Chapter 1: Prologue
Space.
The cold darkness of space.
He has seen it more for more times than he could count, yet Garreth Azure can't help but be fascinated by what could be out in the vast galaxy.
Then again, he didn't have to imagine much, being a field marshal of the Grand Army of the Republic had those benefits. From the deadly campaigns of the Outer Rim to the expedition to the unknown regions, subsequently being one of the first to gaze upon the Solar System.
He still desired to visit the planet called Earth, preferably on his own two feet instead of relying solely on probe droids to view and learn about the peculiar planet. Despite the potential benefits, he had to understand that maybe the system would best be left alone for now.
For now...
Before anything else, however, his train of thought was interrupted by his A.I. assistant.
"Sir. Admiral Vaux requests your presence on the bridge." IRIS said with her unusual accent which happened to be... what did they call it on Earth? Ah yes, Irish, an Irish accent. Truly peculiar how one planet holds a galaxy's worth of culture. His thoughts were once again interrupted by IRIS.
"Sir, I've worked alongside you long enough to know that you've been distracted again." The A.I. sassed.
Azure finally relented "Yes, of course. Tell the Admiral I'll be there shortly."
IRIS, satisfied, logged off. Azure, not wanting to delay further, looked away from the window in his quarters and left.
As he made his way to the bridge, he would pass by the usual 501st clone trooper, along with the expected salute. He would salute back of course but would come to simply nod on occasion when he passed the 20th trooper.
It didn't take much longer as he finally entered the bridge and was met with the salutes of every member of the bridge crew.
Saluting back, he allowed them to resume duties as he found his reason for being on the bridge. On the holographic table was his Fleet Admiral, Admiral James Vaux. A veteran of the Clone Wars who stayed with the Republic's Navy even after the war had ended. The field marshal nodded towards him in acknowledgment and spoke "Alright Admiral, what's this all about?"
The older man pressed a few buttons on the holo table to reveal a report. "The last of the supplies have been brought on board and secured properly. All we are waiting for is for your order to make way."
Azure nodded at this before walking into the bridge proper. He was once again met with the same view that he was enamored with just a few minutes ago.
"If that is all, I would like to say a few words to the fleet. Patch me through our comms and make sure everyone can hear this."
A clone officer nods at this and taps a few buttons. "Comms are working fine now sir, you may transmit your message now." The officer informs his commander.
Garreth, not wasting any more time, steps forward to the transmit button and holds it. He takes a breath and finally speaks.
"Attention all hands, this is your Field Marshal Garreth Azure. Now many of you have worked with me before, but I urge you to listen regardless as we can never be uncertain about what our mission holds. As of now, we have been ordered to once again conduct an expedition. This means new sights, new adventures, but also new dangers that we may not have prepared to face. Yet we shall still follow through with this mission regardless of what we might face. Each and everyone one of you, me included, have sworn an oath to not just the Republic, but to justice and peace for the whole galaxy. So it's every man to his duty. Quick is the word and sharp is the action. After all, we have each other on our side."
With that, the field marshal took his gloved hand off the button and a moment of silence before a chorus of cheers rang out across the ship.
His men were ready. As was he.
"Admiral Vaux, you wanted my orders? Then let's get going. Not a minute to waste."
"Yes sir." Vaux nodded before passing orders "Prepare to jump to lightspeed. Plot course for Sector R5 and send word for the fleet to follow suit."
A chorus of "Aye sir!"s sounded off as the bridge crew followed their orders without delay.
It wasn't long before the fleet above Coruscant began to shift around with Azure's flagship the Independence, leading the way for the rest of the fleet.
"Sir, we are ready to make the jump to Sector R5." An officer informed.
Admiral Vaux read the star charts and the navicomputer one last time before nodding "Very good. Signal all ships to make the jump."
"Aye, sir."
Azure's fleet would soon be jumping into lightspeed, with the Arquitens-class command cruiser jumping in first, followed by their 10 Modified Charger C70 frigates, the 5 Acclamator assault ships, and finally, the 3 Venator II-class star destroyers.
Azure would look into the swirling view known as hyperspace. He wouldn't stay idle for long as he dismissed himself to his quarters. The bridge crew saluted and he saluted back once more.
Florum
On the bridge of the Independence, Azure and the rest of his officers begin their final briefing for the last rotation in the Florum sector where they were temporarily deployed before they travel to the Unknown Regions. As far as what they've seen so far, the most action that they have experienced was stopping pirate vessels and bottling them up in a prison barge which would soon depart the system before the fleet does.
"I believe that concludes our current business gentlemen. Admiral Vaux will inform you're ship captains of the next jump. You are now dismissed." The field marshal stated as he received the acknowledging replies of his staff. As the transmission of the sector army commanders ended, Azure turned to Vaux.
"And thus ends a rather uneventful deployment. Though it doesn't matter considering what comes next, don't you think?"
Vaux nods at this "Well, it may be uneventful for the army, but I do believe that you have paperwork to fill out alongside us officers, seeing as this entire operation is under your command."
"Don't remind me. IRIS already bugged me about the reports I had to sign." Azure sighed.
"Can't forget if you are told twice, correct?" The Admiral smirked.
The field marshal could only shake his head in disdain. This small moment of peace and cheek was short-lived however when several alarms sounded off. A clone bridge officer ran into the communications room in a panic.
"Sir! A large dreadnaught is coming out of hyperspace!" He reported as the field marshal and the admiral made their way to the bridge's command center.
"Can we identify the ship?" Vaux asked.
"Negative Admiral. It doesn't seem to be one of ours though."
Vaux looked at a screen and ordered "Sound the general quarters. I want fighters ready to scramble on a moment's notice."
"Aye, sir." The bridge crew answered as orders began to be passed to the ship and the fleet.
"This is... an interesting turn of events..." Azure managed to say.
"Let's hope it just stays as interesting and nothing more," Vaux replied.
Just as he finished speaking, the dreadnaught soon emerged from hyperspace.
A clone naval officer spoke up "Subjugator-class dreadnaught. No official governmental markings. Could be a privately owned ship, sir."
"How the kriff does someone privately own a subjugator?" A voice cried out from among the bridge crew.
"Hail it." Vaux orders. The communication officer didn't waste another second and attempts to communicate with the ship.
"Unidentified subjugator-class dreadnaught, this is the RSD Independence. You are currently in an area of a military operation. Identify yourself and present proper clearances."
There was silence.
"Unidentified subjugator-class dreadnaught, do you read us? Please respond." The officer tried.
There was still no response. There were already arrangements for a fighter squadron of ARC-170s to launch from the hangars.
"Unidentified subjugator-class dreadnaught, if you fail to respond, we will be forced to disable your ship and board it to detain you."
Finally, a response came, however, it wasn't one that the entire bridge crew liked. In a blink of an eye, the dreadnaught's turbolasers opened up.
The initial barrage rattled the Independence, along with several other ships of the fleet as red laser fire struck their hulls.
"RETURN FIRE AND LAUNCH FIGHTERS!" Vaux shouted as he regained his bearings after almost falling off his feet.
Azure could only watch as the bridge crew worked to eradicate the sudden threat. As he watched, a squadron of ARC-170s launched from the main hangar of his flagship.
...
Out in the cold vacuum of space, flight leader CT-6822 or better known as Dove to his brothers, ran one more system's check as he received his orders from the bridge.
"Roger that sir. Wampa flight can handle it." Dove then switched channels before speaking again "Alright Wampas, flight command already transferred orders to your HUD, but I might as well give the general rundown. We are to approach the dreadnaught and probe its shields for our cruisers to exploit. If possible, take out any turbolaser we pass by. Is that clear gents?"
"Roger that sir!"
"Copy that sir."
"We'll get it done sir."
Were his brothers' replies.
"Good. Let's get dirty wimps." Dove said as he lead his squadron into battle.
It didn't take long before they were now coming under fire from point defense lasers. Some of their fighters were already taking hits. If it were not for their ship's built-in shields, they would've been done for.
"Squad! Loosen formation and switch deflectors to double front!" Dove ordered as he switched his deflector shields to protect his ship's front.
"Dove, I think I got it!" The pilot's navigator called.
"What is it Polish?" asked Dove as he fired his fighter's main guns to take out a turboloader that he passed.
"midsection, portside. I think if we hit it hard enough, the shields will drop. Might end this battle faster right?"
Dove was inclined to agree as he heard one of his squamates get taken out by too much fire. "Right, thanks, Poli! Wampas, on me."
"We're with you Wampa lead!" replied his wingman.
Dove moved his fighter right where Polish told him and to his relief, he found what looked like the shield generator.
"Torpedoes on that device that I tagged!" Dove ordered as he fired his torpedoes.
"Copy that sir! Torpedoes away!"
His flight squadron would follow his example as they let loose all their torpedoes.
Their payload hits home as the device becomes engulfed in an explosion. Polish did a quick read and commed in "That did the trick! The shields are down!"
Dove could only celebrate for a short while before he noticed a sudden shift of pace.
"Wampa 4 to Wampa 7, you're seeing this right?"
"Yeah... is it just me or is the ship moving towards the feet?"
"Skipper, I think the ship's up to something..." Polish said in uncertainty.
Dove finally responded, "Yeah... Wampas, I'm switching to command's channel. Stay on me and standby for orders. Wampa 2 will take lead if anything else happens."
"Roger that boss." Came the reply of his wingman.
Back on the bridge of the Independence, the flight command received Dove's report. The flight officer took off as he rushed to the Admiral to inform him of the development.
"Admiral! The subjugator is moving closer to the fleet. My boys can't do much now with their torps expended."
"Sir! We're getting an odd reading from the dreadnaught! It's something akin to an electromagnetic pulse!"
"It's a bomb!" Azure exclaimed upon hearing this.
"It's coming in too fast! We can't take her down!"
"ALL HANDS BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Admiral Vaux shouted, his orders were echoed by a communications officer.
Then, the ship exploded in an odd field of blue. Across the fleet, the ships began to spark at a concerning amount, yet no damage came to them.
After the shockwave, the crew recovered, half expecting to be dead after the violent encounter.
Admiral Vaux's voice finally returned "Status report..."
"We're still working on it sir, but all essential systems appear to be intact except for our long-range communicator." an officer replied, promptly returning to his station to continue monitoring the ship's systems.
The communications officer began to report on the rest of the fleet's situation, Azure turned to the Admiral "I want all of our officers on the line in a few minutes."
"Very well, in the meantime, I shall get a repair team out to fix our long-range comms. We will need to report this to Command. If such a group operates with that level of firepower, then it would be of the utmost importance that it be investigated im-"
"SIR! THE HYPERDRIVE! I-IT'S GOING ONLINE! WE CAN'T SHUT IT DOWN!" a bridge officer exclaimed in panic.
"Sir! The fleet is also reporting about a sudden activation of their hyperdrive!"
"Recall the fighters!" Garreth shouted
"Wampa Flight already got back sir!"
"Word on the engine crew?"
"Nothing yet sir."
...
In the Independence's engine room, Clone Engineer "Chief", the commanding officer of the engineering crew, was at a loss of words. A few minutes ago, general quarters were sounded, and another few minutes later, brace for impact was echoed across the ship. Now, he and his crew were met by a disturbing sight in the ships' engine room. The engine for the most part was fine, no, it was the hyperdrive. For some odd reason, the damned thing was sparking, yet shows no signs of damage.
"Bridge to the engine room is anyone on sight? What in blazes is going on there?"
Chief finally responded, "This is lieutenant Chief, the hyperdrive seems to be sparking, but none of us can find any damage on the damn thing."
Before the crewmember on the other side could reply, another warning sounded across the ship.
"ALL HANDS, WE ARE ENTERING A SUDDEN HYPERSPACE JUMP! BRACE YOURSELVES!" Admiral Vaux bellowed from the ship's PA systems.
Back on the bridge, all manner of panic was observed as technicians, crewmen and officers scramble to try and figure out what was going on. Azure and Vaux looked at each other.
"Admiral."
"Field Marshal."
"It's been an honor."
"I wish I could say the same." Vaux dryly replied
"Up yours old man."
"It was my pleasure."
Then, the entire fleet would vanish without a trace, if they would be seen again, no one can tell. Maybe not from this Galaxy Far Far Away, but maybe in the world of bloody evolution.
The first chapter of the new series! Certainly one of the oldest things I had planned asides from TFPSNM. To those of you who worry about that story, I apologize if I couldn't muster enough brainpower to continue it. One day, it may continue, but certainly not today.
Now, to explain what had happened after the Clone Wars: Following Palpatine's revelation to Anakin about his true identity, the latter would not return to the temple and would await for Master Windu and his entourage to arrest Sidious. With the help of Skywalker, the Jedi would successfully defeat Palpatine (he's dead!). The fallout would be rather tame with evidence in the form of security footage and testimonies from two of the most well-known Jedi in the Order, not to mention Palpatine's lightsaber. The remaining CIS War Leaders were hunted down and would soon be found guilty on charges that I will not go into detail. Anakin's marriage to Padme will also come into the light, but due to his actions, he would not be expelled, and would also be the reason why the Jedi Code would be renewed. All of this means that Order 66 would never happen, the inhibitor chips would be removed in future clones, and the clone veterans themselves would be allowed to retire and try their hand in civilian life. Known commanders such as Rex, Cody, Wolffe and others by the time of this story would resign themselves to instructor duty, and the Jedi themselves would become less involved in GAR command, being replaced with experienced officers (one of them being Garreth Azure).
If you have any questions in regards to the story, feel free to leave a review to ask a question! Criticism is also welcome so that I can improve on any flaws I may have!
The next chapter will technically not be a chapter, but more of a manifest of the resources that we may see in action.
Until then, this is where I get off! Stay frosty because that's soldiering!