Act 3: Chapter 9 - Sheep in Wolf's Clothing (Part 1)

A few days ago...

Northern Japanese Mountains

Let's take a wind back to about a few days earlier. A well hidden Imperial outpost resides within the Japanese mountains. It is considered a fortress and a prison with three large hangars for shuttles or TIEs. A few AT-STs patrol the outpost grounds with only two AT-ATs guarding three main high security gates large enough for them to walk through.

Inside one of the outpost's training simulators, a squad of Death Troopers are in the middle of fighting a few Mandalorians with coral orange and black colored Beskar armor in a forest environment. Of course, they're not real life enemies as they're in fact holo-training droids that can mimic an enemy's fighting style, the limited skills, appearance, and alloy the enemy's armor is made of, including Force powers almost flawlessly.

The Death Trooper commander signals one of his men to toss a grenade where one enemy is hiding to draw him out. The simulated Mandalorian uses his jetpack to fly upwards right before the imploder grenade went off. However, the enemy fell for it and one of the Death Troopers fired his E-11D at him. The red blaster bolt was not aimed at the Beskar, however, as it is the strongest alloy known in the Galaxy to resist blaster fire and even lightsabers. Instead, the bolt penetrates where the armor is at its weakest: the black and grey bodysuits underneath. The enemy loses control of flying with his jetpack as he spirals toward a tree and explodes upon impact.

As the Death Troopers continue to fire at their enemy from behind the trees they use as cover, two individuals behind a large, view screen window watch the simulated battle happening inside the AR simulation as the Imperial officers in white technician uniforms monitor and control the training session.

"Absolutely not." A holographic transmission of a middle-aged man in an high ranking officer uniform exclaims while watching the training session. "Ghost Squad remains here. Your request is denied, Inquisitor."

"Grand Moff Tarkin, please reconsider your decision." The Second Brother insists. "This particular Death Trooper squad has an incredible history of completing missions. They're precision and off-mission capabilities are almost flawless in the last 10 years since it was formed. Ghost Squad became legendary for their methods of capturing and extracting the target without killing him, hence their reliability on aiming for the weakpoints and if under the right circumstances, the head."

The Sith Inquisitor makes his point as they see the Ghost Squad commander, aiming with timed precision, performs a headshot at a Mandalorian's helmet, knocking the warrior down due to the huge amount of impact the blaster bolt had on.

"You're wasting their talents using them as mere security guards." He deadpans, annoyed.

"They're capable of preventing intruders or prisoners from escaping Outpost Terra." The Grand Moff calmly explains. "It is vital that it's not discovered by human primitives, which means I can do what I want with Ghost Squad as I see fit."

The Second Brother eye rolls beneath his helmet.

"You arrogant Tarkins never learn." He chuckles in amusement. "Of all of your experiences as a military leader and politician, you lack one thing your ancestor Wilhuff and the Tarkin initiative he founded never had: wisdom."

"Do not challenge my authority, Second Brother!" He snaps at him, completely annoyed. "You may be Lord Morgoth's secret apprentice, but he has chosen me to lead the Imperial military. You, you only have your Purge Troopers and Inquisitor brethren in hunting down Force users."

"No offense to Commander Onasi, but he and the other Purge Troopers aren't trained for black op missions like their Death Trooper rivals." Second Brother argues.

"Ah yes. PT-3571, is it?" Tarkin recalls. "He recently received cybernetic enhancements meant for the Death Trooper program after his last visit here. And for some reason, he declines the offer of joining their ranks. His ancestry involved in the Mandalorian Wars and Jedi Civil War could've been a huge asset to me."

"He's not your slave, Tarkin. He made his decision and that's the Inquisitorious. My excavation assignment-"

"Is nothing but a vanity project." He cuts him off. "We're dealing with recent setbacks of discreetly capturing Wookiees for our slave labor, and these Mandos under House Ordo are becoming a major nuisance to our other major projects far more important than your master's. So I need every man I've got to counter this damn problem."

"But-"

"That's final! I don't want to hear another word about Ghost Squad from you."

The Second Brother growls in anger as he grits his teeth. The one thing he hates more than slavery and corruption is Imperial arrogance.

Just then, the door behind them opens as an Imperial officer walks into the room, getting the Sith Inquisitor and Grand Moff's attention.

"Sir." The young officer informs the Force user, handing a datapad to him.

"An encoded transmission from Morgoth?" He mutters loud enough for the Grand Moff to hear while stepping away from the hologram. His expression becomes positive after reading the message.

"What does it say?" Tarkin frowns suspiciously.

"Well today's my lucky day, Tarkin. It appears I've been given Level 6 authorization. Which means my clearance is a level higher than yours." He explains, turning his head towards him and smirking. "My request... is now an order."

Tarkin didn't look too happy about the news and feels like he lost the argument with him."This isn't over, Inquisitor." He warns in a dark tone.

Just like that, the transmission ends as the hologram vanishes.The Second Brother goes back to watching Ghost Squad finishing their simulation, smirking victorious for the first time against a high ranking Imperial military officer who has no respect to non human races. Racism is another reason why he hates how corrupted and no different the Empire is to the hypocritical Galactic Republic when they had an army of Clones that were considered slaves too. After all, the Clones were victims to Palpatine's plan and the Sith Inquisitor knew the truth behind the Jedi Purge.

"If you can't bring down an empire, then all you can do is redeem and change its unlawful laws and flawed protocols." He mutters. "The only reason why I'm using Morgoth to fullfil my redemption I've failed all those years ago with my wife."

As he continues watching the simulation, a mysterious figure is stalking him from above on a catwalk before the figure vanishes into the shadows.

Present Day...

It is now August 15, and the five Death Troopers of Ghost Squad all lined up in one of Outpost Terra's hangars in the mountains.

"You're here not only because you're the elite in both Imperial ranks and the Death Trooper program," Second Brother speaks to them. "It's because you're capable of getting the job done the best you can offer for your services in the Empire. One of the aspects of a soldier I highly respect unlike certain high ranking officers like the Grand Moff, who have no honor, no respect to the troops under their command."

He then turns around and faces the five black armored troopers with dark, green visors.

"In my eyes - and I'm pretty sure in your eyes as well - the higher ups today and back in the early days of the Empire don't give a damn about you or your comrades." He continues. "They see you as expendable resources. As slaves who follow orders without question. Very few soldiers and officers don't, and that makes me feel disappointed on how low the people in power they have sunk. The highers ups we have today care only for glory and power. Those like myself and many others in the Imperial military, care about results without blindingly follow orders. We're not droids. We're people that always make mistakes, something that most Imperials don't value."

He pauses for a moment and continues speaking.

"You on the other hand, have already proven yourselves that you're better than the superiors you're no longer under command to. And that's who I trust and respect more. Today, you will take it further under my command and you will only answer to me. To maintain peace and order, we must also bring back the one thing the Empire disregards: justice. And soon, Morgoth, Tarkin, and their followers will face the justice the Imperial citizens have always craved for since Palpatine lied to the Old Galaxy about the Jedi's so-called betrayal."

He then takes out a holodisc and a holographic figure appears before them.

"Now then. Your target is this boy." The Sith Inquisitor briefs. "A Jedi who is capable of fighting a variety of Imperial troops and droids. You are free to use whatever methods you deem necessary, but I want him alive. He's not to be harmed under any circumstances. Use blasters for stun only. This is a covert/extraction mission and we don't need Academy City's military to trace us back here. Are there any questions?"

Ghost Squad remains silent.

"I'll take that as a no." He shakes his head. "Good luck and Godspeed, gentlemen. Your ship is waiting."

The Death Trooper commander complies with a garbled sound in his helmet and orders his squad to to board their TIE Reaper. The boarding ramp closes and the Reaper takes off, flying out of the hangar as the sun begins to rise in the east.

It was dark. No sound was heard in the dark void. And then, there was light as the Second Brother opens his eyes. Through his eyes, he is now in a mysterious place where exists a bridge between the living and the dead. The landscape was dark, filled with dead trees covered in ash and the ground is hard as rock.He couldn't move as he looks at his surroundings familiar to him. The dark side user then looks at what he's doing. He is tearing open the gateway to the Netherworld of the Force with his two bare hands, struggling to keep it open.He then sees something ahead on the other side of the portal he's trying to keep open. A silhouette in the form of boy no older than four. Gritting his teeth as he continues holding the gateway together, he outstretches his hand to the child, offering him to take it so he can bring him to the living world.But then, something happened as he was pulled away by the power of the Force. He struggles to take the boy's hand and when he did, the portal becomes unstable. It could no longer hold together as it collapses and explodes, engulfing both the two in a blinding light before everything went black.

He jolts awake from his meditation, sweating underneath his helmet. He was so close to bringing his son back to the living that day when the world rebelled against him, including the love of his life.

"He would've been alive again. My own flesh and blood in our arms. Now there's a chance to do it again. Morgoth must not get his hands on the Eon engine the Whills have built when I'm done using it."

However, he feels conflicted. His wife will never help him bring their son back unwilling to do what must be done. He was not ready to let go when they lost him.

He reaches up to his helmet and prepares to remove it when the door outside his quarters opens up, revealing to be a random officer as the Force user drops his hands from reaching for his helmet that he's wearing.

"Sir. Ghost Squad has returned from the city, and await for you in the hangar." He informs the Sith Inquisitor.

"It's been the entire morning, already?" He questions himself before turning his head. "I'm on my way."

The elevator descends from the mountaintop and arrives in the hangar floor. The Second Brother exits the lift and walks toward Ghost Squad with an unconscious Theron before their superior.

"Good work, Ghost Squad." He compliments. "I see you've pulled it off."

Unfortunately, he senses a disturbance and notices a familiar girl who is also included unconscious in one of the Death Trooper's arms.

"Explain." He calmly demands.

The armored commander speaks through his encrypted helmet modulator, speaking in garbled noises as he explains what happened during their mission.

"So you had to bring her here, then." He sighs. "Take them to the holding cells for now. I'll figure out what to do with the girl."

The commander nods and gestures his men to head for the holding cells, bringing along the Theron and his friend Saten as they remain unconscious.

To be continued...