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 given by ComparedDread12. Now being co-written by MaxSilverFish!


Chapter V: Ancient Yet New

The "Switch" - 2,556,597,500 (Seven centuries prior to the "Switch")

1 ANSEC (One Year Since the NSE Conquest of the New World)

Carne Forest, New Sith Empire, New World, Darnrode Ealder (Lieutenant, NSE Army)

"Where is it, Captain?" a dark voice asked as its owner glanced around at the forest surrounding him.

"I… we lost it, my Lord. It managed to blend in with the trees before we could recapture it," the Captain replied to his master, a Sith Lord and the Emperor of the New Sith Empire known as Darth Ellirr.

"I see. That is quite unfortunate," Ellirr said simply before he started constricting his hand into a fist.

"W-wai-hack muh Laard cough gasp I ahnlee choke nee-"

"Shut up and die you incompetent little worm," Elirr replied angrily before clenching his fist, hearing the Captain's throat crunch.

The Captain crumpled to the ground, not quite dead yet as he grasped at his crushed windpipe. His men, not wanting to earn the ire of their Lord, kept from putting the man out of his misery. They knew they would suffer an even more gruesome fate if they tried. The Captain stopped moving once the Dark Lord had had enough of his existence, using a concentrated bubble of the Force to crush the man's helmet around his head. Blood leaked from the cracks in the helmet as the body twitched on the ground, the others watching while standing still.

The blood started to pool from their Captain's body, and while it stained their black armored boots, it never touched the chromium-covered boots of their master. It merely formed a circle around him through his use of the Force. The Dark Lord turned to his soldiers and stared them down. His words went unheard, but his opinion regarding his soldiers was clear: 'You are the dregs of the Sith Empire. You will never truly earn the armor you wear. If you fail me, you will die horribly. Succeed, and you will live another day to be useful. That is all you will ever amount to. That will never change'.

"Leftenant Ealder?"

"My Lord?"

"You are now in command of this operation, Captain Ealder. Find the creature for my dear wife. You know how fond she is of learning about this world's fauna. If you fail me, your fate will be worse than your pitiful former Captain's. After all, my pets are growing rather… hungry."

"GULP Yes, my Lord. Move out troopers," Ealder said as he led his troops deeper into the forest.

The group of Sith Troopers continued into the forest until they were well out of sight by their monstrous master. They already knew he'd left and gone back to his assault shuttle. It was what the Emperor did. He expected you to succeed, but still wanted his men to report if they 'failed'. Their original Captain was calling to ask for a time extension to find the creature but the Emperor had already made up his mind.

The Emperor was also most likely already in the air and heading back to the capital of their empire. The capital was a large city that had been built around their crashed Harrower-Class Dreadnought. So much had changed in the three years since they crashed onto this world. They'd had to claw out an existence at first among the primitive peoples surrounding the crash site. Once they'd found their stride, they swiftly conquered the world and formed the New Sith Empire. They had slaves build the city around their ship for the upper class of their society, their Sith overlords and the higher-ranked echelons of the New Imperial Army.

"Sir?" a voice asked, bringing Ealder out of his thoughts.

"Yes trooper?" he asked, noticing the same thing the trooper had quickly.

"The tracks here look kinda like that thing's feet, don't they?"

"Yes, they do. They also look fresh. Alright troopers, fan out into a wedge formation and we'll start pushing this thing into the open."

"Yes sir," the other troopers chorused as they unslung their DLA-13 rifles from their backs.

The ten-man squad split of into groups of two as they started advancing forward, their rifles held at a low ready position. They kept their heads on a swivel as they moved while their trigger fingers hovered above their trigger guards. The creature they were tracking had already killed twenty of their comrades-in-arms and they weren't going to take any chances. If the thing didn't want to come along quietly, then that was just fine. The Emperor's wife didn't care if the thing was alive or dead, just so long as she could 'play' with it.

The wife of the Emperor was as monstrous as the Emperor himself. While not a Force-User, she was sadistic in her own right. How the two managed to truly love each other, enough to have a child, was beyond many in the empire but there it was. She'd been experimenting on the flora and fauna of this world, trying to make them viable weapons for her husband. There were already a few that had been put into the wild by Ellirr to keep the populace docile.

"Sir, I've got movement in the brush about twenty meters ahead. It's moving away from us-" one of his troopers said from the left side of the wedge.

"Good. Keep pushing in," Ealder said with a smirk, keeping the trooper from finishing.

"Issue with that, sir, it just darted into a cave," the trooper finished, said cave becoming visible to Ealder as a giant black maw in the side of a cliff.

"Spast. Switch to night vision, troopers. We're going in," Ealder cursed, starting to walk into the cave.

"That a good idea, sir? I don't want to get eaten by whatever might be in there. We oughta throw a few grenades in and destroy the place."

"I'd agree with you, but you know what the Emperor's old lady said: as minimal damage as possible. I really don't want to end up as pet food or worse," Ealder replied as he placed a hand on a nearby rock.

"Agreed sir. At least let a couple of us go first though. Wouldn't do for you to get gobbled up first," another trooper said wryly as she and another trooper held their CO back.

"Alright. When we get down there, I want a three-foot space between each of us. If one of us does get eaten, at least they'll be the only ones," Ealder laughed nervously. The others did the same before they began their descent.

They would never be seen alive again.


The "Switch" + 6 (6 Days Since the "Switch") (Thirty Minutes Prior to the Completion of the Carne Forest Rescue Op)

Great Tomb of Nazarick Throne Room, Ainz Ooal Gown

I'd just dispatched the Twin Guardians on a mission near Carne Village at the request of the Grand Admiral. There were only two things I really knew about the situation. The first thing I knew was that giant spiders had attacked his outpost's construction site and that the soldiers and workers there needed support. The second was that the culprit behind the attack is most likely the Dryad the Grand Admiral had spotted earlier.

I had decided to send Aura and Mare, the Floor Guardians of the 6th floor, as they were the ones who were most likely to make the least trouble and had previous experience with dealing with such creatures (though those were summoned, not found in the wild). I wanted Nazarick to remain a secret, at least that was the plan until I discovered that I wasn't the only Player in this New World.

From what I've seen, the Grand Admiral was but a man who enjoyed gaming, just like me. The only difference is that this Grand Admiral didn't come from YGGDRASIL as I had expected, but from a Sci-Fi DMMORPG, called Voyages Into the Unknown, that was modded into a Star Wars game. His arrival in this world also left me with ten times the amount of questions than when I'd first arrived here, for example; How many other Players had ended up here? What other games could they come from? Can fictional characters end up in this fantastical world? The list went on and on.

Sure, it was nice knowing that I wasn't alone in this jarring situation, but another Player just brought too many variables. That's why I'd set up a meeting with all of Nazarick's Guardians -well, the ones that were present, anyway. I'd meant to do it earlier, but things here in Nazarick had been happening so fast that I couldn't really get to it.

"Now, let's begin. I am sure you all have your fair share of questions, but one at a time," I said to the genuflecting guardians before me.

A giant armor-covered bug raised one of its hands.

"Hm? Yes, Cocytus?"

Cocytus, the Floor Guardian of the Fifth Floor of the Great Tomb of Nazarick. Like his creator, Warrior Takemikazuchi, he sees himself as a prideful fighter who admires the fighting spirit of his foes, giving them the honor and respect they deserve when faced against the former in combat. A trait that he also shared with his creator was his cardinal desire to collect weapons. No matter how strong or weak they were, the Sovereign of the Frozen Lake would always wish to at least have a copy of the weapon. Cocytus is also one of the only beings in Nazarick that has a positive karma alignment.

"I. Was. Wondering. If. This. Grand. Admiral. Would. Allow. Us. To. Inspect. Their. Weaponry? We. Might. Be. Able. To. Increase. Our. Military. Power. If. We. Somehow. Find. A. Way. To. Fuse. Their. Technology. With. Our. Magic."

"That's... actually a good idea. If there is a way to enchant weapons such as blasters and equip Nazarick's Guard with them then our defense, as well as our attack power will significantly increase," I thought, as I said aloud "A marvelous idea, Cocytus. What do you think, Albedo?" I turned to the stunningly beautiful woman beside me.

"Cocytus might be on to something, though I don't see why we should seek the Grand Admiral's permission. We could always have some Shadow Demons and Hanzos infiltrate their floating ship and steal some equipment without them noticing. We could also mind control some members of their crew and get them to do our bidding, there is a myriad of options."

"Whilst I am against the idea of going behind the Admiral's back, I can't deny that stealth is the way to go. I don't know if we'll remain allies for the rest of eternity, it seems unlikely now that I think about it. It'd be a good idea to set up some precautionary measures in case anything goes wrong."

"What's your stance on this, Demiurge?"

The Floor Guardian of the Seventh floor -and the one in charge of Nazarick's Defenses put his hand up to his chin, "I believe Albedo's course of action is the one that'd make the most sense. They might want some enchanted weapons themselves if we reveal our true intentions."

"Hm, very well. Albedo?"

The pinnacle of beauty cocked her head.

"Summon a group of five to ten Hanzos and six to fifteen Shadow Demons and task them to infiltrate the Basilisk. Tell them that in the case that they are found they are to kill themselves immediately. We don't want this information to get out after all. After that, they are to find the ship's armory and grab hold of a very small amount of varied weapons. Once they do, tell them to message Shalltear or Aureole Omega, who'll then open a gate for them to step through back to Nazarick."

I then turned my head to Demiurge, "After that's done they are to send the weapons they found to the Seventh floor of the tomb, where Demiurge will be waiting. Your task, Demiurge, is to inspect the weapons, figure out how to replicate them and if you are able to enchant them with any known spell."

Both Demiurge and Albedo deeply bowed once they were given their orders, "Your wish is our command, my lord."

"Now, does anyone else have a question?"

Albedo and Shalltear raised their hands.

"Albedo?" I decided to answer the Overseer's question first.

"What shall we do with the "droids" that are stationed right outside the tomb?"

I thought for a moment, "They're droids, they should need to recharge at least once in a while... Right?"

"Tell me Albedo, have you noticed any patterns with the droids?"

"Yes, now that you mention it, they seem to return to orbit every two to three days. Would you like for me to tell you their current location? We have managed to place a tracking spell on them, so figuring out where they are shouldn't be a problem."

"That won't be necessary. Please set up an illusion spell around the inner circle of the tomb's exterior once their next rotation begins. We can't destroy them as that would set a few red flags in the relationship that the Grand Admiral and I currently have, so illusion spells will have to do for the moment."

"This shall be done immediately."

I nodded.

"Yes, Shalltear?" I asked as I turned to a petite doll-like figure.

Shalltear Bloodfallen was a True Vampire and the Floor Guardian designated to Nazarick's first three floors. Her creator, Peroroncino, had given her the appearance of a small girl no older than fourteen. At first glance, she looked like an innocent beauty, oblivious to the true machinations of the world, but that couldn't be further from the truth. Behind that cute facade was a hideous monster that craved the suffering of others. whilst my guildmate didn't put much effort into her backstory, he certainly took an extreme amount of care when it came to her gear. Thanks to this, Shalltear was the strongest of the Floor Guardians and was even capable of beating me in a one-on-one duel.

"I was wondering, why did someone of your status agree to sign a treaty with such despicable vermin?" Shalltear asked with blissful curiosity.

"How could you be so ignorant, Shalltear? It is obvious that this is just part of Lord Ainz's intricate plan, right my Lord?" Demiurge interrupted before I could answer the True Vampire's question.

All present Guardians turned their heads to their supreme leader.

"As expected of you, Demiurge. Please feel free to explain my plan to the others, I am sure someone as smart as you has already caught wind of what I am planning," I said, my forehead dripping with invisible sweat.

"To grant me such an honor!" The Archdevil turned to face his comrades, "As you all know, our master's grand plan is world domination with the help of our 'allies'. Of course, they'll be slaves to lord Ainz one day, but that's beside the point."

My jaw dropped further than I could have possibly imagined, "What is he talking about?!"

"It'll take a while for this grand plan to come to fruition, but with the 'Empire', things might go smoother. We can use them as a tool to progress our master's grand plan. We can use the Grand Admiral and his lackeys as a scapegoat for all the things we must eventually do. If I am correct Lord Ainz wishes to rule the masses peacefully, and the easiest way to do that is to paint a picture, one that will paint the Empire as the source of all evil. After we do that, we can quickly come in and save the day, we'll be the knights in shining armor whilst they'll be the villain of the story," Demiurge continued, fixing his glasses.

"In the meantime, we will deepen our bonds with the Grand Admiral, we'll slowly latch ourselves onto them, like a plague that one cannot get rid of. And when all is said and done we'll get rid of them, they'll no longer be of use to us and so we shall dispose of them. But, we must be wary, I doubt they're all fools, we must play our cards right, but I am sure our great master already knows that. There are tens if not hundreds of stages in our master's great plan, but I am afraid it'll take too long to explain them all in full detail, at least at the moment."

The skeletal Overlord mentally sighed, "You know what? Screw it."

"Magnificent Demiurge, you are spot on! You missed some vital details but I am sure you'll eventually figure them out, you are one of Nazarick's great minds after all."

All the Guardians were in awe, "Truly. A. Plan. Worthy. Of. A. Supreme. Being!" The mandibles of Cocytus began to rapidly vibrate.

"This world was meant to be conquered by you, even before we arrived, Lord Ainz," Albedo flashed him a smile of pure admiration and happiness.

"You are the only one who is fit to rule above us all, oh great master there is no greater honor than to serve you, the highest of the Supreme Beings!" Shalltear exclaimed with incessant panting.

I stood up from the Throne of Kings, "There is no greater pleasure than to be here with you my children. I am sure you will all serve me well, so raise your heads and make me proud!" And with that, I disappeared from the throne room. I still managed to overhear what happened next with a few spells I'd placed earlier.

An aching silence started to fill the room, at least until the Guardian Overseer spoke up, "We have our orders. Cocytus, Shalltear, I leave you in charge of Nazarick's defenses whilst Demiurge and I begin operation Chordis. Also, Shalltear, would you be a dear and wake Gargantua up?"

"Why do I have to do everything around here! Hmph, fine!"

Demiurge started to walk towards the exit of the throne room, "Chop chop people, there is no time to waste."


Carne Village, New World, Aura Bella Fiora (1st Floor Guardian of the 6th Floor)

Aura was bored. She'd been bored for the past seven or eight hours since the 'rescue op' (that's what the Imperials called what they, she, and Mare did) was accomplished. Once the op was done, the Imperials started to bring everything they brought into the forest out to begin trying to create their outpost again. This was in the hopes that the forest creatures would stay in said forest. So far, the animals had done just that, to the energetic Dark Elf girl's chagrin.

She was currently sitting atop a few metallic and rectangular crates with circular designs on the sides. She'd taken a peek inside earlier and didn't find anything very interesting. It was full of a strange version of barbed wire. She thought about taking it out and getting a better look at it, but that seemed too much of a hassle even for her. She didn't want to try and put it all back in when she was done.

She would have tried to alleviate her boredom by finding and taming one of the various new species of beasts in the New World, but she didn't want to leave Mare alone with the Imperials. She felt that the moment she let him get out of her sight the Imperials would try to kidnap him and do all sorts of experiments on him. Experiments that were most likely just short of Demiurge's level of cruelty but no doubt still cruel. Speaking of, Mare was only about thirty feet away from her, using his powers to clear out some of the forest's trees while a few Imperials used chainsaws to cut down others.

She saw the Imperials then transfer the cut-down trees back to the Human village nearby. There, some of the residents were turning the logs into large stakes, before planting them around the entrance and some of the more vulnerable sides of the village, creating a palisade. She bet that they asked the Imperials for help since one of the walkers from the construction site was moving around. It was using that weird energy beam it had to drive the wooden stakes into the ground and actually make the palisade. She'd watched the Imperial machine for a while, but after the twentieth log being slammed into a pre-dug hole, she lost interest.

"Wish I'd gone with those Stormtroopers to continue the search for the Dryad. Then again, Lord Ainz ordered me to look after Mare while we were here. I just wish this stupid forest clearing would end already. There's nothing to…" Aura's train of thought stopped suddenly as she laid her eyes on a crate a couple of feet away.

There was nothing really special about the crate itself. What had caught her eye was actually on the crate's lid. It was a short black weapon with an attached scope. The best part about it? No one was paying attention to it, so she could mess with it all she wanted. Aura hopped off her pile of crates and zipped over to the unsupervised weapon with a mischievous grin. She picked it up and began examining it in a flash. Her plague of boredom had just been cured.

Aura giggled as she studied the weapon before bringing it up and looking down the sights. She used the sights to look around at the Imperials, the village proper, some of the surrounding trees, and finally the walker. She lowered the weapon as an even brighter idea formed inside her head. She held the rifle at her side and grew expressionless as she began to walk forward, faux drunkenly. She waved the blaster around, waiting for an Imperial to notice her or even Mare.

"Oh bloody Hell!" A trooper called as Aura waved the blaster barrel in his direction. He scrambled away and towards the crate she picked the blaster up from.


Alcar Higash (Trooper, 4th Infantry Division)

"Kark me, where's my blast- oh double bloody Hell," Alcar lamented as he realized the Dark Elf boy stole his blaster. Sergeant Okan was so going to kill him for that.

"Must… obey… the… forest… master…" the boy said as he shifted Alcar's blaster toward him again with one hand.

"You're possessed, too? Can my damn day get any worse?"

"Oi, Alcar, what are you doing down- FIERFEK!" Trooper First Class Trent Byron shouted as the Elf swung the blaster in his direction.

"Get on comms and tell Sarnt Okan that we've got a possessed Elf with a blaster!"

"Where did he even get a-"

"Not important right now, just call it in!"

"Alert, one of the Nazaricki have been possessed! All squads, converge on sector four and set blasters to kill!"

"Kill? If we kill the possessed Nazarickian, the treaty with the Nazaricki will be ruined! Belay the kill order, set for stun!" Okan called back over the comm as the Elf boy walked closer.

"Squad three is inbound, we're coming in from the west!" a voice said as the Elf boy leapt atop a crate, getting a better angle on the pair of Army Troopers.

The boy turned the blaster in Alcar's direction, his finger inching towards the trigger. Alcar couldn't tear his eyes away from the barrel of the blaster as it slowly aimed at him. He closed his eyes and prayed that he'd remembered to set the blaster to safe. He stood there, waiting for what seemed like an eternity for the shot that would kill him. That was when he heard the boy start to giggle.

Alcar opened his eyes and watched as the boy tried to keep from cracking up. He gave up in only a few seconds as he began to cackle at the terrified Army troopers. Alcar's fear slowly turned to indignation as he realized that the boy had been pranking them both. He felt one of his eyes twitching as the Elf hopped off the crate.

"Oh man, you should've seen your faces! That was priceless!" The boy said as began to calm down from his laughing fit.

"You karking little-" Alcar began before Trent interrupted.

"All squads, false alarm. The Nazaricki was messing with us," Trent ground out into the comm.

"Hah, as if anything on this world could possess a Floor Guardian. You really think I'd be smart enough to use this if I was possessed by the Dryad?" the boy said as he gestured towards the forest with the blaster.

"Dryad?" Trent asked, his anger forgotten as his curiosity got the better of him, "What's a Dryad?"

"Uh… how to explain this?" the boy said to himself, scratching his head with the barrel of the blaster.

Alcar knew that what the boy was doing was a gross mistake in weapon safety but decided not to point it out. He began to hope the boy would pull the trigger, keeping the Empire's hands clean if the boy died and getting revenge for scaring the Hell out of both him and Trent. Alcar soon got his wish.

As the boy began to look up and answer Trent, he'd tapped the E-11 with his head. The E-11, with its sensitive trigger, went off when the boy's head tapped the blaster with enough force to depress the trigger. The blaster fired, a red flash exploding against the side of the boy's head. The two Army Troopers stepped back, immediately about to call in the death of one of the Dark Elves when they heard the boy start coughing.

The boy waved the smoke that hung in the air from his near accidental suicide. The boy's head was a mess, blackened by the shot and his hair frazzled as he coughed out some of the smoke. The two Army Troopers watched the boy with their mouths agape. After a minute or two, Alcar turned to face Trent for only a moment, before the pair soundly fainted from shock.


Carne Forest, New World, CT-729448 "Voltage" (Corporal, Stormtrooper)

Voltage placed his helmet down next to him as he sat down with his men. They'd been searching the forest for the 'Dryad' (as the skeletal freak called it) for hours with nothing to show for their wasted time. It was thirteen-thirty GST when Burner called for a ration break. The squad found a small patch of ground with high visibility all around before putting five of their own on security so that the others could dig in.

The Clones were looking forward to their rations as they weren't the standard clear, colorless, odorless, and tasteless little cubes that were usually issued out. The rations they had were gifts courtesy of Carne Village: freshly picked fruit, cheese, bread, and a little bit of pork. Voltage made himself an impromptu sandwich out of the bread, cheese, and meat using his Vibroknife after getting his own rations out. It tasted heavenly compared to the cubes.

As he chewed, Voltage looked into the surrounding forest. It was quite serene as birds chirped in the canopies above which were devoid of any giant spider webs. He took another bite as he watched a smallish flying insect flit towards a tree. It landed on said tree but was swiftly snatched by a green lizard, the insect's wings twitching as the lizard began chewing. He watched the lizard dart up into the tree leaves as he swallowed his third bite.

"You know, for all the monsters and magic in this place, it isn't so bad to look at," The Clone Corporal thought as he took a final bite of his sandwich.

Taking a quick swig from his canteen to wash the remainder of his sandwich down, he donned his helmet and stood up to take over for the brother on security next to him. The other Clone, CT-982015-99, nodded and sat down. CT-982015-99, or 'Kaleesh' to his fellow Stormtroopers, removed his helmet and rubbed his left eye. He claimed the cybernetic itched from time to time. He said this was due to, quote, 'the docs didn't put the Karking thing in right', unquote, after he got his original eye taken out.

Kaleesh had been a part of the task force the Grand Admiral had sent to Kalee when he was in the sector. His original squad had been wiped out, with him the only surviving member. This was due to the fact that the Kaleesh wanted to send a message to the Grand Admiral; one he did not take kindly. When the remainders of the task force he'd sent were returned to him, the Grand Admiral ordered for a bombardment of the planet. While the bombardment had quelled that bout of rebellion, it didn't stop it. Voltage had heard that the resistance began again as soon as the Basilisk had jumped to hyperspace at the end of its rotation. Kaleesh earned his nickname that day when he got out of the infirmary.

"Voltage, are you receiving, over?" Burner asked through Voltage's helmet commlink.

"I can hear you, Sergeant, over," Voltage replied, scanning the forest for threats as he held the talk button down on his gauntlet.

"Grand Admiral has just authorized more troops for the search. They're going to sweep sectors six through ten while we concentrate on sectors one through five. The Grand Admiral says there's also a few caves around here. Would make excellent hiding places, wouldn't they, over?"

"Yes, they would. Where are most of the caves located, over?"

"Around sectors three and four. Your squad's closer to them, so watch your backs. No telling what else might be in there with you besides that Dryad, over."

"Wilco. Any order change regarding the Dryad or is that a negative, over?"

"…Switch to the secure channel."

Voltage caught the hesitation in his superior's tone and quickly realized this was one of those instances where most of the higher-up types didn't need to hear their conversation. He never completely understood why the Grand Admiral had created a channel away from official Imperial comms, but he assumed the man had his reasons. He'd come from a pretty interesting background after all. Of course, the Grand Admiral could access the comm whenever he wanted but that rarely occurred. Voltage surreptitiously switched over to the channel.

"These orders are coming directly from Marshal Commander Harlow. If we find the Dryad, it's to be killed on sight. I don't just mean killed either, I mean thoroughly dead. Burn it to ash with your blasters if you have to, over."

"Are we going behind the Grand Admiral's back with this?" Voltage thought, his eyes widening underneath his helmet while Burner continued.

"Harlow and most of the other higher-ups, like Cavos and that Imperial Army General, think we need to make the Nazaricki rely on us rather than us rely on them. If we can learn their secrets or better yet find some way to surpass their magic, then we won't wind up as their slaves, over."

"Do they really think they're that much of a threat, over?"

"Brother, Harlow saw firsthand what their leader could do. Gown decimated around twenty or so magic users without breaking a sweat. Magic users who, by the way, managed to wound some of our guys. What do you think he could do if he turned his sights on us, over?"

Voltage's mind began to race as he thought about the Nazaricki leader and the Floor Guardians he'd dealt with. Their display of power when they were dispatching the spiders made him uneasy, to say the least. He knew that the Basilisk's Ground Forces could never stand up to Nazarick in a one-on-one fight. The Great Tomb would simply drown men like him and the men of the Imperial Army in a proverbial sea of monsters. The Basilisk would need some kind of overwhelming advantage to fend them off. It made more and more sense to gain said advantage and deny any valuable assets to Nazarick too.

"I understand. Does the Grand Admiral know about this, over?"

"No. It was deemed necessary to leave him in the dark. He has enough on his plate already. Can't say I'm that comfortable with it but I understand where it's coming from, over."

"Sigh, me too. We'll see it through, over."

"I know you will. For the good of the Empire. Out," Burner replied before he cut the comm.

"For the good of the Empire," Voltage whispered to himself as he lowered his gauntlet.

"Orders come in, Corp?" Trooper First Class CT-642833460/111-111, 'One', asked as he stood up to take over for another one of the troopers standing guard.

"Yep. We're to search the local caves for the Dryad. Once it's located, we're to terminate it with extreme prejudice."

"Why the change in orders?"

"Let's just say we can't let Nazarick get any stronger."

"Understood, Corp."

"I hate to do this but tell the boys to hurry up and finish. We've got to get moving before the Nazaricki show up to 'help'."

"Right away Corp."

After One disseminated the order, the other Clones quickly finished their lunch and were ready to go in a second. Voltage then explained the new orders as well as answered, to the best of his ability, the questions that inevitably came. With this finished he and his unit set out for the first set of caves in sector three.


CT-3392648 "Runner" (Stormtrooper)

"Watch your step there," Runner said as he lowered himself to the ground, his helmet's night vision turning on as soon as he entered the cave.

"Rog'. Some of these rocks are pretty slippery, eh?" CT-82210449-22, 'Mountaineer', replied as he deftly stopped himself from slipping.

"Yep. Make sure the others get down safely, I'm going to scout ahead," Runner stated as he began to walk further into the cave's entrance.

"Don't go too far. We can't support you then."

"Relax, I'll turn my IR strobe on. That way you guys can see me."

"Alright but be careful."

"I will," Runner said finally as he turned on the strobe and began to walk into the first passage.

As Runner went deeper and deeper, his helmet's night vision helped him navigate the passage. There was a problem with the night vision though: damn things don't have any depth perception and he kept walking into cobwebs. The cobwebs were sometimes still in use though, and he'd have to knock the large spiders off his face plate with his hand. The spiders quickly either got squished or fled as soon as they came off. His helmet also began to pick up small squeaks off to his sides, most likely coming from mice.

His mind began to wander after the sixth or seventh step he'd taken. He studied the strange patterns that adorned the walls to his right and left. At first, they seemed to be from natural erosion, but he wasn't so sure as he got a closer look at them. Some spots on the wall seemed to be darker than others. It also seemed like the rock was becoming less and less like rock and more like cold magma. This was certainly odd when he took in the fact there weren't any volcanoes in the area.

He began noticing also that some of the foliage that had fallen into the cave was starting to look burnt, and some were mostly ash by the looks of it. Did a fire or something break out down here? If so, it had to have been extremely hot for it to turn the rock into magma. If a fire did light down here, where had the spark for the fire come from? He doubted an ordinary spark from a small campfire could cause something down there to burn hot enough to make magma.

"Oi, Runner, you alright?" Kaleesh asked from behind him.

"Yeah, just looking at the wall here. See anything weird about it?" Runner asked as he pointed up at said wall.

"Now that you mention it…"

"Hey, lovebirds! Quit gawking at that wall and form up!" Voltage called from the head of the assembled squad.

"Right, sorry Corp!" Runner said as he shook his head.

As the pair of Clones walked back, Runner readjusted the strap that he'd attached to his DC-15A. Something about this cave was giving him the creeps. Maybe it was the fact that it was unusually hot down here or the strange feeling of being in a grave. He just couldn't place it. All he really knew was that something had happened down here and whatever it'd been was bad.

"Nice of you two to join us. Let's move and keep your heads on a swivel. That Dryad could come out of anywhere," Voltage ordered as he began walking forward, the pair of wall-watching Clones taking up the rear.

After a few minutes of walking, the cave grew drier and noticeably warmer. It was getting so bad that the helmet's visor was starting to fog up. It was getting very hard to see in the cave. Runner found his eyes wandering and just as they were passing another passageway, his eye caught something sticking out of said passageway.

"Corp, I got something," Runner said as he trained his rifle on the object.

"What do you got?" Voltage asked in reply, getting his own rifle up while the rest of the squad took up security positions.

"It looks like one of ours, sir."

"The Hell do you mean, 'one of ours'? There are no Imperial forces out here besides us and squads one and three."

"Then how do you explain the armor I'm seeing on that?"

"What?"

Voltage came up to Runner and saw the same thing the latter did: a black-armored leg similar to their own armor. Wordlessly, he motioned for four of their squad mates to advance on the leg. The four took the left and right sides of the passageway entrance and got close enough to reach out and touch the leg. Kaleesh, the lead Clone on the right side, counted to five before the four troopers charged into the passageway, weapons raised. The silence that ensued was palpable.

"Uh, Corp? There's something you need to see in here," Kaleesh said from the passageway, practically giving the other troopers a heart attack.

"Runner, you and Mountaineer are with me. One, you and the others are on security," the Clone Corporal said as he began walking toward the passageway.

"Rog'," Runner and Mountaineer said simultaneously, the two also slinging their rifles on their backs.

As soon as the three other Clones entered, they saw what had caught the original four's attention. In total, there were eleven bodies inside the passageway. One was a large creature that looked similar to a dog, but it was practically as tall as an AT-ST. The other ten bodies belonged to humanoid figures in scorched armor. Their armor was unlike anything the Clones had ever seen before.

"Who in the Hell are these guys?" Mountaineer muttered as Runner knelt down to the body next to him and removed the helmet.

"Ah, Kark me Runner!" CT-4024951/562-046, 'Bookworm', exclaimed as the stench of the body grew in intensity.

The body inside was mummified, but it was easy to tell that the wearer had been a man. His face was stuck in an expression of fear and agony, obviously from being burned to death. The man's helmet was covered in centuries-old soot, but it came off easily with a wipe of a hand. There was a symbol on the helmet's forehead, one that none of the Clones had ever seen before.

It was a hexagon with a circle and finally an octagon in the middle, with the octagon having a similar design to the current Imperial crest. The entire thing was a blood red color, with lighter shades of red in between each raised line of the crest. Runner couldn't see all the details of the helmet, however, but that wasn't important. What was important was that the Grand Admiral's theory was right: they weren't the first beings transferred to the New World. This was obvious as the armor, while old, shared many striking similarities to the Clones' own armor. There were also the blasters scattered around.

"What the Hell have we stumbled onto, Corp?" Runner asked as he looked up at his superior.

"I have no idea. Let's start policing all this up. Grab the blasters and then I'll toss a couple of TDs in here to take care of the bodies. Get pictures of everything. Once we're out of the cave, we head back to Carne Village and signal for extract. Keep out of sight of the Dark Elves. We'll report everything to Harlow. Once he knows, we'll go on his orders from there, understood?"

"Yes Corp!" they called and set to work.

The blasters were quickly gathered, with Runner just about to pick up the last one when he felt something blowing on his hand. He looked up and off to another much larger passageway to his left.

"Runner, what are you-" Voltage started to ask before Runner held up a hand.

"Corp, come over here," Runner said as he stood up, old blaster in one hand and his other hand upraised.

The Clone Corporal did so and held his own hand up in front of the passageway. He removed his helmet afterward, to confirm his suspicion before nodding and putting the helmet back on.

"Draft. There's another way out of here."

"Should we see where it leads?" Runner asked as Voltage looked down.

"That would be a good idea, yeah."

"What?"

"Take a look at the ground and tell me what you see."

"Are those...?"

"Yep."

The two Clones looked down at the tracks that were leading out of the cave and towards the passage with the draft. To be specific, the fresh large pawprints.


Author's note: Finally got this chapter done. Sorry it took so long, work and a trip got in the way. School is starting soon, so I'm not sure when I'll be able to post again. I'm unsure of when I'll be able to get the next one out, so from now on I will not post when I hope the chapter will be released. Until then, please review!

By the way, to all gun nerds, sorry about the Aura section. Gross breach of a lot of gun safety rules, I know, but MaxSilverFish made me think of it and I couldn't help but put that in.

Lingo Help:

1330 GST = One-Thirty P.M. Military Time

TDs = Thermal Detonators

IR = Infrared

Rog' = Roger (Affirmative)