Chapter I

A Family History, and The Battle of Iryx

It was a beautiful sunny day on the planet Iyrx, just like any other. Dreamtroopers went about their business as usual, patrolling the castle grounds of their leader, Prince Onasius, to ensure nothing was out of the ordinary. Dreamtroopers made up the personal military forces of Prince Onasius - each one had been genetically manipulated, by many knowledgeable droids in a factory on the star Monara, to create the perfect soldiers to make up the army that did not require training. The troopers wore the armours of old clone troopers and stormtroopers, found from previous battles, with symbols resembling a star shape, coloured in yellow, pink or blue, painted on the forehead area of their helmets.

A set of troopers had been produced to specifically be the Royal guards to Prince Onasius. One of these troopers was the trooper codenamed 'Maya-202'. Maya and her best friend, Leo-78, stood on guard at the gates of the castle this morning. Many dreamtroopers wondered what their purpose was, what Onasius needed protection from and an army for - Iryx was a relatively peaceful planet, with not many, if any, dangerous creatures on it, and Onasius was a seemingly very kind man, so the troopers had no clue who would ever want to hurt him. But Onasius had told his Royal guards, who were some of his closest friends, what this was all about - his brother, Prince Thomanius, was a very dangerous man. Not just a man, in fact - a Sith lord. His real title was Darth Thomanius, ever since he had joined a mysterious Sith council that had been heard of, but never seen. Onasius was a Jedi though, with a rather powerful lightsaber, so he was able to defend himself moderately. But Thomanius had an everlasting rage and pure loathing for his brother that could easily overpower him and allow to beat Onasius in a fight.

The two brother princes had trained together to become Jedi masters as younglings under their father, King Erasmus. But one terrible, terrible night that neither Prince would forget, Onasius went looking for his father for comfort after having a nightmare, he found him lying in a pool of blood, a knife in his heart. Onasius had screamed and Thomanius ran in to find what had happened. There were no signs of forced entry. There was nothing unusual about their father's room or the palace, other than a knife being missing from a kitchen drawer. The only two people other than Erasmus who were in the house were the brothers. As crazy as it sounded, as the two boys were only 8 and 7 years old then, both had always believed their brother had done this to their father. And to be fair, both had a reason to - Thomanius believed Onasius had stabbed his father and faked the scream to make it seem he hadn't done it, hence why he was found at the crimescene, but Onasius believed his brother had the motive for doing it. A few days before the incident, they had overheard their father discussing plans about a so-called 'World splitter bomb'. Erasmus never planned to use it, and seemed to be planning on where to hide the plans so they never fell into the wrong hands. Onasius wanted to dismiss this, but Thomanius, being his power-hungry self, could not let go and bossed his brother around to help him try to find the plans. Of course, they were caught by Erasmus' troops, and Erasmus was extremely cross with them. Onasius had always believed that Thomanius had inflicted the knife on his father after he refused to tell him where the plans were. Thomanius may have only been a child, but Onasius knew he was manipulative, clever, and pure evil, even from that early age.

Late in the morning, the sky, usually a beautiful bright blue, transitioned to a deep grey. "Aw great, I thought we wouldn't have to put up with the rain today" Leo complained.

"Just our luck I suppose, after having to stand out in it all day yesterday as well" Maya chimed. Leo began to mutter "Man, I like the Prince but I wish he could give us some shelter sometimes. I'm gonna have to leave my uniform to dry out again tonight." But this wasn't rain. Out of nowhere, a gigantic dark purple dreadnought came sailing out of the clouds. "W-what is that?" Maya stumbled on her words in panic. The dreamtroopers peered up in fear at the ship looming over them, blasters at the ready. Nothing happened for a minute - the ship remained stationary. That's when it launched a huge missile, which came crashing down from the ship, setting the ground ablaze. Maya's heart began racing.

The screams and yelps of dreamtroopers could be heard from miles along the castle grounds, although some of the troopers began blasting the dreadnought, which was beginning to land nearby now, with their DLTs, but it was of little use. Maya and Leo found a rock that had landed close to them after the missile impact, and took cover. Maya's blaster, the TH-7, was a shock blaster only good for close range contacts, however Leo had a DLT-19x sniper. "Are you alright?" Maya asked.

"I'm good. How about you?" Leo replied.

Maya nodded her head and said "Yeah, I've been better, but I'm fine thank you. See anything else other than the ship with your lasersight?" Leo took a look with his sniper - there was a symbol painted onto the dreadnought. It seemed to resemble a purple crescent moon. He was about to inform Maya, but his attention was diverted to the hatch that was now opening on the ship. Out of this hatch came many, many soldiers. These troopers also looked similar to Clone Troopers, but their armour grey, and their visors appeared to be a glowing red. Their movements were almost robotic, as if they were droids. That's when Leo realised these were the Nightmare Troopers that made up Prince Thomanius' army - Leo had never seen them, but he knew they were very powerful droids built to resemble human troopers by giving them an external armour. The nightmare troopers all carried EE-4s, and began blasting dreamtroopers, who retaliated. That's when the battle truly broke out. "We gotta a big problem, Maya" Leo warned.

Prince Onasius had been in a deep sleep, and had been having a funny dream featuring many flashing images of people who he did not know, but he dismissed the dream as something completely random, and forgot all about it when he awoke to the sound of blasterfire and missiles in a state of anxiety. He knew something was wrong, and not just from the sounds he heard - he felt an extremely dark presence in the force closeby, one he had not felt for a full decade before this. He knew exactly who was here. Thomanius.

Onasius opened up his grand curtains to be presented with the scene of warfare on his home planet. A wave of sadness about the fact that this had happened quickly washed over him before being replaced with a feeling of determination to help his troops. He felt that all good leaders should help their teams in any way possible - he wanted to make sure his dreamtroopers knew they weren't just his slaves, they were his friends, his team, and he was going to prove he was just as loyal to them as they were to him. He dressed himself in his black Jedi robes, grabbed his lightsaber, and left the castle as quickly as he could.

When Onasius arrived at the gates, he saw Maya and Leo perched behind a large rock. He sprinted over and joined them. "My Lord!" Maya chirped, relieved to see he was alright. Leo greeted him with the same exclamation, and both saluted the Prince. Most of Onasius' troopers greeted him that way out of respect, although he told them they didn't have to. He ensured that both the troopers were alright, before Leo asked whether he (referring to Thomanius) was here. Onasius simply nodded his head slowly in despair. Even though their helmets covered their faces, Onasius could tell that the two troopers were shocked - they might have guessed the nightmare army would invade the castle sometime, but they never actually expected the so-called 'Nightmare Prince' to pay them a real visit after what they had heard about the last time the two brothers had met. Before any of them could absorb the emotions they felt, Onasius turned his lightsaber on, allowing a glorious light pink colour to be revealed. "Wish me luck" he remarked. But Maya wasn't going to just let him go out there on his own. "Wait!" she yelled "Let me come with you."

"I will help you too" Leo added. Onasius shook his head. "No way. Thanks, but it is way too dangerous, and you two are some of my most loyal troopers, I can't risk losing you". Maya put her hand on the Prince's shoulder, and reassured him with a "Please, just trust us. We are supposed to be your bodyguards, remember?" she smiled under her helmet. Onasius thought for a second, and said "Alright then. Maya, you can come with me. But Leo, I have another task for you - I want you to keep an eye out for a man with short, spiky brown hair, with a red lightsaber in his hand. If you see him, use your DCS (Distanced Communication System, it acted like a walkie-talkie) to alert me and Maya". Leo understood and nodded.

"Roger Roger. Should I snipe him if seen?" Onasius had a deep think for a second again before responding - "No. I want to have a conversation with him first before I decide what to do with him." Onasius always had this weird emotional bond with his brother - he didn't know if it was a result of the force, his psychology, a combination of the two, or something completely different. Whatever it was, Onasius could never quite bring himself to properly hurt him.

The Prince and Maya both headed into the battlefield. As soon as the Nightmare Troopers caught sight of them, they shouted, in their robotic voices "Stop that Jedi!", and began firing at the Prince. But Onasius blocked them easily with his lightsaber, before slicing through their droid parts, sending electrical sparks into the air. Meanwhile, Maya was fighting with another trooper, meleeing it with her blaster. The battle raged on for a while, as more and more nightmare troopers emerged from the giant dreadnought. "There are too many troopers to push back, and they're all coming from that dreadnought. I think we're gonna have to find a way to destroy that ship!" Onasius yelled. Maya nodded her head. "I've just heard that Manarr-601 has been charging up the heavy laser cannons, and a few troopers are going to blast the dreadnought in their F-Fighters". The F-Fighters were a weird shape - they bared a resemblance to TIE-Fighters used by the empire, with the cockpit in the middle of the structure, however they had a "frame" of sorts, consisting of four bars made from Iryxium Copper found at the core of the Planet, placed around and connected to the fighter body. The fighters rose into the air, and began firing bolts at the dreadnought, along with the blaster cannons. The dreadnought windows shattered, and parts of the ship exploded. Dreamtroopers cheered as they became dominant in the battle - but the real fight was about to begin.

"Maya, I've spotted him!" the DCS worn by Maya was buzzing away. She alerted Onasius immediately, and was about to ask where Thomanius was when a voice came out of nowhere to answer that question. "Hello, brother", Thomanius taunted. His voice was deep and full of anger, not like his brother's at all. Onasius and Maya both turned around slowly, to be greeted by a tall man with dark, spiky hair, brown eyes, and a face full of spite. Nightmare troopers ran up being their dark prince, and shouted "There they are. Blast 'em!", but Thomanius held his hand up in a denying motion, and ordered them to hold their fire. "This is between me, and my brother" he hissed. "How dare you... how dare you come and invade our home planet! Slaughtering my troops! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT?!?!?" Maya had never seen Onasius this angry before. Thomanius simply snickered at his brother. "You know exactly what I'm looking for. Let's not play this game. The plans. Where are they?" he asked. But Onasius shook his head, and replied "You'll never get them."

The two then entered a battle against each other - lightsabers collided together, creating a colourful merge of pink and purple clashing. Dreamtroopers did begin to fire at Thomanius, and Nightmare troopers started trying to blast Onasius, but none of it made a difference. Eventually, after a long duel, Onasius had his brother pinned to the ground, his saber at his throat. Thomanius laughed. "You'll never do it, brother." Onasius was tempted, but Thomanius was right. He could not bring himself to finish his brother off, even after all this. He was still his brother. "Coward." Thomanius teased, before force pushing Onasius off of him. Onasius went flying across the ground, but Maya helped him up. "Give up, brother. Surrender. Your ship is destroyed. Your troops have declined massively. You have no power over us. If I had the mental strength to do it, I could physically best you. I almost did today." Onasius commanded. Thomanius smiled evily. "You might be able to physically best me, but you will never intellectually best me. You really shouldn't use Dad's birthday as the combination for your safe." Thomanius jeered. A look of shock absorbed Onasius, as he realised what his brother had done. "Whilst I put this little performance on out here, my infiltrator troopers have broken into your castle and retrieved the plans from your safe. And since all your troopers left to come fight in the battle, no one was there to guard it." Thomanius was laughing callously, before he added "Oh brother, you're still so naive unintelligent. Always have been, always will be. Oh, there are my Infiltrator troopers now!". Thomanius pointed up to a small fighter coming from behind the castle. Onasius fell to the floor in shock, but Maya knealt down to save him from hitting the ground. Thomanius and his Nightmare troopers hopped into a nearby F-Fighter that was unoccupied, and many Dreamtroopers began to start blasting them and it, but it was too late. The ship started, and they sailed off into the sky. A few of the active fighters chased them, but it was no use. Thomanius had escaped the planet using lightspeed too quickly, and they were nowhere to be found.

Onasius was in a state of shock and anxiety - he feared for the Universe now his brother had the plans for the bomb - but his hope was not completely lost. He needed to tell the rest of his troopers what this battle had really been about, it was only fair to them. But he also needed to track down Thomanius and stop him before he could do anything with those plans. He decided that he could put his faith in to his most loyal troopers to help get the job done.

Dreamtroopers were already starting to clear away the debris, bodies and droid parts from the battle. Some were crying, after losing their friends, whilst others gave comfort to those in sadness. After helping the prince back up, Maya asked if she should help Onasius get back to his bedroom and then help the other troopers clear up. But Onasius shook his head at her, and Maya looked puzzled. "I have a much more important job for you, Lady Maya, as well as Sir Leo," Onasius began, "we don't know where my brother has gone, but I have an old family friend who can help us. He lives on the desert planet of Fortralin, not too far away from here. This might sound stupid but he is kind of a... how do I put it... wizard of sorts..." Maya was wondering if the prince was serious. "He may be able to locate Thomanius using a sort of... spell... I'm not too sure how it works, but I know he uses the Force to do it. I need you and Leo to go to him, but only if you are willing to. I'm sure Thomanius will have troops all over the place watching for us, to make sure we're not up to anything that could prevent his plans. Would you be so kind to help me?" Onasius pleaded. Maya realised he was stone cold serious. "Of course, my Lord. We will be willing to help in any way we can. Will you be alright here though?" Maya questioned. Onasius appeared to have accquired little bit of a limp after the battle. "I'll recover easily. But I need to tell the troops what this is all about. I feel so bad that this has happened and I kept what was going on away from them for so long." Maya felt sorry for her prince.

"Don't worry, my Lord. It's really not your fault. You could never have known he was coming today." Maya reassured him. "Thanks Lady Maya." Onasius patted her shoulder, before wishing her luck with her mission. "May the force be with you."

"May the force be with you too, my Prince." And without another word, Maya left to collect Leo and head out in their F-fighter.

Leo had heard the whole conversation over his DCS, which had been turned on the whole time. "Well, a desert holiday. I'm looking forward to it." Leo joked as Maya rejoined him. Maya rolled her eyes under her helmet. "You know that a battle literally just happened here, right?" she said. Leo felt a little guilty. "Yeah... Perhaps that was a little insensitive of me heh..." He looked down in shame. Maya patted him on the back. "Don't worry man. Also sorry for using the word literally, I know how much you hate when I do that." Maya apologised. "You ready to go?" she asked.

Leo replied "Yeah. I'm almost excited for our little adventure".

"Good" said Maya. And with that, the two climbed into their ship, and set off for Fortralin.

AN: Thanks for reading! I really hope you enjoyed. I actually wrote this chapter a while ago when I was getting back into writing, so it may not sound the best but I hope it is alright.