DISCLAIMER: Overlord/オーバーロード belongs to Kugane Maruyama, and Star Wars belongs to Disney (Unfortunately). The scenario and original characters are mine, besides those gifted by ComparedDread12. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter XIV: The Two Apprentices

Free Skies Village, Imperial Envoy (Unofficial), New World

The "Switch" + 46 (46 Days Since the "Switch")

It had been three days since the Grand Admiral had dropped the Inquisitor and the Shadow Guard off at their location. Three days since the I.E.E.F. had left to continue on its mission. Three days that Sabacc had spent in this strange place.

The village they were staying at was odd. It was in the middle of a clearing, with the trees surrounding it thick enough that one could not see through to the other side. The only way they had gotten in had been a strange green mist that weaved through the path the robed warrior women, he believed they were called "Nightsisters", took to get inside. The Imperial Envoy then set up a beacon for the Basilisk to track. This would allow it to send down men and material when needed, such as the Grand Admiral's Basilisk Guard Commander and the Inquisitor.

Sabacc still couldn't believe that; An Emperor's Shadow Guard, on the New World, had been made the overall commanding officer of the Basilisk Guard. Granted, the Shadow Guards were supposed to be even more loyal to the Empire than a standard Stormtrooper. It still surprised him, as by all accounts, that the decision was made as soon as the Grand Admiral reappeared on the bridge. There had to be a reason for it; maybe it was supposed to be a deterrent against the Inquisitor? The Shadow Guards were possibly more powerful, after all.

He wished the Admiral hadn't sent the Shadow Guard down. The Nightsisters nearly killed them all on the spot because of him. Sabacc didn't know what caused them to behave like that, but he thought it might have connected to what Jenra said when they first met. He didn't know the exact connection between the two, but he knew it was there.

The Lambda-Class shuttle landed in the middle of the village to the murmurs of the surrounding Nightsisters. The sound of boots-on-metal could be heard as the shuttle's ramp lowered itself, steam billowing downwards as six members of the Basilisk Guard marched down. The six stood off to the sides as the craft's final two passengers walked out: the Inquisitor and the Shadow Guard. The shuttle left just as quick as it had appeared, with the Inquisitor following its trajectory back into the sky. The Shadow Guard took a few more steps forward before being surrounded by several Nightsisters wielding either blades or bows with arrows nocked.

"This one reeks of the Sith!" one of them cried, gesturing at the guard with her blade.

As soon as that sentence was finished, the members of the Imperial Elven Expeditionary Force that had been sent as an envoy to the village were in various life or death situations. Sabacc himself felt the shard edge of Jenra's sword held to his Adam's apple.

"You said you were not part of the Sith Empire, and here we find a Sith among your ranks." she threatened as her blade was pushed a little closer.

"Let's not be too hasty, Jenra!" Sabacc gasped as Jenra growled.

"Perhaps I could explain?" the Inquisitor chimed in, hands held out in front of him in a placating gesture.

"Who are you?" Gelzi, a member of the group surrounding the Shadow Guard, barked the question at the Mandolorian Inquisitor.

"My name is Sedyn Merrick, and I am a member of the Imperial Inquisitorius branch. I know of what you refer to though you are mistaken in this case. That man is not a member of the Sith, but an Emperor's Shadow Guard. The Sith were destroyed thousands of years ago by the Jedi. The Shadow Guards are taught in the ways of the Dark Side to better defend the Emperor and those closest to him from those who would use the Force. I assure you all that we have not deceived you, we truly are not aligned with the Sith!"

The Nightsisters then backed off as they felt the truthfulness of his words (though unbeknownst to all, he was uncomfortably lying through his teeth). They apologized for doubting the Imperials' sincerity. Sabacc and the other members of the I.E.E.F. waved them off by stating that it wasn't the first time that a misunderstanding like that had happened. When the Nightsisters attempted to press for details, they were met with silence.

Sabacc was currently standing guard at the tent that had been set up for the Shadow Guard alongside White. He held his rifle across his chest, the weapon set to stun. He watched the area surrounding him closely. Directly across from him was a hut that he knew housed two Nightsisters that were extremely close. Gelzi had told him that they had nearly been taken by slavers when they attacked the village.

It had happened nearly a decade ago when the Free Skies tribe was more open with the outside world. The slavers found the village and seeing an easy target to pick up slaves, attacked. That night, the slavers charged into the tribe. The raid on the Nightsisters had been extremely viscous, and many Nightsisters were caught off guard. A large number of the tribe's population had been slain. After a successful counter-attack, the slavers were defeated. Out of the four hundred slavers that had attacked, only ninety-five survived. Many were now being used as slaves themselves by the Nightsisters. The Nightsisters were whittled down to one hundred fifty from their original three hundred strong population.

Some of those slavers were used as breeding stock since the Nightsisters didn't have any males in their ranks, and they needed to replenish their numbers after that night. Others were used for more menial tasks such as tending to the wolves the sisters were raising. The ones he'd seen when they were escorted back to the I.E.E.F. were much larger than the ones here, about the size of a workhorse. When he asked about them, he was told that they were enhanced by the sisters' magic.

He saw two of the enslaved slavers walk by, carrying a litter with a dead doe inside. It had been killed by an arrow to the heart. If he remembered correctly, the Nightsisters told them that the elves were much better with the bow, as the sisters trained more in using their magic rather than their physical weapons, save a select few.

Once the two slavers were gone, a group of children that had been periodically staring at him from afar reappeared. They had hidden whenever he looked over at them but he knew they were there. They didn't exactly hide very well, seeing as he could see the arm of one of them hugging the wall tightly.

"Those kids still there?" White's voice asked as the two Stormtroopers kept their gazes forward.

"Yeah, they are. Wish I knew what they found so interesting about us…." Sabacc replied in a bored tone.

"Take your pick: we look like their so-called 'Savior', they've never seen Clones before, etc."

"Fair enough. How much longer do you think we'll be here? The negotiations for integrating this lot into the Empire can't be that hard."

"You've seen these people, Sabacc. I don't think they really see the advantage of joining us."

"How can they not? They'd have protection, access to the latest medicines, and that's only the stuff I can think of right off the top of my head."

"Look around. They've been doing fine without all of that for a long time, so they don't really see the point."

"How 'fine', though? You heard what Gelzi said about those slavers."

"Yeah, but they did defeat them in the end."

"True."

The two troopers lapsed into silence as they saw the two Nightsisters from the hut exit and start heading toward them. As the pair came closer, Sabacc was about to stop them when he noticed their eyes. They were glazed over. He stepped in front of them just before they would reach the door to the tent.

"You can't go in there." Sabacc stated firmly as the two turned their heads to him.

One of them left, heading off into the village, while the other just stared at Sabacc. Her eyes slowly changed from the glazed-over look to an unsettling blood red while her face contorted into a look of unbridled rage. With a roar, she used the Force and tossed Sabacc at the children who were hiding. The Nightsisters, slaves, and surrounding Imperials were shocked silent until the furious Nightsister turned towards them.

The sisters sprang into action as White started bringing his blaster up. He was tossed into two of them while the crazed sister sent a torrent of red Force Lightning into a small group coming from her left. They convulsed and fell as she ducked from a stun blast shot at her by one of the Army troopers patrolling. He screamed in agony as his standard Stormtrooper armor was crushed around him.

She then turned her attention to the slaves that were staring at her dumbfounded. She used the Force to crush some into piles of bloody goo, throw others into the surrounding forest at terminal velocity, and electrocute others. The remaining slaves quickly snapped out of their trance and ran deeper into the village. She let them go and turned to face another incoming Nightsister.

The children that Sabacc had landed in front of ran when he landed. He had just gotten up when he heard the scream of the Nightsister that had just tried to attack the mad sister. Flicking the setting of his DC-15S to kill, he fired a burst at her. One of the shots hit her in the arm and caused her to drop a tree that she'd grabbed with the Force. She crushed the wall he was hiding behind, sending splitters into his visor, before pushing the wall on top of him and sending him into unconsciousness.

Another group of sisters came into view with their swords unsheathed and pointed at the mad sister. The sister reached her hand out and made something start breaking branches as it came closer. With a sudden crash, the summoned object appeared and flew into her outstretched hand. It was a silver and black cylinder with various knobs, switches, and a large red button. She quickly pushed the button, and a red blade sparked to life with a snap-hiss! She then held the lightsaber out to her side with the blade pointed at the ground.

"What? How did you-" one of the group had begun to ask before her hand was sliced off by a now flying lightsaber.

Two of the group charged at her while another rushed to the wounded girl's side. The saber quickly came back to the mad sister's hand to quickly block the combined strike of the two that charged her. She sent them back with a push of her blade, amplifying it with a powerful Force Push. The two crashed through two huts before hitting a group of incoming Imperials.

The Imperials who hadn't been taken down quickly raised their blasters and started firing. She reflected most of the shots back into those who fired them, killing only three of them. The last two of the group lost their weapons as she used the Force to yank them out of their hands. She then used the Force to snap their necks, causing their helmets to spin one hundred eighty degrees.

As she did this, the Shadow Guard appeared from the tent and activated his pike. She turned toward him and raised her blade. Her blade hit the pike's, causing a flurry of sparks. The Shadow Guard quickly countered and caused the woman to become unbalanced. He then blocked the red lighting with his own purple lighting, the two bolts of lightning pushing against each other. He won the match quickly and used the Force to send the woman skyward. He let her fall back to the ground, readying his pike to deliver a final blow, but not before calling the lightsaber she held to his open palm.

He thrust the blade forward, but stopped at the last second and held the blade mere inches away from her neck. She was breathing heavily, her face no longer held a look of fury. She still looked angry, and her eyes were still blood-red, but she now seemed calmed due to her defeat by the Shadow Guard. The guard lifted his blade slightly and allowed her to rise to a kneeling position. Once the Nightsister was kneeling, she uttered a single sentence.

"I am Ihsaj Chokris, and I wish to become your apprentice."

Meanwhile…

"I've told them a lot about the Empire. Now all I have to do is get them sold on the idea of being Imperial… this is gonna suck." BalancedFear thought as he went inside the Clan Mother's hut with Plaz and Lasko.

The inside of the hut was lit only by the small fire in the center of the room. Sitting cross-legged behind the fire was the Clan Mother with two Nightsisters standing behind her. BalancedFear was still surprised that she was very young to be considered an elder as he sat down. She looked on calmly as she watched him remove his helmet. As he did, his two troopers took up positions opposite the two Nightsisters.

These Nightsisters did not look the same as the others he'd seen around the village. Their robes also had orange and white highlights, and they wore a mask that looked similar to the Republic Trooper's visor. The major differences between the mask and the helmet were easy to spot, even at a distance. The mask was made of the bark found on the trees surrounding the village, was colored red where the orange should have been and was completely flat even though it looked like it had some depth. The visor itself was also empty, so most of the two sister's faces could be seen.

When he first met the Clan Mother, she called them: Nightsister Elites. These were some of the best warriors in the Free Skies tribe and were comparable to the Emperor's Royal Guard. Their numbers were very small, with only twenty members in all.

"Greetings, Clan Mother Vekre. I hope you had time to consider what I told you last night?" BalancedFear asked as he set his helmet to the side.

"Again, please call me Thelnizzas, Inquisitor Merrick. You do not need to refer to our titles." Thelnizzas said with a slight grin as she lowered her hood.

"Apologies, Thelnizzas. The Empire makes constant use of titles and I've grown used to it."

"I do not mind. I've considered what you said, and I am inclined to believe that the Empire is one of the best ways for my people to be protected, but it is so stifling. I know this due to how strict it is… but I worry that the strict doctrine of your Empire will suppress our culture."

"I can understand that. I myself am from a culture that is also highly free-spirited, and those concerns did become quite prevalent. However, I can guarantee that the Empire has not suppressed the ways of my culture."

"Your culture… you called it 'Mandalorian', correct? Tell me its ways."

"The Mando'ade revolves around battle. A core belief is the Resol'nare, or the 'Six Actions'. It goes like this; one: wear the armor, what I am wearing; two: speak Mando'a, which you've heard my men and I speak; three: defend yourself and your family, I consider my men my family; four: raise your children as Mandalorians, and seeing as I've no children, I taught my men to be Mandalorians; five: contribute to the clan's welfare, which would be my entire division and the Empire as a whole; and finally six: rally to Mand'alor's cause when called upon. I could be considered Mand'alor to my men, but I work with the Grand Admiral. I believe he's better suited to lead as a whole."

"It sounds very demanding of its followers."

"It is, at first, but it becomes easier."

"I see. We-"

She never got to finish her sentence as BalancedFear suddenly stood. He yanked his helmet on as the sound of blaster fire filled the air outside. As he went to go out, a young Nightsister with ice-blue eyes entered. She looked into his helmeted face for only a moment before pulling him outside and dragging him towards the ongoing battle.

He called his single-bladed lightsaber to his hand just before they came upon the scene.

"Fierfek…" he muttered as he surveyed the surroundings.

It had been a very one-sided battle. All around him were debris and the bodies of both Imperials and Nightsisters. Some of the bodies were horribly mangled, and he could clearly see a pile that looked like it had once been one of Basilisk's Imperial Army troopers. The ground underneath the pile was covered in blood.

He forced himself to look around and noticed that one of the two troopers that he'd seen guarding the Shadow Guard's tent was aiming his carbine at said tent. That was when he saw the Nightsister holding a deactivated lightsaber in her outstretched palms while kneeling in front of the Shadow Guard.

"Trooper, lower your weapon." BalancedFear commanded firmly, causing the trooper to whip his head toward BalancedFear.

"Sir, she's a damn monster. Look at what she's done already!" the trooper called back, not lowering his weapon for a second.

"I know, but let me deal with it. There have been enough casualties already."

"I-"

"That is an ORDER, trooper."

"Yes, sir." the trooper said, acquiescing by lowering his weapon to his hip, though he still kept it pointed in the Nightsister's general direction.

"Ihsaj, why did you do this?" the Nightsister that had dragged him here asked quietly.

"That one and the other dared to keep me from my master." 'Ihsaj' stated simply as she rose to her feet.

"Still, what you have done… you know you will be exiled for this!"

"I don't care, Ujhain. Nothing else matters as long as I am at my master's side."

"What exactly is going on?" BalancedFear asked, somehow still calm. He guessed it was a passive ability, but he couldn't think of what it was at the moment.

"It is the prophecy, Inquisitor Merrick." Thelnizzas's voice spoke, causing him to turn.

"Prophecy?"

"Yes. Shortly before the Savior liberated us our original Clan Mother, Sulsuaz Govru, was blessed by a vision of prophecy before being slain by the Sith Lord who had us enslaved." Thelnizzas started to explain as she appeared from behind one of the buildings with green mist surrounding her.

"Sulsuaz Govru? I swear I've heard that name before…" BalancedFear thought as Ujhain continued.

"'One day, many years from now, our descendants will be visited by a group of beings not of this world. Two will be chosen to serve this group as warriors of Light and Dark soon after. They will be forever marked with eyes the color of Ice and Blood. When they are chosen, it will be the beginning of a new age for our tribe. The tribe will rise to rule alongside this group. We will spread across the universe with their help. On that day, we will become the conquerors and finally be rid of the title of conquered!'"

"And you believe the prophecy has begun? What makes you so sure?"

"Look into the eyes of Ujhain Chokris. Do they not look like Ice? What of Ihsaj Chokris? Do hers not look like Blood?"

"I grant that their eyes do look that way, but surely this has happened before?"

"Never. The eyes of our sisters come in many shades, but those two colors never appeared before now. As a matter of fact, Ishaj's and Ujhain's eyes were a gold color when they were born."

BalancedFear couldn't argue with her words. If the eyes of the two Nightsisters had changed, then it was impossible to deny that the prophecy was true to some extent. He wasn't sure how EmpireForLife would react upon learning of it, though. He looked down into Ujhain's eyes and saw that she believed the prophecy was upon them. Sighing internally, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I see now that the prophecy is indeed real. This means that you will be my student, but not only in the Light. I will also teach you in the ways of the Mando'ade, but only if you wish for it." he told Ujhain carefully.

"I do, my master. I wish to learn everything there is to know from you." Ujhain replied piously as she backed up and kneeled.

"Please do not call me 'master'. You are my student, so you will refer to me as 'teacher'."

"Yes, teacher."

Onboard the Imperial Super-Star Destroyer, Basilisk

The report about the Nightsister's prophecy was very overwhelming. Not only was our arrival foreseen, but apparently the original Clan Mother had been a Player. Sulsuaz Govru was the name of the in-game avatar of Nesterova Vasilievna, a prominent member of the Star Wars server. She had been one of the founding members of the server and a good friend of mine. She was found unresponsive in her home in Moscow two years after the server's creation. I'd actually met her a few times during events that dealt with uprisings on Dathomir. I never managed to catch her, which would have stopped the events, but I did make her retreat after having killed a good chunk of her Nightsister tribe.

This was back when I was level thirty-nine and had only recently been made a Commandant. During the uprisings, I was always aboard the Star Destroyers sent to quell them. The only time I met Nesterova was when she took over an Imperial base and used the holo-projector to proclaim Dathomir's sovereignty from the Empire. It only happened once, because it was decided to completely remove all Imperial bases on the world after that little fiasco. From then on, the world would instead have a Star Destroyer to act as the Imperial base. Hard to conquer a base that you can't even get to, after all.

The last time we met was on the anniversary of the server's creation. It was an in-game day of neutrality, meaning there would be no fighting between Imperial, Rebel, or any other factions. It was just a day to hang out. I'd figured "What the hell?" and went to Dathomir. She was throwing a party, and a lot of Imperial and Pirate faction players were on the world just chatting or playing minigames. Her Nightsisters were set to mingle with the Imperial and Pirate NPCs while she interacted with the other players.

When I finally arrived on the world, she welcomed me with this:

"So I finally get to meet the podonok who keeps beating me in person!"

That got a laugh out of me, and I decided to reply with this:

"And I get to meet the biggest pain in my ass on this world. Do you know how much trouble you caused me when you took over our base?"

This was all done in good humor, of course. It was just a video game… or at least that was what I thought at the time. Now, I'm not too sure. It was a sad day when we heard about her being unresponsive. That week became an unofficial server closure day. We all logged off when we heard the news. When we logged back on, I went to Dathomir to check on her NPCs. I never found them.

To find out now that they'd all been sent here, over eight centuries ago and subjected to a life of servitude under the Sith Empire, had made me kind of depressed. It also amazed me because of the fact that her tribe also still existed. She saved her NPCs and they managed to survive for all this time in that forest.

I realized then that it was doubly important for me to get them on my side. Not only was it strategic, but I wanted to make sure they would be well taken care of. It was the least I could do for her, after all. She helped through some of the toughest times.

"Sir?" the speaker on my desk asked, grabbing my attention.

"Yes?" I asked back as I dried the moistness that had appeared in my eyes.

"We are ready to begin sending materials down to the Free Skies tribe. Do you want us to retrieve the Inquisitor and the Shadow Guard while we're down there?"

"Yes. I imagine they'll want to begin in a more controlled setting. Have the secondary hangar cleared to act as a makeshift training facility for our Shadow Guard, as I'm sure Inquisitor Merrick has his own training facilities, is that understood?"

"Yes, sir. The deck crew will begin as soon as we depart."

"Very good. You may head down, now."

"Roger, out." the speaker said as I shut it off.

After that conversation was finished I turned to look at the spot where I knew my personal armory was. Standing up, I went inside and took a look at the set of Republic Trooper armor. It had belonged to a human woman, and I figured it would be a good gift to give to the Nightsisters.

"Grand Admiral? Lord Gown wishes to speak with you." the desk speaker said into the silence.

"Put him through my private comm channel."

"I need you to come down. Solution believes Sebas has betrayed me, and I think it would be best for you to come too. I want to test Sebas, and once I'm done with that, I'll need you present to discuss certain plans I want to set into motion." Momonga said quickly.

"I'll be right down."

The speaker shut itself down as I sighed to myself. Gifts would have to wait, it seemed. For now, it was time to play the part of Imperial Grand Admiral.

Author's Note:

Finally got this chapter done. I wanted to do a side story so that I could get another plot going. This is partially why this chapter is kind of short. Another reason is that I was struggling to find ideas.

On that note, I am making a quick announcement: I will be taking a three-chapter break from this story to work on my other story, The Lost Company of Remnant. This means that I will write three chaps for that story before switching back to this one. This is how I'll write for a little while until I can get a more normal schedule going.

Translations

Mand'alor = Mandalore

Mando'ade = Mandalorian

Mando'a = Mandalorian language

Podonok (Russian) = fucker