Welcome back all.
ideal_man: Not necessarily, in both Legends and canon the Empire had an alliance with the Chiss Ascendancy and didn't betray it. They also had deals with the CSA and the Hutts and some Mandalorians, Palpatine absolutely won't share power within his own government, but he is evidently not above making deals with others.
Don Cheeto: I'm not sold on the idea of SCAR Squad, they seem like a comic book imperial version of Bad Batch, which itself is a cartoon version of Delta Squad, I don't mean to shoot down your ideas but they don't really fit the story. I also want my stormtrooper POVs to be rank and file infantry rather than super elite unconventional units.
However I will be using less common Imperial ships, here's a Praetor in this chapter.
Honest Guy: The timeline isn't stretched to help the Empire so much as it is to give the Empire a reason to stumble into the war, that and the way I am planning out the years for both UNSC and Empire.
The Empire will have plenty of mothballed ships, but it would prefer to use it's newer stuff, the Inquisition is still active, albeit hyper focused on the task of hunting jedi (pleasant surprise in the chapter), all variants of Stormtroopers will be available to the Empire. The Imperial Army will be the main force in the Empire, however it won't be the Empire's preferred fighting force. The Death Star would be massively useful against the Covenant since they don't know it's weakness or have to the Force to exploit it, but that's still almost a decade off. The Emperor and Vader will have massive roles in this story, it will just take time for them to get involved.
Please feel free to message me for ideas or questions!
Guest: I am glad you find the idea interesting, rest assured the UNSC will get its time to shine, so will the Empire as well, even the Rebels will, I don't think Palpatine is necessarily going to be at odds with the UNSC, as I have said above in my first response: Palpatine absolutely won't share power within his own government, but he is evidently not above making deals with others.
Candel06: Glad you are interested, hope you enjoy.
Angry Katte: Yeah I think you're right, I hope I paced it a bit better here. Thanks for the feedback.
zzzxc1: I do have quite a few scenarios in mind where the Empire and the UNSC have to deal with each others respective Rebel movements, I am still a way off from writing that, but the gist of it is that the Insurrection will radicalise the Rebellion, causing them to become more extreme and ruthless.
Amon34: I prefer to use the EU, also known as Legends as it is better written, and I am a bit bitter towards Disney and its new canon. However for the purposes of this crossover I will be using a mixture of the two depending on which I feel is most appropriate at the time.
Mandalore the Survivor: Yeah I can't wait to introduce the Empire to the Brutes. It will be fun... well, not for the Empire but still.
As for the Covenant response, well slipspace takes a while and Jackals are very independent, so it might take a while before any Covenant ships come looking.
You are right about Grievous and the scale of atrocities being comparable to the old republic era.
Rattatak System
Two Imperial class Star Destroyers emerged from hyperspace on the edge of the system and approached Rattatak. The two ships separated and headed their own ways; one went into the debris field, while the other descended towards the ruined planet.
That's the third arrival today, Rix thought to himself before turning away from the hangar door, and back towards the carnage that his men were combing through.
The Lucrehulk ship had turned out to still be intact enough to board, and after few jury rigged repairs gravity and life support were reactivated. Although the ship was a mess, it was possibly salvageable, and had obviously been boarded by the unknown Aliens.
His men now went through the remnants of the battlefield, the remaining hanger was filled with debris - scorch marks, broken battle droids, and a colorful array of alien blood scattered all over the floor.
He walked past a wrecked purple drop ship of unknown design, its hull marked with rocket impacts, and stepped over to an area of the hangar that had been cleared.
Laying on the floor were almost a hundred alien bodies. They were all short, stubby creatures with backpacks filled with methane. There were no weapons among them, but it was clear that there were also larger attackers present during their assault.
So why were these ones left where they fell? Rix briefly watched as a trooper collected samples from one of the dead aliens, before continuing on. Further away, many troopers were hurling debris into a pile; hundreds of battledroids and other bits and pieces were beginning to amass.
Most of the men present were Navy troopers, the Imperial Navy's own equivalent of the Imperial Army. And like the army, they did little more than function as auxiliaries in battle. However, for now they were being supervised on this task by Rix's own squad of stormtroopers.
Rix looked on a hover table a trooper was pushing past him, on it was a collection of ruined B1 battledroids. Rix wasn't interested in the battledroids, his orders were to find and recover any bodies of the unknown aliens on the ship, already two different species had been found, the first were ones that died on the ship they found trying to flee. The second were these stubby methane breathers.
The lack of weapons left behind meant the attackers had recovered them when they left. Perhaps these shorties weren't considered important enough to recover.
Rix wondered if the technicians would be able to pry anything from the battledroids memory circuits, but decided not to bet on it.
He found two of his Stormtroopers looking over the remains of a Dwarf Spider Droid. He moved closer and had a look, the two troopers acknowledged him and continued their debate about what destroyed the machine.
"It looks like a Rancor smashed it, before it got blown up," said the first trooper.
A quiet scoff came from the second trooper, "Yeah, I'm sure it was a Rancor." He replied, sarcasm dripping from his voice.
"I'm not saying it actually was one," said the first trooper, slightly indignant, "it just looks like that."
Rix considered the damage and thought of what species he knew that might've been able to smash a spider droid.
Not many, he mused to himself.
In the corner of his eye he saw a couple navy troopers hurry towards him with a hover table. He briefly looked over to see one was a corporal, before leaving behind the wreck and walking towards them.
"Sir," called out the Corporal, making a quick and hurried salute. "You need to see this," he insisted, grabbing the side of the hover table and bringing it in front of him.
Rix ignored the panicked look on the troopers faces, looked down and picked up the head of a Commando droid. Turning it around in his palm, he looked down at the rest and dropped the head in shock at what he saw.
Across the commando droid which lie in pieces were a couple fine lines where it can been completely melted through.
There was only one weapon that could cause that kind of cut. A lightsaber.
The implications of such a weapon being here set Rix on edge immediately, recomposing himself, he pulled his arm to the side of his helmet and began to key through the comm channels until he got to the Gauntlet.
Looking down at the lightsaber marks, he began to speak.
"Gauntlet, this is Sargent Daruss, over." Said Rix.
"Acknowledged Sargent, proceed." Came the staticky voice of a communications officer.
"Alert the Commander we have evidence of possible Jedi involvement here." Said Rix, carefully phrasing every syllable as he spoke.
There was a pause for a few moments, "Understood." Responded the officer with a hint of uneasiness in his voice.
Rix looked back at the lightsaber marks again, before giving out new orders in his comlink.
"All troopers, begin looking for any signs of a Jedi. Bring any evidence you find to the shuttles." Rix declared.
2 Days Later, aboard Imperial Praetor-class Battlecruiser Gorgon, Rattatak system
The Gorgon was a fine ship, Commander Jastil thought to himself as he exited the turbolift. Being a Praetor Class, the 4800 metre long ship was purpose built for Capital Ship engagements, sacrificing most potential fighter wings for more generator space and gun emplacements.
Presenting one of his code cylinders to the Stormtrooper guard at the bridge door, he quickly patted down his tunic and adjusted his rank plaque.
Jastil walked Through the door after the Trooper gave him back his code cylinder. Entering the bridge, he cast a quick glance over the bridge crew, and kept walking to the holotable, there were almost a dozen Flag officers gathered around.
On the holotable there were a few different ships displayed, mostly the purple unknown ships, but a few confederate ones, two small images of the new species found so far.
At the front of the holotable was Admiral Komal, Commander of the newly assembled 437th Imperial Task Force. The 437th was originally assigned as one of the fleets to the Reconquest of the Rim campaign. However with the recent developments, the fleet was now being sent to deal with the unknown aliens.
Jastil moved to the table and stood between two other Commanders. Casting a quick look outside the bridge windows, he saw the pale planet they found, and a Victory-class Cruiser drifting past.
They still had found no survivors on the planet itself, and lifeform readings were disrupted by all the radiation. Search and Rescue on the planet had been suspended yesterday.
Quiet conversations between the various officers continued, and Jastil found himself talking to the Captain of a Gladiator-class light cruiser about the new TIE-Interceptor fighters.
The talking continued for a few more minutes until an Ensign approached Admiral Komal with a datapad, the Ensign quietly said something to the Admiral.
The Admiral frowned and then grabbed the datapad from the Ensign, looking at it briefly, he handed it back and began to speak to the officers in front of him.
"Gentlemen, it seems we are being joined by an Inquisitor, due to the little discovery we made the other day." He said, annoyed and with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
The rest of the officers went quiet at that. Inquisitors were rare, but when they joined military operations it wasn't pretty. Their position and even legitimacy in the command structure was dubious at best, and stories of power struggles and executions plagued the reputation of the Inquisitorias.
Nobody in the Navy was ever happy to have an inquisitor aboard their ship. However their presence was necessary when dealing with any Jedi activity.
"We will begin when he arrives," said Komal.
"When is he arriving, Sir?" Asked one of the Captains.
Komal responded to the Captain with a grimace on his face. "He is already here Captain, his ship just landed."
As if summoned by the conversation the bridge door opened to reveal an tall humanoid with black and grey armour. He walked forward and to the table, but never said anything.
After a few moments of awkward silence Komal began to speak again, seemingly ignoring the inquisitor.
"Gentlemen, we are here today to resolve the situation in front of us." He said as he gestured with his thumb towards the viewport, where the remains of Rattatak stared lifelessly back at them.
Komal continued: "As you know we have already found two as of yet unidentified species, and evidence of a Jedi leading them. I do not need to explain why this requires our attention."
The Admiral took a breath and continued. "But I will explain how we will find them, one week ago, under orders from High Command, The Gauntlet dispatched 80 Viper probe droids into the unknown regions."
This prompted a few wide looks amongst the officers, the Unknown Regions were notoriously difficult to navigate, and most ships that went there never returned.
"I know this may seem strange, but given we are just on the edge of known space, dealing with species never seen before, and have evidence of a... alternative method of FTL travel, command has decided that this group must be based in the unknown regions." Finished Komal
The Inquisitor remained silent throughout the meeting, most likely only interested in the Jedi.
The Jedi... Jastil thought, why were there Jedi here? The leading theory was that some must have survived the war and retreated into the unknown regions, where they radicalised the species they found into attacking the Empire.
But that was just a theory, and Jastil dismissed it as Komal began to speak again.
"We have now received transmissions from two of the probes." Said Komal.
A small bit of shock registered at that. Only two out of eighty probes. The unknown regions were complicated indeed.
Jastil watched the holotable as Komal tapped a few keys on it, and a single screen came up, it was a recording from one of the probes .
"One of the probes sent this before it was suddenly cut off." Added the Admiral as he gestured with his hand to watch.
Jastil did so, the recording came alive with a quick wall of text, and the first thing they saw was a lush green field, not just a field, a farm, Jastil realised.
In the distance he could see a settlement, what looked like small town, a few vehicles moved around the place on wheels.
The probe continued to examine the area, hovering through the forest it had landed on the edge of. The recording then fast forwarded as the probe moved through the forest. Eventually returning to normal as it came out the edge of the other side of the forest.
It hovered at the edge of a forest and looked outward towards another field, this one however was not a farm. Multiple grey buildings stood behind a fence line, and several aircraft took off from the facility.
The probe zoomed in and saw a set of flags. One of them looked like an avian predator. Held in its clutches was a planet. Obviously a symbol, but nothing Jastil recognised. Around the fence line there were what looked like turrets and missile launchers. It was obviously a military base.
The probe continued to watch for a few minutes, when suddenly its head quickly turned to its left, looking into the forest again.
The probe rotated its whole body and forgot about the base it was just watching. The readout on the recording said the probe armed its blaster cannon at that point. Swivelling its head rapidly.
It was definitely searching for something, when there was a barely audible noise further away. A very quiet crunching sound, like someone had stood on a old leaf.
The probe was looking rapidly around it when it suddenly stopped, looking at an entirely new direction, just in time for Jastil to see something. A shadow that moved so fast he wasn't even sure he saw it.
The probes advanced sensors did see it however, and it opened fire into the area of its stalker. Sending several blaster bolts into the forest, setting a tree on fire and a small swath of land on fire, as the bolts pierced through the vegetation.
Eventually the probe stopped shooting, and began to move forward. Looking around through the clearing smoke as it scanned the area.
The probe stopped for half a second in the dying fires, before suddenly turning to it's right, just in time to catch a glimpse of something heading straight for it.
The recording abruptly ended, and Jastil was left staring at the blurry image it had stopped at. All he could make out from the recordings last moments was... something, big and grey, with a hint of shiny yellow at the head.
It was too blurry and too fast for Jastil to know what it was, and every other officer present seemed to be speechless, at least for a moment.
"What was that?" Muttered one of the officers behind Jastil.
Komal for his part seemed taken aback for only a couple moments. Before pressing a few buttons at the table, causing the display to switch to the other probe that had made it.
On the new screen they saw that this probe had not landed on the planet itself. But instead had nested itself into a ring of asteroids surrounding the planet.
Why it had done so became apparent, as it looked outward from the asteroid it had landed on. It zoomed in and showed dozens of ships of various sizes, and a space station at least four kilometres long. All of them were purple, smooth ships. Exactly the same as the ones they had found.
Close to the station was another orbital construct, a shipyard, assembling a 1.7 kilometre ship, although it looked like it was far from done. Several other ships were also being built, but none of them had completed their superstructure yet, so it was difficult to tell what their final size would be.
Nothing particularly remarkable happed in the display, until the probe picked up a radiation signature. Zooming in on the signal, they saw a small, presumably civilian craft create a portal in front of it, before it disappeared.
Exactly as they did before. Jastil thought, in his mind this confirmed that the anomaly they saw when they entered the system was a new form of FTL travel. The implications of this information were not lost on Jastil.
"Needless to say." Began Komal, "This technology and this Jedi affiliated group, require the attention of the Imperial Navy." Komal seemed to outline that last part, a not so subtle remark at the Inquisitor.
The Inquisitor did not bother responding however. He had not said a word to anyone since he arrived, and Jastil doubted that would change.
Komal seemed to not take notice of the Inquisitors intentional silence, and began talking again. "Our first priority will be to conquer and subjugate the Aliens at the shipyards, we don't know much about the other group, and frankly I do not care."
There was a sense of disdain in the Admiral's voice, and it was understandable. This whole operation was annoying to the Empire. The Reconquest of the Rim Campaign in this part of the galaxy was supposed to have been launched by now, instead the fleets assigned to that, including the 437th, were swapped to this errand.
There were other fleets being moved to take their place, but now they had to deal with these upstart raiders instead of their original mission. Everyone was annoyed, Jastil himself wasn't happy about it.
But the Reconquest Campaign was as much about expanding the Empires borders to that of the old Republic as it was about maintaining the peace and order.
While this secondary group could be dealt with later if it proved troublesome. The main faction they had already found needed to be eliminated.
Komal began to speak yet again. "We already know what we have to do here, we are going to take the path that the probe took to get to this shipyard and begin cleaning up the area from there." He said as he pointed at the holo.
"Any questions?" Asked Komal.
Nobody seemed to have any. "Good, we will depart soon, begin preparations on your ships for a siege, dismissed."
Jastil walked out without much more to say, while a few of the other officers conversed with each other for a bit while making their way out.
He quickly looked back to see the Inquisitor had walked into the Bridge and to the front, standing still at the front most view port and looking forward.
Jastil hoped the Inquisitor would deal with whatever Jedi they found and leave, his presence was unsettling.
To be continued...
Okay, so this may be a bit underwhelming, mostly because this chapter is almost entirely just setup. Hope you guys enjoyed nonetheless.
This chapter has more dialogue than any I have done previously, so let me know what you thought of it.
Of course there is no Jedi involved yet, but I thought this is the conclusion the Imperials would come to.
Originally the Gorgon was going to be an Allegiance-class, but I decided to change it to a Praetor
The UNSC makes its first appearance! It's first proper appearance will be next chapter.
I will see you all next time, please feel free to leave a review.
Merry Christmas and have a happy new year!
