William waited to get the communication from Andriana that they had arrived in the Albarrio system. The Red Death troopers were in formation on stand by as well, ready to go into combat. William checked his wrist blasters to see if anything looked out of place when he saw Draxacon walking towards him, back in his normal outfit. two female hangar workers caught a quick glance at the Storm Trooper commander, but then went back to work when William came into their view. William looked up when he heard the footsteps of his friend approaching, each sounding like a punch to the metal floor.
"Captain, are you really going to use a shuttle to travel to the Mygeeto system? You do know that if something intercepts you on the way to the surface, you will be vulnerable to-" Draxacon began, but William held up his hand .
"The Ship will be vulnerable." His helmet voice made Draxacon twitch slightly.
"Look, I'm saying this to you as a friend, but this suit does not make you invincible. You are no invincible hero from before the Empire, you're still a man, and that means you're still capable of dying if hit by a turbo laser!" Draxacon's shouting began to attract the attention of the hangar crew, and unfortunately, the Red Death, who began viewing Draxacon as a threat to their leader. two began to walk up, causing the commander to look over his shoulder. William raised his hand, ordering them to stop, to which the two troopers complied, stopping in their tracks just a few feet from Draxacon. The helmet looked straight at Draxacon, and the man could tell William's eyes underneath were staring directly into his.
"Let me make this clear: The Empire has invested a lot into me, so I am not about to let some random pirate or stray turbo shot take me out from serving the Emperor. It will take something major to get me to not serve the Emperor." William then looked off to the side. He had gotten a communication from Andriana, saying that they had arrived. He stood up and pointed to the shuttle. The Red Death troopers, as well as the two who were ready to subdue the brute, began marching up the ramp. William turned back to Draxacon, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. I always come back." The way he was meaning to say it was to try and put his friends' worries to rest. Instead, the helmet's voice modifier made it sound like more of a threat than an assurance. William boarded the shuttle, turning around and nodding at Draxacon as the ramp closed.
Draxacon sighed as he watched the shuttle prepare to launch, the people nearby hurrying away to clear the area. "If only you knew, friend." Draxacon then walked deeper into the ship, intending to meet with Andriana.
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William looked straight forward as he felt the shuttle enter hyperspace, heading for the planet Mygeeto. He turned around and faced his soldiers, each one standing perfectly still. He cleared his throat. "Alright, listen up. We received a distress signal from the Imperial Star Destroyer that was patrolling the planet Mygeeto, probably supporting the local garrison or here to pick up some slaves. Either way, something managed to shoot the ship down, my bet is on some sort of surface cannon used back during the Clone Wars." The troopers looked to one another, probably baffled that something that old could take out a Star Destroyer. William continued, "Until we find out what took out that ship, The Emperor's Conviction is staying out of the system and away from harm. Once we do take care of it, she'll come and give us Stormtrooper support. We have no idea what's going on down there, but we need to be ready for anything. Understood?" The troopers stood at attention and saluted William. William gave them a nod in return. He felt a jolt as the Shuttle dropped from hyperspace and into the Mygeeto system. Now they just had to reach the planet.
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Draxacon and Andriana walked through the halls of the ship, approaching Draxacon's quarters/office. Andriana knew it would be some time before William would try to contact them, so she humored Draxacon and allowed him to invite her for another conversation. The two reached his quarters and entered, Draxacon closing the door behind him.
His quarters/office were quite small, the security terminal that connected him to the entire ship taking up half of the room with all of its monitors and consoles. She sighed, sitting on a chair adjacent to the large desk, while Draxacon pulled the seat out from the desk and sat in it. Draxacon readjusted himself, scooting back into the desk, then leaned against it, flexing his back and rolling his shoulders. Andriana cleared her throat. "So Drax, shall you continue telling my about our captain's mysterious past?" She asked, scooting closer to the desk to get a better view of the monitors. Draxacon nodded, typing vigorously across his console. The security feeds vanished and were replaced with a number of different things: on one screen were two pictures, one that William had of his sister and himself in front of the Imperial academy while the other looked identical save for it was a completely different location and they were wearing different clothes. Another screen portrayed a data file, much of the information being redacted. On this file was the sigil of the Imperial Intelligence branch, the author of said document also being anonymous. On another was a planet labeled Rhi, which to Andriana's memory, was not charted on any Imperial star charts. The other screens had other random things on them as well, but they all had one thing that connected them all: William.
"So, What did I tell you last time about the lost history of our captain?" Draxacon asked, turning away from his screens and looking to Andriana.
"That he had a connection with the Imperial Intelligence and the ISB had an agent watching him while he grew up, at least until he graduated." She answered, cool and collected. "As well as that he believes wholeheartedly that his sister died fighting a rebellion, this being the reason why he holds a deep hatred towards any rebels."
Draxacon nodded, focusing back on the screens and pulling up some sort of medical report. It listed how old the subject was, any anomalies, how healthy they were. The face had been blurred out, but the name was as clear as kyber: William Jaeger. Draxacon turned to Andriana and took a deep breath.
"Alright, let's now talk about how exactly he ended up working for the Empire."
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William walked into the cockpit, looking out of the viewport and gazing upon the misty planet. He grabbed the back of the seat and leaned in. "How are we looking, pilots?" He asked, looking away from the viewport and to the copilot. He looked to William, then back to the planet.
"We're in the clear, no hostile ships detected, but we aren't able to contact the surface." William looks to the planet, thinking about what they should do. He had really hoped that whatever shot down the Star Destroyer couldn't target them, that it was only able to shoot down larger targets. There was only one way to find out.
"Begin your descent. Make sure you get us to a tower. If you can't find one, I'm sure the surface itself would work. We have environmental protections." William turned his gaze back to the planet as it grew closer. The pilots inputted a number of commands, and the main pilot began to manually descend to the surface. After watching the ship enter the atmosphere and enter the thick clouds that covered the planet, William released a sigh of relief. But something was off; the copilot was attempting to contact any of the outposts on the towers that scattered the planet, failing to get a reply. At least one of the outposts should have sent a reply, but the communication line remained dormant. It was at this time that the pilot announced his own worry.
"We should've at least seen one of the towers by now, what's going on?" The pilot looked around, trying to catch a glimpse of any of the floating cities. William then noticed that some of the clouds they were flying through were black.
"Pilot, descend below the clouds. I have a feeling we'll find our cities down there." William ordered. The pilot followed his command, going down, past where the cities should have been. As they passed the threshold and were past the clouds, William's suspicion was right. The once pristine crystal surface had been violated with a number of the once floating towers, as well as the titanic wreck of the Star Destroyer that had orbited the planet. William looked on in awe, until he noticed a small skirmish near one of the tower wrecks. Both sides firing red bolts at one another, William pointed to the fight. "There! There are our soldiers. Land there!" William then walked out of the cockpit and returned to his troops. "Listen up, we're coming in hot, and our men are surrounded! Make sure we repel the enemies and secure the area!" The Red Death saluted and prepared to storm out of the shuttle. William himself prepped his wrist blasters and made sure his rockets were loaded. He heard the sounds of combat growing closer and waited for the ramp to begin lowering.
The ramp began opening and William could see the people he was about to save. Imperial Army troopers, a number of whom were injured. He also saw Imperial Navy uniforms roaming around, presumably survivors from the Star Destroyer. The ramp stopped moving and William ran out, walking up to a soldier that was shouting orders to the other troops. William pointed towards the front lines, and the Red Death ran past him and through the soldiers, joining the troopers at an entrenched position to fight the hostiles. The one in charge turned around to see William, a shocked expression plastered on his face.
"Who the hell are you?" The man asked, still confused about recent events.
"Captain William Jaeger, and I'm here answering the call." William replied, looking down at the man.