DISCLAIMER: High School DxD belongs to Ichiei Ishibumi and Star Wars belongs to Disney (Unfortunately). The scenario and original characters are mine.
Chapter VII
First Strike
Surveillance Outpost Omicron, Japan, 2012 A.D. (16ABY)
The alarm came without warning. At first, Trooper Rikako Enatsu thought it was one of the weekly drills. She knew it was real when the flashing red lights turned on in the barracks. She immediately snatched her Type 89 rifle from the side of the table, where it had been leaning. She heard the others in the room do likewise as she bolted for the door and switched her radio to the emergency channel.
A frantic voice called out as soon as she switched the channel on. "-ort your status! I repeat, all Omicron personnel, report your status!"
"This is Perimeter, what the Hell is going on in there?!" a voice responded, the sounds of multiple people scrambling in the background.
Another voice, even more frantic than the first, shouted over the radio. "Fucking Christ, they killed them all!"
"This is Trooper Rikako Enatsu, coming from the barracks. What's going on?"
"Intruders in the hangar," another voice said, the more frantic man she'd heard earlier still shouting incoherently in the background, "They killed Major Varnin and the Stormtroopers he brought!"
"What?!"
"Varnin's dead?! What about Captain Daigo? She still alive?"
"Yes, I'm still bloody alive! Who are the intruders? I need details!"
"I didn't get a good look! Shinji, did you see 'em?"
"It's fucking Vader!" Shinji yelled before Rikako heard blaster fire in the background.
"Spast, that's all we need!"
"Dammit. I'm initiating the Ember Protocol. You all know what to do."
Rikako gave a reluctant affirmative that she hoped hadn't been noticed. She had timed it to coincide with one of the others on the radio. She could hear the other troopers who'd been in the barracks coming up behind her, some of whom were pulling back the charging handles on their own Type 89s.
She rounded the corner going slightly too fast, causing her to nearly trip. She quickly recovered as she saw the hangar bay door in sight. She knew she had to get everyone into a good defensive posture to slow Vader down while the Ember Protocol proceeded. He couldn't be allowed to stop it.
"Alright, hold here, hold here! We need to buy time people. Find some cover and get ready-" she never finished as the hangar bay door was ripped apart in front of her. There was no time for plans. She only had time to react.
She brought her rifle up and, in a panic, jerked the trigger. The six rounds that left her rifle were thankfully on target. The problem was that they were going to hit the wrong spot. The bullets were going to hit just above the right side of his belt. Vader held up a single hand and to her horror, she saw all her bullets stop. She could see more black forms coming up behind Vader alongside slightly shorter white forms. They resolved themselves easily when they stepped into the corridor.
Three tall, black-armored soldiers and a squadron of ten old-style Stormtroopers took up positions around the destroyed hangar door. She went to run and find cover but found herself held in place. Vader was holding not only her fired rounds, but also her. She heard someone behind her fire their own Type 89 while watching the Emperor's former enforcer approach. His red-bladed lightsaber was held out to the side as he kept that one hand raised.
The men behind Vader followed after him, opening fire on the other troops that had been behind her. When Vader passed the bullets, they dropped to the floor without preamble. She heard her friends and coworkers die behind her as Vader approached. She trembled and shut her eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain of a stab or her windpipe being crushed. She heard Vader come closer and closer.
Her eyes shot open as soon as she heard the former Sith pass by her without so much as a glance. She felt herself able to move again and for only a second thought about turning to shoot. Weighing her odds of survival with trying that versus surrendering, she chose to surrender. As she felt the rifle slip from her fingers, she turned back toward the destroyed hangar door and realized she was never going to have a choice between death and surrender.
The stun blast from the Stormtrooper standing in front of her saw to that. She fell backward and felt her head connect with the floor. As she lost consciousness, she felt someone pulling her into the hangar before blacking out completely.
Vader's lightsaber hummed quietly as he stalked through the halls of the outpost. He could feel the outpost's personnel scrambling around, half in panic and the other half in fear. He wasn't surprised by the reaction. He knew these people had detailed files on himself at the very least.
He was alone for the time being, Triton Squad and his Death Trooper Guard tackling their own objectives. He had planned for a three-pronged attack once they were inside the outpost. He would take the brunt of the forces inside while Triton Squad took the left side of the outpost and his Death Troopers the right. Four members of Triton Squad had been left behind in the hangar to prevent escape and watch any prisoners that might be taken.
He stopped as he felt a group of presences form up at the end of the hallway. He could feel the taint of the Dark Side coming off of them, denoting them as Palpatine's "Dark Troopers". He reared his lightsaber back before casting it forward, the blade spinning away as the first Dark Trooper came around to attack.
The trooper's head fell from their shoulders as the blade of the lightsaber went through their neck. The lightsaber continued forward unimpeded, and Vader heard a cry of agony as the saber passed the start of the end hallway. The blade quickly returned to his outstretched hands as four troopers began firing from behind cover. Another three advanced in between the line of blaster fire. The former Sith lord began redirecting the shots as he glimpsed a form with an orange pauldron fall flat. The Dark Trooper Commander's visor was gone from his helmet, replaced with an already cooling lightsaber slash mark. That trooper had been the second person the saber had hit.
The three advancing troopers tried to dodge and weave out of the way of the redirected bolts. One had been successful in dodging the shots and opened up on Vader. The second had taken two bolts with one going to their right kneecap. The other bolt struck the trooper's left shoulder. The trooper was having difficulty grabbing their own blaster from its holster as he laid on the ground, his blasted knee unable to give the man the ability to stand. The final trooper lay dead on the floor as the shot Vader had deflected at that trooper had gone through the neck.
Vader, engrossed with deflecting the shots of the squad in front of him, didn't notice the two troopers who'd been sneaking up behind him until one of the troopers put the former Sith into a chokehold. Vader immediately used the Force to spin his lightsaber into a blur, much like the blades on Inquisitor lightsabers, as the other trooper came into view. The trooper immediately aimed at the control box on Vader's chest.
Vader yanked the blaster out of the trooper's hand before violently tossing him into the opposite wall with the Force. With that threat dealt with for now, Vader quickly reached back and grabbed the head of the trooper trying to choke him. The man started screaming as Vader heard the helmet in his hands begin to crack. The former Sith let go as soon as he felt the arms around his neck and head go limp. He didn't look back at the corpse as he lifted the dazed and disarmed trooper in front of him into the air.
He threw the trooper at their comrades at terminal velocity, instantly killing the final advancing trooper as the two collided. Vader then went on the offensive. He recalled his lightsaber and began his own advance, first stopping at the struggling trooper. He yanked the man to his feet and positioned the trooper in front of himself. The shots didn't slacken as the man struggled in Vader's grip. Seven shots struck the man simultaneously, killing him.
Vader didn't care as he got close enough to the other troopers to risk a crossfire. He discarded his human shield and swept his blade through the midsection of the trooper on his right, pulling the blasters out of the hands of the troopers behind him with the Force. He heard them scrambling behind him as he plunged his blade through the helmet of the second trooper. With both of the troopers who'd covered the right side dead, Vader swung back toward the disarmed troopers.
One trooper was dead on the floor. There was no blood or visible sign of injury but it was clear to the former Sith that the final Dark Trooper had killed their comrade. The final trooper was on his knees before Vader, his hands behind his head and helmet on the floor. The trooper's face was blank. No words needed to be said between the trooper and the former Sith. Vader simply gestured his blade towards the hangar. The trooper nodded, stood up, made no moves toward his blaster or his helmet, and began his trek to the hangar.
Vader watched the trooper go, feeling as though he and that trooper had met somewhere before. Perhaps he'd been one of the thousands of Stormtroopers he'd commanded when he was still the Emperor's slave? It was a question for another time as Vader began his own journey to the holding area. Argento and any other prisoners were the main objective of the operation, after all.
Lieutenant, formerly Sergeant, Fox kept an eye on the hangar entrance with CT-91834-65, 'Pincushion', CT-61653, 'Shyriiwook', and CT-1004-269/87, 'Dee Cee'. Despite being the only Triton Squad members inside the hangar they held it easily. This wasn't surprising to the four Clones given the quality of Palpatine's troops. While the Stormtroopers during the height of the Galactic Empire were nowhere near as skilled as the Clones, they were a whole Hell of a lot better than the troops Palpatine employed now. It was so stark a difference that the Clones had wondered if they'd been fighting battle droids rather than human beings.
"The girl still out?" Pincushion asked from atop a crate he sat on, his T-21 Repeating Blaster leaning against said crate.
Shryiiwook glanced at the woman lying beside one of the ship's landing struts. With a small wind-up, he gently kicked her side. There was no reaction. "Yep."
Fox rolled his eyes under his helmet before glancing down the hall. It was still mostly cluttered with bodies, some more recent than others. A pair of squads had tried to take back the hangar an hour previously to no avail. Most were killed in the assault while a few survivors retreated down the hall they'd come from. He wouldn't be surprised if they were still back there somewhere. He let out a sigh as he turned his gaze back to the inner hangar.
"Wonder when the next strike'll come…" Dee Cee stated quietly as he checked the power pack on his DLT-20A rifle for the twentieth time. It was a pretty bad habit he'd picked up during the Clone Wars, and it annoyed Fox. It wasn't so annoying that it distracted Fox but it annoyed him in that if Dee Cee was caught during a check it meant one less blaster in a fight.
"Pretty sure your ammo is good Dee Cee," Fox commented casually, glancing down at the trooper in question.
Dee Cee looked up while reinserting his power pack, evidently seeing through Fox's casual comment. "Sorry sir. I just get nervous on these kinds of assignments."
"I know, but at the same time, what happens when another attack happens, and your power pack isn't in your blaster? One more blaster might make all the difference."
"Yeah right. We're the second-best unit in this place. I have a feeling the bad guys would be hard-pressed to kill at least one of us."
"What about one of those Fallen? We know they're here, and it took Hyōdō and a squad of Shadow Troopers to take one of them down. We may be the best squad of Stormtroopers lord Vader has, but at the end of the day, we're still just normal Stormtroopers."
"I'm sure we can take one. The one we've got doesn't seem that tough!"
"Looks can be deceiving. You of all peop-"
"Heads up, we've got incoming," Pincushion stated quickly, hopping off the crate and taking aim at the approaching figure.
Fox and Dee Cee did the same as they trained their weapons down the hall. Fox scanned the area behind the man before focusing more closely on him. The man was quite obviously one of Palpatine's Dark Troopers, minus his weapon and helmet. The man's hands were behind his head and his face was utterly blank. Suffice to say, it creeped Fox out.
Dee Cee leveled his rifle at the man's chest before issuing orders to the man, "Stop right there! You will turn around and approach slowly or you will be shot! Nod if you understand!"
The man nodded and did as he was instructed. Fox pulled out his binders and had his hand out toward the man's hands as the man closed the distance. As soon as he was within reach the binders were snapped onto the man's wrists. Fox then dragged the man back toward Shryiiwook, his E-11b rifle placed squarely in the middle of the man's back.
"Keep an eye on him. He tries anything, blast him."
"Yes sir. Want me to notify command?"
"Negative, I'll do it. CT-91834-65 get over here and help keep an eye on our new prisoner. CT-1004-269/87 keep scanning the hall. Open fire on anything that tries to get in here that isn't our squad, lord Vader, or his guards."
"Yessir."
Fox began ascending the ship's steps as soon as he was finished issuing his orders. He found the comm console quickly, having used it before to inform Piett of their first prisoner. After ensuring the ship's encryption still held, he called their home. A short conversation about the operation and the new prisoner later, and Fox was outside again.
"Any new orders?" Pincushion asked as Fox descended the ship's ramp.
"Negative. We're to continue holding the hangar unless ordered to do otherwise by Commander Appo or Lord Vader."
"Did you mean to leave out our third-in-command on purpose Lieutenant?"
"You forget how he and his kind operate. He won't deign to request backup from us normal troopers. Besides, I'm quite sure they can handle themselves. They are special forces after all."
"Aren't we past that now though, sir?"
"Habits are hard to break Corporal. Especially for Death Troopers."
VF-G11, leader of lord Vader's Death Trooper Guard and formerly designated DT-V11, crept toward the open doorway on his right. VF-G12 and VF-G13 were right behind him with weapons held at a low-ready position. They all carried their standard E-11D carbines with stocks collapsed as they were in tight quarters. VF-G11 kept an eye on the motion tracker in his HUD while the other focused on the doorway.
G11 held up a hand and came to a halt just before the door, "G12, cover the corridor. G13 you're with me. I'll take the left; you take the right. As soon as I give the signal, we make entry and check for hostiles. Clear?"
"Clear sir," his fellow Death Troopers answered. G12 brought his carbine up in a high-ready position while G13 and himself closed in on the doorway.
He took his position at the door, his carbine held across his torso with the barrel pointed at the ground. G13 trapped her carbine's stock under her armpit while pulling out a flash grenade. G11 held up three fingers and counted down.
As his countdown reached one she primed the flash and tossed it inside before hitting the other side of the door. A muted whump sounded inside, muted even further by the troopers' helmets. A trio of blasters opened fire at them, accurate enough for the two Death Troopers to know that the flash grenade had been useless. G11 glanced at the motion tracker in his HUD. The hostiles inside were content to keep their positions for the time being.
"G13, keep them busy while I try and find a way behind them," he ordered, unconcerned if the hostiles inside heard him. There wasn't a need for concern since all they would hear would be garbled nonsense.
His fellow Death Trooper nodded before edging as close to the open door as she could and not exposing herself. The barrel of her carbine was just barely past the doorframe as she opened up on the room's occupants. G11 moved as soon as his fellow Death Trooper fired into the room. His motion tracker had mapped out a second opening in the room down the corridor.
G12 opened fire at something down the corridor, and G11's MFTAS brightened in response to the blaster fire. He caught a glimpse of a white-armored being as it ducked into a doorway down the hall. They would deal with that room later as he got closer to the second entrance. His motion tracker pinged as new movement appeared. Someone or something was moving toward the second door.
He raised his carbine in anticipation of the enemy he knew was going to appear. His carbine was lined up on where the head would be if someone was coming out. When one of Palpatine's new Stormtroopers came out, he got three consecutive shots. The Stormtrooper's helmet was blasted apart instantly. The headless body collapsed as G11 reached the left side of the doorframe. Making sure no one else was sneaking up on him inside the room, he dashed in.
In another life the room would've been a quaint office cafeteria, much like the one at their home near the outskirts of Kuoh Town. That ceased to be the case the moment the outpost had been invaded by their little group. A metallic self-service kitchen counter was providing cover for two Stormtroopers and a black-uniformed Officer. G11 couldn't make out the rank plaque from where he was. He did see the still form of a third Stormtrooper, a pair of scorch marks visible on the center of the trooper's chest plate with another mark in the center of the trooper's visor.
The Death Trooper took careful aim at the Officer, who looked scared out her mind. He began to squeeze the trigger on his carbine as the Officer fumbled with something in her breast pocket. She had just managed to pull out a small object when his trigger broke, and a bolt lanced out from his carbine. The bolt passed cleanly through the side of her upper chest and impacted the wall on the opposite side. The shot drew the attention of both Stormtroopers.
One of the troopers turned their weapon on him while the other kept G13 suppressed. G11 was already moving when the trooper began firing. Being a Death Trooper came with many perks, one of which was genetic augmentation. G13 had always believed he was fast before the genetic augments. His speed had been increased to the point that many non-Death Troopers saw only a blur when he sprinted. He wasn't going that fast at this particular moment, but it was enough to throw the trooper's aim off.
The Stormtrooper's blaster barked and a bolt grazed the Death Trooper's pauldron. Had G11 been a moment slower he'd be dead, but he didn't care. Being a Death Trooper made him disregard those risks. This was also helped by his and his squad's time as lord Vader's personal guard. He returned fire and struck the trooper in the side. The Stormtrooper fell with a grunt, his own blaster falling from his hands as he went to grasp at the wound.
When G11 reached the final trooper, the trooper had turned enough to get his weapon within striking distance. It was a miraculous thing when the trooper knocked the Death Trooper's blaster carbine out of his hand. It was a very short-lived victory, however. G11 instantly struck the Stormtrooper with a powerful jab to the trooper's sternum. The trooper, having had the wind knocked out of him by the jab, was unprepared for the hands that wrapped around their throat and blaster hand.
The Death Trooper Squad Leader squeezed as hard as he could, tightening his already vice-like grip on the Stormtrooper's throat. The Stormtrooper's blaster fired impotently into the ceiling while their other hand latched onto the hand choking them. Without a word, G11 snapped the trooper's neck by slamming them into the edge of the kitchen counter. He glanced down at the trooper he shot in the side when he let go of the broken trooper he'd been holding.
A small kick to the arm closest to the wound forced the wounded trooper onto his back. Not willing to leave a wounded enemy at his back, G11 grabbed a fallen blaster and pointed it at the trooper's chest. A pair of bolts ended the trooper's suffering. The Death Trooper was just about to toss the blaster away when it dawned on him that the blaster wasn't a standard E-11. It definitely took design cues from one, but it was certainly not one. He decided to bring it back for study as he put it in his E-11D's holster. Once that was accomplished, he retrieved his E-11D before calling out to his squadmates.
"All hostiles have been dealt with in here. How is it out there? I know there was one near the end of the corridor."
"Taken care of, sir," G12 responded as G13 moved past the open door. He began moving towards the door, his gaze never moving even as he felt his boot connect with the Officer's arm.
He never saw the rosary that was revealed in the Officer's open palm as he left the room and rejoined his squad.
Commander CC-1119, "Appo", ducked back as a blaster bolt blew a chunk out of the hallway wall he was taking cover behind. He glanced backward to check on two of his men. They'd both been hit in the ambush that he'd walked them into stupidly. Damn his old age!
CT-83-399, "Copper", and CT-77263-14, "Knot", had rounded the corner of the hallway that he was now using as cover and took around six blasts. Copper had taken the brunt of the bolts. Appo already knew the trooper was dead as Copper had taken four of the shots to his chest plate. Knot had been marginally luckier. The pair of bolts that had hit him had tagged his kneecap and skated off the top of his helmet when he'd fallen. Had his fall been slower Appo would have two dead brothers rather than one.
Appo called back once he was finished checking his casualties. "Granite get up here!"
CT-091774/881, "Granite", was the squad's demolition specialist, and Appo could already see him digging in the backpack full of explosives.
"Therm Dets, sir?" Granite asked as he pulled a pair of standard issue N-20 Baradium-core thermal detonator from the backpack. His backpack was full of those, but Appo knew he also had a few other types for 'special occasions'.
"Got any Class-A dets?"
"Only one, sir. You want me to toss it, or do you want to?"
"I'm not sure where they are just yet but be ready to hand me it when I- Look out!"
"Wha-" Granite was pushed aside as Appo leveled his TL-50 at the man who'd appeared at the lip of the corner opposite himself. The man had had his rifle up and ready to shoot when Appo's burst nearly tore him in half.
The fire from down the hallway seemed to double and forced the two Clones to flinch back from the corner.
"Fierfek, I didn't want to waste one of our flash grenades so soon. Hand me one then get ready to toss your therm det."
"Yessir!"
The flash bomb was quickly handed over and just as quickly armed and tossed at their attackers. It took two seconds for the bomb to go off and then one more for the Class-A Thermal Detonator to sail down the hallway and at the trio of swearing forms. At the five-second mark, Granite had ducked back into their corner. The hallway shook from the detonation and it was several seconds more before Appo peeked out of his cover.
The end of the hall was a mess. Part of the ceiling had collapsed onto one of the bodies and a fire had started. Appo heard a click before he saw water start pouring from the rest of the hallway's ceiling. The fire was quickly doused and the floor became very slick. He could see the other two bodies clearly. One had been flung backward by the explosion, and from what he could see, the man was clearly dead.
The final man was barely alive and unable to fight. Appo nodded to himself and motioned for his squad members who were still up to start moving. He turned back to the squad's medic, "Coric", or CT-4481-33 if one wanted to be formal.
"Get Knot and Copper back to the hangar. Link back up with us when and if you can, clear?"
Coric nodded and helped Knot get up. The medic and wounded trooper grabbed onto Copper and began to drag the dead trooper back to the hangar. Appo shook his head sadly before turning to join the rest of the squad. They still had to find the detention area after all. Thankfully, Palpatine and those who served him copied the original Empire's designs for military installations. The cells should be near the center of the outpost. Appo just hoped he wouldn't lose more of Triton Squad before they found them.
SC-99471 directed the few remaining defenders in this particular section of Omicron to take positions. They were meant to hold whoever was coming for them at bay for however long they could. He didn't give them great odds of surviving for long. When he'd been younger, he worked right alongside the 501st during the Manaan Uprising as part of Manaan's local Stormtrooper garrison. He'd seen firsthand just what they were capable of. Sure, it had been against the Rebellion, but the opposition wasn't just any old members of the Rebellion.
The units he, his garrison, and the 501st had been sent to deal with were members of SpecForce. Most of SC-99471's garrison had been killed before the battle really got started. His men had just barely been able to hold back the Rebels before Vader and the 501st had arrived. Within a span of four hours, the Rebels had been pushed back to the outskirts of Ahto City. The Rebels had then entrenched themselves in the city's outskirts as they couldn't retreat further. Any further retreats would place them in the water.
SC-99471 could still remember the brutal fighting there even now. Now, however, rather than being on the winning side, he was playing the part of the besieged SpecForce operative. He hoped and prayed that none of Vader's men in Omicron found them. If they had that luck, then it would be possible to escape. There was no point in staying to complete the Ember Protocol, after all.
The Ember Protocol… that directive was always a fool's errand. It was meant as a way to deny as much sensitive data to the enemy as possible. It was designed to work against Devils, Angels, Fallen, and any other Supernatural or Natural foe Earth had to throw at them. Against foes that were from their home galaxy, like Vader and the 501st, it was useless. The protocol had been adapted from the old Empire's Cinder Protocol. Vader at the very least would be able to counteract the data erasure easily.
SC-99471's thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of one of the cell block guards. Strange that one of them would be out here and not taking care of the prisoners. "Something wrong, trooper?"
"Sir, we haven't been able to get inside the detention area. It's all locked down! We put in our clearance codes and it still wouldn't open up! Someone's overriding our attempts at entry!" the guard explained frantically as he gestured back at the cell block.
"Vader's people couldn't have gotten there already," SC-94471 thought before he replied, "Dammit. You five, with me. We'll sort this out. You stay here and take a position. You need to buy us as much time as possible to dispose of the prisoners."
"Yessir!"
SC-94471 was already moving toward the cells as the guard found a place in the hastily assembled line. The others of his team were a technician, a veteran of the old Imperial Army, two local recruits, and another Stormtrooper. The other trooper and himself had been the only Stormtroopers to arrive and set up the defense. SC-94471 was the ranking trooper between them, being a Sergeant First-Class. It was hard getting promotions on a relatively peaceful post like Manaan. He'd only made Sergeant because of the uprising after all.
As the team of six continued toward the detention area, the lights flickered and died. The emergency lights switched on a few seconds later. SC-94471 couldn't help but feel a little creeped out by the change in light. He'd read too many horror stories growing up and now he couldn't help but be on edge whenever creepy shit happened. The lights going out and being replaced by the emergency lights was near the top of his "Do Not Like" list.
"The Hell's happened to the lights?" one of the locals asked as the team picked up the pace.
SC-94471 considered answering him before the technician opened her mouth, "Vader or one of his guys must've taken the power out. How the Hell are they moving so fast?"
"Varnin wasn't exactly an original guy," the Army veteran pointed out dryly, "Omicron is a carbon copy of most Imperial installations in the home galaxy. You'll find most of our veteran Officer corps to share that line of thinking."
The other Stormtrooper spoke up after the Army veteran's comment. "Careful, Trooper Uran. That's dangerously close to defeatist talk."
"Uh… anyone else notice that we're alone here?" one of the locals spoke up as he raised the slug thrower he'd been holding. SC-94471 thought that particular version of slug thrower was called a 'Type 64'.
The other local did much the same, raising her smaller slug thrower. SC-94471 couldn't recall what that one was called. "Now that you mention it…"
"Would you all knock it off? I've already got a bad feeling about this, I don't need you all making it worse!"
"Not sure we could make it any worse…" one of the team muttered. SC-94471 still caught it, however.
"You damn well know what I meant. So all of you pipe down until we get to the detention area, eh?"
He didn't get any replies from the team. They at least stopped talking, which helped his nerves. The six of them arrived at the detention area after a ten-minute trek. SC-94471 set the technician to work immediately. Just as the technician got to work on the door override controls, SC-94471's comlink came alive.
"KzzTzk-killing us-KZZtzzkT-need imme-kzt-ssitan-tzk-Vader!"
SC-94471's blood ran cold.
Vader's assault on the hastily created defensive line was swift, brutal, and utterly inescapable. None of the defenders surrendered. It was a bloodbath. The former Sith stepped over the body of one who'd been speaking into a comlink when he'd gotten to them. His lightsaber hummed as he walked toward the detention area, his breathing the only other sound.
He could sense five beings up ahead. None were the corrupted Fallen angels. He hadn't encountered any of the ones Raynare had reported were here. Had they left before the assault began?
If they had, they would most likely retreat to the abandoned church. The church would be more of a challenge for his men. He wasn't foolish enough to believe for a second that the church didn't have any kind of supernatural defenses besides the priests and Fallen. Gremory would most likely have a way to counteract them. Perhaps she'd be willing to explain how to get past them since he knew she wouldn't be able to directly attack the Fallen, as it would risk the Three-Way-War to start again.
More beings were approaching rapidly from behind. Vader would need to deal with them too, since he already knew they were more of Palpatine's men. Slowing them down would help him prepare Raynare and the prisoners she'd freed for them. Using the Force, he ripped the ceiling of the hallway behind him down and crushed the door controls to a pair of large rooms on both sides of the hall. They could enter one way but they'd need to blow the second door open to get through.
Vader never slowed down at all as he continued that pattern, repeating it four times. The former Sith stopped after the fourth as he was now close enough to the cells. He turned the corner and looked upon the horrified faces of four out of six people. The other two were Stormtroopers and thus wearing helmets, but he could tell they were equally terrified. The six of them had been trying to get inside the detention area.
One of the helmeted troopers backed up against the door. He was shaking his head as the others raised their weapons on the former Sith, save for the one crouched next to the door control panel.
"Open fire!" the second Stormtrooper shouted out, kicking off another skirmish.
Vader wasted no time and deflected the bolt before using the Force to yank the attackers' weapons out of their hands. The Stormtrooper leapt at him, a knife in his outstretched hand. Vader seized the man with the Force and pinned him to the ceiling. The Stormtrooper didn't live long past that as he was cut in two by Vader's lightsaber. The two halves of the body dropped behind Vader as he advanced toward a Japanese man who'd scrambled for the blaster the Stormtrooper lost.
A quick downward slash solved that problem. The man's head fell from his shoulders as his body fell atop the blaster.
"Saizo!" the woman cried, reaching for the dead man. Vader allowed her to pass him and stood before the older man.
The older man's look of horror had morphed into one of defiance. He stood still as the former Sith came to a stop before him. The man spat to the side before speaking. "I won't surrender, traitor."
"I expected as much. I will make your end quick, Trooper Uran." Vader replied, recognizing the older man as one of the Army Infantrymen from the Subjugation of Mygeeto. Vader always remembered those who had impressed him, even to the smallest degree.
Uran closed his eyes as Vader ran his blade through the veteran's heart. He was about to turn to the last two when he heard the telltale squeak of a blaster being scraped against the ground. Without looking back, Vader raised a hand and the woman who'd started pulling the blaster out from under Saizo's corpse grasped at her throat. She was lifted into the air as Vader choked her through the Force. A moment later, he clenched his fist and snapped the woman's neck.
"Move away from the panel," Vader ordered as he let go of the woman's corpse.
The one man, more a teen really, near the panel quickly jumped up and ran away from the panel and next to the Stormtrooper, who was still shaking his head. Vader nodded to himself before using the Force to push the two into the wall behind them. He didn't kill them, as both were unarmed and unwilling to fight from what the Force told them. The two slumped to the floor unconscious.
"You may open the door, Raynare," Vader said mildly, deactivating his lightsaber and hooking it into place on his belt.
The door hissed open quietly. Raynare stood behind the control console with Argento at her side. A group of nine others were behind her, three of which were armed with blasters. It wasn't hard to tell where they'd got them from the three bodies in the room.
Vader studied the group of nine before using the Force to grab his two prisoners and place them in the nearest cell. He then activated the door to that cell with the Force while approaching the group of eleven.
"I'm sure you all have questions. Questions I will answer when we are away from this place. That will have to wait, however. More are coming. Can I count on you to help me fight them?"
Raynare came around the console with a smirk. Vader knew she wouldn't miss out on a chance to have her revenge. He didn't blame her for wanting that. A young Kuoh Academy student holding onto one of the blasters stepped forward, then the large red being, until only Argento and a young man with a monkey-like tail were all that remained where they were.
"Very well. You six will need weapons. These should suffice," Vader began, using the Force to retrieve the weapons of the six-man team, "Take positions around the console and cells. You two will be my backup. Raynare, you will be fighting alongside me. We must keep them out of this room."
"Yes, my lord," Raynare replied as soon as he finished speaking, summoning her Spears of Light.
The large red being narrowed her eyes. "Why should we care if they get inside?"
"That will mean Argento's death. If she dies, the Three-Way War will begin again. If that happens, the man who imprisoned all of you will gain an army once the fighting is done."
The boy with fox ears and tail sputtered upon hearing that. "H-how? That's-"
"Impossible? Not for him. He's done so before."
"What? Where?" the Kuoh student asked incredulously. Vader wondered why she wasn't concerned about the beings she'd been exposed to like the other humans he'd seen.
"For now, I'll simply say it was somewhere far, far away. Now find a place to take cover behind."
Captain Miyu Daigo led two squadrons of security personnel that she'd managed to cobble together toward the detention area. It had originally been five squads, but the other three had been destroyed on the way. One squad and a half squad were taken out by a squadron of old-style Stormtroopers with pauldrons, dark green lenses, and furry monster-like faces painted on their blue-striped armor. The other one squad and a half squad to be destroyed was done so by a trio of honest-to-God Death Troopers.
Daigo was certain the Death Troopers had been wiped out when Byss had been destroyed. Given the blue markings on these particular Death Troopers, it wasn't hard for her to figure out who they belonged to. So far she'd been lucky to have avoided Vader.
Daigo pulled out her comlink. This was another important part of the Ember Protocol. "Attention all units, this is Captain Daigo. To those of you who haven't retreated to the abandoned church or aren't dead… take out as many of Vader's men as possible. We cannot allow him to leave here with his men intact. Know that your service will be commended. Long live the Empire!"
Daigo didn't wait for replies as she shut down the comlink channel. She checked her RK-3's power pack and prayed her good fortune wouldn't break as she led her men to the detention area. She knew her good luck had ended when they came across the first collapsed ceiling and the bodies. It took an hour to get through all of the collapsed ceilings before they arrived. Her heart sank when she finally laid eyes upon the cells.
There, standing before them, was Vader. She was behind the squadrons and didn't get a good look. She could hear him though. Her mouth became as dry as the desert when the slaughter began. She watched in mounting horror as Vader, Raynare, and two of the Yōkai they'd captured tore her men apart. She wouldn't let them reach her.
Captain Miyu Daigo placed the barrel of her RK-3 against her temple just as Raynare gutted her second-in-command. Her comlink came on as she did this. She heard the shouts for reinforcements and knew, deep down, that none would be coming. Vader had taken down an outpost of one hundred with ten Stormtroopers, three Death Troopers, and himself alone. The traitor had already won. Omicron was lost.
Daigo pulled the trigger on her pistol just as the former Sith turned his blade on her. In her brain's dying moments, which seemed to feel like hours, she had to wonder how everything had gone wrong. Then it came to her.
She and the rest of Omicron had challenged Darth Vader… and they blinked.
Author's note: Sorry this chapter took so long to get this out. Travel plus starting another fic and a lot of other stuff got in the way. Will try to be better with uploads in the future, but I've got the attention span of a goldfish. Add that to another fic I plan on starting... I have set myself a schedule to try and keep me working on my three fics, so here it is:
1. Issei Hyodo, Apprentice of Vader
2. Fallout X Overlord Fic (To Replace ROTIGTA)
3. Rosario+Vampire: The Blackest Eyes