William and Draxacon walked out of the shuttle and into the hangar of the Emperor's Conviction, having just come back from the surface of Gwori. William removed the helmet and sighed. "Woah. That was a tad stressful. I was afraid we were going to have to take control of the entire planet." He looked to Draxacon, who had already begun removing his armor in the shuttle. Everything from his shoulder pads to his hands had been removed, leaving the under mesh. Draxacon was using his helmet as a bucket, holding the pieces in a haphazard manner.
"It's a good thing we were able to negotiate things with that mongrel." Draxacon replied, stomping besides William. They both watched as the Storm Troopers returned to the armory in formation, rows of two leaving the hangar. Suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching them and turned to see Andriana running at them, carrying a data pad with a shocked expression on her face. She stopped in front of them, catching her breath. "Andri, what are you doing running out here? You know you could've just sent some lackey-"
Andriana cut him off by clearing her throat, looking at William. "Sir, we just received a distress call." William's calm expression shifted into a serious one, looking to the data pad.
"Let's take this to the bridge." William began walking towards the direction Andriana came from, who soon followed her commanding officer. William stopped and looked back at Draxacon.
"Before you get too comfortable, grab two of my Red Death and go get Desmonadon. Bring him to the bridge." Both Draxacon and Andriana gave William a look of confusion.
"You sure, boss?" Was all Draxacon replied with.
"He is a rebel, sir. What if he tries something?" Andriana added, looking between the two.
"Please, he is a rebel, but he's not stupid. He knows it's instant death if he even breathes the wrong way. Get him." Draxacon sighed, walking to a cart and placing the helmet and armor there to retrieve it later. He then walked up to two random Red Death troopers and waved for them to come. The two looked to William, who gave his approval with a simple nod, and the two followed Draxacon to the brig. William and Andriana continued to the lift, walking past crew members who had to get out of William's way.
The two made it to the lift and began to approach the bridge, William staring at the door. Andriana gave him a side glance, worried. "Sir, are you alright?"
William looked down at her. "I'm just a little agitated. I want to kill something after talking to that Separatist mutt." Andriana was taken back. This wasn't like William, perhaps this was part of what Draxacon explained to her. Then she reminded herself that if William continues down this path, she'll be able to get to know the true William. She was shocked, but she did not show it to him. She simply nodded. He looked back towards the door. "I'm hoping that the code coming with this signal we've received is one that has been flagged as compromised, it'll lead us straight to some rebel scum." He gritted his teeth, and Andriana took a slight step back. She was pleased to see when they reached the bridge and William stormed out of the lift and to the holo-table, planting his helmet on it. Andriana followed suit, reaching one of the consoles built in and imputing data.
"While you were on the surface of Gwori, we received a transmission that appeared to be a distress call." She explained, bringing up a galaxy map. the map zoomed in on the sector of space they were in, the Emperor's Conviction being represented with a red triangle. A pulse began to emit from the Mygeeto system. "This is where the signal originated from." Andriana looked to William, whose facial features showed that he was slightly displeased. There were no official reports of rebels near that sector, but something sent that distress signal.
"Did we receive an audio or visual?" William looked over to his second in command. She nodded, tapping some controls. The map disappeared, then the table revealed a hologram. The hologram itself was unstable, barely showing what appeared to be an Imperial officer grabbing the table for support.
"Atten...tention! Any.....rial forces ne...go, be warn...Orbit...unsafe..." The hologram continued to cut out, but from what William could see, the officer was struggling to stay upright, as if he was in a crashing ship.
Now there was a reason to go look.
".....surface cannon.....operatio...." Then the hologram cut, leaving the table blank. Andriana looked to William. "The message ends there." William contemplated for a moment. Those last words were surface cannon and operational. That did not sound promising. He then saw the lift doors open, seeing Draxacon and Desmonadon entering. William nodded to Andriana and the code that came with the message appeared. The two stopped, and Desmonadon looked at the hologram and then to William.
"Am I supposed to know that code? It's completely new to me." He replied, shrugging. William nodded, looking at Draxacon. The Storm Trooper commander sighed, dragging Desmonadon back to the lift, mumbling to himself about how that was a waste of time. Desmonadon chuckled and the last thing William saw was Draxacon hitting Desmonadon on the top of his head.
"Bring up the map." William ordered. Andriana tapped some buttons, and the galaxy map appeared once more. William pointed to a system near the Mygeeto system. "Set a course for the Albarrio system. From there, The Red Death and I will take a shuttle to the Mygeeto system and land on the planet and scout ahead." Andriana looked at William with shock. She wanted to protest, but William's stern expression made her hold her tongue. She nodded, approaching an officer. William then began to walk towards the lift, putting his helmet back on.