a slap in the face to the fandom given her earlier personality and actions, when she genuinely cared about the clones (something refreshing given how Kaminoans have been shown to be flat out amoral at best regarding clones) and even stayed behind with wounded troopers rather than evacuate. What evil scientist would stay aboard a doomed space station and likely die?
Poor. Quality. Writing.
In case you were wondering, yes the TIEs have life support. While the 181st (the elite TIE pilots of both this fanfic and the EU, aside from the Emperor's Royal Guard pilots, who were rumored to be even better than them and Rogue Squadron) obviously gets the lion share given how long we've seen your average TIE lasts against the Ghost, in the EU (or "Legends" as Disney calls it) TIE bombers featured life support systems but the pilots still wore suits in case of an emergency, while the AT-AT pilots wore fully sealed suits for the same reason (and in the films they definitely had life support given how Veers was dressed compared to his pilots). Given how Sabine, Hera, and Zeb all were able to survive in one TIE, odds are the ships DO have life support now but the pilots still wear their gear in case of an emergency (that and Faceless Goons-considering how literally every unnamed Naval character in Rebels has his-or her in the event of future female Imps-has their cap visors tucked down, which would actually interfere with their vision...)
And I made Mara a Commander because Jedi Padawans got the same deal. For those of you who have noticed I made it a title for her, note how none of the officers seen in the show (besides Konstantine and Tarkin) have an actual rank. Agent, Supply Master, Taskmaster, and Commandant are not real ranks in either the Empire (most likely) or in real life, so I came up with the idea that they're just titles. Mara's actual rank is likely the equivalent of Colonel (or at least Lieutenant Colonel) in the Inquisition given how Padawans led battalions and regiments into battle in the EU. Considering how actual officer ranks appear in the Star Wars novels released under Disney like Colonel, Lieutenant Colonel, Major, Captain (naval), Commander (naval), Lieutenant (naval)...
On a random note, like in the EU Mara is a green-eyed redhead. As for her hair style, look up Bo-Katan Kryze and Korra from Legend of Korra; I envision her with hair no longer than that. But I digress, reader...
And that concludes my author's note. Ideas, compliments, and constructive criticism are all welcome via PMs and reviews. Thank you for reading this, my fans.