Imperial Entanglements
Aries took out his wand and began slowly making his way out of his bedroom and down the stairs, trying to listen for anything at the door. His fat walrus of an Uncle, Vernon Dursley, had stomped his way to the front door, opening it and almost shouting at the man in the grey uniform.
"What do you- who the hell are you?! Some of that freaks lot, I take it?! Well you aren't welc-"
He was quickly cut off by the man in grey, his accent sounding quite upper class and speaking in a no-nonsense tone. "Mr. Dursley, I am Captain Talin of the Imperial Navy. I am here to see Lord Black, or as you knew him before, Mr. Harry Potter. Call him to the door immediately."
Vernon was so shocked by being cut off so abruptly that he remained speechless for a moment before calling out to Aries.
"Boy! Get your worthless hide down here!"
Aries let out a sigh, knowing that all chances of pretending he wasn't home were most likely dashed. Making his way down to the bottom of the stairs and staring at the man in the doorway, he took in the details; He was wearing a hip holster with some kind of gun in it, but nothing he had ever seen before. A small ping on the man's chest with red and blue cubes painted on it, almost like a rubix cube. But what caught him off guard was the warm small the man wore on his face the moment Aries showed his face.
"Ah, Lord Black! It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I am Captain Talin of the Imperial Navy, at your service. I am here to formally invite you aboard my ship, the Star Destroyer 'Intimidator' on behalf of your Great Grandfather, Lord Drexl Kallig. Do you accept?"
Aries was speechless. He barely understood half of what the Captain had said, yet his mind was stuck on one thing. He had a Great Grandfather? He was alive? What was that name? Neither a Potter or a Black? He was confused for sure and somewhat suspicious and yet, he nodded. He had to find out! The Captain however cut off his thought process.
"My Lord, if it is your wish, you may collect your belongings from upstairs. Lord Kallig also extended an invitation for you to move away from here permanently. He is quite confused as to why you are here in the first place, considering your place in society."
This struck Aries dumb for a moment, before giving another nod and heading upstairs. He quickly collected all of his belongings such as they were, he didn't exactly have much to begin with, most of it fitting inside of his trunk. Making his way back down the stairs, struggling slightly with his trunk, the Captain spotted this and gestured for two of the men in white armour that accompanied him to come inside. They took each end of the trunk from Aries without a word, and marched it out of the house and up into the shuttle. Aries followed quickly behind, eager to be away from the place that had been nothing but a house of torment for him for so many years.
"BOY!" Vernon shouted after him "Make sure you don't come back, you useless freak!"
The Captain, who had already been making his way out of the house, stopped abruptly and slowly turned on the spot to face Vernon.
"Insults aimed towards the family of Lord Kallig shall not be tolerated in my presence. Do so again and I shall personally see to it that you live out the rest of your insignificant life inside of a penal colony. Do I make myself quite clear?"
Vernon, who had gone quite pale at the threat, nodded quickly and backed away, leaving the hallway and going into the kitchen. The Captain simply scoffed slightly and turned to Aries, giving him a small grin.
"Apologies if I overstepped my Lord, however your Uncle is something of an oaf." He said apologetically, yet never lost his grin.
Aries truly smiled for the first time since before the death of his Godfather.
"It's fine, you are not wrong. I can't stand him." He said with a nervous chuckle.
The Captain's grin widened at this.
"Excellent. Now, shall we?" He gestured towards the strange looking craft and Aries nodded, moving towards the ramp. He had so many questions!
"What is this thing?!" Aries exclaimed after a moment of silence, pointing towards the craft.
The Captain looked where the young man was pointing before his eyebrows flew up to his hairline in surprise.
"Ah, I had forgotten that you have no knowledge regarding us. As for your question, this is a Lambda-Class T-4a Shuttle, one of the primary transports used within the Empire."
"Oh, right." Aries replied eloquently. Half of what the man had said to him was gibberish. He then thought about the noise of the engine, not to mention the sight of a space shuttle in the middle of the street.
"What about the neighbours? Surely they will report all of this?" The young man half asked, half stated.
The Captain waved a lazy hand. "Not a problem. Lord Kallig has people at the ready to deal with them. I believe he mentioned the word 'Obliviation' although I could be wrong."
'So there were more Witches & Wizards involved then' Aries thought to himself as they reached the ramp of the shuttle. "So, would you mind, erm, Captain, telling me about this Empire?"
Talin frowned slightly at the request, but gave a small nod. "Of course, Lord Black. It will be a short journey to the flagship, however I should have enough time to give you an idea of who we are. It is a somewhat long and complicated story…" He gestured for Aries to board the shuttle, following him as he did.
With Aries, Captain Talin and the strangely armoured men aboard, the ramp retracted and the shuttle began its takeoff sequence, its fins extending. Once comfortable, the Captain began giving the young Lord Black a brief but accurate overview of the Empire, its history, its strength and naturally, the Captains own pride at being a part of it. However, the uniform clad man began to speak with a small amount of sorrow when he spoke about the current state of the Empire. The fact that it had devolved into Warlordism, its forces and goals split. Its territory, a mere shadow of what they once had. The sheer death toll was staggering to Aries, whose only comparisons were Earths on Muggle Wars such as the Second World War, and even that paled in comparison.
As the shuttle began its final approach to the Imperial Star Destroyer 'Intimidator' the Captain finished the brief tale, watching the young man with a small amount of curiosity at how he would receive all of this information.
Aries paused and thought for a few moments before speaking.
"You see, until I was eleven, I didn't even know about magic… But now with everything I have seen, it is kind of hard to not believe you, if you get my meaning?"
Captain Talin simply nodded, as it seemed that Aries wanted to say more.
"Well…" Aries paused once more before continuing. "Where do I come in? I mean, I don't even know the name Kallig! It didn't even show up when I went to Gringotts and…" He broke off upon seeing the Officer's broad grin.
"My Lord Black" The Officer began, still grinning "The reason for that would probably be the fact that the Kallig family are not originally from Earth. But that is a story for Lord Kallig himself to tell you shortly, no doubt, as we have arrived." He gestured outside for Aries to look out through the viewport. There, Aries saw what he could only describe as the largest vessel of any kind he had ever seen. A large dagger shaped ship bristling with all sorts of weapons, with lights visible all over no doubt from the view ports.
"Star Destroyer indeed…" the young Lord murmured.
The Officer's grin broadened even further. "Welcome, my Lord, to the Imperial-I Class Star Destroyer 'Intimidator'. Lord Kallig awaits you in his private quarters. Once we are aboard, I will have to make my way to the bridge as we will need to move out of orbit. You shall be escorted to Lord Kallig by his personal guards. However I believe perhaps first… maybe a change of clothes?" The Captain glanced at what Aries was wearing with no small amount of distaste.
Aries glanced down at the oversized rags he was wearing, feeling his cheeks colour slightly.
The Captain must have noticed this as he quickly spoke again raising a hand slightly "Not to worry my Lord, we have spare uniforms aboard the shuttle that will fit you just fine over in that compartment. You will look like a regular Imperial Officer for the time being, however it will be preferable to your current garments."
Aries simply nodded and moved over to the compartment that Talin had gestured to and upon finding a uniform that looked close enough to his size, got changed. Deciding against wearing the Kepi that the Captain wore, he checked himself out in what little reflection he could see in one of the viewports. 'Not half bad' he thought to himself, clicking the boots a little on the deck of the passenger area.
"Much more appropriate, I must say." The Captain said from behind him, startling Aries slightly. "We have begun docking procedures, please finish making your preparations my Lord, as I do believe that Lord Kallig has put something of a show on for you." The Captain clicked his heels together and ducked his head respectfully before making his way to the cockpit, no doubt to give orders of some kind.
Aries took a deep break and exhaled, turning to face the direction of the ramp that he now knew would extend out and into the hanger of the larger vessel. The Stormtroopers, as he had learned they were called, all got up simultaneously and marched to the front, standing in a formation of four in front of Aries.
With the clanking of metal which could only have been landing gear, the young man took another deep breath before the entrance to the shuttle slid open and the ramp extended down to the deck, revealing a brightly lit hangar bay and something else that left him with his mouth slightly open.
Almost filling the entire hangar, row upon row of people, the ship's crew he mused, stood in formation with a narrow corridor between them leading from the shuttle. As he followed the Stormtroopers down the ramp, the moment his foot touched the deck, all of the gathered personnel clicked their boots in a salute and straightened up even further.
Aries could only give a dazed nod as he was approached by two black armoured figures who politely informed him that they were to escort him to Lord Kallig.
'Now THIS is what power looks like.' The young Lord thought to himself, thinking of Voldemort's small band of death eaters in comparison. With that thought in mind, he allowed himself an almost evil grin.