Project Ares Gold Edition

Chapter 42 - Passing on the mantle

Republic Naval Shipyard - Coruscant

Overlooking the massive formation of troopers in front of him, Palpatine stood on top of a large balcony similar to what he had done at the start of the Clone Wars. Only this time, instead of Senators and political advisors standing next to him, Palpatine was surrounded by Admirals Tarkin, Rampart, Thrawn along with Commander Fox and a few Red Guards.

The massive formation was made up of over 10,000 clone troopers that made up the auxiliary ground forces for Coruscant's home defence force. With half of this assembly being the bulk of the Coruscant Guard and the other half additional maintenance troopers and the last remnants of the 501st. "My Lord, if I may ask, isn't this assembly opening up a gap in the planet's security?"

"Commander Fox, you need not worry, the position has been filled." Palpatine stated in an evil voice, raising his hand as if to signal someone. Suddenly, all the hangar and maintenance doors leading to the formation was sealed as the sound of TIE fighters filled the air. Having only felt fear very few times in his life before, Fox felt that terrible feeling all over again when he looked up to see the new Imperial starfighter making a run towards the clones. With nowhere to go, the clones tried to run for cover, but were quickly slaughtered by the heavy laser fire from the TIE fighters. Some tried to shoot back, but their lack of heavy firepower and limited ammunition caused them to be swiftly gunned down by the starfighters.

Despite the voice in his heart screaming at him to do something, Fox's reinforced inhibitor chip kept him frozen like a statue. Although, underneath the cold expression of the helmet, a silent stream of tears were rolling down the clone commander's face. All of those brothers, gone. Regardless of their service to the Empire and their unwavering loyalty to the Emperor. And as the airstrikes died down, the doors opened up once more as storm troopers in fresh armour and fully loaded weapons marched out and executed the survivors. In his peripheral vision, Fox could see Rampart swelling with pride as his project came to full fruition.

"LONG LIVE THE EMPIRE!" Palpatine proclaimed over the shipyard full of stormtroopers and the massacred clone corpses. As the Imperial soldiers chanted in affirmation and support for their Emperor, Palpatine remembered the clone commander standing behind him. "You're probably wondering what will happen to you commander?"

"What is my next set of orders, my Lord?" Fox asked, trying to hide his sadness and grief from the scarred man in front of him. Being informed that he will stay in command of the remaining 2,000 Coruscant Guard clones and fill the role left behind by the recently departed Senate Commandos. As for all military, police and other security matters on Coruscant, the stormtroopers have already taken over and filled those positions. Saluting the Emperor and departing for his new assignment, Fox didn't know what to do now.

The Vault - Scipio

In an attempt to slow down the Empire's expansion, Master Chief took Blue Team to Palpatine's chief financial location. After landing the Forward Unto Dawn at the base of one of the massive mountains, Blue Team had ascended up the mountain and were making their push through the city. For the Imperial forces, they were not prepared for the full undivided might of Blue Team. Sure, the Empire had encountered the veteran special forces unit before in the last few weeks, but they were only small fragments of the team, at most being a 4-man assault team. Now they were dealing with all 15 of them, including The Demon.

Falling back to the main financial building, the Imperial clones barricaded the doors and sealed off the windows as they called for reinforcements, but nothing went through. Turns out that Static had been blocking their comms since Blue Team's arrival to the system by diverting everything through the Dawn and cutting off any outgoing messages before they could even leave. But what the security forces did not realise was the the financial building was never Blue Team's target. They didn't need money or to ruin the Imperial credit, all they had to do was to halt the production and cause the market to freeze.