Chapter 1: Eve Of The War.
(This story was written with the help and support of x6568tank, thank you my friend)
"Noone would have believed...in the early years of the galactic civil war, that this galaxy was being watched by an intelligence far greater than anyone could have fathomed.
That as an empire and a rebellion busied themselves about their various concerns they were being scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a scientist with a microscope might scrutinise the minuscule creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.
No one even thought to ponder of the existence of life beyond the outer rim, and yet, across the gulf of space, minds immeasurably supeior to ours, vast, cool and unsympathetic, regarded this galaxy with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us"
8:21AM...ISD= Revan's Fist.
"This doesn't make any sense, we're at the correct coordinates. but I'm not picking up any transmissions at all." Mumbled the communications officer, staring down at his console.
"What about our scanners, lieutenant you seeing the chiss homeworld?" Asked Xeno.
"Sir all I'm seeing is debris and large bodies of ice, nothing close to what is supposed to be here." replied a young man, confusion obvious on his face.
"Hold on, Im picking up a small ship. it's a fighter."
"A-Admiral Xeno, Csilla is gone...there is nothing left. You must warn the galaxy, we are not al-."
before the chiss could continue, his ship was destroyed by a single blast of energy.
At the same time, thousands of small, blavk and cold coloured, dagger like vessels appeared. As if they suddenly came into existence.
"What the hell was that!?" yelled Captain Dey'ing. his eyes wide in shock.
"Sir, the scanners are going crazy! there are dozens, no hundreds of ships that just appeared. We're surrounded!" Exclaimed the officer.
"How the kriff did you not see them!" Asked Admiral Xeno, a frown on his face as he turned to the officer.
"They must have some kind of stealth technology that we don't understand, because they were not there a second ago, i can guarantee that sir!" replied the same officer.
"Open a channel." Xeno ordered.
"Listen here and listen well, you have made an enemy of the Great Galactic Empire. surrender immediately or be destroyed!" Xeno hissed out a few seconds later, eyes burning with rage and fear.
In response, the ISD 'Rancor Rage' The sister ship to Xeno's own, detonated, killing over a thousand personnel in over a second.
From its debris came dozens of small Ships, each one darting past the Bridge of 'Revans Fist' causing many officers to yelp or even duck down in shock.
"Fire at will, destroy those things!" Xeno ordered, glaring into the depths of space.
He would not allow this enemy to break past his fleet, he would stop them, for the glory of the em-
KRAKOOM!*
The ISD was carved into two kneat peices, with each individual peice falling away, alllowing hundreds of bodies to fly out into the vaccum of space. Their final resting place, amongst the stairs.
Unfortunately, Fate was not on their side.
for as the bodies were flung outwards, A large vessel, constructed in the shape of the Letter V. Decloaked above the wreckage, opening up small compartments from its very underbelly, revealing hundreds of mettalic tentacles.
The mass of dead and dying were thus collected from the void, for while they had no use as living beings, their bodies and of course, blood, had many uses for the warmongering newcomers.
(Alderaan)
"It has been a few years since Your old friend has visited, and Leia did mention she missed him..." Breha organa said as her husband looked over his personal data pad.
"I know Breha...but he can't leave tatooine for very long, you know that. But I will see if he is available." Bail replied, looking up with a small smile.
Suddenly, the lights powered down. As did all the electronics in the room.
"My queen, power has gone out across the whole planet. We managed to get a few reports of an unusual cosmic storm approaching before the event occurred." A guard reported as he entered the room.
"And leia!?" Bail asked, worried.
"She is waiting outside, it is imperative that we escort you to the bunker. It is the only safe place in the city until our technicians restore power sir." The guard said.
(outside)
Leia tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for her parents to leave their office, hand resting on the blaster on her hip as she anxiously waits her parents to come out. The Alderaanian guard had escorted her there when the world's power had gone out, and she was beginning to get impatient-- just what had gone wrong?
-Tatooine, Same Time-
Ben sat in his hut out in the Jundland Wastes, a cup of tea in his hands. He brought it to his lips and took a sip, eyes closed. Then, he feels a ripple in the Force-- a ripple that quickly turns into a tidal wave of death. His eyes snap open and his breath escapes him as he felt death suddenly erupt all across the known galaxy. He puts the cup down and grabs his saber along with Anakin's, before making his way to the Lars homestead. He had to check on them.
-Alderaan-
Leia and her parents had been escorted out into the forest behind their home, and were ordered by their gods to keep low to the ground and stay quiet.
This was proving to be a very difficult task, why? Because the moment they had left the back security gates their ears were filled with the sounds of screams and cries for help.
"Your Majesty...we need to leave, *now.*" An older guard Whispered having quickly ran to their location. His armoured tunic was covered in dirt, scratches, blood and dust.
"I demand to know what Is going on. You have kept us in the dark long enough." Breha exclaimed, glaring at her head of security.
"There is no time-"
*\\URRRRRRWHOOOOOO!*
Came the deep sounding horn from something nearby.
"What in the force!?" Bail gasped, eyes wide in horror as he saw the giant machine that had just appeared from behind their home.
Standing at a humongous 210 feet, the metallic 'Tripod' walked with a fluid grace not unlike that of a friendly majestic herbivore.
Unfortunately...this machine was anything but friendly.
Bluish white beams shot forward from the two curved appendages that were attached to the front of the great machine, reducing a few of the Alderaan guard to nothing but Ash, leaving their armour, weapons and clothing behind.
-Tatooine-
The ground shook beneath Ben, causing the older man to fall to the ground.
Gravel, sand and rock were pushed up as the very earth in front of the Jedi was pushed up, revealing the glowing Optic of a giant machine.
Once the debris was clear, a metallic 'foot' with three circular 'toes' sprung forth from the ground, helping the Tripod to free itself from the very ground.
After a few seconds, two more feet did the same, pushing the machine to its full height.
Ben slowly got back up, staring in awed horror at the towering machine. Quickly, he uses the Force to turn himself invisible, hiding him away from the giant machine. He sneaks past, grabbing his saber off his belt, but not activating it. He continues until he's roughly one to two hundred meters away, and then lets go of his Force cloak, instead using it much like Master Yoda always had-- extra speed and agility, to get away from the thing that much faster. As he does, he wonders what exactly that was, but shakes his head. It didn't quite matter, did it?
--Alderaan--
Leia screamed, raising her blaster and shooting off 3 bolts before being dragged away by her parents as the machine blasted another heat wave, disintegrating another guardsman right in front of her eyes. She realizes the danger then, and turns the opposite way and runs as fast as she can, anger and fear warring for place within her. Then, she feels a tingle at the back of her neck, one that swells quickly to a blaring alarm-- DANGER! She dives to the left as a heat beam bursts through the space she'd occupied moments before, running away even faster than she'd ever thought possible.
-Tatooine-
Jabba's sail barge, which just so happened to be in the area, was torn to shreds by the tripod as it crouched down over it. Using its vast supply of metallic tentacles to tear open the Hull and pull out the people from within.
Any and all blaster shots were merely absorbed by the energy shields, causing the outside of the large machines to glow a bluish green from the reflected light.
-Alderaan-
"Open fire" A guardsman yelled.
Suddenly, two camouflaged turbolasers came out of the ground and fired upon the Tripod, causing a huge explosion of fire and smoke.
Many of the guard and civilians cheered, only to then gasp in shock and disbelief once the smoke and fire had died away.
The towering metal beast was uninjured, it had taken no damage at all. And seemed to stare at them almost mockingly.
Surprisingly, though, it turned around, but not before dropping off a small cylinder from the base of its Hull.
The cylinder opened upon hitting the ground, sending out a huge amount of black smoke. Civilians instantly started coughing, their very skin turning a pale white as greyish veins spread underneath.
Many fell to the floor as the black gas continued to spread, overtaking man, woman and even child. None were spared from this devistating weapon.
Thankfully however, the royals had long been taken from the area, but the damage was done. They had been scarred and horrified by what they had seen.
-Tatooine-
Ben observed the destruction of Jabba's barge in the distance, noting that the technology on display was like nothing he'd seen nor heard of in the galaxy and pondered what that could mean of these invaders— extragalactic, more than likely. Then, he smiled grimly to himself at Jabba's fate. The slug deserved no better end— if only the slaves on-board could've ran before. He shakes his head, however, and continues his way to the Lars homestead.
He arrives there 5 minutes later and knocks on the door, which was quickly opened by Luke. He lights up when he sees the old man. "Ben! It's been a while; what're you doing here?" He asks, but Ben shakes his head.
"No time for that, Luke. Tell me, are your Aunt and Uncle here?"
"No, they just left to Anchorhead to pick up a part for one of the busted vaporators. Is something happening?"
Ben nods grimly. "Something I've never seen, even in all my years as a Jedi Knight." He takes out Anakin's Saber then, and hands it to Luke. "This was your father's, who was a Jedi Knight alongside me."
Luke looks at him in shock, but before he can say anything Ben grabs his wrist and tugs him towards the Lars' garage, where one speeder is left. Ben consults the Force momentarily on if any city was still safe, at least for now. 'Mos Eisley', it whispered to him and he nodded, getting in the speeder and waving Luke over. The boy shakes himself out of his stupor, attaching the Saber to his belt, and getting in. "What's going on?" Luke asks again.
"We're being invaded, I fear."
"Tatooine?"
"No." Ben shakes his head grimly, turning to look at the boy. "The Galaxy."
-Alderaan-
Leia sat in the cargo bay of a small freighter that her family had taken to escape Alderaan. She looked down at the blue and green marble, suspended as it was against the starry background of space. The usually peaceful continents were alight with battle— a battle she knew her people had lost.
She swallowed a sob and gets up, moving to the intercom room where her parents were. She walked in, and saw them in a hushed and heated discussion. Leia knocked on the door to get their attention. "What now?"
Bail looked at his daughter, hair disheveled and pain in his eyes. "We don't know. There... There isn't much we can do."
Leia, shocked, moves forward. "We have to do something! Those are our people down there, we can't just leave them!" Her voice broke at the end, unshed tears in her eyes.
Bail nodded and put his head in his hands. "Leia, we can't get holocalls out to anywhere— not Coruscant, not Naboo, nowhere." He looked to the side, swallowing down fear. "We... we fear that this attack isn't limited to Alderaan." Leia stepped back, shock overtaking her. "You mean...?" Her father nodded.
"The invaders are attacking the whole galaxy, not just us." Leia collapsed to her knees. Bail and Breha approached her and enveloped her in their arms, and as the shuttle jumped to hyperspace she let herself cry.
There was no way they could stand against such odds. especially against a force as large and ruthless as this.
--The Executor--
Vader stood at the bridge of his flagship, his hands folded behind him. His respirators droning, repetitive sound filled the background along with the chattering of the bridge crew. It was a normal day on the Executor, the most efficient SSD in the Imperial Navy.
And then, the Dark Side surged. Vader stumbled on the bridge, falling to his knees even as the power overtook him. shocking the crew to such a point that they completely stopped whatever they were doing, staring at the usually infallible Dark Lord. They quickly returned to normal functioning however— as General Veers had said, the only way to survive on the Executor was to be useful.
Vader, however, was still in a state of shock from what he sensed. Death, destruction, misery spread across the entire Galaxy, as if every last planet had been invaded at once. And, atop that, his connection to Darth Sidious had been severed completely— something that was only possible if his Master had died.
He righted himself, and looked at his bridge officers. "Communications." He said, despising how his voice was as flat as ever. "Get me a line to The Emperor. Now."
The officer in charge of holocalls nodded. "Yessir, Lord Vader." He said in affirmative, before moving to get a holocall through to the Imperial Palace. The call did not connect however, and he looks up nervously at Vader.
"Lord Vader, the holocall failed to connect."
Vader turned towards the officer. "Failed to connect?"
"Yessir, Lord Vader." The officer swallowed down his fear. "I-it says that the holocom you're trying to connect to doesn't exist." He's certain his death is near after saying that.
Against all odds, Vader turned around, staring out at the background of space. "Thank you, Captain Stargazer." With this, he could only come up with one reason for the sudden power wave in the Dark Side of the Force.
The Galaxy as a whole was under attack.
-Tatooine-
As the hours went by, Ben and luke had narrow encounters with tripods as they ventured across the boiling sandy terrain.
They even had to evade the searchlights of a much larger tripedal machine, that stood above the others by almost double their size.
This was an *Uberpod, A command class Tripod. This particular model is Fitted with backup shielding, double the cages and tentacles of the standard fighting machine aswell as a small cannon like device on the front of its 'face'. And instead of the common tripods, which held three forward facing lights, this machine held five.
Ben and Luke bore witness to the power of the Uberpod as it fired its 'canon' on Jabba's Palace.
A green ball of energy encompassed the whole building, creating a large flash of yellow and green light. Temporarily Blinding many who would stare too long, however Once it faded away, it revealed the power of the device.
There was a three mile crater where the Palace once stood... all rock, sand and other natural formations that the Palace had been carved out of was reduced to nothing. Leaving a hole behind.
-Alderaan-
Three star destroyers and five Republic era medical frigates came out of hyperspace, much to the surprise of the Royal family.
*Attention any and all surviving vessels, this is Admiral Yularen of the ISD Valour. Dock immediately, we will be entering hyperspace in less than ten minutes. There has been a Ceasefire between the Rebellion and The Empire as the new galactic threat is still being anaylsed, do not fire on either Rebel or Emperial ships, I repeat. Do not fire on Rebel or Emperial ships!"
Both battlegroups then began displaying their identification tags, so that friend and foe (or in this case, ally) could see that both Rebel and Emperial ships meant no harm.
--The Executor--
The death star erupted into a huge fireball before the eyes of Vader and his men.
They had just come out of hyperspace to possibly secure or Evacuate the battle station, depending on if it was compromised or not. Unfortunately, it looked like they were too late.
As the large weapons debris flew off in every direction, it revealed the outline of an extremely large fleet of ships.
Each and every individual ship was unlike any design the Empire had ever seen or theorized of, and was without a doubt...very alien. Beyond their reach, so to speak.
Approximately, there were around thirty 'venator' sized battleships, shaped like that of a double sided vibro blade.
And circling these battleships, were tens of dozens if not hundreds of smaller 'Tie' sized fighter craft.
These fighters were curved, looking as if they had been carved from metal... aerodynamic yet with aquatic features.
This fleet, had destroyed the death star, the pinnacle of Imperial Engineering and technology, with ease.
Vader knew at that moment, that it was just the eve of the war. a war of galaxies. a war for survival.
a War Of The Worlds.
(End of chapter one. I hope you enjoyed the opening chapter to this fanfiction! unfortunately not every chapter following this one will be as long.)