The Rebirth of the Eternal Empire

by spartanr981

Taken from Earth Harry must protect the Empire he has forged for himself amongst the stars as the Galaxy teeters on the brink of total war. Op Emperor WBWL Harry. Harry/Fleur

5. Chapter 5

Star Wars is owned by George Lucas and Disney whilst Harry Potter is property of JK. Rowing, I own nothing!

AN: Quick note, hello everyone I'm back! Told you I wasn't abandoning this story its just... I lost three versions of this chapter. Everyone time I tried to write it the file got corrupted and I had to start again. That is the reason this chapter has taken so long.

Anyway, enjoy the battle for Exegol.

---

The aftermath of the Emperor's meeting with his Inner Circle would be felt throughout his Empire in the following days. Battlefleets that maintained the show of force required to ward off any attacks from the remnants of the savage fallen domains of the Ssi-ruuk and the Vaggari were quietly reshuffled to free up spare ships for the new offensive.

Battalions and divisions of soldiers who had sworn their service to the Empire were subtly pulled off battlefields and frontline planets in order to form the invasion force that would make planetfall upon the Sith World.

Not even the hidden halls of Imperial Intelligence had escaped the backlash of the Emperor's meeting. Their illustrious and enigmatic leader Shadow had left the sealed room used by only the highest-ranking members of their organization to communicate encrypted messages across the galaxy s with such a palpable aura of fury that it caused every senior agent who laid eyes on her to pale in fear. Masters of subterfuge and deceit had been left trembling in their boots as she summoned them together before proceeding to lay into them, holding nothing back as her tongue struck with the fury of a viper as she stripped away at their failings.

The knowledge there was a Sith World within their borders had sent shockwaves through their ranks. It was a grim reminder that their network wasn't as extensive as they needed and that resting on their laurels was a fast path to the grave.

It had been pure luck that the planet had been discovered but it had been humiliating that they had no part in discovering the truth, it was a slap of humiliation that they could not abide by and so when the Sith Spy had been handed over to them for interrogation they had gleefully gone to work on him with an almost perverse delight.

They had pulled every last iota of information they could from his mind leaving him nothing but a broken husk, his brain all but dribbling out of his ears as he lay frozen in cryostasis in the off chance that Imperial Intelligence needed something else from him at a later date.

The information he had revealed on Exegol had been both informative and vexing.

The spy had told his interrogators a story of a city hidden beneath the sand and of a great temple of black stone that sucked the light out of the sky, he had told them of a city full of an army ready to give their lives for the Sith but every time they tried to probe for more he would refuse to answer and he had eventually broken from the mental strain of the torture they inflicted on him.

The information had been documented and sent up the chain of command even as Imperial Intelligence began the long task of working out if their network of informants and agents across the galaxy had been compromised.

Pulmonary reports were positive but the task would continue long after the invasion of Exegol went ahead.

Imperial Intelligence had also been responsible for deploying a long-range probe to the system that would monitor for any activity in or out and discreetly scan the planet for activity both biological and topological. The information would be vital for when the Empire moved against the Sith World.

The invasion itself was a coordinated effort between the different branches of the Empire's Armed Forces and facilitated personally by the Emperor himself who would be leading the invasion in person despite the protest of both his Inner Circle and Imperial High Command.

The vast majority of the Empire continued unaware of the build-up of military forces and none but the highest-ranked commanders knew of the target as ships and supplies gathered at Colonial Station in the Cam'co system on the Chasdemonus Hyperlane Route.

A fleet filled with enough troops to subdue a star system gathered in secret waiting for their supreme commander to arrive to lead them personally into battle.

The wait hadn't been long for in less than a single solar cycle a ship carrying His Majesty had arrived in the system without fanfare, docking with the Chimera, the Resurgent Class Star Destroyer that was the personal starship of the Grand Admiral of the Eternal Fleet.

It had taken some time to integrate the Sith Wayfinder he had personally delivered to the flagship into the massive ship's navi computers but once the ancient piece of technology had been integrated into its system the way to Exegol and the Sith was opened.

Taking over command from the Grand Admiral the Emperor had ordered the fleet into action.

As one the two dozen ships that formed the invasion force came to life.

Sublight engines burned, the ion engines glowing a bright blue colour as the flotilla adjusted their trajectory for the Hyperjump.

Once the correct coordinates were logged and the other ships in the armada had their navicomputers linked to the Chimera their hyperdrives activated.

Stars turned into streaks of light as they were smeared across space-time, the ships shifting into an alternate state of existence as they catapulted themselves across the heavens.

Standing on the bridge of the Chimera with the Captain of the ship standing next to him at parade rest the Emperor allowed a grim smile to make its way onto his face. He could feel the Force thrumming through his body, the energy of the Universe singing in his veins as he set out on his crusade.

This mission would mark the first direct clash between the forces of the Sith and the Empire, a pre-emptive strike that would affirm the Eternal Empire's stance on the Order of the Dark Lords and their servants.

The blue light of hyperspace bathed the bridge in a soft glow and he steeled himself for the battle to come.

The all-consuming darkness of the Sith was about to meet its match in a power that would burn it away like a weed illuminating the light of hope in a Galaxy that wasn't even aware that it stood in the mouth of a ravenous beast.

---

The planet of Exegol located in the darkest depths of the Unknown Region was, at first glance, one of little value to anyone who stumbled upon it. The system it was located in contained only a dozen other celestial bodies and none of them large enough to be considered a true planet.

Not even the star the planet orbited was impressive or noteworthy, a dim main stage star with no erratic or interesting behaviour.

However there was a peace to the system, the twinkling of lights from massive cities were absent from the celestial objects and the constant glow of the engines of ships were missing. Despite the calm peace, there was a darkness to the entire system, an inexplicable feeling that seeped into the bones of any sentient that laid eyes on Exegol.

To many, it created an inexplicable feeling of fear that had no source, no origin just a terror that couldn't be banished from the mind.

To others, to those who embraced that shadowy beauty of the darkness this place was a sanctuary.

Deep beneath the surface of the grey planet, a masked robed masked figure sat in front of a series of monitoring systems and holoprojectors.

Priest.

That was the only title anyone who inhabited the underground city below the great Sith Citadel knew him as, whether it was a title or a position was a question only he could answer and his name, if he even had one was a secret known only to their Great Lord.

He was a Lesser Prophet of the secret Sith organisation known as the Prophets of the Dark Side, a subset organisation loyal to the Order of Bane. His dedication to the cause and his master had earned him the role of guardian of the Citadel and the Lord of the shadow city beneath it.

Appointed personally by the Great Dark Lord who ruled over them all he made sure to maintain an iron rule of control over the city beneath the sand, enforcing the Order of the Dark Lord's rule over the cities inhabitants and ensuring that the darkness would always have agents to deploy across the Galaxy.

The people who inhabited the city both feared and respected him in equal measure. The men and women around him working diligently on their computers were amongst those numbers and they worked hard to prove their value to him less he punish them.

The quiet of the dark room was suddenly broken as claxons blared to life, the room suddenly bathed in a crimson light. Above the desolate planet, the monitoring systems of the Sith went wild as the dark tainted peace of the Exegol System was broken by the arrival of two dozen ships materializing above the grey planet.

The fleet that arrived was formed around a massive wedge-shaped ship with a surprisingly low profile for its three-kilometre long size. It was a ship cable of pacifying an entire star system all by itself, the very cutting edge of technology and shipbuilding in the Galaxy.

A true marvel of technology and a harbinger of war and conquest.

Orbiting this massive wedge-shaped ship were three smaller but no less intimidating vessels. Each one was perhaps half the length of the flagship they orbited and built in a similar yet seemingly older design but each was more than dangerous in their own right, bristling with dozens of gun batteries and half a dozen hangers filled with starfighters and troop transporters.

Forming the bulk of the fleet were half a dozen even smaller ships, each one a more bulbous but still somewhat streamlined wedge shape. These were less artistically pleasing yet somehow felt more durable and reliable than their larger counterparts, giving off a feeling of reliability and sturdiness.

They were not alone in completing the flotilla for there was another group of ships, these were even smaller vessels and even if they were more numerous. Having the look of a gunboat even if they were slightly larger than the average patrol vessel, they were bristling with armaments, two pairs of twin lasercannons attached to the hull both above and below made them truly fearsome anti-fighter vessel.

"My Lord Prophet we are detecting multiple ships coming out of Hyperspace!" One of the indoctrinated technicians called out from his position after a period of time spent staring intently at his monitor.

The technician turned to look at his commander and froze, staring in shock as he saw that the usually unflappable leader had fallen out of his chair and was kneeling on the ground, his hands clutched to his head.

"Sir?" He called out tentatively only to whimper as Priest's eyes locked with his own.

He was forced to strangle a scream as he stared into the rage-filled eyes of the guardian of the Citadel. There was something distinctly wrong hidden within those cold infuriated orbs, something dark and slimy that crawled down his spine and caused the air to go cold.

It took every ounce of his will not to scream as the Lord Prophet stood up and sat back in his chair before addressing him. "Send out a city-wide alarm, all hands to battle stations and bring the automated defences online!"

The room burst into action as they began to contact the different instillations around the city and activate the series of hidden turrets on the planet's surface.

Even as they worked one of the technicians, a man with perhaps with more curiosity than survival instinct turned and tentatively asked. "Sir, who is attacking us?"

He suddenly choked as his throat constricted with an invisible grip on his trachea causing him to instinctively gasp and cry out. Priest had his hand out and clenched. "I know not who has dared to assault this bastion but it matters not, whoever they are they will die, their fleet broken and their army slaughtered! Am I clear?" Priest hissed, his voice filled with a sibilant rage and if they had been paying close enough attention a tinge of fear.

"Y-Yes." The technician managed to choke out before Priest let his body drop back onto the chair.

Leaning back in his chair the cloaked figure said. "Prime our orbital defences but hold fire until I give the order." The technicians nodded as they continued to send out orders and prime the weapon systems that protected the Sith bastion.

The man seemed to pause for a moment before he continued. "Order the fleet to ready itself for action. Let us show them the true might of the Sith!" He ordered and his man nodded back resolve shining in their eyes.

---

In orbit of Exegol the fleet of vessels hanging in the void stood ready, their laser weaponry primed and their engines glowing with blue ion energy.

Located two thirds the way up the massive ship the bridge of the Chimera was a hive of activity as technicians, officers and GEMINI droids scrambled to complete orders and bark out commands that would be sent to subordinates across the fleet.

In the centre of this tightly disciplined chaos stood a figure from who all those on the bridge seemed to draw unconscious courage from, his very presence seemed to inspire the troops around him. Dressed in a set of ornate white armour with a figure of a roaring dragon calved into the upper chest piece and a flowing cloak he cut an intimidating figure as he stared at the cold grey planet below, his hands clasped behind his back.

The inhuman black eyes of the Emperor suddenly came to life as he drew his gaze back to the bridge from the endless night beyond the viewport and onto the officer who had approached him.

"Captain Fora." He nodded in acknowledgement as the Captain of the Resurgent Class Star Destroyer came to stand next to him.

"Your Majesty." She bowed to him before turning to look out at the depths of space and the planet that had held the Emperor's attention.

"Do you have the probes and our scanners collected on the planet?" He questioned her and she nodded before turning to motion an aid behind her to hand over a datapad which she began to read from.

"The planet is surprisingly temperate in temperature but it is covered nearly entirely in barren rock and desert flats. Our scans of the atmosphere suggest that it is heavily ionised and filled with particles of dust that create large enough static discharges they appear to resemble lightning."

"The ground scanners?" He asked her.

"They confirmed the reports sent back from the probes that the only visible detectable landmark was the Sith Citadel located in the northern hemisphere. Above ground, it is a large, upside-down truncated pyramid structure made of a stone the scanners can't identify."

She seemed to pause for a moment as if she didn't know how to continue and Hadrian prompted her with a look. With a sudden note of reluctance to her voice she continued her report. "Our scans of the area below the Citadel itself are being blocked, whilst our scanners are picking up the underground passageways connected to the Citadel any attempts to probe deeper are being thwarted."

Hadrian frowned at that statement. "Any idea what could be the cause?"

She shook her head. "No, there could be any number of metals or electromagnetic jammers that could be responsible for such a curtain over our sight."

He nodded. "The lack of information tells us as much as the inhabited scanners do."

"Sir?" She questioned him.

"We know there is something there, something important enough for the Sith to hide from us, the city. The one their agent spoke of, it has to be located beneath the Citadel." The Emperor responded before he turned to look at her.

"What of the orbital obstacles?" He asked.

"We will have to move through the cloud of stardust and debris that surrounds the planet before we can reach its orbit but that shouldn't be too difficult, it's just though... Your Majesty?" She replied before her voice turned slightly tentative once more.

"What is it?" He questioned her once more.

"I don't believe it is wise to deploy the Star Destroyers into the planet's atmosphere." He gave her an inquisitive look, his eyes holding a measured judgement before waving for her to elaborate.

"The air of the planet is heavily ionised and the ship's shield integrity will fail the moment we try to enter the atmosphere, whilst the smaller ships will still be manoeuvrable enough in atmo it will leave the Star Destroyers dangerously vulnerable to any ground-based surface to air defences." The Emperor was silent throughout her explanation before he nodded slowly accepting her reasoning.

"Ready the Fulgor-Class Frigates alongside the Vigil-Class Corvettes, they are to head through the debris field and go straight for the planet's surface, they are to clear the way for the Star Destroyers and get troops on the ground." He ordered her.

Captain Fora snapped off a crisp salute as she heard his order before she turned to shout at the technicians and officers gathered in the command pits. Moments later orders were disseminated across the fleet. It didn't take more than half a minute for the smaller ships in the fleet to come to life, the blue light of their ion engines glowing brighter as they began to accelerate ahead of the Star Destroyers.

The Emperor watched the trails left by the engines as they made their way towards the debris cloud glowing with the red reflection of the sun.

He turned his head and looked at Flora, grabbing her attention from her officers. "Captain, I'm joining them planetside, relay orders to the hanger to prep my personal ship for launch."

She snapped off a salute as he walked off the bridge in the direction of the hanger. Power boiled beneath his skin as the thud of his boots on the metal floor echoed through the corridors of the Star Destroyer.

The Fleet in space had split in two, the smaller ships; the Frigates and Corvettes pulled ahead diving into the clouds of stardust and red gas even as the larger Star Destroyers slowed down taking a more tentative pace towards the planet below.

---

Captain Sardrian a former mercenary and current Captain of the Third Legion of the Eternal Empire's Imperial Army stood on the bridge of the Ataraxia next to its Captain; Captain Chaf'orm'shenrao better known by the name Shenro was a Chiss of the Chaf Family of the Ruling Families of the Ascendency and the Captain of the Fulgor-Class Frigate that would be ferrying him to the surface of the planet below them.

The Ataraxia was the tip of the spear, the lead ship in the detachment of the fleet that was to head planetside and he and his men would be the first boots on the ground capturing a beachhead for the rest of the ground forces to land.

"Moving into the debris field, set all shields to maximum!" The Captain of the ship barked out next to him and his officers on the data banks moved to comply.

The viewport was bathed in red as they entered the cloud of stardust and space particles. It was beautiful but Captain Sardrian, a military man who had been fighting since his late teens both on and off dozens of planets and battlefields against pirates and the slaving Empire's that inhabited the Unknown Region watched it with a cold detachment.

Space was beautiful as it was deadly. One wrong move could get your ship torn up and left as space junk.

He watched as the ship navigated its way through the dust cloud before a sudden feeling of anxiety beginning to pervade his mind. Trusting in his instinct he stepped forward he tensed even as his eyes sharpened and began to scan the crimson dyed void.

There was something wrong, he could feel it in his bones. Every part of his body screamed that something was going to go wrong, instincts built on decades of experience fighting on and off planets the length and breadth of the galaxy told him that they were walking into an ambush. He had never fought the Sith or any organisation affiliated with them but the stories of their destructive capabilities and their monstrous actions echoed through history, he didn't doubt for a second that such an insidious organization hadn't already put in place defences for assaulting forces. He couldn't imagine that they would leave the planet vulnerable.

His hand twitched towards the pistol strapped to his thigh, an instinctive reaction to prep himself for combat.

"Sir." He called out tentatively.

The Captain looked quizzically towards his similarly ranked companion in the Army. "What is it?"

"You can feel it can't you, something is wrong." He replied as he gazed out at the red void.

The Captain of the Ataraxia turned to look out at the empty void with a narrowed gaze, nervous tension boiling inside his mind. A small nod being his only reply, both of them could feel it. Something was coming.

---

The shrouded figure of Priest leaned forward, a dangerous glint in his eyes as he watched the monitors showing the sensory reports on the fleet charging towards them through the dust cloud.

Madness twisted and writhed deep within his eyes as a cruel smile slid onto his face beneath his hood. "Activate the orbital defences. Let them taste the fury of the Sith!" He hissed at the technicians.

"Yes My Lord!" One of the technicians responded as he began to bring the multiple space-based defences online.

---

"Sir we are picking up multiple heat and electrical signatures in the dust cloud!" One of the officers manning the Ataraxia's databanks cried out.

"Incoming fire, brace for impact!" Shenro roared out next to him as the bright light of a Turbolasrer came flying towards them.

A brief moment of panic overcame Sardrian as the lance of bright focused energy slammed into the Frigate causing it to shake as if hit by a seismic strike. It was only the fact that their shields had been raised to the maximum to survive the debris field that stopped the ship from buckling under the barrage of laser fire.

The more analytical part of his brain recognised that Turbolaser lances were erupting from a dozen spots on either side of them and that they were targeting not only the Ataraxia but the other ships travelling through the debris cloud.

"Target those guns, destroy the defence platform so we can get through this debris cloud!" The Captain roared causing the technicians to scramble into action. The four quad turbolaser turrets attached to the ship coming to life as they began to exchange fire with the orbital turrets.

It wasn't only the ship Ataraxia that was firing back, the other ships in the battlegroup had also opened up and the crimson void was suddenly alive with turbolaser fire, lances of green and red superheated energy suddenly bringing the void to life in a deadly display of light and colour.

Suddenly one of the technicians called out to the Captain. "Sir we have a fleet wide communication coming in!"

"Bring it up!" The Captain called out as he continued to watch the viewport and the battle raging outside. The technician complied and a voice crackled over the speakers.

"This is the Emperor to all vessels, punch through the orbital defences the Star Destroyers will pave you a path! Get to the planet, capture the Citadel and wipe out the Sith forces!" The powerful voice of the Emperor ordered them, his voice echoing through the ship inspiring each and every one of them.

The Captain's voice followed their Emperors. "You heard him, all ahead full push through and get us out of range of those guns!"

The ship continued to rock as its shields were hammered by laser fire but the technicians piloting the ship moved with grim determination and stalwart discipline to enact his orders and the ship's speed increased through the cloud of crimson debris, its guns firing all the while and Captain Sardiran took great joy in seeing one of the assault platforms explode in a small fireball when one of the ships mounted turrets found its mark.

"By the Force!" One of the technicians cried out, loud enough to gather the attention of the rest of the bridge. Before anyone could call out to him to see what had caused his exclamation the entire frontal viewport of the ship seemed to go green.

What looked to be hundreds of green lasers streaked through space creating what could only be described as a wall of emerald dyed energy. The streaks of high-intensity plasmic fury slammed into the defence platforms surrounding the Ataraxia with the strength of a meteor shower. Not all of the shots found their mark but the sheer intensity of the barrage of laser fire was more than enough to ensure that at least dozens of shots found their target creating miniature suns in the crimson cloud as the defence platforms exploded into burning fireballs.

"Sir, the Chimera and its escorts have opened up with all their frontal guns! They've forced open a path straight through the debris field!" One of the technicians called out with joy.

Sardrian had to admire the power of the Empire's greatest ship as it continued to hammer the Sith's orbital defences. It was a terrifying display of destructive power and he could hardly believe that it was coming from a single ship, not an entire fleet for never had he seen a vessel of such power.

Captain Shenro had what could almost be called a malicious smile on his face as his red eyes gleamed with triumph. "We have our opening, full power to the engines get us out of this dust cloud!"

Sardrian had his attention grabbed by Shenro when he turned to address his fellow Captain. "Sardrian I suggest you get down to the hanger we will be breaking free of this dust cloud soon enough and we will be heading planetside without delay."

Sardrian nodded, he could see the end of the dust cloud and the planet they were being sent to in the distance, the ship was visibly closing in on the exit and open space.

"Will the fleet be available for orbital support?" He questioned and Shenro, a usually stoic and dower looking Chiss actually grimaced as his red eyes stared into Sardrian's steely blue.

"No, the atmosphere of the planet competently strips the ships of their shields leaving them incredibly vulnerable to laser fire. Our orders are to enter the atmosphere drop you and your men off then pull out and maintain position in high orbit out of the range of the planets atmospheric interference." He replied and Sardrian grimaced knowing that was a long explanation that boiled down to 'no'.

No there would be orbital support for a ground operation based on so little actual accurate intelligence it wasn't even amusing.

"The Chimera, Resolute, Dauntless and Shadowfang are all launching their fighter complements to support the landing so you will have close air support if required," Shenro said in a rare bout of compassion somewhat alien to the Chiss's usual behaviour and Sardrian nodded stiffly at his fellow Captain in acknowledgement before he turned on his heels and walked off the bridge.

His mind was a whirl with thoughts and emotions that boiled within like a storm. The mission was not going to be an easy one, every iota of his martial experience screamed at him that it was going to go wrong. The hidden orbital battle platforms in the crimson cloud of debris had been an igneous tactic worthy of the greatest naval tacticians in the Galaxy but Sardrian knew that if that was the first layer of the planet's defences then moving forward and capturing the Citadel was going to be harder than wading through a Dagobah swamp.

Passing through a series of corridors, stairs and elevators he dodged droids and naval personnel as he made his way down through the ship towards the keel of the vessel. His mind went over the mission briefing; the battle strategies and the unit deployments he had meticulously planned for the operation. It was a habit born from his mercenary days and it helped to keep him focused on the task at hand.

A final set of blast doors opened automatically as he approached and he stepped into the lower hanger of the Frigate.

It was a large cavernous space, big enough to fit half a dozen of the Empire's dedicated troop transport gunships. The Light Atmospheric Assault Vehicle/Infantry (LAAV/i) were powerful vessels of brutal streamlined efficiency painted in a matt grey colour. Used as the Empire's primary transport it was specifically designed to get troops to the ground as quickly as possible. They were not the only vessels at ready in the Ataraxia's hanger, two Zakuul dropships also stood ready to descend on the planet below.

Soldiers and pilots were rushing about checking the machines and their equipment with practised disciplined ease. He moved with purpose towards the other side of the hanger past the massive doors built into the floor.

As he skirted the edge of the blast doors a siren suddenly rang out through the hanger and the huge doors seemed to come to life with a small hiss and grinding gears, slowly they began to split in two revealing the void of space beyond.

Sardrian watched as the doors rumbled opened, the only thing protecting them from being sucked out into the cold harsh void being the blue coloured magnetic shield that covered the hanger doorway.

He continued onwards approaching one of the two Zakuul Dropships that had been prepared for the mission, a confident gait to his steps seemingly unconcerned by the fact that the only thing protecting him from suffocation was a thin shield of electromagnetic energy. After all, it was a sight he was more than used to, having been riding in ships for decades.

The soldiers of his squad were waiting at parade rest for him in front of the Dropship. They were a mixture of human and alien soldiers, only half a dozen of them though not enough to fill a normal squad. Instead, the rest of the soldiers were droids that were already on the ship, ready to be deployed at a press of a button. The Empire's military droids came in two distinct types.

The first were of a streamlined design and painted in shiny metallic silver. They looked very human-like and were built with heavy metal plating on their bodies and a set of rocket boosters attached to their backs. Skytroopers, the main battle droids fielded by the first Eternal Empire thousands of years ago their design both robust and still advanced enough to be considered cutting edge in the modern Galaxy.

The second were newly added into the ranks of the Eternal Empire's military. The brainchild of the ancient inhabitants of the Dyson sphere of Iokath; they were tough, robust and had well programed A.I's making them excellent front line weapons of war. Purifier Droids were the deadly soldiers who formed the backbone of the Empire's military with the Skytroopers acting as aerial support and the organics acting as either front line soldiers or commanders.

It was in his humble opinion, not the most optimal army composition but with the relatively small number of organic soldiers, the Empire could train and call upon to protect the borders they had to utilise machines to bolster their ranks. The army's founders had been intelligent though, they had known that a whole droid army would not be an effective fighting force and that they would need direction to have optimal combat effectiveness so organic officers guided them on the field of battle.

Sardrian smiled as his eyes met the soldiers who had fought with him on multiple planets all across the frontier borders of the Empire. Nods of recognition were exchanged and warmth crept into his eyes as he stared at the men and women he had made life long bonds with forged in the fires of war.

"Alright, boys and girls check your weapons and get your arses on the ship it's time to head to ground." He barked out a command to them.

There was no verbal response, all he got was a salute made in unison by the soldiers. Their eyes shone with purpose and from the determination that blazed in their eyes, he knew that they would follow him into the deepest pits of hell if he asked just as he would for them.

Hands lowered and they began to make their way into the dropship, stepping into the metal interior. The hold was split in two between seats for the organics and droids held in cradles ready to be activated and deployed onto the battlefield.

The soldiers with him began to strap themselves into their seats, tightening harness around their body as they prepared themselves for what was going to be a very bumpy ride to the planet's surface. Sardrian made sure to check they were buckled in correctly feeling momentarily like a mother hen but he quickly dismissed that thought as he slammed his fist onto a button on the wall-mounted control panel causing the door of the dropship to slide shut with a hiss.

"Sir we've been given the all-clear by the Ataraxia to head out." The Pilot contacted Sardrian over the comlink.

"Indeed, contact the other ships it's time to go." He replied before breaking the link. Almost the moment he finished speaking the hum on the engine began to fill the hull as the ship's power system came online.

None inside the dropship could feel it as the ship began to rise into the air utilizing the repulsor technology built into the bottom of the craft to float over towards the hanger door built into the floor of the hanger. The Dropship angled itself downwards and with a burst of power from its rear thrusters it passed through the electromagnetic shield and into free space.

Once it was free of the Ataraxia its two wings folded down into flight position and it began to speed towards the planet below. It wasn't alone for the rest of the ships that had been waiting within the Ataraxia's hanger followed it out like a swarm of bees. The same scene was being repeated across the fleet as dozens of gunships and LAAV/I's poured out from other Frigates and Corvettes creating a storm of transports rushing towards Exegol's surface

As the ships flew towards the planet below Sardrian pressed another button on the panel and within a few moments, he was connected to the other dropships, all of which contained the company he would be leading into battle.

"Alright, ladies, gentlemen and droids I will repeat your mission briefings only once so pay attention. We will be landing due south of our target alongside the Second Company and our armoured support. We will be dropping with a dozen AT-SW's and even a few AT-SE's to take the Citadel..."

The Captain pushed another button on the control panel causing a hologram to flicker to life in the centre of the hull, an image that was reflected in the dozens and dozens of gunships deployed from the fleet. The hologram showed the Citadel below them and with a deft flick of his wrist, Sardrian began to manipulate the hologram causing it to show an image of the ships landing on the ground in front of the Citadel, the landing zone highlighted by a red dot.

"Here this is where we'll be landing, we'll be moving fast on the Citadel before they can gather a proper defence, to do that we will need to rush the gun emplacements that will likely be set up around its perimeter. Remember, they will know we are coming but it will still take time for them to form their defences, we need to break through before that happens." He said firmly.

There were nods of acknowledgement all around and he was about to continue when the Dropship suddenly shook violently and Sardrian was forced to grab hold of a railing less he topple over.

"What the hell is that?" He barked into the comlink getting the attention of the Pilot on the other end even as the ship continued to rock violently.

"A-Anti-air defences around the Citadel have come online, they're battering us!" The pilot replied sounding distressed, strain in his voice as he spoke.

"Get us on the ground now, we need to get out and under those guns!" He roared back and Sardrain felt the whine of the engine beneath his feet increase as the Pilot pushed the ship's engines to its limits.

With the pilot pushing the Dropship to the very limits of its ability they very soon found themselves rocketing through the atmosphere heading straight towards the Citadel, the ship shook both from the anti-air defences exploding around it and the Pilots efforts to dodge the barrage of exploding shells.

"Ten Seconds, bringing droid units online!" Sardrain heard the pilot call out as the white lights in the hull flickered out before turning a bright crimson colour.

"Red light boys, you know what that means." He heard one of his men say, the nervous excitement in his tone clear for all to hear.

Sardrian took a deep breath as he glanced at his troops, their faces could no longer be seen now covered by the helmets that completed their armour, hiding the emotions that would be clear in their eyes if not their faces.

Idly he wondered how many of them were feeling fear as they readied themselves to descend on the battlefield below. War was a state of existence he had lived in all his life, his home planet had been nearly constantly ravaged by raids from slavers and criminals. It was a sad state of affairs that was all too common in the depths of the Unknown Region. Planets cut off from most of the Galaxy thanks to the ever-shifting movements of celestial bodies and gravitational anomalies that made the Unknown Region so notorious to traverse.

It left the planets dangerously vulnerable to local pirate forces and his homeworld had been no exception. He'd joined the planetary militia which was more veteran mercenary group than PDF at fifteen, not the youngest recruit they had but still young enough to raise eyebrows amongst the veterans.

The baptism of war arrived for him sooner than most, he had barely finished basic training when a large pirate raid ravaged their capital and he had been thrown onto the frontlines.

His armour no longer shiny and new he had been transferred onto one of the few Corvettes that protected the planet and launched counter-attacks against the pirates. He thought back on those days with deep melancholy for he had lost not only his newfound brothers and sisters but his own flesh and blood who had been tragically killed in the raid.

He had been so filled with rage in those days and had happily set out amongst the stars in the hope that he would be able to gain some level of vengeance.

It was the beginning of a long bloody life fighting desperately against a shadow-filled universe that seemed determined to take everything from him. Despite the dozens of pirate crews he left floating in the empty void of space more always seemed to always appear and his world was continuously under threat.

The haunted and deadened looks he had managed to avoid seeing as a child if only out of his own ignorance were now clear to him, he had once been ignorant of the nearly broken wills of his people. At first, he had been disgusted by them and their lack of desire to fight, to strike back against the monsters who called their sector of space home and then as he aged he began to understand.

He too had grown weary of the seemingly never-ending battle where there was no hope in sight

For years he had been fighting this hopeless battle and his rage had slowly fizzled away into an ember that burned still but lacked the drive of youth, he had been drained of his fighting will across dozens of battlefields.

Then they had come, a fleet of warships that had smashed into the small flotilla of pirates raiding their planet with all the fury of an enraged Rancor providing much-needed aid to the near constantly besieged planet. He and many of his people had been both nervous and suspicious of the newcomers, of this Eternal Empire but they had proven themselves in both actions and words, supplying their planet with resources and defences against the pirates, assisting the mercenaries in striking out against the pirate dens and forcing them away from the planet.

For the first time in a long time, Sardrian had felt hope that day, hope for a better tomorrow. Desiring to give something back to his people's saviours he had signed up to the Empire's military almost immediately and joined them in campaigns across the stars to liberate planets just like his who had been abandoned by the rest of the Galaxy.

It was a more than worthy cause and he didn't feel anything but pride to fight and if necessary lay down his life for the Empire.

Now as he stood in the pressurized hull of a dropship ready to land on the rocky planet below a rather odd thought began to run through his head. Call it the sixth sense of a soldier or the Force it didn't really matter but he could tell that something was going to happen to him today.

Death most likely, considering the battlefield he was about to step onto but he soon chided himself for those thoughts, they did nothing but sow doubts and on the battlefield that could be as lethal as a lasbolt.

Suddenly he felt the hull shudder, the tone of the sound different to the near-constant rumbling of exploding shells, it was a sound he had heard countless times.

The extending wings of a Zakuul Dropship bending back into landing position.

With that sound, he knew it was time and so did his men as they checked over their weapons one last time before they stood up, muscles tense and ready to move the moment the doors opened. Sardrian too tensed his one muscles adrenaline coursing through his body in preparation to explode into action.

The light above their head suddenly turned green and the shadows within the hull suddenly seemed warmer yet the tension within the metal box only seemed to rise.

Hiss!

The sound of the door depressurizing may have been quiet but in the tense hold of the Dropship it may as well have been a gunshot and as the light began to fill the darkness the tension exploded.

"Move!" All it took was a single word from Sardrian's mouth and that tension suddenly became action.

With an ease that spoke of countless hours of practice, the soldiers exploded out of the Dropship onto the sandy ground below spreading out as they were followed mere moments after by the Droids who had unhooked themselves from their mobile harnesses.

Sardrian was the last out and with a small hop, he was crouching in the dark sand of Exegol's surface. Looking up he took in both his surroundings and analysed the battle in a single glance.

The planet fit the information given to them in the briefing to a tee, a barren rocky world filled with nothing but enormous desert flats, great towering rock formations and wide fissures on its surface that ran deep under into its crust.

It was an inhospitable place with almost no natural lifeforms, its most unusual feature was not on its surface but instead in its skies.

Its arid conditions had caused its air to be near constantly filled with a thick sun smothering cloud layer that blocked almost all light from the sun and cast the planet in a near enteral shadow. What had grabbed the attention of the scientists attached to the invasion though was the fact that when the dust particles floating in its atmosphere rubbed together it created enormous static discharges that appeared as lightning strikes from the planet surface.

Sardrian watched as those very folks of lightning arced across the sky, illuminated the sandy plateau beneath. It was barren inhospitable land that seemed to stretch for miles with no end in sight.

There was only one thing that broke the monotony of the endless sea of sand.

A great building of black stone that rose out of the grey sand and seemed to darken the very air with its existence. It was a huge structure shaped like a large, upside-down truncated pyramid and radiated nothing but ominous power.

The Sith Citadel.

Their target, the building they had been ordered to capture to secure victory. It wouldn't be easy, already he could see laserfire baring down on them from the direction of the Citadel.

As he glanced about he had taken in the battle as well.

All around him Dropships and LAAV/I's were dropping in soldiers, both droids and organics alike were rushing out of the hulls of the ships and running in the direction of their mission. The massive Sith Citadel.

He could also see the thin forms of Zeta-class Tactical Carryalls unfurling the multiple underbelly steel limbs to release All-Terrain Storm Walkers (AT-SW) and their larger cousins the All-Terrain Shock Enforcer (AT-SE) onto the planet's surface.

The red bolts of plasma originating from the Citadel were flying about his head, the laserbolts slamming into the dirt kicking up sand and dust. A few lucky shots found their mark and plasma met the cold durasteel of a dropship's hull.

Most of the hits were weathered by the spacecraft but a few broke through the ship's defences and Sadrian watched as a LAAV/I to his left was hit right on the nose, the plasma burning through the durasteel causing it to explode in a fireball as its engines overheated and exploded.

He turned his head back towards the front even as the ship slammed into the ground with enough force to upheave a good volume of sand. He didn't spare the burning wreckage another glance, there was nothing he could do to help the poor souls inside. Not now, not in the middle of a battle.

Turning to look at his own living troops he barked an order to them. "Come on, to the Citadel! Use the walkers as cover!"

His men moved to follow his commands, the organics communicating the orders to the Droids within seconds and as one the group began to run in the direction of the Citadel even as they shifted their trajectory to match that of one of the Walkers stomping towards the Citadel.

It didn't take long for a feeling of frustration to build in Sardrian, it was slow going for the group of soldiers as they waded through waves of laserfire hammering them constantly.

It was incredibly dangerous but they were lucky that it was machines that were guiding the powerful laser weaponry not the hands of men or they would have long been killed.

In fact, Sardrian was happy to see that many of the powerful Walkers had already laid waste to much of the Citadel's automated defences. The trails of smoke from the broken turrets were a testament to the training of the gunners within those hulking machine of metal and oil.

As they approached within a few hundred meters the rest of his company behind him Sardrian let a small amount of satisfaction well within him for the end was within sight. He should have known that it was too good to be true and as the world exploded around him he began to curse within his mind, curses strong enough to make veteran naval officers pale.

---

Priest tightened his grip on the chair, so strong was his grip that his knuckles had turned white in rage. His teeth were bared behind his mask and he let out a guttural growl that unnerved every officer in the room.

"Activate the fleet, send them into orbit and destroy the ships then have them wipe out the ground forces at our doorstep." Priest spat, his composure beginning to slip as he lost himself to the dark rage within that was fuelled by the power of the Dark Side.

Technicians nodded and began to contact the necessary officers to see what their leaders will do, their professional training once more overriding their fear. Moments later they felt it, the rumbling of massive engines coming online and great volumes of sand shifting.

Even from their position deep within the earth, they could feel the powerful vessels rising out of the ground seeming to shake the very crust of the planet with their movement.

Priest let a burst of perverse satisfaction rise from deep within him. The game was still afoot, he had not lost yet. His dark master would forgive him still as long as he managed to secure victory over the fleet assaulting this most sacred site of the Sith.

The growing twisted emotion building inside him was smothered slightly as his mind went to the three ships still in high orbit. Whilst the fleet active in the atmosphere was a danger to the Citadel it wasn't the largest threat to the integrity of the operation the Sith had on Exegol.

No, the three massive ships that loomed in the dark sky were the real danger. Two of the ships that their sensors had picked up were huge, slightly over a kilometre in length, incredibly large especially for the very peaceful state the Galaxy at large found itself in.

Despite that, it was the behemoth between them that held the majority of his attention. It was huge, three thousand meters in length and he was sure that if the cloud layer hadn't blocked the ground-based sensors then it would have been visible in space despite the immense distance.

It wasn't the ship, despite the immense danger it represented that was the source of his anxiety instead it was the source of that immense power that loomed over his world.

The Force seemed to tremble at his very presence, twisting and shifting as if its very integrity was bending to his very presence.

It was a level of power that surpassed anything he had ever experienced before and he had stood in front of his Master when the dark master had been releasing his potent aura. That had felt like he was standing in front of endless darkness that imitated a black hole of the Maw Cluster.

It didn't possess the presence of a Jedi proficient in the Light Side of the Force either, Jedi radiated a sense of serenity that lulled any who felt their power into feelings of peace and calmness.

No, this power was one of leashed darkness smothered by a powerful aura of the Light Side. Neither was in control of the other, instead, they were in a strange fascinating form of harmony that nearly crippled him with its very presence such was its power.

It was like staring into the heart of a star, power licked off of it with every step radiating both comfort and danger in equal measure.

It felt like a constant presence on his shoulders pushing down on him, his very presence in the Force constrained by that power.

He blinked as the presence that had been in the upper atmosphere suddenly vanished and for a moment he felt elation at its disappearance through that was interrupted by the sudden feeling of crippling pain that ran through his body as the power suddenly reappeared right on top of them.

He let out a scream as the presence slammed down on his own in the Force like a noose around his neck, it took everything he had not to fall into the blissful state of unconscious but he focused his efforts inwards as he called upon the Darkness that had comforted him all his life.

The cold and seductive power filled him up and he took a deep breath as he stood to his feet and looked upwards, his face set in a rictus of fury.

---

Sardrian was forced to his knees as the world started to shake, he started to look around frantically desperate to find the source, it didn't matter for a moment later the sand to his left suddenly and violently exploded upwards.

It was as if an entire wall of sand was suddenly pushed upwards folding over itself into a wave of sand as a wall of metal seemed to rise up out of the ground. Sardrian thought it was a strange place to put a wall considering it was facing the wrong direction to act as a defensive fortification for the Citadel.

As it continued to rise out of the ground his eyes widened as he recognised exactly what it was, it wasn't a wall instead it was spacecraft. A ship that had been hidden under the sand.

As more and more of the vessel rose out of the ground he was able to get a clearer view of the ship. It was a long yet thin vessel covered in massive plates of metal that protected its inner structure from the outside elements and foreign vessels.

Its frontal structure had dozens of metal spike-like protrusions that he quickly realised were a mixture of sensors and massive turbolaser cannons.

The Dreadnaught, for that, was the only ship classification such a vessel deserved to have rose into the sky, dust and dirt falling off of it as it angled itself towards the sky. Sardrain and his men had a clear view of the ships bright yellow engines burning bright as it pushed away from the planet.

As it did his eyes were drawn away from the ship to a sight further in the distance.

He swore loudly and crassly as he realised that the Dreadnaught wasn't alone, in the distance he could see nearly half a dozen ships of identical design rising into the sky having pulled themselves out of the sand.

A sudden feeling of utter dread washed over him as he watched the ships reposition themselves in the sky above them in a defensive formation over the Citadel.

No that was wrong, they weren't in position over the Citadel, they had manoeuvred themselves so that they were in the air above the landing zone. Sardrian snarled in both fury and grudging respect at the tactic, it was ingenious for it meant that if the armada in space engaged the rising Sith Dreadnaughts then any stray shots would hit the landing zone and his men.

They were essentially being held, hostage.

It was a feeling he very much found himself disliking for he had no idea how to respond. Just before he could turn to his men to order them to do something, anything he heard a sound that seemed to silence the entire battlefield.

CRACK!

It echoed across the battlefield with supernatural strength and Sardrian's eyes were drawn to the figure who had suddenly appeared in the middle of the battlefield.

Dressed in a set of white and grey chest armour with flowing black robes around its waist and a cape attached to a set of white shoulder plates. White boots crunched the sand under the figure's feet as he stared up at the ship.

The man's black hair flowed in the light wind that swept across the plane and Sardrian let the awe he was feeling appear on his face, a look that was echoed on the faces of the rest of his men for standing in the middle of the desert flat was the Emperor himself.

The Dragon of Zakuul himself stood in front of his legion and Sardrian let hope fill his heart as he leant on the unspoken support his Emperor seemed to radiate with every step.

---

Harry's eyes were locked on the ship hanging in the sky above him with a sharp gaze.

He had to commend the man in charge of the Sith Fleet for the igneous tactic of positioning it above the Eternal Empire's ground forces. It turned the assault force into hostages and stopped the the splinterfleet of the Eternal Fleet in space from engaging them and wiping out the Sith Dreadnaughts in fear of hitting their own troops.

Coming to a decision he raised his wrist and pressed the button fitted into his armour that connected his comlink to those around him, to the company of soldiers he stood on the battlefield with.

"Push forward, breach the Citadel and get out from under those ships so the fleet can wipe them out!" He roared.

There was a moment of silence before a tidal wave of sound echoed across the battlefield coming from the men and woman he had ordered to fight and die in his name. As one they charged the bastion of the Sith with renewed vigour, sprinting across the dark landscape as if an infuriated Rancor was on their tail.

Harry nodded in satisfaction before activating the advanced subspace vox built into his gauntlet that allowed him to contact the Fleet in orbit. "Captain Fora order the advance forces to enter the horizon and take a horizontal vector so they may engage the Sith ships at leisure without risking the troops on the ground."

"By your will Your majesty, so it will be done." Came the resolute voice over the link that connected him to the ship captain in space that was in command of the Fleet. If he was honest with himself he would rather have Thrawn leading the battle and not his protégé but the Grand Admiral was needed to monitor the frontlines of the Empire and act as its guardian whilst he was away.

"Oh and Fora and make sure to deploy our forces into those underground hangers the Sith ships launched from," he ordered. He had noticed the hangers from his position in space, and they would provide a good secondary breach to the underground facility that he knew was below him. He could feel the presence of the Cultists under the sand and dirt.

Turning to look at the Citadel his eyes narrowed as he felt its foul presence assail his Force senses, he could feel the darkness that seemed to cling to the building and he found himself feeling repulsed by it. Yet that was not enough to halt his steps, instead, it did the opposite it only firmed his determination to storm its depths and crush the Sith cultists within.

The building loomed over him as he approached. His men forming a wall of armour and blasters as they moved towards their objective beside him. As he passed under the edge of the floating structure he passed by the automated defences that had been obliterated by the land assault, their wreckages the testament of the Empire's skill in Walker engineering.

As his face was shadowed by the huge building looming overhead the sound of explosions and turbolasrers began to fill the air anew. He didn't even need to look back to know that the fleet of Fulgor Class Frigates and Vigil-Class Corvettes in orbit had begun to engage the Sith Dreadnaughts above them.

He could feel the determination of his soldiers and naval personnel through the Force and their emotions caused a burst of pride to well within him. To know that the men and woman of his Empire's Navy were so skilled and determined to fulfil their roles and fight was a source of pride to he who had founded that very Empire.

His mind quickly refocused on the task at hand however as he arrived beneath the centre of the floating structure. In front of him was a hole that led down into the darkness below and a platform sitting in the centre waiting to be used.

He eyed both carefully before motioning the men and women who had formed up around him. "You lot with me, have the Skytroopers deploy first and have the Purifiers and the rest of the soldiers repel down after us."

His orders were obeyed swiftly as he along with two dozen soldiers stepped onto the platform as the Skytrooper Droids moved to stand around the edge of the hole in preparation to jump.

"Your Majesty we are ready." One of the droid controllers called out from his position standing next to one of the Skytroopers.

Harry nodded in understanding. "Then have them lead the way."

The platform under his feet seemed to come to life even as he finished speaking and it began to lower into the darkness below. In response, the soldiers turned on their flashlights and began to point them at the darkness in an attempt to drive it away.

The light of the torches illuminated great statues that Harry guessed were at least fifty feet tall at the very lowest estimate and the group descended past them in complete and total silence. Each one was the calved visage of a cloaked figure of what he could only presume to be a Sith Lord holding a lightsaber aloft.

He wasn't concentrating on them enough to be able to tell who they were and at the moment, it didn't matter, he could always study them later when then they had cleared out the Sith.

The moment the lift arrived at its end, at the very feet of the statues the soldiers around him were on the move spreading out to cover their surroundings even as he heard the distinct sound of jet boosters above him as the Skytroopers and the few soldiers armed with jump packs made their own descent.

Harry closed his eyes as he allowed his senses to expand through the Force, feeling out the Citadel around him. Finding the right path forward he let a small smile come to his face.

"Come on this way." He ordered before he began to move off the platform and begin heading deeper into the Citadel.

It didn't take them long to run into opposition.

They had been making their way through the massive hallways of the underground Sith castle exploring each one slowly and meticulously making sure they walked into no traps along the way when they were met by a spray of laserbolts coming from the end of the long corridor.

The soldiers reacted with precision and discipline, crouching or taking cover behind stone blocks that had fallen from the statues above them. Harry merely dodged around the bolts coming towards him, trusting in his connection to the Force to allow him to survive the onslaught even as his own troops began to fire back in retaliation.

Dodging out of the way of a laserbolt that went flying past his face Harry's eye widened as he saw two Sith Cultists dressed in black armour wheel up what looked to be a mounted lasercannon and begin to set it up for action.

Knowing what kind of damage such a weapon could do to his men he allowed himself to dip further into the Force than he usually would, he was very conscious of the fact that every ripple he made in the Force was a beacon that any wondering Jedi could pick up or the old men in the Jedi Temple would sense in deep mediation. If they noticed his presence too early then the consequences didn't bear thinking about, he was therefore forced to constrain his significant power to the level of the average Jedi if not slightly stronger in order to stay under the radar.

It vexed him fiercely and he couldn't wait for the day when he would be able to unfurl the self-imposed chains around him and roar his presence into the Force.

It wasn't however a major application of his power to stop the lasercannon so he rose his arm and in tandem with the Force he reached out to grasp the large metal weapon, raising his hand higher he pulled it into the air causing the two men manning it to call out in surprise before with a simple swipe of his hand he sent it flying into the wall hitting half a dozen soldiers that had been unfortunate enough to be in its path.

The sound of the weapon platform hitting the stone wall echoed through the massive hallway and the sudden application of the Force and the deaths of a good number of soldiers was enough to distract the Sith Cultists, at least for a moment and Harry made sure to capitalize on it.

"Charge, break through their ranks!" he roared out, his voice echoing through the hallway using the Force as he enhanced his voice with a feeling of utter terror that visibly rocked the Sith Cultists. Seeing their foes visibly stagger from his words emboldened his troops and they vaulted their impromptu battements and began to rush the Cultists.

It helped that they vastly outnumbered their enemy, soldiers loyal to the Empire had been slowly pouring through the entrance ever since they'd breached the temple allowing them to spread out and deploy forces across the entire black stone structure.

---

In the darkest depths of the Citadel Priest closed his eyes before growling at one of his Officers. "Are we able to open up a connection to his Dark Lordship?"

"No My Lord Priest, the Fleet are blocking off all communications, we can't even beam information into outer space let alone out of the system." The man replied.

"The Dreadnaughts, then can they break through the blockade?" The man asked after a relatively long period of silence.

"N-No Sir, they are currently fighting and losing in their engagement with the ships in orbit. If they try to push through the blockade they'll be attacked by those three Star Destroyers in the upper atmosphere." He replied, stuttering slightly. The demeanour of their commander was unnerving every man and woman in the room as he sat upon his command throne eyes closed and in deep thought. He could have easily appeared as if he was fast asleep but every man there knew he was doing anything but sleeping.

Priest's mind was running a mile a minute as he worked on any plan that would allow him to salvage the situation. In the end, he only had one trump card left to play, no matter how personally distasteful he felt it to be

Yes, it was time, he had allowed them to penetrate deep enough, it was time to end this.

All of a sudden he lost the sluggish lethargic air as he leaned forward, the manic glint in his eyes burning strong as he uttered the words that would seal the fate of every man and woman hidden beneath the ancient Sith Fortress. "Release the Sithspawn into the Citadel's ground level."

A feeling of fear washed through the room almost like a real physical thing as each and every Officer and Technicians shivered at the mention of the abominations that had been bread deep within the cavernous depths of the Citadel.

"But S-Sir those thing ar-hugh!" The man was cut off as his neck snapped, the crack of bone breaking echoing through the entire room.

"Do it now!" Priest roared as he pulled back his clenched hand which he had just used to snap the man's neck. As one of their own fell out of their chair and slumped to the floor dead the thoroughly cowed Cultist's moved to follow his orders.

He did not find the Sithspawn that had been created in the Labs beneath the Citadel to be repulsive, no it was their creator that he could not stand. Blackhole, the mere thought of the man's name was enough to cause the Dark Side energies around him to writhe in response to his fury.

That did not mean that he didn't appreciate what the man had done for the cause of the Sith and was more than happy to use that man's personally crafted abominations against the foes of the Sith.

"Have our men reinforce the entrances to the deeper levels once the Sithspawn have been unleashed." he finished coldly as he relaxed back into his throne eager to see the havoc the creatures would unleash as he kept one on his subordinates, it would not do to have a mutiny at this stage in the game and good henchmen were so very hard to replace.

---

The Emperor felt them moments before the ground began to shake. A wrathful shadow in the Force that heralded beings of sickening darkness. His ears rang with a constant sickening scream that seemed to rattle through his mind with an echoing quality that set his teeth on edge.

It took a monumental effort but he was able to push through the sound that echoed through the Force itself and into his mind.

Looking around he could see his troops were just as affected by the scream as he had been and it was beginning to affect their aim as they stopped, looking around in confusion for the source that Harry could feel coming ever closer.

The Force echoed with a twisted bestial rage and mindless instinct.

He spread his senses out in an attempt to find out just how close the source of the Force signatures were only for his action to be rendered redundant as the very earth beneath their feet began to shake.

Stone shattered and collapsed as three monsters came skidding around the corner of the massive hallway slaming into the wall due to their sheer momentum. Both armies were taken aback by their presence and even the fighting between them momentarily stalled as they stared in abject horror at the creatures.

They were huge, bipedal creatures with four smaller forelimbs and two tentacles around their jaws. Covered in a grotesque pink hide they stood at least twenty feet in height as they stared down at the gathered organics fighting it out in front of them.

Silence fell over the battlefield as everyone, even the massive monstrous beasts seemed to hold their breaths.

Sweat dripped from ashen-faced soldiers and the sound of the droplets hitting the ground could be heard echoing through the room, so quiet was it that even the ragging winds outside and the battle in space seemed to have gone silent.

Everyone was waiting for someone to make the first move.

It was the beasts of mindless aggression and boundless rage that shattered the momentary peace that had spread across the battlefield. A great gaping jaw opened as the lead creature let long serrated teeth glint in the torch light before it let out a deafening roar.

ROOAAARRRRRRRRRRRR!

If asked no man or woman present would ever be able to truly describe the sound the pink coloured creatures made but an attempt must be made.

It was the scream of a tormented soul, twisted and broken beyond imagination imposed upon the bestial rage of a mindless predator. It struck a primal part of the mind and every man and woman felt a shiver of pure terror travel down their spine and that was before the creatures began to charge towards them.

Each footstep shook the ground crushing stone beneath their feet, enormous mouths opened and huge teeth glinting with malevolent hungry intent were shown to the soldiers who would soon be its prey. The charging beasts did have the side effect of breaking the soldiers out of the momentary spell that seemed to fall over the battlefield and suddenly the hallway was once more filled with the light of streaking lasbolts.

Only they were not aimed at one another, instead, their targets were the mindless monsters charging towards them all intent on rending them into bloody pieces. United in their inherent fear and disgust for the creatures they banded together as one in the hope they could fend the creatures off, it wasn't enough.

The three monstrous behemoths smashed into the Cultists with an unrelenting fury, swatting them aside like flies and crushing bodies into paste beneath massive scaled feet.

That was when the lines of the Cultists broke, turning their backs on the monsters they began to flee towards the Empire's soldiers who were still firing a constant barrage at the creatures.

"Fall back! Fall back!" The Emperor roared to his subordinates as he raised his arm, the Force rejoiced as he allowed the power to flow through him filling him up. Sparks flickered along the length of his arm as he called forth his fury, sparks flickering across the limb as he prepared his Force Lightning the smell of ozone beginning to fill the air.

With an exhale of breath he released it, a torrent of blue lightning shot from his fingertips crossing the distance between him and the creature in an instant.

Lances of electricity crisscrossed across the creature's skin and Harry's heart soared as it let out a bestial roar of pure pain. Pink skin began to burn and char as the lightning buried under the surface of the creature.

It stumbled backwards throwing its head about in mindless fury trying to somehow rid itself of the pain that Harry's attack was inflicting on it.

Harry's heart rose as he watched the creature thrash about slamming into the wall as it screamed in pain and fury though it was clear to Harry that it wasn't doing huge amounts of damage, only burning skin away.

His focus was drawn back to the other two creatures as they continued to smash through the soldiers butchering everything in their path though they had clearly identified him as the greatest threat to their lives as they made a beeline for him, their instinctual fear of him driving them to annihilate him first.

Raising his other hand the Force exploded from his fingers in the form of another torrent of lightning halting the advance of another one of the behemoths, the sudden surge of electrical energy travelling through its body seemed to be enough to temporally paralyse it and Harry watched as it crashed into the ground, feet falling out from underneath its massive bulky frame as it shook the earth.

The battle was not over as Harry's focus was drawn to the sound of screaming, turning his head the Emperor beheld the slaughter that had begun amongst his men. He had been distracted by the presence of the three enormous creatures at his front and the psychic scream he could still hear rattling in his mind. It was for that reason that a group of quadrupedal monsters were able to sneak up on him and his group.

They were just as much an aberration of nature as the massive creatures that were assaulting him from the front. A hideous red head was attached to a body that looked twisted and wrong just looking at it. Its frontal limbs looked like some twisted parody lost between the biology of arms and legs and were tipped by great clawed hands which and its hind legs were obvious built for speed even though rather than the appendages ending in feet they instead formed what could only be described as spears of bone.

There must have been dozen of the creatures if not more and they had thrown themselves at the rear guard of his troops with a disturbing zeal, large incisors ripping through armour and flesh. His only consolation was that the blaster rifles they wielded seemed to be able to harm them.

"Your Majesty you need to go!" One of the soldiers called out as he continued to aim his blaster at the emerald furred creatures, firing a constant barrage of superheated plasma. Harry looked over at him even as he threw torrents of lightning towards the massive creatures that continued to overshadow the slowly dwindling group of soldiers, the two sides no longer mattering as everyone fought just to stay alive.

"I cannot leave you all here!" he replied firmly, his conviction would not waver. He had been the one who had led them into this battle and he would not abandon them now that the conflict had grown tough.

The man whose name Harry didn't know just shook his head. "You can't die here, Sir! You are the one who united the Empire if you die here it will all be for nothing!"

Harry stared into his eyes, visor raised he was able to see into the man's eyes. There was no hesitation in his gaze as he met the intimidating furious eyes of his Emperor. Only resignation and determination filled his gaze as he prepared himself to die for the ideals he believed in.

Harry looked around to see that none of the soldiers in his surroundings were going to contradict him. Looking into the eyes of the Chiss soldiers staring him down Harry knew he had to make a decision.

It was cowardly to run away, to retreat and leave his soldiers down here to their fates. He knew how to teleport or as the Wizards of his homeworld called it, Apparation but he had never learnt how to move a group of people by using an object, a Portkey the Wizards called it.

There was no feasible way to get everyone out without revealing the full extent of his powers to the rest of the Galaxy.

A choice of action that if he committed to would have dire consequences on the rest of the Empire, he would shine like a beacon in the Force detectable to both the Sith and the Jedi, the truth of the Empire would be exposed and war could very well erupt prematurely. Even if it didn't the political fallout of the existence of the Empire would be immense and with the Sith stirring the spot it wouldn't be long before conflict ignited between either the Jedi and himself or the Empire and the Republic though it would likely be both.

Had he been a soldier the choice would be easy, for to a soldier the lives of the men and women fighting side by side with him are the most important thing in the world.

He however was not a soldier, he was a ruler. The Emperor of a galaxy-spanning interstellar Empire.

The impact of his actions would reverberate across the stars and could ignite the sparks of war.

Looking into the face of the Chiss soldier he knew the choice had already been made for him.

"Your name soldier, I would have it," Harry ordered, fighting to keep the whirlwind of emotions out of his voice even as he continued to forcefully hold back two of the massive creatures.

"Sardrian, Captain Sardrian." He replied turning to give Harry a salute.

"It is- it is an honour Captain, to all of you! Your names will go down in the history of our Emperor as heroes I swear it!" Harry started quietly addressing the Captain alone before his voice rose to ring out throughout the hallway and over the sound of battle.

Sadrian, the man whose name was now etched into his very soul gave him one last nod before Harry cut the flow of Force energy in his hands and turned on the spot, disappearing in a crack of displaced air that seemed to echo throughout the hallway accompanying a feeling of finality that reverberated through their souls.

Harry reappeared with a crack of air and twisting space. Feet heavy on the sandy surface of the planet he walked forward as a Dropship came diving out of the sky, landing in front of him. He did not break stride until he had stepped into the hull and grabbed hold of a strap above his head.

Harry's face was a grim mask devoid of emotions but within his eyes, rage warred with self-loathing for dominance even as he stood in perfect silence as the ship pulled away from the planet's surface soared high into the sky.

---

Once more the Emperor Hadrian 'Harry' James Potter of the Eternal Empire found himself standing on the bridge of the massive Resurgent-Class Star Destroyer though this time the emotions whirling within him could not be more different.

His face may as well have been carved from durasteel but his eyes burned with a hellish inferno of fury. His entire focus was directed at the planet below with a laser-like intensity even as he opened his mouth.

"How many did we lose?" Captain Fora flinched as she heard the near-dead tone of his voice.

"Three thousand four hundred and thirty-two men and women. Eight thousand droids." She said quietly, actually feeling nervous in the presence of her Emperor who was clearly beyond enraged.

"It was a mistake, it was a mistake to try to capture the fortress." He said, though whether he was talking to himself or her she couldn't tell and before she could even formulate a response he turned to her focusing his attention on something other than the planet in the viewport since he had arrived on the bridge.

"Destroy it, Captain Fora, destroy it all, give my men the grave they deserve and wipe these scum off the face of the galaxy." He finished with an air of finality.

"Sir?" She asked tentatively.

"By my authority as Emperor, I am authoring a Base Delta Beta." He ordered and as a brief moment of shock washed over her.

The Base Delta Orders were a series of naval codes that detonated the level of destruction that would be visited upon a given world. The order could be carried out in any available way be that the use of a superweapon or the more conventional form of orbital bombardment.

Base Delta Beta denoted the complete obliteration of a given target on a planet's surface through orbital bombardment.

A Base Delta Alpha was a step beyond and was the order to scour an entire portion of a planet's surface rendering entire continents uninhabitable.

The final code was perhaps the most infamous of them all, Base Delta Zero. The most destructive order that could be given, the complete destruction of a planet's surface and all life upon it. It was a terrible order only handed out in the direst of circumstances for it was unlikely that a planet that had been subjected to a Base Delta Zero would ever recover enough to be habitable once more.

Captain Fora looked into her Lord's eyes and knew he was serious and honestly she couldn't blame him, she had been just as enraged by the losses they had suffered and although she had taken part in other battles there was something about this one that affected them all.

Perhaps it was because it was the first time they were facing a force like the Sith but it shouldn't have ended with such a shameful outcome.

As she moved to follow his orders with almost robotic movements she knew that everything had changed.

The Sith had been the enemy of the Empire since before the moment of its inception, nay the very nature of their existence demanded that the Empire oppose them. Yet to most if not all they had been a nebulous enemy but now... a hatred for the darksiders had been fostered in every man and woman in the Fleet.

She could see it in the grim satisfaction that radiated from each officer she ordered to coordinate the bombardment of the planet below.

The garbled messages of abominations running rampant through the Empire forces had echoed throughout the bridge and fostered both disgust and hatred for their enemy within the hearts of every one of them. The screams of the dying being ripped to shreds still ringing in their ears like the echoes of ghosts and they waited with bated breath to avenger their fallen comrades.

It hadn't been His Majesty's group alone that had been attacked, the other squads that had spread out to cover the Temple had also been overrun by the abominations, they had all died to the last man and it was time that their vengeance be brought down upon the darkness that had spawned their demise.

As one the Fleet moved into position, its officers going about their work with a grim zeal as gun emplacements locked onto targets and barrels warm from prolonged use once more glowed with plasmic might.

Returning to her Emperor's side she looked him in the eye as she held out a communication device to him. "It is done, Your Majesty all ships are waiting on your command."

There was a note of finality and gravitas in her voice as she spoke, the immensity of the decision and weight of the souls who had died seeming to fill the void between them and weight the communicator down.

The entire bridge had gone silent, each man and women glued to their monitor and datescreen, ready to enact their shared desire to avenge their fallen comrades, friends, brothers and sisters they had lost.

Harry looked down at the communicator, a portion of his true emotions beginning to crack through his mask; weariness, anger, guilt, shame and a myriad of other emotions flashed across his face before he clamped down on his emotions once more, hiding them behind the mask of Emperor. There would be time to grieve later for now he had to be strong, a pillar for his people to lean on and a guillotine for the harbinger of their vengeance.

The stalwart face of a Chiss soldier flashed through his mind as he took the communication device and raised it to his mouth.

He paused for a moment before he pressed down on the transmit button, opened his mouth and gave the order.

Moments later death descended towards the planet below in the form of an endless tide of plasma lances.

---

Priest's eyes were filled with malicious glee as he watched the live feeds of the Sithspawn feasting on the bodies of the enemy soldiers and even the few Sith Cultists who had been caught by the monsters. The fact that they were on the same side meant nothing to the man whose heart may as well have been made of crystallised darkness.

The Leviathans and Chrysalide Veergundarks had been excellent, just as he had been told they would be and whilst it grated him to be thankful to that man they had been the driving force behind pushing their new enemy off the planet's surface.

Now that he had time to gather his thoughts he was able to let his mind wander on the thought of just who had attacked them. He would have thought that a force as well-armed and as well-equipped would have been famous across the known Galaxy but it seemed he was mistaken.

It wasn't his problem to deal with, his task now was to work out a method to get a message out to the rest of his compatriots and their dark master. He needed to be informed of this groups existence and most importantly the monster of a Force user who was leading them, a man who he could easily tell was neither Sith nor Jedi.

How he was going to accomplish that task with an entire fleet blockading the planet he hadn't the faintest idea but it was a task that needed to be completed either way.

Just as he mussed on a dozen different potential ways to sneak past the blockade one of his technicians let out a cry of shock as he stared at his screen in horror.

Annoyed by the sound Priest let out a guttural growl as he turned on the man ready to eviscerate him out of existence, only he paused, his hand mid raised.

Though whether it was because of the look of utter terror on the man's face or the sudden warning of overwhelming danger that screamed through the Forcer no one would ever know for at that very moment the first salvo of Turbo-lasers from the orbiting ships slammed into the black stone building.

The intensity and power behind the lances of plasma were more than enough to tear through stone as the entire massive structure of the Sith Citadel seemed to buckle and collapse under the dozens and dozens of bolts of energy. The ancient throne of the Sith that had stood there for centuries turned to dust as a lance of plasma tore through it, shattering the amphitheatre that surrounded it as it vanished alongside the rest of the massive structure.

All it took was a single slavo to turn the ancient building into a pile of smoking rubble and melted stone.

The second salvo tore through the building's foundation and shattered the earth beneath, massive dust clouds were kicked up by the immense kinetic energy generated from the explosions. Tearing out huge chunks of earth and sand, all of which had turned to glass after being superheated.

Within seconds the location the Sith Citadel had once stood proudly had been reduced to a crater that resembled hell itself even as death continued to fall from the heavens smashing through rock and sand reaching lower and lower until eventually not even the ants scurrying deep underground could escape its furious might.

Knocked out of his chair once more Priest snarled in fury even as the room continued to shake violently with a rhythmic pounding that sounded strangely like rainwater only a thousand times more intense.

"My Lord it's the fleet, they're fir-" The same Technician that had cried out before tried to warn him through he was cut off when the entire room exploded as superheated plasma broke through the rocks above. Everyone in the room along with every piece of equipment was instantly flash-fried by the power of the massive bolt of energy detonating.

The concussive force generated in the aftermath of the heat and flame was more than enough to turn everything that had and hadn't already been melted by the heat to powder. The underground fortress burned under the fury of the Empire's might, the Sith Citadel reduced to nothing but a smouldering crater that would forever scar the planet's surface.

---

The Emperor looked down at the destruction with a sense of satisfaction, so great was the barrage of fire from the fleet that the destruction they'd left behind could be seen from space. The massive smouldering crater where the Citadel once stood now burned hot from plasma fire, the glow of melted rocks visible to the naked eye even from the heavens.

"We are leaving, return to Zakuul." The Emperor ordered as he turned walking off of the bridge as he returned to his personal quarters. To all he passed he looked the paragon of strength and drive that they needed, soldiers saluted him with solemn looks in their eyes as they shared in their common grief.

They needed him to be strong, so he was strong. He did not cry as he passed grieving technicians, furious officers and frustrated soldiers all of who had lost friends, family and comrades on the planet below.

The moment he stepped through the door of his personal quarters and the automatic door hissed shut behind him the mask broke and he collapsed to the floor, rage and guilt warring across his face as tears began to fall from his eyes.

He would stay like that all night long but he did not care nor would he care when he eventually awoke after crying himself to sleep.

He could care about such things later, now, now it was time to grieve for the senseless loss of his men. Soldiers died in his name the length and breadth of the Empire on planet's that spanned the entire frontiers of his domain, it was not even the first time soldiers had died under his direct command. Yet, something about this time seemed different.

Maybe it was the horrific way they had died or perhaps it had been because they were fighting the Sith, either way, it was irrelevant. The Sith had always been a nebulous enemy, a distance monster he had thought he understood after hearing tales of them in Revan's anecdotes, he was beginning to understand that that meant he knew nothing.

It would be a different Emperor that exited the room the next day, one filled with a raging hatred for the Sith.

The Galaxy would never be the same again.

---

A few days later.

Chancellor Sheev Palpatine smiled benignly as he watched the retreating back of the Senator who left his well-decorated office thinking he had managed to wheezeal the concession he desired out of the leader of the Republic.

Palpatine pitied him, he truly did. The man had no idea that he had been dancing on top of his hand the entire time.

Looking up he stared at the ceiling of his sonicated yet ornate office. It had been designed specifically to create a feeling of both awe and sophistication. It was made to convey that he was a powerful yet humble man, approachable but still the one with authority.

Glancing at the Sith artefacts that lined one wall of his office he had to hold back a snort, it was ridiculous how he could flaunt such things and have the Jedi High Council in the room and neither care. More than that it gave him a perverse delight to have those same vaunted Jedi Masters at his beck and call with no idea of his true nature.

It felt like the ultimate victory of the Sith, to have a Sith Lord in the highest office of the Galactic Republic, the Jedi Order at his beck and call with no one any the wiser. The final plan of the Sith had been centuries in the making, generations of Sith Lords had worked diligently towards Darth Bane's ultimate goal and now, finally, it was in sight.

The complete destruction of the Jedi Order and the ascension of the Sith.

The Jedi were ignorant, they still believed that they held dominion over the Force and galaxy.

They understood nothing.

That was exactly how he wanted them to be, ignorant, growing fat and slow on their laurels knowing nothing of how close their demise was.

It would only be a few more years before all the pieces were finally in place and he could end the Jedi, their age-old foe. The armies he had commissioned were being built, the pawns in positions of power were manipulating the galaxy towards disunity and discord.

The war he so desired was almost ready and when it finally broke out terror and fear would spread across the length and breadth of the galaxy. It would be glorious!

The Dark side seemed to ripple around him in response to his burning emotions and he was forced to tug on the cloak that protected him from the all-seeing gaze of the Jedi in order to shroud himself from their sight.

The action was enough to pull him from his twisted fantasies of death and destruction as he opened one of the two computers on the desk. It was the only one that he didn't use during his daily life as Chancellor of the Republic. It was disguised as an ordinary powerful high-end civilian model when it was in fact a one of a kind model created specifically for him.

With a press of a button, he was connected to the heavily encrypted personal S-thread network that had been laid quietly by the Sith over the last half a dozen centuries. It was one of the long-term plans the Sith had put into place to assimilate their eventual victory. The Order of Two had been prepared to play the long game, slowly building up infrastructure and personal power even as they slowly corrupted and destabilised the Republic from within.

The network allowed him to communicate with his subordinates across the Galaxy freely without fear of being discovered or sliced. An impenetrable communication network dedicated for his sole use.

He frowned when he realised the beacon for the base on Exegol had gone inactive, that shouldn't be possible unless the base had been destroyed...

Leaning forward suddenly much more focused on the screen he checked the date and time the beacon had gone inactive. Two planetary cycles.

He wondered who would be strong enough to destroy the base on Exegol. He knew none of the powers active in the greater galaxy had made a move towards the desolate planet. He had spies embedded in nearly all of them and even the ones he did not he had agents monitoring their activities externally.

That led to the question of who was responsible, he mused on the question before a cowl came to his usually soft and regal features, he did not have enough information to make any certain conclusions. The Unknown Region was a tumultuous place at the best of time and even his spy network had trouble penetrating, in fact, it had been getting increasingly harder to infiltrate the unexplored area of space though why he still did not have an answer.

He knew there were a number of powerful slaver empires that had carved out a domain for themselves in the desolate area of space and he mused on the question of it being one of them who wiped out his fortress world. He quickly discarded it, slavers wouldn't be able to penetrate the planet's defences. No, it was more likely the Chiss Ascendency who were responsible, they were the only power in the area with the military might to act though why they had made a move against him he didn't know yet.

It would be prudent to send more agents into the Unknown Region to discover the truth behind the strange happenings of the uncharted region of space, not to mention ascertain the status of the base on Exegol.

He contemplated launching a retaliatory strike but after a couple of minutes mulling the action over in his head, he decided against it. There would be time to pay the filthy red-eyed creatures back when his war was in full swing.

Allowing his hatred for the Chiss to burn deep within him like a candle he turned to look out of the window behind him, a malicious smile came to his face even as his eyes flashed a sulphuric yellow as his gaze locked onto the Jedi Temple rising high in the Coruscant skyline.

Soon. Soon he would have his war and victory would be his.

A slow cackle began to fill the silent office, it was a sound that would have sent even the bravest running in terror as hatred and rage seemed to take a physical form within the grinning visage of the old man. Moments later the mask was back on and no one was any the wiser on the Chancellor's true nature.

"Ah, Padme how can I help you?" He smiled softly, a warm look in his eye as he addressed the former Queen.

Soon. Soon.

Soon.

---

Meanwhile, an ancient looking man stood in front of a hall filled with expectant and confused looking students.

Sitting innocently in his hand was an innocuous piece of paper that shouldn't have been possible.

Not only did it break the rules of the Tournament but it was also impossible.

For reasons he could not describe Dumbledore felt a wave of abject dread wash over him as he looked down at the name written in dried ink.

Harry Potter

He had no idea but in that very moment the invisible strings of fate shifted and everything... changed.