The day their strange ships appeared out of nowhere was the day the Empire was shaken to its bloody core. Though we were still somewhat on the high of victories from the Reconquest of the Rim and engaged in what we thought were simple suppression campaigns, we weren't stupid. Me and my crew had gone through the three years of that damnable conflict together, but even we were shaken by the newcomers' brutality…

-Admiral Wulf Yularen, The Dawn of the Andromeda Crusade

Imperial Flotilla in patrol of Baxei Sector

Orbit of Teth.

Year 14 of the reign of the Galactic Empire

The purple planetary gem below glowed in the light of her native system's sun. Also glistening in said light, a small Rebel task force that had been deployed here in hopes of perhaps finding a new point to establish an outpost in. The remains of a stripped-down Nebulon-B Frigate, a thin, long ship with a hammer-like bow and a triangular engine hold containing seven engine nozzles hovered ahead, split in half by the turbolaser batteries of the Imperator II-class Star Destroyer Protector.

Standing in front of the transparisteel window wedges of the bridge, staring at the remnants of not just the Nebulon, but a slew of smaller Rebel transports, Admiral Wulf Yularen, now an elderly man with greying hair and a beard, felt calm. They'd stopped a Rebel attempt at creating another holdout within the Outer Rim, one that they could disappear into both due to the thick jungle and the Monasteries, without suffering so much as a pilot lost.

The remains of the Rebel ships were charred, all due to the heavy amounts of fire that the Turbolaser batteries and various other secondary weapons systems of an ISD could output. Holes drilled into armor, melting hulls freezing in space and the corpses of Rebel crews, mangled by the destruction of their ships, hanged in orbit.

The TIE Fighter Combat Patrol returned to the Protector's hold, one of the bridge crew members reporting, "Admiral, sir. The last of our TIEs have returned. Should we proceed out-system?" his hands behind his back as he stood at attention. Yularen cast a glance back at the man, then sighed and examined the destroyed Rebel vessels more attentively.

When he was finished doing so, which was but a minute later, he said, "Some of the vessels launched escape pods, did they not?"

"Sensors detected launches, yes," Another crewman reported, "Pilots report they've intercepted a good few of them, however. The Tartan gunships we have attempted to, as well, but the debris field proved too thick for them to hit anything," and he handed the Admiral a datapad with the targeting reports from the linked Tartan fleet.

"The Emperor would be displeased if we left any of them to regroup or be rescued," He spoke rather coldly, then added, "Deploy a Scout Trooper platoon and scout droids and provide them with the projected landing zones of those pods. Prepare standard hundred-kilometer search radii around each of the pods and extend them until they interlace. Have a platoon of Stormtroopers present to assist."

He then looked at the man, his dark eyes calculate and calm, "Kill on-sight order remains standing. Let's leave nothing to chance."

"Yes, Admiral," The Crewman to his right, apparently the com officer, saluted, before stepping away to his console and repeating the orders given by Yularen to the troop complement aboard. Yularen looked back down at Teth, the faint memories of tales told by his commanding officers about the planet coming back to him. The mission to rescue Jabba's son.

He pushed down that thought. Long gone was the Republic's time and the Clone Wars. Their duty now resided with protecting the Empire and its interests from dissidents and galactic scum. He turned around and walked toward the center of the bridge, past the first door leading out to the observation area and to the holographic table, which was active.

The stations beside it were manned, too, with loyal men and women of the Imperial Navy. He thought to himself just how proud he was of this crew. They were akin to his former Clone comrades, though normal humans. He was glad that no harm had come to them, though he would honestly never show it as he could back in the day.

Sighing, he activated the holographic table and switched it to display visual translations of the ship's sensor readings. He saw the emerald triangles denoting the position of his two other Star Destroyers and the half-dozen or so Tartan-class gunboats. There was still a Combat Patrol of two squadrons from the Protector's sister ships, but it was better to keep at least a few fighters out.

Just in case, he thought…

He pulled up the com system window and said, "Put me through to Lord Vader…" before watching as the crew set up the connection. The hologram flickered for a moment, then warbled and finally resolved into the menacing, dark form of the Sith Lord that was his and the Imperial military's overall commander…

Clad in an intimidating life-support suit that doubled as his armor, he stared at Yularen with two dark, empty eye sockets as he drew air in, then breathed out, the suit's rebreather puffing with each new, labored breath. He spoke slowly, his booming voice echoing over the ship's communication relay, "Admiral Yularen. Do you have anything to report?" words which sent a chill up every crewman's spines.

"Yes, Lord Vader," The man nodded, steeling himself, "As suspected, a Rebel fleet was attempting to set up an outpost in the Baxei sector. Namely, on the abandoned moon of Teth," then he tapped a few buttons, showing external views of the debris field left by their battle. He then added, "Escape pods have launched, however, and we presume some have made it planetside. I've deployed a force to canvass their landing sites."

"Well done, Admiral. Finish the mission and await relief. We shall speak when you return to the Core," Vader's booming voice replied. The com line shut off and Yularen breathed a deep sigh of relief, tugging at the collar of his uniform. He stayed at the table to watch the Imperial transports, namely Sentinel-class transport shuttles, leave the hangar under fighter escort, descending to the planet below.

He scratched his chin, mumbling, "Teth should be relatively easy to search. There are only so many places they could've gone and our Scout Troopers…" he sighed, then gently tapped a button on the table, returning it to various sensor readings before marching back up to the front of the Bridge so he could stare at their shuttles as they descended.

… Aboard one such Imperial shuttle, a platoon of Stormtroopers was sat face-to-face. Clad in the white plastoid that was so standard for their forces and armed with the fierce scoped E-11 Blaster Rifles, the troopers prepared to deploy onto the austere and strangely monochromatic surface of Teth. Beside them, tending to a pair of brown-colored 74-Z Speeder Bikes were a pair of Troopers with visor protectors on their helmets and lighter armor.

Scout Troopers were always the forwardmost elements of the Stormtrooper Corps's deployment onto a planet, meant specifically to do as their name suggested and scout out targets of opportunity. Some were also armed with Snipers, that being the case with one of the two men ahead of the squad. One of the Stormtroopers, TK-174, asked one of his buddies, "We really just hunting a few stragglers?"

"Seems like it," TK-223 replied as he shouldered his own repeating blaster, a large, longer-barreled machine blaster which he had to lean onto his shoulder, the stock on the ground, in order not to hit the roof. He told his friend, "Word is a few kriffin' escape pods dropped from the ships after we turned them to slag."

"Blast it," Sighed the other guy, "And I was having a good dream, too. Twi'lek twins-"

"Cut the chatter," The team's commander, TK-357, barked. With an orange pauldron on his shoulder denoting his rank and armed with an E-11 with an attached stock, the Commander wasn't one to usually take any sort of nonsense. He put his hand up to his ear, activating his comlink, then said, "This is team Eta, en-route to first Pod site. Teams Gamma and Omicron, be ready for deployment."

He sighed as soon as the confirmations came in, then turned to his team and said, "Scout Droids made landfall ahead of us and have started scanning the escape pods. No life-signs detected anywhere near their landing sites, so be prepared for a long haul. Damn jungle below is thick, so keep your eyes peeled. Two minutes to ramp down."

The Scout Troopers on this side of the ship finished maintenance checks on their bikes, then sat themselves down and strapped themselves into their chairs as mild turbulence hit the transport. The compartment suddenly turned dark, before a red light began to glow, a countdown appearing on a screen below it.

The craft's engines powered and its landing thrusters engaged as landing gear deployed. Its sisters also touched down nearby at other pod sites just as the forward bay door opened. When the green light came on, the first out were the Scout Troopers, their speeder bikes' engines wailing to life as they lurched out of the shuttle's hold.

The Stormtrooper squad dismounted next, blaster rifles set to kill as they did so. The Commander of the squad linked his helmet's Heads-Up Display to the visuals from the Scout Droids, which were farther ahead of the main force and spreading out in a concentric circle. He said, "Move it out. Staggered line," before readying his own blaster.

The Troopers didn't reply. They simply obeyed, marching through into the thicket. Light fog covered the planet's lush purple jungle, a twisting madhouse of thick trees and smaller shrubbery in the underbrush. What few animals there were around stayed clear of the advancing Imperial forces. The men looked at the ground for clues, footprints, anything to give them a sense of where the Rebels were headed.

Plants and leaves crunched underfoot of the well-equipped Stormtroopers as they advanced, checking in with the Droids and Scout troopers every few minutes in order to keep themselves up to date. A pair of TIE Fighters also screamed overhead, a combat air patrol meant to keep any possible escape ships on the ground.

A malcontent 174 whispered, "Why don't these guys ever just surrender, make everything easier?"

"I think they know we have a shoot-on-sight order," 223 told him as he kept his blaster raised up to his shoulder. He told the trooper, "Why run straight into death if you know you have a greater chance at survival if you just hide for a bit?" and he shifted his aim right. They were the two most talkative members of the squad, obviously.

Much farther ahead, the Scout pairs split up, with one of the Scout members heading off to the North. He scanned the trees as he bobbed and weaved through them, his bike's engine whirring and roaring as the antigravity system shot him forward like a bullet. They were trained to operate this stuff like it was an extension of their body.

He was this duo's sniper, too, meaning he had sharper eyes than even the sharpest of the team. Still, he could appreciate the fact the rebels had managed to hide their footprints quite well. For the most part. He tracked a very faint trail down a-ways from the crash site, watching as their scout droids floated high in the sky, utilizing their sensors, optical and otherwise.

… Not that far away from them, a trio of soldiers clad in dark-green uniforms and armed with standard blasters sat, hidden by the canopy of the jungle. One of them, a Twi'Lek woman, spoke, "Kriff me, they sent the Scouts out. Means a Stormtrooper unit ain't that far behind," as she shouldered her A280 and peered down the scope, tracking the Scout Trooper as he zipped past them.

The other two, a human male and a Zabrak male, breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the Scout move out of the way, but waited for the beeping and chatter of the droid overhead, a black machine made up of a top sensor suite that rotated and a base that contained grabbing apparatuses and the antigravity field generator that allowed it to float, to leave, too.

Its massive sensor eye scanned the trees around and even scanned below, but the canopy shielded them just enough. When it moved away, the three Rebel soldiers let out breaths they didn't even know they were holding, before the human commented, "How in the Hell did they know we were gonna set up here…?"

"ISB has a tight grip, Zak," The Zabrak replied, checking his own A280 Blaster over, then hefting the backpack he was carrying their supplies in, "Someone must've squawked. Remember the cell on Thyferra was grabbed just last week. Only one of them had to speak and the Imps would've known we're moving out here."

"Yeah," The Twi'lek, whose skin was blue, her right 'lekku', that organ which replaced the hair on these near-humans, wrapped around her neck like a scarf. She told them, "We oughta move. Their patrol patterns are tight, but we might be able to find a way to squeeze through, get up to one of those monasteries…"

"And hope Rescue comes by to get us to safety?" Zak sighed in disappointment, "You know that's not how command usually works, Zara. Imps have a Kill-on-sight order on us. They won't give up the search. Hell, they might deploy another task force to look for us if all else fails…" and he scratched the scar on the left side of his face.

Zak was young by all metrics save his experience. Though in his late twenties, the young man had witnessed a great deal of the nightmarish reality of war by the time he hit ten years old. The Clone Wars made life on his homeworld rough, with the Empire swinging in to make it even rougher during the Reconquest of the Rim… It was why he joined.

"Surrendering also ain't an option," The Twi'lek spoke. Zara was an uneasy woman. Having been born off-world, away from Ryloth, she never saw her home or many of her kin, save for her own mother and father, slaves on some spice-making planet owned by the Hutts. It was why she was put in charge of a team. She knew Teth.

The Zabrak, Melkor, was the most secretive out of the lot. He'd joined the Cell a few weeks before they were tasked to build a whole new outpost on another planet, but he seemed surprisingly calm and capable. He even hid their tracks from the Stormtroopers and their Droids to the best of his abilities.

He shifted, then showed the two to be quiet and poked his horned head past the tree he was using for cover. There, he saw them, advancing through the forest in the shadows of the canopy and fog, a platoon of Stormtroopers, armed to the teeth, advanced slowly. He showed the two to stay put, hide, duck under bushes, do whatever.

They did…

The patrol pushed on, walking slowly so as to spot anything that moved. There was another group of Rebel survivors nearby, all Zak, Zara and Mel thought as they held their breaths. Four more. If they linked up, they might have had a chance to fight these bastards off, or at least escape quickly. The Stormtroopers pushed past their little hidey-holes, though one of them stopped and scanned the area.

From top to bottom, he looked around, then radioed something in a whisper and kept marching. The trio tensed, grips tightening on their own blasters as the troop moved past them. And, thankfully, the Stormtroopers passed by them without detecting them. They aimed their weapons at the Troopers' backs just in case, with Zara showing them to wait.

The snap-pop and crackle of a blaster round screaming from a position farther ahead caused the entire team to blank. The Stormtroopers ahead moved into cover beside the tree as scarlet bolts of energy screamed overhead. Zara spoke, "Kriffing idiots! I bet it was Lana!" before she stood up and fired a burst at the back of the first Stormtrooper she saw.

The burst struck, staggering the Stormtrooper and causing him to double over, almost falling. He turned about and fired his E-11 at her, causing her to yelp and swear up a storm in Huttese as she ducked. The three E-11 shots fired tracked her descent and one struck her shoulder, sending her scrambling for cover.

Zak and Mel fired next, their rifles barking as Mel went to help get her up and move her to cover. As Mel did so, Zak moved over and provided covering fire, repeatedly squeezing the trigger as half the platoon now focused on them. One of them seemed to immediately call for backup, meaning two other Imp platoons, plus a Scout force, were about to descend on their heads.

Not like it mattered much. As Zara poked out to fire again, she barked, "Mel, Zak, get the Kriff outta here and find your way up to one of those monasteries! I'll hold'em off!" before she fired her blaster. She saw the silhouette of a Rebel get taken out by a bolt, then ducked as the repeating blaster of another Stormtrooper lit up her cover, drilling holes into the tree trunk.

She looked at the two men again, then barked, "GO!" before poking out and firing again. Zak and Mel exchanged one quick look, then both bolted in terrifyingly opposite directions. Zak aimed for a pillar of stone that he could swear he saw a monastery on while he was running. He bolted it across the trees, blaster rifle in hand and praying he wasn't about to encounter a Scout Trooper or Droid.

He could swear he heard footsteps and a Stormtrooper barking some orders far behind him, but didn't dare look back, simply running and praying that he would encounter Mel along the way, or someone else from their unit. As he bolted past what looked like a strange bush, he felt himself suddenly get grabbed, a hand placed over his mouth.

A woman's voice spoke to him, a dead quiet whisper, "Don't scream, you'll attract them to us…" only for him to notice that the skin on the hand that was holding his mouth closed was orange. The thundering footsteps of the Stormtroopers soon came and the white-clad troops, a trio of them, ran forward, one of them with a repeating blaster.

As the steps faded away, Zak breathed a sigh of relief, though he was muffled by the woman's hand. He cast a glance back, only to see blue-white stripe Lekku, a pair of deep blue eyes and white face tattoos on an orange face. She swallowed, then gently looked at the sky, listening for antigrav ripples. Breathing a sigh, she spoke, "Of course, you people come to my planet in my system…" with annoyance palpable in her quiet voice.

Zak turned about, gasping as he saw a woman about his age staring back at him. She was clad in brown, ragged clothing and a torn robe and she was as beautiful as they came. A Togruta, going by the three-lekku and the horns that held that crown of tails on her head. She said to him, "I'm going to find you a shuttle and get you off my rock. Hopefully, the Imperials are gonna give chase."

"... Thanks for saving me…?" Zak said, a bit surprised.

"I only did it because I'd have to bury whatever body the Stormtroopers leave behind," She replied, then ordered, "Follow me," as she pushed her way through to the other side of the shrub, leaves rustling. He blinked, stunned, then followed her out, noticing she was a forehead shorter than him, somehow, and she looked almost malnourished.

She picked up a bag of supplies from one of the other bushes, nearby a thick tree, then drew an old-looking blaster pistol from it. She pulled the tibanna magazine out of it, looked it over and sniffed it, then slammed the container back into the grip of the pistol before she spun it with some flourish around her finger and slotted it into a leather holster.

She turned toward him and asked, "You just gonna gawk or are we moving?" which made him realize his mouth was open. Swallowing, he nodded and followed along, holding his own blaster rifle close as they began their trek. She whispered to herself, "It was gonna happen eventually, but couldn't it wait until tomorrow…?"

"... Sooo…" Zak started, "I'm Zak. Zak Koltho… You have a name?"

"No," She lied, but seemingly for her own personal safety. She added, "And you won't need it anyways. Knowing my name won't get you off Teth and out of my Lekku any faster," while she strutted forth with the kind of poise and hidden ferocity only a veteran of ages past would have. He blinked when he realized that the pistol on her hip was a DC-17 hand blaster… A Clone Wars pistol.

This one had an extended magnetic chamber from the looks. A giant tube attached to it that further-accelerated the heavy bolt of the weapon. She knew her stuff if she'd picked that out of the trash somewhere. The two walked forward, the woman keeping a hand on her pistol's grip as they passed through the thicket.

She paused, however, eyes widening, then leaned against a tree as her legs began to tremble. She whispered, "Oh, no…" before gazing up at the sky. She spoke, "What the hell have the Imperials just brought in…?" as she drew her pistol. In the sky, lilac lightning coursed in the void, snap-pops of strange energy as reality was ripped asunder in a maddening display.

Zak felt a chill shoot up his spine…

Back aboard the Protector

The wail of alarms suddenly filled the bridge, Admiral Yularen staggering as the void beyond Teth's zenith seemed to ripple in lightning blasts. A massive whirlpool of energy, glowing purple, flared ahead of them, a growing wormhole that grew almost to the size of the planet itself. Gazing upon the dark maw of a space cloudstorm the likes of which none of the crew had ever seen before made Wulf's ears ring as if a gong had been hit right by his head.

For but a moment, the whirlwind several hundred thousand kilometers from the planetary zenith flashed once more. Yularen demanded, "What the hell is going on out there!?" as a rippling shockwave washed over the Protector's hull, lightning striking the shields. The ship shook to the very seams as reality collided with whatever unreality lay in that hellish hole.

Sensor crew reported, "Massive energy deflagration, sir! We don't know what the hell we're looking at, but we're picking up contacts on the sensors!" as a second shockwave caused the vessel to shudder again, the blare of alarms intensifying. Shadows emerged in the portal's lilac hue, dots of darkness and light…

"How many!?" Yularen demanded. The sensor officer stared in awe and fear, while Wulf looked ahead at the shadows emerging from the portal ahead, too many to count, flickers and pinpricks of light. He barked again, "Jerod! HOW MANY!?" as he staggered toward the hole where the sensors and gunnery crews were.

"... T-Thousands, sir…" The man's voice cracked. Wulf's eyes shot wide open, his heart dropping. He gazed forward, stumbling over toward the windows as the ship went to Red Alert. He saw them emerging from that whirlwind as if a thick, translucent film was peeled away from them. Shaped like ancient Cathedrals and lined in barrels and energy weapons, their bows sharp, made for ramming, the first and largest of the Fleet's vessels emerged.

At the bow of the leading ship, a Golden, two-headed eagle lay, spreading its wings wide across the heavy ram. She had so many turrets and batteries that she seemed more like a massive gunboat. And massive she was, at what looked to be twenty kilometers' length, she flew on the power of a massive engine array at the rear while its escorting ships, though smaller, but not heavily so, emerged, too.

"... Force…" Yularen whispered as his hand curled up into a fist, nails breaking against the steel of the forward console. The seeming flagship of the fleet had iconography on its sides, too, one burning orange eye encased in a golden panoply, the black slit in the middle seemingly glaring at the dozen warships of the Imperial Navy.

The com officer, though he trembled in his boots, approached Admiral Yularen and said, "S-Sir… Communications relay has r-received a handshake from the leading ship. She identifies herself as the Flagship Vengeful Spirit… And the man in charge of this Fleet wishes to speak to you over the com, sir…"

Wulf swallowed and nodded, "I'll take the call," before turning and marching toward the holographic table. He, like most of his crew, many of whom gawked, simply incredulous at the size of the enemy's warships, was pale as bone now, his hairs growing greyer with each step he took. When he reached the holographic table, he licked his lips, looking at the flickering button that would allow him to answer.

He shook, scratched his mustache, which suddenly felt like it was itching a hell of a lot more than before. He cleared his throat, steadying himself to the best of his abilities, then he thumbed the reply button and spoke, "This is Admiral Wulf Yularen of the Imperial Navy. We are currently engaged in an interdiction campaign against Rebel dissidents in this Sector. Identify and state your business…"

That bluster wasn't going to hold against something that looked like it could simply sweep aside a Star Destroyer just by its sheer presence alone, not to mention the amount of visible barrels on the ship's hull and the escorts she came with. Indeed, the vessels present numbered a little over a thousand, well and truly beyond what Wulf could hope to face with his small three Destroyer force alone.

He watched the hologram ahead flicker with static for a moment as the image was being picked up. It glowed blue, then flickered into the red, then suddenly flowed through a dozen colors before finally settling back into a lighter blue. A fair-skinned, handsome man with a well-chiseled jaw and shaven head appeared, seemingly clad in a heavy suit of powered armor.

His expression was inscrutable, like a mask of stone. His fur cape was held in place by pins with brooches in the form of the eye emblem on the side of his ship. His voice boomed over the com system microphones, bearing an unrecognizable accent, as he spoke, "... I am Horus Lupercal, Primarch of the Sixteenth Legion, son of the Emperor of Mankind. We seek no quarrel with you, Admiral."

Those words did little to alleviate the sudden choking feeling Wulf had in his throat.