A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.
STAR
WARS
It is a time of peace and prosperity for
the New Republic. After decades of civil
conflict, the Republic and the remnants of
the Galactic Empire have signed a peace
treaty proclaiming the end of the GALACTIC
CIVIL WAR.
Little does either side know that evil has not truly
been vanquished, and that enemies of freedom
still exist. One such enemy nears an unknown
planet near the outer rim, EQUESTRIA.
As the renegade army, the BLACK HAND,
approaches its unsuspecting prey, their
actions will set in motion a chain of events
that not only threatens the safety of the
innocent planet, but the future of
the entire galaxy as well…
Infinite blackness. That was what space was like. That was what space was. Peppered by millions of bright spots, nebula clouds dotting the emptiness, with the occasional comet wandering about, the darkness expanded onwards. Silent, unmoving, eventless, with no planets or suns or moons or asteroids or anything of the sort nearby, nothing except the miniscule dots of distant stars and the strands of nebula stretching about like cotton, the abyss sat still, as it always had, waiting for something to happen.
It did not have to wait very long.
The silence of the void was interrupted by a large dagger slicing through the black at a slow, yet steady pace. Quiet as the emptiness itself, except for the low hum of its sublight engines, the large cruiser sailed ominously through space, in perfect formation with the other cruisers it was accompanying. Of varying shapes and sizes, some as small as a skyscraper and shaped like a small ellipse, while others huge swords and as big as cities, they were all nonetheless dwarfed by the singular titan they were escorting.
In the days of old, there was much to fear from these vessels. The Tartan cruisers were small, nimble, and couldn't withstand firepower from the average frigate, but their rapid-fire lasers and speed ensured that any small one-man ship that came within firing distance of it would become nothing but scrap metal and burning oxygen within mere seconds. The Immobilizer 418 was not a direct-battle type of frigate, but it was feared all the same, not the least because of its usual jamming system that diverted enemy missiles from meeting their targets, but also because of their infamous gravity well-generators that prevented retreat from a fight if things went hairy for the attackers. The Imperial Star Destroyer, long known as a symbol of repression and terror, carried enough soldiers to occupy an entire planet and was bristling with enough cannons and weaponry to turn metropolis to ashes. It was a testament to the great Empire it once served, which had now been run aground and driven to total defeat. The legacy of the dagger-shaped battlecruiser, however, endured nonetheless.
And then there was the Eclipse.
The Empire was always known for building colossal weapons to demonstrate their superiority and willingness to do whatever means necessary to enforce control on the galaxy it had subjugated. Ranging from Executor Star Destroyers, which could occupy whole star systems at once and obliterate several enemy fleets at the same time without so much as batting an eye, to the terrifying Death Stars, moon-sized battleships that could erase a planet from existence with one push of a button, the Empire had poured massive amounts of credits to the development and construction of such machines. One of them was the Eclipse.
Black and dark as the very abyss it was traveling through, bristling with more than a thousand heavy weapons, armed to the teeth with soldiers eager to deploy on unfortunate star systems, the Eclipse Star Dreadnought was considered to be one of the most awesome and terrifying ships to witness up close, and no one that had done so had ever forgotten it. When it was first encountered, its mystery was such that it was assumed to be a ghost ship – that is, until the luckless witnesses were vaporized by its sudden barrage of turbolaser cannons. For years, under a reborn Emperor hell-bent on revenge, the Eclipse carved a swathe of destruction throughout the galaxy with its Imperial loyalists, intent on squashing the Republic and resurrecting the Empire that had at that point been crippled. It could have done so as well, had it not been for the determination of its enemies and the willpower of its most hated foes, the Jedi. With all incarnations of this machine of destruction eliminated, combined with its Emperor banished to the depths of the Force permanently, the destruction of the Eclipse Star Dreadnoughts was, to most people, the last shot of the Galactic Empire, its death knell. After the second death of the Emperor and the obliteration of the Eclipse II over Byss, despite successes under their new leader, Gilad Pellaon, the Empire was on the run, and nineteen years after the Battle of Yavin, finally sued for peace. The galaxy breathed a sigh of relief: the conflict was now officially over. The Empire was, in a sense, gone.
Of course, if they could see the fleet now, they would say otherwise. But they couldn't, so they didn't.
On the bridge of the Eclipse Star Dreadnought, the Grand Admiral, Kier Dullan, stared out into space, lost in his thoughts.
That was all he ever did, really. Being the Grand Admiral of the Black Hand hadn't really done much for him these few years. But he could clearly remember the beginning.
The Black Hand had been functional ever since the death of Grand Admiral Thrawn over Bilbringi, originally formed as a covert operations unit under the now-deceased Chiss commander. After the destruction of his fleet and the end of his campaign, however, his entire army splintered, although they would be reunited under the leadership of the resurrected Emperor years later. The Black Hand was once again called to service, and this time augmented, given the latest weaponry upgrades to utilize, some of the finest crews to serve the fleet, and some of the most dedicated soldiers to be fielded at the front. The entire fleet was transformed into a special force for the Emperor, to be the driving force in turning the advantage against the Republic and bringing back the glory and power of the Empire of old. Filled with the most fanatical of Imperial loyalists, the Black Hand was the bane of Republic military forces, even their elite units such as Wraith Squadron. Initially serving under the flagship of the Executor Star Destroyer Dark Prince, the fleet saw many covert actions against Republic territories behind enemy lines, wrecking havoc on their space stations and generating mass panic and confusion. However, at the final fight over Byss, while the Emperor was fighting and was eventually defeated by the combined efforts of the New Republic and the Jedi Knights, the Dark Prince was overwhelmed by the enemy fleets and torn apart, completely destroyed and forgotten. Divided and leaderless, the Black Hand had retreated, with Admiral Dullan stowing away on one of the Star Destroyers, the Entropy. Assuming command, he ordered a complete withdrawal of the fleet away from the front, out of the Galaxy entirely. It was over. The Emperor was destroyed, and the fleet disintegrated. There was nothing more to it.
He hadn't carried it out by himself, though. One other major survivor of the event was his current superior. The man had, at first, not really impressed Dullan. He was of same stature as he was, only a bit taller, tended to be on the quiet end, never really tried to make an impression of himself, and was an absolute subordinate to the Emperor, carrying out his orders without question. Only after the Emperor's death had Kier really begun to fear him.
The first thing to know about Malum was that he was a Sith Lord. After the death of Darth Vader and the betrayal of Luke Skywalker, Palpatine needed a replacement – not only to assist him in his war of vendetta against the new order, but also to remain and exact revenge in the future had his attempt failed. He found his new apprentice on Korriban, as is typical of the Sith Lords: they always found their successors there; the planet was teeming with dark energy. Through the years, even while Vader was his apprentice, Palpatine knew that his official apprentice was training a secret one of his own. And so he fought fire with fire: recruited his own subordinate and trained him hard, in the ways of the Dark Side. It succeeded. Malum became a Sith Lord that would have rivaled, maybe even bested Vader. But Vader soon died, and Palpatine went with him. Due to injuries sustained to his lungs on the Dark Prince before the ships destruction, he was forced to wear a breather mask on him so he could breathe and work properly. Not a full on body-armor and helmet like Vader, mind you, the damage wasn't as extensive: it only covered up his mouth and nose. But something in that fight changed him. Or, rather, it became more apparent.
Dullan would have assumed command had it not been for his fear of the new Sith Lord. He wasn't foolish enough to pick a fight with one of them. They could stop your heart with a simple thought or break your neck with one twitch of their fingers. But the Sith were usually more sadistic than that: they would probably choke you very slowly to death or electrify you until you became nothing but bones and ashes. He had seen what Palpatine and Vader did, and he wasn't one to be idiotic enough to stand in their way, not when there was the New Republic to be fought.
New Republic. The mere thought of the term made his skin crawl with hate.
He was an ardent supporter of the Empire ever since it emerged long ago. He was only a teenager when it was proclaimed, but he never really liked the Jedi to begin with. They meddled too much in Republic affairs and fought the war against the Confederacy on their own terms. They were becoming too independent, and practiced caution when an entire galaxy was engulfed in flame; order was needed. And it was order that Palpatine promised. And it was order that came.
As soon as he could, he volunteered for the Imperial Academy at Carida and signed up for command roles on the new Star Destroyers that had been fielded. His first assignment was to the Star Destroyer Exactor, Vader's commandship around that time. He was present at the occupation of Kashyyyk, calibrating the weapons and directing their fire at the Wookie resistance forces below. As time passed, he was transferred from ship to ship, steadily climbing up the promotion ladder. He was one of the elite officers at the Battle of Endor, and had personally witnessed the catastrophe that had happened to the Empire there. Battered into submission and drained of morale by the death of their Emperor and the annihilation of their Death Star, the Imperial Fleet had been routed, and it was every man for themselves. Pellaon, aboard the Chimera, ordered a general retreat, and the Rebel Alliance claimed victory that day.
Dullan continued to serve under Pellaon out of respect and loyalty. The galaxy was falling apart, and it needed a way of staying together under a strong hand. But then, Pellaon announced the return of Grand Admiral Thrawn, and here Dullan breathed a sigh of relief. Here was someone that would properly restore order to the galaxy and quash those Alliance roaches for good. Dullan was given command of his own Star Destroyer, the Stalker,and had his part of the fleet reformed into the Black Hand. An elite group of battle-hardened and extremely loyal soldiers, the Black Hand was to be the primary dagger driven into the heart of the insurrection. This was a great honor for Dullan. He would personally snuff out that flame of lies the Alliance had lit and rebuild the Empire for the future of progress and unity.
That would have happened had Thrawn not been betrayed and killed by his own bodyguard, at the pinnacle of what would have been his final and most glorious battle. With no strong leader to keep the Empire together, it imploded once again, and the fleet along with it. Dullan would have surrendered had it not been for his outspoken loyalty to an idea he was committed to, and thus had barely managed to retreat at the last second before the Republic navy could figure out what was going on. He stayed with the Black Hand for months before he was approached by Emperor Palpatine himself, back from the grave. Floored by the shock of having to see his old leader again, Dullan had no choice but to accept, out of a combination of fear of reprisal, hope to smash up the usurpers, and loyalty to his Empire. Now, though, he was given command of the Dark Prince, as a gesture of goodwill from Palpatine. Surprised by this, Dullan soon found out why: he was one of the few officers who stuck with the Emperor's New Order until the very end. It was only fitting that he would get of the more enduring symbols of the Empire along with it. He stayed along, hoping that this time, they would succeed. It took only a year to prove him wrong, and another to put the Emperor out of the galaxy for good.
This time, Dullan would take no chances. He would take the Black Hand far away from the reaches of both the Alliance and this failure called the Imperial Remnant, and after restructuring and rebuilding, the Black Hand would strike back and remove the Republic for good. He would have the personal honor of doing so; no matter how long or what resources it took, he was sure that the Rebels would rue the day they rose up against their order.
He just had to drag along Malum for the ride as well, though.
As soon as Palpatine had been pulled into the depths of the Force, Malum automatically assumed command. And after Dullan had figured out everything, he automatically agreed as well. Rather than risk his neck being broken (literally), he would play along the subordination role one more time, and soon would see the galaxy return to the old days of strength and stability.
He would rather have the latter than the former, obviously. Anyone would.
Dullan heard footsteps behind him. He rarely moved, only stared out these days. It wasn't so much boredom as anticipation. He was merely waiting for that moment where, instead of blankness, the view would be filled with cruisers and energy beams of death lashing at each other, fighters exploding into nothingness and bombers firing off their payloads at their targets, with battleships duking it out at close range and patrol cruisers rapidly picking off enemy vessels one by one. This was a sight he was waiting for. A storm of hell and destruction. And he knew it wouldn't be very long until it happened.
"Admiral?" The meek voice of one of the officers came out quietly behind him. Dullan didn't bother to turn. He had worked with many of these people before. Defectors, loyalists, volunteers. The Black Hand took anyone who firmly believed in the idea of the Empire. If there was ever a slight of doubt about anyone's loyalty, they never would have brought him or her in. And he knew exactly who this one was: the sensor officer, tasked with overlooking their radar systems. He wondered what was so important that he was to be updated with information. Nothing really happened to them.
"We have two unidentified signals on approach. Inbound vessels, sir."
Dullan had been drifting through space for as long as he knew. He personally dealt with figures such as the Emperor, Vader, Tarkin, Thrawn, Zsinj, Isard, people that others would tremble at the very thought of, and was serving under a Sith Lord that would squeeze the life out of his lungs if he was so much as mildly disappointed. But he had never heard news that made his hair stand on end as this one.
Unidentified ships? Here? They were in the literal middle of nowhere. They didn't even have any idea where they were!
"Are you sure, captain?" Dullan asked, for the first time in his life sounding uncertain.
"Yes, Admiral" the captain, sounding the opposite but perturbed all the same, responded.
Dullan let out a sigh. The Eclipse that they were on, the Shadow Hand, as well as the rest of the fleet, were equipped with cloaking fields and the most advanced scanners they could find. Their Immobilizer cruiser, the Harbinger, had the gravity well generators removed and put on the Eclipse, replaced by their most important tool: a scanner jammer, the most advanced of their kind, that scrambled all information sent out to enemy ships about them, even during hyperspace. They could launch an attack on Coruscant right now and none of all the detectors in the galaxy would be able to see them coming. With their technology, they would be able to hide their entire fleet completely from both sight and screen, and there was no way anyone would be able to tell they were around, unless they were unlucky enough to be flying straight into one of the Star Destroyers – and even then, they wouldn't be around to tell about what they saw anyway.
The question was, what were two ships doing so far away? Had they gotten lost? Was one pursuing the other? Dullan didn't know the answer, but he knew how to get them.
"Activate all cloaking fields and the scanner jammer. Fleet will hold in position. Focus the scanners on estimated arrival zone of the ships. No one does anything without my command."
The captain nodded and headed off to the communications officer to relay the orders. Dullan thought about ordering the captain to inform Malum about this turn of events as well, but he decided against it. The mere idea of having to talk to the Dark Lord about something like this would have sent braver officers running to change their clothes – specifically, the bottom ones. He couldn't rely on them, but he would deliver the information later anyway. Malum trusted him enough to send this kind of intelligence later. Better to send it late but in full than to send it immediately but with minimal details, and then bother him repeatedly in updates.
Soon, the sublight engines were deactivated and the cloaking generators hummed into action. In seconds, the Shadow Hand, as well as the rest of the fleet, merged into the surrounding darkness, and soon faded out of visual sight. Becoming one with the void, the fleet stood in silence, waiting for what was going to happen next.
Dullan sighed again and looked at the monitor in front of him, which was showing him a patch of blank space. Looks like he was about to get half his wish.
It wasn't going to be a storm. But it would do.
So, here we are. My first fanfiction…are you excited? Hopefully!
I already have the prologue and chapter 1 completed, but chapter 2 is coming up soon. I won't upload 2 until I get three done though.
This fanfiction will take a LONG time (I'm talking months here) due to me being busy at work with a whole bunch of other things. However, I do have this fanfiction mapped out so that's something to look forward to. I see what happens when people create fanfictions that are really good then drop them about halfway through. It's depressing.
If you like this fanfiction or are interested in seeing more, be sure to hit up a comment or something. That way, I can know if I should keep going. Thank you!
*Note* This may also go on FIMFiction, along with my second fanfiction, so you can keep an eye out for it there =].