Okay so this story is connected to another fanfiction called RWBY: The New Empire by venom rules all so if you notice why there is both Old Republic, New Republic and New Jedi Order era characters, I suggest reading that story before this one so you understand the story. And consider this story as somewhat a sequel/spin-off, or whichever you want to call it. And this will also mainly be a side project for me to work on.
In the last three months, the New Republic military assisted in the rebuilding of Vale after the Imperial-Remnant conflict and with the Imperial Fortress destroyed, a rebuilt Beacon Academy was built over its ruins. The Huntsman Academy in Vale was no longer just training Huntsmen but Jedi as well. Jedi Grand Master Luke Skywalker took the opportunity offered by Ozpin for the return of the Jedi.
With the New Empire gone, our heroes were all on their own paths; Yang, now a Mandalorian warrior of Clan Cadera, enjoyed the life she was leading; Blake and Jaina in Menagerie, now living a happy married life with each other; the remaining members of Team JNPR now New Republic Huntsmen maintaining the peace in Vale; Ruby Rose... an exiled former Huntress and Sith apprentice. However in the ashes of the war, the New Republic had missed someone, the second-in-command of the New Empire; the Shadow Guard commander who gathered a group of remaining Imperials for his mission to finding and assassinating the Rose who was involved in the death of Empress Beniko.
Somewhere in the south-western reaches of Vale was an old bunker used by the Old Empire during the Empire-Republic war long ago. What made the bunker important was that it was in-use by a surviving group of imperials of the New Empire, and their leader? Jek 'Nrahom, the Shadow Guard commander.
There was a command center in the bunker and in it were Jek's five imperial commanders who were talking about their plans on retaliation against the New Republic.
"Impossible!" One of the commanders responded.
"Do you even realize how small we are? We don't even have an army large enough for a retaliatory strike against them." Another replied.
"He's right. The forces we've gathered over the last three months aren't enough. The New Republic has been growing and growing, they even got a group of Jedi with them now and a Mandalorian clan who are on good terms with them too." A commander spoke out.
"Not to mention that they even help the Republic occasionally." The 'Impossible!' commander mentioned.
"Look at this bunker gentlemen, its got the arsenal we need. Perfectly intact All Terrain-class walkers, Juggernaut tanks, TIE fighters and bombers, weapons... I'd say we are prepared." The proposing commander responded to their disagreements.
"Yes, its got the arsenal but our army are only three hundred plus stormtroopers, a hundred deactivated battle droids, few army personnel and only a squadron of pilots. We don't even have warships anymore, most of the fleet was hunted down." The fifth commander replied.
"Exactly!" The 'He's right' commander agreed. "But none of this matters. Commander 'Nrahom isn't interested in revenge against the Republic. He gathered us because he wants to avenge Empress Beniko." He finished.
They thought back when the war was over, what he said was true. Jek 'Nrahom gathered them and their forces because he wanted revenge on Ruby Rose. He considered Lana Beniko someone who saw real peace, and that the world's problems were caused by the New Republic but like many who follow the Sith, he was misguided.
"Oh, its useless. We've had no leads or sightings in the past two months. Our pilots have patrolled every area not controlled by the New Republic for this Ruby Rose. He's got us chasing nothing but dead ends." The 'Impossible!' commander responded.
"That's because you all are searching in the wrong areas!" Jek unexpectedly walked in on the five commanders, they all saluted upon seeing and hearing his voice. "The only reason why you haven't found her is because you haven't searched the other Kingdoms." He said to them.
"B-but my lord, the New Republic has sensors on the borders. If we send one of our fighters over them, they'll be tripped, and they'll suspect us and they'll search every area of Vale to find us." The 'He's right' commander told him the risks.
"Always worth the risk. I want this Rose found so I can stick my blade in her throat for what she has done! Go now, oversee preparations." He told the five commanders as they all nodded and walked off.
A few moments later, Jek pulled up a hologram of pre-exiled Ruby Rose and looked at it with anger. "Soon, you little brat. Soon, you will meet an end in your exile" He said before turning off the command console.
Later.
A pilot of Jek's faction was patrolling the coastal area of where their bunker was located, testing out an unknown TIE model they found. Unknown to the pilot, there were a group of Hunters looking for a New Republic freighter that went M.I.A. a few weeks ago and spotted the fighter flying above them.
"What's that?" One of the hunters asked as they looked up.
They ran to the water where they got a clear view of the fighter. Before they could lose the fighter, the group leader pulled out her scroll and recorded the last 4 seconds before the fighter disappeared deeper into the forest.
"Was that an Imperial TIE?" Another hunter asked. They were confused.
They knew the New Empire was gone but the possibility of a remnant was impossible because they knew the Republic destroyed what was left of the Empire's fleet, including their starfighter corps.
"We have to report this now. The New Republic needs to know what we saw!" She said as they rushed back to where they came from.
As they were running, they heard the same ion sound of the fighter they spotted earlier and stopped. They noticed it was getting louder. They began to run faster this time as the fighter was a specialized model with a gunner's seat that had a clear view behind the fighter. The TIE opened fire on them, killed one of the hunters. They stuck with their running and were being picked off one at a time. Eventually the group leader stopped running and hid under a bushy tree.
After the other hunters were killed, the fighter stopped and hovered near her position, scouting for survivors. She saw the fighter, the antenna on top of it as well as the turret attached to the bottom of the cockpit. She took out her scroll again and recorded the fighter for six seconds before it flew off back to base.
She sighed and climbed out of the tree. She went to gather the bodies of her fallen Hunters, taking their scrolls and bury their remains. After that, instead of taking her scroll to the New Republic physically, she used the signal of all seven scrolls to send the videos she recorded.
Location: New Republic MC80 command cruiser Beacon.
In the center bridge of the Beacon, the communications crew had received the videos sent by the sole surviving Huntress. After reviewing the footage of both videos a few times, none of them wanted to believe it. The chief communications officer went to the captain.
"Sir, we received some unusual footage from a Huntress in the south-western region." He said to the captain of the Beacon. The captain turned around and followed him to the communications area.
He saw the footage for himself, surprised and worried. The fighter was unlike any of the New Empire's TIE fighters, it looked more advanced and larger. He went to inform High Command about it, as per the Valkyrie Protocol.