Ratchet & Clank AU: The Black Knight.

Chapter 1

Let me tell you about the Praetorians, an elite Lombax unit whose goal is to protect their Empire and culture. They received the best training and the best equipment to get the job done.

But all this went to hell when the civil war broke out.

The Praetorians sided with the loyalists and when they lost, the oppositionists decided to leave their home dimension and go to another one, leaving behind a handful of those who chose the opposite side, including the Praetorians.

The loyalists have come together and created a small space station that serves as their new home. They intend to rebuild their former Empire and go to the dimension where the oppositionists have moved to retrieve their people.

One of the Praetorians is Alister Azimuth, a high-ranking member of this unit. His family had served the Empire and the royal family for generations, especially since they were related to them.

Now in his thirties, Alister has seen a lot in his life, such as monsters, magical warriors, and technology that some might consider non-existent. He fought many opponents, such as Basilisk Leviathans and zombie robots, and always won against them.

But now he was facing the biggest fight he would ever face. With his beliefs and former allies.

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It was going to be a normal day at Orion Station. New training, new projects, just like any other day, nothing extraordinary. That's how Alister Azimuth saw it as he was currently eating breakfast in his cabin, looking out the window at the planet Fastoon below them. Since the planet itself and its cities are uninhabitable, the loyalists decided that it would be a good idea to place themselves a space station in the planet's orbit, wanting to protect it from pirates and raiders eager for loot.

Alister himself glanced from time to time at the newspaper he was holding, with news from the Polaris galaxy. Each time he wondered how the current galactic government had not fallen yet, seeing as how they didn't care about the problems of the planets under their control. The man decided to stop reading and just relax. He had a day off today and was going to use it entirely to rest. And nothing and no one had the right to prevent him from doing so.

Unless some member of the Praetorians enters his cabin without knocking.

"Sir! General Rakton is calling all officers to a meeting on an urgent matter," the woman said, saluting at him. She looked quite young for a member of an elite unit, which Alister noticed.

"Before I go to him, tell me how on earth someone as young as you got into our unit?" he asked.

"Sir. My parents were both Praetorians and I decided to follow in their footsteps. I joined the academy when I was in high school."

-Quite young, thought the older Lombax. Personally, he was not fond of the idea of ​​young people joining the army. Yes, he respected them for their sense of duty to the Empire, but he believed that they should use their young years to experience life before that privilege was taken away from them. He himself would like it that way.

So Alister got up from the table, drank his still warm coffee and went to the meeting. When he arrived, he was greeted by the other high-ranking Pretorian members who were already seated. He sat in his place and the meeting then began.

"Hello everyone," General Rakton began. He was wearing his golden and white Praetorian honorary armor, the same colors as his fur, which had served him for years in battle. "As you probably know, today marks another year since the Opposition left our dimension. They took many civilians with them, subject to the Empire and the Emperor, God rest his soul, thinking they were doing it for their good, but it wasn't. Their actions have weakened our race and we must fix it. Considering that our numbers are unfortunately small, the number of warriors and soldiers also leaves much to be desired. After conferring with the other generals, it was decided that from now on, members of other races will be able to become Praetorians."