Alright, here's the latest chapter, involving the Empire of the Hand from Star Wars Legends. To those who aren't aware of them, I'll give a brief summary:
The Empire of the Hand is a shadow empire set up by Grand Admiral Thrawn with the blessing of Palpatine, to conquer the Unknown Regions of the galaxy. Thrawn used less xenophobic and genocidal methods and because of that, aliens are allowed to join up and they don't act as conquerors.
Now, in Legends, the Empire of the Hand was reduced significantly over the years, but in my multiverse, the Republic have aided them in achieving a much better status.
They've fought and contained many threats in the Unknown Regions, but how will they deal with the power of the Flood? Well, let's find out.
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars, Halo, or anything else that may be referenced in this story.
In the Unknown Regions, on the planet Nirauan, there stood an ancient fortress, consisting of five towers, four of which were roughly the same height while the fifth was half that size. The fortress resembled an outstretched hand, which was how it got its name from the current occupants.
This place was the Hand of Thrawn, the headquarters of the Empire of the Hand. They were the first line of defense for the galaxy, halting threats in the Unknown Regions while the wider galaxy enjoyed their peace.
With the revelation of a wider multiverse, the return of their long-gone leader and the support of the interdimensional superpower known as the Republic (the irony wasn't lost on anyone) and the Unknown Regions flourished under them.
However, a new threat had emerged from beyond their galaxy and even beyond their universe, one that threatened to consume all life in the multiverse. It was a threat unlike any of the inhabitants in the Unknown Regions had ever seen before, and even Thrawn's empire was hard-pressed to deal with it.
Admiral Voss Parck, de facto leader of the Empire of the Hand, stood at the holotable, looking over the map of the Unknown Regions as red holograms marked where the Flood had made contact.
There was a lot of red.
Now, there was a conflict in progress over the world of O'reen, as the Parasite ravaged through the colony world, while the Empire of the Hand counter-attacked in an effort to evacuate the civilians.
It was clear that it wasn't going well.
"Our forces are being overwhelmed." The hologram of a Chiss officer stood at the side of the table. "We can't keep up an assault like this."
"Then don't." Vice Admiral Dagon Niriz replied, his hologram on the opposite side of the table. "Evacuate all remaining ground troops and burn the infestation."
"That will thousands of civilians who haven't evacuated!"
"There's little choice." Parck said. "We can't let the Flood spread any further."
"... Very well, then." Stent replied. "I'll give the order." The hologram vanished, while Soontir Fel crossed his arms.
"You know we're not going to make a lot of friends doing this." The former Imperial Ace said. "Bombarding worlds already allied with us isn't going to win much sympathy."
"We have no choice in the matter." Niriz was the one who answered. "The Flood are a danger beyond even the Vong."
"I don't disagree." Fel raised his hands in a placating gesture. "I'm just telling it like it is. Some members of the Ascendancy are complaining already."
"They've yet to grasp the true threat of the Parasite." Voss sighed. "They will, in time."
Ever since Thrawn came back into the Unknown Regions on Palpatine's order, the Empire of the Hand had worked tirelessly in their efforts to bring some order to these regions of space.
They had fought many threats throughout the years, hiding in the Unknown Regions, even after the formation of the IDA and Thrawn's resurrection. And it was clear now that the Flood were far worse than anything they could've ever imagined.
The Empire had reached out to the Chiss Ascendancy to warn them, but the still frosty relationship between the two powers meant that their warnings were not taken as seriously as they should have been.
This changed when a number of Chiss worlds began falling to the Parasite, and the Ascendancy reached out for aid. Since then, the two powers had worked closely together, even managing to halt an attempt to infect Csilla itself.
The entity known as Mnggal-Mnggal had vanished, leaving behind all the territory it had gained, opting to flee as far as they could from the Parasite. They weren't the only ones, either.
Zonama Sekot had also fled, taking the remains of the Yuuzhan Vong with them and vanishing from any known locations as the Parasite approached. Several other species attempted the same, some successful, but others were not, and many worlds fell to the Parasite.
A number of species refused to abandon their worlds, preferring to fight to the bitter end. One noticeable species that did this were the Quesoth, an insectoid species from Quethold who still fought with medieval weaponry like swords and maces.
The Queen of the White refused to abandon her City, though she allowed Midlis and Circlings who chose to flee to do so. Meanwhile, the Empire of the Hand, with the aid of their allies, the Stromma, moved to evacuate the hibernating Circlings and Midlis from the City of the Red and the City of the Black.
The Queen of the White meanwhile, ordered her soldiers to attack the Parasite. Quesoth tactics mainly involved throwing thousands of bodies at their target until they broke, with their hardy physiology making this an effective tactic even against the Empire of the Hand's stormtroopers.
They weren't the first species to learn the hard way that the Flood only grew stronger from that type of strategy, and they wouldn't be the last to learn that either. The Parasite overwhelmed the White Citadel very quickly and within an hour had infected the Queen.
...
Elsewhere, other species that were enemies of the Empire of the Hand had chosen to remain isolated, wishing to avoid getting involved in what they deemed was out of their affairs, or even hoping that the Flood would cripple the major powers in the Unknown Regions.
Unfortunately for them, the Flood never cared about anyone's neutrality.
The Ssi-ruuvi Imperium had been slowly rebuilding after their defeat at the hands of the Yuuzhan Vong, choosing to lay low to avoid retaliatory strikes from the Chiss or any other government.
This isolation, along with having no allies, meant that the Parasite was able to consume much of their territory with ease, overwhelming their defenses with sheer numbers. The slaves that had been captured in Entechment rigs were not spared, and were completely helpless as the Flood took them over.
Meanwhile, the Vagaari hoped to take advantage of the chaos, striking at the Chiss Ascendancy and the Empire of the Hand while they were distracted. One raiding party even got lucky when they stumbled upon a crippled Chiss Star Destroyer, having been left floating in space and broadcasting a general distress beacon.
But when they boarded the ship, the Vagaari found that the vessel had actually been infested by the Flood, who quickly overran the raiders and took control of their vessels, before setting course for the Vagaari homeworld.
Meanwhile, back at the Hand of Thrawn, the war meeting had ended, leaving Voss Parck as the lone member of their High Command present. A course of action had been decided and discussed for a large number of worlds, as the focus was primarily on evacuating those that they could.
Now, Parck was alone, waiting for the one call from the Republic that he'd been expecting. And as fortune would have it, he didn't have to wait long. The flashing of a comm signal at the holotable was quickly answered, revealing the familiar silhouette of Grand Admiral Thrawn.
"Admiral." Parck saluted, to which Thrawn smiled wistfully.
"It's good to see you old friend." The Chiss Admiral spoke. "Though we both know this isn't a social call."
"Of course, sir." Parck replied, getting straight to business. "We are evacuating what worlds we can, and burning the infected areas through Base Delta Zero, as you've instructed. Civilian populations
"It's a good start." Thrawn said after a moment. "But have care just how many you save."
"Grand Admiral?"
"The Flood is unlike any species we've ever seen before." He continued. "This is an enemy that requires an uncomfortable amount of ruthlessness. A single Flood spore on any ship could bring that vessel down. Or worse, more inhabited planets."
"We have quarantine procedures in place." Parck assured him. "We're not just letting them in blindly."
"Of course." Thrawn visibly sighed, surprising his protege. "Forgive me for implying otherwise old friend."
"Grand Admiral..." Parck hesitated, looking around to make sure no one else was listening. This wasn't protocol, but he had to ask. "Do you believe this war is one we can actually win?" Thrawn was silent for a long moment, which was rather telling.
"I believe we can." He finally said. "It won't be an easy conflict, but we may have a way to stop them."
"Sir?"
"We're working on a solution to the Flood problem." Thrawn said. "Unfortunately, that is all I am at liberty to say at the moment."
"I understand." Admiral Parck nodded. "We will keep the Unknown Regions secure by any means necessary."
"I know you will." Thrawn nodded before disabling the connection, leaving Admiral Parck alone with his thoughts.
Okay, I'm not too sure about this one, but hopefully I did fairly well on this chapter. The Unknown Regions were an interesting aspect of Star Wars Legends, and I wanted to explore that aspect a bit more.
Of course, the Empire of the Hand have apparently dealt with many threats over the years, but even they can't be prepared for the Flood. I mean, the closest thing Star Wars has to something like that is Mnggal-Mnggal, and even that is still tame in comparison.
Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.
