DISCLAIMER: Overlord/オーバーロード belongs to Kugane Maruyama, and Star Wars belongs to Disney (Unfortunately). The scenario and original characters are mine, besides those gifted by ComparedDread12. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter VIII: The Crown
E-Rantel Cemetery, New World
The "Switch" + 23 (23 Days Since the "Switch")
Galal Batisi crawled on the cold cobblestone floor while he bled out. He was still disoriented from all that had happened in the past few seconds. He and two of his fellow cultists had been guarding the entrance to their hidden base, when out of nowhere, men in strange black sets of armor rushed in. The skeletons that they had summoned were torn apart in minutes from some form of magic that came out of the staffs the men were carrying.
The first of the two cultists with him to die was an older fellow whose name Galal never knew. He had tried to cast a summoning spell to get more reinforcements when both of his hands were amputated, and his head disappeared in a blinding light from a smaller staff. The other cultist had been a friend who had introduced him into Zurrernorn's ranks. He was torn apart by the blinding flashes from the staffs. Galal had tried to run, but he felt a searing pain as one of the men used the blades attached to his armor to cut a large gash into his left leg, nearly amputating it.
He nearly made it to the door when his head exploded. His body was then dragged to the opposite wall and laid down, alongside his colleagues.
"How many does that make now, Maverick?" Reaper asked CA-423-11/7752 as he spun the pistol back into the holster on his kama.
"About twelve in all, sir." Maverick replied as he shook the blood off his forearm blades.
"How many were supposed to be here again, Nine?" CT-1127-9788 whispered to his brother, CT-1127-9789, as they kept their blasters on the other door.
"I believe the report said that it was thirty in all, Eight. 'Course, we can't exactly rely on that kind of info. That woman that got captured by the boys in Carne was a member of this group. She could have lied to get us killed in revenge for being interrogated." Nine whispered back as Narberal Gamma came toward them.
"Ms. Gamma." Reaper stated to stop her from opening the door to the next room.
"What is it?" she asked in an annoyed tone.
"Do me a favor. Look down."
"Huh?"
"You nearly walked into a bloody tripwire. The last thing we need is you bringing this damn place down on top of our heads."
"I'm sure I could survive it."
"Not the point. Our whole objective here is to go unnoticed. I'm sure you don't want to upset lord Gown, do you?"
Narberal's eyes narrowed at Reaper's words. He was a lowly human! He should have more respect for his betters. His words did ring true for her, however. She grumbled and stepped back from the door as a Shadow Assassin neatly disabled the trap that had been set. Reaper then made a tapping motion on his gauntlet.
As one, both squads of troopers cloaked as Narberal cast an invisibility spell. Eight opened the door while his brother kept his DC-19 on the room the door opened into. The troopers filed into the room, staying close to the walls while Narberal walked in behind them. After a thorough check of the room, the troopers relaxed while Narberal kept her guard up.
It had been at least two hours since the mission began. The troopers hadn't had anything to eat that day, and it was starting to affect their abilities. The last room was supposed to be simple, as the three cultists were supposed to be simultaneously taken down by one synchronized shot. That hadn't happened as a trooper accidentally knocked over a bottle of alcohol, alerting the cultists that they weren't alone.
To prevent this incident from being repeated later, the men were ordered to eat small portions of their rations. The original rations that were given to the troopers were supplemented by food coming out of Carne, which was mostly salted meats. Whenever fresh fruit appeared alongside the meat, the troopers would try and use it to trade for other items. The Imperial Army soldiers were doing something similar, but they had a lot more to trade.
"Once you've all had your snack, check for anything of value in here for the intel guys. Papers, maps, the works." Reaper stated as he removed his own helmet to take a bite of salted beef.
Narberal sat on a nearby crate as she watched the humans eat. In her mind, she imagined using chain lightning on the troopers, then blaming their deaths at the hands of Zurrernorn. She didn't give it serious thought as she knew that Lord Ainz wouldn't be happy if she killed them. They were supposed to be allies, after all.
As the troopers finished their snack, the handle on the door on the left side of the room began to turn. When the door opened, an older man appeared. He was carrying a bag over his shoulder, one that leaked a lot of fluid. He spotted Narberal sitting on the crate opposite him, and before he could even raise the alarm, was wrestled to the ground by two other troopers.
A knife appeared near the man's throat. He saw the glint of metal and knew what to do. He kept quiet while Maverick approached. The assassin crouched as he came face to face with the older man.
"What's your name?" he asked as the man looked up into the Maverick's visor.
"K-Kerit Halun!" the man gasped as the knife touched the skin of his throat.
"Well, Mr. Halun, seeing as you stumbled your way into our hands, you're going to help answer a few questions we have."
Imperial Elven Expeditionary Force, New World
Ben Setrin's walker stepped over one of the many fallen trees that were in the way of the expedition. At this point, most of the men who had been on foot were now either inside or on top of the HAVw A6s due to the number of trees that began to appear in their path. The AT-RTs were having a better time, but only slightly. They had to get a running start to get over a lot of the trees. The AT-STs, including his own, were faring the best, as they were tall enough to simply step over some of the trees due to their height.
He noticed that many of the trees looked decrepit and old, having been knocked over years ago. He thought that some of them looked as though they had deliberately fallen in some places. That wasn't possible, however, since there wasn't anyone nearby for hundreds of kilometers.
"Hey, we've got something." Crane said as he pointed at the radar in between the two.
"Right, I'll call it in." Ben replied as he pushed the talk button.
"Go ahead, Team 4, over." The comm operator of the command HAVw A6 stated after a minute.
"We're getting a reading on the radar, unsure of what it is at this time, over."
"Roger, Team 4. Team 3, can you confirm you've also got unknowns on your radar, over?"
"Wait one, over."
"Wilco."
"Lead, we can confirm unknowns on radar. How do you want us to proceed, over?"
"Search and ascertain, over."
"Wilco, out."
"Roger, out."
With their new orders, both Ben's and Team 3's AT-STs moved further ahead into the forest while the rest of the expedition halted. More dots appeared on the radar as soon as they moved out of the expedition's sight range, varying in size. Ben stopped the walker once he came upon a large cluster of trees that surrounded a small-ish village. It was little more than a few houses, a shop, and an inn. What gave him pause was the strange substance that covered the buildings.
The entire village had been coated in a thick layer of ash as if a great fire had raged recently. The issue with that was that none of the surrounding trees or the buildings themselves had any form of burn damage. Given the already strange nature of the world they were on, Ben felt uneasy, to say the least. Crane nudged him as he stared dumbfounded at the radar.
"What the…?" Ben muttered as the dots started to move towards the back of the village.
"I don't like this." Crane said as he readied the AT-ST's weapons.
"You and me both. Let me hail Team 3."
"Good idea, I'll keep watching the radar."
"Team 3, this is Team 4, how copy?"
"..."
"I repeat, Team 3, this is Team 4, how copy?"
"..."
"Team 3, please acknowledge, over."
"..."
"Where the hell did they go?"
"Don't look at me, the radar says they're still about twenty meters away."
The two men turned back to the radar as it started to ping. A massive dot was heading right for them from their left, where Team 3's walker had been. Ben maneuvered his own walker out of the way as a massive fireball came spiraling past. Ben and Crane barely had any time to reconcile this within their minds as something hit the AT-ST hard enough to knock it back a few steps.
Ben's head connected with the back wall of the walker's cockpit and he was glad he was still wearing his helmet. If he'd left the helmet off, the force of the impact would have caved his skull in. Crane hissed as he had hit his head on the instrument panel in front of him.
"Kark me, what the hell was that?!"
"I don't know, but-!"
Ben nearly bit through his tongue as the walker was bucked forward by the still unseen force while Crane hit the instrument panel again. The force of the hit was harder this time, however, and Crane wasn't quite prepared for another hit so soon. He slumped forward, and Ben worried his best friend was dead. He sighed in relief when he saw Crane breathing. Crane was alive but unconscious, which left Ben the only one to fight whatever the hell was attacking them. He transferred control of the weapons from the gunner over to him as he turned the walker around to face the unknown attacker.
A large beast that looked like a New World canine with flaming horns faced him. It snarled and paced in front of the walker, daring Ben to attack. He grabbed the lever for the walker's weapons and opened fire on the creature. It dodged left as the walker's chin-mounted cannons fired. It pounced and slashed at the cockpit, jolting the walker backward once again. Ben then depressed the trigger for the side-mounted light E-Web cannon, scoring a hit on the beast. It was a minor hit, but a hit nonetheless. The creature roared in anger at the hit and shot a fireball from its mouth at the walker. The ball did nothing except blacken much of the front of the walker.
The creature took a swing at the walker again but missed as Ben moved the vehicle closer to the beast. Knowing it was vulnerable, it leaped backward just as the concussion grenade launcher on the right side of the cockpit fired. The beast was dazed by the grenade and started to madly swing its massive paws in the general direction of the walker. Ben moved the walker back, happy that his mistake in firing the grenade launcher led to this result. He meant to use the chin-mounted cannons, but he pressed the wrong button and wound up firing the grenade launcher instead. The beast smacked the walker into a nearby tree, which left scratch marks on the side of the cockpit. Ben tried to fire the chin-mounted cannons, but they had overheated as a fireball hit the bottom portion of the walker's cockpit.
Ben quickly grabbed the personal weapon all walker crews were given at the start of the expedition. It was one of the newer weapons created in the armory, the E-11c, a supposedly more powerful version of the standard E-11. He thought about opening the hatch above but nixed the idea. He'd be exposing himself to that thing if he popped his upper body out of the cockpit. He rested the barrel of the E-11c on the walker's eye slit, using his other hand to steady himself as he leaned in to look down the blaster rifle's scope.
He lined up his shot and fired at the beast. It cried out as one of its large eyes exploded into a viscous goo. Ben then took the opportunity to fire both the light E-Web cannon and concussion grenade launcher at the monster. He kept the two weapons firing on it until the grenade launcher ran out of ammo and the E-Web overheated. At that point, the chin-mounted cannons had cooled, and for good measure, he blasted it once with the cannons. The walker became drenched in gore and viscera as the beast's side exploded from the impact of the shot.
Once the smoke had cleared, Ben opened the hatch on the cockpit. He was about to set his hands down on the lip of the hatch but decided against it. He didn't want to get his hands all bloody and stain the instruments inside. He scanned his surroundings, searching for Team 3's walker. He soon spotted the walker and grimaced.
The walker itself was still intact, but it was scorched black. The beast had gotten the jump on their walker. He thought he could see the driver's burned arm peeking out of the eye slit of his walker. He shuddered to imagine what the inside of that walker looked like, let alone smelled like.
"Ugh, what the?" Crane stated as he came back to consciousness.
"You missed the show." Ben said hollowly as his eyes went back down to the beast.
"What are you… what in the Empire happened?"
"Safe to say we found our unknown."
"I'll say. What about Team 3?"
"Dead."
"Is it bad?"
"Very."
"Damn. Well, we can't just leave the walker."
"We're going to have to go back to the expedition. Contact the ship to get the bloody thing out of here."
"Roger that. Switching weapons back over to me."
"Right, coming back in."
Ben closed the hatch as the moon started to shine down on the site of their battle.
E-Rantel Cemetery, New World
The Crown was in sight as Narberal crouched behind a fallen stone pillar. Two troopers were nearby, their weapons trained on the group of cultists that surrounded the Crown. They waited for Reaper as he got into position behind the group with Maverick and another trooper. The last group of Clones was closest as only one of their members had a blaster rifle. One of the troopers was nervously flicking the stun/kill switch on his blaster as he waited impatiently for the word to kill the cultists.
"Blast 'em!" Reaper's voice cried out, followed by each of the ranged Clones opening fire on the group.
Once the group was on the ground, the Clone Assassins moved in and confirmed the kills, stabbing each of the bodies twice. Narberal and the other troopers moved in after this was accomplished. The group gazed upon the Crown as the bodies of the cultists smoldered.
"Basilisk, this is Captain CA-9912/231-67, codename 'Reaper', are you receiving?" Reaper asked as he held the wrist communicator up to his helmet.
"We read you, CA-9912/231-67. Do you have eyes on the target, over?" Captain Cavos replied as Reaper heard some shuffling in the background, indicating that the normal comm operator had gotten out of his seat so that Cavos could sit.
"I'm looking at it now, Basilisk. We'll be heading to the extraction point, over."
"Roger that, CA-9912/231-67. We're sending the gunship down now. Be advised, we have an unknown blocking the route to your extraction. Eliminate with extreme prejudice, over."
"Wilco, out." Reaper replied as he shut off the communicator and wrapped the Crown in the robes of one of the dead cultists.
Narberal, Reaper, and Maverick led the troopers out of Zurrernorn's hidden base, passing the decapitated corpse of Kerit Halun on the way. He had tried to warn the group of cultists that had been guarding the Crown but Maverick cut his warning off as he stabbed through his back. To be sure of the kill, he then cut off Halun's head. That was when the troopers moved to their ambush positions. As they passed by the body, Narberal stopped and stared at the body. She then proceeded to kick the body lightly and went back to leading the troopers out. The troopers gave her looks of amusement underneath their helmets, Nine and Eight snickering at her little show of annoyance at the cultist.
As the group made it outside, they came upon the sight of a sickly old man in red robes. He was glaring at them while flanked by two massive creatures made of bone. His eyes narrowed as he began to speak.
"I am Khajit Dale Badantel, one of the twelve executives of Zurrernorn. You will return what you have stolen or suffer an agony you haven't ever conceived of!" he cried as the two monsters beside him tensed, ready to strike.
"Nine, contact the Basilisk. Tell them we need a little bit of help with that unknown." Reaper ordered on the squad's private channel.
"Right away, sir. How many shots do you want on them?" Nine replied as he quietly got behind Eight.
"Two shots. One for each of those monsters."
"Yes, sir."
"Well? What is your answer?" the old man replied icily as he held a hand out to them.
"Yeah, no. You can go kark yourself." Maverick replied, a deadpan expression plastered to his face underneath his helmet.
"Ki-"
The old man never finished as the Basilisk's shots destroyed the two bone monsters. Narberal, Reaper, Maverick, and the other troopers shielded their eyes as the entire world turned a bright green for only a few seconds. The old man was flat on his back as a large bone had fallen on top of him, crushing his lower body. Narberal finished him off with chain lightning as the troopers passed him.
The Black Ops LAAT, filled with both the troopers and Narberal, left the E-Rantel Cemetary as the sun began to rise.
Great Tomb of Nazarick, New World
The "Switch" + 24 (24 Days Since the "Switch")
Narberal presented the Crown of Wisdom to a seated Momonga as I congratulated Captain Reaper and his squad on a job well done. Albedo then sent Narberal to her quarters to rest, the troopers following her out and towards the Landing Pad once I finished debriefing them. He unfurled the robe that housed the Crown as BalancedFear and Ryuzaki entered the room.
"So this is the 'Crown of Wisdom'?" Ryuzaki asked as she looked at it.
"Yes. This item is extremely unique, as it does not seem to come from my home dimension. Does it perhaps come from yours, Ms. Shioko?" Momonga asked, referring to Ryuzaki's game as his red orbs gazing down at her from his throne.
"I've never seen its like from my own home, lord Ainz. What of you, Grand Admiral?"
"No, something like this is not from my galaxy. I believe it was created here, on the world which we find ourselves." I said as I clasped my hands behind my back.
"I've never seen it before either. I'm definitely sure it's not from Mandalore. I believe the Grand Admiral is correct." BalancedFear said as he nodded at the Crown.
"We shall learn more once I have analyzed it. All Appraisal Magical Item!"
"What is it?"
"Yes, lord Gown, please do not keep us in suspense."
"Were we right in its origin?"
"Yes. It is regarded as one of the Slane Theocracy's greatest treasures. The Crown itself is the symbol of one of the Theocracy's important persons, the Shaman Princess. This Crown is used in many of the Theocracy's magic ceremonies. While the limits of the New World would prevent human magic casters to surpass anything beyond 3rd-tier magic, this Crown allows the wearer to bypass those limits up to using 7th-tier magical spells. However, for all of its advantages, there are some extremely severe flaws. The largest being the price of using the Crown. Once worn, the Crown limits the wearer's thinking ability to that of a marionette, and it cannot be removed without leaving the wearer's mind ruined. The only way to nullify its power over the host is for it to be destroyed."
"It would seem that this item would be better suited to be used on any of our prisoners."
"It appears that way."
"Damn, and I thought we could really use it."
"Perhaps we can…"
"Do explain your process of thinking, Grand Admiral."
"Yes, what do you mean?"
"Do enlighten us."
"Do you still have those prisoners, lord Gown?"
"What of it?"
"Wait…"
"You can't seriously be considering that."
"Why not? They are traitors to the Empire and deserve no mercy from us. I say we force one of the Rebels to use it and turn them into something useful to our cause."
"You do make an interesting point."
"Is it truly worth it, though? As you said, lord Ainz, it only allows humans to bypass their limit up to '7th-tier' magic. I don't see how it could be of any real use!"
"I have to agree with lady Ryuzaki. It is not right to treat our defeated enemies this way."
"Then they should not have taken up arms against the Emperor. Do not forget you still serve him."
"We shall discuss this further in a more private setting, agreed?"
"Very well, lord Gown."
"Alright."
"As you wish."
"Now then, Grand Admiral, is there any word on Baleare's blood work?"
"So far, it seems promising. We should have the results by the beginning of next week at the latest."
"That is good news. I would very much like to be back with my Legion."
"It would be nice to have some kind of normalcy after this mess."
"On that, lady Ryuzaki, I believe we all agree."
"What of the expedition to the Elf Kingdom?"
"We've lost one of the AT-ST crews to some beast that could wield fire against us. The walker itself is intact, and we have taken it back aboard the Basilisk for cleaning. There was another walker with them and they managed to kill the beast. The walker has minor damage considering the fight, and the crew is just fine."
"So the expedition has suffered two casualties since its start? That is good and there was also the fact that they were joined by those others, including those other Clones from that Bandit mine?"
"Yes, their numbers are still sufficient to continue forward."
"How have those former Bandit slaves been doing since they were liberated?"
"By all accounts, they are doing well. A few suffer night terrors and some simply break down for moments at a time. The medical teams are doing all they can for them. I certainly can not fault them. Over three years of abuse and thankless work for many of them? That was most certainly a harrowing experience. "
"Yes, we have a name for it in my own dimension. It is known as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I'm surprised it isn't more prevalent, because it certainly is a given after what they went through."
"Damn those Bandit bastards."
"We can all be thankful that the perpetrators are dead." Momonga stated as the doors to the throne room opened again.
Two members of the Basilisk Guard walked in, escorting a 2-1B medical droid. The two guards waited for my permission to come forward. Knowing that something big must have happened for the two to come in, I motioned for them to come forward. The trio came closer until they were only eight feet away from me. The 2-1B then began to speak.
"We have the results from Mr. Nphirea's bloodwork, Grand Admiral."
"I see. Is it good news?"
"We are able to synthesize a cure for the disease from his blood. It will take time, but it is estimated that we should have the completed cure by the end of the next week. There is more information, but the Medical Officer in the Basilisk's Sick Bay said that it would be better to discuss the information on the ship."
"Very good! Has the information been relayed to our outpost?"
"It will be, sir, as soon as my report is finished."
"What else is there to report?"
"We have completed a prototype cure, but its effects do not last very long. There is a high probability that within 24 hours, the virus will return to the host."
"Hm. So this prototype could be used as a sort of continuous treatment, then?"
"Yes, sir."
"Excellent. Continue producing the prototype in conjunction with the true cure. We may find a use for the prototype."
Holding Cell, Imperial Outpost, Carne Village, New World
Clementine awoke in the white room. She was still spasming due to the shocks whoever had questioned her had given when she had been… uncooperative. They had interrogated her all throughout the night and into the early hours of the day, trying to gather as much information from her as possible. They finally stopped when they noticed that the shocks weren't keeping her awake anymore.
"So you're awake? Good. Hold still." a blurry shape said as he stabbed her arm with a strange glass cylinder that had a needle and was filled with a grayish-green liquid.
The pain lasted for a few minutes, but then she felt as if she could do anything! The illness was gone. She was cured, and now she was going to make her captors pay! She looked around for the blurry shape, but they had disappeared. The interrogator's voice then came into the room.
"I wouldn't try anything too foolish, Clementine. We have given you a cure to the disease, but it is only temporary."
"Sure, and I'm the Empress of the Baharuth Empire." she spat back at the voice.
"You'll learn quite soon."
"When I get out of here, I'll-"
"You'll... what? You're completely surrounded by my forces, and I very much doubt even your skills could defeat 2,000 Imperial Stormtroopers. You would most likely die in the process of trying to escape. Either that or be back within the hands of the Empire in minutes, at most."
"Can't fault a girl for having dreams."
"No, I suppose I can't, but you will never achieve that particular dream."
"Big words from someone who doesn't have the balls to show his face!" she cried out, only for a strange flickering specter to appear in the white room.
"You want to know who I am? Very well, since your information led to the acquisition of the Crown of Wisdom and the destruction of the E-Rantel Cemetary's Zurrernorn sect. I am General Cyrus Jidak of the Imperial Army. I serve the Galactic Empire, and more directly at this point in time, Grand Admiral Taver Slazin."
"Tav-er Slay-zin? Is he as much of a coward as you, Ji-dack?"
"I highly doubt it. We're not cowards. I simply can't afford to get sick."
"Well, I'm fine now, so-ngghh!"
Clementine gripped her stomach as blood erupted from her mouth and onto the floor of the room. She collapsed onto her knees as the specter kneeled to look her in the eyes. He was smirking evilly as she began to cough uncontrollably. He chuckled as she fell over and onto her side.
"I did tell you the cure you were given was temporary. Do you believe me now?" he asked as he began to truly laugh at her pain.
"F-fuck (Cough) y-you!"
"I do wish you would stop saying that. I've learned what that means, you know? It is so very vulgar, my dear Clementine."
"You can (Cough) go (Cough Cough) screw yourself, Ji-dick!"
"Do you want to know how you're going to get that cure again?"
"..."
"I thought you might want to know that. It's very simple: to get the temporary reprieve the cure brings, all you have to do is do what we tell you. From here on until your demise, your life belongs to the Empire. Is that clear?"
"Yes."
"I want to hear you say those words."
"My life belongs to your Empire."
"Good. Rest now. You will be given a much larger dosage later in preparation for your first mission for us."
"Yes."
"'Yes', what?"
"Yes, master."
The specter vanished from sight as Clementine laid on the ground. On the other side of the glass, Jidak was smiling as his plan succeeded. Clementine would now be completely in the Empire's power to use as they saw fit. He left the interrogation room and headed back up to his office, wanting to contact the Grand Admiral and tell him of their new operative. As he went up to his office, he stopped to consider an idea. If they could find more people like Clementine, perhaps they could be useful. Of course, if they willingly joined the ranks of the Empire, that would be best.
He knew for sure that he wouldn't conscript any of the "worthy" adventurers who might decline to join their ranks, like the members of the adventurer group "Blue Roses", for example. They had been getting rumors from E-Rantel that "Blue Roses" was doing work for the princess of Re-Estize Kingdom. Something that entailed dealing with a local criminal underground known as Eight Fingers. Those who were deemed "unworthy" and declined to join would be conscripted in the same way that Clementine had been.
They would be exposed to the "Red Death" and given dosages of the cure to keep them in line. It was a perfect plan and one that could ensure that the Empire would remain anonymous to the general populace, at least until they were ready to reveal themselves. And if the Empire grew tired of them? Well, there are always "unworthy" adventurers to conscript.
Imperial Elven Expeditionary Force, New World
"Whee!" Fero exclaimed as Meriel spun her around in the air.
"Having fun you two?" Zentha asked as she approached, Paeral Yellen following close behind.
"Yeah. It's been really boring, and Fero looked like she needed cheering up." Meriel explained as she held the young Elf girl close.
"Can't argue with you there. It's very slow going now, even with the Imperials' vehicles." Paeral put in as he tapped his foot on the roof of the HAVw A6.
"It can't be helped. The Theocracy caused all this destruction years ago when they drove us back to Crescent Lake and its surrounding cities. Even we would have trouble getting through here."
"Right, lady Ianwenys, I know."
"Could be worse, kid. We could have been having more trouble with that damn Ash Hound. I'm still amazed that Ben guy managed to kill it."
"We can't ever forget how powerful this Empire is. I doubt they'd have any trouble razing our home to the ground."
"Of that, we are all certain. They managed to kill all of one of the Scriptures in a single battle, after all."
"Yes. Hey, I heard we might be stopping soon."
"Really? That's good. I'd like to get some hunting in."
"Didn't take you for a hunter, ma'am." a new voice cut in from behind the group.
They turned and spotted the source of the voice. It wasn't hard as the man's armor was distinctive. It was one of the Bandit Mine rescuers. He was joined by one of the rescued Clones, who smirked upon seeing Fero.
"Hey there, Fero. Haven't seen you for a while." the trooper said, chuckling.
"Brand!" Fero cried happily as she jumped out of Meriel's arms and ran over to the trooper.
The trooper looked similar to many of the Basilisk's men, except for one difference. His left arm was entirely light green. The other Elves were confused by this somewhat, as they believed the Clones could only come in two colors: white or red and black-ish grey. The trooper noticed them staring and saluted.
"Trooper CT-4351/82. My name is Brand, though. Used to be a member of the 110th Offensive Company. Then I got blown here from an exploding reactor onboard the Venator I served on. Lucky to be alive, actually. I was only a couple of halls away from the reactor."
"You realize they probably didn't understand a lot of what you said, right?" the Army scout said in a deadpan voice as he facepalmed.
"Oh, we understood perfectly." Zentha said in perfect Basic.
"Oh." the Army scout said in a small voice.
"Yeah, those lessons with the droid helped a lot." Meriel put in, to the Army Scout's embarrassment.
"Right, sorry. We came up here to tell you all that we're stopping for the day. Colonel Kavlin was feeling a little cooped up."
"Alright. If you two don't mind, we'll stay up here."
"Mind if I join you, then? Haven't seen Fero for a little while, and I wanted to catch up."
"Fine with us. What about you?"
"Hm. Eh, what the hell, why not?" the Army scout said as he sat down on the edge of the HAVw's roof.
The others then sat down, some pulling out snacks that they had stashed in their packs. Meriel offered the Army Scout some dried Ash Hound meat, to which he tentatively took.
"What's your name?" she asked as he took a bite of the meat.
"Mmph… Trent Byron." he replied as he held a hand out.
Meriel looked at it and then back at him, confused. He slowly lowered his hand and gave her an equal look of confusion. Meanwhile, Zentha sat down next to her friend and stared out at the setting sun. Fero and Paeral were busy chatting with Brand. Below them, an AT-ST with three scratches from the paw of an Ash Hound was patrolling on the outskirts of the expedition.
"I still can't believe I missed the whole thing." Crane said in an annoyed tone as he watched the radar.
"It isn't your fault you did. That damn thing nearly knocked me out, too." Ben replied as he flipped a control switch.
"Yeah, but I feel bad for leaving you alone to fight it. We're a team. Teammates don't let their fellow teammates down."
"I don't blame you for what happened. I know you would've done the same if I'd been knocked out and you were still conscious."
"Yeah…"
"Look, just move past it, huh?"
"Alright, I'll stop complaining about it."
"Good. I'm glad we got that settled."
"Sure."
"Think one of those Elven women would give me a chance?"
"Maybe. I can see one of them talking to an Army scout on top of the Juggernaut."
"If they'll talk to those guys, then I definitely have a shot." Crane laughed as the pair continued their patrol.
What none of them noticed, however, was the trio of beings high in the trees. They wore red robe-like garments and had pale skin. They were shrouded in a sickly green mist as they watched the people below them. One of them readied a wicked-looking bow and aimed at the Elf staring out at the sunset. She was about to release the arrow when her sister stayed her hand.
"No, Djezol." she said, giving the archeress a stern glance.
"But why not, sister? They are too close to our home!" the archeress replied with an exasperated tone.
"She has a valid point." the woman generating the mist stated.
"I do not believe they are looking for us."
"How can you tell, sister?"
"No, I think Anzosh is right."
"Thank you. Remember, our home is to the west, not the south. These people are clearly heading towards the Elf Kingdom."
"I still don't like how close they are to our home already."
"Wait, sisters, do you see that one person with the small Elf child? His armor looks familiar."
"Galred is right. It looks similar to the Savior's helm from eons past…"
"You are right, sisters. We cannot kill those who are related to the Savior."
"We must report back to Mother Kograt."
"Agreed."
"Yes, sister."
The trio disappeared from sight as the moon finally rose once more into the sky, the only trace of them ever being there being a symbol carved into the tree that held their weight as they watched the expedition. It looked like a Clone's helmet, but it was older than the Clones.
This helmet was worn hundreds of years before the Clone Wars, during an age when there was both an Empire and a Republic. One was controlled by the Sith, the other protected by the Jedi. It was the helmet of a Republic Trooper. Underneath the helmet, there was a phrase written in an ancient language.
Translated, the message says this: "The Savior Protects Us."
Author's Note: Sorry it took so long to get this out. Anyway, Merry (or Happy) early Christmas!
Now that the Imperials have control over Clementine, expect some shady stuff in the near future. Also, be prepared for the introduction of things that will change the New World in ways none of you can imagine.
Side note, I'd recommend playing the Emperor's theme when reading the section with Clementine. You don't have to, I'm just saying it because I feel like it fits the passage pretty well.
Next chapter should be up by January 20th at the latest (Slight Delay due to Going Back to College).