There were only two things in life that Ari Zuelch really cared about: the Republic and its people, that he lovingly served and protected, and guns. Every Commando had a quirk, as a result of the grueling training, and the morally ambiguous missions they were often sent to. His CO took to upgrading her cyber arm after every mission. Mira would obsessively disassemble and clean her DC-15x sniper rifle. Zek spent most of his downtime either coming up with new ways to blow things up, or at a bar, checking some females out. As for Jaina, well. She came up with new splicing programs that befuddled Republic technicians every time.
He had a nice rental space in sector 12 of Coruscant's level 1337, filled with guns and other assorted weapons. Thermal detonators, old Republic blasters, Confederate rifles, even a couple of electro-staffs and Dathomiri energy bows. Of course, as a Commando, he employed the time tested and trusted DC-17m ICWS, with the det launcher attachment, but that didn't mean he wasn't...flexible, when it came to weapons in the field.
And boy, there were a ton of goodies in the Imperator. Sure, they were carried by creepily silent troopers, but that was a minor detail, one easily disregarded by blaster bolts.
"We should be coming up on the reactor room now." -said Jaina.
Ari nodded. So far, they'd had a relatively easy time. The corridors were surprisingly narrow, and the enemy's aim was not the best. He'd taken a shot to the shoulder pauldron, which was probably going to leave a minor burn, considering the sting he felt through the adrenaline and the half melted tungsten alloy under the ceramically enhanced plastoid. The enemy rifles were fascinating; from what he could tell, they did not require changing gas cartridges, only a brief cooldown period after continuous fire. The idea was not unheard of, per se; many cultures had achieved such a feat, but they were limited to single-shot weapons, such as beam rifles. He'd already confiscated one for himself, taken off the hands of a dead trooper with an orange shoulder pauldron. Their armor was plastoid, just as a Clone's, but somehow they'd made it thicker, much more resistant to any but the most critical hits. Fortunately for the Commandos, they were trained for head and chest targeting.
There were several entrances to the reactor room. They were going in through a service access, which made things a little cramped, especially in bulky Havok-class Commando armor. They quietly arrived at a door, which quietly opened to reveal a truly massive Hypermatter Annihilation reactor, easily three times the size of the ones moving Venator SDs.
"Wow. You could power a colony world for years with just the daily output of one of these." -said Jaina, a little breathless.
Zek gasped in awe. "Yeah...can't wait to blow it up…" -he said, hefting his grenade launcher.
Jaina looked at him, horrified. "What!? You destroy that thing, and we're turned to subatomic particles faster than you can say boom. No, we're just here to mess with it a little, make sure they can't outrun the fleet when they get here. Then, we'll be paying a visit to the Hyperdrive."
The Zabrak looked unbearably saddened by the news, so Ari tried to cheer him up a little. "It's ok, hornhead. You can blow up those engineers if it makes you feel better."
He looked hopefully at Jaina, who rolled her eyes and sighed. "Fine. Just leave one of their consoles standing."
TK-1145 had one purpose in life: to serve. So, when he and his comrades were ordered to board a freighter caught by a tractor beam, he obviously and joyously complied. Breaching equipment was brought in, and he readied his BlasTech E-11 Blaster Rifle to terminate all hostiles.
Loyal, professional, elite soldier that he was, It never crossed his mind, of course, that the hostiles might terminate him.
The freighter's airlock opened on its own, a hail of red and orange blaster fire cutting down three of his comrades, near the door. The remaining five of his squadmates rushed for cover, but they were suddenly pushed to the ground by some unseen force.
Jedi, he thought with an audible hiss. He pointed his blaster and immediately started firing, a blue lightsaber igniting and expertly deflecting the scarlet bolts. Some of the shots retraced their trajectory, fresh ones from inside the ship joining the deadly torrent.
TK-1145 narrowly avoided them, seeking cover behind a crate. More of his comrades were joining the scene, bringing stationary turrets to set up. 1145 felt reassurance that the day was theirs.
And then it wasn't. A blue blur that moved inhumanly fast charged from the ship, striking down three troopers with a single slash. Two Commandos rushed behind him, taking cover and firing to suppress. The troopers focused on the Jedi, but his deflecting never faltered. A Wookie in traditional armor and armed with a massive bowcaster aimed explosive blaster bolts at his comrades, flushing them out of cover to be cut down by the Twi'lek and the female in Mandalorian armor. And when he thought things couldn't get worse, the Jedi's Padawan and a Lasat of all creatures joined the fight.
Soon enough, only TK-1145 remained. And despite his superior cover and above average marksmanship, he would not last long. A single green bolt burned a hole through his skull, courtesy of Mira Y'delle, Krayt's pilot and sniper.
His last, rage-fueled thought? For the Empire!
"Well, that was weird." -said Hera, kneeling down beside one of the downed soldiers. Chopper had taken control of the local grid and had sealed any reinforcements from storming their secured beachhead.
Sabine walked over to her, taking off her colorful helmet. "What, the Clone Trooper knockoffs?" -she asked, kneeling too, and her hand went to remove the dead man's helmet.
"Wait, Sabine, don't!" -warned Kanan, but it was too late. The Mandalorian had removed the pressure locks.
Sabine gasped, as the gaunt skull of the trooper was revealed. The man certainly looked like a human, but his skin was tight against his bones, and colored a deathly white with black veins. His dead eyes were a sickly orange, full of hatred, and smoke billowed slightly from the side of his head, where the sniper bolt had pierced him.
And then it moved.
Some of the dead troopers began to rise, most not bothering to reach for their weapons, simply rapidly shambling towards the Commandos, who responded by quickly falling back and concentrating fire. Ezra and Kanan took on the grisly job of dismembering the undead soldiers, and soon enough, the bodies were rendered unmoving again.
Kanan walked over to a body. Hera took her helmet off. "What...what is he?"
The Jedi grimaced. "A human, believe it or not. I had heard of the Dark Side's corrupting effects, but...I never imagined it could be so thorough." -he said quietly.
Ezra was horrified. "No way. Palpatine didn't look like this and he was a Sith Lord."
"I'll admit, this is baffling. But it would explain the cold rage I felt from the troopers. And the eyes."
Sabine called out from another corpse. "This guy's the same."
"They all are, kid." -said Zeb, unmasking another dead soldier.
Hera looked worriedly at Kanan. "Orders, love?"
Kanan rubbed his short beard thoughtfully, as Mira jogged down to meet them. "Document what we found here. We have to find a way to get the Ghost out."
We finally know the identity of the enemy faction! Even though it was kind of obvious. The purpose of this wasn't a plot twist, rather to emphasize the cycles and constants thing. The Galactic Empire is huge, the largest threat this galaxy has ever seen. They have no regard for life, no stated goals other than total domination, and no dissidents within their ranks. As to who the Emperor is, well, we'll find out soon enough. It's the Empire, alright, but not exactly the one you know. This is a much more brutal, effective, and efficient version, though it does have a bit of a problem with zealotry.
So, this is one of those concepts in my story that I was itching to introduce. Some very hardy, very loyal troops. Imperial Stormtroopers are extremely disciplined soldiers, fanatically loyal to the Empire. They are NOT Clones. Their recruitment process is even more morally abhorrent than the Republic's. As you can see, a certain batch of them has been...experimented on, by a darksider. This is inspired by Mass Effect 3's Reaperized Cerberus Troops, but it uses entirely Star Wars lore, modified to fit my concept. The grand majority of Stormtroopers are just regular humans, however. The Imperator our heroes find is kind of like the Arc Hammer in that it ferries around experimental tech, and it has a lot to do with who is a guest of the ship's captain.
Anyway, next chapter is probably one of my favorites so far. It features a classical character I'm finally getting to bring on board this party. As a hint, we'll be following Maris down to Tatooine. See you next time!