Imperium

by ImperatorOfHolyHumanEmpire

With Darth Nox at the helm of the Empire, the Sith are poised the conquer and destroy the shattered and war worn Old Republic. But the Force has other ideas, on the verge of victory Darth Nox is thrown into a whole different Galaxy with it's own war...

3. The Heist

FLEETCOM - Reach

Darth Nox stared at the Human man walking to greet him who was dressed professionally in a white slim uniform with black and gold epaulets. Moff Pyron could not accompany the Dark Lord of the Sith as he was busy overseeing the daily operations of the fleet as well as salvage operations from the Covenant Battleship. The Empire could always learn from an enemy no matter their technological level.

Once the Human has closed the distance, he took off his circular hat in what Valon presumed was a sign of respect. Valon, returning the gesture, disengaged his heirloom mask and his bright yellow dark side fueled eyes seemed to have had provoked an offputting reaction in the Human man.

But the man quickly suppressed his emotions and extended his hand in greeting and said, "Darth Nox, I am Fleet Admiral Lord Hood and Chief of Naval Operations." A faint smile appears on his lips before he continues, "It is not every day where we meet Extraterrestrials who are friendly and also Human." The Fleet Admiral stressed the last word as to make a point.

While Valon was not a Human Supremacist like a good portion of the Imperials were, he was not foolish enough to not be proud be being Human.

Valon grasped the aged Fleet Admiral's hand and gave it a firm shake after which he replied, "Likewise Admiral and I share your sentiment as our Empire was founded by Humans."

This information piqued Admiral Hood's interest as he read in the dossier that the Sith Empire was composed of Humans along with a myriad of various Human races.

The Fleet Admiral nods his head and with a smile, he says, "Please, sit down Darth Nox." He then gestures over to a comfortable although primitive-looking couch while he walks over to what looks to be a liquor table.

Valon sits down on the beige couch and was surprised at how comfortable it is. The Fleet Admiral starts pouring a brown liquid into a crystal tumbler and asks, "What would you like, whiskey from Earth or Martian absinthe?"

Valon raised an eyebrow at the word absinthe as the force technique he was using didn't translate completely the word and he wondered to himself, "Must be a local artisan alcohol."

After a moment of thought, he answered. "I will take the absinthe on the rocks."

Now it was time for the Fleet Admiral to raise his eyebrows and he replies, "Interesting choice Darth Nox, but you haven't come all this way to discuss liquor" He finishes pouring Valon's drink and continues, "Please Darth Nox, tell me about your Empire."

Valon takes his light green drink from the Fleet Admiral's hand and after a sip and a look of satisfaction he begins his whitewashed tale, "The Sith Empire was founded by a group of rebel Jedi facing persecution for studying forbidden areas of the force. They were sent on a one-way trip to parts unknown but as the Force would have it, they ended up on a planet called Korriban."

Valon takes another sip and continues, "On Korriban lived a race called the Sith, the Sith were so impressed by the prowess of these "Dark Jedi" that the Dark Jedi eventually rose to become the Lords of the Sith. A title which still holds sway to this day and is one of my many titles."

The Fleet Admiral frowns and furrows his eyebrows as many of the titles did not mean anything to him and he asked, "Who and what are Jedi? And what is the Force?"

Valon knowing that a demonstration of the force was better than trying to explain to a non-force sensitive what the force is opted for the former.

The Dark Lord of the Sith amusedly raised an outstretched hand to which the Admiral looks visibly confused before the bottle of brown whiskey neatly lands in Valon's grip.

Fleet Admiral Hood was floored and thought to himself, "This was not a parlor trick, it was real telepathy! And a wielded by a Human no less."

The Fleet Admiral looks with great interest at the display and replies, "Fascinating Darth Nox, and I assume your Empire has many of these so-called "force users? And what of the Jedi?"

Valon nods and says, "Yes, the governance of the Empire falls to Force users. Mere peasants can raise to become Lords should they pursue an education to further their knowledge of the force. The Jedi are an organization of Force-sensitive that study what we call the light side of the force and in doing so they cut off all of their emotions, reducing them to mere robots."

The Fleet Admiral frowned at that as he saw through the euphemism and asked, "And what of non-force sensitives?"

Valon, having anticipated the question replies, "They live their lives as regular citizens, or should they chose so, they can enlist in the Imperial military and fight to protect and expand the Empire."

Fleet Admiral Hood nods and is deep in thought and it is now Valon's turn to ask the questions, "Fleet Admiral Hood, what is the United Nations Space Command?"

The Fleet Admiral looks proudly at the Dark Lord and replies, "The UNSC is the military and now government of the Human race."

Valon nods and asks his next question, "Tell me more about this method of FTL you call slipspace."

Fleet Admiral Hood gave a confused look for a second before regaining composure and answering, "Slipspace is a sub-dimension that can be utilized by special drives which quite literally punch a hole into the fabric of space and thus enabling fast than light travel anywhere in the galaxy."

If the slightest bit of interest that Valon was showing physically was any measure of the interest he was feeling inside, then any force-sensitive could tell that Dark Lord was practically salivating at the idea of slipspace drives.

Valon thought of the possibilities, "By bypassing the need to physically go faster than light and instead travel via wormholes, there was no need Hyperspace maps or routes! The final battles with the Republic would consume fewer men if the Republic doesn't even know where they were going to be attacked!"

Valon then responds, "Very interesting, it appears our respective methods of FTL are completely different! Fleet Admiral Hood and now finally, please tell me about the Covenant and Forerunners."

Fleet Admiral Hood starts his explanation while carefully leaving out bits of information too sensitive to fall into even the Empire's ears, "The Forerunners were a galaxy-wide civilization but they disappeared mysteriously 100,000 years ago in what the Covenant claim was the start of their great journey."

Valon frowns and then responds with, "And you claim this great journey is a transcendence event?" To which the Fleet Admiral confirms after which the Dark Lord of the Sith continues, "Through the force, we too can transcend death but that can only be achieved with a total balance of the light and dark side."

Valon's brow furrows and he asks, "And what of their technology?"

The Fleet Admiral looks grim and replies, "The Covenant's entire technological structures are based on reverse-engineered Forerunner tech, and if their superior weaponry is anything to go by then the Forerunners were much more powerful."

This had now piqued Valon's interest in securing a cache of Forerunner weapons to study but he had more pressing matters at hand and with the force, he pulls forward a datapad that he had brought with him.

With a few gestures of his hand, he conjures forward Project Leap, specifically, the Exploration fleet the Empire inadvertently sent to this dimension.

Valon states, "What you are looking at, Fleet Admiral, was a highly classified exploration fleet sent to an alternate dimension to find new resources or technologies or even a home for us should we have lost our war with the Republic."

Ignoring the Fleet Admiral's reaction to the word "Republic" Valon continues, "Our Artificial Intelligence estimated that there is almost a 99% chance that they ended up here in this dimension as well. To get back to our dimension, we would need at least one of the trans-dimensional drives which lie aboard every one of the ships in that fleet."

Fleet Admiral Hood smiles and replies, "Then I will propose an alliance, the Empire will help us fight the Covenant and we will do everything in our power to locate Project Leap."

Valon, knowing the importance of such an Alliance accepts, and with a wave of his hand, a protocol droid steps forward and sets a new datapad in front of the two men. Valon then signs the datapad after which Fleet Admiral Hood gingerly signs the advanced-looking device.

Doombringer - Brig

"It's a good deal boss, we help the Empire for now for a chance to get back home." Shared Tanno Vik, Havoc Squad's resident heavy ordnance expert.

Elara Dorne then glares daggers into him and retorts, "The Empire is evil, no matter what reforms they have had, we can't work for them!"

Draxis Vo also known as Meteor sat and listened to the discourse happening all around him.

Yuun with his giant insectoid eyes says, "We should take up this offer, it allows us a chance to escape instead of rotting in a cell."

Forex vehemently agrees with Elara the former Imperial turncoat while Aric Jorgan was more of a pragmatist who then states, "What if we take their offer but find and use Project Leap for ourselves."

Now suddenly all eyes are on him as he continues, "Once we locate their fleet we pull one over their eyes and get back home, leaving them stuck in this galaxy."

Draxis now stood up and all eyes shifted from Jorgan to him and he orders, "We will have a vote, all in favor of helping the Imperials say aye."

Vik, Yuun, and Jorgan all voice their support while Elara and Forex disagree.

Draxis thought to himself, "Jorgan's and Yuun's ideas are the only logical ones here, if we help the Imperials we have a chance to escape but if we don't we will surely be executed on Dromund Kaas."

After a second of thought, the Commander orders Havoc squad to huddle in and states, "We will help the Imperials for a time but when we find Project Leap, we will use it for ourselves."

Forex looks greatly displeased but he nonetheless agrees with the plan.

As if on cue, the door to their cell slides back to reveal the menacing figure of Darth Nox.

With his dark side steeped yellow eyes shining brightly in the dimly lit cell, Valon spoke, "24 hours has passed, I expect Havoc squad to have made a decision."

Draxis steps forward and salutes the Dark Lord of the Sith and replies, "Yes Sir! We will serve the Empire."

Valon looks greatly pleased and motions forward two guards behind him and replies, "Take Havoc squad to suit up and meet me in Hangar 2B."

He then turns to the Ex-Republic Special Forces and says, "We have a war to win and a species to save, Havoc Squad and the Force is telling me we will accomplish great things together."

With this said, the Dark Lord walks out of the room with his jet-black cape billowing behind him.

Doombringer - Hangar 2B

Draxis stared at the men, women, and even some genderless species all working in unison before him in the great hangar. It reminded him of the Republic but these Imperials all seemed to hold themselves with a sense of pride and purpose that was unlike anyone in the Republic.

Draxis and Havoc Squad walk over to the Darth Nox who was standing in front of Havoc Squad's newly repaired BT-7 Thunderclap.

After receiving crisp salutes from every member of Havoc Squad, Darth Nox nods and speaks, "Your mission is to capture the Minister of Penance who was responsible for glassing Harvest, he is located on the tithe barge "Faithful's Glory" which is in orbit over Bahalo, one of the Covenant's slave races homeworld."

At the mention of slave races, Havoc Squad scowled for their hatred of the Hutts and their slave empire was still fresh from the Battle of Makeb.

Even the Sith Empire had abolished slavery.

Darth Nox then continues, "Your ship has been outfitted with an Imperial stealth drive, that combined with the fact that the people in this universe use a different form of FTL means that you can slip in and out undetected."

Draxis nods and then asks, "Sir, what enemies are we going to be expecting?"

At this, Darth Nox smiles and then holds out his hand which contained a hollow emitter, and replies, "The Sangheili and a race of 7 to 8 feet tall Reptilians who use energy swords, not like the Jedi and Sith, treat them like you would a Jedi or Sith." He then pans over to the next race and continues, "The Unngoy or grunts are diminutive cowards, but do not underestimate them." After which the holoprojector projects the image of an avian and the Dark Lord states, "The Jackals have excellent eyesight therefore they are excellent snipers, be wary of them." The next species shown was a hivemind to which Darth Nox explained, "These are the Lekgolo, they are individual worms who can form a hivemind intelligence, treat them like you would a Heavy war droid." The final species shown was a rather unkempt primate called Brutes and Darth Nox cautioned, "While known to suffer from bloodlust and infighting, they are brutish and powerful, take extreme caution."

With this said, Havoc Squad bids their superior officer Darth Nox farewell and boards their ship.

BT-7 Thunderclap Enroute to Bahalo

"Do you really think those Aliens want to destroy Humanity?" Asked Elara.

Darxis sighed and replied, "While the force confirmed the truth and validity of Nox's statements, we must still take them with a grain of salt."

Aric Jorgan having had his people wiped by the Mandalorians Neo Crusaders added in with a scowl, "And if it is true that the Covenant want to wipe Humanity out then we will give them hell for it!"

Suddenly the shipboard nav computer states, "Exiting Hyperspace over Bahalo in T - 5 seconds!

All eyes are glued to the view panels are the circular hyperspace tunnel was replaced by that of a dark green planet.

Draxis looked at the short-range scans and using the translation software supplied by Darth Nox, a ship with the serial tag "Faithful's Glory" laid in high orbit over the planet's equator.

With a subtle flick of the stick, Draxis Vo aka Meteor angles Havoc Squad's BT-7 Thunderclap towards the 6km long vessel that was barely visible from the distance.

After reaching the visual range of the vessel, Meteor expertly flies the Ex-Republic craft into one of the hangars amidst hails from the Covenant vessel.

As force would have it, the purplish hangar was devoid of any life or even droids although the latter was a given since the Covenant wasn't known to use artificial intelligence of any kind.

Draxis Vo with his DLA-13 heavy blaster in his very capable hands cautiously walked down the ramp of the BT-7 Thunderclap.

Aric Jorgan followed with his heavy assault cannon and then Vik, Yuun, Elara, and finally Forex stepped off the ramp.

With two fingers pointing to a Covenant holo console, Draxis orders Yuun to slice into the Covenant's local surveillance net and create a feedback loop as well as download the schematics of the ship.

Yuun silently and dutifully carries out the Major's orders and after a few seconds, he gives a thumbs up.

Draxis pulls out his datapad and surmises, "There are two main locations where the Minister may be residing, his personal chambers and the Sacred Shrine."

Draxis then points at Yuun, Vik and Forex and orders, "Yuun, Vik, and Forex will go to the minister's personal chambers while Elara, Jorgan, and myself will head to the shrine."

After saying their farewells, Havoc Squad splits up to capture their quarry.

Faithful's Glory - Brigantine - Minister's Chambers

Vik stood watch over Yuun who was slicing into the chamber's security panel. The demolition expert had his large heavily modified disruptor pistol as well his signature cortosis woven vibroblade in hand.

He stared to his left and Forex stood, weapons ready to face whatever is on the other side. So far they had not encountered anyone which was strange but after Yuun discovered that they had intruded during the time of evening prayers, everything made sense.

With a ghostly beep, the slicing module in Yuun's hand announced that the door's security had been bypassed.

Yuun silently mused to himself and thought, "The Covenant has even worse security protocols than your run-of-the-mill smugglers on Tatooine."

For he had simply brute-forced his way through the security measures once he discovered that they did not have contingencies to ward off against such intrusions.

Yuun silently activated his shield and techblade and with a three-second countdown, he opens the door.

The room contained three heavily armored Sangheili who stared at the intruders in shock!

But their lightning-quick reflexes allowed them to quickly shoot off three plasma bolts downrange, harmlessly impacting against the trio's shields.

Tanno Vik then threw a plasma grenade at one of seven-foot-tall Sangheili but before the Sangheili could react, it exploded right in front of the warrior, knocking him back and bathing him in plasma. His shields having been stripped by the blast offered no protection from the residual plasma which charred the Sangheili skin and lungs.

But nonetheless, the Sangheili got back up onto his feet with a roar and activated a two-prong energy sword!

Vik smiled, and surged forward with his cortosis blade. Having fought Sith throughout the Great War, he was no stranger to sword combat.

Adopting the traditional wide stance that afforded one great advantage against force sensitives, Vik inched forward, probing the Sangheili's defenses with a jab.

The Sangheili expertly parried it aside to deliver a downward cleave but Vik was too fast and like the dirty fighting scoundrel of a Weequay he was, he rolled to the side and then unloaded two bolts into the Sangheili's torso and head.

The Sangheili's shields having only slightly recovered from the plasma grenade attack protected him from the first blaster bolt to the chest but the second overcharged blaster bolt outright shattered his armored head leaving only a headless body to collapse onto the floor.

The other two Sangheili engaging Yuun and Forex took notice of this and roared in fury. The surviving duo fought even harder.

Yuun was small and agile and he rolled out of the way of a charging Sangheili who attempted to bull rush him.

The Sangheili spun around and then unloaded countless bolts of plasma into Yuun's shields which the majority bounced off but not before depleting the unit's power completely, albeit for the time being.

Yuun grimaced but an idea sprung into his head, he dashed for the nearest console while the Sangheili gave chase, its jaws frothing with saliva.

Yuun slammed his slicer module into the console and ordered it to release the flame retardant stored in the walls.

Water sprayed from the ceiling as the Sangheili looked up in surprise but this was the distraction Yuun needed, he deftly plunged his techblade into the Sangheili's harness and the blade glides through like a lightsaber.

The Sangheili looked down in surprise before Yuun yanked out his techblade after which the reptilian sunk to his knees and collapsed dead on the floor.

Forex's data core was a flurry of activity, while the Sangheili was fast and agile, the war droid had faced Sith lords and won before.

The final Sangheili stares at the machine in boiling fury and shouts, "You are an affront to the gods, filthy machine!" Forex was slightly amused and a little curious as his translation program did its job.

Nonetheless, he had a job to do and he skittered to the side and then proceeded to inundate the Sangheili with blaster fire.

To Forex's surprise, the Sangheili did not attempt to deflect any bolts back at him with his plasma blade instead, he roared angrily and helplessly as blaster bolts depleted his shield and finally blow apart his body.

The trio looked at the carnage around them but they didn't marvel at their job instead they all looked at each other and gave each other non-verbal cues of communication.

They knew that given the time of day and the empty corridors of the ship, the Major and the rest of Havoc Squad would be in for a rude surprise but they will not have to face it alone...

Faithful's Glory - Brigantine - Covenant Shrine

The Force screamed a warning at Draxis and he ducked to the left for a plasma bolt had slagged a hole in the wall where his head had been.

When Draxis, Elara, and Jorgan breached the door to the Covenant shrine, they were met with a surprised audience of dozens of what looked like high-ranking officers and the minister himself in the middle leading the prayers.

The surprise was soon answered by hails of plasma fire as Havoc Squad took cover and fought back against the Sangheili.

"Yuun, we have found the minister, block all exits and sure he has nowhere to run!"

"Roger that" The reply came from the Insectoid member of Havoc Squad.

The slightly force-sensitive was a dancing avatar of death, his DLA-13 heavy blaster firing short three-second bursts at individual Sangheili while forcing the enemy to stay grouped together.

He shouted to Jorgan and they both soon coordinated their plasma barrage effects.

Both elite troopers raised the barrels of their heavy blaster and assault cannon respectively and fired off volley after volley of superheated purple death!

A Sangheili shipmaster was unlucky enough to have had his shields be inundated by plasma and before he could recover, Elara Dorne, Havoc Squad medic had already lobbed off his head with her blaster pistol.

Another high-ranking Sangheili charged Jorgan in an attempt to halt Havoc Squad's unrelenting fire but Jorgan rolled out of the way at the last moment before through his implants mentally ordering his assault cannon to fire in full automatic.

He peppered the Sangheili's shields with azure blue bolts of pure death but the reptilian roared and walked forward, inching towards Jorgan.

The Sangheili rose to bisect Jorgan with his energy blade but before he could, Jorgan dropped his assault cannon and threw a mean push kick at the seven-foot-tall reptile.

This sent the Sangheili back roaring in pain. Jorgan seized the opportunity and picked him his assault cannon again not before using a combat stim.

His senses suddenly heightened and it felt glorious, he then fired a high impact bolt at the Sangheili which ripped the reptilian's body apart as if it was a piece of paper.

Draxis swore as the tide of Sangheili inched every forward, they were losing and he knew it. For every Sangheili they killed, two more would take its place.

But the beginnings of a plan were knitting itself together in Draxis's mind as he threw a plasma drone at one of the advancing Sangheili.

The drone poured plasma down onto the reptile cooking the being into a crisp before moving onto a different target.

Draxis deftly threw his last thermal detonator at the enemy and watched as they scrambled for cover but not before the grenade took out at least three of the reptiles.

The Major smiled as the thermal detonator did its job, it had split the Sangheili up into two groups.

With one side guarding the Minister while the other was advancing towards them.

Draxis then shouts to Jorgan and Elara to activate their shoulder cannons.

A small blaster cannon rose out of each of the trio's backs and with Draxis's command, the cannons hammered the advancing Sangheili.

The effects were gruesome because by now the Sangheili's shields were all but depleted and the cannon tore their flesh and armor apart piecemeal.

Now it was time for Havoc Squad to go on the offensive and Draxis led the charge, he lept out of cover and straight into the arms of a Sangheili.

Draxis slid under the reptile's legs but not before unloading a burst from his heavy blaster upwards.

The blaster bolts outright shattered the body of the reptile leaving blue ichor everywhere.

Elara then expertly shot off the head of another Sangheili who was shielding the Minister with his body and now there were only two enemies left, a Sangheili shipmaster and the Minister of Penance.

The Shipmaster growled and tried his best to protect the Minister but Draxis dispassionately dispatched him with an ion blast, burning the reptile inside his armor.

The door behind the minister suddenly swung open and the frail sentient in the hoverchair made a run for it!

Only to be stopped by Yuun, Vik, and Forex.

The San Shyuum looked wildly at Havoc squad with fear in his beady eyes and exclaimed, "Who are you?" He then looks determined and proclaims, "This act of aggression against the Holy Covenan-"

But he was cut off as with a nod Draxis orders Elara to stun the Minister and prep him for transport.

By now the whole ship was on alert but that did not do the Covenant any good as the Faithful's Glory's troop contingent was on Bahalo collecting tithes. All that remained on board was a skeleton crew, all having been dispatched by Havoc Squad.

The minister was unceremoniously hauled out of his chair and placed in bindings as Vik, being the biggest member of Havoc Squad carried him to the BT-7 Thunderclap like a sack of potatoes all the while Yuun was prepping the Covenant barge for self destruction.

FLEETCOM - Secured Communications Room - Reach

The Fleet Admiral once again looks at the writing and holo projections of the ships in Project Leap and wracks his brain. He thought to himself, "I've seen those letters and characters before, but where?"

After a few moments of intense thinking, Fleet Admiral Hood orders the communications ensign to contact Doctor Catherine Halsey.

The Doctor expectedly picks up after a few seconds and with a share of greetings, the Fleet Admiral gets down to business, explaining everything from the newcomers to Project Leap.

Fleet Admiral Hood then sends over all the Imperial data from Project Leap to the doctor and just as he suspected, Doctor Halsey's eyes widen in shock for a second before her normal stern expression takes hold of her complexion again.

She then states, "This information has implications for our whole war as well as upturn all common academic knowledge regarding Humanity."

The Fleet Admiral looks visibly confused but before he can say anything in reply, the doctor continues, "I will come to you at once, this Project Leap might win us the war!"