Darkness prevails. Though hope flares up on occasion, none is so bright as to pierce the veil of tyranny over the Galaxy. One man holds the reigns, and controls every facet of the civilized Galaxy. Sheev Palpatine, though most people call him the Emperor, stands atop his Galactic Empire with an indomitable will and a fearsome knight to enforce his rule. His knowledge is deep, his armies are vast, and his power is absolute. His right hand, apprentice, and fellow Sith Lord, DARTH VADER, was among the only living beings who could threaten his rule.
Formerly the powerful Jedi knight Anakin Skywalker, the now even more fearsome Darth Vader traversed the Galaxy carrying out the will of his master, usually annihilating any who would hinder his sinister mission. For Vader, life was suffering, and the resultant pain was as kindling for the flames of hatred, which was the source of his power. His fall to the Dark Side of the Force was fully precipitated with the betrayal of his friends and crippling of his natural body. The human parts that remained were encased in a nightmarish shell, which moved and functioned as a normal body would, but never truly completed him. Even the torture of the prison which he inhabited was nowhere near as painful as the anguish he once suffered over his decisions. Perhaps once, but no more.
For a Sith, there was no greater power than that derived from hatred and desire. The Force flowed through everything, and it was the way of the Dark Side to reach out and appropriate it how one saw fit. It is the nature of the powerful to attempt to preserve that which they have, and Sheev Palpatine sought to do just that.
"Lord Vader." The hooded figure of the Emperor stood before a large glass tube, roughly a meter in diameter. The bright liquid which filled it rapidly began to drain, revealing a shape which was, for the most part, recognizable as human. "The time has come to commence testing of the contingency," crooned the wicked, old man. "We are to venture beyond the Unknown Regions, and you will accompany me to investigate an entirely new frontier."
The tank emptied, and amidst the hissing of hoses and dripping from the once-whole limbs of Anakin emerged a new sound.
Tooogh. Khuuu.
It was a hollow sound, like a machine struggling to operate at maximum efficiency. Or like a dying mother drawing her calm, final breaths during childbirth. A frail, wispy voice replied, "Yes, master."
Now fully armored, the dark lord gazed upon the Emperor's craft through bulbous lenses. Specs and read outs of the vessel populated the empty space around his field of vision, and his connection with the Force granted him spatial understanding that scanners could not. "This craft... Is different." A mechanical breath separated the statement in two.
"As you know, there have, up to now, been no ships capable of probing deep into the Unknown Regions." Beyond the edge of the Galaxy lie grand magnetic storms, vicious solar winds, and countless unpredictable dangers. Palpatine gestured toward the ship, "The Imperative is the product of much research and testing. Today we begin practical trials."
Vader was a practical Sith Lord, one who valued results. "What distance are we capable of traveling, my lord?"
"The enhanced hyperdrive within can carry one for as of yet unimaginable distances." At the Emperor's insistence, they began up the ramp to the belly of the ship. "The length of, say, several galaxies." Escaping the galaxy was the dream of fools, and slave boys who yearned for adventure, or so Vader thought.
"And if we are unable to return?"
Together they entered the bridge, to find it oddly vacant of any but themselves and a pair of royal guards, who hardly counted as people by any standard measure. "That, my apprentice, is why I am bringing you." Darth Sidious claimed his seat in the imposing throne constructed for himself, presiding over the many control panels and modules from a distance.
"Yes, master. When shall we depart?" As his voice modulator produced the words, the two guards moved to assume their positions near the front facing viewport, each step evoking a choreographed dance maneuver. With a theatrical flurry of robes they seated themselves at their respective control panels, lights flickering on and the ship humming to life.
"Immediately."