Fires rage across the galaxy, the wickedness of the Sith left unchecked in the wake of Operation: Eclipse. Civility and honorable rules of engagement have been forsaken as entire star systems find themselves waylaid by the Dark Side of the Force. The Sith make no distinction between enemy soldiers and innocent bystanders, destroying anything and anyone who dares to stand in their path.One such conflagration breaks out on the Mid Rim world of New Holstice, a defenseless hospital world catering to the wounded of both sides in the galaxy-spanning conflict. The Sith Emperor has taken notice of New Holstice’s proclivity for aiding the wounded enemies of his Empire and has deemed the world a national threat to the security of the Sith.
An invasion force, strong enough to take a world, materializes above New Holstice. Apocalyptic fire rains down from orbit, scorching entire fields and sending firestorms ripping through forests. The cities of New Holstice are hit the hardest, suffering several agonizing minutes of indiscriminate bombardment before the guns of the Sith fleet go silent.
The way had been cleared, and now the sky filled with the sight of gunships and troop transports.
He had been chosen to lead this assault. The fingers on his right hand flexed unconsciously, a nervous tick he had possessed ever since he was a small child on Raxus Secundus. It was disconcerting to know that even though he had joined the Sith and risen above the wasteful opulence of his old life, there were still some things that were never truly snuffed out.
That thought brought his eyes to glare out of the cockpit of the Multiple Altitude Assault Gunship that was bearing him and his colleagues down towards the smoldering planet below. He could make out shapes in the smoke billowing up from the city’s main thoroughfare, shambling ghosts that hadn’t yet realized they died looking for loved ones or wandering in an abject haze.
“Vermin,” he observed, “Pitiful little wretches.” In the interim, his nervous tick had abated, but now it returned as his mouth set in a haughty grimace. He would content himself with the fact that he could at the very least snuff out these pathetic mongrels in the name of his Emperor, an exceptionally holy charge indeed.
The gunship descended down where several other transports had made landfall inside the city, Legionnaires fanning out to establish a perimeter for the beachhead as the man slowly emerged from the ship.
Darth Novae looked around as if he had smelled something offensive, his nostrils flaring as a Major of the Legion approached him.
“Your orders, milord?”
“We are here to deliver judgment, Major. The Emperor demands this world to be cleansed, wipe them out. All of them.”
