Chapter 1: Landing

"Lord Vader, we're getting close" The Stormtrooper pilot recalled as the Sith Lord could see the planet before his eyes. In his years and years serving under the Galactic Empire he had seen and participated in the conquering all sorts of planets:

Lush green worlds filled with all types of forests, swamps and marshland,

Lifeless wandering planets with nothing but rock wastelands as far as the eye could see,

Frigid ice cold planets populated by some of the harshest and resilient creatures to ever exist and so many more.

But this, this was different. All the other planets had water on them in some for or another but it was almost unheard of for a planet to be almost absolutely and completely covered in water. Not that the possibility didn't exist of course, but it was rare. What made this particular one even more mysterious to both Vader and the Empire council in general is that the planet seemingly appeared almost out of nowhere. None of the Empire's scanners nor researches were even aware of the planet's existence which is very peculiar considering the Empire held a strong foothold of this particular solar system, there was no way a planet like this would not be detected for so long.

"Are there any viable surfaces to land on pilot?" Lord Vader asks him, looking around to the two other Stormtrooper soldiers sent in as Vader's escort.

"There are a few small islands my Lord, my scanners are detecting a bigger one in close proximity to where we'll enter the atmosphere, i'll try to land us there" The pilot responds.

"Very well" Vader says calmly as he walks to the back of the Tie Fighter where the two Stormtroopers stand up and salute "We'll make landing soon. Be prepared" He says to them.

"My lord, if i may ask: What will we do once we make landing?" One of the Stormtroopers asks " Why aren't we deploying our submarines if the planet's mostly made up of water?" the other one asks him.

Vader looks at the two of them before letting out a deep breath "This is just an expeditionary force. We have to make sure whether the water itself is safe. It could be radioactive, or acidic for all we know. And, as well, we have to see if there are any hostile forces on any of the islands spread out on the planet. I don't like the fact that this planet has not been detected by the scanners even though we've been in control of this system for 5 years now, so be on your guard" He says to them as they nod and get their blasters ready.

The sound of the Tie Fighter can be heard as it practically screams past the atmosphere of the planet, the only loud and imposing sound in contrast with the rather peaceful scenery of the wide blue calm ocean. The Tie Fighter locates an island nearby, a small but quaint enough patch of sand big enough for the Fighter to land and to possibly establish and expeditionary base. The noise of the Tie Fighter quiets down as it finally lands. The back of it opens as Lord Vader and his two escorts walk out, their blasters at the ready. They scan the scenery but find nothing resembling a threat and lower their blasters, the warm sun glinting off of Lord Vader's dark black helmet. As he and his two escorts look around, that is when they hear a not so pleasant noise come out of the pilot cabin of the Tie Fighter, followed by a plume of smoke and then by the sounds of an extinguisher.

"Is...is everything alright in there?" One of the Stormtroopers calls out to the pilot as Vader turns around to face the spaceship. Soon, the back of the Tie Fighter opens again as the pilot comes out, coughing a little bit from the smoke.

"What happened?" Vader asks, his deep authoritative voice masking the confusion he was currently in. That was a perfectly functional Tie Fighter just a few moments ago and it went through all the checks aboard the Star Destroyer to make sure it was in top condition.

"I um...*coughs* i really don't know my Lord" The pilot responds, just as confused as the rest of them "Everything seemed fine and then, there was a big burst of light on the control panel and a fire started" He says.

"Can you fix it?" Vader asks.

"Uh..yeah...i think so...it's going to take some time though" He says to him.

Vader is getting visibly frustrated at this point, his breathing getting heavier, his voice deeper "We don't have ti..." He cuts himself off before he can finish his sentence and turns away from the pilot, staring at the seemingly endless ocean. Something's wrong, he can feel it.

"Um...my lord...are you o..." One of the Stormtroopers gets cut off too as the sandy ground beneath them shakes violently and the once calm ocean starts producing uneasy and merciless waves, not big enough to drown them, but big enough to be noticeable. The warm bright sun is covered and the light blue sky turns into dark, creeping clouds, covering the sky in its entirety. It's not natural, not at all. Vader had seen unusual weather patterns on other planets before but this was different, this felt more...purposeful, more direct. As if the clouds themselves were a preview, an announcer, a welcoming mat to something much more sinister.

Vader keeps looking at the ocean as the skies get darker and darker and the waves become more and more violent. The pilot wastes no time and gets back into the Tie Fighter to try to fix the ship before they all drown as Vader has still not taken his gaze off of the ocean.

"Something's coming, be ready" He says calmly as the two Stormtroopers ready themselves, their blasters making that all too familiar sound of being ready to fire. But...at what exactly? This was nature, there was nothing their blasters could do to stop it.

Just then, another strong rumble hits the ground beneath them as just off the coast of the island they see that the water is particularly turning violent. Almost as if something is trying to surface from the very depths of this ocean. And sure enough...it does.

A crack of thunder shakes the ground as the big old ship makes surface from beneath the ocean waves, the entire visage of the vessel coming into full view of Vader and his Stormtrooper guard. The waves intensify, getting more and more violent as the sea vessel stabilizes itself on the surface of the ocean. And then...it's quiet...painfully dreadfully quiet. The waves retreat, the ocean goes back to its former calm self though the dark clouds stay up above in the sky

"Wh...what is that?" One the Stormtroopers asks, bewildered and a little terrified as Vader stares daggers into the sea faring vessel

"A problem" He responds simply to the Stormtrooper's question